An outboard motor including an internal combustion engine for propelling a ship is equipped with an air-guiding system using a covering hood surrounding surfaces of the internal combustion engine and auxiliary units. The covering hood is provided with airflow inlet and outlet openings in its interior, and a fan driven by the internal combustion engine influences airflows in the covering hood. An air-guiding system includes channeling devices for partial air flows. First partial air flows are fed as intake air to an engine intake system, and second partial air flows act, with the aid of the fan, on surfaces of the internal combustion engine and the auxiliary units heated by operation of the internal combustion engine. The heated airflows are conveyed by the fan and a third channeling device as exhaust air via an outlet opening in the covering hood outside of the covering hood or into the atmosphere.

The present invention relates to an outboard motor, comprising an internal combustion engine, for propelling a ship, having an air-guiding system which is effective by way of a covering hood surrounding surfaces of the internal combustion engine and auxiliary units.
An internal combustion engine known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,749 B1 operates as an outboard motor for propelling a watercraft. The internal combustion engine is surrounded by a covering hood which delimits an interior. To ventilate and vent the interior, the covering hood, which extensively encases the internal combustion engine, is provided with inlet and outlet devices for airflows moving in the interior and serving to act on housing surfaces of the internal combustion engine. The internal combustion engine comprises a vertical crankshaft, which interacts with a plurality of pistons and which drives balance shafts at an upper end region by way of an endless drive. An alternator with a vertical axis of rotation is provided with a fan, which ventilates and vents the interior of a hood-like endless drive covering.
German document DE 102 05 109 B4 describes an outboard motor provided with a vertically oriented crankshaft and a plurality of auxiliary units mounted on an outer side of a machine housing of the outboard motor. A covering hood encases the outboard motor and the auxiliary units. Air inlet slots are provided on a rear side of the covering hood and interact with an adjoining air-channeling device. The air-channeling device ensures that fresh air is channeled into an upper and a lower region of the interior of the covering hood or to the machine housing and to the auxiliary units.
It is an object of the invention to design an internal combustion engine for an outboard motor for propelling a ship in which an air-guiding system is provided in the interior of a covering hood which surrounds the internal combustion engine. The air-guiding system serves for supplying cooling air and intake air for the internal combustion engine and setting benchmarks in this respect. However, it should also be ensured here that the air-guiding system can be implemented using reasonable means.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by the features claimed. Further features of the invention are set out in dependent claims.
Advantages primarily achieved by the invention are that the air-guiding system of the outboard motor, in conjunction with the internal combustion engine, clad by way of the covering hood, has an exemplary function and is easily implemented. Air flows are channeled in an ingenious manner via an inlet opening in the direction of the interior of the covering hood in such a way that these air flows are separated close to the inlet opening into first partial air flows and second partial air flows. In this context, it should be emphasized that the air-guiding system in the covering hood comprises a first channeling device for the first partial air flows and a second channeling device for second partial air flows. It is advantageous that the first partial air flows are fed as intake air to the intake system of the internal combustion engine and that the second partial air flows act in a cooling manner, with the aid of the fan, on the surfaces of said internal combustion engine and auxiliary units heated by the operation of the internal combustion engine. It is technically favorable here that the air flows heated by the surfaces of the internal combustion engine and the auxiliary units are conveyed by the fan and a third channeling device as exhaust air via an outlet opening in the covering hood to an outer side of the latter or into the atmosphere.
It is structurally simple to realize arranging the inlet opening on the vertical hood wall in the upper end region of the covering hood, with the inlet opening being adjoined by the distributing device, which optimizes the air-guiding system, in the covering hood. By virtue of the distributing device, the first partial air flow and the second partial air flow are guided into the first channeling device and the second channeling device, respectively. By way of example here, the first channeling device forms, with an upper hood portion of the covering hood, a duct region which is connected by an outlet region,
The outlet region, for example, may be horizontally oriented, and can have a quadrangular shape and connect to a corresponding inlet region toward the intake system. An ingenious configuration is provided in that, to open the covering hood, the outlet region and the inlet region can be separated from one another, which regions interact with one another with the interposition of an annular sealing body. A noteworthy feature is that the inlet region is connected to a collecting tank which is structurally combined with the compressor of the turbocharger device connected to the intake system.
One feature is a design in which the second partial air flows are channeled via the second channeling device by way of the vertical duct in the direction of the underside of the internal combustion engine and pass from there via the overflow region into the interior of the covering hood, so that the second partial air flows have a heat-reducing influence on the surfaces of the internal combustion engine and of the auxiliary units. As a development here, the duct is formed, on the one hand, by the hood portion of the vertical hood wall and, on the other hand, by boundary portions of the insert of the covering hood. In addition, it is advantageous that the duct region and the insert are connected to the covering hood by adhesive bonding, screwing, or the like.
One feature of the invention is that the fan is driven by way of the vertical crankshaft which projects beyond the upper side of the internal combustion engine. The effect of the air-guiding system is optimized by the fact that, as viewed in the direction of travel of the ship, the inlet opening is arranged adjacent to the rear hood wall and the fan is arranged on the crankshaft close to the front hood wall. The invention is enhanced by the fact that the first crankshaft, which drives the fan forms, together with the second crankshaft, which extends parallel to the first crankshaft, form a crankshaft system of the internal combustion engine in which the crankshafts are in operative connection with at least one reciprocating piston via two connecting rods. The latter is improved by the fact that the crankshafts, which are arranged transversely to the direction of travel on both sides of a center longitudinal plane, have first and second flywheels at their upper ends which project beyond the upper side of the internal combustion engine. The flywheels, as viewed in the vertical direction of the crankshafts, are arranged offset to one another and overlap one another in certain regions, the fan being structurally combined with the upper first flywheel.
Preferably, the first flywheel with fan and the second lower flywheel are covered by a first upper hood portion and a second lower hood portion, respectively, which are formed as a fan-flywheel covering which is produced from one piece or consists of a plurality of parts. In one preferred embodiment, the first hood portion, which dads the fan, is provided with the third channeling device, which has an approximately spiral tangential portion of the fan-flywheel covering. The tangential portion guides the exhaust air conveyed by the fan by way of the outlet opening to the outer side of the covering hood or into the atmosphere. Finally, the fan has an impeller system with mixed flow, radial flow or the like, which can be readily implemented.

Outboard motor, comprising an internal combustion engine


A container level sensor is disclosed comprising an elongate strip member for mounting in a container in a generally upright orientation. The strip member has a measurable capacitance that changes as the level of material stored in the container changes. Two insulated conductive strips, held apart by magnetic forces or resilient spacers, can be used to form a capacitor, with the force of material in the container against the sensor pushing the strips together and thereby changing the capacitance. This change can be measured by a circuit.

It is often necessary to determine the quantity of liquid stored in a tank or the quantity of granular material, such as grain, stored in a bin. Conventionally this is accomplished by climbing to the top of the container and looking in. Remote sensors are used as well which employ various techniques including photo-electric and ultra-sonic techniques which are costly. Changes in resistance of an element as the container level changes has been measured and correlated to bin level, however foreign material and corrosion can cause changes in resistance of the contact points and so is not dependable. Liquid tanks can also use sight glasses mounted on the tank exterior.
A dependable and economic level sensor which can be mounted on the interior of a liquid or particulate container would be beneficial.

Sensor for measuring content levels in containers


Coal-derived mineral matter particles are an effective soil amendment. Coal-derived mineral matter particles added to soil increase the silt and clay fractions of the soil and improve the soil texture. The fine coal-derived mineral matter particles also increase mineral and essential nutrient availability for plant growth. Improved soil texture also increases water holding capacity and cation-exchange capacity (CEC) of the soil. The mineral matter particles typically have a size less than 50 μm and an average size of 10 μm or less. In some non-limiting embodiments, the mineral matter particles mixed with the soil are present in the mixture in an amount ranging from 5 to 30 wt. %. The coal-derived mineral matter particles contain a plurality of essential nutrients necessary for healthy plant growth selected from B, Ca, Cl, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, N, P, K, S, and Zn.

Soil
Soil contains small particles of decomposed rocks and minerals in the form of sand, silt, and clay. Soil consists of many layers called horizons. The top horizon is generally called top soil. Top soil is a mixture of mineral matter, decayed plant and animal organic matter, and micro and macroorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, nematodes and worms. The literature estimates that it takes between 500 and 1000 years for nature to make one inch of topsoil. On the other side, through agricultural, mining and deforestation practices topsoil is being lost and degraded rapidly around the world. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that the United States alone loses almost three tons of topsoil per acre per year ("Summary Report, 2007 Natural Resources Inventory", Natural Resources Conservation Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture. December 2009. p. 97). Small particles are more easily lost to erosion than larger particles.
Soil Texture
Particle size is classified by the USDA into three main groupings: sand, silt and clay (other countries have other systems, though they are comparable). Clay particle sizes are defined as less than 2 μm. Particles between 2 μm and 50 μm are classified as silt. Particles from 50 μm to 2 mm are considered sand. Note that the clay, silt, and sand size classifications do not denote the chemical nature of the particle, just the size classification. Ideal particle balanced soil texture is classified as loam. Loam consists generally of about 40% sand, 40% silt, and 20% clay particles. Very few agricultural fields have the ideal soil texture of loam. In many cases silt and clay have been lost due to erosion. There is a need in the art to provide a method for improving soil texture or the balance of sand, silt and clay.
Mineral and Nutrient Content
Nutrients are essential for healthy plant growth. Most plant nutrients originate from fine silt and clay soil particles. Yet many soils have lost the fine-sized silt and clay and their associated nutrients. There is a need in the art to provide a method for improving agricultural soil nutrient characteristics to promote healthy plant growth and ultimately good human nutrition.

Coal-derived mineral matter as a soil amendment


Increased efficiency and lower cost job scheduling is provided by a system and method that optimizes for cost instead of makespan, and minimizes fluctuations in resource utilization. A schedule is constructed using a workflow scheduling system that includes a load leveler, a cost minimizer, and a manpower planner. The load leveler minimizes makespan, subject to resource limits, and then lowers the resource limits, repeating the process in order to create a flatter schedule. The cost minimizer generates an initial solution, and then incrementally improves it, using the manpower planner to evaluate the different possible solutions. The manpower planner calculates, for a given schedule, the optimal hire/fire decisions to minimize total cost.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to scheduling complex jobs, and particularly to a scheduling system and process that minimizes the cost of job completion.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a wide variety of complex projects that take place throughout the modern global marketplace. Because of the sheer size of these projects, substantial planning and organization is required. For example, one does not just build a building. Rather, one starts with a design, drafts blueprints, and works in stages up to the finished project, overcoming hundreds of hurdles along the way. In terms of the actual construction itself, even this must be well planned ahead of time. For example, certain aspects of a construction project cannot be completed out of sequence. When constructing a ship, one cannot paint the ship until the hull is built. An elevator cannot be installed in a building until there is an elevator shaft. These are two simple examples, but it is easy to understand how there could be hundreds or thousands of constraints such as these in any large project involving construction. Furthermore, we can generalize this problem beyond the construction space. In fact, any large project, whether it be construction, manufacturing, or even the execution of a computer program, that has certain constraints on the utilization of resources, has a need for an efficient allocation of those resources according to some well planned schedule, in order to control the cost of the project.
A variety of automated scheduling techniques has been developed in recent years. These techniques often work by reducing scheduling problems to "Constraint-Satisfaction Problems" (CSPs) and then applying one of a variety of CSP techniques to solving them. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,144, "System and Process for Job Scheduling Using Limited Discrepancy Search," to Ginsberg et al., which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety; and articles by Stephen Smith, Senior Research Scientist, ICL Laboratory, which may be found at http://www.ri.cmu.edu/people/smith_stephen.html. Virtually all of these techniques have been designed to minimize the "makespan" of the schedule in question, i.e., the time taken to complete the job in its entirety. In some cases, an attempt is made to level the resources utilized while the job is in process, for instance as is done by the "Resource Leveling" tool in Microsoft's Project software, but typically the "load leveling" technology is just a misnomer for a search algorithm that minimizes makespan. For example, the load leveling option in Artemis, a commercial scheduler by Artemis Management Systems of Boulder, Colo., requires that the user specify predetermined resource limits. If no schedule can be found that honors these user-specified limits, the deadline of the schedule is slipped as necessary.
In practice, minimizing schedule makespan is often a stand-in for the true optimization goal of minimizing the total cost of resources used during construction. Consider, for example, the cost of labor. This cost is a function of the actual labor cost of the tasks in the schedule itself, which can be represented as La, together with the costs involved in having workers sit idle while waiting for something to do, or hiring and/or firing workers who are no longer needed to complete a project, which can be symbolized as Li. The overall cost of project completion, L, is typically a combination of the actual working costs and the "indirect" costs associated with hiring and layoffs, idle workers and overtime, i.e. L=La+Li.
It has generally been felt that since shorter schedules involve fewer gaps where workers are idle, i.e. lower values of Li, makespan minimization leads to the least expensive schedules. However, even with makespan minimization, there can still be a large amount of inefficiency in the resulting schedules, leading to waste and unnecessary cost. For example, an overly short schedule might incur extra costs to hire the workers needed to complete the task in such a short time, or more generally, it might cause (or fail to prevent) unnecessary variation in the work effort. Even lowering the maximum resource usage does not necessarily minimize the costs associated with the variation in resource usage. For example, suppose the maximum resource usage for a particular resource were lowered to 20 people. The schedule might have 20 people on one day, and two people on the next day, thus incurring substantial inefficiency.
Even small inefficiencies can mean substantially higher costs. A one percent cost increase in the building of a $500 million nuclear submarine is $5 million—hardly negligible.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method for producing a workflow schedule that results in increased efficiency—and thus financial savings—compared to present systems, including those using simple makespan minimization schedules.

System and process for job scheduling to minimize construction costs


An improved trigger mechanism for weapons having full automatic fire capability. Exertion of a first predetermined trigger pressure enables the disconnector to engage the hammer in a semi-automatic fire mode. Exertion of a second, greater trigger pressure disables the disconnector, enabling a full automatic mode of fire.

1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
This invention generally relates to firearms, and specifically to an improved fire control trigger mechanism for machine guns and methods of making and using such mechanism.
2. Background Art
The only trigger assemblies in current production and use for M-16 rifles are the M-16A1 lever-selected mechanism ("Safe-Semi-Auto") and the M-16A2 three-round burst mechanism. A four position selector/trigger assembly exists which combines "safe," "semi," "burst" and "auto" modes, but is only in very limited production.
The M-16A2 burst mechanism comprises a ratchet-and-pawl mechanism which limits the full automatic mode of fire to a three-round maximum thereby requiring trigger release and pull to initiate another three-round burst. The three-round burst mechanism has been criticized by some because it does not reset if less than three rounds are fired. This renders the subsequent burst either one, two or three rounds. Further, trigger pull varies at each point of the burst cycle; unpopularity of the burst mode of fire has resulted in deliberate disablement of the ratchet-and-pawl mechanism by troops in the field.
The Steyr-Aug machine gun does control selection of rate of fire with the trigger, but its design could not be incorporated into the M-16 without totally redesigning the M-16 rifle.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,716,923, to Gaidos, entitled "Firing Mechanism for a Rifle," issued Sep. 6, 1955, perhaps most pertinently, provides semi or full automatic fire modes based upon trigger pull alone. However, Gaidos requires an extremely complex trigger and sear mechanism not adaptable to modern M-16 use. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,290,993, to Irusta, entitled "Release Mechanism for Automatic Firearms," issued Dec. 13, 1966, discloses selective finger-engaging trigger portions enabling either semi-automatic or full automatic fire. U.S. Pat. No. 2,533,283, to Pierce, entitled "Trigger Mechanism," issued Dec. 12, 1950, discloses full automatic to semi-automatic fire in the obsolete Browning Automatic Rifle (M1918) by a selective fire lever. U.S. Pat. No. 2,512,638, also to Gaidos, entitled "Fire Control Selector for Automatic Firearms," issued Jun. 27, 1950, also discloses a selector lever for selecting either semi-automatic or full automatic fire.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,588, to Bronsart, et al., entitled "Trigger Mechanism for Firearms," issued May 26, 1992, discloses a trigger mechanism for bolt action pistols enabling an adjustable sear engagement. U.S. Pat. No. 2,367,280, to Hyde, entitled "Control Means," issued Jan. 16, 1945, discloses a trigger-actuated mechanism for controlling the operation of a semi-automatic rifle to single shot operation. U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,114, to Ketterer, entitled "Trigger Mechanism for Automatic Firearms," issued May 27, 1969, discloses a mechanism for converting semi-automatic fire to full automatic fire, or from closed bolt firing operation to open bolt firing operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,964, to Crandall, entitled "Two-Stage Triggered Adapter," issued Jul. 3, 1990, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,312, to Osborne, entitled "Two Stage Trigger Assembly," issued Feb. 16, 1993, both relate to trigger assemblies providing triggers with two distinct trigger "pulls," thereby indicating imminence of weapon discharge. No functional change in operation of the weapons is imparted by these mechanisms.
It seems clear that the prior art lacks teachings of a simple trigger mechanism specifically designed to alter rate of fire in M-16s and other weapons having a full automatic rate of fire by trigger pressure alone.


A scroll compressor back pressure chamber seal protector is operable to prevent the seal from moving away from a separator plate during reverse rotation. During reverse rotation, a check valve associated with the seal communicates a higher pressure fluid into the back pressure chamber such that a low pressure from an intermediate pressure chamber will not pull the seal away from the separator plate. In this way, the seal is maintained in contact with the separator plate during reverse rotation.

This invention relates to a scroll compressor having a floating seal which has a protection device which is actuated upon reverse rotation.
Scroll compressors are becoming increasingly popular for refrigerant compression applications. In a scroll compressor a first scroll member has a base and a generally spiral wrap extending from the base.
A second scroll member also has a base and a generally spiral wrap extending from its base. The wraps of the first and second scroll member interfit to define compression chambers. The second scroll member is caused to orbit relative to the first scroll member, and as the wraps orbit relative to each other, a refrigerant to be compressed is entrapped and moved toward a discharge port.
As the refrigerant is compressed, a force is created tending to separate the first and second scroll member. One technique utilized to address this separating force is a back pressure chamber. A back pressure chamber is defined by tapping a compressed fluid to a chamber defined by seals behind one of the first or second scroll members. The fluid in the chamber creates a force in opposition to the separating force. In one known type of scroll compressor, the first scroll member, known as the non-orbiting scroll, is axially moveable relative to the second scroll member. A seal is placed in the base of the non-orbiting scroll and defines the back pressure chamber. This seal also separates an inlet zone from a discharge pressure zone.
During normal operation the seal is biased into contact with another component in the scroll compressor. Typically, the seal is biased against a separator plate which defines a discharge pressure chamber above the non-orbiting scroll. The seal is moveable away from the separator plate wall to allow the discharge and suction pressure zones to communicate.
Scroll compressors are sometimes prone to operation in a reverse direction. When the scroll compressor is operated in a reverse direction, the refrigerant is drawn through the discharge port, into the compression chambers, and then outwardly through the suction port. Operation in reverse rotation is undesirable, and potentially detrimental to the scroll compressor.
In the prior art mentioned above, operation in the reverse rotation will typically draw the seal away from the separator plate wall, allowing the discharge and suction pressure zones to communicate. This is true since the fluid which is tapped to the back pressure chamber will be at a very low pressure during reverse rotation. The seal will thus be drawn away from the plate, allowing communication between the discharge and suction pressure zone. This is somewhat undesirable, as oil is allowed to enter the discharge port from the suction pressure zone. The oil is then pumped through the scrolls and out of the compressor through a suction tube. This can lead to a loss of oil within the scroll compressor.
It would be desirable to have a scroll compressor seal which is structured to prevent the communication of the suction and discharge pressure zones during reverse rotation.

Floating seal bias for reverse fun protection in scroll compressor


A patient bed, in particular for a magnetic resonance apparatus, has at least one socket for accommodation of a plug of a device (in particular a local coil) to be arranged at the patient bed. A generation of a force generator that automatically assists or effects the insertion or the unplugging of the plug is built into the socket or is associated with the socket.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a patient bed, in particular for a magnetic resonance apparatus, of the type having at least one socket for accepting a plug of a device (in particular a local coil) to be arranged at the patient bed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Primarily for patient beds used in magnetic resonance apparatuses, it is necessary to use special local coils for image acquisition of specific body regions. These local coils are typically arranged at the patient bed and are appropriately positioned relative to the patient. Signals originating from the examination or measurement volume are acquired by the local coil, and these signals are provided by signal conductors to the control and processing device of the magnetic resonance apparatus for image processing. For this purpose, a socket into which a plug is inserted is provided at the bed, and the coil signals are transferred to the conductor connections of the control and processing device conductor installed at the bed. After the end of the examination the local coil is removed again, by pulling the plug out of the socket.
A very good contacting between the plug and socket is typically required because very weak signals are normally acquired by the local coil, which is why in known plug-socket combinations the plug (which has a number of separate contacts) is very firmly accommodated in the socket contacts provided in identical number. While the plugging movement (in which the plug is, for example, placed vertically into the socket from above) is still relatively simple to effect by medical technology personnel, the unplugging is very labor-intensive and consequently difficult due to the very firm accommodation of the plug. The unplugging frequently is accomplished by jiggling somewhat at the plug or twisting the plug in order to loosen it, which can lead to deformation of the contacts if undertaken frequently. In order to simplify the unplugging it is known to provide a manually operated ejection aid that is located at a protective lid covering the socket, the protective lid being opened only when a plug is to be inserted. Two lever arms are provided at one end of the protective lid, these lever arms engaging below two lateral segments of the inserted plug in the opened position. For unplugging, the cover lid is further pivoted so that the lever arms strike the plug from below and push it out from the socket. It sometimes occurs that one or both arms break off due to the strong loading of the lever arms, or that the cover lid is over-pressured and is consequently ripped from its pivot bearing.

Patient bed with force generator to assist or effect movement of a device plug in a bed socket


User interface frameworks may provide an environment for developers to design and arrange user interface elements within a design layout to create a user interface. Many times UI elements comprise non-integer size values (e.g., height, width, position, etc.) due to text, user specified data, and/or centering, for example. Rendering UI elements at non-integer size values may create display artifacts because of sub-pixel rendering. Accordingly, as provided herein, a set of rules may be applied during design layout to non-integer size values to create integer size values (e.g., non-integer size values may be rounded to the nearest integer). Using integer size values in arranging UI elements within a design layout, allows undesirable display artifacts to be mitigated during rendering.

User interface frameworks provide a development environment for user interfaces. The UI framework may render a user interface as a design layout comprising objects on a display. Some UI frameworks allow a user to manually layout objects within the design layout, while other UI frameworks provide an automatic layout of objects. For example, a user may design a user interface comprising an image, a button with text, and a label. The UI framework may automatically layout the image, the button with text, and the label within a design layout (e.g., sizes and positions may be designated). The design layout may then be rendered as pixels on a display.


A body fluid absorbent inner panel including a topsheet, a backsheet, a core disposed therebetween and a pair of liquid-barrier side sheets longitudinally extending on the outer surface of the topsheet wherein a male type face fastener adapted to be anchored on the inner surface of an outer member serving to hold the inner panel is bonded to the lower surface of the backsheet and the barrier-side sheets extend from transversely opposite side edges of the inner panel on the lower surface of the backsheet and joined to the backsheet and the face fastener so as to cover transversely opposite ends of the face fastener.

This invention relates to a body fluid absorbent inner panel used for disposable articles such as urine absorbent pads for incontinent patient, diaper liners or panty-liners to absorb and hold body fluids discharged onto such articles.
Japanese Patent Application Disclosure No. 1997-276312 describes an auxiliary pad comprising a liquid-pervious topsheet, a liquid-impervious backsheet, a liquid-absorbent core disposed between these two sheets and a rectangular face fastener having a plurality of hook elements and attached to the outer surface of the backsheet. The face fastener has its corners rounded and is attached to the pad in the vicinity of its urine discharged region which is nearer to one of longitudinally opposite ends of the pad. The face fastener attached to the pad in the vicinity of its urine discharged region prevents the pad from shifting from the urination organ and thereby reliably absorbs urine discharged onto the pad.
With the pad disclosed by the above identified Disclosure, the face fastener has its corners rounded. However, even the corners of the face fastener rounded in this manner can not be free from a possibility of being turned up and eventually peeled off from the pad as the inner surface of the article, for example, a diaper cover or incontinent pants to which the pad has been attached and the face fastener rub together or the pad moves during use of such article. Once the corners of the face fastener have been peeled off from the pad, the edge of the face fastener may irritate the wearer""s skin and give the wearer uncomfortable feeling.
It is an object of this invention to propose a body fluid absorbent inner panel provided with a face fastener of male type having corners well resistant to peeling off and not apprehensive of giving the wearer uncomfortable feeling.
According to this invention, there is provided a body fluid absorbent inner panel contoured by transversely opposite side edges extending longitudinally of the panel and longitudinally opposite ends extending transversely of the inner panel, the panel comprising a liquid-pervious topsheet, a liquid-impervious backsheet, a liquid-absorbent core disposed therebetween and a pair of liquid-resistant leak-barrier sheets, wherein each of the barrier side sheets has a fixed edge joined to the topsheet along the side edge of the inner panel, a free edge provided with a longitudinally extending elastic member secured under tension thereto and biased by the elastic member to rise on an outer surface of the topsheet and fixed ends bonded to the topsheet at the ends of the inner panel. At least one male type face fastener of a substantially rectangular shape continuously extends transversely of the inner panel and is joined to a lower surface of the backsheet in a predetermined region thereof so that the face fastener is anchored on an inner surface of an outer member serving to hold the inner panel; and the fixed edges and/or the fixed ends of the respective barrier side sheets extend outward beyond the side edges of the inner panel over the lower surface of the backsheet and are bonded to the backsheet and the face fastener so as to cover transversely opposite ends of the face fastener lying on the side edges of the inner panel.
In one preferred embodiment of this invention, the face fastener has a base sheet and a plurality of hook elements rising on an outer surface of the base sheet and the hook elements are formed on the face fastener in a region thereof except the transversely opposite ends.
In another preferred embodiment of this invention, a hook elements-formed side extends at a level higher than outer surfaces of the barrier side sheets at the ends thereof.


In the filtration of fluid materials, the removal of particulate from the moving stream requires substantial pressure to maintain flow and substantial capacity for removing particulate. The filters of the invention are rugged, high wet strength materials having a basis weight, permeability and efficiency suitable to obtain substantial reduction in particulate loading from liquid streams without plugging or mechanical failure. In particular, the filters of the invention permit the removal of substantial proportions of particulate from non-aqueous streams including lubricant oils, hydraulic fluids and other contaminated streams.

Non-woven webs have been manufactured for many years for many end uses, including filtration media. Such structures made from bicomponent or sheath-core materials are disclosed in, for example, Wincklhofer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,160; Sanders, U.S. Pat. No. 3,639,195; Perrotta, U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,540; Gessner, U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,827; Nielsen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,764; Nielsen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,765; Powers et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,459; Berger, U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,641; Berger, U.S. Pat. No. 6,174,603; Hollingsworth et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,436; Dong, U.S. Pat. No. 6,251,224; Sovari et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,355,079; Hunter, U.S. Pat. No. 6,419,721; Cox et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,419,839; Stokes et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,528,439; Amsler, U.S. Pat. No. H2,086 and Amsler, U.S. Pat. No. 6,267,252. Such structures have been made by both air laid and wet laid processing and have been used in both air and liquid filtration applications with some degree of success. In this regard we have found that the previous non-woven webs that are used for particulate removal from mobile fluids often suffer from a lack of mechanical strength and short useful life when wet by liquid under filtration condition. Often the pressure of the fluid exceeds the wet burst strength of the media. The media can also become rapidly plugged and reduced in permeability causing reduced flow or failure of fluid movement. Burst or plugged media rapidly fail to filter particulate. A burst media would fail to protect the equipment from particulate it was designed to protect. Substantially increased or high pressure drop would restrict the fluid flow resulting in loss of fluid flow and power.
Many attempts to obtain non-woven structures with suitable perforate or porous supports have been attempted. Melt blown materials and thermal lamination techniques have been attempted, however, the resulting structures often obtain incorrect pore sizes, reduced efficiency, reduced permeability, lack of strength or other problems rendering the media or filter structure insufficient for useful filtration applications.
A substantial need exists for filtration media, filter structures and filtration methods that can be used for removing particulate materials from liquid compositions, such as aqueous liquids and in particular, non-aqueous liquids such as fuels, lubricating oils and hydraulic fluids. The invention provides such media, filtration structures and methods and provides a unique media or media layer combinations that achieve substantial permeability, high wet strength, substantial efficiency and long filtration life.

High strength, high capacity filter media and structure


To prevent rotation of a generally flat, or planar, grid having three inline beam passing apertures, where the two outer apertures are asymmetric in shape, during assembly of a multi-beam electron gun for use in a color cathode ray tube (CRT), an electron gun alignment jig having three inline generally cylindrical mandrels in combination with a generally flat spacer plate is used. Each of the three mandrels is inserted in a respective grid aperture and the grid is placed in contact with the flat spacer plate. The flat spacer plate includes a recessed portion with an alignment slot. The grid includes a lateral alignment tab adapted for insertion in the spacer plate's matching alignment slot in a tight-fitting manner. With the alignment tab inserted in the alignment slot, the three inline apertures are in precise alignment in the alignment jig and grid rotation is prevented to facilitate electron gun assembly. Also to assist in grid alignment during electron gun assembly, a grid positioning jig includes a pair of spaced movable gripping elements each adapted to securely engage a respective lateral edge of the grid for positioning the grid in the electron gun assembly jig. In one embodiment, the positioning jig includes first and second spaced, inwardly urged gripping elements adapted for insertion in respective recessed portions, or notches, in opposed lateral edges of the grid. Apparatus for attaching the grid to the positioning jig includes a movable member in a mandrel for engaging the grid adjacent an asymmetric aperture.

Color CRTs as used in television receivers and computer terminals employ multiple electron beams for providing a video image comprised of the primary colors of red, green and blue on a display screen. Typically, three electron beams are directed onto and scan the display screen in a raster-like manner. A common color CRT design has the three electron beams arranged in an inline array. An electron gun in the color CRT typically employs plural cathodes for generating energetic electrons in combination with apertured, charged grids aligned along the electron gun's longitudinal axis. Each of the charged grids typically includes three inline beam passing apertures for forming the energetic electrons into three separate beams and for focussing the beams on the CRT's display screen.
In order to provide a high quality color video image on the CRT's display screen, each of the gun's charged grids must be in precise position and alignment along the electron gun's longitudinal axis. An alignment jig incorporating three spaced mandrels is typically used for positioning and aligning the grids during electron gun assembly. Where the three inline electron beam passing apertures are circular, cylindrically shaped mandrels are employed for engaging those portions of the grid defining the three inline apertures therein. The cylindrically shaped mandrels provide the requisite alignment precision of the grids necessary for electron gun assembly.
However, in some cases non-circular beam passing apertures are provided in the electron gun grid for improved video image quality. For example, the two outer electron beam passing apertures may be provided with an asymmetric, e.g., eccentric, shape to compensate for the asymmetric electrostatic field applied to the two outer electron beams. This asymmetric electrostatic field arises from the inline alignment of the three electron beams and the shape of the common lens portions of grids in the electron gun's main focus lens. The use of a cylindrical mandrel inserted in an asymmetric beam passing aperture typically gives rise to rotation of the grid during electron gun assembly. Rotation of the grid misaligns the grid's electron beam passing apertures resulting in a degradation of video image quality presented on the CRT's display screen.
The present invention addresses the aforementioned limitations of the prior art by providing for the precise alignment of grids having asymmetric beam passing apertures during electron gun assembly. The present invention also provides apparatus for the stable and secure positioning of electron gun grids during electron gun assembly.

Alignment of asymmetric apertured grids for electron gun assembly


A serial data clock receiver circuit (11) is provided that synchronizes a clock signal to data. The serial data clock receiver circuit (11) comprises a control circuit (21), a dual oscillator circuit (19), and a phase locked loop circuit (22). The control circuit (21) arms the dual oscillator circuit (19) for being enabled during an idle period. The phase locked loop circuit (22) provides a reference voltage for the dual oscillator circuit (19). The dual oscillator circuit (19) is responsive to both the data and control circuit (19) for providing a clock signal.

This invention relates, in general, to high speed digital communication, and more particularly, to non-return to zero (NRZ) serial data receiver clock synchronization.
High speed communication lines are capable of sending data at extremely fast rates. For example, NRZ data is sent as a stream of bit logic levels at speeds approaching 1.8 gigahertz. The high speed of data transfer imposes significant constraints on the tolerances of circuitry receiving data. One problem is the waveform of the data itself at high frequencies. The data does not appear as a pulse with well defined edge transitions, but looks more like a sine-wave at high frequencies. Error in detecting the logic state of such a data waveform is minimized by sampling the waveform in the middle of the data bit period as illustrated in FIG. 1.
NRZ data is sent at a predetermined frequency. The sender (or data transmitter) typically has an accurate oscillator operating at the predetermined frequency. The receiver has its own oscillator operating at the same predetermined frequency.. The receiver must know the data phase and frequency to detect the logic state in the middle of the data bit period. The data phase is only revealed by data transitions. The phase can be lost without data transitions because the receiver oscillator drifts with respect to the sender oscillator.
One approach to insure synchronization is to use dual gated slave oscillators that resynchronize the clock phase to incoming data transitions. A first example of such a system is described in "A 660 Mb/s CMOS Clock Recovery Circuit with instantaneous Locking for NRZ Data and Burst-Mode Transmission" by Mihai Banu and Alfred Dunlop, from the 1993 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference which is hereby incorporated by reference. A second example is described in "Clock Recovery Circuits with Instantaneous Locking" by Mihai Banu and Alfred Dunlop, from Electronic Letters, Nov. 5th 1992, Vol. 28, No. 23, which is hereby incorporated by reference. The dual gated slave oscillators are started and stopped by a transitioning input signal. But it is important to note that only one oscillator operates at any time. The circuitry forces each oscillator to be in phase synchronization with the data once it is started.
A problem may occur when the data does not transition for an extended period of time. The NRZ data is asynchronous with respect to the clock of the receiver. If the clock drifts during the extended period of time a condition of metastability may occur. Metastability is a condition where clock and data are asynchronous with one another. A physical link protocol has been developed to eliminate this problem. A sync bit is inserted before each data byte to insure the receiver clock remains phase coherent with the NRZ data.
There will be times when the communication lines are idle. A free running receiver clock will drift during the idle time. The receiver clock becomes asynchronous with data that is input after the idle time. If this occurs there is a possibility of metastability. A sync bit cannot be used during the idle time because the receiver circuit would assume that data is being transmitted.
Hence, it would be of great benefit if a serial data receiver clock synchronization circuit could be developed which eliminates the possibility of metastability after an idle period in data transmission.

Serial data clock recovery circuit using dual oscillator circuit


An in-hole motor drill assembly has the rotor of the motor connected to the drill bit and a housing connected to the running string, and normally disengaged torque transmitting members between said housing and said drill bit provide for engaging said bit and running string for mutual rotation, by pulling on the running string. The torque transmitting members are locked in engagement, enabling the tension on the drill pipe string to be relieved, and the bit can be rotated by rotation of the drill pipe string in either direction. The usual pick-up bearing between the housing and the shaft provides an abutment for a releasable thrust transmitting member which normally holds the clutch disengaged.

In the drilling of bore holes into or through earth formation, such as in the drilling of oil or gas wells, utilizing a rotary drill bit, it may occur, from time to time, that the bit may be stuck in the earth formation or debris in the bore hole, for example, either due to the caving in of the bore hole wall, or due to the formation of a key seat in the hard earth formation. When the bit is stuck, under such circumstances, it is difficult, if not impossible, to pull the drill string and bit from the bore hole. In the case of drilling by the usual rotary method, wherein the drill bit is attached to the lower end of a rotary string of drill pipe, it is an easy matter to rotate the drill pipe by the usual rotary table as an upward pull is being applied to the drill pipe, to assist in the release of the stuck bit.
In the case of in-hole motor drill assemblies of the electrical or fluid motor types wherein the rotary drill bit is driven by the in-hole motor interposed between the running string and the bit, there is no positive interlock between the rotor and the drill string, so that it is not possible to cause the bit to rotate by rotation of the running or drill pipe string or fluid conduit above the motor. The reaction torque of such in-hole motors is, generally, taken by a rotary table at the surface of the bore hole, whereby the drill pipe string can either be held stationary or, if desired, rotated to obviate the wedging of the string. If the bit becomes stuck in the bore hole, such in-hole motors will stall and continued rotation of the bit may not be possible, notwithstanding the availability of additional drilling fluid pressure or electromotive force. When such motor drills are stalled in the bore hole, rotation of the running pipe string by the rotary table is ineffective to cause bit rotation, since there is no positive rotary drive between the stator and the rotor and the bit remains wedged, or stuck, in the hole. As a consequence, when an in-hole motor drill has the drill bit stuck in the bore hole, an attempt can be made to pull the running pipe string and the motor drill from the bore hole, without rotating the bit, and various jarring devices have been utilized in the drill pipe string to assist in applying upward jarring forces to the drill pipe string and to the bit, in an effort to dislodge the latter.
In the event that the bit remains stuck, the practice has been to break the drill pipe joint above the motor drill assembly, if possible, in a known manner, whereby the drill pipe string can be retrieved to the drilling rig and, thereafter, to sidetrack the bore hole around the motor and bit which remain in the hole. Such practices result in great losses in time and costs.
Pending application Ser. No. 957,179, filed Nov. 2, 1978, by Trzeciak, relates to an in-hole motor drill apparatus, wherein the rotor of the motor is connected to the drill bit by a rotary drive connection through a clutch between the running string and the bit, including torque transmitting members, which can enable the stator or housing of the motor, in the event that the bit becomes stuck in the hole, to positively transmit torque to the bit, in response to rotation of the drill pipe string.
In a specific form the torque transmitting members interlock to enable the application of pulling force to the bit as it is rotated by the pipe string in one direction.
More particularly, a normally disengaged rotary clutch is provided between the motor housing and the bit and is engaged when weight is applied through the motor housing, by the drill pipe string, in excess of that normally applied during the drilling of the bore hole. In this connection, it will be understood that the progression of the bore hole, as the bit rotates, during normal drilling operations, is dependent upon the thrust or weight of the drill string applied to the cutting elements of the bit through the motor housing, such weight being transmitted to the in-hole motor drive shaft through a bearing which supports the drive shaft within the motor housing for rotation.
However, if the bit is stuck in soft formation, the application of additional weight may interfere with efforts to release the bit because the bit is forced deeper into the formation in which it is stuck.
In the companion application by Bela Geczy, Ser. No. 067,882, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,532, there is disclosed a bit clutch which can be engaged, if the bit is stuck, by applying an upward pull to the running pipe string, to engage the clutch by overcoming the resistance of strong springs which require the application of a pull on the pipe string on the order of, say, 100,000 pounds. The construction is one which requires that the pull be maintained during rotation of the bit, by rotation of the running pipe string.
Furthermore, the bearing assemblies of in-hole motors have a pick-up or off bottom bearing which transmits upward thrust to the shaft when the housing is elevated to pull the assembly from the bore hole or allow circulation of fluid while the bit is off bottom. Such pick-up bearings normally limit the permissible longitudinal upward movement of the housing relative to the shaft, and, therefore, engagement of the clutch responsive to additional upward movement of the housing requires a predetermined relationship in the structure of the pick-up bearing and the clutch to allow the additional movement required to engage the clutch.

In-hole motor drill with locking bit clutch


A dog collar has a receiver unit which is selectively and remotely actuated by a conventional transmitter. When actuated, the receiver unit emits a sound audible to the dog, thereby allowing an individual to communicate with his dot. The emitted sound can be either a simple tone or a human voice.

A dog owner who has access to an open field generally prefers to let his canine companion run free. This situation promotes the interests of both parties: the dog reaps the benefits of unrestrained exercise by roaming carefree across the field, and the owner or master relaxes and enjoys this time since he is not chained to his dog. Unfortunately, the dog has an innate tendency to roam too far. When the master calls the dog home, the dog is often too far to hear his master's calls.
Systems have been proposed for remotely communicating with animate objects, such as humans or other animals. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,272 discloses a dual communication system between parent and child, or between master and pet, in which both parties carry devices containing transmitters and receivers. The child's device also contains an audible alarm. If a parent wants to monitor his child, he transmits a signal to the child's device. The child's device responds by transmitting a return signal. Based upon the strength of the signal, the parent can determine the child's whereabouts. The parent can also actuate the audible alarm on the child's device by transmitting a signal. The alarm is intended to cause an abductor to release the child by frightening him or drawing attention to him.
A communications device that specifically relates to dog collars is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,336,530 which describes a directional finding system for hunting dogs. Here, a transmitter, affixed to the collar, continuously transmits a signal. The master, equipped with a receiver, determines his location relative to the dog based upon the strength of the input signal.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,589,337, a system is disclosed which administers an electric shock to a dog. The electric impulse is generated by a transmitter/receiver tandem. Therefore, by remotely transmitting a signal, the master administers the shock directly to the dog. Because this device can only communicate with the dog via an electric impulse, its utility is limited to a deterrent device.
Another deterrent device for dogs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,882. This device causes a mild shock or unpleasant noise to be administered to a dog as it approaches the walls of a pen or other confined area. The deterrent signal "persuades" the dog to stay within the restricted area.
Systems have also been proposed for identifying inanimate objects. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,314 discloses a remotely-actuated sounding device for locating magazines. The sounding device, which is attached to a magazine, can be actuated by a transmitter and receiver. More particularly, by transmitting a signal having a preselected frequency, the user actuates the sounding device, which emits an audible sound, thereby guiding him to his magazine.


A new family of crystalline aluminosilicate zeolites has been synthesized. These zeolites are represented by the empirical formula.Mmn+Rr+Al(1-x)ExSiyOz where M represents a combination of potassium and sodium exchangeable cations, R is a singly charged organoammonium cation such as the propyltrimethylammonium cation and E is a framework element such as gallium. These zeolites are similar to MWW but are characterized by unique x-ray diffraction patterns and compositions and have catalytic properties for carrying out alkylation processes.

Zeolites are crystalline aluminosilicate compositions which are microporous and which are formed from corner sharing AlO2 and SiO2 tetrahedra. Numerous zeolites, both naturally occurring and synthetically prepared are used in various industrial processes. Synthetic zeolites are prepared via hydrothermal synthesis employing suitable sources of Si, Al and structure directing agents such as alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, amines, or organoammonium cations. The structure directing agents reside in the pores of the zeolite and are largely responsible for the particular structure that is ultimately formed. These species balance the framework charge associated with aluminum and can also serve as space fillers. Zeolites are characterized by having pore openings of uniform dimensions, having a significant ion exchange capacity, and being capable of reversibly desorbing an adsorbed phase which is dispersed throughout the internal voids of the crystal without significantly displacing any atoms which make up the permanent zeolite crystal structure. Topological zeolites can be used as catalysts for hydrocarbon conversion reactions, which can take place on outside surfaces as well as on internal surfaces within the pore.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,171 an EU-4 zeolite is described. The template propyltrimethylammonium hydroxide is used in the synthesis of EU-4. However, the silica to alumina ratio of the product EU-4 is higher than 49.1.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,892,511 another zeolite, UZM-15, is described. The template propyltrimethylammonium hydroxide is used in the synthesis of UZM-15, but only as an additive to another template; and not as the sole template.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,575,737 another zeolite, UZM-27 is synthesized with a propyltrimethylammonium hydroxide template in conjunction with calcium.
Applicants have successfully prepared a new family of materials designated UZM-37. The topology of the materials is similar to that observed for MWW. The materials are prepared via the use of a simple commercially available structure directing agent, such as propyltrimethylammonium hydroxide, using the Charge Density Mismatch Approach to zeolite synthesis (U.S. Pat. No. 7,578,993). The organoammonium compounds used to make UZM-37 zeolite are non-cyclic or contain cyclic substituents and are generally quite simple. Examples of organoammonium compounds used to make UZM-37 include propyltrimethylammonium (PTMA) and isopropyltrimethylammonium (1-PTMA) cations.
Alkylation of aromatic compounds with a C2 to C4 olefin and transalkylation of polyalkylaromatic compounds are two common reactions for producing monoalkylated aromatic compounds such as cumene and ethylbenzene. Examples of these two reactions that are practiced industrially to produce cumene (isopropylbenzene) are the alkylation of benzene with propylene and the transalkylation of benzene and a diisopropylbenzene (DIPB). The alkylation reaction forms cumene and common byproducts such as DIPBs and triisopropylbenzenes (TIPBs). DIPBs, TIPBs, and some of the higher polyisopropylbenzenes can be readily transalkylated by benzene to produce cumene. Alkylation and transalkylation reactions may be combined in one process unit in a single reaction zone or multiple reaction zones.
The UZM-37 family of materials is effective in carrying out the alkylation of aromatic with alkylating reagents. It is able to provide and maintain high conversion of olefins such as ethylene and propylene, high selectivity to mono-alkylated products such as ethylbenzene and cumene (isopropylbenzene), and high total alkylated selectivity over a range of benzene to olefin molar ratios of interest to commercial operation due to UZM-37's particular pore geometry and framework Si/Al ratio. The UZM-37 zeolite contains significant amounts of Al in the tetrahedral framework, with the mole ratio of Si/Al ranging from about 8 to about 20.

Aromatic alkylation process using UZM-37 aluminosilicate zeolite


A system includes an interface with a plurality of sub-addresses. The interface receives critical data and non-critical data. The critical data are received only at more specific sub-addresses of the interface. The interface transfers the critical data received at the sub-addresses to a critical processor, such that the critical data avoids being received by or being processed by a non-critical processor. The interface transfers the non-critical data from the interface to the non-critical processor. The configuration of the interface is hard-coded such that the configuration of the interface is fixed at power up of the interface and is non-changeable by the non-critical processor. The interface includes an external platform interface that is external to the critical processor, the non-critical processor, and a local controller. The external platform interface includes a limited ability to store the critical and non-critical data.

In some data processing environments, such as in a military data processing environment, data can be identified as safety critical data and other data can be identified as non-safety critical data. Safety critical data, or simply just critical data, are data that are of critical importance to the proper functioning of a system, such as a weapons system. Non-critical data are data that are not safety critical. Safety critical data can only be received, processed, and stored by a processor and software that is certified to handle such safety critical data. Consequently, when safety critical data is transferred from a bus controller (such as a MIL-STD-1553 Bus Controller Interface) to a bus or other device (such as a MIL-STD-1553 bus), the local processor reads data from the Remote Terminal Interface and transfers the critical data using a bus controller to the safety critical subsystem. All software that interfaces with the bus controller and remote terminal must go through extensive testing for safety critical data handling to verify that only non-safety critical data is received by the local processor.
Filtering logic for such an integrated subsystem is typically done using an external computer and software, making it rather difficult to certify for a safety critical environment since there are so many possible methods of corruption and storage of safety critical data from these interfaces. The cost involved for certification with an external computer and software is not insubstantial. Furthermore, several critical failure modes exist in such a system due to environmental upsets from nuclear and space radiation to the systems' soft configurations that are stored in registers and memory, thereby causing unpredicted results and possible rejection of the system for safety critical applications.


A waveguide having a bi-directional optical transmission structure comprises: a main waveguide which is formed in a preset direction; a branch waveguide which is connected to at least one of both ends of the main waveguide; and a reflector which is placed at an intersection where the branch waveguide and the at least one of both ends of the main waveguide are connected, and which has a different refraction index from the refraction index of the main waveguide and the refraction index of the branch waveguide, wherein the reflector refracts or reflects in different forms the bidirectional light signals for transmission and reception, and thereby directs the light signal for transmission to the main waveguide, and separates the light signal for reception to the branch waveguide.

According to the related art, two optical waveguides are used to bi-directionally transmit an optical signal, so that the two optical waveguides are classified into a transmitting optical waveguide and a receiving optical waveguide to transmit the bi-directional optical signals. However, according to the related art, since two optical waveguides are used over the whole optical signal transmission path, the whole optical signal transmission path may be huge.
In addition, differently from the scheme of bi-directional transmission of optical signals described above, as another example of the relate art, there is a scheme of transmitting and receiving optical signals through a single optical waveguide by using the difference in wavelength or polarization. However, since the scheme is required to provide a separated optical device having a function of separating an optical signal on a waveguide according to the wavelength or polarization, the scheme may be complexed in structure.
Thus, in the present disclosure, there is proposed a waveguide having a bi-directional optical transmission structure, which refracts or reflects transmitting and receiving optical signal incident upon a reflector in mutually different forms by using the reflector arranged at an intersection where a main waveguide crosses a branch waveguide connected to at least one of the opposite ends of the main waveguide, instead of the separated optical device.

Waveguide having bi-directional optical transmission structure

KOREA ADVANCED INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


An envelope pull opener includes a pair of pull tabs and a tearing filament. A single pull tab is attached to each end of the tearing filament. A peel-off adhesive surface is applied to one side of the pull tab. Preferably, the other side of the pull tab is structured to have a logo, picture, or other graphical representation applied thereto. The pull tab is preferably round, but could be any other shape such as square or triangular. In a second embodiment, the pull tab opener has a single pull tab on each end and an anchor tab attached in substantially the middle of the tearing filament. A third embodiment includes, a rigid envelope pull opener includes a first arm, a second arm, a pivotal connector, and a pair of pull tabs. A single pull tab is attached to an end of each arm. The other end of each arm is pivotal constrained by the pivotal connector. In a fourth embodiment, a sliding envelope pull opener includes a single pull tab on each end of a stationary filament; one end of a sliding filament slidably retainer by the stationary filament; and a slide tab affixed to the other end of the sliding filament. In a fifth embodiment, a decorative pull tab is attached to a pull filament of an existing envelope or to the detachable portion of a perforated envelope. In a sixth embodiment, the pull tab is attached to a mini-letter opener. The mini-letter opener is used to open the envelope.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to envelopes and more specifically to an envelope pull opener which may be sold separately from an envelope or included as part of an envelope.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
There are numerous patents which disclose envelopes which are designed to reduce the amount of effort required to open an envelope. Some of these patents include U.S. Pat. No. 1,176,640 to Barber, U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,585 to Kazaros, U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,376 to Kent et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,877 to Lee. None of these patents disclose offering envelope pull openers in bulk and applying the envelope pull openers to the envelopes of the user""s choice. Further, the above patents disclose a substantial length of tearing wire, string, strip or other tearing filament which must be adhered to the envelope. Adhering a substantial length of the tearing filament to an envelope makes user installation of a envelope pull opener more difficult.
Finally, none disclose the utilization of the various opener elements for decorative, promotional or advertising purposes.
Accordingly, there is a clearly felt need in the art for an envelope pull opener which may be sold separately and attached to an envelope of the user""s choice; an envelope pull opener which increases the probability that an envelope will be opened by a recipient; an envelope pull opener which makes it enjoyable to open an envelope; and an envelope pull opener which does not require a substantial length of the tearing filament to be adhered to the envelope. And an envelope pull opener in which the appropriate elements of the opening structures may be deployed to provide additional visual stimulation for decorative or promotional purposes.
The present invention provides an envelope pull opener which may be attached to an envelope of a user""s choice or included as an integral portion thereof. The envelope pull opener includes a pair of generally flat pull tabs and a tearing filament. A single pull tab is attached to each end of the tearing filament. A peel-off laminate label, covering an adhesive surface is formed on one side of the pull tab. Preferably, the other side of the pull tab is structured to have a logo, picture, or other graphical representation applied thereto. The pull tab is preferably round, but could be any other shape such as square or triangular, or, in fact, have any geometry whose borders circumscribes any object, word, picture or logo the sender may be interested in presenting.
In a second embodiment, the pull tab opener has a single pull tab on each end and an anchor tab attached somewhere along the length of the envelope fold, preferably at substantially the middle of the tearing filament. The anchor tab has an adhesive surface on a back thereof similar to the pull tab. In a third embodiment, a rigid envelope pull opener includes a first arm, a second arm, a pivotal connector, and a pair of pull tabs. A single pull tab is attached to an end of the first arm and to an end of the second arm.
In a fourth embodiment, a sliding envelope pull opener includes a single pull tab on each end of a stationary filament, a sliding filament, and a slide tab affixed to one end of the sliding filament. The other end of the sliding filament slides relative to the length of the stationary filament. In a fifth embodiment, a decorative pull tab is attached to a pull filament of an existing envelope or to the detachable portion of a perforated envelope. In a sixth embodiment, the pull tab is attached to a mini-letter opener.
The envelope pull opener is preferably installed in an envelope in the following manner. The material to be mailed is inserted into the envelope. The adhesive portion of the closure flap is wetted or the laminate label peeled-off. The tearing filament is placed in the fold between a closure flap and a front panel of an envelope. The pair of pull tabs are outside the envelope. The closure flap is folded over and sealed against a back panel of the envelope. The laminate label is peeled off the back of each pull tab, exposing adhesive material, and the pull tabs are pressed on to the closure flap or back panel of the envelope.
A first alternative of the envelope pull opener places one of the pull tabs inside the envelope. A second alternative of the envelope pull opener provides attaching one of the pull tabs to an inside of the envelope. The other pull tab is placed on a back or front of the envelope. A side of the envelope may be opened with the tearing filament.
A third alternative of the envelope pull opener is forming a slit in the envelope. One of the pull tabs is attached to the inside of the envelope at a bottom end. The other pull tab is inserted through the slit and attached to the back or front panel of the envelope. A fourth alternative of the envelope pull opener is attaching one of the pull tabs to the back of the front panel or closure flap. The other pull tab is attached to the back panel of the envelope.
In the second embodiment, the anchor tab is pressed on to the a back of the front panel or closure flap. Each end of the tearing filament is placed in the fold at each end of the envelope. In the third embodiment, the pivotal connector is attached to the back of the front panel or closure flap. The ends of the first and second arms are placed in the fold at each end of the envelope. The closure flap is sealed and the pull tabs attached to the front or back of the envelope.
In the fourth embodiment, one pull tab is attached to one top end of the front panel and the other pull tab is attached to the other end top end of the front panel. The sliding tab is preferably attached to the back panel at a center thereof. The sliding tab is slide in one direction and then the other to separate the closure flap seal. In the fifth embodiment, the pull tab acts as an attractive decoration and also provides extra leverage to pull the pull filament or separate the detachable portion from an envelope. In the sixth embodiment, the pull tab is detached from the envelope. The pull tab is pulled until the mini-letter opener is removed. The mini-letter opener is used to open the envelope.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an envelope pull opener which may be sold separately and attached to an envelope of a user""s choice.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an envelope pull opener which does not require a substantial length of the tearing filament to be adhered to the envelope.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an envelope pull opener which increases the probability that an envelope will be opened by a recipient.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an envelope pull opener which makes it enjoyable to open an envelope.
Finally, it is another object of the present invention to provide for the utilization of the various opener elements for decorative, promotional or advertising purposes.
These and additional objects, advantages, features and benefits of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification.


A method for performing free space collection in an information storage system and an information storage system (104) are described. The information storage system (104) is a log structured system having storage units (106) in which information segments (202, 204) are located. Free space collection is carried out in the storage units by using a fitness value to evaluate segments (204). The fitness value is determined as the product of the amount of free space in a segment (204) and the expected time the free space will last (310). Segments (204) are chosen for free space collection if they have the maximum fitness value (312). The segments (204) are sorted into groups by the amount of used data in each segment (204) and the fitness value is determined for one segment from each group.

Log structured storage systems have been developed as a form of disk storage management to improve disk access time. Log structured file systems use the assumption that files are cached in a main memory and that increasing memory sizes will make the caches more effective at responding to read requests. As a result, disk use is dominated by writes. A log structured file system writes all new information to disk in a sequential structure call a log. New information is stored at the end of the log rather than updated in place, to reduce disk seek activity. As information is updated, portions of data records at intermediate locations of the log become outdated. This approach increases write performance by eliminating almost all seeks. The sequential nature of the log also permits faster crash recovery.
Some file systems incorporate the use of logging as an auxiliary structure to speed up writes and crash recovery by using the log only for temporary storage; the permanent home for information is in a traditional random access storage structure on disk.
In a log structured file system, data is stored permanently in the log and there is no other structure on disk. The log contains indexing information so that files can be read back with efficiency. For a log structured file system to operate efficiently, it must ensure that there are always large extents of free space available for writing new data.
Log structured file systems are described in "The Design and Implementation of a Log structured File System" by M. Rosenblum and J. K. Ousterhout, ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, Vol. 10 No. 1, February 1992, pages 26-52.
Log structured disks (LSD) and log structured arrays (LSA) are disk architectures which use the same approach as the log structured file systems (LFS). The present invention applies equally to all forms of log structured storage systems including LSD, LSA and LSF systems. However, focus is directed to LSAs by means of example and explanation in the description of the background art and the description of the present invention.
A log structured array (LSA) has been developed based on the log structured file system approach but is executed in an outboard disk controller. Log structured arrays combine the log structured file system architecture and a disk array architecture such as the well-known RAID (redundant arrays of inexpensive disks) architecture with a parity technique to improve reliability and availability. RAID architecture is described in "A Case for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)", Report No. UCBICSD 87/391, December 1987, Computer Sciences Division, University of California, Berkeley, Calif. "A Performance Comparison of RAID 5 and Log Structured Arrays", Proceedings of the Fourth IEEE International Symposium on High Performance Distributed Computing, 1995, pages 167-178 gives a comparison between LSA and RAID 5 architectures.
An LSA consists of a disk controller and an array of N+1 physical disks. In an LSA, data is stored on disks in compressed form. After a piece of data is updated, it may not compress as well as it did before it was updated, so it may not fit back into the space that had been allocated for it before the update. The implication is that there can no longer be fixed, static locations for all the data. An LSA controller manages information storage to write updated data into new disk locations rather than writing new data in place. Therefore, the LSA must keep a directory which it uses to locate data items in the array.
As an illustration of the N+1 physical disks of the LSA array, an LSA may consist of a group of disk drive DASDS, each of which includes multiple disk platters stacked into a column. Each disk is divided into large consecutive areas called segment-columns. A segment-column is typically as large as a physical cylinder on a physical disk. Corresponding segment-columns from the N+1 disks constitute a segment. The array has as many segments as there are segment-columns on a disk in the array. One of the segment-columns of a segment contains the parity (exclusive-OR) of the remaining segment-columns of the segment. For performance reasons, the parity segment-columns are not all on the same disk, but are rotated among the disks.
Logical devices are mapped and stored in the LSA. A logical track is stored, as a set of compressed records, entirely within some segment-column of some physical disk of the array; many logical tracks can be stored in the same segment-column. The location of a logical track in an LSA changes over time. A directory, called the LSA directory, indicates the current location of each logical track. The entire LSA directory is maintained in Non-Volatile Storage (NVS) in the disk controller, to avoid disk accesses when searching the directory.
Whether an LSA stores information according to a variable length format such as a count-key-data (CKD) architecture or according to a fixed block architecture, the LSA storage format of segment-columns is mapped onto the physical storage space in the disk drive units so that a logical track of the LSA is stored entirely within a single segment-column mapped onto a disk drive unit of the array. The size of a logical track is such that many logical tracks can be stored in the same LSA segment-column.
Reading and writing into an LSA occurs under management of the LSA controller. An LSA controller can include resident microcode that emulates logical devices such as direct access storage device (DASD) disk drives, or tape drives. In this way, the physical nature of an external storage subsystem can be transparent to the operating system and to the applications executing on the computer processor accessing the LSA. Thus, read and write commands sent by the computer processor to the external information storage system would be interpreted by the LSA controller and mapped to the appropriate disk storage locations in a manner not known to the computer processor. This comprises a mapping of the LSA logical devices onto the actual disks of the LSA.
A write received from the host system is first written into a non-volatile cache and the host is immediately notified that the write is done. The fraction of cache occupied by modified tracks is monitored by the controller. When this fraction exceeds some threshold, some number of modified tracks are moved (logically) to a memory segment, from where they get written (destaged) to disk. The memory segment is a section of controller memory, logically organized as N+1 segment-columns called memory segment-columns; N data memory segment-columns and 1 parity memory segment-column. When all or part of a logical track is selected from the NVS, the entire logical track is written into one of the N data memory segment-columns. When all data memory segment-columns are full, an XOR operation is applied to all the data memory segment-columns to create the parity memory segment-column, then all N+1 memory segment-columns are written to an empty segment on the disk array.
All logical tracks that were just written to disk from the memory segment must have their entries in the LSA directory updated to reflect their new disk locations. If these logical tracks had been written before by the system, the LSA directory would have contained their previous physical disk locations; otherwise the LSA directory would have indicated that the logical track had never been written, so has no address. Note that writing to the disk is more efficient in LSA than in RAID-5, where 4 disk accesses are needed for an update.
In LSAs and log structured file systems, data to be written is grouped together into relatively large blocks (the segments) which are written out as a unit in a convenient free segment location on disk. When data is written, the previous disk locations of the data become free creating "holes" of unused data (or garbage) in the segments on disk. Eventually the disk fills up with segments and it is necessary to create free segment locations by reading source segments with holes and compacting their still-in-use content into a lesser number of destination segments without holes. This process is called free space or garbage collection.
To ensure that there is always an empty segment to write to, the controller free space collects segments in the background. All logical tracks from a segment selected for free space collection that are still in that segment (are still pointed to by the LSA directory) are read from disk and placed in a memory segment. It may be placed in the same memory segment used for destaging logical tracks written by the system, or it may be placed in a different memory segment or temporary storage buffer of its own. In any case, these logical tracks will be written back to disk when the memory segment fills. Free space collected segments are returned to the empty segment pool and are available when needed.
As free space collection proceeds, live data from the various target segments is read into the temporary storage buffer, the buffer fills up, and the live data is stored back into an empty segment of the disk array. After the live data in the temporary storage buffer is written back into the disk array, the segments from which the live data values were read are designated as being empty. In this way, live data is consolidated into a fewer number of completely full segments and new empty segments are created. Typically, free space collection is performed when the number of empty segments in the array drops below a predetermined threshold value.
The way in which target segments are selected for the free space collection process affects the efficiency of LSA operation. The LSA controller must determine how to collect segments when performing the free space collection. Three algorithms are used conventionally, one called the "greedy" algorithm, one called the "cost-benefit" algorithm and one called "age-threshold" algorithm. The greedy algorithm selects target segments by determining how much free space will be achieved for each segment processed and then processing segments in the order that will yield the most amount of free space. The cost-benefit algorithm compares a cost associated with processing each segment against a benefit and selects segments for processing based on the best comparisons. The age-threshold algorithm selects segments for processing only if their age in the information storage system exceeds an age-threshold value and once past the age-threshold, the segments are selected in the order of least utilised segments first.
More particularly, the greedy algorithm selects segments with the smallest utilization first and moves the live tracks from partially filled segments to a target segment in a pool of empty segments. There are two problems with greedy selection: first, segments which are emptying quickly (call "hot" segments) will get collected when it might be more beneficial to leave them a little longer until they contain less still-in-use data; secondly, segments which are nearly full and are emptying extremely slowly or not at all (called "frozen" segments) may tie up free space for a long time (or indefinitely) before they are collected when it might be beneficial to reclaim that free space earlier.
In the cost-benefit algorithm, a target segment is selected based on how much free space is available in the segment and how much time has elapsed since the segment was last filled with new information. The elapsed time is referred to as the age of the segment. In the cost-benefit algorithm, the age of a segment is defined to be the age of the youngest live track in the segment. For example, age might be indicated by a time stamp value associated with a track when it is placed in the LSA input write buffer. A benefit-to-cost ratio is calculated for each segment, such that the ratio is defined to be:       Benefit    Cost    =                    (                  1          -          u                )                  a              (              1        +        u            )      where u is called the utilization of the segment; (1−u) is defined to be the fraction amount of free space in the segment, also called the "dead" fraction; and a is the age of the segment as defined above. The cost-benefit algorithm orders segments by their benefit-to-cost ratio and selects as target segments those with the largest ratios. The numerator in the ratio represents the benefit to selecting the segment, being the product of the dead fraction (1−u) and the age a. The denominator (1+u) represents the cost of selecting the segment for free space collection, because the whole segment (all tracks) is read into the buffer and a fractional part u of the segment (the live tracks) is written back to direct access storage devices (DASDs).
A problem with the cost-benefit algorithm is the overhead associated with computing the benefit-to-cost ratios for each segment in the LSA and maintaining an ordering of the segments according to their benefit-to-cost ratios. The overhead quickly becomes prohibitive as the system is scaled upward in size. In particular, two segments can switch cost-benefit ratios, thereby switching their ordering for free space collection, simply with the passage of time and without regard to any change in actual utilization rate. In this way, a segment may have to be re-ordered even though its utilization has not changed. Note that the benefit (numerator above) is a function of age. Thus, a segment may be selected even though efficiency considerations might suggest that other segments with smaller utilization rates should be selected for free space collection first.
The age-threshold algorithm is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,933,840 issued Aug. 3, 1999 and assigned to International Business Machines Corporation and the disclosure of this document is incorporated herein by reference. In the age-threshold system, segments are selected if their age exceeds a threshold value. The system determines the age of a segment by determining the amount of time a segment has been located in the storage system and considers a segment for free space collection only after the segment has been located in the storage system for the selected age threshold value. From the set of candidate segments, the system chooses one or more segments for free space collection in the order that they will yield the most free space. The free space yield is determined by utilisation data, so that the least utilised segments will be free space collected first. The age-threshold value depends on the configuration of the particular information storage system. The age-threshold value can be selected based on average segment utilisation information or by a dynamic learning method which selects the value based on the system workload and adjusts the value dynamically.
This age-threshold system of free space collection addresses the first problem of the greedy selection algorithm of quickly emptying segments or "hot" segments being collected when it might be beneficial to leave them a little longer. The age-threshold system does not address the problem of frozen segments. The age-threshold system has the disadvantage that it introduces a new problem of determining at run-time the correct value for an age-threshold parameter for a variable workload, thereby requiring run-time tuning.
From the discussion above, it should be apparent that there is room for an information storage system that efficiently manages information storage and performs free space collection, in particular which reclaims free space tied up in frozen segments and which is simple to implement for an unknown workload.

Free space collection in information storage systems


The fuel injection system having one high-pressure fuel pump and one fuel injection valve for each engine cylinder in which the pump piston defines a work chamber, which communicates with a pressure chamber of the fuel injection valve. A control valve controls connection of the pump work chamber with a relief chamber and having a second control valve controls a connection of a control pressure chamber, which communicates with the pump work chamber defined by a control piston with a relief chamber is controlled, and in which connection a throttle restriction is provided. A flow cross section of the connection of the control pressure chamber with the relief chamber is controlled as a function of the stroke of the control piston, such that with an increasing opening stroke of the injection valve member, a smaller flow cross section is uncovered by the control piston and at the maximum opening stroke of the injection valve member, the uncovered flow cross section is smaller than the flow cross section of the second throttle restriction.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to an improved fuel injection system for an internal combustion engine of the type having a high pressure fuel pump and a fuel injection valve for each engine cylinder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One fuel injection systems known from European Patent Disclosure EP 0 987 431 A2, has one high-pressure fuel pump and one fuel injection valve communicating with it for each cylinder of the engine. The high-pressure fuel pump has a pump piston, which is driven by the engine in a reciprocating motion and defines a pump work chamber. The fuel injection valve has a pressure chamber communicating with the pump work chamber and also has an injection valve member, by which at least one injection opening is controlled and which is movable, acted upon by the pressure prevailing in the pressure chamber, in the opening direction counter to a closing force to uncover the at least one injection opening. A first electrically actuated control valve is provided, by which a connection of the pump work chamber with a relief chamber is controlled. A second electrically actuated control valve is also provided, by which a connection of a control pressure chamber with a relief chamber is controlled. The control pressure chamber communicates with the pump work chamber via a throttle restriction. The control pressure chamber is defined by a control piston, which is braced on the injection valve member in its closing direction and which is urged in the closing direction of the injection valve member by the pressure prevailing in the control pressure chamber. For a fuel injection, the first control valve is closed and the second control valve is opened, so that high pressure cannot build up in the control pressure chamber, and the fuel injection valve can open. However, when the second control valve is opened, fuel flows out of the pump work chamber via the control pressure chamber, so that of the fuel quantity pumped by the pump piston, the fuel quantity available for injection is reduced, as is the pressure available for the injection. As a consequence, the efficiency of the fuel injection system is not optimal, and the course of the fuel injection cannot be adjusted in the desired way.

Fuel injection device for an internal combustion engine


Switch assembly comprises a switch housing having a membrane switch contained therein. The switch housing has integral mounting means for mounting the assembly in an opening in a panel. The membrane switch has sheet metal switch leads extending therefrom and extending from the housing. When the assembly is mounted on a panel, these leads engage and establish electrical contact with circuit board conductors on a circuit board which is adjacent to the panel.

It is common practice to connect the switch conductor in membrane switches to conductors on a circuit board by providing a mult-contact connector on the membrane switch with conductors extending from the connector to a circuit board and connected to the conductors on the circuit board which are controlled by the switch. Under many circumstances, the membrane switch is mounted in a panel, for example, a housing panel, which is adjacent to the circuit board contained in the housing. The present invention is directed to the achievement of an improved switch which is intended to be readily mounted in a platelike member and which has integral switch leads which engage the circuit board conductors when the switch is mounted in the panel.
One embodiment of a switch assembly in accordance with the invention comprises a flat molded switch housing having integral means for securing the housing to a panel when the housing is inserted into an opening in the panel. The housing contains a membrane switch having resilient sheet metal conductor leads connected to, and extending from, the switch conductors contained in the switch. These leads extend obliquely away from the switch housing and have contact portions which are located and dimensioned such that when the housing is mounted in the panel, the contact portions of these leads engage the circuit board conductors on the adjacent circuit board which are to be controlled by the switch. The use of a switch in accordance with the invention, therefore avoids the necessity of providing separate connectors and cables on the switch for connecting the switch to the circuit board conductors. Furthermore, the electrical connections to the circuit board conductors are achieved by merely mounting the switch in the panel member.