A floor panel assembly is used with a floor panel retention system that includes a first retaining element, a second retaining element, and a support element. The floor panel assembly includes a floor panel including a first side edge and an opposing second side edge. The floor panel is configured to rest on the support element. The floor panel assembly also includes at least one tab coupled to the floor panel proximate the first side edge. The tab is configured to engage the first retaining element. The floor panel assembly also includes a latch coupled to the floor panel proximate the second side edge. The latch is configured to selectively engage the second retaining element.

The present invention relates generally to a floor panel retention system for a cargo storage area, and, more specifically, to a floor panel retention system that includes floor panels with slidable latches.
At least some known cargo storage facilities, such as vehicles (e.g., aircraft, ships, trucks, etc.) and storage locations (e.g., holds, containers, and warehouses, etc.) include cargo management systems to aid in the movement of cargo within the facility. Some such facilities, such as aircraft, include various compartments for different uses. One such compartment in an aircraft is a cargo storage area for carrying and storing cargo during flight. The cargo area includes structural supports that support the weight of the cargo. Existing cargo management systems typically include a number of roller trays coupled to the top of the support structures. Roller trays are used in storage facilities, such as aircraft, to aid in the loading/unloading of cargo and are oriented along a longitudinal axis of the aircraft.
At least some known cargo management systems also include floor panels coupled to the structural supports between adjacent roller trays. Typically, the floor panels are coupled to the structural supports by positioning the floor panel on the support, drilling holes through the support that are aligned with pre-drilled holes in the floor panel, and then inserting fasteners though the holes. This fastening process requires the installer to drill a large number of holes, insert and fasten a fastener into each of the holes, and to clean up the drill shavings after the holes were drilled. Furthermore, other work cannot be performed in the area of the drilling due to the size of the drilling equipment. As such, the fastener method is a time consuming and labor intensive process that often requires reworking due to hole tolerances and margin requirements, which increases the manufacturing costs.
Moreover, the fastener method of coupling the floor panels to the support structure also requires the use of backing plates for the fasteners, since the tension in the fastener holds the roller trays in position. This causes an increase in cost and weight because additional material is required to assemble the cargo management system.


An apparatus for use with a signal generator and a motor controller includes a velocity compensator, an adjustor, and a velocity regulator. The signal generator provides a reference velocity signal, and the motor controller receives an output signal and uses the output signal to control a torque input signal applied to the motor. The velocity compensator is operable to receive the reference velocity signal, determine a derivative of the reference velocity signal, and generate a velocity compensation signal based on the derivative. The adjustor is operable to adjust the reference velocity signal as a function of the velocity compensation signal. The velocity regulator is operable to compare the adjusted reference velocity signal to a feedback velocity signal and generate the output signal received by the motor controller for adjusting the torque input signal based on the comparison.

The present invention relates generally to motor control and, more particularly, to a motor drive with velocity-second compensation to reduce tracking error.
This section of this document is intended to introduce various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention described and/or claimed below. This section provides background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. It should be understood that the statements in this section of this document are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Rotating motors are typically controlled by a motor drive that receives a reference motor velocity signal and, based on the motor velocity signal, produces and outputs a torque signal that is applied to the motor. Adjustment of the torque signal based on changes to the reference velocity signal relative to a feedback velocity signal ensures that the motor rotates at the reference velocity.
Some applications require precise motor control across multiple, synchronized motors. For example, an electronic line shaft may be employed in a printing application to move the paper or other material over rollers and through various stages of the printing process. Typical printing processes employ multiple colors, each applied at different locations along the line. Hence, to ensure print quality, the various stages are synchronized. A lack of synchronicity between the stations results in misregistration between the colors, leading to unacceptable product that may need to be scrapped.
Previous generations of printing technology employed a mechanical line shaft mechanically linked to the various printing stations. Rotation of the line shaft by an electric motor activated rollers and other printing station tools along the line to conduct the printing process. In a mechanical line shaft system, factors such as play in the mechanical linkages, stretching of the paper web, and torsional flexing of the line shaft itself make it difficult to achieve and maintain synchronicity between the printing stations, especially during periods of acceleration and deceleration of the printing system. It has been observed that when synchronicity is not maintained, product generated includes excessive flaws and is often unacceptable for intended use. Mechanical line shafts also have reduced flexibility in addressing print changes. Hence, where changes are required, down time may be excessive.
More modern printing systems, commonly referred to shaftless printing systems or electronic line shaft systems, employ a plurality of motors and associated rollers that are electrically synchronized, as opposed to mechanically synchronized. Lack of synchronicity in an electronic line shaft results in similar problems, such as color misregistration, evident in a mechanical line shaft system.
When operating a plurality motors synchronously in an automated system, several factors exist that may cause the position of the motors to deviate from each other even though they are all operating pursuant to a single reference velocity signal. For instance, motor inertia between motors at different stations is often non-uniform and can cause one motor to drift from the other motors.
Typical motor drives for controlling motors are implemented using software executed by a central processing unit (CPU). As CPU clock rates have risen, so too has the control bandwidth available to a motor drive. However, higher control bandwidth does not necessarily equate to higher performance. To this end, as bandwidth increases, so does the susceptibility of a motor drive to noise which can lead to operation, rattles, clunks, tendency to resonate, lack of robust performance, etc. In fact, in many cases, the noise level that results from operating a drive at a maximum bandwidth associated with high CPU clock cycles, instead of increasing control performance has been known to degrade performance appreciably. In this regard, most processes have an ideal operational bandwidth that is much lower than the high bandwidth associated with high speed CPU clock cycles. For example, an ideal operational bandwidth may be one or two orders of magnitude less than the bandwidth associated with high CPU clock cycles.
Position errors in a drive system are controlled by a position regulator that acts on the difference between a reference position and a feedback position determined using a position feedback device such as, for instance, an optical encoder. That difference is commonly referred to in the motor control industry using terms such as "following error", "tracking error", and "position error". A key performance measure of a position regulator is to quantify regulator tracking (i.e., how close to zero can the error be maintained under specific conditions). Typically, tracking is evaluated under two such conditions, steady state velocity, and acceleration/deceleration.
Position error in a real system contains a noise component with zero average value and a "DC component" that may or may not be zero. The DC component may be referred to as simply "position error". Under steady state velocity conditions position error can readily be held to zero using techniques that are well understood in the industry. However, in applications where a high degree of precision is required and periods of acceleration and deceleration occur, known techniques of minimizing the position error have been less successful.
Referring to FIG. 6, a diagram illustrating a graph of velocity versus time during an acceleration event is provided. The position feedback device provides position feedback data at a sampling interval of Tx. The system is undergoing an acceleration, as shown by the ramping velocity. Velocity-seconds, as represented by the triangle areas shown to the right of the velocity curve, are lost between sample intervals of the position feedback device. Because of these lost velocity-seconds, the observed acceleration does not match the actual acceleration, and, hence, the motor controller cannot maintain zero position error during the acceleration event.
Thus, it would be desirable to hold zero position error during periods of acceleration and deceleration of arbitrary rates. For example, in a printing application, it would be advantageous to maintain zero tracking error during periods of acceleration and deceleration to ensure the quality of printed product, thereby reducing waste.

Motor drive with velocity-second compensation


A differential signal transmission cable includes two core wires, and a foamed insulation that collectively covers the two core wires by foaming extrusion molding. The foamed insulation is not more than 5% in a dispersion of foaming degree defined below in a cut surface when the cable is cut orthogonally to a longitudinal direction of the cable. In the cut surface, five regions are determined according to a predetermined procedures and a foaming degree (%) of the respective regions is measured. The dispersion of the foaming degree is defined by a difference between a foaming degree (%) in the region with a maximum foaming degree and a foaming degree (%) in the region with a minimum foaming degree.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a differential signal transmission cable and a method of making the differential signal transmission cable.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method of making parallel-type coaxial cable with a low skew is known that a foamed insulating material is collectively extrusion-molded on a pair of inner conductors extending in parallel to have a circular or elliptical shape in sectional view, an outer conductor is then formed on the periphery of the foamed insulating material, and the outer conductor and the foamed insulating material are tightly covered with an insulating jacket (see JP-A-2001-035270).
By means of the method disclosed in JP-A-2001-035270, it is possible to provide a cable with a reduced dispersion of foaming degree in the longitudinal direction of the cable. Thus, such a low skew can be obtained that cannot be reached by a conventional cable (or a twinax cable) that two foamed insulated wires with single cores are arranged in parallel so as to be a pair.

Differential signal transmission cable and method of making same


An improved system using an auto focus camera for capturing images of interested objects in the same image resolution over a large range of object distances. The system provides a camera including a zoom lens system responsive to a zoom signal Z and an auto focus lens system, comprising an imaging system operative to image one or more objects at varying object distances, an auto focus controller operative to adjust the auto focus lens system based on a characteristic of the image so as to maintain the object in focus and to output an auto focus status signal, and an auto zoom controller operative to adjust Z by an amount obtained by applying a function to the auto focus status signal, as it varies with the object distance, to maintain an approximately uniform image resolution.

An optical symbology is an information encoded symbol that is only readable by an optical sensing mechanism through a decoding process. For years, the bar code has been promoted as a machine readable symbology. A bar code is a one-dimensional symbol that contains a unique serial number encoded in black and white bars. As the demand for the information-based technologies grows, a number of two-dimensional symbologies, either in the form of a stacked bar code or a matrix, have been introduced to accommodate the need for storing more data information. This type of symbology is also referred to as a dense code. One of them, the MaxiCode symbology, is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,874,936 and 4,896,029.
Generally there are two types of reading devices for symbologies, laser-based readers and devices based on Charge Coupled Device (CCD) cameras. The first type offers long range reading and does not -have focus problems while the second type offers cost-effective means and is more rigid in hostile environments.
Two-dimensional symbologies such as the MaxiCode cannot be acquired and decoded by the laser spot scanners typically used to scan single line bar codes. Attempts have been made to modify such devices to perform raster scanning operations on stacked bar codes and two-dimensional codes. However, this approach is too lengthy for practical high speed applications. A faster method is to acquire an image of the entire two-dimensional symbology using an electronic camera. CCD sensor arrays of the type used in video cameras are suitable. They consist of a matrix of "pixels" each of which stores a cumulative charge according to the amount of light which strikes the pixel. The pixel values are read out, converted and stored in a corresponding matrix in a digital memory for evaluation and processing.
One of the problems with a CCD camera-based symbology reader is its limited depth of field. To ensure the focus of a symbol to be decoded, a shroud for providing a fixed focal length is often used. There are many contact readers in the art which use a physical hood or a shroud to define a fixed object distance equal the focal length of the CCD camera. However, the contact of the shroud with the symbol results in much inconvenience in practice, especially in handheld applications. Furthermore, contact with the object bearing the symbol is simply not possible in over-the-belt applications.
To solve the focusing problem, attempts have been made to provide an automatic focus adjustment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,966 to Danielson and et al. discloses a handheld CCD camera-based bar code reader employing a distance measuring system that uses an ultrasonic signal source to adjust the focusing mechanism. The distance measuring system detects the distance between the camera and the target to be imaged and then sends a signal to the camera mechanism to reposition some mirrors to alter the optical path so as to change the focal length to match the object distance.
Distance measurement based on the alterations in the received signal reflected from a target has been much explored in photographic camera technology. For example, an auto focus circuit may detect high frequency elements from the video signal, and focus to the subject with much brightness and contrast in the measuring area of the center screen. However, when such systems are provided in a camera that also has a zoom lens, the auto focus stops working properly inside a minimum distance, which increases as the zoom lens is moved toward the telephoto end of its range of movement. Also, if the object distance is beyond a certain range, measurement errors occur due to the weak reflected signals. Moreover, the reflected signal is subject to degradation caused by the surface characteristics of the target.
Generally, the image resolution varies with the object distance. The further the object is from the lens, the lower the resolution. In many situations, when an object is far away from a camera, the resolution may be low to the point of just blurring signals. On the other hand, the nearer the object is to the lens, the larger the number of dots per inch (dpi) on the object the detector can capture. Eventually, the resolution may become high to the point of being useless. Furthermore, software to decode dense codes must be more complex and will operate more slowly if the resolution of the image varies from object to object. Therefore, there has been a need in the art for systems that capture images of objects in the same resolution independent of the distance of the objects from the camera.
The concept of auto zoom has been developed for video cameras which have auto focus and zoom lenses. Various auto zoom methods have been devised to keep the image size constant while the object distance varies. U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,214 describes an optical zoom lens system which provides auto focus based upon detecting characteristics of the signal derived from a CCD. Auto zoom is achieved by first moving the auto focus lens to a predetermined position at which it remains fixed. Then the auto focus circuit sends a signal to adjust the zoom lens in a manner which both adjusts the focus and varies the size of a subject so that size of the subject is always constant regardless of changes in the object distance. This system has the disadvantage of requiring extra controls for both the auto focus lens and the zoom lens, and the auto focus lens is not allowed to work normally in the auto zoom mode. The system of this prior patent perhaps disables the normal auto focus function to avoid the auto focus minimum distance problem described above which occurs when the zoom moves too far toward the telephoto.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,173,807 also describes an auto focus and auto zoom system. An infra-red range finder provides the object distance to an auto focus lens controller. The zoom lens control monitors the auto focus lens position and follows the detected movement of the auto focus lens to make the size of an object in the picture plane substantially constant. This system has the disadvantage of requiring a separate range finder and a special set of pulse generators for knowing the amount of rotation of the auto focus and zoom motors.
There remains a need in the art for an auto zoom system that does not require a separate range finder, that allows an auto focus system to function normally, and that is not subject to problems resulting from the limitations of auto focus systems which operate based on the alterations in the received signal.

Imaging system including an auto zoom controller


A safety bed rail for preventing an individual from falling out of a bed including a frame of sufficient width to span a width of the bed and having left and right portions adjustably connected by a releasable latch defining a plurality of discrete frame widths corresponding to standard bed sizes. A bed rail panel is attached to one side of the frame and extends up from the frame a sufficient height to extend above a mattress placed over the frame. The frame includes side flanges that engage sides of one of the mattress and an underlying mattress support of similar width to the mattress with frame disposed between the mattress and the support. The flanges are widthwise adjustable to adjust the width of the frame over a limited distance with the latch connecting the left and right frame portions in a selected position.

Removable bed rails may be attached to a bed for preventing children or others from falling to the floor and other hazards. Bed rails generally include a vertical surface or bar extending above and disposed immediately adjacent a side of the bed. To facilitate continued ingress and egress, bed rails may swing out of the way and/or be easily removable. Some children have been harmed by becoming lodged in spaces between mattresses and bed rails, such as can form when the bed rail fails to remain securely attached to the side of the bed, or when the bed rail is not properly positioned. This separation can pose a safety hazard to children under some circumstances.


A reinforcing fiber mat manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention is a reinforcing fiber mat manufacturing apparatus that includes a hitting mechanism (40) that comes into contact with a reinforcing fiber bundle to split the reinforcing fiber bundle into a plurality of pieces, and, disperses the plurality of pieces. The hitting mechanism (40) includes a rotation shaft (41), a pair of rotation plates (42) attached to portions of the rotation shaft (41) apart from each other, and a plurality of hitting pieces (43) arranged to extend in parallel to the rotation shaft (41) between the pair of rotation plates (42). The reinforcing fiber mat manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention is a simple apparatus that reliably hits a reinforcing fiber bundle to split the fiber bundle into thin bundles, and disperses the thin bundles to a wide range without causing air turbulence to manufacture a reinforcing fiber mat having a uniform fiber basis weight.

Fiber-reinforced plastics made of reinforcing fiber and matrix resin, which have excellent mechanical properties such as high specific intensity or high specific modulus, have been widely used for industrial purposes. Among these purposes, a technology known for the purpose of forming a complex shape is to manufacture a formed product with a desired shape by heating or compression molding a forming material including discontinuous reinforcing fiber (for example, carbon fiber) and matrix resin. Main examples of such a formed product include a sheet molding compound (SMC) and a stampable sheet.
The characteristics of a reinforcing fiber mat including randomly dispersed multiple reinforcing fibers significantly affect the mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced plastics including discontinuous reinforcing fiber. The mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced plastics are significantly affected by the variance in fiber bundle thickness or fiber basis weight in the reinforcing fiber mat. Thus, splitting a fiber bundle into pieces with a desired bundle thickness and uniformly dispersing the split pieces of the fiber bundle are important for manufacturing a high-quality reinforcing fiber mat.
Regarding a method for dispersing reinforcing fiber bundles, Patent document 1 and Patent document 2 describe a dispersing method including hitting a strand by rotating thread hitting pieces extending radially from the rotation shaft, splitting the strand, and dispersing the split strand.
Patent document 3 describes a method for dispersing a fiber bundle with an air nozzle.

Reinforcing fiber mat manufacturing apparatus


A system and method for a blanket that is convertible into a pillow by a series of folds where the body of the blanket is eventually positioned inside of a pocket positioned at the ends of the top side and bottom side of the blanket such that the pillow remains intact until the user removes the remainder of the blanket from the pocket and unfolds the blanket.

There have been a number of different blankets designed to keep a person warm and protected from drafts and other cold conditions There have also been a number of pillows designed to provide comfort and support for a user's head. It would be advantageous to have a device that operates as pillow and a blanket while traveling for car rides, daycare, home, and stadium games, and also while at home, to provide comfort and warmth. Existing combination pillow and blankets are not very comfortable for the user or are overly complicated to use. Thus, there still exists the need for a combination pillow and blanket that will keep the user warm and is also able to fold up into a pillow as needed.

System and method for a shawl blanket with feet pockets foldable into a pillow


The present invention relates to a biodegradable substrate having a durable hydrophilic surface prepared from a biodegradable polymeric substrate having a surface, wherein the biodegradable polymeric substrate has been rendered hydrophilic by subjecting the substrate to a corona glow discharge and/or coating the substrate with a hydrophilic polymeric material in an amount of from about 0.01 to about 2.0 percent by weight, based on the dry weight of the substrate. The biodegradable substrate can be used in absorbent personal care product, biomedical devices and food packaging.

Polymers are used extensively to make a variety of products which include blown and cast films, extruded sheets, injection molded articles, foams, blow molded articles, extruded pipe, monofilaments, and nonwoven webs. Some of such polymers, such as polyolefins, are naturally hydrophobic, and for many uses this property is either a positive attribute or at least not a disadvantage. There are a number of uses for polymers, however, where their hydrophobic nature either limits their usefulness or requires some effort to modify the surface characteristics of the shaped articles made therefrom.
By way of example, polyolefins, such as polyethylene and polypropylene, are used to manufacture polymeric fabrics which are employed in the construction of such disposable absorbent articles as diapers, feminine care products, incontinence products, training pants, wipes, and the like. Such polymeric fabrics often are nonwoven webs prepared by, for example, such processes as meltblowing, coforming, and spunbonding. Frequently, such polymeric fabrics need to be wettable by water or aqueous-based liquids. Wettability can be obtained by spraying or otherwise coating (i.e., surface treating or topically treating) the fabric with a surfactant solution during or after its formation, and then drying the web.
Some of the more common topically applied surfactants are nonionic surfactants, such as polyethoxylated octylphenols and condensation products of propylene oxide with propylene glycol, by way of illustration only. These surfactants are effective in rendering normally hydrophobic polymeric fabrics water wettable. However, the surfactant is readily removed from the fabric, often after only a single exposure to an aqueous liquid. Such surfactants are effective in rendering the hydrophobic polymeric fabric wettable by lowering the surface tension of the aqueous liquid. Such a mechanism must involve at least partial removal of surfactant from the surfaces of the fibers of which the fabric is composed.
Other methods of improving wettability of polymers include methods such as corona discharge, plasma discharge, plasma jet, flame treatment, acid etching, or any method that can oxidize the surface of the substrate. However, as is known in the art, wettability introduced by these methods degenerates after treatment, as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,700,559 to Sheu et al.
Nonwoven webs have been used to prepare a wide variety of products, including personal care products such as disposable diapers, training pants, feminine care products, baby wipes and the like. Nonwoven webs have also been used to prepare many other articles of manufacture including health care products, such as surgical drapes, surgical mask, wound dressings and the like; wipes; mops; filter materials, among many other uses.
Many of the items prepared from nonwoven webs are single use or limited use products. Most of the current nonwoven webs are prepared from polymers which are not considered biodegradable, such as polyolefins. Although currently available disposable baby diapers and other disposable products have been accepted by the public despite the fact that they are not biodegradable, these current products would benefit from improvement in the area of disposal.
Solid waste disposal is becoming an ever increasing problem throughout the world. As landfills continue to fill-up, a demand has increased for a material source reduction in disposable products. As an alternative, recyclable or biodegradable components are needed to be developed for incorporating into the disposable products. Products are needed to be developed for final disposal by means other than by incorporation into solid waste disposal facilities such as landfills.
There is a need for new materials to be used in disposable products which retain integrity and strength during use, but after such use, the materials may be disposed of more efficiently. There is a need for new materials used in the disposable product to be disposed of easily and efficiently by composting. Alternatively, the disposable product may be disposed of easily and efficiently in a liquid sewage system wherein the disposable product is capable of being degraded.
Attempts have been made to overcome some of the environmental short comings of the current disposable products by using biodegradable polymers such as aliphatic polyesters as the polymer component used to make the nonwoven web. Aliphatic polyesters, like polyolefins, are typically hydrophobic, or have a low degree of wettablility.
In addition, the use of biodegradable polymeric substrates in other applications including biomedical devices such as sutures and scaffolds for tissue regeneration has become increasingly popular. In these applications, there is a need for the biodegradable polymeric substrates to be hydrophilic and rendered hydrophilic in a manner which is safe for users of these products.
Accordingly, there is a need for a biodegradable polymeric substrate having a durable hydrophilic treatment that is stable during storage, that is biodegradable and that is wettable by water without significantly lowering the surface tension of an aqueous medium to which the coated substrate may be exposed.

Durable hydrophilic treatment for a biodegradable polymeric substrate


The present invention relates to a device for lashing down a rotorcraft wing, said wing being provided with at least first and second adjacent blades P and P′, the ends of said blades being provides with respective endpieces. In addition, the device comprises a main cord CP having a first end CPE1 fastened to first fastener means 5′ arranged on a second end CPE2 secured to a second blade P′ and having a second end CPE2 secured to a second fastener means M1 arranged on a first endpiece of the first blade P. The lashing-down endpiece includes first fastener means 5 for fastening to a first main cord CP and second fastener means M1 for fastening to a second main cord CP.

On a parking area, the rotorcraft is subjected to weather conditions and more particularly to wind that can sometimes be violent.
The rotors of most modern rotorcrafts are equipped with blades that are flexible. As a result, while camping, such blades can start flapping vertically under the action of the wind.
This phenomenon lies behind many problems:                personnel working on the ground can be injured by a blade moving suddenly downwards;        when the blades are fitted with flapping hinges and bottom abutments, then during wind-driven vertical movements, the hinges and the abutments are subjected to high levels of force that can damage them in the long run;        depending on the locations of the blades, they can be blown by the wind so as to come into contact with structural elements of the rotorcraft, thereby leading to severe damage; and        finally, a rising blade can cause the rotorcraft to be turned over.
A first known solution consists in a sock which covers the tip cap of a blade. A cord secured firstly to the sock and secondly to the structure of the rotorcraft, limits movements of the blade. Nevertheless, it is not unusual for socks to become deformed or to separate from the tip cap under wind forces.
A second known solution consists in a support permanently secured to the blade tip cap and in a removable endpiece which is connected to said support when lashing down. The blade is held by tensioning the cord between said endpiece and an anchor point provided on the structure of the rotorcraft. Those systems have the advantage of never coming undone.
Nevertheless, in both of the above-mentioned solutions, keeping the blades in a low position induces high levels of force on the anchor points of the rotorcraft. That means that the anchor points must be overdimensioned in order to be able to withstand high levels of force, and that is extremely penalizing, particularly in terms of cost and weight.
Furthermore, it is sometimes difficult to position the rotor blades so that they are in register with the anchor points, for example a blade might overlie the tail boom or the nose of the rotorcraft. Personnel in charge of lashing down then look for anchor points other than those initially provided, and that can lead to damage to the structure.

Device for lashing down rotorcraft blades


A program product, an apparatus, and a method of estimating a join size by generating partial join estimates and combining the partial join estimates. In particular, robust formulas are provided that may result in more consistent estimates and fewer inaccuracies. Inconsistencies and inaccuracies are generally present in conventional join size estimation techniques, however, consistent with the invention, consistent join size estimates may be generated resulting in improved access plan selection during optimization.

Databases are used to store information for an innumerable number of applications, including various commercial, industrial, technical, scientific and educational applications. As the reliance on information increases, both the volume of information stored in most databases, as well as the number of users wishing to access that information, likewise increases. Moreover, as the volume of information in a database, and the number of users wishing to access the database increases, the amount of computing resources required to manage such a database increases as well.
Database management systems (DBMS's), which are the computer programs that are used to access the information stored in databases, therefore often require tremendous resources to handle the heavy workloads placed on such systems. As such, significant resources have been devoted to increasing the performance of database management systems with respect to processing searches, or queries, to databases.
Improvements to both computer hardware and software have improved the capacities of conventional database management systems. For example, in the hardware realm, increases in microprocessor performance, coupled with improved memory management systems, have improved the number of queries that a particular microprocessor can perform in a given unit of time. Furthermore, the use of multiple microprocessors and/or multiple networked computers has further increased the capacities of many database management systems.
From a software standpoint, the use of relational databases, which organize information into formally-defined tables consisting of rows and columns, and which are typically accessed using a standardized language such as Structured Query Language (SQL), has substantially improved processing efficiency, as well as substantially simplified the creation, organization, and extension of information within a database.
Furthermore, significant development efforts have been directed toward query "optimization," whereby the execution of particular searches, or queries, is optimized in an automated manner to minimize the amount of resources required to execute each query. A query optimizer typically generates, for each submitted query, an access plan. In generating an access plan, a query optimizer typically creates multiple potential access plans, and selects the best among those potential access plans based upon the "cost" of each plan. The cost of each plan represents the amount of resources expected to be utilized by the plan (typically expressed in the expected amount of time to execute), and as such, selecting the plan with the lowest cost typically results in the most efficient (and quickest) execution of a query.
One area in which query optimization has been problematic is in connection with fuzzy logic searching. In general, the introduction of fuzzy logic principles to query databases has produced query results that better reflect the intentions of users conducting the queries. Generally, before fuzzy logic, a user had to arbitrarily quantify and/or characterize their intentions via their query, often leading to query results that did not adequately reflect their intentions. For instance, a user may intend to identify "good" employees in a department, e.g., employees with good sales record and a good complaint record. Generally, the higher the sales and the lower the number of unsubstantiated complaints against the employee the better the employee. Nonetheless, without fuzzy logic, the user may have to indicate the minimum sales that the user considers to be a good sales amount, e.g., a sale amount of $50,000 or above, and a number of unsubstantiated complaints the user considers to be a good number of unsubstantiated complaints, e.g., less than or equal to five complaints. The search might be represented as    query1: SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEES WHERE SALES>=50000 AND NUM_UNSUBSTANTIATED_COMPLAINTS<=5 ORDER BY SALES DESC, NUM_UNSUBSTANTIATED_COMPLAINTS ASC
With the query above, which does not incorporate fuzzy logic principles, the user will generally receive exactly what was asked for, mainly a list of employees whose sales are $50,000 or above and the number of their unsubstantiated complaints is less than or equal to five. However, such a search may omit employees with sales of $49,999.99 with zero unsubstantiated complaints or an employee with six unsubstantiated complaints but sales of $100,000, both of whom the user may consider to be good employees. Furthermore, within the results, the user may consider an employee with sales of $50,000 and zero unsubstantiated complaints to be a better employee than one with sales of $51,000 and four unsubstantiated complaints, but such many not be reflected. Instead, the principles of fuzzy logic may be used to process database queries to limit the user from the need to make arbitrary determinations about what constitutes a good employee via the sales and the number of unsubstantiated complaints conditions.
Generally, fuzzy logic allows the sales condition to be expressed along a continuous function of sales and the number of unsubstantiated complaints condition to be expressed along a continuous function of number of unsubstantiated complaints. Group membership along each corresponding continuous function may measured by values in the range 0 to 1. Typically, a value of "1" indicates 100% membership in the group meaning the condition is completely satisfied and a value of "0" indicates 0% membership in the group meaning the condition is not generally satisfied. Values falling between 0 and 1 indicate some membership in the group and may be determined by using algorithms. A value of "0.9876", for example, may indicate a higher membership in the group than a value of "0.1234".
Thus, with regard to the previous example, membership in the sales group may be represented with a continuous function where sales more than $100,000, for example, indicates membership of 1 and sales of less than $40,000, for example, indicate a membership of 0. Similarly, membership in the unsubstantiated complaints group may be represented with a continuous function where if an employee has less than two unsubstantiated complaint, for example, then his or her membership in the group is 1. However, if the number of unsubstantiated complaints is more than ten, for example, then the membership is 0. For queries with more than one condition such as this, each group membership may be determined and the weighted average of the group membership values may be used, or the minimum and/or maximum group membership value may be used depending on the operation in a query, e.g., and operation, or operation, not operation, etc, to generate the user's list of good employees. Generally, the list of employees may better proximate the user's intentions of what is a good employee. For instance, employees that would typically have been omitted with the usual query illustrated above may be included, and those employees included are typically ordered based upon how they relatively meet both condition.
As noted above, the introduction of fuzzy logic principles into a database environment can complicate query optimization. In particular, it may be helpful during optimization to estimate the number of records that may be returned when a given condition in a predicate of a database query is processed. Based upon the estimate, the optimizer may be able to better compare the access plans and select the best plan under the runtime conditions.
With that end in mind, the data in a table may be sorted and placed into buckets forming a histogram and descriptive information about the buckets of the histogram may be stored. For instance, the high and low values of the buckets, the number of records in each bucket, and the high and low values of the table may be stored. Thus, optimizers may rely on formulas incorporating the stored data to estimate the number of records that may be returned for a given criteria. Some optimizers also use the formulas to make additional estimates. For example, a formula to estimate the number of records that may be returned that are less than x (e.g., the value of x may be in a predicate of a database query such as table1.field1<x) may be rewritten to estimate the number of records that may be returned that are less than or equal to x.
Generally, these techniques may be appropriate to estimate the number of records that may be returned from a single table for a given criteria; however, it has been found that estimating the number of records that may be returned after a join operation between two tables, also known as a join size, may introduce inaccuracies and/or inconsistencies. As a result, an optimizer may select a suboptimal access plan under the runtime conditions based upon the inaccuracies and inconsistencies. A join is typically an operation used to combine data from two or more different tables according to some criteria. Join operations are common in database queries and are routinely used to access data from relational databases. In particular, the mathematical properties, e.g., (A<B):=1−(A>=B) or (A<=B):=(A<B)+(A=B), used by optimizers via the formulas to estimate join sizes for additional relationships such as these inequalities are applied to values that are generally "fuzzy" in nature. Thus, estimating join sizes for these inequalities is akin to query1 hereinabove, generally leading to inadequate results.
In particular, in modern cost based query optimization, join size estimates (and access plans) used in connection with previous database queries are stored and reused for faster access and recovery. However, reusing estimates in this context becomes problematic in conventional designs. For instance, if a result was already available for A<B as well as for A=B, it would not be sound in conventional designs to combine these results to estimate a result for A>B, because using conventional calculations |A<=B|+|A>B|< >|Cross Product|. Instead, it is possible that |Cross Product|−|A<=B| may result in a value less than, or very close to zero. Negative numbers and numbers close to zero often cause radically different behavior than slightly larger numbers, and are thus undesirable. Furthermore, even when the formulas are not rewritten by optimizers to estimate additional relationships, inconsistencies may result if a user reformulates the database query.
A need therefore exists in the art for an improved approach of estimating a join size, and in particular, an improved approach for estimating join sizes that results in more consistent estimates.

Estimating the size of a join by generating and combining partial join estimates

International Business Machines Corporation


A process for improving the tenderness of cooked pancakes that are microwaved. The process includes applying water to the cooked pancake so that the moisture of each pancake is increased by about 6%-to-12% to about 45%-to-52% by weight.

The present invention relates to a process for making an improved cooked microwavable pancake and to an improved cooked microwavable pancake product.
Commercially prepared pancakes that have been cooked and then frozen tend to dry out when heated in a microwave oven. The resulting dried out pancakes have a texture that is unacceptably tough to many consumers. Indeed, pancake toughness is responsible for the highest rate of consumer complaints directed to the quantity of commercially prepared microwavable pancakes.
Pancake recipes having ingredients of wheat flour, corn flour, sugar or high fructose corn syrup, buttermilk, salt, leavening egg, shortening, and about 41% water tend to produce pancakes that are tough in texture when cooked and heated in a microwave oven. Pancake recipes having a higher water content produce pancakes that are sometimes not as tough. Unfortunately, the high water recipes do not lend themselves to conventional commercial production methods. The high water recipes produce pancakes that are fragile and that fall apart when flipped on a griddle surface. The high water recipes also produce pancakes that wrinkle when the pancakes are removed from the griddle surface.
Approaches to obtaining a desired food texture have been attempted for food products other than pancakes. The Bergstrom et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,398, issued Sep. 17, 1991, describes a method for improving the crust and crumb properties of a yeast leavened bread. The method includes mixing an anti-staling dough conditioner, 20-to-100 parts of flour having a pregelatinized starch component, and about 7-to-30 parts of water into a bread material prior to baking the bread.
The Matson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,904, issued Jul. 30, 1991, describes a method for achieving a desired degree of toughness in bread. The method includes adding a texturizing agent to bread dough. The texturizing agent is selected from a group that includes surfactants, hydrogen bond-breakers, fast acting oxidants, enzymes, and disulfidereactants.
The Mendoza et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,565,014, issued Feb. 23, 1971, describes a device for spraying a roll of a tortilla-making machine with water. The water spray aids in preventing tortilla dough from sticking to the roll.
The Atwell et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,196, issued Jun. 12, 1990, describes a method for controlling the texture of microwave brownies. The method includes regulating the steam retention properties of a brownie batter. The steam retention properties are adjusted by use of an emulsifier in the brownie batter.
The Buckley U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,542, issued Dec. 18, 1990, describes a method for precooking fast foods such as french fried potatoes for use in a non-fat environment like a microwave oven. The Buckley patent describes a method that includes transporting the fast food by conveyor to several cooking stations One of the cooking stations sprays the precooked food with heated oil. The heated oil may be mixed with either water or air and is sprayed under pressure at elevated temperatures. Spraying the fast food with oil confers to the food an appearance, taste and texture like a conventionally cooked fast food. However, the fast food is not saturated with oil as it would be if immersed in a heated vat.
The Huang Hua-Fing, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,252, issued Jun. 19, 1990, describes a package for cooking a waffle in a microwave oven. The package includes a mechanism for allowing moisture to escape from the package.

Process of making misted microwavable pancakes


An aqueous dispersion is prepared by subjecting (meth)acrylate containing a polyfluoroalkyl group and a polymerizable monomer containing no fluorine atom to an emulsification treatment in the presence of a surfactant and a polypropyleneglycol-based compound having a molecular weight of 250 to 5,000, followed by copolymerization reaction in the presence of a polymerization initiator. The resulting aqueous dispersion, even if prepared from (meth)acrylate copolymer containing mixed perfluoroalkyl groups including perfluoroalkyl groups having 12 or more carbon atoms as polyfluoroalkyl groups, has a distinguished emulsion stability and thus can be effectively used as a water and oil repellent, etc.

It is now in wide use to make fibers having a water and oil repellency, using a water and oil repellent comprising a (meth)acrylate copolymer containing a polyfluoroalkyl group, mostly a perfluoroalkyl group, as an effective component. (Meth)acrylate containing a perfluoroalkyl group (Rf group) can be made from a compound Rf I through various reactions, where the perfluoroalkyl iodide Rf I can be synthesized by telomerization of C2F5I as a starting material, and the resulting product is a mixture of compounds represented by the general formula CnF2+1, with a distribution in chain lengths of various n values.
Generally, components C6F13I to C14F29I are used as effective components, whereas components C16F33I or higher n value components have no effective utility and components C12F25I˜C14F29I are discarded because of the imbalance between the production and the consumption. From the viewpoints of recent environmental protection control and economy, on the other hand, effective utilization of these unutilized resources and discarded components is now highly desirable. Preparation of an aqueous dispersion of (meth)acrylate polymers containing C12F25 or longer chain Rf groups has such a problem that the resulting aqueous dispersion has an unsatisfactory emulsion stability.
In the case of preparing aqueous dispersion of (meth)acrylate copolymers containing perfluoroalkyl groups, it has been so far proposed to add triethyleneglycol dimethyl ether, tetraethyleneglycol dimethyl ether, dipropyleneglycol, 1,6-hexanediol, 1,5-pentanediol, diethyl succinate, etc. thereto (JP-B-4-32873, JP-B-6-74409 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,180,740), but these methods have been found that the aqueous dispersions of (meth)acrylate copolymers containing mixed perfluoroalkyl groups including perfluoroalkyl groups of 12 or more carbon atoms, particularly 16 or more carbon atoms have quite an unsatisfactory emulsion stability.
The present applicant proposed earlier a process for preparing an aqueous emulsion by subjecting (meth)acrylate containing a polyfluoroalkyl group and stearyl (meth)acrylate to emulsion polymerization at a pH of 2 to 5.5 with a betaine-type emulsifier and a nonionic emulsifier (JP-A-11-255,995), but further improvements have been found still necessary with respect to the emulsion stability of aqueous dispersion, typically weight percent precipitate, 10% particle size, 50% particle size, 90% particle size, etc.

Process for preparing aqueous dispersion


This invention concerns a disinfectant composition containing chlorophenyl biguanide and/or chlorobenzyl biguanide compounds and benzoic acid or the salts thereof in an aqueous alcoholic solution and use thereof in the dental field.

This application is a xc2xa7371 of PCT/DE98/03084 filed Oct. 15, 1998, based on German Application No. 197 46 205.7 filed Oct. 18, 1997, and German Application No. 198 07 433.6 filed Feb. 23, 1998.
This invention concerns a disinfectant composition containing chlorophenyl biguanide and/or chlorobenzyl biguanide compounds and benzoic acid or the salts thereof in an aqueous alcoholic solution, and it concerns their use in the dental field in particular.
Use of biguanide compounds such as chlorhexidine as disinfectants is essentially known. Chlorhexidine (1,1xe2x80x2-hexamethylenebis[5-(4-chlorophenyl)biguanide] or N,Nxe2x80x3-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-3,12-diimino)-2,4,11,13-tetra-azatetra-decanediimidamide is a disinfectant with the following structure which also has an antiseptic effect in the oral cavity:
Chlorhexidine has strongly basic groups with a guanidine structure. It has a very low toxicity and is tolerated well even by the mucous membranes. In addition, various derivatives of chlorhexidine are known. Examples include the diacetate, the digluconate and the hydrochloride. The diacetate is known to be soluble in water. In addition, it is also known from European Patent No. 185,971 that the antimicrobial activity of biguanide compounds against gram-positive bacteria is increased by the presence of alkyl glycoside surfactants.
International Patent WO 87/05501 discloses a mouthwash containing a salt of benzoic acid and chlorhexidine gluconate in an aqueous ethanolic solution. However, the composition disclosed there is not stable in storage and it does not have the property which a disinfectant must have if it is to be used for disinfecting toothbrushes or other objects outside the oral cavity.
The object of the present invention is to provide a disinfectant for use outside the oral cavity in the dental field, but at the same time it must have excellent fungicidal, bactericidal and virucidal effects, a short-term microbiocidal activity, a broad spectrum of effect, a low toxicity, no effects on the material of the objects to be disinfected and it should also be stable in storage.
This object is surprisingly achieved according to this invention by a disinfectant composition with a pH of 5 to 9, especially 5 to 8, containing:
a) 0.001 to 4 wt %, preferably 0.01 to 2 wt %, especially 0.6 to 2 wt %, based on the free base, one or more chlorophenyl biguanide and/or chlorobenzyl biguanide compounds,
b) 0.005 to 7 wt %, preferably 0.01 to 3 wt %, especially 0.5 to 3 wt %, based on the free acid, benzoic acid and/or a salt of benzoic acid, and
c) more than 25 wt %, preferably more than 35 wt %, especially 35 to 95 wt % or 35 to 75 wt % of a C2 to C4 alcohol, and
d) water, preferably 0.5 to 65 wt %, especially 25 to 65 wt % water.
In addition, the disinfectant composition may also contain, independently of one another:
e) 0.01 to 8 wt %, preferably 0.05 to 6 wt %, especially 1.0 to 5 wt % nonionic surfactants,
f) 0.01 to 5 wt %, preferably 1 to 5 wt % essential oils or fruit flavorings, in particular 0.02 to 4 wt % or 2 to 4 wt % thymol and/or menthol, and
g) 0 to 3 wt % sweeteners.
The following disinfectant composition has proven especially effective for small use quantities of chlorophenyl biguanide and/or chlorobenzyl biguanide compounds:
a) 0.001 to less than 0.1 wt %, based on the free base, of one or more chlorophenyl biguanide and/or chlorobenzyl biguanide compounds;
b) 0.005 to less than 0.1 wt %, based on the free acid, benzoic acid or a salt of benzoic acid;
c) 35 to 65 wt % of the alcohol; and
d) 35 to 65 wt % water.
Essential oils and fruit flavorings according to the present invention include, for example, menthol, thymol, eucalyptol, anethole, carvone, cineole [eucalyptol], eugenol, cinnamaldehyde, caryophyllene, geraniol, citronellol, linalool, salvene, thymol, terpinene, methylchavicol, methyl salicylate, mentyl acetate, vanillin, ionone, linalyl acetate, rhodinol, piperitone or mixtures thereof, in particular menthol or thymol. The composition preferably contains menthol.
Suitable sweeteners include, for example, saccharine sodium (sodium salt of 1,2-benzisothiazol-3(2H)-one 1,1-dioxide, sodium salt of benzosulfimide), cyclamates, acesulfame potassium, aspartame [NutraSweet(copyright)], glycerol, sorbitol, mannitol and xylitol, preferably those without any cariogenic action.
The surfactant contained in the disinfectant solution is preferably an alkyl glycoside or an alkenyl glycoside, an alkoxylated alcohol, an alkoxylated carboxylic acid, a sorbitan ester, a polyethoxylated derivative of a sorbitan ester (in particular the commercial products Tween(copyright) and Span(copyright)), a polyglycerol ester, a sucrate (fatty acid ester of sucrose), an ester of fatty acid with a polyalcohol and/or a polyalkylene glycol. The surfactant may be an alkyl glycoside in particular.
The preferred alkyl and alkenyl glycosides are derived from fatty alcohols and from sugar molecules (ring structure or any other structure) and have glucose or maltose units in particular, optionally with glycosidic bonds, and an average molecular weight of 250 to 1000 g/mol, preferably 300 to 500 g/mol, and at least one hydrocarbon residue with 6 to 20 carbon atoms, preferably 8 to 16 carbon atoms.
The alkyl and alkenyl glycosides may be oligomers, with the glycoside content consisting of 1 to 3 glycoside units on the average, preferably 1 to 2 glycoside units. The alkenyl glycosides may have one or two double bonds.
A typical monoglycoside in the present context would be, for example
C8-C16-alkyl-xcex2-D-glucopyranoside (C6H11O6R)
Alkyl glycosides used according to this invention include, for example, the commercial products Plantacare(copyright) from Henkel KGaA (e.g., grade 818 UP containing 50% active substance and 3-5% polyglucose in aqueous dispersion, neutralized with an organic acid such as acetic acid).
The disinfectant composition is preferably adjusted to a pH of approximately 7. Other known additives such as thickeners, preservatives, coloring agents, antioxidants, perfumes, taste enhancers, fluoride ions, donors, foaming agents, etc. may also be present in the composition.
For example, it may be advantageous to use the disinfectant composition in the form of a gel, foam or spray. Such a composition would then contain, in addition to the disinfectant described above, 10 to 90 wt %, preferably 20 to 60 wt % of a blowing agent such as dimethyl ether, carbon dioxide, propane, butane or a halohydrocarbon such as a fluorochlorocarbon or a fluorocarbon or 0.1 to 10 wt %, preferably 0.2 to 2 wt % of a thickener (gelation agent) such as cellulose or chemically modified cellulose derivatives such as hydroxypropylcellulose, hydroxyethylcellulose or water-soluble salts of cellulose ethers, biologically engineered polysugars (such as xanthenes), polyvinyl alcohols, copolymers of maleic acid with vinyl monomers, polyacrylic acid or the salts thereof, polyarylamides, Carbopol(copyright) or cationic polymers such as flotation aids.
Toothbrushes are used in the oral cavity for cleaning teeth. The mechanical cleaning effect of a toothbrush is usually reinforced by dental care products to prevent a buildup of food residues and bacteria in the oral cavity as much as possible. Dental care products such as toothpaste may contain disinfectants. Use of disinfectants in mouthwash preparations is also known. The constant action of disinfectant measures when bactericidal agents are used in oral care products may weaken the physiological oral flora. The disinfectant composition according to this invention is also designed for use outside the oral cavity with regard to its composition. Then there can be no weakening of the oral flora in accordance with this use.
The disinfectant composition according to this invention is preferably used for disinfection of objects which are used in the oral cavity, e.g. for tooth care. Objects of this type include for example toothbrushes, dental picks, dental braces, dental splints, tooth guards, devices for washing out the mouth (spray jets or dental prostheses). These objects are exposed to bacteria, viruses or fungi in the oral cavity in the process of cleaning the teeth and are often cleaned inadequately with water after use. This cleaning is inadequate from a microbiological standpoint in particular. Toothbrushes, for example, can be an ideal culture medium for bacteria and fungi when they are left to stand for several hours at room temperature after a cleaning and then are used again. Viruses may remain infectious for several days. The disinfectant composition is used to particular advantage in a device according to International Patent WO 98/01054.
The efficacy of the disinfectant composition for the above-mentioned applications has been demonstrated on the basis of various microbiological tests. The concentrations given are each based on the active ingredient.


A cable leakage detection system to be placed in a moving vehicle for monitoring signal leakages in a cable television plant whereby an RF detection meter is combined with a global positioning system and a computer control unit to measure radio frequency signal strength, while maintaining the corrected distance between the vehicle and the source of the leak, determine longitude and latitude of the measured signal strength, and store the signal strength, longitude and latitude in data files.

Cable television is a system for delivering television signals to subscribers or viewers by means of coaxial cable. For an installation charge and a monthly fee, cable television viewers receive a clear picture of local channels, as well as reception of several dozen additional channels including one or two devoted to movies, sports, news or special events. Originating in 1949 as a way of providing good signal reception to geographic areas where the conventional television signals were weak, cable spread quickly among rural municipalities, and can now be found servicing over half the television viewers in the United States.
In 1972, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted Rules and Regulations requiring cable television operators to obtain a certificate of compliance from the Commission prior to constructing or operating a cable television system. These rules covered a number of broad subjects such as franchising standards, signal carriage, network program duplication and syndication, non broadcast or cablecasting services, and technical standards. Since that time, the Commission has modified or eliminated a number of these Rules and Regulations. Currently, the Commission's Rules and Regulations, as found in 47 Code of Federal Regulations, Section 76, cover such matters as the use of aeronautical frequencies (47 C.F.R .sctn..sctn.76.610, 76.612, 76.618, 76 619), and technical standards (47 C.F.R. .sctn..sctn.74.641, 76.601, 76.605, 76.609-76.619), as well as other matters.
In the 1980's a conflict arose between cable television operators and the aviation industry because the frequencies used by the cable television operators to transmit television signals overlapped those used by the aviation industry. When signals above a certain power level "leak" from a cable plant into the atmosphere, they conflict with those used by the aviation industry for communication, etc. Signal leakage can occur in a variety of situations such as when the shielding of cable cracks or becomes weathered, when connectors become loose or when the cable breaks.
In 1985, the Commission adopted a set of technical standards that require cable television operators to monitor their plants for "leakage" of signals from their cables. Of particular relevance is 47 C.F.R. .sctn.76.614 which requires cable television operators "transmitting carriers in the frequency bands 108-137 and 225-400 MHz [to] provide a program of regular monitoring for signal leakage by substantially covering the plant every three months." Rule 614 continues with the technical specifications regarding the power measurements that must be made, the requirements for logging the power measurements, and the signal strengths that are allowed if a plant is to continue operation.
To fulfill the requirements of Rule 614, and to maintain control over a cable plant, cable television operators have developed a variety of programs to monitor signal leakage. The most common method is to send a team of repairmen into the field with a bucket truck and a spectrum analyzer. Every three months this team drives the truck along every street where cable is installed. One of the repairmen monitors the readings of the spectrum analyzer while the other one drives. When a signal is encountered that is above that allowed under Rule 614, the source of the signal is located, and the cable is repaired.
Another method of monitoring cable plants include the use of an RF meter to measure signal strength while a driver travels along cable paths. The vehicle used by the driver need not be a bucket truck since no repairs are made at this time. When a signal is encountered that exceeds a designated value, the driver logs the value onto a map for later reference. The map is then provided to a repairman who can repair the leak.
While these methods of monitoring a cable plant meet the requirements of Rule 614, they have certain disadvantages. One problem with the first method is that of cost. The first method incurs the operational expense of a bucket truck and the salaries associated with qualified repairmen. The second method takes advantage of the lower operational cost of the vehicle, and the potentially lower salary of the driver. However, the monitoring of the RF meter and the logging of the measurements is still a manual, time consuming process that is subject to human error.
Cable television operators typically transmit the television signals in the frequency bands 108-137 and 225-400 MHz. The allocation of these frequency bands and the restrictions imposed on operators are governed by Title 47 of the United States Code (i.e., The Communications Act of 1934), and by subsequent regulations adopted by the Federal Communications Commission.


An apparatus for protecting the side of a vehicle comprises a sheet of impact absorbing material such as foam which is bonded to a sheet of magnetic material, such as magnetic material embedded in a thin flexible polymer matrix. The apparatus is encased in a cover and is cross stitched to form a series of panels which are separated by fold lines.

In one aspect, this invention relates to a device for attachment to the side of a vehicle to prevent impact damage. In another aspect, this invention relates to covering an area on the side of a vehicle to prevent damage. In yet another aspect, the invention relates to making a device to prevent vehicle damage.
A common problem for people who park their vehicle in parking lots adjacent to other parked vehicles is that the opening and closing of the doors of adjacent vehicles often hit parked vehicles of other people thereby causing chipped paint and minor dents. People with new vehicles, newly painted vehicles or merely those who take very good care of their vehicles are particularly sensitive to this problem.
Various devices have been devised for attempting to solve the aforementioned problem. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,684 to Richter proposes to attach a pad to the door handle of a vehicle. One of the problems with this device is that in most newer vehicles, the handles are somewhat recessed, thereby making it difficult, if not impossible, to attach the Richter device thereto.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,695 to McBee proposes to use telescoping tubes suspended from the top of windows for protection purposes. A major problem with this device is installation and storage, especially since it is quite bulky.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,583 proposes to use some permanently attached brackets on the inside of the vehicle for suspending from straps which hold a vehicle body protection device in place. A major problem with such device is that very few people would be willing to permanently attach brackets to their vehicle. Furthermore, in alternate embodiments the attachment process appears to be extremely cumbersome since it is attached by rolling the window up and down to adjust the length to straps used to suspend the protection device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,519 to Marshall proposes to use an extremely complicated device with an electric motor which rolls up a shield when not in use. Such device is believed to be too complicated and expensive to be practical.
My earlier patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,015 proposes use of a foam rubber pad retained in position at the wheel wells by straps and at top and bottom by magnets. It must be rolled up for storage. It takes time to apply and remove. It also has a number of components and is difficult to mass market at low cost.
A protection device for motor vehicle bodies which is simple and easy to manufacture and use would be very desirable.

Motor vehicle body protection apparatus and method of making

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A windshield cover for protecting the windshield of motor vehicles against the weather i made as a panel constructed of a plastic material. The panel has two outer sheets spaced from each other by a spacing and a plurality of inner webs extending perpendicularly to the outer sheets and interconnecting the two outer sheets to form a channeled panel fairly rigid against a force perpendicularly to the plane of the panel and somewhat flexible to bending around the length of the webs which form a plurality of parallel channels in said spacing between the outer sheets. The inner webs provide mechanical strength against rough wear and tear, and the channels hold air for thermal insulation, especially when at least the upper end of each channel is closed.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,671,334 (Yadegar et. al.), issued on Jun. 9, 1987, discloses a vehicle sunshade, which is foldable and collapsible for storage e.g. in the glove compartment. The known sunshade is made of plastic, fiberboard, cardboard or the like, without any hollow spaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,708 (Champane), issued on Nov. 7, 1989, discloses a vehicle sunshield that is made of resilient corrugated cardboard and constructed for use inside the vehicle next to the windshield. The shield is also foldable.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,215 (Sing), issued on Nov. 15, 1988, discloses air inflatable insulating shades mountable inside a passenger car compartment to cover the ceiling and both front and rear window. A separate blower is required to inflate the shades.
There is a need for a windshield cover that will keep snow and ice off the windshield without freezing to the windshield. Thus the protection must be mechanical and thermal. Conventional devices are not very efficient for both purposes simultaneously.
It is also known to use protection films which are stretched over the windshield and are secured in the door frame. Such thin, soft films are cumbersome to handle, since it is difficult to attach the films to the windshield. Besides, there is a tendency of these films to freeze onto the windshield.


A technique for dynamically translating network management primitives into operations on management information stored within a relational database hosting a management information base. A CMIP network management operation and argument is retrieved from a network management processing machine and processed by a full or partial OSI stack. The CMIP operation is examined to ascertain a type of network management operation. If the operation is of a type which interacts with the database, a database query is generated in accordance with the operation type, to perform the network management operation on the relational database.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a technique for dynamically translating network management primitives into operations on management information stored within a Management Information Base (MIB). More particularly, the present invention is concerned with that subset of network management systems in which the Management Information Base is implemented as a Relational Database.
2. Background of the Invention
Communications networks, such as data communications networks, use network management systems to control and monitor the performance of devices attached to the network. Many such current network management systems use relational databases for persistent storage of various information relating to the network and devices therein. Recently, various standards bodies have proposed a protocol called Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP) designed to carry information about the specific managed objects in the network and about operations to be executed upon them.
Unfortunately, this CMIP protocol does not provide for persistent storage of information. Nor does it provide a mechanism for interfacing with current techniques using Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS).
The present invention addresses this problem by providing a method and apparatus for translating between CMIP and RDBMS using standard Structured Query Language (SQL) queries.

Dynamic translation of network management primitives to queries to a database


A post frame building utilizing wood support posts having bottom portion of the posts sunken into the ground. An encapsulating sleeve for each underground portion of the posts providing a positive barrier against deterioration by ground contact. The sleeve may be trimmed at ground level or higher as desired.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a protective sleeve for the underground portion of a wood post to serve as a barrier to prevent deterioration by ground contact.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There appears to be a widespread use of various means to protect the sunken below ground portion of wood posts.
Several treatments have been used to apply a preservative to the post. In various instances sheet material has been formed over the post to be secured thereto and in some instances shrunk onto the posts. Water tight casings with and without collars also are used to prevent deterioration both from moisture and ground contact.
It is desired to provide here a barrier for a ground inset post which is impervious to the adverse effects of ground contact.

Protective sleeve for posts in post frame construction


Energy savings can be obtained by masking a computationally-intensive task from a processor performance management system which selects the processor performance state based on the load on the processor (CPU). By preventing the PPM system from reacting to the computational load the application places on the processor, the time to complete execution of the application increases but the energy used by the application may be greatly reduced and thermal stress on the CPU is also reduced (preventing noisy fans from operating). This approach makes it convenient to run a computationally intensive task as a background task. The masking can be achieved by running the task in tiny bursts, with micro-sleeps in between them, so that the average CPU load is low over a time period that the PPM system uses for measuring CPU activity/load.

The present invention relates in general to the field of energy efficiency in information technology, notably to improving energy efficiency when processor performance management (PPM), or dynamic frequency and voltage scaling (DFVS) as it is also called, is employed. In particular, the invention relates to a power saving technique that works by reducing the effect on a power performance management algorithm or system of a computational load that is associated with a particular process (notably, a user application, system-level service or "daemon").
Nowadays processor performance management is widely used in order to reduce the power consumption of computers and other devices/apparatus (especially portable devices—laptops, PDAs, mobile phones, etc.—which work using battery power for a large part of the time) containing a processor (notably a central processing unit, CPU). In this document the term "computing apparatus" shall be used as a general expression to designate devices/apparatus comprising a processor.
Modern processors are capable of functioning at a range of different clock frequencies and processor core voltages (Vcc). Each combination of an operating frequency and an operating voltage corresponds to a different standard of processor performance and is often referred to as a "performance state", or an "operating point", or a "P state" according to the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface standard (ACPI). Each performance state involves a different level of power consumption: the power consumption goes up in a linear fashion with CPU clock frequency and goes up with the square of the operating voltage. In other words, the following formula (1) is an approximation to how power consumption P varies with CPU clock frequency f and operating voltage V:P=CV2f  (1)where C is the processor capacitance.
As an example, Table 1 indicates the processor performance states that are supported by the 1.6 GHz Intel Pentium™ M processor.
TABLE 1FrequencyVoltage1.6GHz1.484 V←High Performance Mode1.4GHz1.420 V(highest power consumption)1.2GHz1.276 V1.0GHz1.164 V800MHz1.036 V600MHz0.956 V←Low Performance Mode(lowest power consumption)
Broadly speaking, processor performance management involves dynamically selecting a performance state for a processor based on the conditions applicable to the system at the time and/or based on a power management protocol which may have been specified by the user. Typically, a high performance state (highest possible operating frequency and voltage) will be selected when the percentage utilization of the processor is high and a power-saving low performance state (lowest possible operating frequency and voltage) will be selected when the percentage utilization of the processor is low, with intermediate states being selected in other circumstances.
The particular factors which influence the selection of processor performance state can be multiple, and vary from one system to another. Typical parameters which are taken into account include, but are not limited to: the processor utilization percentage (or processor "activity"), the user's power policy, the current battery level, and thermal conditions and events. Moreover, some PPM algorithms base their selection of processor performance state on predicted values of these parameters for an upcoming time period.
PPM can be implemented in a variety of ways, making use of features in the processor, BIOS and/or operating system. Examples of well-known PPM systems include AMD's powerNow!™, ARM's PowerWise Adaptive Voltage Scaling (AVS) and Intelligent Energy Manager (IEM), and Intel's Enhanced SpeedStep™ technologies.
One way of decomposing a PPM system is to consider that there is a control unit which decides on which processor performance state should be selected for a given time period, and a driver module which implements the desired setting of the processor performance state (for example, by writing a code into a register, internal to the processor, which identifies the next target processor performance state—as in the Intel SpeedStep™ system). In some cases the operating system may need to refer to the BIOS in order to determine the location of registers which hold the target processor performance state and/or the actual processor performance state. When the processor is instructed to change performance state, typically the processor will identify the desired operating voltage to an associated voltage regulator.
The present invention can be applied irrespective of the particular technique that is used to instruct a desired change in processor performance state and irrespective of the particular technique that is employed to implement an instructed change.
Often there will be a group of different power management policies and the user can select which policy he wishes the system to apply at a given time and/or can configure the policy. For example, the Microsoft Windows 7™ operating system specifies three power management policies (or "power plans") called, respectively, "Performance", "Balanced" and "Power Saver" and the user is allowed to customize these policies, for example, by specifying maximum and minimum limits on processor utilization in a given policy.
In many cases the system will operate in a PPM mode in which the load on the processor affects the performance state that is selected for the processor.
A computer (or other device having data processing capabilities) that is configured to implement a PPM policy which selects the processor performance state taking the processor activity into account will select a high performance processor state (i.e. high operating frequency and high operating voltage—with concomitantly high power consumption) whenever a computationally-intensive task is being processed. In general, the PPM module cannot distinguish between a high-priority task which should, indeed, be processed rapidly and a task which is non-urgent (i.e. where the user would tolerate slower completion of the task—i.e. a lower processor performance state—if this would lead to a reduction in power consumption).
In this regard, consider what happens when a computer user offers the resources of his system to a volunteer computing project, and his system is configured to implement a PPM policy which selects a processor performance state based, at least in part, on the computational load on the processor.
In volunteer computing, people contribute their computer resources to a large, and most often scientific, computing project. A well-known volunteer computing project is the climate modeling project run primarily by Oxford University via the climateprediction.net website.
In order to be able to participate in a volunteer computing project a user typically downloads a small application from a server associated with the volunteer computing project and installs this application on his computer. The application then downloads a block of data, performs a computation using the processor of the volunteered computer, uploads the result to the server, downloads the next block of data, and so on. Volunteer computing projects generally involve applications that are computationally-intensive, i.e. requiring the processor to perform mainly mathematical operations. Such applications are often referred to as "CPU-bound" applications.
In the most common case, volunteer computing applications are configured so that they execute only when the computer has been idle for a certain time, i.e. they run as a screen-saver. In order to evaluate the power consumption incurred in this kind of case (and others) a benchmark application was written, and this benchmark application was designed to perform a dummy computation so that it would mimic the behaviour of a CPU-bound user application. The benchmark application was run using the following apparatus: a Sony VAIO™ laptop (model PCG-Z1SP) using a 1500 MHz Intel Pentium™ M Banias processor featuring SpeedStep™ technology, using a GNU/Linux operating system with Linux kernel version 2.6.31 and configured so as to select the processor's performance state based on the percentage processor utilization.
When the benchmark application was run as a screen-saver on the above-described apparatus, the processor utilization (or processor load) was 100% during execution of the application (because it is a computationally-intensive application) and, accordingly, the PPM system selected the highest-performance processor state available. In these conditions about 57 seconds were required to complete the computation and roughly 1700 Joules of energy were used, making an average power consumption of 30 Watts. If the user is deliberately leaving his computer on purely so that a volunteer computing application can use his resources then all of this power is being consumed purely as a result of participation in the volunteer computing project.
By way of contrast, it is also possible to run a volunteer computing application (or other CPU-bound task) as a background task, for example while the user is using his computer for routine office work.
FIG. 1 illustrates the typical pattern of CPU activity when a user uses the above-mentioned laptop (configured as described) for routine office work. FIG. 1(a) illustrates an example of the typical pattern of variation in CPU load over time and FIG. 1(b) shows how the CPU clock frequency changes over the same time period under control of the PPM system (which is configured to select a high-performance processor mode when the CPU load is high but a low-performance processor mode when the CPU load is low).
It will be seen from FIG. 1(a) that average CPU load is low—generally below 20%—when the laptop is used for typical office work. FIG. 1(b) shows that the CPU's clock frequency also stays low, with occasional spikes to a higher frequency (for example, when the office application loads and decompresses an image). The power consumption when the laptop is used for routine office work is around 13 Watts which is practically the same as when the laptop is idle (i.e. CPU load close to zero).
When the benchmark application was run as a background task while the user was engaged in routine office work on the above-described test laptop configuration, the benchmark application made processor utilization jump to 100%, leading the PPM system to select a high-performance processor mode for the entire period when the benchmark application is being executed. The computation, once again, took about 57 seconds and over this time period the average power was 30 Watts. However, in this case it is fair to say that only 17 Watts "extra" power was being consumed over and above the power that the user would have required anyway in order to perform his routine office work (this represents a drop from 1700 Joules of energy used in the screen-saver case, to 969 Joules in the case of running in the background).
Thus, running a computationally-intensive application (or, more generally, a computationally-intensive task) as a background task while the user is engaged in using his computer is more energy-efficient than running the application as a screen-saver, but still involves expenditure of considerable additional energy.
Moreover, when the CPU-bound task was run in the background, raising the CPU load from a relatively low level to 100%, this soon placed a thermal stress on the CPU and the computer's fans started turning at full speed. The machine's noise soon became disturbing to the user and would be hard to tolerate for any extended period of time.
One approach that has been tried in the context of volunteer computing is to allow the user to restrict the fraction of time that his computer resources are available to the volunteer computing application. This functionality is provided by a software package called BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing), which is often employed to deploy volunteer computing projects. If the user specifies that his computer resources are to be available to the volunteer computing project for less than 100% of the time then the BOINC manager will intermittently request the operating system to change the state of the application to "sleeping" so as to reduce the average CPU usage to the fraction specified by the user. For example, a user setting of 20% will lead the BOINC manager to run the application for 2 seconds and then "put the application to sleep" for 8 seconds on the assumption that, this being a computationally-intensive application, during the 2-second periods when the application runs the CPU load is 100%. When the application sleeps the CPU load will fall back to its idle level (or the level attributable to any other processes being executed by the CPU).
This facility that BOINC provides for a user to restrict the access that the volunteer computing application can have to the CPU does not lead to a reduction in the energy consumed by that application. This can be seen from the following:    let α be the user-setting of the allowed degree of CPU usage, where 0<α≦1;    P0 is the power consumption when CPU load is 0% (the CPU is idle);    P100 is the power consumption when CPU load is 100%;    T100 is the time that would be taken to perform the computation with CPU load at 100% and if the computation was uninterrupted; and    T is the actual time taken to complete the computation (including "sleep" periods).
The average power consumption should be P=αP100+(1−α)P0. However, the "extra" power consumption due to running the volunteer computing application (over and above the power used by the computer while idle) is only P=α(P100−P0).
Because of the sleeps introduced by BOINC the computation time grows from T100 to T=T100/α. Thus, the total "extra" energy consumed because of the running of the volunteer computing application E=P×T becomes (P100−P0)×T100, which is exactly the same as would have been the case without the "sleeps".
In fact, it has been found in practice that when a computationally-intensive application's access to the CPU is restricted in this way the total energy consumed actually goes up. FIG. 2 shows how power consumption varied with the value of the parameter α (representing the proportion of the time the volunteer computing application has access to the CPU) in a case where a modified version of the benchmark application—adapted to reproduce the functionality provided by BOINC—was run on the test laptop configuration. FIG. 3 shows how computation time varied with the value of the parameter α in these experiments.
It can be seen from FIG. 2 that for almost all values of α the energy consumption is greater than for the case where there are no sleeps (i.e. the case where α=1). Moreover, FIG. 3 shows that for all values of α less than one the duration of the computation increases. In other words, using the facility provided by BOINC to restrict CPU usage appears to result primarily in increased energy consumption and lengthening of the time required to complete the computation.
Moreover, it has been found that when the parameter α is set to a value greater than 0.2 in the BOINC preferences then the thermal stress on the CPU brings the fans into operation and the machine quickly becomes unbearably noisy.
It will be seen from the above that whether a volunteer computing application (or other CPU-bound task, e.g. a user application, a system-level service, a daemon in a multi-tasking operating system environment, etc.) runs as a screen-saver or as a background task there is a considerable extra expenditure of energy involved in running this application. Part of the reason for this significant energy usage resides in the fact that execution of the volunteer computing application involves a high percentage CPU utilization rate (at or approaching 100%) and this leads the PPM system to select a high-performance processor mode even though this application does not truly require high performance from the processor (the user has no real need for the task to be run quickly—he could tolerate an extension of the time that is required for execution of this task to be completed).
Considered more generally, a PPM system which selects processor performance state based, at last in part, on processor utilization, can consume power at a considerable rate even in a case where some part of the processor load which prompts the selection of a high-performance state was not, in fact, urgent or high priority for the user.
Obviously, if the only tasks liable to be executed by a processor are non-urgent then the user could select a power management profile which sets the processor into a low-performance/low power-consumption state at all times. However, this is not appropriate if the processor is going to be faced with some tasks that are urgent and others which are not urgent. In such circumstances the user is probably better off leaving in place a PPM profile which takes the CPU load into account when setting the processor performance state.
US 2009/0199019 describes a technique whereby a computer system (notably its operating system) is configured so that there is an explicit assignment of priority levels to different workloads so that the PPM algorithm can base its selection of the processor performance state not just on the percentage processor utilization but also on the priority level of the workload in question. However, in order for existing computer systems (or other devices having data processing capabilities) to be able to make use of this technique it would be necessary to update the operating system on each system/device. This is an impractical task given that numerous different types of operating systems (and different operating system versions) are currently in use.

Reducing power consumption on a processor system by masking actual processor load with insertion of dummy instructions


Several embodiments of turntable systems for loaded pallets are disclosed. In some embodiments, a first ramp leads up to the turntable and a second ramp leads down from the turntable on the opposite side. In other embodiments, at least two turntables are positioned adjacent one another, optionally with a bridge surface connecting them so that a pallet lift can be driven from one turntable to the other to place one pallet on one turntable and another pallet on the other turntable according to a method disclosed herein. A validation system without a turntable includes a plurality of cameras about a periphery of a platform weight sensor.

The delivery of products to stores from distribution centers has many steps that are subject to errors and inefficiencies.
For example, the products may be cases of beverage containers (e.g. cartons of cans and beverage crates containing bottles or cans, etc). There are many different permutations of flavors, sizes, and types of beverage containers delivered to each store. When building pallets, missing or mis-picked product can account for significant additional operating costs.
In some implementations, stretch wrap is wrapped around a loaded pallet to keep the items stacked stably thereon. The loaded pallet may be placed on a turntable and rotated while the stretch wrap is wrapped around the items on the pallet. This takes some time and occupies valuable space in the warehouse.