An airbag inflator diffusion system having a thin profile. The diffusion system includes an airbag inflator that is inserted into a sleeve. The sleeve has overlapping longitudinal edges positioned so that the sleeve tightly circumscribes the inflator. Engagement tabs are formed in one longitudinal edge of the sleeve and fold through perforations formed adjacent the other longitudinal edge. Upon activation of the inflator, the sleeve expands radially forming an exhaust passage through which exhaust gas may travel. The folded engagement tabs and their corresponding perforations limit the radial expansion of the sleeve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to airbag inflation systems for use in motor vehicles. More specifically, the present invention relates to airbag inflator housings for diffusing inflation gas exiting an airbag inflator.
2. Description of Related Art
Safety belts are designed to protect the occupants of a vehicle during events such as automobile collisions. In low-speed collisions, the occupants are generally protected from impact with objects located inside the vehicle such as the windshield, the instrument panel, a door, the side windows, or the steering wheel by the action of the safety belt. In more severe collisions, however, even belted occupants may experience an impact with the car's interior. Airbag systems were developed to supplement conventional safety belts by deploying into the space between an occupant and an interior object or surface in the vehicle during a collision event. The airbag acts to decelerate the occupant, thus reducing the chances of injury to the occupant caused by contact with the vehicle's interior.
Many typical airbag systems consist of several individual components joined to form an operational module. Such components generally include an airbag cushion, an airbag inflator, a sensor, and an electronic control unit. Airbag cushions are typically made of a thin, durable fabric that is folded to fit into a compartment of a steering wheel, dashboard, interior compartment, roof, roof rail, roof compartment, or other space in a vehicle. The airbag inflator is designed to produce a gas to rapidly inflate the cushion when needed. The sensors detect sudden decelerations of the vehicle that are characteristic of an impact. The readings taken by the sensors are processed in the electronic control unit using an algorithm to determine whether a collision has occurred.
Upon detection of an impact of sufficient severity, the control unit sends an electrical signal to the inflator. The inflator uses one of many technologies, including pyrotechnic compounds and pressurized gas, to produce a volume of an inflation gas. The inflation gas is channeled into the airbag, rapidly inflating it. Inflation of the airbag causes it to deploy, placing it in position to receive the impact of a vehicle occupant. After contact of the occupant with the airbag and the corresponding deceleration of the occupant, the airbag rapidly deflates. To accomplish this, the inflation gas is vented from openings in the airbag, deflating it and freeing the occupant to exit the vehicle.
Airbag apparatuses have been primarily designed for deployment in front of an occupant: between the upper torso and head of an occupant and the windshield or instrument panel. Side impact airbags such as inflatable curtains and seat mounted airbags also have been developed in response to the need for protection from impacts in a lateral direction, or against the side of the vehicle. Other airbags such as knee bolsters and overhead airbags also operate to protect various parts of the body from collision.
Generally, the inflator is installed within or in close proximity to the textile airbag. However, doing so requires the inflator to be housed in a diffuser. When activated, the inflator generates inflation gas which escapes exit ports in the inflator at a high velocity and temperature. Due to limited space, the uninflated textile bag is often folded up against the inflator. Without a diffuser, the hot gas is concentrated on the textile bag. The concentrated hot gas and the confined space may combine to cause the gas to burn one or more holes in the textile bag. The holes may cause the airbag to inflate improperly.
A diffuser housing disperses the inflation gas, allowing them to expand and cool. Heat may be transferred from the inflation gas to the surface of the diffuser. A diffuser may also be used to direct the gas leaving the exit ports. However, in order for the inflator to perform properly, a flow area around the inflator is needed to enable inflation gas to exit the inflator without excessive restriction. The needed flow area is achieved through the existence of an exhaust passage. Exhaust passages are typically a space between the inflator and the diffuser housing. Gas may be directed through the exhaust passage to cause the airbag to inflate in a particular manner. Once the gas passes through the diffuser, the gas is sufficiently cooled and/or not concentrated to prevent burning holes in the textile airbag.
For example, in a side impact airbag module, an inflator is typically press-fitted inside a steel housing with pre-installed mounting studs extending therefrom. The inflator housing and side airbag are then ordinarily enclosed in a plastic case having two sides that snap together. The resulting module is a thin rectangular or alternatively-shaped module enclosing the inflator, inflator housing, and side impact airbag.
In order for the inflator to perform properly, an exhaust passage must exist between the housing and the inflator to provide a flow area for inflation gas to exit the inflator. An exhaust passage is typically created by press-fitting the inflator against pre-formed inwardly directed dimples in the steel housing. A press fit is an interference force fit accomplished using a press. A heavy press fit, where the inflator is tightly pressed into the steel housing, is often necessary to prevent axial movement of the inflator within the housing. The axial direction is parallel to the longitudinal length of the inflator. The inflator is thereby in contact with the inwardly directed dimples while the remaining surface of the steel housing is spaced apart from the inflator a short distance. The space between the inflator and the steel housing comprises the exhaust passage. However, the existence of the exhaust passage widens the profile of the inflator housing in a direction orthogonal to the direction the mounting studs project. The side impact airbag module may consequently protrude out of the side of the seat when installed.
Exhaust passages typically occupy valuable space when the diffuser and inflator are installed and not in use. Uninflated airbag modules are installed in a very limited space in a steering wheel, dashboard, interior compartment, seat back, roof rail, roof compartment, or other space in a vehicle. Consequently, the minimization of the space occupied by the exhaust passages may provide an aesthetically pleasing installation area and give vehicle manufacturers more flexibility in designing the installation area.
Accordingly, a need exists for an airbag diffusion system which cools the inflation gas exiting the inflator to prevent holes from being burned in the airbag material. A need further exists for the airbag diffusion system to be compact and have a thin profile to allow the system to be installed in areas of small dimensions relative to conventional diffusion systems. A need also exists for a diffusion system to be simple and inexpensive to fabricate. Such an apparatus is disclosed herein.


A method for erasing and writing desktop management interface (DMI) data under a Linux system is provided. The method constructs a virtual 8086 mode in the Linux system for executes a PnP calling routine. The method then erase and/or write the DMI data from a management information format database (MIFD) of a basic input/output system (BIOS) in a computer using the PnP calling routine.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to systems and methods for erasing and writing data in a computer, and more particularly to a system and method for erasing and writing desktop management interface data under a Linux system.
2. Description of Related Art
Desktop management interface (DMI) is a system that helps to collect data about a computer (hereinafter "DMI data"). The DMI data may include a serial number of a motherboard, a manufacture, event logs, for example. Usually, the DMI data is stored in a management information format database (MIFD) of a basic input/output system (BIOS) in the computer.
There are two methods of accessing MIFD for the DMI data. The first method is a table-based method, and the second method is by using Plug-and-Play (PnP) function interface. Using the first method, the DMI data only can be read, but cannot be erased or written. Using the second method, the DMI data can be read, erased, and written by a PnP calling routine.
However, the PnP calling routine only can be executed under a real mode or a 16-bit protected mode. A disk operating system (DOS) operates in a real mode. However, a Linux system operates in a 32-bit protected mode. Thus, the PnP calling routine cannot be executed under the Linux system.
Typically, in order to erase and/or write DMI data under the Linux system, DOS needs to be extra installed. However, installing the DOS extra is very troublesome. In addition, DOS is a single thread operating system, thus, system halt may happens if erasing and/or writing DMI data happens wrongly.

System and method for erasing and writing desktop management interface data under a linux system

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A hot rolled electromagnetic steel sheet having excellent magnetic properties and corrosion resistance is obtained by heating a super-high purity iron comprising Fe: not less than 99.95 mass %, C+N+S: not more than 10 mass ppm, O: not more than 50 mass ppm and the remainder being inevitable impurity to xcex3-zone and subjecting in this xcex3-zone to hot rolling at a total rolling reduction of not less than 50% and under condition that at least one pass is a friction coefficient between roll and rolling material of not more than 0.3 and thereafter cooling at an average cooling rate of 0.5xcx9c150xc2x0 C. over Ar3 transformation point xcx9c300xc2x0 C.

This invention relates to a hot rolled electromagnetic steel sheet, and more particularly to a pure iron based hot rolled electromagnetic steel sheet having excellent magnetic properties by aligning  less than 100 greater than  axis in a direction perpendicular to a sheet surface at as-rolled state in a high density and an excellent corrosion resistance and a method of producing the same.
Silicon steel sheets having excellent electromagnetic properties are used in a core for a transformer or a generator from the old time. As such a silicon steel sheet, there are two kinds of a unidirectional silicon steel sheet utilizing a secondary recrystallization to develop {110} less than 001 greater than  oriented grains or so-called Goss oriented grains, and a non-directional silicon steel sheet developing crystal grains with {100} face parallel to a sheet surface. Among them, the non-directional silicon steel sheets have particularly good properties when magnetic field is applied to various directions in the sheet surface and are frequently used in the generator, electric motor and the like.
In case of producing the non-directional silicon steel sheet used for such applications, it has hitherto been required to conduct decarburization annealing in a controlled atmosphere, cross rolling changing a rolling direction during the cold rolling or the like for gathering {100} face parallel to the sheet surface in a higher density.
For example, JP-A-1-108345 relating to silicon steel containing Si: 0.2xcx9c6.5 wt % or JP-A-4-224624 relating to steel containing Al+Si: 0.2xcx9c6.5 wt % discloses a technique that the steel is cold-rolled and annealed in a weak decarburizing atmosphere, for example, under vacuum of not more than 0.1 torr or in an atmosphere having a dew point of not more than 0xc2x0 C. and composed of one or more of H2, He, Ne, Nr, Ar, Xe, Rn and N2 to form xcex1-single phase region in a zone corresponding to a depth of 5xcx9c50 xcexcm from the sheet surface and then annealed in a strong decarburizing atmosphere, for example, H2 having a dew point of not less than xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. or a gas obtained by adding an inert gas or CO, CO2 to H2 having a dew point of not less than xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. at 650xcx9c900xc2x0 C. for 5xcx9c20 minutes to grow the xcex1-single phase region formed on the surface layer portion into the inside in the thickness direction to thereby improve the magnetic properties.
Thus, complicated steps inclusive the decarburization annealing have be required in addition to the hot rollingxe2x80x94cold rolling steps for gathering the {100} face parallel to the sheet surface in a high density from the old time. And also, the conventional electromagnetic steel sheets including 3% Si steel are low in the corrosion resistance, so that an insulating film having an excellent corrosion resistance is applied onto a final product, which is a factor raising the product cost.
However, it is recently demanded to have high performances in a cheaper cost with the popularization of electrical goods, which is impossible to cope with the aforementioned conventional technique. Although it is considered to more simplify the production steps for satisfying the above demand, the conventional technique is difficult to enhance the gathering of {100} orientation parallel to the sheet surface as hot-rolled.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to propose a hot rolled electromagnetic steel sheet having improved magnetic properties and corrosion resistance by gathering the {100} orientation parallel to the sheet surface at a time of completing hot rolling and a method of producing the same.
The inventors have made various studies for solving the above problems in the hot rolled electromagnetic steel sheet and found that the formation of {100} orientation parallel to sheet surface, i.e.  less than 100 greater than //ND orientation of the steel sheet (direction perpendicular to sheet surface) is promoted by highly purifying steel to form a pure iron based component composition and rationalizing hot rolling conditions (particularly rolling reduction at given temperature region, friction coefficient) and cooling rate at xcex1-zone after hot rolling, and as a result the invention has been accomplished.
That is, the invention is a hot rolled electromagnetic steel sheet consisting of a super-high purity iron comprising Fe: not less than 99.95 mass %, C+N+S: not more than 10 mass ppm, O: not more than 50 mass ppm and the remainder being inevitable impurity, and having excellent magnetic properties and corrosion resistance.
As a method of producing the above hot rolled electromagnetic steel sheet, the invention also proposes a method of producing a hot rolled electromagnetic steel sheet having excellent magnetic properties and corrosion resistance, characterized in that a super-high purity iron comprising Fe: not less than 99.95 mass %, C+N+S: not more than 10 mass ppm, O: not more than 50 mass ppm and the remainder being inevitable impurity is heated to xcex3-zone and subjected in this xcex3-zone to hot rolling at a total rolling reduction of not less than 50% and under condition that at least one pass is a friction coefficient between roll and rolling material of not more than 0.3 and thereafter cooled at an average cooling rate of 0.5xcx9c150xc2x0 C. over Ar3 transformation point xcx9c300xc2x0 C.
As a preferable method, the invention proposes a method of producing a hot rolled electromagnetic steel sheet having excellent magnetic properties and corrosion resistance, characterized in that a super-high purity iron comprising Fe: not less than 99.95 mass %, C+N+S: not more than 10 mass ppm, O: not more than 50 mass ppm and the remainder being inevitable impurity is heated to xcex3-zone and subjected in this xcex3-zone to hot rolling at a total rolling reduction of not less than 50% and under condition that at least one pass is a friction coefficient between roll and rolling material of not more than 0.3 and a strain rate of not less than 150 l/second and thereafter cooled at an average cooling rate of 0.5xcx9c150xc2x0 C. over Ar3 transformation point xcx9c300xc2x0 C.
An embodiment of the invention will be described below.
At first, the reason on the limitation of chemical composition in the pure iron based electromagnetic steel sheet according to the invention is described.
Fe: Not Less than 99.95 mass %
A raw material of high purity Fe is hot rolled in xcex3-zone and then cooled in xcex1-zone, during which  less than 100 greater than //ND oriented grains grow. The purity of Fe is particularly important in the invention. When the purity is less than 99.95 mass %, the  less than 100 greater than //ND oriented grains hardly grow in the cooling. Therefore, Fe is not less than 99.95 mass %, preferably not less than 99.98 mass %.
C+N+S: Not More than 10 Mass ppm, O: Not More than 50 mass ppm
These gas components in the pure iron form carbide, oxide and the like with metallic elements (Al, Ti, Nb, Mn and the like) contained at extremely slight amounts of fewxcx9cfew tens mass ppm in the pure iron to obstruct occurrence and growth of nucleus for  less than 100 greater than //ND oriented grains. And also, the corrosion of pure iron based material is mainly caused by starting from C, N, S segregated in a grain boundary or oxides existing in the grain boundary or in the grains to create rust.
Such a bad influence of C, N, S and O appears even when C+N+S exceeds 10 mass ppm or even when O exceeds 50 mass ppm, so that it is necessary to satisfy C+N+S: not more than 10 mass ppm and O: not more than 50 mass ppm together. Moreover, preferable content ranges are C+N+S: not more than 5 mass ppm and O: not more than 20 mass ppm.
Then, production conditions of the pure iron based electromagnetic steel sheet according to the invention are described.
Hot Rolling
When the raw material of pure iron based steel having the above component composition is hot rolled in xcex1-zone, crystal grains are fined and  less than 100 greater than //ND oriented grains do not quite grow. Therefore, the hot rolling is necessary to be carried out at a temperature of xcex3-zone. When friction coefficient between roll and raw material exceeds 0.3 in the rolling of xcex3-zone,  less than 110 greater than //ND oriented grains are apt to be easily generated at a position near to {fraction (1/10)} of the sheet thickness and hence the occurrence and growth of  less than 100 greater than //ND oriented grains are controlled. For this end, the hot rolling is carried out at he fiction coefficient of not more than 0.3, preferably not more than 0.2. When the rolling under such a condition (so-called lubrication rolling) is conducted in at least one pass of the hot rolling, the effect is developed. Particularly, when it is conducted in a final pass, a more larger effect is developed because shearing strain does not concentrate in the surface layer of the steel sheet before transformation. Furthermore, when the strain rate of the rolling is made not less than 150 l/second in the lubrication rolling, the formation of  less than 100 greater than //ND oriented grains is promoted. Such a tendency is considered due to the fact that the formation of oriented grains other than  less than 100 greater than //ND such as  less than 110 greater than //ND easily formed on the surface layer portion of the steel sheet or the like is controlled. Moreover, when the strain rate is made not less than 200 l/second, a further larger effect is obtained.
In the above hot rolling in the xcex3-zone, the total rolling reduction is required to be not less than 50%. Because, when the total rolling reduction in the hot rolling of xcex3-zone is not less than 50%, the recrystallization in the hot rolling is promoted to fine xcex3-grain size and the  less than 100 greater than //ND oriented grains are preferentially grown in a direction of sheet thickness in the cooling course after xcex3xe2x86x92xcex1 transformation. When the total rolling reduction is less than 50%, equiaxed crystal grains having a random direction remain in a central portion of the sheet thickness to degrade the magnetic properties.
Cooling After Hot Rolling
The  less than 100 greater than //ND oriented grains in the super-high purity iron grow from the surface of the steel sheet toward a center thereof at xcex1-zone after xcex3xe2x86x92xcex1 transformation while eroding xcex1-grains newly created through transformation. In this case, when the cooling rate over Ar3xcx9c300xc2x0 C. exceeds 150xc2x0 C./min, the grain growing rate does not follow to the cooling rate and equiaxed grains remain in the central portion of the sheet thickness. On the other hand, when the cooling rate is slower than 0.5xc2x0 C./min, the  less than 100 greater than //ND oriented grains are coarsened to rather bring about the degradation of the magnetic properties. Therefore, the cooling rate within a temperature range of Ar3xcx9c300xc2x0 C. after the rolling is required to be 0.5xcx9c150xc2x0 C./min. Moreover, the preferable cooling rate is 1.0xcx9c100xc2x0 C./min.
As mentioned above, according to the invention, the effect is first developed by using the pure iron based steel as a raw material and carrying out the production under given conditions, but if any one of the conditions is not satisfied, the gathering degree of  less than 100 greater than //ND oriented grains can not be enhanced. Moreover, the corrosion resistance is not substantially affected by the production conditions and is dependent upon the component composition.

Hot rolled electrical steel sheet excellent in magnetic characteristics and corrosion resistance and method for production thereof

Japan Science and Technology Corporation


A semiconductor integrated circuit device has a data selecting circuit connected to a first power supply terminal, a precharge circuit, connected to a second power supply terminal, for receiving a precharge signal, and a wiring line connected to a common connection point between the data selecting circuit and the precharge circuit. The data selecting circuit includes at least two, i.e., first and second data transmission circuits. A first input data signal and a first selecting signal are supplied to the first data transmission circuit. A second input data signal and a second selecting signal are supplied to the second data transmission circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device and, more particularly, to a semiconductor integrated circuit device in which a plurality of signal lines are integrated into a single signal line.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, multiplexers are used as semiconductor integrated circuit devices in which a plurality of signal lines are integrated into a single signal line. In the multiplexer, a signal line is selected from the plurality of signal lines, and the selected signal line is electrically connected to the single signal line.
As a multiplexer consisting of a CMOS transistor circuit, a transfer gate type multiplexer as shown in FIG. 1, or a clocked inverter type multiplexer as shown in FIG. 2 has been considered. In either type multiplexer, from selecting signals a, Ba, b, Bb, c, Bc, d, and Bd (the prefix "B" represents an inverted signal), data corresponding to a signal of high level is selected and transmitted to a common node X serving as an output terminal. Note that signals A to D are input data signals, and a signal Q is an output data signal.
In the multiplexer shown in FIG. 1 or 2, however, if the number of to-be-selected data is large, parasitic capacitances such as a junction capacitance and a gate capacitance added to the common node X increase. For this reason, a high-speed data selecting operation to select and output the input data may be impaired.


A mobile communication receiver of a spread spectrum communication system has a plurality of fingers, a synthesizer for synthesizing data reproduced by the fingers, a power measurement unit for measuring power of reproduction output of the fingers and total power thereof, a error detection unit for detecting an error of output data of the synthesizer, and a control unit for controlling power on and off of the fingers based on the measurement result of the power measurement unit and the error detection result of the error detection means. Power consumption can be reduced in the range in which an error increase does not result.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication receiving apparatus for spread spectrum (SS) communication used for code division multiple access (CDMA) communication or radio local area network (radio LAN) communication in a mobile communication field, and in particular to reduction in power consumption and enlargement of the synchronization acquisition and hunt range.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since SS communication in a mobile communication field can cover a code division multiple access system and is also excellent in resistance to noise, it is applied to CDMA communication and radio LAN communication. With reference to FIG. 6, a conventional mobile communication receiver for SS communication comprises a reception antenna 1 for receiving signals, high-frequency circuitry 2 made up of a signal amplifier (referred to simply "amplifier"), a frequency convertor, and a band-pass filter (BPF), a low-pass filter (LPF) 3 for limiting reception signals to a base band, three inverse spread modulation and data demodulation sections, which will be hereinafter referred to as fingers, 4, 9, and 14 for inversely spread modulating reception signals spread modulated at transmitting side and reproducing modulation data components, and a synthesizer 20 for synthesizing output signals of the fingers for amplifying the data signal strength, as shown in FIG. 6.
Each of the fingers 4, 9, and 14 is made up of a PN code generation section 5, 10, 15 for generating the same pseudonoise (PN) code sequence as a transmitter, a synchronization acquisition/hunt section 6, 11, 16 for executing inverse spread modulation while synchronizing with the timing of a PN code of a reception signal and hunting the timing, an integrator 8, 13, 18 for integrating an inversely spread modulated reception signal for a given time for reproducing data, and a VCC section 7, 12, 17 for generating a voltage-controlled clock (VCC) used as a clock of the PN code generation section 5, 10, 15. The PN code generation sections 5, 10, and 15 are of the same configuration and perform the same operation; the integrators 8, 13, and 18 are of the same configuration and perform the same operation; and the VCC sections 7, 12, and 17 are of the same configuration and perform the same operation. The synchronization acquisition/hunt sections 6, 11, and 16 are of the same configuration, but execute inverse spread modulation at different timings.
The fingers execute inverse spread modulation at different timings for reproducing data and the synthesizer 20 synthesizes the reproduced data, whereby the receiver enables pass diversity for separating and synthesizing direct waves and multiple-reflected waves for reproducing data.
FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the finger in more detail. The finger, which has a delay lock loop (DLL) structure, comprises a multiplier 23 for multiplying PN code PN[k-1] leading inversely spread modulated PN code PN[k] by one chip in phase by a reception signal; a multiplier 24 for multiplying PN code PN[k+1] lagging PN[k] by one chip in phase by the reception signal, a multiplier 25 for multiplying PN[k] by the reception signal to output an inverse spread modulation output signal, an integrator 26 for integrating the output signals of the multiplier 23, an integrator 27 for integrating the output signals of the multiplier 24, a subtractor 48 for subtracting an output signal of the integrator 26 from an output signal of the integrator 27, a loop filter 29 for removing a noise component from an output component of the subtractor 48, an integrator 30 for integrating the output signals of the multiplier 25 and reproducing data, a threshold determiner 49 for comparing an output signal of the integrator 30 with a threshold value for determination, a voltage-controlled clock (VCC) 33 whose phase is controlled by an output signal of the loop filter 29, a feedback shift register 34 of N register length (taps) for cyclically shifting PN code by the VCC 33 output clock, and a PN code generator 35 for generating a PN code pattern of a transmitter.
The PN code generator 35 has a function of making output lag behind or lead ahead by several chip intervals.
Next, the operation principle of the finger of the DLL structure will be discussed with FIGS. 4A to 4D. In SS communication, for inverse spread modulation, a transmitter and a receiver have the same PN code sequence and multiply the same code at the same timing. The synchronization acquisition and hunt operation will be discussed.
FIG. 4A shows the output of an integrator 30. The vertical axis is an auto-correlation function R(t) of a PN code sequence of a transmitter and a receiver and corresponds to the output of the integrator 30 in FIG. 7. The horizontal axis shows PN code timing differences between the transmitter and receiver, wherein dt denotes one chip interval. When the PN code timing difference between the transmitter and receiver is 0, R(t) indicates the maximum value; when the PN code timing difference is 1 chip or more, R(t) becomes 1/L (L: Integration number) and almost 0 because L is sufficiently large. Therefore, data demodulation is impossible in the receiver when PN code synchronization is not acquired.
Then, in order to acquire synchronization, the receiver checks R(t) by the threshold determiner 49. When R(t) is equal to or less than a threshold value, the receiver makes the output PN code of the PN code generator 35 lag behind or lead ahead by several chip intervals for timing adjustment and again checks R(t). The receiver repeats this operation until the output of the integrator 30 exceeds the threshold value. When the output exceeds the threshold value, the receiver fixes the timing for acquiring synchronization. This is the synchronization acquisition operation principle.
Next, in order to hold the synchronization, the PN code of the reception signal is hunted. The hunt operation will be discussed with FIGS. 4A to 4D. FIG. 4B shows an output characteristic of the subtractor 48 (D2(t)). Receiver PN codes used by the multipliers 23 and 24 (PN[k-1] and PN[k+1]) are 1 chip lead and lag signals ahead and behind PN code PN[k] used for inverse spread modulation in the multiplier 25. Therefore, the auto-correlation functions (outputs of the integrators 26 and 27) are provided by shifting R(t) in FIG. 4A -dt and +dt and have the maximum values at -dt and +dt. Since the integrator 26 output is inverted and synthesized with the integrator 27 output by the subtractor 48, the output characteristic of the subtractor 48, D2(t), becomes as shown in FIG. 4B. Therefore, D2(t) becomes an increasing function passing through the origin at the .+-.dt interval. Thus, if the PN code phase difference is drawn into within .+-.dt, the phase of the VCC 33 is controlled by the signal resulting from removing the noise component of D2(t) through the loop filter 29, whereby the PN code of the reception signal can be hunted.
The description of the configuration and operation principle of the conventional mobile communication receiver for SS communication is now complete.
However, the conventional mobile communication receiver having a plurality of fingers involves a problem of an increase in power consumption.
When a DLL is used as the finger, because of the characteristics thereof, synchronization acquisition and hunting are limited in the range of .+-.dt at the maximum.

CDMA mobile communication receiving apparatus

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Using a distributed database system that manages a plurality of different raw datasets and a plurality of derived datasets that have been derived from the raw datasets based on a plurality of derivation relationships that link the raw datasets to the derived datasets, a subset of records that are candidates for propagated deletion of specified data values is determined. One or more particular raw datasets that contain the subset of records is determined. The specified data values from the particular raw datasets is deleted. Based on the plurality of derivation relationships and the particular raw datasets, one or more particular derived datasets that have been derived from the particular raw datasets is identified. A build of one or more particular derived datasets to result in creating and storing one or more particular derived datasets without the specified data values deleted from the particular raw datasets is generated and executed.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
In many kinds of computer systems, issuing a command to delete a data value, record, file or other dataset does not actually result in destruction, obliteration, or over-writing the dataset. Instead, the dataset is marked as deleted using a flag or other metadata, and an operating system or other access control logic makes the unit unavailable to programs or processes acting at a particular logical level. However, the dataset remains available to administrative systems or other programs or processes that have special access privileges, at least until the dataset is actually overwritten by the normal operation of the computer system.
However, the legal systems of certain jurisdictions require enterprises that store data, in response to certain kinds of requests to delete or remove data, to provide assurance that all copies of the data have been actually erased, overwritten, obliterated, removed or otherwise made totally inaccessible. Compliance with such a requirement is difficult when enterprises use distributed database systems with redundant data storage, fault-tolerant devices, tiered or hierarchical data architectures, or storage of subsets of data in different locations.
Furthermore, some databases observe the property of object immutability, meaning that stored data objects cannot be modified once they are created. These databases have a total data size that is constantly growing and may include many outdated datasets that once had usefulness but later merely occupy space and have limited value. Achieving assured deletion of data in these architectures is a significant challenge.
Thus, there is a need for a computer system that is capable of actual deletion of all copies of data in a distributed system, wherever they are stored.

Propagated deletion of database records and derived data


To suppress the generation of bubbles of gas dissolved in a fluid, a flow evaluating portion compares a measured flow rate value with a preset reference flow rate value and determines whether a fluid is flowing through a measurement tube. When the flow evaluating portion determines that the fluid is not flowing through the measurement tube, a magnetic excitation controlling portion imposes a limitation so that a magnetic excitation current reduces to an electric current value less than a magnetic excitation current obtained in normal measurement. When the flow evaluating portion determines that the fluid is flowing through the measurement tube, the magnetic excitation controlling portion releases the limitation on the magnetic excitation current.

In a fluid filling machine that fills a container such as a plastic bottle with a fluid such as drink, the fill amount of a fluid is sensed by an electromagnetic flow meter that measures the flow rate based on an electromotive force generated in the fluid to which a magnetic field has been applied (see cited documents 1 to 4, for example).
Some of such fluid filling machines have the function of filling different containers with different fluids. In such fluid filling machines, filling of a fluid is stopped once in preparation work for changing the type of a filling fluid or adjusting the filling operation.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating changes in the state of an electromagnetic flow meter in preparation work, FIG. 7(a) illustrates a liquid exchange process, and FIG. 7(b) illustrates an adjustment process.
In the liquid exchange process in FIG. 7(a), the old fluid previously used is first drained and, after the old fluid is drained completely, a new fluid is preliminarily flowed. After a certain amount of the new liquid is preliminarily flowed, the process reaches the fill waiting state of new fluid. Accordingly, in such a liquid exchange process, the fluid state in the detector of the electromagnetic flow meter is the full-water state at the start of draining, the non-full-water state at the completion of draining, and the full-water state again when the new liquid is preliminarily flowed.
In addition, the adjustment process in FIG. 7(b) first starts a trial filling for filling the container with a fluid on a trial base in the fill waiting state, reaches fill completion through a filling state, checks the fill amount and the like, and returns to the fill waiting state. Accordingly, in such an adjustment process, the fluid state in the detector of the electromagnetic flow meter remains to be the full-water state from the fill waiting state to the fill waiting state which follows trial fill start and fill completion. The full-water state in the electromagnetic flow meter indicates a state in which the fluid to be measured makes contact with the electrodes provided on the inner wall of the flow path of the detector.

Electromagnetic flow meter and magnetic excitation control method


A method for zygosity analysis of the cotton Cry1Ac event 3006-210-23 is provided. The method provides 3006-210-23 event-specific and cotton-genome-specific primers and TaqMan probe combinations for use in an endpoint biplex TaqMan PCR assay capable of determining event zygosity and for assisting in event introgression and breeding.

WIDESTRIKE is a commercial cotton product comprising two synthetic Bacillus thuringiensis gene events: a cry1Ac-based event 3006-210-23 and a cry1F-based event 281-24-236, which together provide broad spectrum resistance to insect attack. The events are discussed in more detail in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,179,965.
Cotton is an allotetraploid species which contains one A-subgenome and one D-subgenome per haploid chromosome. Transgenic WIDESTRIKE cotton plants contain a single copy event of the transgene insert in only one of the two subgenomes. Since the two subgenomes have high similarity in nucleotide sequences, oligonucleotide primers and probes specific for the null allele (designed from the flanking region of the transgene inserted into one subgenome) often amplify the fragment in the other subgenome. As such, it can be difficult to differentiate wild-type samples from plant samples that contain the transgene.
Various methods can be used to detect the presence of a given event in a sample. One example is the Pyrosequencing technique as described by Winge (Innov. Pharma. T ech. 00:18-24, 2000). In this method an oligonucleotide is designed that overlaps the adjacent genomic DNA and insert DNA junction. The oligonucleotide is hybridized to single-stranded PCR product from the region of interest (one primer in the inserted sequence and one in the flanking genomic sequence) and incubated in the presence of a DNA polymerase, ATP, sulfurylase, luciferase, apyrase, adenosine 5′ phosphosulfate and luciferin. DNTPs are added individually and the incorporation results in a light signal that is measured. A light signal indicates the presence of the transgene insert/flanking sequence due to successful amplification, hybridization, and single or multi-base extension. (This technique is usually used for initial sequencing, not for detection of a specific gene when it is known.)
Fluorescence Polarization is another method that can be used to detect an amplicon. Following this method, an oligonucleotide is designed to overlap the genomic flanking and inserted DNA junction. The oligonucleotide is hybridized to single-stranded PCR product from the region of interest (one primer in the inserted DNA and one in the flanking genomic DNA sequence) and incubated in the presence of a DNA polymerase and a fluorescent-labeled ddNTP. Single base extension results in incorporation of the ddNTP. Incorporation can be measured as a change in polarization using a fluorometer. A change in polarization indicates the presence of the transgene insert/flanking sequence due to successful amplification, hybridization, and single base extension.
The Invader assay (Third Wave Technologies, now Hologic, Inc., WI, USA) is a non-PCR based method and involves denaturing genomic DNA (25-50 min), preparing the Invader assay plates (adding mix, controls, standards, and DNA), incubating the plates on Thermo Cyclers or incubators (2-2½ hours), and reading the assay plate on the Tecan plate reader. The Invader assay, although novel in its kinetics, has many limitations. It is very time consuming and labor-intensive. Since it is a non-PCR based assay, it requires high-quality DNA and the result is highly variable if the concentration of DNA is sub-optimal (<11 ng/μl). If insufficient separation of RFU (relative fluorescence units) values is observed, an additional 30 minute incubation period is required and the plate will then be re-read.
TAQMAN (Roche Molecular Systems; see also e.g., Life Technologies Corp., Carlsbad Calif.) is a method of detecting and quantifying the presence of a DNA sequence. Briefly, a FRET oligonucleotide probe is designed with one oligo within the transgene and one in the flanking genomic sequence for event-specific detection. The FRET probe and PCR primers (one primer in the insert DNA sequence and one in the flanking genomic sequence) are cycled in the presence of a thermostable polymerase and dNTPs. Hybridization of the FRET probe results in cleavage and release of the fluorescent moiety away from the quenching moiety on the FRET probe. A fluorescent signal indicates the presence of the flanking/transgene insert sequence due to successful amplification and hybridization.
Molecular Beacons have been described for use in sequence detection. Briefly, a FRET oligonucleotide probe is designed that overlaps the flanking genomic and insert DNA junction. The unique structure of the FRET probe results in it containing secondary structure that keeps the fluorescent and quenching moieties in close proximity. The FRET probe and PCR primers (one primer in the insert DNA sequence and one in the flanking genomic sequence) are cycled in the presence of a thermostable polymerase and dNTPs. Following successful PCR amplification, hybridization of the FRET probe to the target sequence results in the removal of the probe secondary structure and spatial separation of the fluorescent and quenching moieties. A fluorescent signal indicates the presence of the flanking genomic/transgene insert sequence due to successful amplification and hybridization.
Another challenge, among many, is finding a suitable reference gene for a given test. For example, as stated in the abstract of Czechowski et al., "An exceptionally large set of data from Affymetrix ATH1 whole-genome GeneChip studies provided the means to identify a new generation of reference genes with very stable expression levels in the model plant species Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Hundreds of Arabidopsis genes were found that outperform traditional reference genes in terms of expression stability throughout development and under a range of environmental conditions." (Czechowski et al. (2005) Genome-wide identification and testing of superior reference genes for transcript normalization in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol. 139, 5-17.)
Brodmann et al. (2002) relates to real-time quantitative PCR detection of transgenic maize content in food for four different maize varieties approved in the European Union. Brodmann, P. D., P. D., Ilg E. C., Berthoud H., and Herrmann, A. Real-Time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction Methods for Four Genetically Modified Maize Varieties and Maize DNA Content in Food. J. of AOAC international 2002 85 (3).
Baeumler et al. relates to a real-time quantitative PCR detection method specific to WIDESTRIKE transgenic cotton. J. Agric. Food Chem. (2006) 54(18), 6527-6534.
Hernandez et al. (2004) mentions four possible genes for use with real-time PCR. Hernandez, M., Duplan, M.-N., Berthier, G., Vaitilingom, M., Hauser, W., Freyer, R., Pla, M., and Bertheau, Y. Development and comparison of four real-time polymerase chain reaction systems for specific detection and quantification of Zea mays L. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2004, 52, 4632-4637.
Costa et al. (2007) looked at these four genes (also in the real-time PCR context) and concluded that the alcohol dehydrogenase and zein genes were the best reference genes for detecting a sample "event" (a lectin gene) for transgenic feed intermix issues. Costa, L. D., and Martinelli L. Development of a Real-Time PCR Method Based on Duplo Target Plasmids for Determining an Unexpected Genetically Modified Soybean Intermix with Feed Components. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2007, 55, 1264-1273.
Huang et al. (2004) used plasmid pMulM2 as reference molecules for detection of MON810 and NK603 transgenes in maize. Huang and Pan, "Detection of Genetically Modified Cotton MON810 and NK603 by Multiplex and Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Methods," J. Agric. Food Chem., 2004, 52 (11), pp 3264-3268.
Gasparic et al. (2008) suggest LNA technology, from a comparison to cycling probe technology, TaqMan, and various real-time PCR chemistries, for quantitatively analyzing cotton events (such as MON810). Ga{hacek over (s)}pari{hacek over (c)}, Cankar, {hacek over (Z)}el, and Gruden, "Comparison of different real-time PCR chemistries and their suitability for detection and quantification of genetically modified organisms," BMC Biotechnol. 2008; 8: 26.
US 20070148646 relates to a primer extension method for quantification that requires controlled dispensation of individual nucleotides that can be detected and quantified by the amount of nucleotides incorporated. This is different from the TaqMan PCR method using an internal reference gene.
To distinguish between homozygous and hemizygous genotypes of corn event TC1507, an Invader assay has been successfully used for this event. Gupta, M., Nirunsuksiri, W., Schulenberg, G., Hartl, T., Novak, S., Bryan, J., Vanopdorp, N., Bing, J. and Thompson, S. A non-PCR-based Invader Assay Quantitatively Detects Single-Copy Genes in Complex Plant Genomes. Mol. Breeding 2008, 21, 173-181.
Huabang (2009) relates to PCR-based zygosity testing of transgenic maize. However, no reference gene appears to be used. Huabang, "An Accurate and Rapid PCR-Based Zygosity Testing Method for Genetically Modified Maize," Molecular Plant Breeding, 2009, Vol. 7, No. 3, 619-623.

Endpoint TaqMan methods for determining zygosity of cotton comprising Cry1Ac event 3006-210-23


A system for operating a gas turbine includes a controller configured to execute logic stored in a memory that causes the controller to determine a frequency, a coherence and, optionally, a phase and/or an amplitude, of a combustion instability; to compare the frequency and the coherence, and, optionally, the phase and/or the amplitude, of the combustion instability to a respective predetermined limit; and to adjust at least one parameter of the gas turbine if the frequency, the coherence, and, optionally, the phase and/or the amplitude of the combustion instability is actionable relative to the respective predetermined limit. A related method of operating the gas turbine is also disclosed.

Combustors are commonly used in industrial and commercial operations to ignite fuel to produce combustion gases having a high temperature and pressure. For example, gas turbines and other turbomachines typically include one or more combustors to generate power or thrust. A typical gas turbine used to generate electrical power includes an axial compressor at the front, multiple combustors around the middle, and a turbine at the rear. Ambient air enters the compressor as a working fluid, and the compressor progressively imparts kinetic energy to the working fluid to produce a compressed working fluid at a highly energized state. The compressed working fluid exits the compressor and flows through one or more fuel injectors in the combustors where the compressed working fluid mixes with fuel before igniting to generate combustion gases having a high temperature and pressure. The combustion gases flow to the turbine where they expand to produce work. For example, expansion of the combustion gases in the turbine may rotate a shaft connected to a generator to produce electricity.
At particular operating conditions, combustion dynamics at specific frequencies and with sufficient amplitudes, which are in phase and coherent, may produce undesirable sympathetic vibrations in the turbine and/or other downstream components. In the context of this invention, coherence refers to the strength of the linear relationship between two (or more) dynamic signals, which is strongly influenced by the degree of frequency overlap between them. Typically, this problem is managed by combustor tuning which limits the amplitude of the combustion dynamics in a particular frequency band. However, combustor tuning may unnecessarily limit the operating range of the combustor.
Altering the frequency, coherence, phase, and/or amplitude of the combustors may reduce unwanted vibrations of the turbine and/or other downstream components. One approach to reducing unwanted combustion-driven vibrations in downstream components is to alter the coherence of the combustion system. For instance, as the frequency of the combustion dynamics in one or more, but not all, combustors is driven away from that of the other combustors, coherence and, therefore, modal coupling of the combustion dynamics of the combustors is reduced, which, in turn, reduces the ability of the combustor tone to cause a vibratory response in downstream components. Alternatively, shifting the combustion dynamics frequency of each of the combustors away from the natural frequency of the downstream components may also reduce unwanted vibrations of downstream components.
Therefore, a system and method for operating a gas turbine that detects the possibility of unwanted vibrations in downstream components and/or reduces such unwanted vibrations by altering the frequency, phase, amplitude, and/or coherence between combustors would be useful for enhancing the thermodynamic efficiency of the combustors, protecting against accelerated wear, promoting flame stability, and/or reducing undesirable emissions over a wide range of operating levels, without detrimentally impacting the life of the downstream hot gas path components.

System and method for operating a gas turbine


In an implantable cardioversion device, the condition of the patient's heart is determined from an intrinsic ventricular parameter, such as the ventricular rate, and therapy is provided with a pulse generator, including, for instance, antitachycardia pacing therapy or defibrillation shocks. Initially, the conditions, i.e., ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation, are determined using predetermined values for a set of thresholds defining the various conditions. Thereafter, the thresholds are changed by increasing or decreasing the therapy thresholds from the predetermined values based on the morphology of the sensed ventricular signals.

As used herein, the term "arrhythmia" refers to any abnormal heart rhythm that may be dangerous to the patient and specifically includes fibrillation, tachycardias, supraventricular tachycardias (SVT), ventricular tachycardias (VT), ventricular fibrillation and flutter (VF), and bradycardia. As further used herein, the term "therapy" refers to any means used by the ICD to restore normal heart rhythm such as defibrillation, cardioversion, antitachycardia pacing (ATP), antibradycardia therapy and drug infusion. The disclosed invention has application to ICDs which treat tachyarrhythmias (abnormally high heart rates).
It has been common practice to monitor the heart rate, or more commonly the ventricular rate, of a patient and classify the cardiac condition of the patient based on this heart rate. For example, tachyarrhythmia may be defined as any rate in a range above a designated threshold VT1. This range is then divided into ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation (and flutter) zones. The ventricular tachycardia zone may be further divided into slow ventricular tachycardia and fast ventricular tachycardia zones.
However, using heart rate as the sole criterion to classify the cardiac condition of patient is problematic. Many physically active patients have heart rates during exercise that overlap with their tachycardia rates. Other patients exhibit supraventricular tachycardias, the rates of which overlap with rates of tachycardias of ventricular origin. These supraventricular tachycardias are often well tolerated and require no intervention.
When physicians classify an intracardiac rhythm, they typically examine the morphology of the electrocardiogram in addition to the heart rate. The shape of an intracardiac complex holds information on the origin and sequence of the heart's electrical activity. A normal intracardiac complex traverses the AV node and is conducted by specialized cardiac tissue throughout the ventricles. This results in a distinctive complex morphology. A tachycardia of ventricular origin often has a different morphology due to its ectopic origin and conductance through cardiac muscle tissue.
As such, in addition to monitoring heart rate, ICDs are capable of performing morphology discrimination to classify the cardiac condition of the patient. A template based on the morphology of a "known" signal is stored in the ICD. The "known" signal can be, for example, a signal collected during a period where a patient is known to exhibit a normal sinus rhythm. By comparing the morphology characteristics (number, amplitude, sequence and polarity of waveform peaks, as well as the area of the peaks) of an arrhythmia to the template, the ICD can calculate the match between the waveforms. For a complete description of morphology discrimination, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,009 to Williams, entitled "Medical Device with Morphology Discrimination" and to U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,645 to Olson et al., entitled "System and Method for Waveform Morphology Comparison," which patents are hereby incorporated by reference.
Once it is determined that a patient suffers from one of these cardiac conditions, the ICD is programmed to provide a corresponding therapy. Typically, ventricular tachycardia is treated with a therapy consisting of low-energy pacing pulses designed to capture the ventricle. This therapy is referred to as AntiTachycardia Pacing therapy (ATP). Ventricular fibrillation, on the other hand, is treated more aggressively with high energy shocks. The ICD is programmed with parameters for various types of therapies and the rates defining the therapy zones corresponding to the respective therapies.
Over the years, the number of programmable parameters has been increasing steadily. A modern ICD has up to 200 or more programmable parameters. A major challenge for both the ICD manufacturer and the clinician is to select proper values for these parameters. While the manufacturer may provide nominal or default values for the parameters, these nominal values may not be proper for all patients and it is up to the clinician to change them using statistical information and his personal experience.
For example, approximately 7% of ICD patients exhibit ventricular tachycardia that is typically too slow to be detected by conventional rate cutoffs. Thus, the ICD may fail to discriminate between normal sinus rhythm and slow ventricular tachycardia. However, changing and adapting the parameters have proven to be difficult and it has been found that most clinicians leave the majority of the parameters at their nominal values.
Furthermore, some of the parameters, including the thresholds defining the antitachycardia therapies described above, should be changed periodically to conform to the changing condition of the patient.
It is, hence, desirable to provide an ICD capable of selecting or adjusting some of its parameters automatically so that the clinician does not have to set them on implantation or adjust them each time the condition of the heart changes. More importantly, it would be advantageous to provide an ICD which can adjust some of its parameters adaptively, quickly and efficiently setting them at their optimal levels, and resetting or re-adjusting them automatically as the condition of the patient changes.
The present invention addresses the problem of automatically and dynamically adjusting the thresholds which define the various tachyarrhythmia therapy zones.

Implantable cardioversion device with a self-adjusting threshold for therapy selection


A method and an apparatus for separating of different plastic products, which plastic products are comminuted, purified, and dried in a conventional way. The dry particles are fed to a heated, movable support base. Plastic particles, having a lower softening point, adhere to the support base, and particles having, a higher softening point, flow freely over the particles adhering to the moving support base and can be separated. After separation of these particles, the adhering particles are scraped from the steel belt.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for the separation of soiled plastic products, having different softening points, which are comminuted, purified and dried through an intermediate storage with a feed device disposed above a heated steel tape and where the plastic materials are placed onto the steel tape in a thin layer, wherein the steel tape is furnished with one or several vibrators and where the vibrator is just attached SUCH that the free-flowing plastic particles with the different softening points are transported over the steel tape and are caught in different catch devices.
2. Brief Description of the Background of the Invention Including Prior Art
Such methods are used for the reprocessing and reutilization heavily soiled plastic products, such as is described, for example, in the German Patent DE-PS 25 25 750.
According to a conventional separating device, taught in the Soviet Union Patent SU 12 84 605 A1, the plastic particles to be separated are placed with the aid of a hot air stream onto a vibrating but otherwise thick steel bands and the different plastic particles are transported in opposite directions with the aid of the vibration forces. The support and transporting air is heated such that the temperature of the plastic particles remains below the softening temperatures. It is intended with this that the plastic particles do not adhesively attach to steel tape. Based on this step the different plastic particles are to be moved on different fly paths. This is associated with the disadvantage that the steel tape can be covered only in one layer with the plastic particles. In case of multi-layer covering of the steel tape, the fly paths of particles are interfered with. A further disadvantage of the older device is associated with a situation that the hot support air swirls the plastic particles and consequently renders a separation of the individual plastic materials more difficult.
The separation of comminuted plastic waste materials including materials with a higher specific weights and lower specific weights as employing a washing liquid is described in the German Patent DE-PS 28 04 729. In this case the separation is performed by a wet-sinking method. (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/406,154, filed Sep. 12, 1989).
In contrast, soiled different plastic products are generated, where the specific weights are closely together such that wet-sink separation after the comminution is not possible. Thus, soiled plastic formed parts such as bottles, boxes and the like, are generated, which are made of polyester (PET) and polyvinylchloride (PVC). The two materials have nearly the same specific weight.
In order to separate such materials having different softening points but nearly the same specific weights such as recited and also for other materials, such materials are placed onto conveyor belts before the recycling and are manually separated. Based on a human error, even in this case, a hundred percent separation is not possible. In order to reduce error sources an X-ray beam radiation method has been employed. The beams can detect plastic parts containing chlorides and are thus capable to allow a separation of polyvinylchloride (PVC) from polyester (PET). Apart from the high cost and the danger of the radiation for the personnel, even in this case a hundred percent separation is not possible. For example, the formed an molded parts are furnished with adhesive labels, and in this case the radiation cannot any longer capture the plastic material such that also materials without chloride components are treated like polyvinylchlorides.
The German Printed Patent Document DE 37 22 777 A1 teaches a device for the sorting of thermoplastic, plastic parts from stream of mixture, employing a heated circulating steel tape. Parts of the plastic particles adhesively adhere to the steel tape. The particles not adhering are separated. According to this older device, the plastic parts to be separated are transported through a cascade arrangement in steps. The cascade causes not only a high in expenditure investment but also it cannot be prevented that the parts of the plastic to be separated remain always at the surface of the flow of the mixture and consequently these parts do not pass through the surface of the steel tape. A secure separation is thus not assured.

Method and apparatus for separating different plastic products


According to one implementation, a system for performing graph-based media content evaluation includes a computing platform having a hardware processor, and a system memory storing a media content evaluation software code and a graph database. The hardware processor is configured to execute the media content evaluation software code to receive a query from a system user, and to identify one or more media content evaluation metrics corresponding to the query. In addition, the hardware processor is configured to execute the media content evaluation software code to search the graph database for a media content data relevant to the one or more media content evaluation metrics, and to retrieve the media content data from the graph database. The hardware processor is further configured to execute the media content evaluation software code to generate a report responsive to the query using the media content data.

The popularity of video as an entertainment medium has resulted in a wide variety of video based media content being produced and made available to consumers. Traditionally, the creative development of such media content has been a largely subjective, instinct driven, process. For example, a creative decision maker may view programming, or read a screenplay or script, and determine that a work is too violent, or insufficiently romantic.
Despite the subjectivity with which creative decisions surrounding the development of media content have historically been made, media experts and screenwriters agree that there do exist core structural elements common to the types engaging storylines that underlie successful movies and television programming. Unfortunately, however, the conventional art lacks a structured and quantitative process for objectively evaluating or comparing distinct works, or to predict the likelihood that a particular work will be a commercial success.

Method and system for generating a visual representation of media content for performing graph-based media content evaluation


A foldable ramp having an improved hinge construction to increase load capacity. The foldable ramp overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a ramp having a first ramp section and a second ramp section, pivotable relative to each other between a folded storage position and an open working position wherein the ramp sections are prevented from pivoting to a coplanar position relative to each other in the working position so as to increase load capacity.

Numerous types of ramps are used to assist in the loading and unloading of objects from transportation vehicles. Particularly, trucks, vans, trailers and the like utilize ramps to assist in the loading of objects such as ATVs, motorcycles, lawnmowers, etc. Due to the required length of these ramps, it is advantageous that the ramps are foldable so as to increase the use length and decrease the storage length.
Such foldable ramps are typically manufactured from aluminum to promote a light ramp with overall strong properties. Therefore, a user can lift and unfold such a ramp alone when loading or unloading a vehicle from a transportation vehicle. Further, a user may want to use a single ramp to load and unload many different objects having many different weight characteristics. Thus, there is a constant need in the art to provide lighter ramps having ever-increasing load requirements.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art devices by providing a ramp having an improved hinge construction capable of withstanding a greater load then known in the art.
The present invention will be more fully described in the following written description with reference to the accompanying drawings.


A dual-column vehicle lift having first and second lift columns, each with carriages slidably mounted thereon, and each with piggy-backed hydraulic lift cylinders. The piston rods of each column's piggy-backed lift cylinders extend in opposite directions, one attached to the carriage and the other attached to the base of the lift column. The piggy-backed construction allows a lower collapsed height of the cylinders and also allows a lower lift column height for a given lifting height, thereby allowing use within an area with reduced ceiling clearance. An interconnection tube equalizes hydraulic pressure between the piggy-backed lift cylinders, causing the two cylinders to extend their rods at the same rate. Equalizing cables are provided for ensuring that the carriages on the two lift columns rise and fall together.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to vehicle lifts having vertical columns in which lift arms are supported in cantilever fashion therefrom for supporting vehicles such as cars, trucks, and the like, in service stations, repair centers, and the like, and in particular, to low clearance vehicle lifts having such vertical columns and cantilevered lift arms.
2. Description of the related art
Dual-column hydraulic lifts are often used to raise and lower vehicles such as cars, trucks, and the like, in service stations, repair centers, etc. Typically, such dual-column lifts have a hydraulic cylinder within each lift column, with a chain or wire rope extending from the column base plate over a chain wheel or pulley atop the hydraulic cylinder and down to the carriage mounted on the lift column so that reciprocation of the pistons of each lift column's hydraulic cylinder causes the carriage to raise and lower. Such an arrangement is expensive to manufacture, requires periodic maintenance and lubrication, and also requires some sort of a slack cable or chain safety device to stop downward movement of the carriage when and if the cable or chain breaks.
Another known construction of dual-column lifts utilizes a telescoping (multi-section) hydraulic cylinder within each lift column to raise and lower the carriage mounted on each lift column. Telescoping hydraulic cylinders are known to be more expensive than non-telescoping, i.e., single section, hydraulic cylinders, and require some sort of speed control device so that the smaller section or stage does not raise and lower too quickly with respect to the other stages.
Additionally, dual-column lifts such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,287 are known that have a hydraulic cylinder within each lift column that directly raise and lower the carriage on each lift column without chains or cables. However, in such a i design, like the non-telescoping chain or cable-equalized lifts, the hydraulic cylinder, when collapsed or fully retracted, is approximately one-half the vertical lifting distance of the lift. Consequently, the piston rods of the hydraulic cylinders, when fully extended to raise a vehicle a given lifting height, rise to a substantial vertical distance from the floor, thereby preventing the use of such a dual-column lift in an area with low ceiling clearance.


A fish bite indicator in combination with a fishing rod and reel is provided to give an audible and/or a visual signal when the fishing line is under sufficient state of tension. An oscillating arm of the indicator extends below the rod. The fishing line is threaded in a loop at one end of the oscillating arm below the rod in such a way to cause the arm to move upward toward the rod when the line has sufficient tension to indicate a fish strike. The other end of the oscillating arm has a projection or projecting surface that activates an on/off switch electrically connected to a battery controlled printed circuit board including means for producing the audible and/or visual signal when the line is in sufficient tension to move the loop upward toward the rod.

Numerous fish bite indicators have been developed over the years, but they have failed to become popular because of their tendency to be either ineffective or so elaborate that they are too costly to the average sports fisherman. Examples of prior art bite indicators are disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,006,550; 4,573,281; 4,660,316; 5,010,678; 5,088,223; 5,157,857; 5,182,873; and 5,228,228.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,550 has the desired simplicity. However, with the line fed through a loop at the end of the indicator above the reel, the indicator lacks sufficient sensitivity control for distinguishing fish strikes from wave action on the line and other environmental conditions. Furthermore, the indicator would be ineffective for the visually impaired.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,010,678 and 5,088,223 disclose fish bite indicators for the visually impaired. However, these indicators are examples of those that lack the simplicity of the indicator of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,228 also discloses an indicator for the visually impaired. However, this indicator operates when there is significant movement of the tip of the reel. Such an indicator would be ineffective in high winds, heavy surf, high swells and other similar environmental conditions.
The other prior art patents listed above are of general interest to show the state of the art of various indicators having alarms for alerting a fisherman to the presence of a hooked fish on the line of a fishing rig.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,726 discloses and claims a fish bite indicator mountable on a fishing rod which comprises a switch activating arm operably attached to an oscillating arm for turning on a switch to activate an alarm when the fishing line is in sufficient tension to move the oscillating arm toward the fishing rod. Although this indicator has had commercial success, it has been found that the chief disadvantage of the indicator was the preferred switch activating arm disclosed and claimed the U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,726 patent became loose after frequent use rendering the indicator inoperative. There is a need for fish bite indicator that has all of the advantages of the indicator of the U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,726, but without the disadvantages.

Tension activated fish bite indicator with dual alarm


The present invention relates to a method to generate at least a supply voltage to supply energy to a hearing device, whereas the ratio between the supply voltage and the source voltage is adjustable. The hearing device substantially comprises a source (Q), at least a switching element (S1, . . . , Sn), at least an energy transfer element (EUE), at least an energy storing element (ES), a load (Z) and a control unit (CTRL), whereas the method consists in that, in a first step, the control unit (CTRL) acts on the switching elements (S1, . . . , Sn), such that energy is transferred from the source (Q) to the energy transfer elements (EUE), that, in a second step, the control unit (CTRL) acts on the switching elements (S1, . . . , Sn), such that at least a part of the energy stored in the energy transfer elements (EUE) is transferred to the energy storing elements (ES) to build a supply voltage across the load (Z).

The present invention relates to a method for generating a supply voltage for a hearing device as well as to an apparatus to use this method.
In hearing devices, batteries are almost exclusively used as electrical energy sources. Thereby, exactly adjustable and stable supply voltages are required in order for a hearing device to fulfil its task error-free. Furthermore, several values for supply voltages which deviate from the battery voltage are often necessary and which values, sometimes, must be larger than the battery voltage itself.
To generate a higher supply voltage than the source voltage, i.e. the battery voltage, the use of a so-called voltage multiplication circuit is known. Nevertheless, such a circuit comprises the disadvantage that only integer multiple of the source voltage can be generated. Thereby, the conditions demanded by hearing devices cannot be fulfilled. In addition, it is of great importance for power line independent devices to sparingly use the energy which is available. Furthermore, the expenditure for the circuit should be kept low. In addition, the changes of the battery voltage depending on influences of age or of the outside have to be observed, since just these changes are the cause of low voltage precision, especially when using voltage multiplication circuits for a voltage increase.

Method and apparatus for generating a supply voltage for a hearing device


Systems and methods for diagnosing or characterizing a predisposition to colon cancer are provided. Cell nuclei may be evaluated for the presence or quantity of gamma-H2AX foci. Nucleic acids may be evaluated for the presence, type, or quantity of genomic instability or surrogates of dsDNA breaks such as ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), Rad3-related protein (ATR), and Tumor suppressor p53-binding protein 1 (53BP1) in gamma-H2AX foci. Nucleic acids comprising a germline nucleic acid sequence of the ERCC6, WRN, TERT, and FAAP100 genes may be sequenced or probed to determine if the nucleic acid sequence includes one or more alterations that cause genomic instability, dsDNA breaks, or gamma-H2AX foci or otherwise predispose a subject to develop colon cancer.

Various publications, including patents, published applications, accession numbers, technical articles and scholarly articles are cited throughout the specification. Each of these cited publications is incorporated by reference, in its entirety and for all purposes, in this document.
Colon cancer is the second most common fatal cancer in the United States. About one quarter of colon cancer appears to have an inherited predisposition in that families show a greater frequency of the disease than the general population (e.g., the cancer is familial), and/or the cancer manifests an early age of onset (less than age 50). In most such cases, the molecular cause of the predisposition to cancer is unknown.
Currently, in the absence of such insight, many patients who are suspected of a predisposition to develop colon cancer but do not carry an increased risk needlessly receive frequent invasive and expensive colon examinations, while others who harbor an unrecognized predisposition fail to receive potentially life-saving colon examinations. There is a need for better diagnostics for predicting patient risk factors for developing colon cancer that may aid in early detection, facilitate screening of patients at risk, and reduce the need for invasive tests on patients with reduced risk factors.

Systems and methods for diagnosing a predisposition to develop colon cancer


A centrifugal blood pump driver comprises a motor housing and the housing contains a motor for rotationally driving the centrifugal blood pump and a controller operatively associated with the motor for controlling the rotational speed of the motor; a speed selector for generating a selected speed signal signifying a selected rotational speed for the motor; sensors operatively associated with the motor or controller for sensing the rotational speed of the motor and outputting a monitor signal signifying such rotational speed; program memory for storage of a program of microprocessor readable instructions; a microprocessor under program control, in electrical connection with the controller, the speed selector, the sensor and the program memory, for receiving the selected speed signal and generating a speed control signal to the controller signifying the selected speed for the controller, and for receiving the monitor signal and outputting a display signal; a display in electrical communication with the microprocessor and responsive to the display signal for displaying information; motor housing circuitry for providing electrical communication among the controller, the speed selector, the sensor, the program memory, the microprocessor, and the display; and electrically conductive cable connected to the motor housing circuitry for transmitting electrical DC power to the motor housing circuitry from an external power source.

In open heart surgery, the heart and lungs are bypassed via a prosthetic or extracorporeal blood flow circuit so that the heart may be stopped and isolated for surgical repair. This extracorporeal blood flow circuit, popularly called a heart lung machine, contains the means to remove blood from the venous side of the patient, pump and oxygenate the blood, and return it to the arterial side of the patient. This circuit also has a variety of individual elements which perform certain functions such as heaters/coolers to elevate or decrease the temperature of the blood, components to add blood volume or cellular components, blood filters and so forth. These discrete elements of the circuit is interconnected by plastic tubing which, in turn, are connected to a patient completing the circuit. The means of pumping the blood throughout this bypass circuit has typically consisted of roller pumps. These roller pump work by rotating a mechanical arm which radially impinges and collapses a portion of the plastic tubing, one side of which is confined against a rigid semicircular wall. This action acts to propel the blood through the circuit. The flow rate of the blood is directly proportional to the rotary speed of the pump as this type of pump is a positive displacement device. Pumps of this type have been used for many years and are still the predominant type of blood pumping mechanism in use for open heart surgery.
Centrifugal pumps are small disposable devices and round in planar shape. These pumps typically have two compartments, a magnet compartment and a blood compartment. The magnet compartment is sealed and contains a bearing supported disk which contains a number of radially placed magnets. Coupled to the disk and protruding from the magnet compartment into the blood compartment is a shaft. Seals around the shaft prevent fluid from the blood compartment from entering into the magnet compartment. Attached to the shaft is an impeller which is contained within the blood compartment. Two tubes extend from the housing of the blood compartment.
An inlet tube extends axially from the blood compartment. An outlet tube extends orthogonal from the inlet tube and is located tangentially to the blood compartment. The pump is connected to the circuit by connecting the inlet connector of the pump to the inlet tubing of the prosthetic circuit and connecting the outlet connector to the outlet tubing of the prosthetic circuit. The circuit is then primed with fluid to remove air.
A disc similarly configured with magnets of opposite poles in it facing the magnets of the centrifugal pump is coupled to the shaft of a motor. This motor/disc system is then placed adjacent to the magnet disc of the pump. The magnets of the motor disc will attract the magnets of the pump disc and align themselves to each other. Energizing the motor will cause the motor/disc to rotate which, in turn, will cause the pump disc to rotate identically via the coupled magnets. This rotation also turns the shaft and the impeller of the pump as they are mechanically linked and blood is pumped. The centrifugal pump, unlike the roller pump, is not a positive displacement system, rather the centrifugal pump generates pressure which is converted into blood flow as a function of the downstream head of the system.


A motorcycle has a transmission including a transmission mechanism and an electronic control unit (ECU). The transmission mechanism includes a crankshaft as an input shaft, a driven shaft as an output shaft and an electric motor. The electric motor changes continuously the transmission ratio between the crankshaft and the driven shaft. The ECU estimates the heat value of the motor from a rate of change in the transmission ratio. When the estimate heat value reaches or exceeds a specified value the electric motor is restricted or stopped.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a control apparatus and method for a transmission mechanism for a vehicle provided with the transmission, and a method of estimating the heat value of an electric motor.
2. Description of Related Art
An electronically, continuously variable transmission (ECVT) is known in which a transmission ratio may be changed continuously using an electric motor (see JP-A-2004-19740, for example.).
In an ECVT, the electric motor is driven in reverse relatively often due to changes in transmission ratio. As a result, a relatively large amount of heat is generated, leading to temperature rise in the electric motor and its driving circuit, and to the possibility of deterioration in motor performance.
Therefore, the motor temperature or heat value is preferably monitored so that the motor temperature does not exceed a permissible use temperature range. For example, a method of estimating the motor temperature is conceivable in which temperature sensors are provided on the motor, its driving circuit etc. Because the heat value of the motor is in proportion to the square of the current flowing through the motor, another conceivable method is to provide a current sensor to measure the current flowing through the motor, and estimate the heat value from the measured current.
The methods mentioned above, however, require separate temperature and current sensors to be provided. As a result, constitution and control of the ECVT is undesirably complicated.

Control apparatus for transmission mechanism, transmission, vehicle provided therewith, method of controlling the transmission mechanism, and method of estimating heat value of electric motor in the transmission mechanism


One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates distributed processing of database operations. During operation, the system receives a database operation at a distributed command processor, wherein the database operation includes a query language command. Next, the system performs a set of non-data processing operations associated with the database operation to obtain a set of non-data processing results. The system then sends the query language command to a database, which enables the database to execute the query language command to obtain a result.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to databases. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for distributed processing of database operations.
2. Related Art
As database technology continues to evolve, organizations are beginning to use database systems to perform a number of non-data processing operations in addition to processing queries to access data. For example, an organization may authenticate a user before allowing the user to execute a Structured Query Language (SQL) command on a database. Furthermore, the organization may configure the database to issue alerts for SQL commands that access a particular table. As these associated non-data processing operations become increasingly more common, the amount of time required to execute a database operation (which includes a query language command and associated non-data processing operations) has increased. This can create performance problems for database systems that process frequent commands from numerous users.
Hence, what is needed is a method and apparatus for executing a database operation without the problems listed above.

Method and apparatus for facilitating distributed processing of database operations


The present invention is the use of coupled quantum wells in the active region of a semiconductor laser to modulate the frequency and amplitude of the light output of the laser. In a particular embodiment of the present invention the coupled quantum wells are contained in a graded index of refraction semiconductor double heterostructure laser. The active region of this tunable laser consists of two quantum wells having a width of approximately 50 Angstroms or less which are separated by a barrier layer having a width of approximately 20 Angstroms or less. The quantum well material is intrinsic GaAs and the barrier layer is Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As wherein x=0.23. The active region is surrounded by the double heterostructure in which one side is doped p-type and the second side is doped n-type. The resulting laser is a p-i-n type structure. A reverse bias with respect to the flat band voltage of the p-i-n structure is applied across the p-i-n structure which modulates both the frequency and the intensity of the laser output. The tunable laser is pumped with a variety of conventional means, including both electrical and optical pumping. The modulation of the wavelength is approximately linear over a 1.5 volt operating range. A tunable laser, such as the present invention, having an output wavelength modulated by an electric field is useful in the field of optical communications and computing.

The use of optical communication promises to significantly enhance communications and computing power. This is because more information can be encoded when transmitting light than when transmitting electrical signals. In order to represent (or encode data) and transmit data with light, the transmitted light signal must be controlled so that the receiver can detect the information being sent. Controlling a light signal means transmitting a light signal with a very well defined wavelength and being able to modulate the transmitted light wavelength. Quantum well semiconductor lasers are very useful for optical communications because they are small and emit light which has a well defined wavelength. Therefore, the laser can be mounted next to a small optical fiber transmission guide and directly emit light having a defined wavelength into the guide.
The problem with semiconductor lasers in optical communications is that the emitted radiation frequency cannot be quickly tuned or significantly modulated. This is important in optical communications because the amount of data which can be transmitted over a single guide dramatically increases when the data can be encoded using different frequencies of light. The frequency of light emitted from semiconductor lasers depends upon the relative positions of the conduction and valence band edges in the materials which form the laser. Changing the relative positions of the conduction and valence bands typically requires changing the temperature of the device or exerting a mechanical pressure on the lattice structure of the device. Applying these types of physical conditions to the laser, in order to tune the frequency of light output, is much slower than is required in order to encode data for optical transmission. Therefore, semiconductor lasers typically cannot encode data using the frequency of the emitted light and, as a result, the capacity for data transmission with a semiconductor laser over a transmission guide is significantly decreased.
Generally, light is emitted from a semiconductor structure due to an electron making a transition from the conduction band of the semiconductor material to the valence band and losing energy in the process. The lost energy is equal to the difference in energy between the conduction band and valence band edges plus the energy above and below the band edges for any one particular electron transition. The energy lost by an electron when making the transition from the conduction band to the valence band is emitted from the semiconductor as light. The light has a frequency which is proportional to the lost energy and a wavelength which is inversely proportional to the lost energy. Since electrons making the transition from the conduction band to the valence band generally have many different values of lost energy, the emitted light does not have a single wavelength or even a narrow band of wavelengths. Typically, the radiation emitted from a semiconductor has a broad spectrum of wavelengths.
In contrast to typical semiconductor light emitting devices, the semiconductor laser emits light having a narrow band of wavelengths. This is because many electrons make transitions between well defined energy bands. The energy bands are well defined because lasing at one wavelength tends to suppress the lasing at other wavelengths. The laser output is useful but the use is limited because the range of output wavelengths is limited. The semiconductor laser has a limited range of output wavelengths because the wavelength is controlled by the material which makes up the laser. One way in which to modify the output wavelength of a laser fabricated with a particular material is to make a quantum well laser. A quantum well laser has multiple discrete conduction and valence states whose energies depend on the width of the quantum well. The quantum well laser output light has a narrow band of wavelengths which is different than the wavelengths produced from a typical semiconductor laser made from the same material and the difference depends on the quantum well width. In effect, the output of a typical semiconductor laser made from a particular material can be changed by forming a quantum well laser from the same material.
The problem with both the typical semiconductor laser and the quantum well laser is that they are not capable of tuning the wavelength of the emitted light once the laser is fabricated. The prior art has attempted to solve this problem by changing the physical conditions of the quantum well laser. These types of physical changes are too slow for practical use of the quantum well laser in communication applications as noted above. The prior art has also attempted to use an applied electric field to modulate both the wavelength and the intensity of a quantum well laser. The proposed devices would operate by modulating the optical transition energies of a quantum well and by changing the number of electrons and holes which recombine as a function of position in a quantum well. The problem with the intensity modulating devices is that the devices merely turned the laser on or off. Lasing only occurred in these devices when there was no electric field present and the devices used the electric field to turn off the laser. The problem with single quantum well lasers which attempt wavelength modulation is that the electric field required to shift the wavelength of the laser is too large for the small shift which is produced. This is because the wavelength shift in a single quantum well is proportional to the square of the electric field and the fourth power of the width of the quantum well. Therefore, large changes in the electric field are required to produce small changes in the wavelength.

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention contemplates a light-sensitive silver halide photographic element having at least one silver halide containing emulsion layer on a film base, the film base being a coextruded laminate having a first layer and a second layer, the first layer being a polyester of an aromatic dicarboxylic acid or a dialkyl ester thereof and an alkylene glycol adjacent to the emulsion layer, the second layer being a polyester having a humidity expansion coefficient greater than 5.times.10.sup.-5 ##EQU1## (RH is relative humidity) and a Young's modulus at 50% relative humidity greater than 300 kPSI.

Film curl is of critical importance in the handling and processing of photographic films. Because of the high humidity sensitivity of emulsion layers and the large differences in humidity-expansion coefficient (HEC) among the various layers in a typical photographic film, the curvature of the film is particularly sensitive to variations in relative humidity (RH). This problem is especially acute in films wherein a polyester such as polyethylene terephthalate is used as the film base because such films have a very low humidity-expansion coefficient, and it becomes more severe for thinner films.
It is desired to make photographic elements thinner in order to enable more pictures to be taken on a film housed in cartridges currently utilized or to provide a film cartridge smaller in size to achieve the number of exposures equal to that presently available. This reduction in the thickness of the photographic elements would in turn permit the manufacture of smaller cameras. While cellulose triacetate film base has been for a long time the primary material of choice, it does not have the physical strength characteristics necessary in order to reduce the thickness of the support upon which photographic emulsion layers are applied. Polyethylene terephthalate, on the other hand, while it has the necessary mechanical characteristics suffers from problems with respect to curl at various relative humidity conditions.
One technique known in the art to control curl is to apply a pelloid (gelatin) layer to the side of the film base opposite to the side the photographic emulsion is applied. This is disadvantageous because the pelloid layer can not be applied during the manufacture of the film base, thus requiring a separate coating operation which greatly increases the capital and operating costs.

Light sensitive silver halide element having photographic film base with improved curl stability


A lighting installation has two light fixtures which each have an illuminant in a horizontal burning position and a box reflector surrounding the illuminant. The box reflectors of the two light fixtures are each designed to produce half bat wing light distributions. The two light fixtures are positioned parallel to one another such that they together produce bat wing distribution and the two light fixtures can be adjusted in relation to one another.

Goods display surfaces such as for example refrigerated display cases, fruit displays and sales shelves etc. are generally lit artificially. The aim here is to light the elongated, rectangular surfaces of the sales units as evenly as possible. For this, one often uses light fixtures as are known from EP 1 225 300 B1. These light fixtures have a high pressure discharge lamp as an illuminant and a box reflector which produces bat wing light distribution at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the lamp. By using high pressure discharge lamps the concentrated production of high luminous fluxes is possible, and so a large volume of power in the smallest of spaces is provided. If these high luminous fluxes are distributed in the longitudinal direction of the surface to be lit by the optical system of the box reflector which produces bat wing light distribution in the longitudinal direction of the surface to be lit, with light fittings with small geometries relatively large lighting distances of 2 m and more can be achieved.
The known light fixtures have proved to be of value in practice. It is considered a disadvantage, however, that different light distributions are required dependently upon the respective ceiling height, the lighting requirements and the spatial circumstances. For this reason it has been necessary up until now to provide an individual light fixture adapted to the respective circumstances.