A large round baler is equipped with a device for wrapping bales with a web of net wrapping material. The device includes structure for supporting a spare supply roll of wrapping material a short distance vertically above a zone for containing an active supply roll of wrapping material. The structure for supporting the spare roll is selectively movable to a non-use position for permitting a pressure-applying roller, that normally engages the active supply roll of wrapping material, to be swung vertically out of the way so as to permit the spare supply roll to be moved into place as the active supply roll once the latter is depleted. A pair of retractable loading supports are provided for supporting the spare supply roll at a location reawardly of the zone prior to moving the spare roll into the zone to take the place of the depleted active supply roll. A net guide roll has one end mounted for being selectively lifted to permit easier threading of a length of net that has been pulled from the spare supply roll when the latter is located on the loading supports.

The present invention relates to wrapping devices for use with large round balers for wrapping bales formed in the baling chambers of these balers.
Conventionally, large round balers are known which are equipped with wrapping devices that include feed rolls for pulling a length of material, such as plastic sheeting or net formed into a web, from a supply roll, and routing it to the baling chamber where the material is wrapped about the bale. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,368 granted to Anstey et al. on Jan. 20, 1993. Because the supply roll of material may become depleted at a location quite a distance from where additional supply rolls are kept, it is desirable to carry a spare supply roll on the baler. However available space for mounting a holder for the spare roll in an easily accessible area without increasing the width of the baler is not easily found and, when found, are often inconveniently located relative to where the active supply roll is mounted. For example one known baler has its active roll located at the rear of the baler, such as disclosed in the above-mentioned patent, while the spare supply roll is mounted at the front of the baler.

Wrapping device for large round baler including holder for spare roll of web wrapping material


An automatic grading control device for finishing plastic concrete controls several different elongated, multi-section concrete finishing tools such as vibratory screeds or the like, with or without forms. Supporting skis facilitate sliding, winch driven movement of the device relative to the plastic concrete. Spaced apart and vertically upwardly extending towers are supported by the skis and disposed periodically along the length of the finishing tool. Each tower comprises a pair of elongated, spaced apart stanchions disposed on opposite sides of the tool that are braced with a rigid, adjustable upper strut. The strut extends between the stanchions and forms the top of the tower. Movable sleeves coaxially fitted to the stanchions are synchronized by rigid transverse bridges that extend between the sleeves above the tool. Hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders extending between the strut and the bridge raise and lower the tool thereby controlling level. The cylinders are controlled by a beacon laser and attendant sensors secured to the device. A control panel controls both the cylinders and winches. The winches move the device along the plastic concrete by spooling cables secured to a fixed point.

This invention relates generally to concrete finishing devices that provide smooth, continuous concrete surfaces of a substantially uniform grade and finish. More particularly, our invention relates to laser controlled grade fixing devices for concrete finishing of the type classified in U.S. Class 404, subclasses 84, 114, 118 and/or 120.
As recognized by those skilled in the concrete finishing arts, after concrete is initially placed during construction, the upper surface must be appropriately finished to give it a smooth, homogeneous and correctly textured surface and appearance. A wide variety of finishing devices, including screeds, have long been in use throughout the industry for treating plastic concrete. Known prior art systems include "bull" floats, various forms of finishing boards, strike-offs, pans, plows, blades and the like. Bull floats essentially comprise a flat wooden board attached to a handle, much like a broom handle. These floats are intended to be manipulated by a single worker. Strike-offs contact rough, unfinished plastic concrete with a rigid leading edge to initially form and grade fresh concrete.
It is well known that vibration facilitates concrete finishing, and many vibrating systems have previously been proposed. Vibration during screeding helps to settle the concrete and eliminate air voids. Also, it helps to densify and compact the concrete during finishing. Vibrational screeding also draws out excess water thereby increasing the cured strength of the placed concrete. A fine layer of component cement and sand aggregate are raised to the surface by vibration along with the excess water. This slurry aids subsequent fine finishing. In general, vibration promotes the attainment of a uniform product. Often screeds extend between and rest upon the forms between which the plastic concrete is actually confined. Forms constrain the concrete until it is set, and provide a working support for the typical screed or finishing machine.
The selection of blade design for a particular machine is based upon a variety of factors, such as the characteristics of the concrete being laid. Variables relating to concrete finishing result from the selected type and percent of aggregate, sand, cement, epoxy, ad-mix, and water. Temperature, slab thickness, slump and placement method also vary the application procedure. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the selected finishing equipment must be appropriately mated to the job demands. Thus in screeding, for example, an optimum blade must be chosen based on the condition of the concrete. If high slump concrete is to be screeded, a floating pan would be ideal. For finishing drier concrete, a heavier twin-bladed screed might be more desirable. In all cases it is desirable to provide a means that automatically insures level finishing. While laser equipped screeding systems are known in the art, the expensive laser and hardware control system associated with such screeds is not easily adaptable for use with other common finishing mechanisms.
J. Dewayne Allen, one of the present co-inventors holds several patents in the art of concrete placement and finishing. One such is a prior art self-propelled "triangular truss" screed that rides upon the aforementioned forms, namely U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,328. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,494 discloses a floating vibratory screed intended to facilitate the finishing of concrete with or without forms. Finally, Allen prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,316,715; 4,363,618 and 4,375,351 and the various references cited and discussed therein are germane to the general technology discussed herein. All the above patents have been assigned to the same assignee as the present case.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,650,366 and 3,386,901 disclose screeds capable of formless, self-supporting or floating operation. The latter patent speaks to a relatively heavy triangular truss screed adapted to be operated by two workmen without the use of forms. U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,366 discloses a light weight, portable vibrating screed including a central, extruded beam element. A floating screed manufactured by Les Placements Paro of Canada, although it is not necessarily prior art and is apparently unpatented, is believed relevant. It includes a floating pan that is physically offset from, and adjustably coupled to, a parallel and spaced-apart strike-off knife assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,431,336 discloses a vibrating finishing screed adapted for use upon plastic concrete that apparently is capable of floating. U.S. Pat. No. 2,314,985 discloses a vibratory hand screed including a central, vibrated pan that is apparently adapted for use upon plastic concrete without support upon confining forms.
Another prior art floating screed of general relevance is disclosed in a video tape produced by the American Concrete Institute and The Portland Cement Association, entitled "Finishing Concrete Flatwork," that bears a Copyright date of 1984. Other prior art screeds, generally of the "form-riding" type, include those screeds disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,340,351; 4,105,355; 2,651,980; 2,542,979; 3,095,789; 2,693,136; and 4,030,873.
Lasers are commonplace on the modern construction site. They are employed in surveying and general leveling operations. Fukukawa U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,861,189 and 4,854,769 disclose a system for paving inclined and/or curved surfaces. This system employs anchor vehicles and paving vehicles. The paving vehicles are secured to the anchor vehicles by wires. The connections of the wires to the anchor vehicles are controlled by means of a laser sensing device. Microcomputers control the shape of the paving devices to create compound and complex curves in paved surfaces. Two devices employing a vehicle with a boom terminating in a screed are disclosed in Hansen U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,249 and Quenzi U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,935. Each of these patents relates to an anchor vehicle and a telescoping boom extending horizontally from the vehicle. The boom terminates in a screeding device that may also employ augers and vibrators. A second Quenzi U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,246 discloses an apparatus and method for controlling laser guided machines. This patent relates to an improvement to the above Quenzi patent.
Most relevant to the present invention is Owens U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,156. It discloses a manually operated laser guided portable screed. This invention is basically a screed with a pair of laser sensors mounted to it. Operators manually adjust the height of the screed as they draw it across placed concrete in response to a signal from the laser sensor. All of the above mentioned devices use a stationary laser beacon which projects a plan of laser light in a 360 degree plane.
However, none of the prior art devices known to us provides a satisfactorily efficient system for controlling the finished elevation of a concrete surface without the use of forms or heavy machinery. No prior art device provides for finishing plastic concrete to a uniform elevation or at a uniform angle of grade employing conventional portable, formless, floating screeds. Such screeds can be conveniently and concurrently used for vibrating, striking-off, and float finishing. Particularly, no device disclosed by the prior art is suitable for use within a building or in other confined areas. Additionally, prior art devices are restricted to a designed use and are not adaptable to a variety of uses. The prior art devices cannot be combined to work in a gang configuration. Neither can the prior art devices be reduced to a limited number of components to facilitate use in tight spaces or to increase the efficiency of available resources. In the conventional, combination, floating, vibratory screed, the relationship between the buoyancy of the pan, the plastic concrete's resultant surface tension, and the overall center of gravity of the apparatus are harmoniously balanced. The prior art devices also fail to take advantage of these balanced characteristics.

Laser operated automatic grade control system for concrete finishing


A locking device for vehicles, particularly for vehicle doors has a mechanical revolving connection between a cylinder core of a lock cylinder and a safety lever of an assigned lock which comprises a driving coupling in the form of a lock nut. In order to achieve a simplification of the construction and mounting of the locking device while ensuring the operability of the locking device when it is operated mechanically as well as when the central locking system is operated, the lock nut is constructed in one piece. An end side of the lock nut facing an operating lever arm of the safety lever has two stops spaced angularly from one another and projecting from the end side. The operating lever arm engages between the stops, so that when the lock nut is rotated, a locking or unlocking position of the safety lever is achieved after an idling path. For the scanning of switches of a central locking system, two cams are arranged on the circumference of the one-piece lock nut which, with respect to one another, have a different angular position with respect to the lock nut circumference and are arranged relative to the stops in the circumferential direction in such a manner that, when the lock nut is rotated, the corresponding cam operates the respective assigned switch of the central locking system before one of the stops engages in the operating lever arm of the safety lever.

This invention relates to a locking device for vehicles, particularly for vehicle doors of the type having a rotatable locking cylinder operable to control a central locking system as well as a safety locking lever.
A locking device of the construction of the above-mentioned type is known from German Patent Document DE 38 27 564 C2. The locking device described there contains a lock cylinder with a cylinder core into which a key can be non-rotatably inserted. The cylinder core is also non-rotatably connected with a revolving connection device constructed as a revolving rod which, by means of its end facing away from the lock cylinder, is fitted into a two-part lock nut which is rotatably disposed on the main plate. The lock nut consists of two shell bodies which are rotatably disposed on one another and are coupled with one another by way of a free running play while forming a driving connection. For this purpose, the front shell body driven by the revolving rod has a driving cam which engages in a circle-segment-type recess of the rear output-side shell body and can be rotated in it between the recess ends. After rotating the front shell body by way of the rotation of the cylinder core and the revolving rod fixedly connected with this cylinder core, after the free-running play in the recess, the rear shell body is also rotated. On its side facing away from the lock cylinder, the rear shell body has a driving pin which engages in an oblong hole of an operating lever arm of a lock-side safety lever. As the result of the rotation of the rear shell body, the safety lever is locked or unlocked depending on the rotating direction. On the circumference of the front shell body, two trip cams are arranged which are spaced away from one another on the circumference and whose contours are scanned by a switch of the central locking system. The central locking system is in each case triggered by the cam before the rear shell body can operate the safety lever. The front shell body therefore limits its function to the triggering of the central locking system, while the rear shell body has the function of mechanically operating, after another rotation of the key, the safety lever in the case of a failure of the central locking system.
Furthermore, it is known from German Patent Document DE 39 41 086 A1 that the position of the lock nut is scanned on the circumference of a one-piece lock nut, in which case two coding segments are arranged in an axially spaced manner on the circumferential surface of the lock nut and cover partial surfaces of different sizes. In this case, the coding segments have different angular positions with respect to the circumference of the lock nut and are arranged relative to one another such that, corresponding sensors are activated or that these sensors address a central locking system in the case of a rotation of the lock nut.
It is an object of the invention to further develop a locking device of the above-mentioned type in such a manner that its construction and mounting are simplified while the operability of the locking device is ensured when it is operated mechanically as well as when the central locking system is operated.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, this object is achieved by providing an arrangement wherein the lock nut is constructed in one piece, two stops being arranged on an end side of the lock nut facing an operating lever arm of the safety lever, said stops being spaced away from one another by an angle of rotation and projecting from the end side and by means of which the operating lever arm situated between them during the rotation of the lock nut can be operated by way of the revolving connection device for the taking-up of a locking or unlocking position of the safety lever after an idle path, and wherein two cams are provided on the circumference of the lock nut for the scanning of switches of the central locking system, which cams have a different angular position to one another with respect to the circumference of the lock nut, said cams being arranged relative to the stops in the circumferential direction such that, when the lock nut is rotated, a corresponding cam operates the respective assigned switch of the central locking system as a function of the rotating direction, before one of the stops engages in the operating lever arm of the safety lever.
Because of the one-piece construction of the lock nut, and thus the elimination of a second lock nut part, and the free-running play displaced directly to the engaging of the lock nut with the safety lever for the unlocking and locking of the locking device, its construction is considerably simplified. In this case, the switching of the central locking system and the mechanical operability of the safety lever is concentrated on a single component. This clearly not only reduces the manufacturing costs of the locking device but the mounting is also facilitated by the simple axial clipping-in of the lock nut in one direction. The mounting of the lock cylinder is also improved because only the angular position of the nut relative to the lock cylinder must be fixed. In addition, it is advantageous that the manufacturing tolerances, which add up in the case of several components, will be eliminated, so that an improved switching point precision exists for the central locking system. Furthermore, an improved stability of the mechanical drive is obtained.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Locking device for vehicles, particularly for vehicle doors


A system for forming a communication link between a first communications device and a second communications device includes a server configured to receive a call request from the first communications device. A virtual agent operating on the server is configured to (a) initiate a first outbound call to the first communications device in response to receiving the call request; (b) initiate a second outbound call to the second communications device; (c) form a first communications channel between the virtual agent and the first communications device; (d) form a second communications channel between the virtual agent and the second communications device; and (e) link the first communications channel to the second communications channel. An NLP engine and/or a learning engine are connected to the virtual agent. A method for forming a communication link between the first communications device and the second communications device utilizing the system is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an intelligent service agent and, more particularly, to an intelligent service agent operating within an Intel® HMP (Host Media Processing) server environment using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) transmission lines.
2. Description of Related Art
A Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol used for establishing sessions in an Internet Protocol (IP) network. A session could be a simple two-way telephone call or it could be a collaborative multimedia conference session. The ability to establish these sessions means that a host of innovative services becomes possible, such as voice-enriched e-commerce, Web page click-to-dial, Instant Messaging with buddy lists, and IP Centrex services.
Over the past few years, the VoIP community has adopted SIP as its protocol of choice for signaling. SIP is a Request for Comments standard (RFC 3261) from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the body responsible for administering and developing the mechanisms upon which the Internet operates. SIP is still evolving and being extended as technology matures and SIP products are socialized in the marketplace.
The IETF's philosophy is one of simplicity, wherein a developer only needs to specify what, in fact, it desired to be specified. SIP is very much of this mold, having been developed purely as a mechanism to establish sessions. SIP does not know about the details of a session, as it just initiates, terminates and modifies sessions. This inherent simplicity means that SIP is scalable, extensible and adaptable for different architectures and deployment scenarios.
SIP is a request-response protocol that closely resembles two other Internet protocols, namely, HTTP and SMTP (the protocols that power the World Wide Web and e-mail, respectively). Consequently, SIP sits comfortably alongside Internet applications. Using SIP, telephony becomes another Web application and integrates easily into other Internet services. SIP is a simple toolkit that service providers can use to build converged voice and multimedia services.
In order to provide telephony services, there is a need for a number of different standards and protocols to come together, specifically, to ensure transport (e.g., RTP), to authenticate users (e.g., RADIUS, DIAMETER), to provide directories (e.g., LDAP), to be able to guarantee voice quality (e.g., RSVP, YESSIR) and to inter-work with today's telephone network. The foregoing discussion relates specifically to SIP.
The Intel® Host Media Processing (HMP) software platform offers flexibility in configuring media processing features and cost of ownership savings, because it only requires one or more standard computers without involving any proprietary hardware, such as digital signal processors (DSPs). Furthermore, HMP is a software-only building block for creating IP media servers for small and medium-sized businesses to implement services such as voice mail, unified messaging and conferencing.
The solutions that can be built utilizing HMP can include both video and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, such as those often found in call centers that include applications with PBX functionality, voice messaging, unified messaging and conferencing servers. Exemplary video applications include video mail, video portals, video color ring back and video caller ID.
Because Intel® HMP, such as Netstructure HMP, is a software-only media-processing product for standard high volume (SHV) servers, costs are lower for procurement, development, deployment and maintenance. Since HMP is standards-based and does not require specialized hardware, solutions using the product are fast and easy to develop and deploy, easily scalable and very flexible. HMP is also an ideal solution for developing media servers for a modular network. Furthermore, in an IP-only environment, no physical inventory must be stocked or shipped, and no onsite installation is necessary.
Independent software vendors; original equipment manufacturers for computers and for telecom who build IVR, voice, or video mail, unified messaging, conferencing, and voice or video portal solutions for providers; and small and medium enterprises are envisioned to benefit from implementing HMP.
HMP allows one to easily scale the current solutions up and down and enable new solutions, such as applications for handheld devices and telematics, to be developed. The concept of developing a VoIP phone company on HMP is very similar to developing a Web-farm. Namely, if and when one needs to service more clients, one simply adds additional servers equipped with HMP.
The newest release of HMP may be used to create components for converged IP voice networks and the modular network, and can also be enabled in a time division multiplex (TDM) environment, utilizing interface boards for T-1/E-1 and digital stations designed for use with HMP.
Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) connectivity for HMP is available through media gateways, such as the Intel® NetStructure PBX-IP Media Gateway and through network interface boards that are available for Release 2.0. The gateway model enables a modular architecture with the media capability existing separately from the gateway. The network interface boards enable a single server solution that includes gateway capability and media.
The operating systems that the Intel® HMP solution supports are: Release 2.0 for Windows® and Release 1.5 for Linux. Release 2.0 runs on Windows XP® or Windows Server 2003. Release 1.5 runs on Red Hat® Enterprise Linux 3, SUSE® Linux Professional 9.2, and Debian® GNU/Linux. HMP currently supports Intel Pentium® III, Pentium® 4, and Pentium® M processors, as well as single and dual Intel® Xeon® processor configurations with respect to Releases 1.5 and 2.0. Release 2.0 also supports the Celeron® M processor. Hyper-Threading Technology is supported on both single and dual-processor configurations. It is to be understood that HMP may be supported on future hardware and configurations thereof. Release 2.0 for Windows® increases the potential system density from 240 ports of IVR or conferencing on RTP G.711 to 400 ports per server. This configuration has been qualified on a 3.6 GHz Dual Intel Xeon processor-based server, and has been determined to consume approximately 65% of the CPU. Release 1.5 for Linux delivers 240 channels of voice or 120 channels of video processing in a 3.2 GHz Dual Intel Xeon processor-based server with about 50% of processor capacity available for the application.
SIP support is currently available on all HMP releases for both Linux and Windows®. HMP is delivered with a software library that contains an API for integration purposes. Even hybrid environments can be handled by Intel NetStructure HMP. At present, with the newest release (2.0), Intel® NetStructure Digital Network Interface Boards provide a PSTN interface to HMP and gateway functionality. These boards allow application providers to support hybrid/converged TDM-IP solutions. The network interface boards are available in one, two or four ports and can support up to 400 Digital Signal Processors (DSP).
The aforementioned benefits associated with HMP and related hardware and software, including SIP integration, provide a platform for building full-featured, scalable and cost-effective software based IP media servers for various telephony applications.

System and method for intelligent service agent using VoIP


To facilitate testing, some integrated circuits include built-in test circuits, called test-access ports (TAPs). The present inventor recognized that TAPs are sometimes used with automatic testers that have limitations, such as insufficient memory capacity, that make it difficult or costly to test some integrated circuits, such as microprocessors. Accordingly, this disclosure teaches, among other things, inputting test signals to a TAP of an integrated circuit using a first device, such as an automatic tester, and outputting state data related to the input test signals from the TAP using a second device.

Integrated circuits, the key components in thousands of electronic products, are interconnected networks of electrical components. Fabricators typically build these circuits layer by layer on a semiconductive wafer, using techniques, such as doping, masking, and etching, to form and then connect thousands and even millions of microscopic transistors. The wafer is then diced to define individual circuits, commonly known as ICs or chips, which are ultimately tested to verify performance.
Some conventional test techniques use a special test circuit, called a test-access port (TAP), which is built into the integrated circuit. Most, if not all, TAPs are designed to function in compliance with a standard, referred to as IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) 1149.1-2001, entitled Standard Test Access Port and Boundary-Scan Architecture. The standard was originally developed by the Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) and TAPs that comply with it are often called JTAG ports.
TAPs are often used with automatic test equipment that feeds a test pattern of voltages into the integrated through pins of the TAP. The test equipment then reads out the actual logic states of the integrated circuit, comparing them against expected logic states. A mismatch of the actual and expected logic states indicates a circuit failure. In response to a failure, the test equipment holds the circuit in the failed condition, and reads out (or "dumps") the state values for the entire circuit to memory in the test equipment for further detailed analysis by other specialized equipment.
One problem the present inventor recognized in using TAPs with automatic test equipment is that integrated circuits, such as microprocessors, have outgrown the capacity of some automatic test equipment to read in all the state values while also storing their test patterns and maintaining the circuit in a failed condition. In other words, the test patterns and related data for testing these circuits consume most of the memory in the test equipment, leaving insufficient space for programming the TAP and storing all the state values.
To address this problem, some troubleshooters have opted to expand the memory capacity of their automatic test equipment. However, because of the high operating frequencies of the test equipment, this memory expansion can be quite expensive, with the cost to expand some types of testers approaching a million dollars per tester.
Other troubleshooters have resorted to working around the problem by rerunning the test pattern many times and building the complete set of state values, piece by piece through a series of partial dumps. However, this approach is not only quite time consuming, but also potentially ineffective when used with some complex integrated circuits, such as microprocessors. Microprocessors can behave unpredictably at times and make it difficult, if not impossible, to repeat a failure as often as necessary to collect a complete set of state values. Thus, in some instances, troubleshooters could be left to resolve a failure using an incomplete set of state values, or worse yet without sufficient data to resolve the failure at all.
Accordingly, there is a need for other ways of overcoming the memory limitations of automatic test equipment.

Selective control of test-access ports in integrated circuits


A dynamic semiconductor memory device is made up of a plurality of dynamic memory cells arrayed along a plurality of bit line pairs, and a plurality of dynamic sense amplifiers associated with the plurality of bit line pairs, each sense amplifier having a pair of MOS transistors connected to a corresponding pair of bit lines. In one embodiment, the first and second transistors of one of the sense amplifiers and the first and second transistors of another sense amplifier adjacent thereto are positioned within a region defined by two adjacent pairs of bit lines. Each of the bit line pairs has first and second bit lines extending in a first direction perpendicular to a second direction in which the source and drain regions are formed in the semiconductor substrate so that the transistors of the sense amplifiers are arranged one for every four bit lines in the second direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device, and more particularly to a semi-conductor memory device with improved layouts of bit lines and sense amplifiers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Improvement of memory cell structures and advancement of the microfabrication technique have remarkably increased an integration density of the DRAM whose memory cells consist of one transistor and one capacitor. In reading out data from a memory cell array of the DRAM, the data from the cell array is applied through paired bit lines to a sense amplifier. The data is amplified by the sense amplifier and then outputted from the memory device. At present, many companies competitively develop the DRAMs of 16 mega bits. In the case of the DRAM of such a high integration density, memory cell size, bit line width, and bit line pitch are extremely small. The active element, or MOS transistor, contained in the sense amplifier is limited in reducing its size, because the element characteristic and the required processing accuracy must be secured. The limit of the element size reduction makes it difficult to lay out the sense amplifiers in connection with the bit line pairs.
A conventional sense amplifier is of the flip-flop type in which a plurality of MOS transistors are connected between paired bit lines. The source common to two MOS transistors is connected to a sense amplifier activating circuit through a control line. To operate the sense amplifier, a source potential is controlled through the control line in an active mode.
Usually, in connection with the bit line pairs, a dynamic sense amplifier is formed by combining two types of sense amplifiers, a sense amplifier (NMOS sense amplifier) using n-channel MOS transistors and another sense amplifier (PMOS sense amplifier) using p-channel MOS transistors. The NMOS sense amplifier is for amplifying a minute potential difference between the paired bit lines, viz., a low potential. The PMOS amplifier is for amplifying the amplified potential difference up to a maximum amplitude, viz., a high potential. These types of sense amplifiers, NMOS and PMOS, are each constructed with a flip-flop using a couple of MOS transistors, and the circuit arrangements of them are the same.
In the layout of the conventional DRAM, a single MOS transistor is connected to respective ones of for a pair of bit lines such that the drain and gate thereof are connected to respective ones of the parallel bit lines and the source is connected to a control line. In such a layout, where the bit line width and the bit line pitch are extremely narrow, e.g, 0.5 .mu.m, the size of the MOS transistor per se and the contact regions must be correspondingly extremely small. However, there is a limit in reducing the size of them for the above reason, guaranteeing the element characteristics and the required processing accuracy.
There is known a divided sense amplifier system in which a sense amplifier is divided into a plurality of sense amplifiers. In this system, however, two n-wells are required for a single memory cell array, to divide the PMOS sense amplifier into two groups. The well separation consumes a large chip area. Particularly in the case of a large capacity DRAM, to secure a high speed operation, it is necessary to divide the memory cell array into 8 to 16 blocks in the bit line direction. Use of the two n-wells every divided cell array greatly hinders improvement of an integration density.
As described above, the conventional layout of the sense amplifier section of the DRAM does not result in a further increase of the integration density.

Dynamic semiconductor memory device having an improved sense amplifier layout arrangement


An applicator device for applying a substance may include: an inside space containing a supply of substance; an applicator member including a cellular material that deforms at least in part during application, and an application surface configured to apply the substance; a handle that is secured to the applicator member which includes at least one portion that is fastened relative to the handle; a housing configured to receive the applicator member at least in part, the housing communicating in a permanent manner with the inside space containing the supply of substance; and a resilient return member configured to exert thrust on the applicator member toward the application surface.

French patent FR 2 800 041 discloses a packaging and applicator device including an applicator member fastened on a spring support. The spring support has compressibility that is greater than the compressibility of the applicator member, so that the spring support compensates for the applicator member being compressed excessively, thereby preventing too much substance from being expelled, where necessary.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0129016 discloses an applicator device including a block of foam that has thinner zones making it possible to increase compressibility of the block of foam. The block of foam may be covered by a skin of stiff plastics material or elastomer.
European patent application EP 1 230 869 discloses an applicator comprising a first block of foam having a tubular shape, inside which a second block of foam is disposed, the second block of foam being stiffer than the first block of foam.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,129,452 discloses an applicator including a multilayer structure defining an application surface. An element made of polyurethane foam is disposed beneath the multilayer structure so as to impart a convex shape thereto. A valve is provided for the purpose, when the applicator is not in use, of closing a passage through which the substance flows toward the application surface when the applicator is in use.
Like the exemplary applicator device described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0129016, some applicator devices include an applicator member that is compressed by a closure cap during storage.

Applicator device for applying a substance


A spiral guiding drain structure is disposed on a toilet and includes a hidden segment and an open segment connecting with the hidden segment. The hidden segment passes through the toilet and has an inlet end leaving away from the open segment. The open segment is defined on an inner wall of the toilet and spirally surrounds the inner wall downward, a length of the open segment is at least ¾ circumference of the inner wall of the toilet, and the toilet includes a fence portion extending outwardly from a bottom rim of the open segment adjacent to an opening, and a height of the fence portion changes when an extending distance of the open segment from the hidden segment increases so that water flows out of the open segment, thus flushing the inner wall of the toilet.

TW Pat. No. M396294 discloses that a flush toilet structure contains a water feeding pipe surrounding an inner wall of the toilet, and the water feeding pipe has three jet orifices defined on the water feeding pipe so that a jet range of a respective one of the three jet orifices is 120 degrees, thus flushing an inner wall of the toilet. However, two diameters and two heights of a front end and a rear end of the water feeding are equal, hence the three jet orifices cannot flush the toilet evenly.
TW Pat. No. M245231 discloses that a flush toilet contains a water separating plate fixed on a flushing orifice of the flush toilet so as to flow water from two sides of the flushing orifice, and two projections extend from two sides of the water separating plate so as to guide water to flush an inner wall of the toilet in 180-degree range.
CN Pat. No. 201502098U discloses that a flush toilet contains a watering orifice defined thereon and a guiding face spirally surrounding an inner wall of the toilet so as to flow water out of the watering orifice downwardly, thus increasing flushing effect.
Nevertheless, if no any limited guiding structure is defined in the toilet, water cannot generate continuous pushing kinetic energy to flush the inner wall of the toilet effectively.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.


A computer-implemented method comprises, obtaining a digital calendar item for an event, determining, that the event has begun, and in response to determining that the event has begun, accessing a location and determining which of the participants are present for the event, determining, during the event, that one participant shared a digital data item with the other participants or as part of the event, and in response to determining that the participant shared the digital data item, at least transiently storing a reference or link to the digital data item, determining that the event has ended, and in response to determining that the event has ended, updating the digital calendar item by adding the reference or link.

The approaches described in this background section are not necessarily prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted as prior art by inclusion in this section.
Computer programs implementing productivity applications are ubiquitous. Examples of productivity applications include word processing applications, email clients, spreadsheet applications, issue tracking software, calendar or scheduling applications, messaging applications, audio/video conferencing applications, and many others. Calendar applications or calendar functionality have become essential to the running of a modern business. Employees need to be able to schedule events, such as a meeting, with other employees, outside vendors, and other collaborators. Although much advancement has been made in other areas of productivity applications, calendar applications that improve the efficiency of scheduled meetings have seen only limited development.
For example, the calendar items themselves are simple and relatively static. Once a calendar item is created for an event, the item remains more or less static aside from RSVP information, despite the availability of digital data items, such as presented or shared documents, that relate to the scheduled meeting or event. A particular problem to be solved in the present invention is the inefficiency involved in a user searching for documents, messages, videos, recordings, or other digital content associated with a meeting that has occurred.

Automatically detecting and storing digital data items associated with digital calendar items


A system including a cholesteric liquid crystal (ChLC) display device and an erasing device. The display device (e.g., a writing tablet, liquid crystal paper) is inductively coupled to the erasing device for inductively erasing an image on the display device. Also featured is a ChLC display device that can be inductively erased.

Recently, the pressure sensitive cholesteric liquid crystal (ChLC) writing tablet, Improv Electronics® Boogie Board® LCD eWriter, has appeared on the market in which a pointed stylus or the finger can be used to write or trace an image on the surface of the tablet as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,448, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. (Improv Electronics® is a unit of Kent Displays, Inc.) This tablet offers a considerable improvement over previous tablet technologies in that the image can be simply and instantly erased with the push of a button that applies a voltage pulse to electrodes in the tablet. In a ChLC writing tablet, the liquid crystal is sandwiched between two substrates, each having an electrode, which are spaced to a particular gap. The upper substrate is flexible and the bottom substrate is painted with an opaque light absorbing background. Within the gap is a bistable ChLC dispersed in a polymer. This material can exhibit two textures, an essentially transparent (focal conic) texture and a color reflective (planar) texture. The spacing of the cell gap is usually set by plastic or glass spacers that are either cylindrical or spherical in shape. The tablet is initialized by applying voltage pulses to the electrodes to electrically drive the cholesteric material to the generally transparent texture. When one presses on the top substrate with a point stylus or finger, the liquid crystal is locally displaced. Flow induced in the liquid crystal changes its optical texture from generally transparent to a brilliant reflective color at the location of the stylus. The reflective color contrasts well with the dark background of the lower substrate. An image traced by the stylus or finger will remain on the tablet indefinitely without application of a voltage until erased. Erasure is accomplished by applying a voltage pulse to the transparent conducting electrodes on the inner surface of the substrates that drive the ChLC from its color reflective state back to its generally transparent state.
The above described principle is disclosed in more detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,448, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Polymer dispersions can be used to control the pressure sensitivity and resolution of the image as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,228,301, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Other modes of operation and a tablet for multiple color images are described in this patent and a means for select erase is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,139,039, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. One mode of operation different from that described above is one in which the tablet is initialized by electrically driving the tablet display to the color reflective texture with a voltage pulse or pulses. Then with a continuous voltage applied to the electrodes of an appropriate value, one can write images by driving the cholesteric material to the generally transparent texture with the pressure of a pointed stylus. This mode of operation with a color reflective background is termed "Mode A" and the other mode with a generally light absorbing dark background is termed "Mode B." Mixed modes are also possible.
The commercial Boogie Board® writing tablet, operated in Mode B, has the color black for the fixed opaque light absorbing background. The dark black background offers high contrast for the color reflective image written on the tablet. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,430, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, other opaque colors may also be used for the fixed background of a ChLC display. The color of the background additively mixes with the reflective color to present a different color than that of the ChLC. There may be multiple colors on the background and those colors may be patterned. As an example, the pattern could be lines offering a lined tablet for convenience in writing text similar to a ruled paper tablet.
The Boogie Board® tablet contains the electronics used to erase the tablet. There are other devices such as Liquid Crystal Paper (see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/621,367, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) that possess no such electronics. The paper is erased by removably attaching it to external electronic circuitry when it is desired to erase images that have been drawn on its surface. Like normal writing paper, liquid crystal paper is a thin, flexible sheet. One uses liquid crystal paper in the same way normal writing paper is used for handwriting or drawing pictures. An untethered, pointed stylus is used to write on the liquid crystal paper but with the advantage that it does not have to be a pencil or pen but only a pointed object which could even be one's fingernail. For example, the stylus could be comprised of polymer and contain no lead or ink. Like normal writing paper, liquid crystal paper is placed on a hard surface for writing. Erasing liquid crystal paper requires that temporary electrical contact is made with an external circuit in order to provide voltage pulses suitable for clearing it. This might be inconvenient to the user. Likewise only one sheet can be erased at a time.
What would be desired but has not yet even been contemplated to our knowledge, would be a device that would, upon command, erase the liquid crystal paper or ChLC writing tablet at a distance, or in an otherwise electrically isolated manner without direct electrical contact of the electrodes to an erasing circuit. Such a device would not require picking up the paper and connecting it to the erasing device. Further, more than one sheet could be erased at a time. We disclose here such a device.

Inductive switching of cholesteric liquid crystal display device


The present application discloses endoscopy systems and devices for use therewith, wherein such systems and devices are designed for use in foreign body retrieval procedures. Moreover, the present application discloses methods of retrieving foreign bodies using the provided systems and devices. In one exemplary embodiment, a foreign body retrieval device capable for use with an endoscope is provided. The retrieval device comprises a housing and a capture tool disposed within and movable relative to the housing. The housing has a proximal end, a distal end, and at least one cavity. The proximal end of the housing is configured for attachment to the distal end of an endoscope and the distal end comprises an opening for at least partially receiving a foreign body in the at least one cavity. The capture tool defines an at least partially closeable aperture.

Endoscopy is a medical procedure that provides a clinician access to anatomical structures (e.g., the esophagus, gastrointestinal tract, pelvic cavity, or respiratory tract) in a minimally invasive manner for visual inspection, imaging, biopsy, manipulation, or other diagnostic or surgical purposes. A variety of different endoscope designs have been developed and adapted for use in the context of accessing particular anatomical structures, such as the gastrointestinal tract (e.g., colonoscopes, gastroscopes, and sigmoidoscopes), the respiratory tract (e.g., rhinoscopes and bronchoscopes), the abdominal or pelvic cavity (e.g., laparascopes), and the reproductive system (e.g., hysteroscopes and falloscopes).
Many types of endoscopes are known and they typically comprise a rigid or flexible body, an illumination means (e.g., light or light delivery system), an imaging means (e.g. lens system or camera), and one or more distally-positioned medical tools (e.g., biopsy forceps, injection needles, haemostatic clips, electrosurgical snares, grasping baskets, retrieval nets, and suction tips), all of which are in communication with equipment that controls their respective functions.
Endoscopic foreign body retrieval is a frequently required procedure in both adult and pediatric gastroenterology and pulmonology, and there are numerous approaches to retrieval. A foreign body may be any ingested object, such as, for example, a food bolus, coin, button, tooth, fish bone, battery, etc. The method selected by a clinician to retrieve a foreign body often depends upon a variety of factors, including but not limited to, the specific patient, the foreign body, the anatomical structure(s) involved, the available equipment, and the clinician's personal experience and preference. Typically, the procedure involves multiple attempts to grasp the foreign body using an endoscope with distally-positioned retrieval nets, forceps, or other grasping device. Although such devices have been used for foreign body retrieval procedures, they are not designed for such use and therefore have numerous limitations, including but not limited to, high cost, limited visibility, patient tissue injury and/or discomfort, prolonged procedure time and cost, and failure to retrieve the foreign body.
Such devices and procedures are also unsuitable for emergency removal of a foreign body, such as from an esophagus, bronchus, or proximal gastrointestinal tract. One observed example of such deficiency is that a conventional retrieval net is sometimes unable to grasp or surround an entire foreign body or bypass beyond a foreign body. In part, this is due to the orientation and malleable nature of a conventional net's support wires. Another observed example of such deficiency is that conventional forceps are prone to difficulty in obtaining and maintaining control of a foreign body. Similarly, conventional snare devices have been observed to have difficulty in grasping a foreign body without causing it to break apart. Due to the deficiencies of such conventional devices, multiple attempts to remove a foreign body are often required, which can lead to, among other difficulties, prolonged procedure times and increased incidence of tissue trauma.
Instead of such devices and procedures, or if such devices and procedures do not successfully retrieve a foreign body, an endoscope with a distally-positioned banding and suction device, such as the SpeedBand SuperView Super 7™ Multiple Band Ligator (Boston Scientific, Natick, Mass.), may be employed. However, even these devices have their limitations, such as poor distal visibility, no mechanism of securing a suctioned foreign body, instrument expense, and inability to retrieve larger foreign bodies.

Research Institute At Nationwide Children's Hospital


A technique for implementing an optical virtual private network is disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the technique may be realized by a method comprising the steps of managing at least one client edge-virtual private network at a client edge by a service provider; and supporting a set of client edge-users at each client edge-virtual private network at each client edge wherein each client edge provides at least one virtual private network service to each client edge-user; wherein each client edge determines connectivity associated with each client edge-user and the service provider establishes the connectivity determined by each client edge.

Due to recent developments in fiber-optics-based networks and carrier virtual private network technologies, optical virtual private network (OVPN) services are currently being explored in the industry. Most call-based network architectures currently deployed are designed towards providing a basic unit of service that usually entails providing connectivity between two network public entry endpoints. The set of services and associated network architecture are based on a call based model and require architectural building blocks that are call centric.
The call based model is characterized by an emphasis on bandwidth and connectivity, achieved generally through complex in-house built dedicated network solutions. As a result, the architecture is very expensive. Under the call based model, connectivity services are generally transport dependent type services. Oftentimes, these services require major and expensive upgrades to the transport technology used.
Currently, virtual private network (VPN) architectures built around the call based model focus on restricting connectivity to a group of users (e.g., closed-user group). Mechanisms used in these architectures are call centric, which involves a user subscribing to a closed-user group and a network defining a set of rules for incoming and outgoing calls to/from the group to an open portion of the network.
Call-based architectures have traditionally minimized or ignored the importance of providing carrier based VPN services that offer complete client flexibility, reduce operational complexity and introduce new added-value services beyond basic point-to-point connectivity.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide a technique for implementing an optical virtual private network which overcomes the above-described inadequacies and shortcomings. More particularly, it would be desirable to provide a technique for implementing an optical virtual private network in an efficient and cost effective manner.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Technique for implementing an optical/TDM virtual private network


The automated insect separation system processes an aggregate mixture of insects and other materials so that selected insects are separated from the other components of the mix. Specifically, the aggregate mix is directed into a separator apparatus so that the mix flows vertically through a series of vibrating screens. In the preferred embodiment, the screening process separates two different sizes of mealworm larvae from the aggregate mixture. The mix includes the mealworm larvae, unconsumed food materials (usually wheat bran), and insect frass.

For multiple reasons, farmers are seeking biologically-based pest control alternatives to commercial synthetic chemical pesticides. One "biocontrol" strategy is to increase the presence of the insects' natural enemies in the environment in which the crops are grown. These natural enemies may include beneficial entomopathogenic nematodes such as Steinernema spp or Heterorhabditis spp. These beneficial nematodes are parasites that prey on a variety of damaging insects but pose no danger to plants or humans.
Commercial production of beneficial nematodes can be in vitro (e.g., in fermentation tanks), or in vivo using susceptible insect hosts. Although both production systems have advantages, in vivo systems generally result in the production of better quality and more virulent nematodes. Further, more nematode species can be produced in vivo and in vivo production methods do not require the use of expensive and complex equipment.
However, in vivo production of beneficial nematodes requires the large scale production of an insect host that can be infected with the nematodes. Infection of a host insect allows the nematodes to multiply within the host's cadaver. After the hosts are infected and the nematodes begin to multiply, the infected cadavers are applied to the crop environment. Distributing the nematodes along with a food supply (i.e. the infected cadavers) increases the nematodes' survivability while the nematodes forage for damaging insects in their new crop environment.
Mealworm larvae (Tenebrio molitor) are ideal hosts for the nematodes. Mealworm larvae are relatively easy to mass produce, readily susceptible to infection by many nematode species, and the infected mealworm larvae cadavers are resilient enough to be manipulated without breakage or disintegration.
Mass production of the mealworm larvae involves mixing the larvae into a food aggregate where the larvae can grow and mature. However, the larvae develop at different rates so that there is always a range of larvae sizes in any mealworm aggregate mix. Removing the larvae from the food aggregate and separating out the optimal-sized larvae is a dirty and time-consuming process. In the past, workers have used progressively smaller manual sifters to hand-filter the aggregate mix and thereby separate out the larvae. However, in addition to being labor intensive, the sifting process results in dust and frass that becomes airborne. The resulting airborne particulate materials contaminate workers' immediate environment and potentially pose dangers to the workers' health.
The need exists for a quick, efficient, and automated system for separating optimally-sized mealworm larvae from an aggregate mix so that the nematode production process can proceed expeditiously. The current invention comprises a modular insect separator system and an associated process for moving relatively large volumes of aggregate mix through the system.
The preferred embodiment of the current system has the capacity to process up to 1,000,000 mealworm larvae per hour. The system separates the aggregate mix into: (1) mealworm larvae larger than 90 mg; (2) mealworm larvae between 70 mg and 90 mg; (3) unconsumed food materials and larvae smaller than 70 mg, and (4) insect frass.
While the preferred embodiment of the current invention is directed to the production of mealworm larvae for bio pest control purposes, the production and separation of other types of insects should be considered to be within the scope of the invention.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture


There is provided an image processing system, which includes: an image forming unit for forming a number of color flow images based on input image signals; a reference image selecting unit for selecting a reference image for gain control among the color flow images; a gain control value calculating unit for calculating a gain control value based on the reference image; and a gain control unit for controlling gains for the color flow images based on the gain control value.

1. Field
The present invention generally relates to an image processing system, and more particularly to an image processing system and method for automatically controlling the gains for color flow images.
2. Background
An image processing system, which is used for processing an image of a target object and displaying the processed image, has been widely used. By way of an example, an image processing system for performing ultrasound diagnosis (hereinafter referred to as an "ultrasound diagnostic system") will be described.
Generally, an ultrasound diagnostic system has become an important and popular diagnostic tool due to its wide range of applications. Specifically, due to its non-invasive and non-destructive nature, the ultrasound diagnostic system has been extensively used in the medical profession. Modern high-performance ultrasound diagnostic systems and techniques are commonly used to produce two or three-dimensional (2D or 3D) diagnostic images of a target object. The ultrasound diagnostic system generally uses a probe including an array transducer having a plurality of transducer elements to transmit and receive ultrasound signals. The ultrasound diagnostic system forms ultrasound images of the internal structures of the target object by electrically exciting the transducer elements to generate ultrasound pulses that travel into the target object. The ultrasound pulses produce ultrasound echoes since they are reflected from a discontinuous surface of acoustic impedance of the internal structure, which appears as discontinuities to the propagating ultrasound pulses. Various ultrasound echoes return to the array transducer and are converted into electrical signals, which are amplified and processed to produce ultrasound data for forming an image of the internal structure of the target object.
Especially, a conventional ultrasound diagnostic system provides color flow images showing the velocities of a moving object and scatters. In the color flow images, the velocity and direction of the moving object such as blood flow in the heart or blood vessel are represented in various colors based on Doppler shift. For example, the following conventional method is used to interpret the above images: blood flow moving toward the probe is represented in red; blood flow moving away from the probe is represented in blue; fast blood flow is represented in light color; and slow blood flow is represented in dark color. Accordingly, it is possible to accurately visualize the blood flow in real time.
However, in the color flow images provided by the conventional ultrasound diagnostic system, a width of blood flow in the blood vessel may seem thinner or thicker than that of the vessel. In order to correct this, the gains for the color flow images should be controlled minutely, wherein such gain control is conducted manually. Therefore, the user has to perform a complicated operation to minutely control the gains for color flow images. Thus, the time required for diagnosis becomes longer.

Image processing system and method for controlling gains for color flow images


A technique for producing speech output in a text-to-speech system is provided. A message is created for communication to a user in a natural language generator of the text-to-speech system. The message is annotated in the natural language generator with a synthetic speech output style. The message is conveyed to the user through a speech synthesis system in communication with the natural language generator, wherein the message is conveyed in accordance with the synthetic speech output style.

In telephony applications, text-to-speech (TTS) systems may be utilized in the production of speech output as part of an automatic dialog system. Typically during a call session, TTS systems first transcribe the words communicated by a caller through a speech recognition engine. A natural language understanding (NLU) unit in communication with the speech recognition engine is used to uncover the meanings behind the caller's words. These meanings may then be interpreted to determine the caller's requested information. This requested information may be retrieved from a database by a dialog manager. The retrieved information is passed to a natural language generation (NLG) block which forms a message for responding to the caller. The message is then spoken by a speech synthesis system to the caller.
A TTS system may be utilized in many current real world applications as a part of an automatic dialog system. For example, a caller to an air travel system may communicate with a TTS system to receive air travel information, such as reservations, confirmations, schedules, etc., in the form of TTS generated speech. To date, the quality of TTS systems has been at such a level that it has been clear to the caller that communication was taking place with an automated system or machine. As TTS systems improve, however, callers may become more likely to believe that they are communicating with a human, or callers may have some doubt as to whether a response during communication came from an automated system. Therefore, due to such confusion concerns, it would be beneficial for callers to be informed about whether they are requesting and receiving information from a machine or a human operator.
Using the technology presently available in TTS systems, the only way to convey information regarding the nature of the communication is to explicitly identify the machine as such during the conversation, preferably at the beginning. For example, the TTS system may provide a message such as "welcome to the automated answering assistant," or "this is not a human." While these messages may be enough to avoid confusion in some situations, the caller may not pay attention to the message, forget about the message later in the call, or not understand a more subtle message.

Methods for conveying synthetic speech style from a text-to-speech system

International Business Machines Corporation


A cooled piston head and method of manufacture, the piston head having a closed cooling chamber. In one embodiment, the piston head is formed of a top member, an intermediate member and a pin boss member joined to each other preferably by welding; the top and intermediate members are provided with circumferential grooves which defines the closed cooling chamber. In an alternate embodiment, the head is formed of a top member and a pin boss member joined together preferably by welding; the closed cooling chamber is defined by circumferential grooves provided on both members.

The present invention relates to a piston head and the method for manufacturing particularly an articulated, or two-piece, piston head provided with a closed cooling chamber on its top portion.
Closed cooling chambers of pistons of the prior art, including articulated pistons, can be made by the gravity casting method only. However, this method has proven to be inadequate for making articulated piston heads since the product may lack the structural strength required to withstand the high thermal and mechanical loads imposed to the piston head top portion during the combustion process.
In the known articulated pistons the cooling chamber is of the so-called semi-open type, which is defined by a groove on the underside of the top and a tray provided on the skirt upper portion. In such cooling chambers, the cooling medium is supplied to the chamber by a nozzle, located at the engine crank-case, and circulates in the chamber. Due to the reciprocating motion of the piston the cooling medium splashes against the combustion bowl lower wall and the ring zone inner wall, thereby removing part of the heat generated in said regions.
However, for certain applications it is desirable to maintain the cooling medium for a longer period of time inside the cooling chamber, which not only increases the efficiency of the cooling process but also makes possible using substantially smaller quantities of cooling medium (engine lubricating oil), thus requiring an oil pump with a lower output.

Method for the manufacture of a cooled piston


A hot stick for manipulating a probe from a position a selected distance away from a workpiece, the tool including an arm, a connector coupled to the arm, the connector including a connector body having a contoured first surface, and a mechanism movable relative to the connector body and configured to cooperate with the first surface of the body to retain a probe.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to person safety equipment, and more specifically, the disclosure relates to a hand held reach tool for use in electrical applications.
Hand-held electrical probes are known in the art for detecting the presence of AC signal potential on a conductor. One type of probe requires direct electrical contact with an uninsulated portion of the conductor. There is a safety risk associated with the contacting type probes due to the possibility that the user may receive a harmful electrical shock.

Reach tool for use in low voltage applications


A system and method for image correction in a direct marking system is provided using input scaling. The system and method utilize spatial dependent scale factors for each color of a liquid ink printer in the direct marking system. The value of each scale factor depends upon the ratio of the target mass to the average mass of the ink drops in the region to be corrected. The target mass is typically equal to or near the lowest average mass to insure that all regions can be adjusted to common output color. All input values received by the direct marking system and corresponding to a region to be corrected are multiplied by the appropriate scale factor to correct for drop volume variations among different printheads of the direct marking system. Each printhead includes a plurality of ejectors for depositing ink on a recording medium.

The present disclosure relates to the field of image processing, and more specifically, the present disclosure relates to an image correction method for a direct marking system using input scaling.
Liquid ink printers of the type frequently referred to as continuous stream or as drop-on-demand, such as piezoelectric, acoustic, phase change wax-based, or thermal, have at least one printhead from which droplets of ink are directed towards a recording medium. Within the printhead, the ink is contained in a plurality of ink carrying conduits or channels. Power pulses cause the droplets of ink to be expelled as required from orifices or nozzles at the ends of the channels.
In a thermal ink-jet printer, the power pulse is usually produced by a heater transducer or a resistor, typically associated with one of the channels. Each resistor is individually addressable to heat and vaporize ink in the channels. As voltage is applied across a selected resistor, a vapor bubble grows in the associated channel and initially bulges toward the channel orifice followed by collapse of the bubble. The ink within the channel then retracts and separates from the bulging ink thereby forming a droplet moving in a direction away from the channel orifice and towards the recording medium whereupon hitting the recording medium a dot or spot of ink is deposited. The channel is then refilled by capillary action, which, in turn, draws ink from a supply container of liquid ink.
The ink-jet printhead may be incorporated into either a carriage type printer, a partial width array type printer, or a page-width type printer. The carriage type printer typically has a relatively small printhead containing the ink channels and nozzles. The printhead can be sealingly attached to a disposable ink supply cartridge and the combined printhead and cartridge assembly is attached to a carriage which is reciprocated to print one swath of information (equal to the length of a column of nozzles), at a time, on a stationary recording medium, such as paper or a transparency. After the swath is printed, the paper is stepped a distance equal to the height of the printed swath or a portion thereof, so that the next printed swath is contiguous or overlapping therewith. This procedure is repeated until the entire page is printed.
In contrast, the page width printer includes a stationary printhead having a length sufficient to print across the width or length of a sheet of recording medium at a time. The recording medium is continually moved past the page width printhead in a direction substantially normal to the printhead length and at a constant or varying speed during the printing process. A page width ink-jet printer is described, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,959.
Printers typically print color and/or monochrome images received from an image output device or document creator such as a personal computer, a scanner, or a workstation. The color images printed are produced by printing with several colored inks or colorants of different colors at a time. The color of the ink and amount of ink deposited by the printer is determined according to image information received from the document creator. The document creator provides an input digital gray-scale image, which is either defined in monochromatic terms, colorimetric terms, or both. The amount of gray level is typically defined by an input pixel value ranging from 0 to 255, where 0 is equal to white, 255 is equal to black, and value therebetween are shades of gray. Commonly this description may be part of a Page Description Language (PDL) file describing the document. In the case of computer generated images, colors defined by the user at the user interface of a workstation can be defined initially in color space of tristimulus values. These colors are defined independently of any particular device, and accordingly reference is made to the information as being "device independent".
The printer, on the other hand, has an output which is dependent on the device or "device dependent". This dependency is due, in part, to the fact that while the input digital gray scale image includes pixels having a wide range of gray scale values, the output image generated by the printer is a binary image formed from a plurality of ink drops or spots wherein the absence of a spot defines the level of white and the presence of a spot defines black. Consequently, a transformation must be made from the input digital gray scale image to the printed binary image since the binary image includes binary information which either has a gray level value of zero (white) or one (black), but not levels of gray therebetween. These transformations, from an input image to an output image, are made with a number of known algorithms, including an algorithm known as the error diffusion algorithm which converts the input gray scale image into high frequency binary texture patterns that contain the same average grayscale information as the input image.
Color printers also include an output which can be defined as existing in a color space called CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-key or black) which is uniquely defined for the printer by its capabilities and colorants. Such printers operate by the addition of overlapping multiple layers of ink or colorant in layers to a page. The response of the printer tends to be relatively non-linear. These colors are defined for a particular device, and accordingly reference is made to the information as being device dependent. Thus, while a printer receives information in a device independent color space, it must convert that information to print in a device dependent color space, which reflects a possible range of colors of the printer; and secondly, printing of that image with a color printer in accordance with the colors defined by the scanner or computer generated image.
Various printers and methods for printing images on a recording medium are illustrated and described in the following disclosures which may be relevant to certain aspects of the present disclosure.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,645 to Dispoto et al., a method for rendering gray scale images with variable dot sizes is described. An error diffusion algorithm is used in conjunction with a printing technique that is capable of producing a range of dot sizes on paper. The error diffusion algorithm is used to determine the error of a dot whenever the dot is printed. The error is then diffused to adjacent pixels where instead of being used for weighting the pixel in a thresholding process, the error is used to determine the proper dot size for the pixel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,952 to Eschbach describes a method of dynamically adjusting the threshold level of an error diffusion algorithm to selectively control the amount of edge enhancement introduced into an encoded output. The threshold level is selectively modified on a pixel by pixel basis.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,231 to Suzuki describes an image recording apparatus capable of correcting density unevenness. A test pattern is recorded and the degree of density unevenness of the recording elements of the recording head are calculated by reading the test pattern. The temperature of the recording head is detected and the degree of calculated density unevenness is corrected according to the detected temperature.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,002 to Kim et al. describes an error diffusion circuit and a method for adaptively compensating for the distortion of brightness and color with respect to neighboring pixels. An error diffusion circuit includes a color determining portion for adding CMY signals to a diffusion error to generate a current pixel value, comparing the current pixel value with sequentially supplied error lookup data to determine an address of error lookup data having the smallest error as output pixel color information, and applying the output pixel color information to the printer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,434,672 to McGuire describes a pixel error diffusion method. Error distribution in printing and information processing systems is accomplished according to combined internal and external superpixel error diffusion techniques. For a particular superpixel, error amounts of a selected internal subject pixel are provided to another internal subject pixel until a determined or selected final pixel error value within the selected superpixel has been determined. The final internal error value is distributed among selected superpixels within a predetermined superpixel neighborhood.
"Threshold Modulation In Error Diffusion" by Knox and Eschbach, Journal of Electronic Imaging, July 1993, vol. 2, Pages 185 to 192, describes a theoretical analysis of threshold modulation in error diffusion. Spatial modulation of the threshold is shown to be mathematically identical to processing an equivalent input image with a standard error diffusion algorithm.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,847,724 to Mantell describes a method of printing an input digital gray-scale image by ejecting ink on recording medium through a plurality of ink ejecting orifices to form a binary image including a plurality of spots. The method of printing includes the steps of determining an ink spot characteristic or ink ejecting characteristic for at least one of the plurality of ink ejecting orifices, calculating a correction factor based on the characteristic, modifying an error diffusion algorithm with the calculated correction factor, and printing the binary image according to the modified error diffusion algorithm on the recording medium.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,361 to Mantell describes a method for rendering grayscale images with variable number of drops. An error diffusion algorithm is used in conjunction with a printing technique that is capable of producing multiple drops per pixel. The error diffusion algorithm is used to determine the error of a number of dots whenever a given number of dots are printed. The error is then diffused to adjacent pixels.
With respect to a direct marking system, where an ink-jet printer is used to print directly on a product or part, such as a microchip, plastic and metal components, and glass, the error correction methodologies described above are not always feasible or may require more calculations than needed for the direct marking system.

Image correction system and method for a direct marking system


A noise estimator for threshold correction of a receiver includes a low pass filter to remove wideband noise from an input signal that includes a signal component and a noise component. The output of the wideband filter is applied to a square-law power detector having an output applied to an envelope detector. The output of the envelope detector is the instantaneous envelope of the input signal and is applied to a low pass filter to perform time averaging and is also applied to a differential network. The output of the low pass filter is a signal representing a time averaged statistical envelope representing the statistical mean of the instantaneous envelope of the input signal. This signal is also applied to the differential network that generates a signal representing the difference in the instantaneous envelope of the input signal and the time averaged statistical envelope signal. This difference signal is applied to a square-law power detector and then to a low pass filter for time averaging. An output of the low pass filter is a signal representing an estimate of the noise component of the input signal.

A basic radio communication system comprises, at a minimum, a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter and receiver are interconnected by a radio frequency channel to permit transmission of an information signal therebetween. A digital receiver in a communication system will generally include an amplifier with a gain adjusted by a control signal. The process of adjusting the gain of an amplifier based on the received signal using a control signal is well-known as Automatic Gain Control (AGC).
Before data can be relayed from the transmitter to the receiver, the receiver or modem has to achieve synchronization with the transmitter. Prior to synchronization of the receiver with the frequency, phase and time variables of the received signal, the amplitude of the received signal at the receiver must first be determined. An automatic gain control circuit or algorithm sets the amplifier gain for optimum signal detection processing. If the amplifier gain is too low, then internal receiver noise may dominate and signal detection will be degraded. If the amplifier gain is too high, the analog circuit components of the receiver will saturate, causing nonlinearities, which also degrade performance. It is only after the gain levels have been correctly established that the receiver functions to estimate the other synchronization variables--that is, the frequency, phase and time variables. Synchronization of these variables is required before the receiver begins data demodulation and other signal processing functions.
In one prior art communications system utilizing quadrature modulation, a pilot carrier signal is transmitted in order to facilitate reception and decoding of transmitted information. This pilot signal is utilized for both amplitude and phase correction. Selective fading that occurs on a transmission path results in problems when attempting to use the pilot carrier signal. Where digital information is to be received in a synchronous manner, channel fading and noise can prevent the maintenance of synchronization.
Thus, there is a need for a communications system receiver operating at a specified probability of acquisition independent of the signal plus noise power calculation of the AGC circuit of the receiver.
The present invention relates to the synchronization of a receiver with a transmitter and, in particular to the correction of the threshold used for phaselock status in a digital receiver or modem. The receiver operates at a specified minimum probability of signal acquisition independent of the signal to noise power calculation of the Automatic Gain Control (AGC) circuit.


A missile system and method for performing automatic fire control in which a reconnaissance vehicle is used to gather video reference information of a target and this information is then communicated to a launching vehicle from which missiles are caused to be trained on the selected target by utilizing an automatic target handoff correlator that identifies the selected target, causes an autotracker to be locked on and finally a computer is signaled by the automatic target handoff correlator to cause a missile to be fired.

In the past, various approaches have been taken of acquiring a target from one vehicle and attacking the target from a separate vehicle utilizing a missile. In these systems, it has not been possible to acquire a specific target desired to be destroyed and cause a missile to be placed directly on or guided directly to the target desired to be destroyed in a simple and yet accurate manner.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a system and method by which a target can be acquired at one location, data transmitted to a second location and then cause a missile to be trained and locked on the selected target.
Another object of this invention is to provide a system in which the vehicles can be camouflaged from the target and therefore be in a position from which they can be protected.
A further object of this invention is to provide a system that uses an automatic target handoff correlator that compares a reference target video to missile seeker video to insure that the missile is trained on the selected target.
Another object of this invention is to provide a system that is or can be automatic and a system that requires a minimum of personnel to operate.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will be obvious to those skilled in this art.
In accordance with this invention, a missile system and method of operating the missile system is disclosed in which a reconnaissance vehicle is used to acquire a target and to identify the target with a video camera with the target being centered in the field of view of the reconnaissance vehicle video information as well as the heading of the is reconnaissance vehicle and video camera information being transmitted to a launching vehicle through a radio frequency link to provide video reference information on the selected target to an automatic target handoff correlator and to provide the heading information of the target to a missile control computer at a launching vehicle. The launch vehicle control computer utilizes the heading data from the reconnaissance vehicle and map coordinates of its own location and provides signals for orienting missiles thereon to look in the general direction of the selected target. Each missile has a video seeker thereon that looks at the target area and provides xe2x80x9clivexe2x80x9d video signals to the automatic target handoff correlator which compares this xe2x80x9clivexe2x80x9d scene with the reference video information and picks the target out. The automatic target handoff correlator then sends signals to the video seeker of the missile to cause the seeker to be adjusted to place the target in the center of the field of view of the video seeker. When this is accomplished, the automatic target handoff correlator commands a missile autotracker on the missile to lock on to the target and the command control computer fires or causes firing of the missile and the missile is maintained on course by the missile autotracker to impact.

Missile system and method for performing automatic fire control

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


Systems and methods consistent with the present invention determine whether to accept one of a plurality of intermediate recognition results output by a speech recognition system as a final recognition result. The system first combines a plurality of speech rejection features into a feature function in which weights are assigned to each rejection feature in accordance with a recognition accuracy of each rejection feature. Feature values are then calculated for each of the rejection features using the plurality of intermediate recognition results. The system next computes the feature function according to the calculated feature values to determine a rejection decision value. Finally, one of the plurality of intermediate recognition results is accepted as the final recognition result according to the rejection decision value.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and systems for accepting recognition results determined by a speech recognition system. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for accepting recognition results using generalized additive modeling.
B. Description of the Related Art
Speech recognition systems typically employ a recognition rejection method to prevent incorrect recognitions and detect out of vocabulary speech. Erroneously recognized speech may occur, for example, from an error in the system or because the user utters a word that is not in the system's vocabulary. Speech recognition systems prevent these errors by including a rejection classifier that is trained using a speech training set to recognize speech.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,509 (the '509 patent) discloses a rejection method and classifier for speech recognition. According to this method, the rejection classifier creates a histogram for each feature and then combines weighted versions of each histogram. From the weighted histogram data, the rejection classifier determines a probability value that indicates whether the recognition result should be rejected.
In the '509 patent, however, the rejection classifier must recalculate the histogram weights for each new application. This is burdensome when a large number of rejection features are used to increase the accuracy of the rejection classifier. Another problem occurs when the top number of matches contain words that are confusingly similar to one another. In this case, the confidence in the recognition result will be low since the recognition will be an arbitrary selection among the confusingly similar words. The method of the '509 patent, however, cannot detect when the top number of matches contain words that are confusingly similar to one another. Therefore, a rejection classifier is desired that can use a large number of rejection features and which can detect when the top matches contain confusingly similar words. Furthermore, a rejection classifier is desired that can combine additional features to increase rejection accuracy.

Speech recognition rejection method using generalized additive models


A high accuracy capacitive pressure transducer capable of performing measurements at a fixed temperature, with stability better than ±2 mK, in the temperature range of 15° C.-30° C. and which does not require the use of correction for thermal transpiration effect. The pressure transducer includes a vacuum gauge having a pressure sensor and a pressure sensor sheath, a temperature control unit secured in a cap; an aluminum block having a lower surface in contact with the pressure sensor sheath and an upper surface in contact with a main plate; and a temperature sensor located between the main plate and the upper surface of the aluminum block. The vacuum gauge is connected to a vacuum system by means of a connecting pipe.

Pressure transducers are typically considered as pressure sensors at low and intermediate vacuum pressure ranges. One of these transducers is the capacitance manometer with high accuracy that performs precise and accurate pressure measurements of the gases. These devices are principally used as the reference standard in international primary and second level calibration systems. The use of capacitance manometers in vacuum applications has been gaining popularity worldwide, and they are not only transfer standards used in metrology and having high accuracy, but they are also actively used as vacuum measuring instruments during industrial processes where needed.
As the vacuum gauge is sensitive against external temperature factors, it can be controlled under 45° C. When the ambient temperature is different from this temperature, the pressure may be measured differently due to the thermal transpiration effect. The mathematical approaches employed for determining the actual pressure value of the device have certain errors. One of the ways to overcome such errors is to operate the gauge sensor at stable room temperature. In this case, however, the temperature of the sensor is about 3° C. higher than room temperature due to the heat dissipated by the electronic circuits of the gauge.
The U.S. Patent Application Numbered US2012031190 filed on 1 Feb. 2011 within the state of the art discloses a capacitive pressure sensor, and more particularly an improved sensor that performs highly precise and precise measurements especially at very low pressures. It has a diaphragm comprising a common electrode, a center electrode and a ring electrode.
The fact that there exists no pressure transducer in the state of the art which allows for reliable measurements without requiring pressure correction has deemed it necessary to develop a pressure transducer with high accuracy according to the invention.

High accuracy pressure transducer with improved temperature stability


A self-inking stamp with a stamp housing (4) in which a stamp type unit (3), which is coupled to an actuating bow (5) that is displaceable relative to the stamp housing (4), is mounted so as to be displaceable and at the same time to be pivotable by 180°, and with a handle (21) connected to the actuating bow (5) by snap-in engagement, which handle is designed as a hollow body (21′) having a cover (84), the hollow body (21′) having an inner tubular member (82) which, when the actuating bow is actuated against the force of a spring (18), is displaceable along a tubular member (19) connected to the stamp housing (4); a projecting hollow extension (70) is provided on the actuating bow (5), which extension (70), in the mounted position, extends into the hollow body (21) of the handle and guides the tubular member (19) connected to the stamp housing (4), and which has at least one snap-in element (73) which is engaged with a corresponding snap-in element (79) on the inner tubular member (82) of the handle (21).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a self-inking stamp with a stamp housing, in which a stamp type unit, which is coupled to an actuating bow that is adjustable relative to the stamp housing, is mounted so as to be displaceable and at the same time pivotable by 180°, and with a handle connected to the actuating bow by snap-in engagement, said handle being configured as a hollow body with a cover, the hollow body having an inner tubular member which is displaceable during actuation of the actuating bow against the force of a spring along a tubular part that is connected to the stamp housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
From WO 90/02657 A, a self-inking stamp of the aforementioned type is known in which the stamp handle is connected to an actuating bow either by means of screws or by means of snap-in hooks. The handle itself is designed as a hollow body, wherein a tubular element is formed in its interior as a guiding sleeve, into which a sleeve or tubular part mounted on the stamp housing can be pushed telescopically, if the actuating bow including the handle, on the one hand, and the stamp housing, on the other hand, are displaced relative to each other during use of the stamp. Within the tubular or sleeve elements, a spring is arranged which presses the two components apart, i.e. the actuating bow with the handle, on the one hand, and the stamp housing, on the other hand, in order to keep the actuating bow in a non-operative position or resting position relative to the stamp housing. In case of the snap-in connection of the handle with the actuating bow, the snap-in hooks of the handle are mounted on the lower side thereof and inserted through holes in the upper transverse part or web of the actuating bow, being snapped in behind the opening rim. This snap-in connection, however, is comparatively unsafe, since the snap-in hooks become worn and broken off on account of the lever effect during multiple actuation of the stamp. Therefore, this snap-in engagement has not really been widely accepted in practice, and in most instances fastening by screw or fastening under plastic deformation of a passed-through pin has been provided. However, what is disadvantageous here is the increased expenditures during mounting and, moreover, those parts of the handle which are passed through the openings in the actuating bow and which project on the lower or inner side thereof are considered as objectionable and unattractive.
A self-inking stamp of different construction, even though also with a snap-in connection in the region of the actuating bow, is disclosed in WO 96/16816 A. In detail, an outer frame of synthetic material is arranged above the metal actuating bow, the legs of the synthetic material frame together with the legs of the actuating bow delimiting receiving spaces for helical springs which rest against a bottom wall of a receiving frame associated with the stamp housing. The actuating bow and the synthetic material frame outwardly surrounding it are interconnected by means of a separate pin which is put through an opening in the web of the actuating bow and snaps in with a handle knob formed within the synthetic material frame, integrally with the latter. This stamp construction, thus, is rather complex and expensive as regards the production of the individual parts as well as their assembling.

Self-inking stamp with internal snap-in element

Colop Stempelerzeugung Skopek Gesellschaft m.b.H. & Co. KG