The MRI apparatus has ring-shaped superconducting coils arranged to vertically oppose each other. The superconducting coils are installed in ring-shaped cooling containers. The cooling containers are accommodated in radiation shield plates. The radiation shield plates are accommodated in vacuum vessels. The cooling containers are connected together at at least two locations. Support members are arranged between an outer wall surface of the lower cooling container and an inner wall surface of the lower vacuum vessel to support the lower cooling container on the lower vacuum vessel. The upper cooling container is free, supported only by the connecting tubes connecting the upper and lower cooling containers.

The present invention relates to a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus (also referred to as an MRI apparatus).
An example of a conventional magnetic resonance imaging apparatus is disclosed in JP-A-2002-159466. In the MRI apparatus disclosed in this official gazette, to minimize magnetic field variations caused by external vibrations, a cooling container accommodating a superconducting coil is incorporated in a pair of upper and lower vacuum vessels and supported on an inner wall of each vacuum vessel through three stays. The superconducting coils are connected together by two first connecting tubes.
In the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus described in JP-A-2002-159466, since the vacuum vessels are supported in a cantilever fashion on a floor, the upper vacuum vessel is oscillated longitudinally and laterally because mainly of a bent structure of a second connecting tube connecting the vacuum vessels. As the vacuum vessel vibrates, the cooling container accommodated in the vacuum vessel also vibrates. Because the lower cooling container is restrained from movement by the floor surface, an amplitude of oscillation of the lower cooling container is smaller than that of the upper cooling container. As a result, the superconducting coils installed in the upper and lower cooling containers are displaced relative to each other. When the upper and lower superconducting coils move relative to each other, a magnetic resonance image deteriorates. Particularly when a static magnetic field strength and an gradient magnetic field strength of an gradient magnetic field coil are increased to enhance an image quality, the oscillations of the gradient magnetic field coil used to intensify the magnetic fields significantly affect the magnetic resonance image.


A misting device is provided. The misting device includes at least one nozzle configured to spray a fluid. The misting device also includes a conduit configured to supply the fluid to the at least one nozzle. The conduit has a first end coupled to the at least one nozzle. The conduit has a second end that communicates with a fluid compartment of a base housing included in the misting device. The base housing includes a pressure providing device that communicates with the fluid compartment. The pressure providing device is configured to cause the fluid to flow to the at least one nozzle via the conduit. The base housing further includes a cooling compartment adjacent the fluid compartment. The cooling compartment is configured to cool the fluid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to misting devices. Particularly, the present invention relates to self-contained misting devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Misting devices have been used for years in connection with different applications. One application of misting devices provides a way of cooling off or refreshing individuals (users) outdoors when hot. Typically, in a misting device a fluid, such as water, is fed to one or more nozzles that spray the water in a mist in a direction where a user may stand, sit or lay. One problem with these misting devices is that many of these devices are not self-contained. The water is typically fed to the misting device from a reservoir located remotely from the misting device and/or the misting device is not transportable, i.e. is fixed to a given location. This limits the mobility of the misting device, and implicitly of the users who are prevented from freely moving outdoors wherever they desire still being able to use the misting device. It is desirable to provide a misting device that is self-contained such that users may easily transport it from one place to another at distances where the use of a power cord and/or a feedline for feeding water to the misting device would be cumbersome if not impossible.
Moreover, often, during hot days, the refreshing effect of the mist dispensed by a misting device may be outweighed by the fact that the water to be dispensed is held at the environment's temperature which may be relatively high. The warmer the temperature of the water dispensed by a misting device, the less enjoyable is the effect of the mist. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a misting device that is endowed with cooling down the water dispensed. Additionally, it is desirable to provide a self-contained misting device that is multi-functional and may be utilized in connection with a table and an umbrella mounted thereto and for holding refreshments such as foods and beverages.

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An applicator device for applying an agent to a target site with a malleable tip that can be cut to length with a pair of nursing dressing scissors or similar type of scissors and a malleable tip with a formable tube that that can be cut to length with a pair of nursing dressing scissors or similar type of scissors. The malleable tip is configured for passage of fluid therethrough and includes a malleable member. The malleable member is made of a soft metal that is strong enough to retain the shape of the tip after is has been bend into configuration, but soft and weak enough to be easily cut with a pair of nursing dressing scissors or the like.

SURGIFLO® by Ferrosan™ is a pre-filled surgical hemostatic applicator that includes a pre-filled, flowable hemostat in a syringe that offers the option to customize the consistency by controlling the amount of saline or thrombin used. The flowable hemostat is a haemostatic Matrix, which is a sterile, absorbable porcine gelatin or other anti-bleeding agent. An applicator tip is secured to the syringe via a Luer-lock. The flowable haemostatic agent product is applied to a target area by positioning the free end of the applicator tip near a target site and then expelling an amount of the flowable haemostat. The surgical or haemostatic applicator is supplied with two applicator tips for precise placement of the flowable. This gives surgeons an option of choosing between a flexible and malleable applicator tip that has "memory" to ensure it stays at the optimum angle for easier access and exact product placement, and a non-malleable tip that can be cut with nursing dressing scissors to a desired length for providing the required penetration depth.
The SURGIFLO® surgical or haemostatic applicator is particularly useful in connection with minimally invasive surgical techniques wherein a plurality of devices may be introduced into the body through small incisions. One example of a common minimally invasive surgery involves laparoscopic surgical procedures. Laparoscopic procedures may be used to treat hernias, colon dysfunctions, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and gallbladder disorders. These procedures are considered minimally invasive, and typically a patient undergoing one of the procedures returns home hours after undergoing surgery.
Generally, laparoscopic procedures require making at least one small incision in the patient's body near the area of interest. A cannula or trocar may be inserted into the incision for convenient instrument access. Thereafter, various surgical instruments are introduced into the patient's body through the incision(s). Generally, these instruments enable the surgeon to visualize the inside of the patient's body and access the internal organs of the patient. Current laparoscopic surgical instruments include cameras, scissors, dissectors, graspers and retractors. One of the difficulties presented when performing minimally invasive surgical procedures relates to applying a hemostat to a target area. Applying the hemostat to the bleeding site may be difficult as the site may be some distance within the body and access is limited. Moreover other parts of the body may impede the manipulation of an elongated catheter to reach these relatively remote sites. This problem can be reduced by using the known formable or malleable tip.
The known malleable tip retains the desired configuration until it is reshaped into a different configuration and it is shaped or formed, typically by manual bending, into a desired configuration.
The known malleable/formable tip includes a tube with a large lumen configured to receive the flowable from the syringe. A malleable insert in the form of a steel wire is positioned within a second smaller lumen of the malleable tip. The malleable insert assists in retaining the formable tip in the desired configuration.
The ability to shape the formable section increases the ability to accurately position the applicator device, while minimizing the user's manipulation of the device.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Malleable tip for applying an agent to a target site


An apparatus includes a first distillation apparatus for obtaining a fraction enriched in C8+ aromatics; a second distillation apparatus for obtaining a fraction enriched in C8 aromatics; an adsorption separation apparatus for obtaining an extract containing para-xylene and a raffinate containing xylene isomers; a third distillation apparatus for obtaining a fraction enriched in para-xylene; and a fourth distillation apparatus for obtaining a fraction enriched in xylene isomers. The second distillation apparatus includes a high-pressure part including a rectifying section; a low-pressure part including a stripping section; a line for directing overhead vapor of the low-pressure part to a column bottom of the high-pressure part; a line for directing a column bottom liquid of the high-pressure part to a column top of the low-pressure part; and a heat exchange structure for transferring heat from the rectifying section to the stripping section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aromatic hydrocarbon production apparatus for obtaining aromatic hydrocarbons from a feedstock, such as reformate, containing aromatic hydrocarbons.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among aromatic hydrocarbons, benzene and xylene are significant basic chemicals used as raw materials for various industrial products. Benzene is mainly used for styrene monomer derivatives serving as raw materials for polystyrene or an ABS resin. Para-xylene, amongst xylenes, is used as a raw material for polyester fiber/resin and is one of basic chemicals in greatest demand.
An aromatic hydrocarbon production apparatus (also referred to as an aromatics complex) includes an aromatics extraction apparatus for separating benzene from a feedstock, such as reformate or pyrolysis gasoline, containing aromatic hydrocarbons and a para-xylene production apparatus for separating para-xylene from the feedstock. The aromatics complex is provided with a large number of distillation columns. Distillation is a unit operation that consumes large energy, and energy consumption is large in production of aromatic hydrocarbons.
In order to reduce the energy consumption, a multiple effect method is conventionally employed among distillation columns provided in an aromatics complex. Typically, an operation pressure of a xylene column, whose column bottom temperature is essentially so high that a heating furnace is necessary, is increased so that overhead vapor of the xylene column can be used as the heat source of a reboiler of another distillation column. Since energy necessary for the xylene column per se is essentially large, however, even if the energy is saved by using the overhead vapor of the xylene column as the heat source of a reboiler of another distillation column without reducing the energy necessary for the xylene column per se, there is a limit in reducing the energy consumption of the whole process.
In techniques described in US 2012/0048711A1 and US 2012/0048718A1, the energy is saved by using, as a xylene column, two distillation columns, that is, a low-pressure xylene column and a high-pressure xylene column. These literatures disclose a technique in which overhead vapor of the high-pressure xylene column is used as the heat source of a reboiler of the low-pressure xylene column and also as the heat source of a reboiler of another distillation column.
On the other hand, JP H08-66601A, JP 2004-16928A and International Publication No. WO2011/043199 disclose a heat integrated distillation column (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "HIDiC") capable of reducing energy consumption in distillation. In the HIDiC, heat is transferred by heat exchange from a rectifying section (a section located above a feedstock feed position) of a distillation column to a stripping section (a section located below the feedstock feed position), so as to reduce the amount of heat supplied to a reboiler and the amount of heat removed at a condenser, and thus, the thermal efficiency is improved.

Aromatic hydrocarbon production apparatus


The invention relates to an attachment mechanism and system used to accessorize, ustomize and/or personalize footwear with interchangeable uppers or straps, especially open shoes and sandals. More particularly, this invention presents a safe, secure and easy system for the attachment and detachment of shoe uppers and straps to shoes and sandals. This invention allows both the manufacturer and wearer to promote and display fashion and theme material of their own choosing, with the freedom to change the material or message without having to change footwear. The invention comprises a releasable fastener that connects a retainer, secured with the sole of the footwear, to an upper or strap. The releasable fastener is comprised of an upper and lower bar or metal loop, each loop carried on a barrel, the barrels interlocking with each other in a sliding engagement and held in the closed or engaged position by a magnet or by a biasing member.

The invention relates to an attachment mechanism and system used to accessorize, customize and/or personalize footwear with interchangeable uppers or straps, especially open shoes and sandals. More particularly, this invention presents a safe, secure and easy system for the attachment and detachment of shoe uppers and straps to shoes and sandals. This invention allows both the manufacturer and wearer to promote and display fashion and theme material of their own choosing, with the freedom to change the material or message without having to change footwear or specifically without having to change the sole portion of the footwear.
Footwear tends to be relatively expensive, and is often chosen to match particular items of dress. A plethora of dress items is usually matched to a much smaller universe of available footwear, so that the footwear is chosen in basic colors and styles to coordinate with a larger universe of dress items. Footwear is also purchased according to season, degree of formality and heel height, with sandals and open-toed shoes predominating in the warmer months. Coordinating even this limited selection with wardrobe items can be difficult, and it is too expensive to purchase a new pair of shoes or sandals for each ensemble. The invention also allows a large variety of footwear to be stored in a much smaller space due to the variations available with each sole portion.
Accordingly, the desirability of footwear with convertible style has been appreciated. The prior art has propose numerous solutions, including those set out in U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,948 to Boros, which is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. As noted in Boros, the concept of replaceable uppers is well established, wherein a sole is provided with a plurality of interchangeable uppers. Typically the sole is in a basic or neutral color, whereas the uppers are supplied in an array of colors and designs. Using a system of interchangeable uppers with a single base shoe unit, the user can have a pair of shoes that compliment a variety of apparel for reduced cost.
The prior art, however, has not provided an entirely satisfactory solution to the problem of easily attaching and detaching the uppers to the sole with a minimum of inconvenience. Other problems ensue where the sole portion or the entire shoe must be specially manufactured to accommodate the removable uppers. Further problems occur when manufacturing complex mechanisms to attach and detach the uppers, or mechanisms that require the application of special tools. Another problem is the appearance of the attachment mechanism itself. A single, distinctive piece, if perceptible on the outside of the shoe, may conflict with the uppers and the overall appearance of the footwear, defeating the one of the basic purposes of interchangeable footwear.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide improvements in the attachment system for convertible footwear.
Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved engagement means for detachably securing the upper portion or strap to the sole of the shoe or sandal.
Another object of the invention is to provide engagement means that are readily and conveniently usable by the wearer.
Another object of the invention is the provision of engagement means that will reliably and securely affix the upper to the sole and provide sufficient load bearing capacity to offset the upward pressure of the instep of the wearer on the shoe upper.
Another object of the invention is the provision of attractive and easily matched engagement means.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a releasable fastener in the form of a separately manufactured clasp that can be used with otherwise conventional footwear.
Another object of the invention is to provide a fastening system that allows for various configurations of straps on a single sole portion.
Another object of the invention is to provide a fastening system that allows interchangeable straps for different heel heights, adapted for the specific load bearing necessity of the particular footwear configuration.
And another object of the invention is the provision of a releasable fastener that is inexpensively manufactured.

Locking mechanism for securing detachable shoe uppers


L-valine granules are produced by adding L-glutamic acid to an aqueous solution containing L-valine so that the amount of L-glutamic acid is 0.5% by weight or more relative to the L-valine, dissolving the L-glutamic acid, then adjusting the pH of the aqueous solution to an acidic level and then crystallizing the L-valine.

When producing an amino acid by a fermentation method, the amino acid which has accumulated in the culture is recovered usually as a solid. Examples of methods for the recovery as a solid include a method which comprises removing the microbial cells from the culture, passing the residue through a resin column or the like to remove impurities thereby preparing a crude solution, conducting condensation or the like to precipitate the amino acid as crystals, and then separating the crystals from the solution (hereinafter referred to as solid-liquid separation) to recover the amino acid as crystals.
However, crystals which are, for example, flaky or in a fine powder form have a poor suitability for solid-liquid separation and necessity of a prolonged crystal drying time due to the shape thereof, and there are cases where product quality and production cost are considerably affected. In addition, such crystals which are flaky or in a fine powder form have a low specific gravity and are bulky. Thus, not only the small amount of the crystals can be packed into containers having a certain capacity and this packing is not efficient from the standpoint of transportation, but also there is a possibility that the amount of the crystals usable in final products is limited.
Examples of methods for avoiding such demerits include a method in which the amino acid to be obtained is recovered as large crystals from a solution containing the amino acid. Patent document 1 discloses a technique in which when an amino acid of interest is crystallized out after addition of seed crystals of the amino acid, the size of the amino acid crystals which are to separate out can be controlled by adjusting the particle diameter and concentration of the seed crystals. Non-patent document 1 discloses the facts that the appearance of crystals of L-isoleucine is changed by addition of L-alanine and that granules of L-isoleucine are obtained, depending on the additive amount of the L-alanine.
However, neither of the two documents discloses or suggests a feature that L-valine granules can be acquired by adding L-glutamic acid to an aqueous solution containing L-valine.


An improved safety collar (10) for a manway system (24) provides a tapered component for guiding the collar into an aperture of a manway lid (28), thus preventing the collar from snagging an edge of the aperture and holding the lid in an open position. The safety collar is defined by an annular wall with a smooth outer surface (12) and a threaded inner surface (14). A chamfered rim (16) of the collar presents an annular sloping surface (18) generally sloping inwardly and upwardly from the outer surface to the inner surface. When the collar is threaded onto a bolt (66) of the bolt assembly, the chamfered rim (16) of the collar guides the collar into an aperture (58) of the manway lid, such as when the lid is lowered into position against a base (26) of the manway system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of manway systems for railroad tank cars and similar containers. Particularly, the invention relates to a manway sealing system with an improved safety collar that facilitates sealing a manway lid against a manway base, thereby reducing the risk of leaks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Railway tank cars and similar containers for transporting liquids in bulk include manways, or passages through which people or contents may pass into or out of the container. A typical manway includes a flat, disc-shaped lid and a circular base, wherein the lid is pivoted up and away from the base to open the manway and is pivoted down and against the base to close and seal the manway.
The lid is secured to the base via a plurality of eye bolts that are pivotally attached to the base at various points around a perimeter of the base. The lid includes a flat, radially-extending flange corresponding to each bolt, wherein each flange presents an aperture for receiving a bolt. Each aperture includes an outer, narrow aperture neck leading to a broader aperture seat. The bolts are pivoted into the aperture seat through the neck, a washer is placed over the end of the bolt, and a nut is threaded onto the bolt and tightened against the washer to secure the bolt in place.
To prevent inadvertent movement of the bolt out of the aperture seat, a user threads a safety collar onto the bolt so that the safety collar rests below the washer and within the aperture seat. The safety collar is small enough to fit within the aperture seat but is larger in diameter than the aperture neck, thus preventing the bolt from pivoting out of the aperture seat. To open the manway lid, the user loosens the nut until the flange of the lid can be raised above the collar. With the flange above the collar, the bolt can be pivoted out of the aperture and away from the lid.
Unfortunately, the safety collar suffers from various limitations. Because the safety collar is only slightly smaller in diameter than the aperture seat, for example, the flange may snag the collar when the lid is pivoted from the open position to the closed position and rest on the collar instead of the manway base. When this happens, the collar holds the lid slightly above the base and prevents a seal from forming between the lid and the base. Because the lid is held only slightly above the manway base in these situations, it may go unnoticed and left unsealed during transport, thus allowing contents to spill when the container is moved.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved manway sealing system that ensures a tight seal between the lid and the base.


A battery pack includes a lead tab, a connection member positioned on a protective circuit module, the connection member connecting the protective circuit module and the lead tab and having a first through-hole, and a soldering member inserted into the connection member through the first through-hole so as to form a connection between the connection member and the lead tab.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a battery pack.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, battery packs have been variously used as power sources of potable electronic devices. As the portable electronic devices are used in various fields, the demand for battery packs has rapidly increased. The battery packs can be charged/discharged a plurality of times, and accordingly are economically and environmentally efficient. Thus, the use of the battery packs is encouraged.


A system for adding weight to and/or balancing the bottom rail of a window covering includes one or more body members positioned within the bottom rail, and each body member having a plurality of sockets for receiving weights. In the most preferred form of the invention, the sockets are horse-shoe shaped are adapted to receive elongate rods having a circular cross-section. The plurality of sockets in the most preferred embodiment include sockets located adjacent the front of the bottom rail when the body member is in place and other sockets arranged toward the rear. Weighting and balancing is achieved by placing one or more rods in selected ones of the sockets.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the art of window coverings, and more particularly to the types of window coverings which include a bottom rail, such as horizontal blinds, pleated blinds, cellular blinds, certain Roman shade products, light control window coverings and the like. In its most preferred form, the present invention relates to a system for adding weight to and/or balancing the bottom rail, so that it remains in a horizontal orientation when lowered and so that the front edge of the bottom rail and the rear edge of the bottom rail lie in an orientation desirable from an aesthetic and product utilization standpoint.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A wide variety of different types of window coverings are known which include a bottom rail. Familiar examples include horizontal venetian-type blinds, sometimes referred to as mini-blinds, although the slats may be quite large, pleated shade window coverings, cellular window coverings, various light control products and certain Roman shade products. Typically, such window coverings include a head rail to be mounted at the top of a window, window covering material coupled to or rolled up within the head rail and a bottom rail coupled to the lower end of the window covering material. With venetian-type blinds, a ladder system is employed to suspend a plurality of slats in a horizontal orientation between the head rail and bottom rail, and two or more lift cords are located between the ends of the slats and are passed through each slat from the bottom rail to the top rail. Typically the lift cord passes through holes in each slat, although other systems are known in the art. Most frequently, the lift cords are directed using pulleys or other mechanisms in the head rail to one end of the head rail, at which point they descend along one side edge of the window covering so that they can be manipulated by the user. By pulling on the lift cords, the bottom rail is moved toward the top rail, with corresponding accumulation of slats on the bottom rail as the upward movement continues.
Similar lift cord systems are used in a variety of the xe2x80x9csoftxe2x80x9d window products which are currently popular, including window coverings which have pleated fabric between the head rail and the bottom rail, window coverings which have cellular fabric material between the head rail and the bottom rail, light control products which include cells having opaque portions arranged between the bottom rail and a roller within the head rail, and the like.
Systems are also known wherein the lift cords may accumulate on spring motor reels within the head rail so that they do not exit the head rail at all. Such a system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,100 issued Jan. 9, 1996 to Kuhar entitled xe2x80x9cCordless, Balanced Venetian Blind Or Shade With Consistent Variable Force Spring Motorxe2x80x9d. This system uses spring motors to balance the weight of the bottom rail and the accumulating window covering material as the window covering is raised or lowered by simply grasping the bottom rail and urging it upwardly or downwardly.
A problem common to such window coverings is balancing of the bottom rail and in some cases adding sufficient weight to the bottom rail to have it hang properly or lower smoothly. Due to various manufacturing considerations, such as the location and placement of the lift cords, the ways in which the ladders or window covering material are attached to the bottom rail, and the characteristics of the window covering material itself, there may be a need to provide weight in the bottom rail at various locations from end to end or various locations from front to back. Such problems are most pronounced in window coverings of the xe2x80x9csoftxe2x80x9d variety in which the head rail itself may be of a lighter gauge material due to the delicate nature of the window covering material.
Several solutions to the weight distribution problem have been proposed. The simplest is the use of weighted, tape-like strips which are adhered to the bottom rail by the fabricator at appropriate locations. Most frequently, such strips are applied after the window covering has been fabricated and after it has been determined where any imbalance may exist.
Another suggestion for resolving the weight balance issue is that proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,154 issued Jun. 14, 1994 to Colson, et al. and entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus For Mounting A Retractable Window Coveringxe2x80x9d. In the disclosed device, a weight element is slidably disposed in the bottom rail and is moved longitudinally along the bottom rail until appropriate balance is achieved.
While both of these known systems provide control over the imbalance issues discussed above, they suffer from one or more drawbacks with regard to installation and/or use. For example, with fabric window coverings, the balance may change after the window covering has been used, for example if the pleats in cellular or pleated shades hang out for extended periods of time after initial manufacture. In such cases, it may be necessary to dismantle the bottom rail and readjust the weight and balancing system, a process which may be difficult when using a tape system or a sliding system, depending on the skill of the owner or user of the window covering.
A weight and balancing system which would be readily adaptable to a wide variety of window coverings and which would be easily understood and used by consumers would represent a significant advance in this art.
The present invention features a bottom rail weight and balancing system which is widely adaptable to different types of window coverings and which is inexpensive, easy to install and easy to adjust.
The present invention also features a bottom rail weight and balancing system which may be adjusted by an untrained consumer after a window covering has been installed.
A different feature of the present invention is to provide a weight and balancing system which may be used for a variety of sizes of window coverings and which may be manufactured in different configurations to permit different incremental adjustments to enhance the accuracy of the balance desired for aesthetic and operational purposes.
How these and other features of the present invention are accomplished will be described in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, taken with the FIGURES. Generally, however, they are accomplished by providing one or more body members which are inserted into the bottom rail and may be disposed along the bottom rail at a location selected by the individual responsible for weighting and/or balancing same. The body members include a plurality of sockets adapted to receive weights, the sockets being arranged from front to rear. Weights are inserted into selected ones of the sockets to accomplish the appropriate weighting and/or balancing. The features are accomplished in the most preferred form of the invention by using body members having a plurality of horse-shoe shaped sockets adapted to receive weights which are round in cross-section. The preferred weights are elongate rods which are snapped into the sockets. The number of rods used, and the particular sockets employed, are varied to accomplish the desired weighting and/or balancing objectives. The body members may also be used as part of the mechanism for attaching the window covering material to the bottom rail. Other ways in which the features of the invention are accomplished will become apparent to those skilled in the art after they have read the present specification. Such other ways are deemed to fall within the scope of the present invention if they fall within the scope of the claims which follow.


An ultrasonic vibration bonding chip mounter includes a chip carrying unit arranged above a chip supply unit, a prealignment unit and a mounting unit which are arranged in a row and having a movable table which can move back and forth in a direction parallel to a direction where these units are arranged, a pick-up unit, attached to the movable table, for transferring a chip from the chip supply unit to the prealignment unit, and an ultrasonic vibration bonding unit, attached to the movable table, for transferring the chip from the prealignment unit to a mounting unit so that the chips are transferred from the chip supply unit to the prealignment unit and further to the mounting unit by the reciprocation of the movable table one by one.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a chip mounter for positioning a chip of a semiconductor element or the like (lightweight and compact product) such as a bare chip on a substrate such as a wiring board and bonding the chip to the substrate with ultrasonic vibration.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,301, it has been known that when an unpackaged bare chip type semiconductor element is to be mounted on a wiring board for testing such as a burn-in test or a bare chip type semiconductor element which is verified as satisfactory in a burn-in test is to be mounted on a wiring board for packaging in place of a lead frame, it is mounted on a wiring board making use of ultrasonic vibration.
The above ultrasonic vibration bonding chip mounter has such a problem that the movements and position controls of a pick-up unit and an ultrasonic vibration bonding unit become complicated inevitably when a chip is to be mounted on a chip mounting position of a substrate for mounting the chip on a mount table through a prealignment table from a pallet table because the pick-up unit and the ultrasonic vibration bonding unit are not arranged apart from each other with reference to the installation position relationship among the pallet table of a chip supply unit, the prealignment table of a prealignment unit and the mount table of a mounting unit.

Ultrasonic vibration bonding chip mounter


An improved baghouse which is adapted to remove particulate matter from an air flow. The baghouse has three main chambers being the plenum, the receiving chamber, and a hopper. The three chambers are separated from each other using tubesheets having multiple holes therein. Filtering bags are connected to the upper and lower tubesheets. Attachment of the bag to the upper tubesheet is accomplished using a thimble that is preferably assembled with the bag and then delivered to the site ready for easy insertion into the hole of the tubesheet. A strap to sandwich the bag to the upper thimble. At the lower end, there are attached thimbles on the tubesheet and the bags are secured to those thimbles using clamps. Through the use of beads on the thimbles and bags, shaped clamps and straps, the bag is secured to both thimbles such that slippage and leakage are eliminated; further the shaped bottom clamps prevent relative motion between the bag and the top of the bottom thimble so that excess bag wear is avoided.

This invention relates generally to baghouses and more particularly to top inlet baghouses.
The types of bag fastenings vary depending on where they are made; from above or below the tubesheets. They also vary depending on the type of thimbles; some thimbles are slidable in the holes in the tubesheets and some are welded to the tubesheets.
One current method of securing a bag is to sew a flexible metal band in the bag cuff and to have it bear on an internal thimble bead as in FIG. 3 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,177,636. This approach requires very exacting manufacturing tolerances. The sewn-in snap band has to be a near-perfect fit to match the inside diameter of the upper thimble. Since the bag and thimble are usually manufactured by two different suppliers, there is a high level of quality control required and two sources of error. If one, or both diameters are not correct, the bag may not go in (too big) or it may slide off (too small) or, if it is not a snug fit, it may not be adequately air-tight for the service conditions.
Another type of deficiency relates to costs. A manufactured product that requires a minimum of quality control should cost less than one that requires a maximum of quality control. A design that minimizes field labor costs is preferable to one that does not.
The fastenings described in this disclosure require a minimum of quality control. Because shop labor is less costly than field labor the top fastening in this disclosure is made by the bag manufacturer. Bottom inlet bags are frequently supplied with disposable metal caps. Shop assembly is less costly than field assembly--the labor cost difference may pay for the cap. In addition, bad fits are found and corrected in the shop instead of at the job site.
Sewn-in snap bands are popular because they obviate the need for clamps and for the tools and labor to install the clamps in the field. Another way to avoid clamps, tools and field labor is to have the bag supplier also furnish the thimbles and to attach the bags to the thimbles in the manufacturing shop.
Another method which is utilized is to slide the cuff over an external thimble bead and to use a hose clamp in the space between the rope bead at the end of the bag cuff and the thimble bead.
Bags for existing top inlet baghouse dust collectors are fastened by a variety of means. Often, these fastenings suffer from one or more of the following faults:
1) labor and material for fastenings are too costly, PA1 2) bottom fastening in some designs has to be from below the lower tubesheet--a dirty and hazardous job, PA1 3) divided responsibility for quality control may cause defective fastenings.
There is a significant need for fastenings which do not suffer from any of these limitations.


Disclosed are, inter alia, methods, apparatus, data structures, computer-readable media, and mechanisms for maintaining counters, such as in, but not limited to a packet switching system, and updating a secondary counter storage based on values of the counters and entries in an overflow buffer. Multiple counter values are stored in a counter bank. An indication of a particular counter of the multiple counters to update is received. A current value of the particular counter is updated in the counter bank, and if an overflow condition results, then an indication of the particular counter is added to an overflow buffer. Periodically each of the multiple counters is visited and corresponding values are updated in a secondary storage, and each entry is retrieved from the overflow buffer and a corresponding value is updated in the secondary storage.

1. Field of Invention
This invention especially relates to communications and computer systems; and more particularly, the invention relates to maintaining counters, such as in, but not limited to a packet switching system, and updating a secondary counter storage based on values of the counters and entries in an overflow buffer.
2. Description of the Background Art
The communications industry is rapidly changing to adjust to emerging technologies and ever increasing customer demand. This customer demand for new applications and increased performance of existing applications is driving communications network and system providers to employ networks and systems having greater speed and capacity (e.g., greater bandwidth). In trying to achieve these goals, a common approach taken by many communications providers is to use packet switching technology. Increasingly, public and private communications networks are being built and expanded using various packet technologies, such as Internet Protocol (IP). Note, nothing described or referenced in this document is admitted as prior art to this application unless explicitly so stated.
For example, in networking devices, it is important to maintain accurate packet and byte count counters for all traffic flowing through the device. Such counters are important for customers, for lab testing, and also for verification and debug purposes. Generally, counters must be maintained for a large number of items in a few different categories (e.g., individual routes the packets are taking, the adjacencies/next hops of the packets, etc.). It is not unusual for a network device to need to maintain counters on packets arriving at a rate of fifty million packets per second, and to have to support one million routes (e.g., one million different sets of packet and byte counters in the route category).
Many communications and computer systems keep large numbers of counters to indicate that certain events have occurred. Examples might include packets forwarded, bytes forwarded, overrate bytes, underrate bytes, etc. Externally-visible counters (e.g., those available to the system which are typically accumulated values from the counter bank counters maintained inside components, for example) typically must maintain total event counts that last for days, weeks, or even years. One frequent choice for packet processing applications is to use 64-bit externally-visible counters that are large enough to ensure that they will never wrap. These counters are typically implemented in RAM (usually DRAM or SDRAM). A corresponding counter is typically implemented in hardware and is usually much smaller than sixty-four bits, because typical special-purpose counter resources in the components are more expensive, and hence more limited than commodity system memory. In order to provide the external view of a large counter, the system software periodically reads each counter from the hardware device, adding the value read to an externally-visible counter that is stored in (cheap) system RAM.
The bit-width of the byte and packet counters in hardware are typically chosen such that, in the worse case, all counters can be visited before they overflow, assuming a particular rate at which the counters can be visited. The counter visitation rate is typically a system-dependent constant, and is typically limited by the total fraction of CPU time (or bus bandwidth in some cases) that is allocated to reading counters (and instead of performing other duties). For example, in a device with 100,000 counters, if the CPI performance may limit the rate that the counters can be read; while in other systems, the limitation might be bus bandwidth.
In implementations with the counter bank counters implemented on an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), it is not uncommon for the counter state to total many megabits of on-chip memory, occupying a non-trivial fraction of the total chip area. For example, one packet switch uses roughly 150,000 on-chip packet and byte counters with each counter having thirty-two bits of on-chip storage totaling 4.8 megabits of on-chip storage. Therefore, it is valuable if the on-chip storage required can be reduced while still ensuring that counters presented to the user do not wrap, and while not increasing CPU burden or bus bandwidth utilization required to read them periodically.
An issue in maintaining these counters is providing the necessary combination of storage space and bandwidth in a fashion that is cost effective, low in power, and low in pin count. Complicating the bandwidth issue is that, as the number of counters grows, the frequency at which software can reasonably read an individual counter lessens. The size and number of counters make storing the full counters directly on a packet switching chip expensive with today's technologies.
Previous solutions to the counter storage problem have addressed the cost of storage by moving the counters off-chip. This necessitates the use of expensive, high-bandwidth RAM (high-speed DDR or QDR SRAMs or DDR SDRAMS) that can keep up with the worst-case counter-update bandwidth requirements. If the packet arrival rate is fifty million packets per second, then the counter-update rate (for one type of counter) is fifty million counter updates per second in the worst case.
At a peak rate of fifty million counter updates per second, and using 128 bits to store both the byte and packet counters for one item, the bandwidth required for counter updates (which must read the old counter value and then write back an updated value) is approximately 12.8 gigabits per second. This data bandwidth could be achieved by a 64-bit wide Reduced Latency Dynamic Random Access Memory (RLDRAM) at 200 MHz, with appropriate attention to pipelining and bank conflicts. But this would only support one category of counter, and typical implementations have dozens of categories to maintain. As can be seen, the cost (in terms of board space, power budget, and dollars) of implementing this large a number of counters off-chip at the necessary throughput rate can be unacceptably high.
Some solutions to this problem have used FIFOs to compensate for reduced bandwidth and/or CPU activity (which can delay counter updates). These solutions have generally just used the FIFO as a buffer—the off-chip RAM is still designed for the worst-case bandwidth. (Typically, such FIFOs can hold no more than a few thousand entries, much smaller than the number of items.)
Another technique that has been used is to build two-level counters, where the least-significant bits (LSBs) and the most-significant bits (MSBs) are maintained separately. This can save bandwidth by only having to reference the MSBs when the LSBs overflow, instead of on every counter update. However, the storage required is not reduced.
Some aspects of the counter update problem are described in the article: Devarat Shah et al., Maintaining Statistics Counters in Router Line Cards, IEEE Micro, January-February 2002, pp. 76-81, which is hereby incorporated by reference. Shah et al. describe a theoretical approach, and a largest-counter-first counter management algorithm (LCF CMA) that selects a counter with the largest count to update to a secondary memory. This requires that some mechanism be employed to maintain counters in a sorted order or to quickly determine the largest counter. While this is a theoretically interesting approach, it is not generally practical to implement in current systems because of the cost of the sorting function. Shah et al. admit that their "LCF CMA is a complex algorithm that is hard to implement at a very high speed. It would be interesting to obtain a similar performance as LCF CMA with a less complex algorithm." Id. At 80-81.

Counter updating system using an update mechanism and different counter utilization mechanism


An omni directional coverage multibeam antenna relief on a ground surface having simple conical shapes to provide beam steering. One advantage of such a system is that the projected area is always constant and broadside to the intended direction resulting in limited scan loss effects. In the case of a cylinder as the conical shape, z-axis symmetry provides a constant antenna aperture projection in any azimuthal direction. Using this geometry, high level, side lobes are reduced considerably because of the natural aperture tapering from dispersion effects. These side lobes are further reduced by the presence of parasitic elements which also result in the added benefit of an increased front and back ratio. This front to back ratio may be further increased by the use of inverted cosine energization of selected antenna elements. Coverage area and power can be controlled by changing the ground surface angle and by selectively activating different antenna beam positions around the circumference of the ground surface, and by selectively changing the phase relationship between a given set of antenna beams.

Planar array antennas, when imposed to cover multiple directions, suffer from scan loss. Since the projected aperture decreases as the beam is steered away from the broadside position which is normal to the ground surface and centered to the surface itself, it follows then that broadside excitation of a planar array yields maximum aperture projection. Accordingly, when such an antenna is made to come off the normal axis, the projected aperture area decreases causing a scan loss which is a function of cosine having a value of 1 with the argument of zero radians (normal) and having a value of 0 when the argument is ##EQU1##
There are a number of methods of beam steering using matrix type beam forming networks that can be made to adjust parameters as directed from a computer algorithm. This is the basis for adaptive arrays. When a linear planar array is excited uniformly (uniform aperture distribution) to produce a broadsided beam projection, the composite aperture distribution resembles a rectangular shape. When this shape is Fourier transformed in space, the resultant pattern is laden with high level side lobes relative to the main lobe. The ##EQU2## function is thus produced in the far-field pattern. In most practical applications these high level side lobes are an undesirable side effect.
Furthermore, an array excited in this manner results in a radiation pattern having a front to back ratio insufficient to avoid co-channel interference with devices operating behind the array. As such reuse of a particular frequency radiating from the array is unnecessarily limited.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for an antenna system which provides for beam steering without using adaptive techniques.
A further need exists in the art for such an antenna system whereby the beam aperture is relatively constant and broadside to its intended direction without producing undesirable high level side lobes.
A still further need exists in the art for an antenna system having a front to back ratio such that a frequency may be reused directly behind the antenna system without significant co-channel interference.
These and other objects and desires are achieved by an antenna design which relies on the simple geometry of conical shapes to provide a more natural beam steering.

Conical omni-directional coverage multibeam antenna with parasitic elements


An air fan damping structure is installed on an air fan which has a fan frame. The fan frame has an air inlet, an air outlet and a housing space between them to hold a fan blade assembly. The damping structure includes a first buffer and a holding member located on the fan frame. The first buffer is hollow and has a through hole, and a first anchor portion to form an anchor relationship with a second anchor portion formed on the fan frame. The holding member has an inserting portion to run through the through hole and a depressing portion connecting to the inserting portion to receive a force to allow the inserting portion to run through the through hole. The inserting portion and the through hole have respectively a first retaining portion and a second retaining portion to form a retaining relationship.

These days people increasingly rely on computers to do businesses and daily works. Hence the computer becomes almost an indispensable technology product to the life of many people. The computer generally has many circuit boards and electronic elements. When in use, the chips and integrated circuits on the circuit boards generate heat and result in high temperature. If the temperature rises higher than an upper temperature limit of normal operation temperature of electronic elements, the electronic elements could malfunction. Hence the computer usually has a cooling fan installed inside to lower the temperature of the electronic elements during operation. Advance of technology and increasing demand of consumers accelerate changes of computer information products. System processing speed has to be faster and performance more powerful to meet those requirements. As a result, a greater amount of heat also is generated. In order to lower the temperature quickly to enable the electronic elements to function normally, aside from adding the number of air fans, another general approach is to increase the rotation speed of the air fans.
While increasing the rotation speed of the air fan can enhance cooling effect, vibration of the air fan also increases. As a result, shaking and impact of the air fan against the installed chassis, such as computer casing, power supply panel and the like occurs, and noises are generated. To remedy this problem, a simple conventional method often being adopted is adding a buffer element between the air fan and the chassis to absorb the vibration generated by air fan operation and prevent direct contact between them.
For instance, R.O.C. patent No. M242987 discloses a cooling fan equipped with a shock absorbing pad. The cooling fan has fastening holes each is wedged with a shock absorbing pad. The shock absorbing pad has a bushing coupled with each fastening hole and a flanged disc extended from the periphery of the bushing. The shock absorbing pad further has a through hole in the center axis. During installation, a screw runs through the through hole of the shock absorbing pad to fasten the cooling fan to an anchor dock, and the screw head presses firmly to the flanged disc. Thereby vibration generated from the anchor dock can be buffered by the shock absorbing pad to reduce noises caused by the vibration.
However, the aforesaid technique requires extra tools such as screwdrivers to turn the screws during installation and disassembly of the air fan. More installation time is needed, and installation also is tedious.


The invention relates to a pram comfort device (10, 12) for a pram, in particular a pram axle and/or a pram wheel (12), with an axle and/or a wheel (200), wherein the axle is designed as what is referred to as an intelligent axle and/or the wheel (200) is designed as what is referred to as an intelligent wheel (200), and an additional comfort function can be provided for the pram by means of the axle and/or by means of the wheel (200). Furthermore, the invention relates to a pram underframe or a pram, wherein the pram underframe or the pram has a pram comfort device (10, 12) according to the invention.

The invention concerns a stroller comfort device for a stroller, in particular a stroller axle and/or a stroller wheel, with an axle and/or a wheel. The invention further concerns a stroller underframe and a stroller, each with a respective stroller comfort device according to the invention.
In the prior art, strollers for manual pushing with at least one place to lie and/or a place to sit are known, wherein the stroller is designed in such a way that it can be pushed by an adolescent or adult person (operator). In this case it is preferred that a baby or a child in the stroller is within a field of view of the pushing person, in particular with their face in view. Pushing the stroller on upslopes, in snow, on uneven ground etc. sometimes requires significantly increased physical exertion, so that strollers are increasingly being fitted with an electromotive drive that makes it easier for the person that is pushing to push the stroller relatively easily even in the event of an increased counter force.
DE 10 2013 216 679 A1 discloses a stroller with a frame, a plurality of wheels attached to the frame, an axle connected to at least one of the wheels, a first force transfer wheel disposed on the axle and a drive module. The drive module comprises a second force transfer wheel, an electric motor driving the second force transfer wheel and a battery supplying the electric motor. The drive module can be mounted on the frame and can be removed from the frame, wherein in the mounted state the two force transfer wheels are connected to each other in a positive locking or frictional manner. The electric motor can be actuated by means of electronics by using a control unit that can be operated by means of an operating unit.

Stroller comfort device, stroller underframe and stroller


A wear assembly for use on a driven roll for earth-working machines and the like operations that eases replacement of the wear parts, lengthens the life of the bases, reduces the amount of throw-away material to be discarded, and has a lower manufacturing cost. The wear part overlies and protects the base to prolong the useable life of the base, lessen machine downtime, and reduce throw-away material. The use of an overlying adapter eases and speeds replacement of the wear parts to further limit downtime of the machine. The wear part is preferably a two-piece component with no machined parts for a lower manufacturing cost and easy replacement.

Crushers are used in mining operations to reduce the size of the mined material. In one example of a mining operation (FIG. 30), mined material 1 is dumped into a chute 3 and directed onto a conveyor 5 for transport to a roll crusher 7. The roll crusher 7 in this example is a double roll crusher, which includes a pair of opposed rolls 9 to break up the mined material 1. Each roll 9 is fitted with an array of tips 11 adapted to engage the mined material and break it up (FIG. 31). The tips are secured to bases or holders 13 that are fixed to the rolls 9. The rolls 9 are rotated in opposite directions so that the tips 11 are driven toward each other from the top. The broken material 1A passing through the roll crusher 7 is deposited on a second conveyor 17 for transport to rotary screens 19 for separation of the material.
In a conventional machine, tip 11 is a one-piece member that includes a mounting shaft 21 for attachment to a holder 13, and a cone 23 for engaging the mined material 1 (FIGS. 32-34). Mounting shaft 21 is machined to fit into a machined bore 24 in base 13 to retain the tip in the base, properly orient the tip, and provide sufficient support during use. The use of a machined bore and shaft, however, leads to increased manufacturing costs. Further, fines commonly get embedded in the bore around the shaft during use, which can make the tip difficult to remove from the base.
Further, cone 23 and base 13 suffer considerable abuse and wear during use. Because of the severity of the crushing operation, the tips and bases need regular replacement even with hardfacing and proper maintenance. Moreover, even though only the cone of the tip may be worn out, the entire tip must be replaced. Likewise, even though only the top of the base may be worn out due to the greater exposure during use, the entire base must be replaced. The construction results in a considerable amount of throw-away material. In addition, replacing the tips 11 and/or bases 13 requires substantial time, which results in considerable downtime for the machine.
US Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0174252 discloses a two-piece tip having a machined mounting shaft for receipt into the machined bore in the base, and a wear cap that fits over a seat formed on the front end of the shaft. The wear cap bears the brunt of the crushing operation and protects the underlying seat and mounting shaft. Accordingly, only the wear cap usually needs to be replaced. This is an easy and quick process, and results in considerably less throw-away material as the mounting shaft can be reused. Nevertheless, this system still requires machining of the tip's mounting shaft and the base's bore, and difficulty in removing the mounting shaft from the base on account of fines in the bore. The assembly also still suffers from frequent replacement of the bases, which is a lengthy process and results in considerable throw-away material.

Replaceable wear parts for an earth-working roll


A process for upgrading a precious metals-containing concentrate or residue results in near-quantitave removal of base metals and several impurity elements at elevated temperatures. The precious metals-containing concentrate or residue is exposed to oxygen or an oxygen-containing environment in an oxidative pre-treatment step followed by treatment with a hydrochlorinating agent in a hydrochlorination step to form an upgraded concentrate or residue.

This invention relates to a process to effect impurity removal and upgrading of precious metals concentrates and residues so rendering them more amenable to downstream refining.
As is known in the art, subsequent to mining of precious metal ores and before final separation and purification of the precious metals in the refining process, precious metal residues and concentrates are produced and used as feedstock in the refining process. However, in addition to the precious metals, the residues and concentrates also include base metals (such as cobalt, copper, iron and nickel, for example), amphoterics (such as sulfur, selenium and tellurium, for example), and other impurities (including, but not limited to lead, zinc, tin, silver, arsenic, antimony and bismuth). The presence of these species significantly complicates the refining process.
A number of processes involving chlorination of precious metals feedstocks (concentrates produced by ore dressing, precious metals-bearing residues, precious metals-bearing matte and metal concentrates produced post leaching of base metals) have previously been disclosed in an attempt to effect upfront removal of base metals, amphoterics and other impurities.
CA 2,314,581 discloses a process comprising three (or four) steps of:                (i) subjecting the feedstock to a high temperature treatment with hydrogen chloride gas (HCl (g));        (ii) optional chlorination (under a chlorine atmosphere);        (iii) oxidation with oxygen; and        (iv) reduction (under a hydrogen atmosphere).
Thermodynamic calculations have indicated that a disadvantage of this process is that the reaction of base metals, amphoterics and other impurities directly with hydrogen chloride gas requires a significant stoichiometric excess of hydrogen chloride. The reason for this is that for base metals the concentration of hydrogen chloride must be much higher than that of the hydrogen that is generated by the hydrochlorination reaction to permit the hydrochlorination reaction to proceed. Moreover, it has been observed that direct reaction of certain feedstocks with hydrogen chloride at elevated temperatures has the potential to result in the formation of an intermediate molten phase, which further complicates processing, in particular by limiting effective gas-solid contact. A further disadvantage to this process is that the secondary direct chlorination is prone to the formation of volatile precious metals chlorides, resulting in increased loss of precious metals.
CA 2,181,369 discloses a process including the steps of:                (i) exposing the feedstock to an oxidising environment (preferably oxygen or an oxygen containing gas mixture);        (ii) reduction (under hydrogen); and        (iii) chlorination using chlorine.
The disclosed three step process requires a hydrogen reduction step. The act of reduction following oxidation not only adds an extra processing step, but further reduces metal oxide species back to metal prior to chlorination. In addition, the proposed step of final chlorination with chlorine or chlorine-containing gas results in a partial loss of precious metals.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,432,255 discloses a process for the recovery of molybdenum, tin, antimony, bismuth and like metal values from their ores and minerals. The source material is contacted with hydrogen chloride and an oxidizing gas at a temperature sufficiently high that the metal values are converted to volatile chloride compounds and removed from the reaction zone. The impurity metal values are said to remain as a residue of oxides which are substantially non-volatile under the process temperatures.
GB 1 502 765 and related applications U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,084 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,260,139 disclose a process for refining a metal concentrate comprising at least one precious metal, silver and a base metal, which base metal and silver form volatile halides so as to separate them from the precious metal(s). The process comprises contacting the metal concentrate in the form of a solid mixture with a halogen-containing gas at a temperature which is sufficiently high for the base metal and silver to form their halides and for said halides to volatilize from the solid mixture. The volatilized halides are removed from the solid precious metal-containing residue.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,092,152 discloses a method of reducing the presence of impurities from a sulphur-containing feed material such as dust and hydrometallurgical wastes that result from smelting and refining operations. Pelletized feed materials are heated to 800° C. to 1150° C. and reacted with a gas stream containing chlorine and oxygen. A limitation of the proposed treatment process is that it effects removal only of certain impurity species from precious metals, while failing to remove base metals and promoting precious metal losses.
Upfront removal of amphoterics, base metals and other impurities is expected to give rise to improved separation efficiencies, allowing for changes in and optimization of downstream refining processes and creation of additional refining capacity. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a simple, effective and robust process of upgrading precious metal concentrates that will at least partially alleviate the disadvantages associated with existing technologies.

Upgrading of precious metals concentrates and residues


A packet processing method and apparatus, and a related device, the method including generating, by a first device, a flow filtering rule, where the flow filtering rule includes a match item and an action item, and where the match item comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address and an autonomous domain identifier, and sending, by the first device, the flow filtering rule to a second device, where the action item is used to instruct the second device to process, based on a packet processing mode indicated by the action item, a packet matching the match item.

In a network communication process, a packet may be forwarded by a forwarding device such as a router or a switch. For example, after a router receives a packet, the router may search a routing and forwarding table (forwarding information base, FIB) based on information about the packet, such as a source internet protocol (IP) address and a destination IP address, to determine next-hop information corresponding to the packet, and forward the packet to a corresponding network device such as another router, a terminal, or a server. However, the forwarding device relies on network resources for packet forwarding. The network resources include, for example, a bandwidth, a buffer space, and a processing capability of the forwarding device. When required network resources exceed currently available network resources, network congestion may occur. Therefore, flow of the forwarding device may be controlled to avoid the network congestion.
To implement flow control, the control device may analyze the flow of the forwarding device to obtain a flow filtering rule, and then deliver the flow filtering rule to the forwarding device. The forwarding device processes the packet according to the flow filtering rule, for example, redirects or discards the packet, so as to implement flow control. In a conventional manner, the control device configures one flow filtering rule for each pair of network devices that use the forwarding device for communication. When there are a large quantity of network devices, a large quantity of flow filtering rules are configured, so that more network resources need to be occupied to deliver the flow filtering rule from the control device to the forwarding device, and further the forwarding device also occupies a large quantity of storage resources.

Method, apparatus, and system for generating, and processing packets according to, a flow filtering rule


An image decoding and display device includes a frame memory interface (3) and a frame memory (5). The frame memory (5) has a bank 0, a bank 1, a bank 2. The bank 2 is made up of plural sectors (sector 0, . . . , and sector N). Under a dynamic mapping mode, the frame memory interface (3) refers a sector information table (32) including sector use information in order to search and fetch an unused sector. The frame memory interface (3) allocates the unused sector in the bank 2 when decoded image data are written into the bank 2, and release the used sector when the decoded image data are read from the bank 2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image decoding and display device for decoding compressed image data based on MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) and then displaying the decoded image data on a monitor.
2. Description of the Related Art
MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) method is a typical technique for synthetically handling audio data and image data in the multimedia field, and the MPEG method are widely applied to various communication applications.
A MEPG system has following function:
A stream of MPEG video data is synchronization with a stream of MPEG audio data (both data that have been encoded) in order to integrated them; and
The integrated data are then converted to data having a data format that is applicable to an inherent physical format and a protocol to be used in recording mediums and networks.
For example, in the image data processing in a MPEG video decoder, a video stream that has been encoded in 24 frame/second is decoded in 30 frame/second. A 3:2 pull down display processing is also necessary in order to display the decoded video stream on a monitor.
When one frame is displayed on a monitor in the 3:2 pull down display processing, three fields (3 fields) and two fields (2 fields) must be displayed alternately.
Since the conventional image decoding and display device has the configuration and the function described above, it is necessary to incorporate a memory whose memory size is three frames when the pictures of three fields to be displayed are decoded image data of a B picture (Bi-directionally predicted picture). In other words, the conventional image decoding and display device must incorporates an additional memory region of three frames when the 3:2 pull down display processing is performed based on the MPEG method. This increases the size of the conventional image decoding and display device.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is, with due consideration to the drawbacks of the conventional technique, to provide an image decoding and display device capable of reducing a memory size of a bank in a frame memory to store a B picture without increasing a decoding performance and capable of realizing a vertical reduction filter function.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an image decoding and display device comprises a control section, an image decoding section, a frame memory, a frame memory interface, and a video interface. The control section controls the entire operation of the image decoding and display device. The image decoding section inputs encoded image data transferred from outside of the image decoding and display device, and decodes the encoded image data under the control by the control section, and generates decoded image data. The frame memory comprises banks, a memory size of each of which is one frame for storing the decoded image data, and a bank made up of a plurality of sectors and whose memory size is not less than 0.5 frame for storing the decoded image data of a frame B. The frame memory interface inputs the decoded image data outputted from the image decoding section according to the control of the control section, writes the decoded image data into the frame memory, and reads the decoded image data stored in the frame memory. The video interface inputs the decoded image data transferred from the frame memory interface, converts the decoded image data in format, and outputs the decoded image data converted to outside. In the image decoding and display device described above, under a fixed mapping mode by the control of the control section, the frame memory interface writes the decoded image data into predetermined sectors in the frame memory, and under a dynamic mapping mode by the control of the control section, the frame memory interface refers a sector information table that shows the use state of each of the plurality of sectors in the frame memory in order to search unused sector, and allocates the unused sector when the frame memory interface writes the decoded image data into the frame memory, and release the used sector when decoded image data are read.
In the image decoding and display device as another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the frame memory consists of a bank 0, a bank 1, and a bank 2, and a memory size of each of the bank 0 and the bank 1 is one frame in which the decoded image data of one frame are stored, and the bank 0 and the bank 1 store I/P frames to be used as reference image data. In the image decoding and display device described above, a memory size of the bank 2 is not less than 0.5 frame, and the bank 2 is divided into the plurality of sectors, and each sector in the bank 2 stores the decoded image data of the frame B.
In the image decoding and display device as another preferred embodiment of the present invention, when the frame memory interface performs the management of the bank 2 in the frame memory under the fixed mapping mode and decoded image data of both two frames are stored in the frame memory simultaneously, the frame memory interface controls so that the decoding process by the image decoding section is temporarily halted while observing display lines.
In the image decoding and display device as another preferred embodiment of the present invention, when the frame memory interface performs the management of the bank 2 in the frame memory under the dynamic mapping mode, the frame memory interface searches unused sectors in the bank 2 while referring the sector information table when a sector allocation instruction for the sectors in the bank 2 by the frame memory interface is activated, writes the decoded image data into the unused sector searched, and releases the sector in the bank 2 after the decoded image data in the sector are read.
In the image decoding and display device as another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the frame memory consists of a bank 0, a bank 1, and a bank 2, and a memory size of each of the bank 0 and the bank 1 is one frame in which the decoded image data of one frame are stored, and the bank 0 and the bank 1 store I/P frames to be used as reference image data, and a memory size of the bank 2 is one frame, and the bank 2 is divided into the plurality of sectors, and each sector in the bank 2 stores the decoded image data of the frame B, and in order to execute a 3:2 pull down processing for decoded image data of a frame for continuously displaying during three field time lengths under the dynamic mapping mode, the frame memory interface controls the operation of the frame memory so that a sector releasing instruction is not activated only during a first display time in the three field time lengths for continuously displaying the decoded image data of the frame.
In the image decoding and display device as another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a memory size of the bank 2 is not less than one fields and less than two fields, and in order to execute a 3:2 pull down processing for decoded image data of a frame for continuously displaying during three field time lengths under the dynamic mapping mode, the frame memory interface controls the operation of the frame memory so that a sector releasing instruction is not activated only during a second display time in the three field time lengths for continuously displaying the decoded image data of the frame.
In the image decoding and display device as another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the frame memory consists of a bank 0, a bank 1, and a bank 2, and a memory size of each of the bank 0 and the bank 1 is one frame in which the decoded image data of one frame are stored, and the bank 0 and the bank 1 store I/P frames to be used as reference image data, and a memory size of the bank 2 is not less than one field, and the bank 2 is divided into the plurality of sectors, and each sector in the bank 2 stores the decoded image data of the frame B. Further, in order to perform a pause process under the dynamic mapping mode, the frame memory interface controls so that a sector releasing instruction is not activated while the decoding process for decoding encoded image data by the image decoding section is halted.
In the image decoding and display device as another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the frame memory consists of a bank 0, a bank 1, and a bank 2, and a memory size of each of the bank 0 and the bank 1 is one frame in which the decoded image data of one frame are stored, and the bank 0 and the bank 1 store I/P frames to be used as reference image data. Further, a memory size of the bank 2 is not less than one field, and the bank 2 is divided into the plurality of sectors, and each sector in the bank 2 stores the decoded image data of the frame B, and in order to perform a broken link process under the dynamic mapping mode, the frame memory interface controls so that a sector allocation instruction is not activated while the decoding process for decoding encoded image data by the image decoding section is performed.
In the image decoding and display device as another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the frame memory consists of a bank 0, a bank 1, and a bank 2, and a memory size of each of the bank 0 and the bank 1 is one frame in which the decoded image data of one frame are stored, and the bank 0 and the bank 1 store I/P frames to be used as reference image data, and a memory size of the bank 2 is not less than two fields, and the bank 2 is divided into the plurality of sectors, and each sector in the bank 2 stores the decoded image data of the frame B. Further, in order to display decoded image data that have been reduced in a vertical direction by the image decoding section, the frame memory interface switches to the dynamic mapping mode for the management of the bank 2 in the frame memory.
In the image decoding and display device as another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the frame memory consists of a bank 0, a bank 1, and a bank 2, and a memory size of each of the bank 0 and the bank 1 is one frame where the decoded image data of one frame are stored, and the bank 0 and the bank 1 store I/P frames to be used as reference image data, and the bank 2 is divided into the plurality of sectors, and each sector in the bank 2 stores the decoded image data of the frame B. In addition, when the frame memory interface fails in a search for unused sector in the bank 2 based on the sector information table, the frame memory interface activates a flag in the sector information table corresponding to the sector in the failure search, and the frame memory interface controls so that a sector allocation instruction is not activated while the flag of the sector is activated, and the frame memory interface forcedly switches from the bank 2 where a frame B is stored to the bank 0 or the bank 1 where a frame I or a frame P is stored, and wherein the frame memory interface performs an initialization for the sector information table in order to restart the sector allocation of the bank 2 when the bank 2 is switched to the bank 0 or the bank 1.


A display apparatus using a matrix display panel, such as a liquid crystal panel, for converting the number of scanning lines to be displayed to a number that can be accommodated on a panel having a smaller number of scanning lines. The apparatus includes a control circuit which produces control signals in synchronism with the input video signal, horizontal and vertical scanning circuits each including a shift register operated by the control circuit, and a display panel which is formed of a matrix arrangement of pixels that are driven selectively by the scanning circuits. The apparatus further includes a circuit which halts the operation of the vertical shift register at a certain interval within the effective scanning period of the vertical scanning circuit so as to extract vertical shift clocks, thereby removing the vertical shift clocks within the effective display period of the video signal, thereby extracting periodically extracting scanning lines.

The present invention relates to a display apparatus using a matrix display panel such as a liquid crystal panel, and particularly to a scanning conversion display apparatus having a matrix display panel suitable for displaying a picture with a larger number of scanning lines as compared with the number of displayed scanning lines.
Among various color television systems, three systems including NTSC system, PAL system and SECAM system have dominated the world markets. Recently, the "high-vision" system which offers high quality pictures entered a phase of experimental broadcasting, and the variety of color television systems is going to increase.
In order to reproduce a picture correctly on a matrix display panel, the television signal must be processed to meet the respective television system and a matrix display panel having a proper number of pixels for producing the prescribed number of scanning lines of the television system must be used. In general, a matrix display panel, with the number of pixels being set to suit the number of scanning lines of one system, cannot be used directly to display a picture of another system having a different number of scanning lines.
As a means of overcoming this situation, a circuit arrangement, described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-533989, for driving 240 scanning electrodes of a NTSC-based matrix panel includes a dummy flip-flop inserted in each of five-stage shift register groups connected to the scanning electrodes with the intention of displaying, by line extraction, a PAL-based picture having 287 scanning lines in each field. For a NTSC-based picture, the dummy flip-flops in the scanning electrode drive circuit are not used and the whole 240-stage shift register operates to display the picture.
An alternative sophisticated method is designed to store a picture in a memory temporarily and the number of scanning lines is converted through the video signal processing.
The above-mentioned conventional technology described in the patent publication 62-53989 necessitates a special scanning electrode drive circuit (will be termed "vertical scanning circuit" hereinafter) including dummy flip-flops. A usual vertical scanning circuit made up of simple shift registers without dummy flip-flops cannot display a picture formed of scanning lines more in number than the displayed scanning lines (number of vertical pixels) of the panel. The method of storing a picture temporarily in the memory for processing the video signal involves a large-scale circuit arrangement and it is not suitable for a compact planar television set or the like.


A process, system and pressure chamber for the automated sterilization of articles, particularly medical or dental instruments is disclosed, which is simple to use and economically efficient by comparison with conventional autoclaves and steam sterilizing system. Steam is generated by the pulsed injection of a controlled quantity of water into a heated boiler whenever it runs dry. The boiler is coupled in a closed-loop system to a relatively small pressure chamber in the form of a cassette that is readily inserted and removed from a holder comprising means for connecting the chamber to a steam inlet conduit and a venting conduit, the latter being closed off during pressurization of the chamber. By automated monitoring of the boiler and chamber temperatures, conditions in the chamber are measured and the boiler and valves in the system controlled to effect a sterilization cycle.

Flow-through sterilizers of the type used in hospitals or in industrial applications are generally provided with access to a source of saturated steam "on tap" which is used to purge air from a chamber containing the articles to be sterilized and to heat the load until sterilization exposure is complete.
In the usual dental or medical office, it would be physically and economically impractical to have an available steam line, and so sterilization of instruments in these applications has hitherto been carried out using standard autoclaves. An autoclave is typically a relatively large sealed vessel which contains a quantity of boiling water under pressure. Such an instrument is generally provided with a lower exit vent which is initially kept open for a period while water is boiled inside the autoclave to purge the air from the interior. As air is incompatible with and denser than saturated steam, it tends to be pushed out the exit valve ahead of the steam.
Nevertheless, the standard arrangement can lead to appreciable quantities of air being retained in the autoclave chamber, necessitating the simultaneous measurement of both pressure and temperature conditions in the chamber if one is to have confidence in the sterilizing conditions to which the contents are exposed. Imperfect purging of air or an incorrect interpretation of the simultaneous readings of the mutually dependant variables of temperature and pressure could present a biological hazard. On the other hand, unduly high temperatures in the standard autoclave can, with time, damage the contents.
Moreover, in a closed system such as the standard autoclave, or in other known systems which employ a circulating water phase, contaminants from the instruments constantly build up with time, leading to corrosion of the autoclave walls, and possible damage to the contents. A further practical disadvantage of standard autoclaves is their inherent slowness, due to the large heat capacity of their heavy walls and support structures.

Method for steam sterilization of articles


A bioreactor for perfusion culture of suspension cells has an inversely-conical tank which includes a cell culture zone and a cell settling zone disposed annularly relative to the cell culture zone in the upper region of the tank. The cell settling zone is adjacent to the conical walls of the tank and has a number of frustoconical lamellar elements. The two zones are separated with a partition which allows the zones to communicate only below the partition. Cell culture medium supplied to the culture zone overflows at the top of the settling zone after having passed through the settling zone between the lamellar elements. Due to the conical shape of the tank and the resulting shape of the settling zone, passages of upwardly increasing cross section are created in the settling zone thus enabling the settling of live cells in the settling zone and their return to the culture zone while the spent medium overflows. The design is relatively easy to scale up.

In a perfusion culture of suspension cells (perfusion meaning a continuous flow of culture medium through a culture maintained at high cell density; suspension cells being cells which do not require a solid support to grow on), for example in the production of monoclonal antibodies or viral vaccines, fresh nutrients must be supplied continuously with concomitant removal of toxic metabolites and, ideally, selective removal of dead cells. Removing spent medium while retaining cells in a bioreactor presents a technical problem due to the small size of cells and an average cell density only slightly greater than that of the culture medium. Filtering, entrapment and micro-capsulation methods are all suitable for refreshing the culture environment at sufficient rates. However, these methods all share certain characteristic disadvantages, chief among which are accumulation of dead cells within the system and membrane bio-fouling, which hinder attempts at industrial-scale application. The above disadvantages have a considerable impact on the quantitative recovery of active product.
Known systems for selective removal of dead cells during perfusion culture are, with very few exceptions, based on cell sedimentation. For the reasons mentioned above (i.e. small cell size and equally small density difference between cells and culture medium), unit gravity is rarely considered sufficient. The effect of gravity is multiplied, either by the use of a centrifuge, or by exploiting the Boycott effect. This effect, quantified in 1920, is a finding of faster settling of suspended particles between closely spaced inclined surfaces than in vertical chambers.
In many cases, dead suspension cells have a smaller cell diameter than live cells of the same cell line. This difference in diameter translates into a proportional difference in sedimentation rate, which can be exploited for the selective removal of dead cells.
Certain existing sedimentation systems are based on laminar flow in a conical sedimenter while some others exploit so-called lamellar settlers. In most cases, the latter feature a series of parallel plates, inclined most often at 30.degree. from the vertical, within a rectangular chamber. As fluid flows upwards between the parallel plates, particles settle onto the upper surfaces of the plates and slide toward the bottom of the chamber for collection.
B. C. Batt et al., Biotechnol. Prog., 6, 458-464, (1990) describe a continuous perfusion system consisting of a standard stirred-tank laboratory-scale bioreactor with a rectangular lamellar settler disposed above the former. Sato et al., J. Tiss. Cult. Meth. 8(4), pp. 167-171, 1983, developed an internal conical cell separator in which a tapered conical sedimentation chamber was affixed to the underside of the headplate of the bioreactor vessel.
A recently developed conical lamellar settler (M. Tyo, presentation at the 1989 annual AlChE meeting in Santa Barbara, Calif.; New Developments in Mammalian Cell Reactor Studies, Nov. 5-10, 1989), combines the advantages of conical and lamellar settlers. A conical settler is affixed to the top of a standard 250 ml spinner flask. The settler consists of a pair of concentric truncated cones with an innermost solid cone. As the cell suspension is pumped upwards from the reactor into and through the settler, the latter creates an annular flow passageway of increasing cross-sectional area with increasing distance from the lower apex. As a result, the vertical component of the liquid velocity decreases, which allows the sedimentation of cells and their collection on the upper surfaces of the truncated cones. Sedimented cells slide along these surfaces by gravity and return to the reactor, while partially clarified cell suspension (containing cells too small to have sedimented) is removed through the top of the settler. Because the settler has to occupy the entire available area at the top of the cylindrical reactor vessel, the scale-up of this design is very limited.
Hamamoto et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,814,278 issued Mar. 21, 1989, describes an apparatus for perfusion cell culture, which has a cell culture zone and an annular cell settling zone disposed concentrically around the culture zone and separated therefrom by a partition allowing the two zones to communicate only below the partition. At any scale larger than a few liters, this design imposes aspect ratios in the culture zone which are unsuitable for the culture of animal cells. Thus the scale-up of this design is also severely limited.
There is still a need to develop a system which could offer, beside an efficiency at least comparable to known systems, a possibility of scale-up and a simpler design.

Bioreactor for the perfusion culture of cells


A method, computer system and computer program product for processing configuration after a cluster migration are provided. In this method, a network booting program is received at a computing node from a management node for a cluster. The cluster includes at least one computing node. An operating system is booted in a memory of the computing node with the received network booting program. Configuration changes are received from the management node, and the configurations in a local storage of the computing node are updated according to the received configuration changes.

The present invention relates to data processing, and more specifically, to a method, computer program and computer program product for processing configuration after a cluster migration.
In complicated cloud and data center environments, sometimes it is required to migrate a cluster of physical machines from a source environment to a target environment. For example, an existing cluster of physical machines may need to be moved to a new site, or a cluster localization needs to be pre-configured and delivered to a customer. Traditional manual processes tend to be error prone. This is because the clusters are stateful and consist of multiple layer of software, for example, operating systems, network services, storage, and applications.

International Business Machines Corporation