Monitoring a MIMO pairing efficiency of a sector to determine whether or not to enable/disable inter-band carrier aggregation. If the pairing efficiency (whether predicted or actual) is high, inter-band carrier aggregation is disabled, and if the pairing efficiency is low, then inter-band carrier aggregation is enabled. The inter-band carrier aggregation utilizes a low-frequency carrier as a primary component carrier and a high-frequency carrier as a secondary component carrier. The MIMO mode of operation utilizes the high-frequency carrier for control transmissions.

As wireless networks evolve and grow, there are ongoing challenges in communicating data across different types of networks. For example, a wireless network may include one or more access nodes, such as base stations, for providing wireless voice and data service to wireless devices in various coverage areas of the one or more access nodes. Wireless networks may be configured to utilize multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO), in which multiple data streams can be directed towards one or more eligible wireless devices via various combinations of antennae and transceivers based on the orthogonality of transmission, thereby maximizing resources. MIMO can include single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO), multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), and massive MIMO (mMIMO). mMIMO extends MU-MIMO to antenna arrays coupled to base stations, the antenna arrays comprising large numbers of controllable antenna elements that enable directing several MU-MIMO streams to various groups or "pairings" of wireless devices. mMIMO has been identified as one of the promising air interface technologies to address the capacity requirement required demanded by 5G networks. MIMO works better with higher frequencies, since denser amounts of data can be transmitted in multiple layers using the same frequency resources.
Further, network operators are using carrier aggregation, which enables wireless devices and access nodes to communicate using a combination of carriers, i.e. component carriers. Component carriers utilize air-interface resources (such as time-frequency resource blocks) spanning different sets of frequencies within one or more frequency bands available to use within a wireless sector. For example, a primary component carrier may utilize a first set of frequencies, and a secondary component carrier may utilize a second set of frequencies. When two or more component carriers are in the same frequency band, it is referred to as "intra-band carrier aggregation" whereas when the component carriers are parts of different frequency bands, it is referred to as "inter-band carrier aggregation." The different frequency bands may be separated by a gap, and a first frequency band may utilize much lower frequencies than a second frequency band. Wireless devices that are capable of inter-band carrier aggregation can receive and send data streams using two or more carriers using different carriers. Further, each carrier may be configured to utilize a different duplexing mode. For example, an access node configured to deploy a frequency-division-duplexing (FDD) carrier using a low frequency band, and a time-division-duplexing (TDD) carrier using a high frequency band.
However, there can be issues with attempting to use MIMO alongside inter-band carrier aggregation within the same sector. When inter-band carrier aggregation is in operation in a sector, control transmissions and data transmissions use different component carriers. For example, all control signaling for the sector may be scheduled using the lower-frequency carrier, and data transmissions may be scheduled using both lower-frequency and higher-frequency carriers. Whereas, when MIMO is in operation, control transmissions are scheduled in the same carrier as the multiple layers of data transmissions.
Overview
Exemplary embodiments described herein include methods, systems, and processing nodes for selecting between MIMO and carrier aggregation modes of operation in a wireless network. An exemplary method for selecting between MIMO and carrier aggregation includes determining that a MIMO pairing efficiency of a sector in the wireless network falls below a threshold, and enabling the inter-band carrier aggregation mode of operation in the sector.
Another exemplary method for selecting between MIMO and carrier aggregation includes determining that a MIMO pairing efficiency of a sector in the wireless network meets a threshold, and disabling the inter-band carrier aggregation mode of operation in the sector.
An exemplary system for selecting between MIMO and carrier aggregation includes a processing node, and a processor coupled to the processing node. The processor can be configured to perform the operations described herein in any combination.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Selecting between MIMO and carrier aggregation


Apparatus and processes for producing paper roll products with spaced core sections. A core substrate is arranged on a mandrel, and then divided into a plurality of core sections. The core sections are then separated from each other on the mandrel to form gaps between the core sections. Paper web material can then be wound onto the separated core sections to form a log of rolls. The log is then cut into final paper roll products.

Paper roll products, such as toilet tissue rolls and paper towel rolls, typically include a paper web material that is wound around a central core. The core helps to support the paper web material and define the shape of the roll, as well as define a central opening for interaction with a support structure, such as a spindle, on a suitable dispensing apparatus.
In many paper roll products, the core is a one piece structure that extends the entire width of the roll product.
In some known paper roll products, the core is formed by core sections that are spaced apart from each other to form a gap therebetween so that the total length of the core sections is less than the width of the web material wound onto the core sections. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,437,388 and 3,438,589 to Jespersen. The provision of spaced core sections separated by a gap helps to reduce the amount of core stock material that is used, thereby reducing production costs. In some instances, such as in the aforementioned Jespersen patents, the spaced core sections also function to indicate to a user the depletion of the web material from the roll.
There is a continuing need for paper roll products with spaced core sections, and for processes and apparatus used in the production of such paper roll products.


The invention relates to an optical device providing information to the driver of a motor vehicle, which includes a concave mirror (100), located below the lowered line of vision within the field of vision of the exterior, its concavity being directed towards the driver, and an imager (200) designed to direct a light signal to the mirror (100), characterized by the fact that the concave mirror (100) is defined by an O-dome.

The present invention relates to a head-down type optical device designed to deliver information to the driver of a motor vehicle.
Numerous devices have already been proposed for delivering optical information to the driver of a motor vehicle. For example, indicator lamps and instruments having moving pointers have been in use for a long time. More recently, light-emitting displays and liquid crystal displays have been proposed.
These tend to be preferred nowadays, in particular for reasons of appearance. However, their cost is often prohibitive when the display is to be large in size.
Systems of the so-called "head-down display" type are known in the field of aviation. The purpose of these systems is to project information to infinity or to a great distance in an equipment field of view situated immediately below the bottom line of view in the landscape field of view, without superposing information on the landscape. "Head-down display" type systems make it possible to acquire the projected information appreciably more quickly since they limit the accommodation or convergence that is required when passing from landscape to information.
However, the head-down type systems proposed for aviation are generally complex and expensive.
Proposals have also been made, for example in Document WO-A-8902611 for head-down type display systems that provide information to the driver of a motor vehicle.
However, the system described in Document WO-A-8902611 is also quite complex. In particular, it comprises a display associated with a source of illumination by means of a bundle of optical fibers.
The system described in Document WO-A-8902611 has not, as yet, given rise to an application in the field of motor vehicles.

Head-down type optical device for delivering information to the driver of a motor vehicle


A battery pack includes a rechargeable battery module and a battery management system for controlling charging and/or discharging of the battery module. The battery module may include a substantially linear charging and discharging voltage-time profile within at least part of the charging and discharging cycle of the battery module, and the battery management system may be configured to calculate a state of charge of the battery module by using linear charging and/or discharging characteristics of the battery module.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a battery pack and a state of charge (SOC) algorithm applied to the battery pack.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a secondary battery is a battery that is rechargeable and dischargeable, unlike a primary battery that may not be recharged. The secondary battery may be used as a single battery or may be used as a battery module that includes a plurality of batteries as a unit, according to a kind of an external device to which the battery is applied.

Battery pack having linear voltage profile, and SOC algorithm applying to the battery pack


The invention provides composition and methods for producing proteins of interest which comprise at least one disulfide bond, include proteins which in their mature form do not contain disulfide bonds, but whose precursor molecule contained at least one disulfide bond. The methods employ a host cell modified to more efficiently produce properly folded disulfide bond containing proteins. The host cells generally contain a mutation in one or more reductase genes, and can be further genetically modified to increase their growth rate, and are further optionally modified to increase the expression of a catalyst of disulfide bond formation. Host cells, methods for using such to produce proteins of interest, proteins of interest produced by these methods are within the scope of the invention.

Overexpression of many secreted proteins which are stabilized by disulfide bonds cannot be obtained by mere expression in bacterial host cells, due at least to the reducing cytoplasm of E. coli. Such proteins either become degraded or are found insoluble in so-called inclusion bodies. This problem is often addressed by alternative expression strategies such as export of the protein to the periplasm of E. coli or expression in another organism. These strategies are laborious, requiring the recloning of genes of interest in other vectors. In addition, certain proteins of particular interest, e.g., pharmacological interest, cannot currently be produced at high levels an in active form in bacteria.
The following is a summary of the current knowledge in the art regarding the synthesis of disulfide bond containing proteins. The fundamental discovery that a denatured protein, ribonuclease, could assemble correctly in the absence of any catalysts indicated that all the information for the proper folding of a protein was present in its primary amino acid sequence. Since disulfide bonds are necessary for the proper folding of ribonuclease, these experiments were also taken to mean that disulfide bond formation was independent of enzyme catalysts. Thus, it had been presumed that only the presence of oxygen (or small molecules such as oxidized glutathione) is needed in vivo for disulfide bond formation. This presumption appeared to explain the fact that proteins with structural disulfide bonds are only found in the more oxidizing non-cytosolic intracellular compartments or in the extracellular space. According to this view, disulfide bonds do not form in the cytosol simply because the reducing components such as glutathione and thioredoxins keep such bonds reduced.
The first modification of this view of disulfide bond formation and the basis for its compartmentalization came from the finding that disulfide bond formation in gram-negative bacteria does require the presence of a protein catalyst, DsbA (Bardwell, et al. (1991) Cell 67: 581; Kamitani, et al. (1992) EMBO J. 11: 57; Peek, et al. (1992) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89: 6210; Tomb, J. F. (1992) Proc Nail Acad Sci USA 89: 10252; Yu, et al. (1992) Mol. Microbiol. 6: 1949). This finding not only changed the picture of how disulfide bond formation takes place normally, but also raised questions about the basis for the absence of disulfide bonds in cytosolic proteins. Normally, the formation of stable disulfide bonds in the cytoplasm is an exceedingly rare event (Locker & Griffiths, (1999) J. Cell Biol. 144: 267). Transient disulfide bonds that are not required for the stability of the native state have been detected in a few cytoplasmic proteins that include enzymes such as ribonucleotide reductase, the transcription factors OxyR and RsrA, the Hsp33 chaperone, and in a partially folded intermediate of the P22 tailspike endorhamnosidase (Aslund, et al. (1999) Proc Nail Acad Sci USA 96: 6161; Robinson & King (1997) Nat. Struct. Biol. 4: 450; Kang, et al. (1999) EMBO J. 18: 4292 and Jakob et al. (1999) Cell 96:341). In general, the oxidation of cysteine thiols in cytoplasmic proteins is strongly disfavored for both thermodynamic and kinetic reasons. First of all, the thiol-disulfide redox potential of the cytoplasm is too low to provide a sufficient driving force for the formation of stable disulfides. Second, under physiological conditions, there are no enzymes that can catalyze protein thiol oxidation. The E. coli cytoplasm contains two thioredoxins, TrxA and TrxC, and three glutaredoxins (Rietsch & Beckwith (1998) Annu. Rev. Genet. 32: 163; Aslund & Beckwith (1999) J. Bacteriol. 181: 1375). The oxidized form of these proteins can catalyze the formation of disulfide bonds in peptides. However, in the cytosol both the thioredoxins and the glutaredoxins are maintained in a reduced state by the action of thioredoxin reductase (TrxB) and glutathione, respectively. In E. coli, glutathione is synthesized by the gshA and gshB gene products. The enzyme glutathione oxidoreductase, the product of the gor gene, is required to reduce oxidized glutathione and complete the catalytic cycle of the glutathione-glutaredoxin system.
In a trxB null mutant, stable disulfide bonds can form in normally secreted proteins, such as alkaline phosphatase, when they are expressed in the cytoplasm without a signal sequence. Subsequent studies revealed that in a trxB mutant, the two thioredoxins are oxidized and serve as catalysts for the formation of disulfide bonds (Stewart, et al. (1998) EMBO J. 17: 5543). Disulfide bond formation was found to be even more efficient in double mutants defective in both the thioredoxin (trxB) and glutathione (gor or gshA) pathways (Prinz, et al. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272: 15661). Double mutants, trxB gor or trxB gshA, grow very poorly (doubling time over 300 minutes) and require an exogenous reductant such as dithiothreitol (DTT) to achieve a reasonable growth rate.
In view of the numerous proteins of biotechnological and pharmaceutical interest, that are complex molecules containing multiple disulfide bonds, such as the tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), it would be highly desirable to have an efficient method of production of complicated proteins which retain their biological activity. In addition, since expression of recombinant proteins in bacteria is generally a method of choice, but that the formation of disulfide bonds in recombinant proteins expressed in bacteria has been very inefficient, it would be highly desirable to have a prokaryotic system, e.g., bacterial system that allows efficient expression of recombinant proteins containing multiple disulfide bonds. Such a method would be commercially important, at least in part, to produce therapeutics. For example, tPA, is a widely used therapeutic agent with sales exceeding $400 million per year. However, tPA is currently produced in mammalian cells which are costly to grow, resulting in very high price for the drug (well over $1,000 per dose). Cheaper methods of manufacturing therapeutic proteins would result in increased availability of the drug, to the benefit of many more patients.

Compositions and methods for production of disulfide bond containing proteins in host cells

President and Fellows of Harvard College

Board of Regents, University of Texas System


A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus acquires magnetic resonance signals by the PI method using an RF coil unit having basic coils serving as surface coils which are arrayed with at least two coils along a static magnetic field direction (Z direction) and and at least two coils along each of two orthogonal x, y directions. The coils are divided into an upper unit and a lower unit. The upper unit and lower unit are fixed by a band or the like to allow them to be mounted on an object to be examined. The signals detected by the respective surface coils are sent to a data processing system through independent receiver unit and formed into a magnetic resonance image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal detection RF coil which generates a magnetic resonance signal by applying RF pulses to an object to be examined in a static magnetic field and at the same time, acquires a magnetic resonance signal, and a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus which using the RF coil.
2. Description of the Related Art
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus is an apparatus which images the chemical and physical microscopic information of a substance by using a phenomenon in which when a group of nuclei having a unique magnetic moment is placed in a uniform static magnetic field, they resonantly absorb energy of an RF magnetic field that rotates at a specific frequency. Among recent techniques associated with such a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, a phased array technique is available, in which a plurality of surface coils are arranged with respect to a region of interest, and an image with a high S/N ratio is acquired by receiving a magnetic resonance signal.
For example, a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus is disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 4-42937, in which a plurality of surface coils (e.g., looped coils) are arranged in a desired region of an object to be examined which is to be imaged, and magnetic resonance signals from the object are detected through these surface coils, respectively. The detected magnetic resonance signals are converted into a plurality of series of image data by imaging processing. Data corresponding to the same spatial position are multiplied by predetermined weighting functions (function determined in advance on the basis of the distribution of RF magnetic fields generated by the respective surface coils), and the resultant data are added together. The respective pixel data obtained in this manner are combined to provide an image with a high S/N ratio of an overall desired region of the object.
A parallel imaging method (to be referred to as a "PI method" hereinafter) which is a high-speed imaging method using multiple surface coils is proposed in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Vol. 29, pp. 681 to 688 (1993) or Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Vol. 30, pp. 142 to 145 (1993). The contents of the former are also disclosed in "Rapid MRI using multiple receivers producing multiple phase-encoded data derived from a single NMR response" (U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,846). The phased array technique is also introduced as a noteworthy technique in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Vol. 42, pp. 952–962 (1999). According to the techniques disclosed in these references, when a plurality of surface coils are arranged around a region of interest, the data amount of raw MRI data in the encoding direction can be reduced by almost the reciprocal of the number of coils arrayed in the direction. Assume that a 256×256 matrix axial image is to be acquired. In this case, if the X and Y directions correspond to the reading and encoding directions, respectively, 256 data are generally sampled while a gradient field is applied in the X direction. This operation is repeated 256 times while the gradient filed pulse intensity in the Y direction is changed in predetermined steps, thereby obtaining 256×256 raw data. By performing a Fourier transform of the raw data, an axial image can be obtained. Assume that two surface coils are so arranged as to sandwich the patient in the vertical direction, and the PI method is used. In this case, even if the number of times data acquisition is done while the gradient field pulse intensity in the Y direction is changed in predetermined steps, a 256×256 matrix image can be reproduced properly.
In this manner, a data acquisition time T is reduced to 1/n, and the S/N ratio is reduced to 1/n1/2. By acquiring data using a plurality of surface coils with a high S/N ratio, a decrease in S/N ration due to a decrease in data acquisition time can be compensated for. In addition, if surface coils are arrayed in the x direction or Z direction (static magnetic field direction), the number of times of encoding can be decreased in accordance with the number of coils arrayed in encoding in the X or Z direction. This makes it possible to shorten the data acquisition time. That is, high-speed imaging can be done.
However, conventional magnetic resonance imaging apparatuses are not designed to arrange RF coils in the three directions, i.e., the X, Y, and Z directions, but are designed to arrange RF coils in the two directions, i.e., the X and Y directions or the Y and Z directions. When, therefore, an abdominal region is to be imaged by using the PI method, the number of times of encoding in the Z or X direction cannot be decreased. Furthermore, when a slice in an arbitrary direction (oblique imaging) is selected, the PI method is difficult to apply.

RF coil and magnetic resonance imaging apparatus


A control device of a motor-driven 4WD vehicle includes: a 42V alternator 2 driven by an engine 1 to generate 3-phase AC electricity of 42 volts; a rectifying circuit 14 which rectifies the 3-phase AC electricity generated by the 42V alternator 2 and which supplies DC electricity after rectification to a motor M1 which drives rear wheels; an inverter 3 which lowers the electricity generated by the 42V alternator 2 into 14 volts and which converts the lowered AC electricity into DC electricity; and a 14V battery E1 which is supplied with the electricity obtained by the inverter 3 and which is charged. With this configuration, a generator can function as both a motor generator for charging the 14V battery E1 and a motor generator for generating driving electricity of the motor M1, and the configuration of the device can be simplified.

The present invention relates to a control device and a control method for controlling a motor-driven 4WD vehicle in which front wheels or rear wheels are driven by an engine and the other wheels are driven by a motor.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 2002-152911 or No. 2002-200932, there is a known 4WD vehicle in which front wheels thereof are driven by a driving force generated by an engine, a motor is rotated by electricity generated by a generator which is rotated by the engine, and rear wheels of the vehicle are driven by a driving force generated by the motor.

Control device and control method of motor-driven 4WD vehicle


A system and method for managing a mobile file system cache to maximize data storage and reduce problems from cache full conditions. Cache management automatically determines when the space available in the cache falls below a user-specified threshold. The cache manager attempts to free space needed for caching the next object. Files are deleted from the cache if no server updates are pending and if such deletion will provide the needed space. If automatic deletion does not provide sufficient space, the user is prompted for action. The system user can control the cache by increasing or reducing its size and drive allocation and can explicitly evict clean files from the cache. Cache expansion can be to logical or physical storage devices different than those on which the original cache is stored. The system enables separate storage of temporary files allowing identification and deletion of such files.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the management of computer implemented file systems. In particular, the present invention relates to the management of caching in file systems for mobile users that routinely disconnect from a server file system.
2. Background and Related Art
Computer systems are used by companies and individuals to manage business and personal matters. The data manipulated by the computer user is stored in a file system resident on the user's computer or on a network server. Storing data on a network server has the advantage of making data available to other people in the company and of reducing the disk storage requirement on individual workstations. Portable computers with limited disk storage particularly benefit from network server storage.
Portable computers provide a computing solution for people who must travel as part of their job, who frequently take work home from their office, or, who for convenience, need to have portable computing solutions. These workers are frequently termed "mobile computer users" or simply "mobile users."
Mobile computing is greatly facilitated by systems and methods that allow the mobile users to connect to a network server and update shared files with the results of his or her work while disconnected. Early methods of resynchronization required the worker to manually copy and compare each file on which they had worked or thought they might have changed. Similarly, if network files had changed, the worker would have to check and copy those files to the portable computer. Newer methods include software programs that automatically compare and resynchronize a network and mobile computer. A specifically designed IBM Mobile File System, goes one step further providing tracking and resynchronization of files as part of a distributed file system function.
Mobile file systems have to support disconnections of clients from the servers to which they are normally connected. This support is provided by caching of files from the server to the client machine whenever a user accesses a file. Implicit caching is the process through which files the user is currently accessing are temporarily stored on the mobile device. The mobile user can then continue to access the files even when disconnected from the server. The user can update these cached files or create new ones. Any changes made to the cached files are logged by the file system and these files are flagged as `dirty`. These `dirty` files must remain in cache until the user reconnects to the server plays these changes back to the server. Mobile file system transaction logging is described in patent application Ser. No. 08/572,923, filed Dec. 15, 1995 entitled "Process and Article of Manufacture for Constructing and Optimizing Transaction Logs for Mobile File Systems."
Explicit caching occurs when the user specifies certain files are to be copied to the mobile machine for later use or update. The user can choose to cache files explicitly by creating a profile of files to be cached. Explicit caching is often called stashing, and is initiated by a user in anticipation of disconnection from the network server.
There is a limited amount of disk space available for caching on portable computers. This limit can be easily reached if the user caches a large number of files explicitly or implicitly while connected to the server. If the user is disconnected from the server for an extended period of time, he or she may completely fill the cache and reach a state where he or she is not able to create any new files or update existing ones. Files may exist that the user has completed working with, but to replace these `dirty` files in the cache, the user would need to first replay and synchronize the changes to the server. A mobile user may not have this option at the time the cache fills. The caching methodology for mobile users must solve the technical problem of managing the cache so a mobile user can continue using the file-system for extended periods of time even while disconnected. Adopting a standard cache replacement policy such as LRU (Least Recently Used) does not by itself meet the requirements of a mobile user since it does not consider the need to resynchronize files with a server. In addition, the caching mechanism must work in a computer system environment that does not reserve an exclusive, fixed size partition for the cache. The lack of a fixed size cache complicates cache management because it imposes a further limit on the amount of space that can used for caching, because the limited portable disk space also is being used for unrelated user and system activity.
File systems such as Coda, that support mobile users, cache files to support disconnections from the network. Coda assigns a priority to each entry in the cache. This priority is a function of an explicit priority specified by the user and an implicit reference priority. The reference priority of an object is based on the total number of references that have occurred since it was last referenced. Coda does not allow the user to explicitly evict cached data. Also, Coda assumes that a partition of fixed size is reserved for the cache. The size of this partition cannot be dynamically varied. See Satyanarayanan et al, "Coda: A Highly Available File System for a Distributed Workstation Environment", IEEE Transactions on Computers, Vol. 39, No.4, April 1990; Kistler and Satyanarayanan, "Disconnected Operation in the Coda File System", ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, February 1992; and Kistler, "Disconnected Operations in a Distributed File Systems", Ph.D. thesis, Department of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, May 1993.

System and method for cache management in mobile user file systems

International Business Machines Corporation


Dynamic resource allocation that provides differentiated services over a broadband communication network. The system comprises a gateway that interfaces to an Internet service provider or corporate network, a local area network edge device, a satellite that provides a communication link between the gateway and the local area network edge device, and one or more personal computers coupled by way of a network to the local area network edge device. The dynamic resource allocation system supports differentiated services with different levels of priority and comprises an Internet protocol network that includes a classifier for identifying specific types of messages, and a dynamic assignment/multiple access (DAMA) communication protocol for transmitting data over the system.

The present invention relates generally to satellite-based communication systems, and more particularly, to a dynamic resource allocation architecture or system that may be used to provide differentiated service over broadband communication networks.
The increasing demand for the high bandwidth usage over the Internet has positioned the broadband communication networks to play a significant role. User applications vary from time-critical data such as voice, to high bandwidth-sensitive applications such as Web services. Voice services require low packet transmission time whereas data applications require high bandwidth and data integrity. New Quality of Service (QoS) architectures must be developed and integrated with sophisticated resource allocation algorithms for broadband communication infrastructures, especially when bandwidth is oversubscribed.
The present invention relates to the efficient dynamic resource allocation and management for differentiated service (DS) users supported by broadband communication network infrastructures such as cable or satellite. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has been developing QoS architecture, which architecture was specified for QoS guaranteed technology in Internet Protocol (IP) networks. In addition, many resource allocation protocols have been proposed for specific set of user service, for example data requirements, but do not meet the broadband network multimedia user requirements. In particular, resource allocation technology developments do not meet the different service requirements. For example, resource allocation management systems supporting differentiated service over broadband multimedia satellite network environment do not exist.
It would be desirable to have systems that improve the bandwidth efficiency and provide the desired QoS for differentiated services over satellite networks with resource management using an onboard controller or ground-based control. It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide for a dynamic resource allocation architecture for supporting differentiated services over a network.

Dynamic resource allocation architecture for differentiated services over broadband communication networks


This relates to correcting the actual absolute capacitance values of electrodes of non-optimized geometric shapes that are connected to electronic circuits. To correct the actual absolute capacitance values, a prediction model can first be determined by carrying out nonlinear regression on the basis of actual values of absolute capacitance values from the electrodes and from a probability density image from idealized electrodes for a plurality of object positions. The prediction model can then be applied to the actual absolute capacitance values to obtain a probabilities densities image for the actual absolute capacitance values, considered to be corrected absolute capacitance values used for the detection of the object.

Communication and work devices are increasingly using a touch-sensitive control interface such as a pad or a screen. It is possible for example to mention mobile telephones, smartphones, computers with touch-sensitive screens, pads, PCs, mouse devices, touch pads, widescreens, etc.
A large number of these interfaces use capacitive technologies.
The touch-sensitive surface is equipped with conductive electrodes connected to electronic means which make it possible to measure the variation of the capacitances appearing between electrodes and the object to be detected in order to give a command.
The capacitive techniques currently used in touch-sensitive interfaces most often use two layers of conductive electrodes in the form of rows and columns. The most widely used geometric topology is that each row and each column is composed of rhombuses which are connected together in the vertical direction to form a column and in the horizontal direction to form a row.
Two operating modes can be produced using this geometric topology for detecting the presence of an object in front of the surface:
1. The electronics measure the coupling capacitances which exist between these rows and columns. When a finger is very close to the active surface, the coupling capacitances in the proximity of the finger are modified and the electronics can thus locate the position in 2D (XY), in the plane of the active surface. These technologies make it possible to detect the presence and the position of the finger through a dielectric. They have the advantage of allowing a very good resolution in the location of one or more fingers in the plane (XY) of the sensitive surface. These techniques have however the drawback of generating in principle large leakage capacitances at the level of the electrodes and of the electronics. These leakage capacitances can moreover drift over time due to ageing, the deformation of the materials or the effect of the variation of the environmental temperature. These variations can degrade the sensitivity of the electrodes, or can even trigger commands in an untimely manner. Another drawback of this technique is that the electric field generated between the rows and the columns remains especially concentrated around the surface and the change of coupling capacitance does take place only for objects very close to the surface, or even in contact. This limits this technique to touch and 2D use exclusively.
2. The electronics measure—for each row and each column of electrodes—the absolute capacitance which appears between the object and the electrode in question. The advantage of this method is that the electric field is radiated further from the surface, making it possible to measure objects which are located several centimetres above the screen. The drawback of this method is the limitation of detecting several objects because of a positional ambiguity of two objects, in fact if the X or Y coordinates of these objects are permuted, the capacitances measured will be identical. For a person skilled in the art, this phenomenon is known as "ghosting".
Techniques are also known that make it possible to measure the absolute capacitance which appears between electrodes and an object to be detected. For example, document FR 2 844 349 by Rozière is known, which discloses a capacitive proximity detector comprising a plurality of electrodes which will be independently excited and measured. This detector makes it possible to measure the absolute capacitance and the distance between the electrodes and the objects in the proximity.
These techniques make it possible to obtain measurements of capacitance between the electrodes and the objects with high resolution and high sensitivity. This makes it possible to detect for example a finger at a distance of several centimetres without ambiguity. The detection can be done in three-dimensional space (XYZ) but also on a surface, in a plane (XY). These techniques offer the possibility of developing truly contactless gestural interfaces and also make it possible to improve the performance of touch-sensitive interfaces.
In order to interpret the measurements easily, to detect the presence of an object reliably and to estimate its position accurately, the electrodes are ideally disposed regularly on the surface, which preferably results in disposing the electrodes in a configuration having identical rectangular geometry for all of the electrodes. The size of the electrodes is approximately identical to or smaller by about 50% than the size of the object to be detected. Typically, an electrode surface area ranging from 0.35 to 0.65 cm2 is well suited to an application of the human interface type, where the object to be detected is a human finger. This type of regular partitioning is well suited to interfaces of the virtual 2D/3D button type where the electrodes are etched on an electronic printed circuit board (PCB) and are supplied by a power supply which is located below the conductive surface layer.
However, because of the constraints related to the transparency of the surfaces in certain applications of the "smartphone" type, where the detection surface must allow the passage of a maximum amount of light coming from the display, the surface of the electrodes and its electrical connection to the electronic excitation and acquisition circuit are disposed on the same layer. The electrical connections make it possible to connect the electrodes located at the centre of the screen to the periphery of the screen and then these connections descend, if this is necessary, along the circumference of the screen. The connections on the circumference can be protected or not protected from the capacitive interference of the environment by covering them with an isolating surface and then by disposing a conductor nearby, known as a guard conductor, which is excited with the same electrical potential as that of the electrodes. If the tracks are "guarded", they are considered as non-measuring and are not considered as part of the capacitive measurements. In the opposite case, these tracks are an integral part of the measurement. The connections which connect the central electrodes to the periphery result in each individual measurement no longer being localized in a rectangular surface. It measures a response not only when the object is above the principal surface, but as soon as the object is in the proximity of the connection track which can be at a distance from the principal measuring surface.
However, the constraint of better transparency of the screen makes it necessary to dispose the electrodes and their connections on the same surface. This makes it possible to reduce the manufacturing cost. This simplification makes it possible to have great reliability by eliminating the inter-layer connection elements.

Method of capacitive measurement by non regular electrodes, and apparatus implementing such a method


A method and system for supply voltage regulation in a motor circuit protector (MCP) that includes a current transformer coupled to a rectifier and a stored energy circuit. A solenoid is actuated by that circuit when a sufficient voltage is present. A controller having a configurable input is coupled to the stored energy circuit. Upon startup of the motor circuit protector, the controller causes the stored energy circuit to be charged to a startup voltage level via secondary current from the current transformer. The controller periodically interrupts the charging to measure the secondary current to detect fault levels. During startup, the configurable input is set to a comparator input for rapid current measurements. During run mode, the configurable input is set to an A/D input for accurate measurements. The controller measures the voltage of the stored energy circuit while charging it to a power level sufficient to actuate the solenoid.

A fault-powered supply receives a fault current from a line conductor and powers electrical components from the fault current. An important electrical component of some circuit breakers is a solenoid, which must attain a predetermined voltage in order to energize an actuator that causes a trip mechanism of the circuit breaker to trip the circuit breaker. As is well known, a circuit breaker is an automatically operated electro-mechanical device designed to protect conductors from damage caused by an overload or a short circuit. Circuit breakers may also be utilized to protect loads. A circuit breaker may be tripped by an overload or short circuit, which causes an interruption of power to the load. A circuit breaker can be reset (either manually or automatically) to resume current flow to the load. One application of circuit breakers is to protect motors as part of a motor control center ("MCC"). A typical MCC includes a temperature triggered overload relay, a contactor and a motor circuit protector ("MCP"). The MCP is a specialized circuit breaker that provides instantaneous protection against instantaneous short-circuit events.
It is important to rapidly charge and maintain a sufficient voltage across the solenoid to cause a trip mechanism of the circuit breaker to trip when a trip event is detected. If the solenoid is not sufficiently powered or not powered rapidly enough, when a trip event needs to occur, a delay can be introduced. When transitioning between un-powered and powered modes of the circuit breaker, the voltage levels across the solenoid can be unpredictable, leading to nuisance trips such as when fault powered current falls below the lowest pickup threshold.
What is needed is a way to regulate voltage for a circuit protection device of a motor circuit protector. There is also a need for a voltage regulation module that provides rapid charging for energy storage for actuating a circuit breaker mechanism. There is also a need for a voltage regulation module that provides for accurate measurement of energy stored for actuating a circuit breaker mechanism.

Method and system of fault powered supply voltage regulation


A viscoelastic wellbore treatment fluid comprises an effective amount of an oligomeric surfactant for controlling the viscoelasticity of the fluid.

In the recovery of hydrocarbons, such as oil and gas, from natural hydrocarbon reservoirs, extensive use is made of wellbore treatment fluids such as drilling fluids, completion fluids, work over fluids, packer fluids, fracturing fluids, conformance or permeability control fluids and the like.
In many cases significant components of wellbore fluids are thickening agents, usually based on polymers or viscoelastic surfactants, which serve to control the viscosity of the fluids. Typical viscoelastic surfactants are N-erucyl-N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-N-methyl ammonium chloride and potassium oleate, solutions of which form gels when mixed with corresponding activators such as sodium salicylate and potassium chloride.
Conventional surfactant molecules are characterized by having one long hydrocarbon chain per surfactant headgroup. In the viscoelastic gelled state these molecules aggregate into worm-like micelles. Gel breakdown occurs rapidly when the fluid contacts hydrocarbons which cause the micelles to change structure or disband.
In practical terms the surfactants act as reversible thickening agents so that, on placement in subterranean reservoir formations, the viscosity of a wellbore fluid containing such a surfactant varies significantly between water- or hydrocarbon-bearing zones of the formations. In this way the fluid is able preferentially to penetrate hydrocarbon-bearing zones.
The application of viscoelastic surfactants in both non-foamed and foamed fluids used for fracturing subterranean formations has been described in several patents, e.g. EP-A-0835983, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,258,137, 5,551,516, 5,964,295 and 5,979,557.
The use of viscoelastic surfactants for water shut off treatments and for selective acidizing is discussed in GB-A-2332224 and Chang F. F., Love T., Affeld C. J., Blevins J. B., Thomas R. L. and Fu D. K., "Case study of a novel acid diversion technique in carbonate reservoirs", Society of Petroleum Engineers, 56529, (1999).
A problem associated with the use of viscoelastic surfactants is that stable oil-in-water emulsions can be formed between the low viscosity surfactant solution (i.e. broken gel) and the reservoir hydrocarbons. As a consequence, a clean separation of the two phases can be difficult to achieve, complicating clean up of wellbore fluids. A factor promoting emulsion formation is believed to be a reduction of the oil/water interfacial energy caused by a tendency for the surfactant molecules to collect at the water/oil interface.
The recovery of hydrocarbons, such as oil and gas, from a subterranean well formation can be impeded by scales obstructing the flow of hydrocarbons from hydrocarbon-bearing zones of the formation. Typical scales are barite (BaSO4) or calcite (CaCO3) and it is common practice to treat these by bull-heading an aqueous-based scale dissolver fluid through a well bore and into the formation.
For example, one conventional scale dissolver for barite scale consists of a concentrated solution of potassium carbonate, potassium hydroxide and the potassium salt of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), the corrosive and chelating nature of the solution being effective in removing scale. Carbonate scales may be dissolved using simple mineral acids, such as HCl.
However, hydrocarbon-producing wells often contain zones that are watered-out, producing only, or very largely, water. If the scale dissolver enters these zones, scale may also be removed therefrom. This can lead to an undesirable increase in the water cut of the fluid produced by the well.
Dimer surfactants have found some application in fluids used in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons. B. A. M. Oude Alink, "Fatty acids in oil field chemicals" in Fatty Acids in Industry, eds. R. W. Johnson and E. Fritz, pp. 407-429, Marcel Dekker, New York, (1989) and Henkel Corporation Chemicals Group, Abstracts of Dimer Acid Use-Patents and Journal References, Vol. 1, Technical Bulletin 109A, 1968 review the use of dimer oleic acids in the production of corrosion inhibitors, lubricants for water-based drilling fluids and emulsifying surfactants for invert emulsion oil-based drilling fluids. U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,779 describes the use of (apparently calcium salts of) oleic acid dimers to control the viscosity of water-in-oil spacer fluids. U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,700 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,618 describe the use of a dimer of an alphaolefin sulphonate surfactant to form a foam steam drive injection fluid for hydrocarbon discovery.


An exception stack information acquisition method, including: when a preset exception signal is sensed in a running process of a project, calling and executing an exception signal processing function to acquire first exception stack information of a native layer; reading second exception stack information recorded by an Application (APP) layer when the exception signal is sensed; and assembling the first exception stack information and the second exception stack information to obtain assembled information, then reporting the assembled information to a server, and aborting the project after reporting is completed.

At present, in case of an Application (APP) exception in the program design, a user in the process of using the APP may encounter the crash and flashback of the APP caused by a running exception of the APP, which results in the failure of the normal use of the APP. Therefore, for an APP developer, it is necessary to acquire exception stack information generated at the time of APP program exception and timely locate and analyze an exception code in the APP program.
An existing manner for acquiring exception stack information is usually to locally acquire and upload the exception stack information when a program is restarted after the exception and crash of APP program occur. However, such a processing manner has some defects. If a user does not restart the APP after the exception and crash of the APP program, it is impossible to implement uploading.

Exception stack information acquisition method and device and computer-readable storage medium


An apparatus and a method for exchanging information about tonal values and calorimetric values between a prepress stage, a printing stage and a quality control stage are provided. The apparatus and the method create characteristic curves which are used to optimize a process calibration and a color calibration.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for creating color-calibration characteristic curves and/or process-calibration characteristic curves in a printing system.
In the course of the automation of printing systems, the cooperation between the prepress stage, the printing stage and the quality control stage of modern plants has continuously increased. For this reason, for some time the printing industry has been working to create, in consultation with the various manufacturers of systems which produce both the prepress stage and the printing stage and the associated quality equipment, the standards necessary for this purpose. These standards are intended to ensure that defined interfaces from one unit to the other units located in the processing chain are set up. This has the result that, firstly, the quality requirements on the various units and also on the printed product can be better described and also checked by using the quality features, and, secondly, that it is possible for the components from various manufacturers to be incorporated into the process or to be replaced as appropriate. The technical term used for this is "Cooperation for Integration of Prepress, Press and Post Press" (CIP3).
In this context, it is necessary to perform a so-called process calibration, wherein this procedure currently requires the following steps:    1) Selection of a color management test form, such as IT-8.7, this test form being produced by the prepress stage.    2) Calculation of the color separation data for the printing machine to be calibrated by using a RIP (Raster Image Processor).    3) Exposure of the test form onto the printing plates.    4) Printing of the test form with the printing machine to be calibrated.    5) Measurement of the paper sheet through the use of a suitable measuring instrument.    6) Evaluation of the measured values by using a color management program. This color management program knows the initial data (desired values) for the various test fields of the test form, these data being for example present as LAB values (LAB, L—Lightness, A—redness-greenness, B—blueness-yellowness).    7) Comparison of these initial data with the measured values and determination of a new characteristic curve for the printing process.    8) Supplying the characteristic curves to the prepress stage in order to achieve better results in the future, that is to say results lying closer to the original.
These test forms (IT-8.7) contain almost 1000 different measurement areas, which contain all the possible combinations of printing color rasters and from which it is possible to gather which LAB value produces a specific raster combination in the print. This procedure (steps 1-8) is very complicated, time-consuming and costly and has to be repeated at periodic intervals.
In this context, for a long time it has also been the intention in the printing industry to incorporate the image inspection into the printing process. In addition to the print control strips which are standardized for specific systems and which, outside the printed image, have color information defined in accordance with a strict stipulation, which is then registered by an optical scanning instrument and makes a statement relating to the quality of the printed product, there are systems which take the color information directly from the printed image. European Patent No. EP 0 741 027 B1 relates to a method of localizing errors in the printed image within an extremely short time. For this purpose, through the use of an image registration device, actual image data from the printed product are supplied and, through the use of a comparison circuit, are compared with desired image data from a fault-free subject. The registered printed image is reproduced on a monitor and a faulty inspection area in the printed image, which is reproduced on the monitor, is identified by an overlay frame. The result of the inspection that has been derived from the image detail displayed on the monitor is read into a storage cell of a memory.

Apparatus and method for creating color-calibration characteristic curves and/or process-calibration characteristic curves


The invention discloses a preparation method of a WC cemented carbide with adjustable alignment of plate-shape grains. According to the theoretical composition of the cemented carbide, the weighed W powder is composed of two raw W materials with significantly different particle sizes in a certain mass ratio. Also graphite powder and Co powder are weighed. W—C—Co powder is subjected to planetary ball milling with controlled process parameters; then, after plasma-assisted ball milling, W—C—Co composite powder composed of small-sized lamellar W sheets and large-sized lamellar W sheet is obtained; Finally dense cemented carbide containing plate-shape WC grains is obtained by press molding of the ball milled power and in-situ carbonization through sintering at a high temperature. The invention not only provides simple preparation process with low energy consumption, but also can regulate the degree of orientated alignment of the plate-shape WC in the sintered block. Besides, the mechanical properties of the WC—Co cemented carbide containing plate-shape WC grains are optimized, so that the cemented carbide has excellent overall mechanical properties.

As a hard material with high hardness and excellent wear resistance, WC—Co cemented carbide is widely used in the fields of machining and mining, and is known as "industrial teeth". However, traditional WC—Co cemented carbide is a cermet material, whose hardness and strength, that is, wear resistance and toughness (crack resistance) are two contradictory characteristics. When the hardness is increased, the toughness of the material is usually sacrificed, and vice versa, which limits the further development of cemented carbides. Therefore, development of cemented carbides with high hardness, high strength, high toughness and with other good mechanical properties has become the focus of cemented caride research. Based this situation, many preparation methods for nano/ultrafine crystal WC, twin crystal structure WC, cobalt gradient functional cemented carbide and the like with good hardness, strength and toughness have been well developed.
The WC crystal has a close-packed hexagonal structure. As a hexagonal anisotropic crystal, the hardness of the (0001) crystal plane is higher than that of other crystal planes. However, the WC grains in the conventional WC—Co cemented carbide are mostly triangular or polygonal prism-like bodies. If the (0001) plane of the triangular or polygonal prism-like bodies is preferentially grown, it can be transformed into plate-shape WC grains. And as the proportion of the (0001) plane increases, the overall hardness and toughness of the cemented carbide are improved. Therefore, cemented carbide containing plate-shape WC grains has better comprehensive mechanical properties than conventional cemented carbides, and has unique advantages in practical applications. It is a new development direction in the field of cemented carbides.
At present, the raw materials used for preparing the plate-shape WC generally includes the following three types: elemental W powder, WC powder and WxCoyC powder. The common feature of these methods is that in the preliminary stage of preparing the plate-shape WC, precursors that can be transformed to plate-shape WC during the subsequent sintering process (specially treated W, WC, WxCoyC, etc.) are preferentially prepared.
A research indicates that micron-sized W powder with special treatment is used, and W is converted into a plate-shape body to prepare a cemented carbide containing plate-shape WC grains. However, a disadvantage of this type of method is that the content of the plate-shape W is low, and it is necessary to increase the sintering temperature and prolong the sintering time to obtain plate-shape WC. For this method, the yield of the plate-shape WC is low, it is difficult to achieve regulate the proportion of the plate-shape WC, and the preparation is time consuming with complicated process and high energy consumption.
Preparation methods of a cemented carbide containing (bulk) plate-shape WC grains is disclosed in Chinese patent CN101117673A and CN101376931A. In these methods, high-energy ball milling is used to prepare a mixture of plate-shape WC seed crystals and Co, and subsequently a mixed crystal structure composed of plate-shape WC and conventional WC grains is obtained by hot-pressing and sintering. However, since the length of plate-shape structure is usually 3-8 μm, the size of the plate-shape WC crystal grains is so large that it is disadvantageous for strengthening of the cemented carbide. And the (0001) plane of the plate-shape WC is preferable to grow perpendicularly to the pressing force, resulting in anisotropy of the mechanical properties of the cemented carbide.
Chinese patent CN1068067C discloses "cemented carbide containing plate-shape crystalline WC and the preparation method thereof", which adopts a two-step process, that is, first prepares plate-shape crystalline WC powder containing Co3W3C, Co6W6C, etc., and then the powder is used with carbon source to prepare a cemented carbide containing plate-shape crystalline WC. However, this method has poor process stability.
Although the above method can well prepare the plate-shape WC, the processes are complicated with long production cycle and high energy consumption. Also, the alignment and orientation of the plate-shape WC in the cemented carbide are not well regulated. The relationship between the alignment of the plate-shape WC grains and the mechanical properties of the cemented carbide usually has the two following possibilities: (1) When the plate-shape WC is disorderly aligned in the cemented carbide, the mechanical properties of the cemented carbide have good uniformity, but they are still poor relative to oriented alignment; (2) When the plate-shape WC is highly oriented, although the cemented carbide has excellent properties in the part with more WC (0001) crystal planes, the performance of other parts is relatively poor due to anisotropy of WC, which is not conducive to the mechanical properties of the cemented carbide in actual working conditions. It can be seen that it is important to seek a preparation method of plate-shape WC cemented carbide with low energy consumption, short production cycle, available to prepare high-content plate-shape WC grains, and control the orientation of the alignment of the plate-shape WC grains while ensuring good hardness and uniform mechanical properties of the cemented carbide.

Preparation method of a WC cemented carbide with adjustable alignment of plate-shape grains


A micro-fluid ejection head has an ejection chip to expel fluid. It connects to a laminate construct. The construct has vertically configured wiring layers interspersed with non-conductive layers, such as carbon fiber layers. An upper of the wiring layers electrically connects to the ejection chip. The upper layer may also support a planar undersurface of the chip directly on a surface or in a recessed pocket. The two can connect with a die bond, such as one having silica or boron nitride. Fluid connections exist between ink feed slots of the chip and the laminate construct. A silicon tile or other material may also fluidly interconnect with the two. A plastic manifold optionally supports the laminate construct and may fluidly connect to it. The wiring layers of the laminate contemplate ground, power, and various bond pads. Other construct layers contemplate prepreg or core FR4 layers.

The art of printing images with micro-fluid technology is relatively well known. A conventional permanent or semi-permanent ejection head has access to a local or remote supply of fluid. The fluid ejects from an ejection zone of the head to a print media in a pattern corresponding to pixels of images being printed. Over time, the heads and fluid drops have become smaller.
As part of recent trends, manufacturers increasingly have placed their inkjet ejection chips on ceramic substrates. Ceramics are relatively high modulus materials offering low coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs). They are known to minimize chip bow in comparison to dies mounted directly on molded plastic substrates, especially when using epoxy die bond materials having elevated cure temperatures (typically in the range 110.degree.-150.degree.C.). In multi-chip, wide-swath ejection heads, ceramics provide benefit during thermal processing steps subsequent to preliminary die-to-substrate attachment, such as by maintaining a die's relative position during encapsulation cure, printed circuit board (PCB) attachment cure, wire bonding, etc.
Notwithstanding these advantages, ceramics have known drawbacks. One, manufacturers need to set dimensional tolerances fairly high since ceramics shrink during firing processes. As it stands, placement accuracies are compromised for fluid (ink) vias and bridges and their locations relative to each other and to components residing near terminal edges. Dry-pressed ceramics have typical tolerances of +/−200 .mu.m while those from more expensive ceramic injection molding (CIM) processes are smaller. Two, ceramics based in alumina have limited thermal conductivity and most do not incorporate any electrical functionality unless founded in tape cast varieties, such as HTCC (94-98% alumina) and LTCC (.about.40% glass in alumina). Tape cast varieties, however, are relatively expensive to fabricate and each comes with challenges in selecting compatibility relative to other materials. For instance, one grade of LTCC material examined by the inventors caused ink to flocculate, while selected HTCC materials required correspondingly low-conductivity trace (metal) materials, such as tungsten, when utilized in high-temperature firing environments. Three, there exists a practical limitation in the sizes of substrates that can be fabricated due to corresponding limitations in the sizes of modern presses. Naturally, this creates problems for manufacturers seeking to increase dimensions in printing swaths and chip arrays.
With reference to FIG. 1A, an ejection head 10 is formed with a PCB 12 and flexible cable 14. The PCB embodies a four wiring layer board and mounts on a ceramic substrate 16. The board provides electrical connections to ejection chips that reside in cutout "pockets" 18. The design adds electrical functionality over earlier, single layer TAB circuit, flexible circuit, solutions due to its presence of ground and power planes in the four wiring layers and an ability to combine and cross signal lines. When the PCB is configured with a material set of FR4 (the international grade designation for "Flame Retardant" (FR) fiberglass reinforced epoxy laminates), the design has further advantage in its compatibility with certain ink sets. However, there remains limits and unresolved process challenges as will be seen.
For example, a depth of the pocket 18 cannot be thicker than the chip it carries or material of the board will encroach into a paper gap distance of the ejection device. Also, the thickness of the PCB is best situated to remain .about.100 um lower than the chip surface to help minimize wire bond loop heights above the head's nozzle plate. However, a chip thickness of 450 .mu.m limits the thickness of the board to no more than 350 .mu.m (.about.14 mils) (e.g., 450 .mu.m-100 .mu.m). In a four (4) wiring layer board (e.g., wire bond pads on top, internal power and ground planes, routing interconnections and solder pads for flexible cable interconnect on bottom), this keeps the thickness of the board critically close to a minimum thickness of a board that can be made. It also limits the space to add a protective FR4 layer to the bottom of the board, such as over trace areas so that the only exposed metal on the bottom is for flexible cable attachment pads. By allowing a thicker die, on the other hand, the board thickness can increase but at an adverse cost to the substrate of poorer thermal dissipation.
In other setbacks, current corrosion protection for wiring traces is provided by an adhesive that attaches the board 12 to the ceramic substrate 16. However, since the boards are thin and flexible, they tend to warp after fabrication. This not only presents challenges for attaching the board to the ceramic, but compromises corrosion protection for the traces. Still other problems associated with board-to-ceramic attachment include: 1) squeezing epoxy excesses into the chip pocket causing, thereby interfering with later die mounting or contributing to volume variability in the pocket and making encapsulation heights unpredictable; or 2) creating interfacial voids that allow ink to access the delicate wiring traces on the bottom of the board.
Alignment or registration between the board and ceramic has also resulted in manufacturing concerns. One, the board warping makes it difficult to properly register components. Two, routing tolerances on the board provide little room to adjust components. Three, vision system pick-and-place fixtures require holding one piece steady while attaching the other with adhesive. As ejection heads move beyond single- or double-chip heads to larger arrays, the weight of now larger ceramics becomes problematic for smaller pick-and-place tools. Then, once placed, the board and ceramic must be fast-tacked during a preliminary cure step for transfer to a more permanent cure. However, UV curing lamps and other gluing fixtures are difficult to incorporate into standard tooling. Also, selections of compatible tack-and-hold and permanent bonding adhesives need be contemplated when making tooling selections. While none of the problems are individually insurmountable, a need exists in the art to simplify the process.
As part of solutions to the foregoing problems, third parties have introduced various epoxy based PCB's. They are thought to provide electrical functionality in low cost manufacturing items. They also sidestep many of the ceramic limitations noted above. Some have even been used as substrates for micro-fluidic applications. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,821,819 proposes using a PCB as a substrate and fluidic manifold for a microfluidic device chip like a biosensor, chemical sensor, or other electro microfluidic device. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,347,533, a piezoelectric inkjet printhead is constructed from a PCB material with driver chips affixed to the board. Neither of these, however, concern themselves with the challenges associated with precision methods needed to attach silicon inkjet chips to PCB materials. Rather, they relate to using conventional PCB material sets, which are insufficient for modern concerns.
When ejection head designs use a thermally cured adhesive, chip bow is affected by the modulus, CTE and thickness of the die, substrate, and adhesive together with the glass transition temperatures of these materials and the delta T between cure temperature and ambient. Using high Tg substrates with low CTEs are the better product for less stress on the die. Typical FR4 PCB materials, however, have CTEs of .about.16-20 ppm/.degree.C. and represent poor substrates for attachment to silicon chips having CTEs of 2-4 ppm/.degree.C. While ceramic materials with CTEs of 6-8 ppm/.degree.C. are a better match, they suffer the problems identified above. Also, standard FR4 based circuit boards may not provide enough rigidity/stiffness for micro-fluid applications. In turn, mounting a board assembly to a printhead body can induce significant stresses that may translate into deformation where the die interfaces with the FR4 substrate. Further, thermal conductivities of standard FR4 materials are very low when compared to ceramic (0.3-0.4 W/mK vs. .about.25 W/mK), and this could prove challenging for dissipating heat generated during printing.
In other modern designs, page-wide ejection heads are contemplated having arrays of very narrow ejection chips (<2 mm). Each chip includes multiple minute through holes feeding ink to each firing chamber instead of a single large via feeding ink. In comparison to larger conventional chips, the design enjoys more efficient use of silicon since large "real estate" need not be consumed by structurally supporting the large via or providing fluidic channels to each firing chamber. Instead, fluidic channels are confined to manifolds above and/or below the layers of patterned silicon on the chip. For one of many competing proposals on how best to construct the manifold, see, e.g., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/624,078, filed Nov. 23, 2009, incorporated herein by reference.
With reference to FIG. 4, an initial concept is seen for establishing fluidic and electrical interconnections in the '078 application. It includes an ejection chip and fluid manifold (silicon) 20. The ejection chip and manifold may be fabricated in a single piece of silicon or they may be separate pieces of silicon bonded in a laminar construct. The fluid manifold portion of this construct consists of fluid channels running the long axis of the chip, typically one per color of ink or per row of nozzles. The chip wire bonds 22 electrically to a printed circuit board 24. The board connects to a flexible circuit 26 which connects to printer electronics (not shown). Fluidically, the manifold communicates with a tile 28. The tile is silicon-based (absent thin film patterned layers) and has a thickness of about 400-600 .mu.m. Its manufacturing and interface to the manifold is more thoroughly described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/568,739, filed Sep. 29, 2009, and such is also incorporated herein by reference. In general, however, the tile has ports on its top that fluidly mate with slots on the bottom of the manifold. It also has lateral channels at its bottom (orthogonal to the long axis of the ejection chip) that fluidly connect in stagger to through holes in a rigid substrate 30 (e.g. ceramic base). The substrate, in turn, provides both mechanical support and rigidity to the overall assembly. Ultimately, the goal of the fluidic arrangement is to fan-out the fluidic channels downward from the chip and condense them into a single port connection for each color. However, the design needs a "large enough" separation/seal distance so that a fluidic feed tube or plastic housing can be easily connected with a compliant rubber gasket or a needle-dispensed liquid adhesive. For adhesives typically used in micro-fluidic connections, the minimum achievable seal distances with needle dispense, without having either leaks, and crosstalk, between colors or excessive adhesive "squeeze-out" causing blockages in fluidic paths has been established as approximately 500 .mu.m of "land area" between adjacent fluidic features. Unfortunately, the printed circuit board 24 and ceramic base substrate 30 cause the design to encounter much of the same problems earlier described.
Accordingly, a further need exists in the art to accommodate pluralities of components in ejection heads having diverse functionality. Additional benefits and alternatives are also sought when devising solutions.

Laminate constructs for micro-fluid ejection devices


A novel network architecture that integrates the functions of an internet protocol (IP) router into a network processing unit (NPU) that resides in a host computer's chipset such that the host computer's resources are perceived as separate network appliances. The NPU appears logically separate from the host computer even though, in one embodiment, it is sharing the same chip.

The present invention relates to a novel network architecture. More specifically, the present invention integrates the functions of an internet protocol (IP) router into a network processing unit that resides in a host computer's chipset such that the host computer's resources are perceived as separate network appliances.
FIG. 1 illustrates traditional internal content sources and data pipes where the data routing function is performed by a host central processing unit (CPU) and its operating system (OS) 110. Namely, the host computer may comprise a number of storage devices 120, a plurality of media engines 130, and a plurality of other devices that are accessible via input/output ports 140, e.g., universal serial bus (USB) and the like. In turn, the host computer may access a network 150 via application programming interfaces (APIs) and a media access controller (MAC).
However, a significant drawback of this data routing architecture is that the host computer's resources or devices are only accessible with the involvement of the host CPU/OS. Typically, accessing the host resources from external computers is either prohibited or it is necessary to request access through the host computer using high-level protocols. If the host CPU/OS is overtaxed, a substantial latency will exist where data flow may be stuck in the OS stacks.
Therefore, a need exists for a novel network architecture that allows a host computer's resources to be perceived as separate network appliances and are accessible without the interference of the host computer's CPU/OS.

Method and apparatus for providing an integrated network of processors


A knotter system for a baler includes a needle and a tucker arm for delivering a needle twine and tucker twine respectively, a twine receiver for holding the needle and the tucker twine, a billhook assembly including a billhook with a lower and an upper lip being mounted rotatably around an axis and being arranged for receiving the needle and the tucker twine, a twine finger for guiding the twine. Further, a driver is foreseen to make the billhook perform a first full rotation during the first knot forming cycle and a second full rotation during the second knot forming cycle. The knotter system is configured such that, at the end of the second knot forming cycle, a bale movement of a bale in the baler exerts a pulling force on the twines which removes the twines from the billhook.

Rectangular bales are able to maintain their shape by means of a series of parallel extending twine loops, provided lengthwise around the bales. Balers may use automatic knotters to create two knots on every twine loop for binding a bale. An example of such a knotter system for a baler is disclosed in US 2006/0012176 in the name of the Applicant, the disclosure of which is included herein by reference. The knotter system disclosed in US 2006/0012176 has the advantage that two consecutive knots can be formed during one operation cycle, without the formation of twine tails. Similar improved knotter systems are disclosed in patent applications in the name of the Applicant with publications numbers WO2015/014616 and WO2014/060245, the disclosure of which is included herein by reference.
By forming the second knot without the formation of twine tails, more twine is incorporated in the second knot and a loopknot is created on the billhook. It has been noticed that a second knot formed in this manner cannot be easily removed from the billhook.


An amplified sound system wherein a microphone is maintained at a desired acoustic zone in front of a speaker for enhancing performance in receiving sound emanated from said speaker. The system comprises a speaker cabinet containing at least one speaker, a microphone mount and a microphone for receiving sound emanated from said speaker. The microphone mount has an elongated support member for supporting said microphone at a desired spacial distance in front of the speaker. The support member has a first end attached to the speaker cabinet, and a second end on which the microphone is carried so that the microphone is positioned in a desired acoustic zone for collecting sound emanated from said speaker.

This invention is directed to a speaker cabinet with a microphone mount, more specifically, to a mount for securing a microphone to a speaker cabinet so that the microphone is held in front of a speaker""s desired acoustic zone, advantageously, to capture the optimum sound emanated from the speaker.
Since the advent of sound amplification, musicians have been using amplifiers and speakers in order to project their performances to greater areas. The public address (P.A.) system has been instrumental in providing this functionality. Using the P.A. system for performances, a mixing board controls the audio signal inputted to the amplifiers, as well as the signals outputted to the speakers. For amplified instruments, such as electric guitars or other electric instruments, there is considerable difficulty in capturing the sound from a guitar amp to be inputted into a P.A. system. Usually, a guitar amplifier will have at least one speaker housed in a speaker cabinet which provides the audio signal originating from the electric instrument. Typically, a microphone is placed on the floor in front of the speaker in order to capture the audio signal to be inputted into the P.A. system. In order to achieve the best audio signal, the microphone must be placed in the xe2x80x9ccubexe2x80x9d or desired acoustic zone. The xe2x80x9ccubexe2x80x9d is a three dimensional area of approximately one cubic inch at a point in front of the speaker housed in the speaker cabinet.
Prior to the present invention, a microphone was placed on a short stand for amplifiers whose speakers were just inches off the floor or longer stands for higher speakers. A microphone was held, unconnected to the speaker cabinet, so the head of the mike was within the xe2x80x9ccube.xe2x80x9d However, either movement of the stand or movement of the speaker cabinet would remove the microphone from the cube and the audio signal from the speaker would not be applicably captured. Additionally, it is typical for a performance hall or stage to have a raised floor for the performers. Vibrations ranging from the direct output of the various instruments and the P.A. tends to travel up the stand holding the microphone and create a harmonic feedback which produces a very disturbing tone. Clearly, the familiar xe2x80x9csquealxe2x80x9d of a P.A. is not a desired sound. Placement of the microphone in relation to the speaker affects the sound captured. For example, the further the microphone from the sound source, the more extraneous sounds are captured. Two microphones within proximity of the same source can cause phase cancellation resulting in volume and tone levels periodically dropping when inputted to the P.A. Close proximity of the microphone to a solid surface can increase this response and xe2x80x9cboominessxe2x80x9d can be reduced by placement of the microphone off the axis of the speaker 90xc2x0 to 45xc2x0 or varying the microphone from the center of the speaker to the edge. Therefore, maintaining the placement of a microphone in front of a speaker cabinet in a predetermined location throughout a performance, to the received optimal sound from the speaker without creating harmonic resonance, is a problem for which much attention should be directed.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide an amplified sound system wherein a microphone is maintained in an optimum position relative to a speaker for enhanced performance in receiving sound emanated from the speaker.
Another object of this invention is to provide a microphone mount for securing a microphone in a predetermined position relative to a speaker which is unaffected by direct acoustic vibration, or harmonic resonance that may propagate through the floor or base of a microphone stand.
Another object of this invention is to provide for a microphone mount which can consistently position a microphone in a predetermined location relative to a speaker, regardless of the number of times the microphone is attached and removed from the microphone mount or the mount removed from the speaker or speaker cabinet.
The above objectives are accomplished according to the present invention by providing an amplified sound system wherein a microphone is maintained at a desired acoustic zone in front of a speaker for enhancing performance in receiving sound emanated from a speaker. The system comprises a speaker cabinet containing at least one speaker, a microphone mount secured to the speaker cabinet, and a microphone for receiving sound emanated from the speaker. The microphone mount has a distal end positioned a desired spacial distance from the speaker. The microphone is carried by the distal end of the microphone mount so that the microphone is positioned in an optimum acoustic zone for collecting sound emanated from the speaker.
The microphone mount includes an elongated support member having a first end carried by the speaker cabinet and a second end for retaining the microphone. The microphone mount and elongated support member are constructed and arranged to provide an adjustable mount for carrying the microphone so that the microphone may be adjusted to a desired spacial distance from said speaker. In one embodiment of the invention, the elongated support member includes first and second elements which adjust longitudinally along the axis of the support member to adjustably mount the microphone to the speaker cabinet at a desired spacial distance from the speaker.
In alternative embodiment, the elongated support member includes a first arm and a second arm. The second arm is slidably carried with respect to the first arm. The second arm extends outward from within the first arm. A locking member can also be provided for locking the second arm in place so that the second arm may telescope to a desired length to accommodate different speaker sizes and make tuning adjustments to the microphone.
Additionally, the elongated support member may include at least one pivot connection carried by the elongated support member pivotally connecting the elongated support member to the speaker cabinet to adjust the position of the support member. A retaining bracket is also carried near the distal end of the elongated support member for retaining the microphone. The retaining bracket can include a swivel connector pivotally connecting the bracket to the elongated support member so that the angle and position of said mount in relation to said speaker may be adjusted to accommodate various speaker sizes and make tuning adjustments to said microphone.
Many speaker cabinets contain a plurality of speakers. A crossbar can be carried by the distal end of the elongated support member which extends horizontally across the front of a speaker cabinet. The crossbar allows for a plurality of microphone retaining brackets to be secured to the crossbar to mount a plurality of microphones in front of the speaker cabinet for a single speaker, or for each speaker contained in the speaker cabinet.
The microphone mount further includes an attachment member securing the mount to the speaker cabinet. The attachment member comprises a generally U-shaped frame with a first leg and second leg. A front rim of the speaker cabinet is received between the first and second legs. A securing member carried by one of the legs is provided for securing the U-shaped frame to the rim. The first leg has a length greater than the second leg which defines an extended portion greater than the length of the second leg and extends generally parallel to the rim of the speaker cabinet. The extended portion carries the securing member. An opening is defined within the extended portion of the first leg for receiving the securing member. The securing member including an operator being operable between a first secured position and a second unsecured position so that the attachment member may be removably secured to the rim of the speaker cabinet and repositioned at any desired location on the rim of the speaker cabinet.
The U-shaped frame further includes an angled surface disposed on the outer edge of the frame. The microphone mount is carried by the angled surface.
In an alternative embodiment, the attachment member comprises a plate with several holes for receiving securing members allowing the plate to be affixed to speaker cabinet.
Additionally, an alternative method of attaching the microphone mount to the speaker cabinet uses a securing bracket to receive and hold the attachment member. In this embodiment, the securing bracket is mounted to the side of the speaker cabinet. The securing bracket has a receiving slot on the side of the speaker cabinet for receiving the attachment member. The slot is formed between the outside of the speaker cabinet and the inside of the securing bracket. The first leg of the attachment member is inserted into the slot to attach the microphone mount.
In an alternative embodiment for the securing bracket, the securing bracket is formed with an open T-slot for receiving a male engaging member carried by the distal end of a leg on the attachment member. The securing bracket is secured to the side of the speaker cabinet with the T-slot open to the outside of the speaker cabinet. The male engaging member slides down into the T-slot to holds the microphone mount in the desired position.
The present invention also provides a method for positioning and securing a microphone at a desired acoustic zone in front of a speaker for enhancing performance in receiving sound emanated from the speaker. The method comprises the steps of positioning a speaker cabinet with at least one speaker at a desired location, placing a microphone in the retaining bracket of the microphone mount, selecting the placement of the microphone on the speaker cabinet so that the microphone is positioned at the desired acoustic zone of the speaker and secured in this position for collecting sound emanated from said speaker. The microphone mount is secured in the selected position by turning the securing member which tightens the mount to the speaker cabinet so that the position of the microphone becomes fixed and maintained at the desired acoustic zone in front of the speaker, even when the speaker cabinet is repositioned or knocked out of place.
Also, multiple microphone mounts can be attached to secure additional microphones to the speaker cabinet. In certain instances, multiple microphones may be used to collect sound from a single speaker, or multiple microphones can be sued to collect sound from a speaker cabinet with multiple speakers.
In one of the alternative embodiments, the support member may be telescoped to an appropriate length for a given speaker size to accurately adjust the position of the microphone to the desired acoustic zone of the speaker. Also, the angle of the support member and engaging member can be adjusted in relation to the face of the speaker to accurately position the microphone within the desired acoustic zone for various speaker sizes or tune the microphone for a desired sound.


A multimedia enhancement for an amusement device includes a sound synthesizer for creating a user perceptible signal, such as an audio signal, in response to selective actuation of the controls of the amusement device. The amusement device includes a screen for displaying a viewer perceptible image and a pair of rotary control knobs operatively associated with rotary switches and a selectably actuable on-off switch to provide amusing sounds and feedback indicative of the operator's use of the control knobs. The sound synthesizer is programmed to also create one of a series of sounds from a plurality of families of sounds in a predetermined sequence in response to actuation of the control elements by the user or randomly.

Amusement devices, such as drawing devices for use generally by children of the type contemplated by the present invention have been developed, such as the tracing device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,505 assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Generally speaking, prior art drawing devices included a fluid-tight compartment having a transparent upper surface. The transparent surface is preferably made of glass to avoid scratching by a below mounted, user controllable stylus. The fluid-tight container is filled with a fluid or fine powder, such as a fine metallic powder, which will be attracted to and coat the inner surface of the transparent plate rendering it opaque. A pulley and rod mechanism mounts a stylus for contact with the inside surface of the transparent plate so that movement of the stylus by the operator causes a dislocation of the fluid on the inner surface of the plate, which is visible to the user to form a sketch or drawing or picture.
An improvement to these type of amusement devices is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,505, also assigned to the Assignee of the present invention, which added a number of safety features to ensure that the fluid material would not leak from the fluid-tight container and to prevent broken glass from escaping the event the glass plate was broken or damaged thereby improving the safety of the drawing device for use by children.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,891 also assigned to the Assignee of the present invention, includes several additional improvements which provide added useful features to enable the cursor to be moved out of contact with the glass surface to add greater flexibility to the type of drawings that can be created.

Drawing device with multimedia enhancement