The invention relates to a method for producing a micronized, virtually anhydrous form of (1α,2β,4β,5α,7β)-7-[(hydroxydi-2-thienylacetyl)oxy]-9,9-dimethyl-3-oxa-9-azoniatricyclo[3.3.1.02,4]nonane bromide, said form per se, and the use thereof for producing a medicament, especially a medicament having an anticholinergic effect.

The compound (1α,2β,4β,5α,7β)-7-[(hydroxydi-2-thienylacetyl)oxy]-9,9-dimethyl-3-oxa-9-azoniatricyclo[3.3.1.02,4]nonane-bromide is known from European Patent Application EP 418 716 A1 and has the following chemical structure:

The compound has valuable pharmacological properties and is known by the name tiotropium bromide (BA679). Tiotropium bromide is a highly effective anticholinergic and can therefore provide a therapeutic benefit in the treatment of asthma or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
Tiotropium bromide is preferably administered by inhalation. Suitable inhalable powders packed into appropriate capsules (inhalettes) and administered by corresponding powder inhalers may be used. Alternatively, it may be administered by inhalation using suitable inhalable aerosols. These also include powdered inhalable aerosols which contain, for example, HFA134a, HFA227 or mixtures thereof as propellant gas.
With regard to the inhalative administration of tiotropium bromide, it is essential to provide the active substance in a finely divided (or micronised) form. The active substance preferably has an average particle size of 0.5 to 10 μm, preferably 1 to 6 μm, particularly preferably from 1.5 to 5 μm.
The above-mentioned particle sizes are generally achieved by grinding (so-called micronisation) of the active substance. Since it is important to avoid, as far as possible, any degradation of the active substance of the medicament as a result of the grinding process, in spite of the hard conditions required while the process is taking place, high stability of the active substance vis-á-vis the grinding operation is an absolute necessity. It must be borne in mind that in the course of the grinding process there may in certain circumstances be changes to the solid characteristics of the active substance which may affect the pharmacological properties of the medicament formulation to be administered by inhalation.
Methods of micronising pharmaceutically active substances, including tiotropium bromide, are known per se in the prior art. Thus, for example, WO 03/078429 discloses a method of preparing micronised crystalline tiotropium bromide monohydrate.
The objective of the present invention is to provide a process which allows virtually anhydrous micronised tiotropium bromide that meets the requirements stated hereinbefore to be produced economically.

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG


Methods for reducing the T-cell mitogenicity of lectin compositions are provided. In one aspect this is achieved by chemically modifying mitogenic lectin compositions under optimized conditions. Additionally or alternatively, the reduction in T-cell mitogenicity is achieved by removing unmodified subunits chemically modified mixtures. Modified lectin compositions with reduced T-cell mitogenicity are also provided as are uses of the inventive compositions.

Lectins are highly specific carbohydrate-binding proteins. Lectins have been isolated from a variety of natural sources including seeds, roots, bark, fungi, bacteria, seaweed, sponges, mollusks, fish eggs, body fluids of invertebrates and lower vertebrates, and mammalian cell membranes (e.g., see The Lectins: Properties, Functions, and Applications in Biology and Medicine, Edited by Liener et al., Academic Press, 1986). A number of lectins have also been produced recombinantly (e.g., see Streicher and Sharon, Methods Enzymol. 363:47-77, 2003). As noted, lectins bind carbohydrates with a high degree of specificity. For example, some lectins will bind only to carbohydrates with mannose or glucose residues, while others only recognize carbohydrates that include galactose residues. Some lectins require that the particular residue be in a terminal position, while others bind to residues within a carbohydrate chain. Some lectins require specific anomeric structures and yet others recognize specific sugar sequences. The structures and properties of lectins have been extensively described in the literature. For recent reviews see Lectins, Edited by Sharon and Lis, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003; Handbook of Animal Lectins: Properties and Biomedical Applications, Edited by Kilpatrick, Wiley, 2000; and Handbook of Plant Lectins: Properties and Biomedical Applications, Edited by Van Damme et al., Wiley, 1998. Each of these references and any other publication that is cited herein is hereby incorporated by reference.
Most lectins studied to date are multimeric, consisting of non-covalently associated subunits. While some multimeric lectins include two or more identical subunits (e.g., Concanavalin A), others are composed of different subunits (e.g., Phaseolus vulgaris). Each subunit can bind an independent carbohydrate structure. The multivalent binding properties of multimeric lectins allow them to agglutinate cells by binding to carbohydrate structures on multiple cell surfaces. For this reason, cellular agglutination assays are commonly used to identify novel lectins. Although most lectins can agglutinate some cell type, cellular agglutination is not a prerequisite. In particular some lectins are monovalent while others do not recognize cell-surface carbohydrate structures. Most multivalent lectins are also capable of forming precipitates with glycoconjugates (e.g., complex carbohydrates, glycoproteins, glycolipids, etc.).
Lectins bind carbohydrate structures non-covalently. The binding in a lectin-carbohydrate complex can therefore be reversed or inhibited by competing monosaccharides such as glucose (and even certain di-, tri- or polysaccharides). A variety of methods and devices have been described in the art that take advantage of the reversible carbohydrate binding properties of lectins. For example, sensors that monitor sugar concentrations using lectins have been described (e.g., see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,814,449; 6,454,710 and 6,671,527). Devices that rely on lectins to deliver drugs such as insulin in a controlled and glucose responsive manner have also been described (e.g., see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,830,506; 5,902,607 and 6,410,053).
Unfortunately, many of the most readily available lectins pose great risks in vivo because they have the potential to stimulate lymphocyte proliferation (e.g., without limitation, Artocarpus integrifolia agglutinin (Jacalin), Bauhinia purpurea agglutinin (BPA), Concanavalin A (Con A), succinyl-Concanavalin A (s-Con A), Erythrina corallodendron agglutinin (ECorA), Euonymus europaeus agglutinin (EEA), Glycine max agglutinin (SBA), Lens culinaris agglutinin (LcH), Maackia amurensis agglutinin (MAA), Phaseolus vulgaris agglutinin (PHA), Pokeweed mitogen (PWM), Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), and Vicia faba agglutinin (VFA) all of which are available from Sigma-Aldrich of St. Louis, Mo.). By binding to carbohydrate receptors on the surfaces of certain types of lymphocytes, these and other so-called "mitogenic" lectins induce the mitosis of lymphocytes and thereby cause them to proliferate. Most mitogenic lectins including Con A and PHA are selective T-cell mitogens. A few lectins such as PWM are less selective and stimulate both T-cells and B-cells. Local or systemic in vivo exposure to mitogenic lectins results in inflammation, cytotoxicity, macrophage digestion, and allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. In addition, plant lectins are known to be highly immunogenic, giving rise to the production of high titers of anti-lectin specific antibodies.
It will be appreciated that mitogenic lectins cannot therefore be used for in vivo methods and devices unless great care is taken to prevent their release. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,506, the inventor highlights the toxic risks that are involved in using Con A and emphasizes the importance and difficulty of containing Con A within a drug delivery device that also requires glucose and insulin molecules to diffuse freely in and out of the device.
The risks and difficulties that are involved with these and other in vivo uses of lectins could be significantly diminished if the mitogenicity of lectin compositions could be reduced or even eliminated. There is therefore a need in the art for methods of reducing the T-cell mitogenicity of lectin compositions. In particular, there is a need for methods that reduce the T-cell mitogenicity of lectins under physiological conditions. There is also a need for methods that do not adversely affect the carbohydrate binding properties of lectins.

Methods for reducing the mitogenicity of lectin compositions


Disclosed is a method for initializing an analyte measurement system (1, 2, 3), the analyte measurement system (1, 2, 3) being designed for continuous in-vivo measurement of a body fluid analyte concentration. The method including the steps of:    a) providing the analyte measurement system (1, 2, 3,) with a control device (3) and a separate skin-mountable patch device (1, 2), the patch device (1, 2) including a disposable unit (1) and an electronics unit (2), the disposable unit (1) including a transcutaneous analyte sensor (10) and machine-readable sensor identifier (121), the electronics unit (2) being configured to releasable couple for an application time period to the disposable unit (1);    b) providing a number of stored initialization data sets in a remote database system (4), each stored initialization data set comprising initialization data for an analyte sensor batch;    c) reading, via a reading device (31) of the control device (3), the sensor identifier from the disposable unit (1) into the control device (3) and transmitting the sensor identifier to the remote database system;    d) determining a matching initialization data set, the matching initialization data set being a stored initialization data set that matches the sensor identifier;    e) transmitting the matching initialization data set from the remote database system to the control device (3);    f) transmitting the matching initialization data set to the electronics unit (2) and storing the matching initialization data set in a memory (21) of the electronics unit (2).

Continuous analyte measurement systems are known for the invasive and in-vitro measurement of an analyte concentration in a patient's body fluid or tissue. They are-used, for example, for the continuously monitoring a diabetic's glucose level over an extended time period for a number of days up to several weeks after which they are replaced, typically directly by the patient, a relative, or the like (commonly referred to as "user").
The sensors that are used in such system are typically based on an amperometric measurement principle and include a number of electrodes that are arranged on a typically elongated electrode carrier. For the application, an electrode-carrying portion of the electrode carrier is placed in the patient's subcutaneous tissue and the glucose concentration is measured in the interstitial fluid. A variety of sensor and electrode designs is known in the art. The sensor electrodes and the surrounding analyte-comprising body fluid and/or tissue, in combination, form an electrochemical cell. Where not explicitly stated differently, such arrangement is also assumed in the following.

Analyte measurement system and initialization method


Systems and methods of automated machine learning for modeling a data set according to a modeling intent are presented. A modeling service receives a data set from a submitting party as well as a set of constraints. A pipeline generator generates a set of pipelines according to a modeling intent of a data set and in view of the set of constraints. A machine learned trained judge conducts an analysis of the pipelines to identify an optimal pipeline to train. Optimal results are generated according to the optimal pipeline and the optimal results are provided to the submitting party in response to receiving the data set and constraints.

Generating a model that can produce predictive results for a given data set is typically a manual, time-intensive task. Indeed, while a person may appreciate or know the desired, predicted results of elements of a data set, and could even reason out each predicted answer for each element of the set, producing a computer-implemented model, generated via machine learning, to generate accurate, predictive results for a given data set is challenging.

Machine learning for automated model generation with constraints


Medical imaging systems and methods are provided herein that provide for navigation and procedure planning without segmentation. A method comprises receiving, by a medical imaging system having at least one processing device, three-dimensional image data of a patient anatomy. The method also comprises filtering the three-dimensional data to display a portion of the three-dimensional image data that is associated with the patient anatomy and receiving, at the processing device, input from an operator input device. The input comprises navigational directions for virtual movement within a space defined by the three-dimensional image data. The method also includes tracking the virtual movement, defining a tracked pathway based on the tracked virtual movement, and generating a model of the patient anatomy based on the tracked pathway. The model of the patient anatomy is a line model including one or more lines based on the tracked pathway.

Minimally invasive medical techniques are intended to reduce the amount of tissue that is damaged during medical procedures, thereby reducing patient recovery time, discomfort, and harmful side effects. Such minimally invasive techniques may be performed through natural orifices in a patient anatomy or through one or more surgical incisions. Through these natural orifices or incisions, an operator may insert minimally invasive medical instruments (including surgical, diagnostic, therapeutic, or biopsy instruments) to reach a target tissue location. One such minimally invasive technique is to use a flexible and/or steerable elongate device, such as a flexible catheter, that can be inserted into anatomic passageways and navigated toward a region of interest within the patient anatomy. Control of such an elongate device by medical personnel involves the management of several degrees of freedom including at least the management of insertion and retraction of the elongate device as well as steering of the device. In addition, different modes of operation may also be supported.
To facilitate such minimally invasive medical techniques, imaging registration techniques may be utilized to relate at least modality of preoperative or intraoperative imaging to the position and/or orientation of an inserted minimally invasive medical instrument to navigate and positioned the instrument with respect to the target tissue location within the patient. In this way, the operator or other operator may be able to more accurately direct and control the operation of the minimally invasive medical instruments.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide improves to the use of medical imaging during minimally invasive medical techniques.

Systems and methods for navigation in image-guided medical procedures


A tap pressure balance valve for maintaining normal operation of the tap has a coil spring and a cut-off washer disposed in a though hole of a secondary case at where in relation to a water outlet provided on a deck of a primary case for the coil spring to push against the cut-off to maintain water tight between the through hole of the secondary case and the water outlet of the primary case so to avoid seepage from the interface where both cases are incorporated to each other.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a tap pressure balance valve, and more particularly to one that maintains normal operation of the tap by having disposed a coil spring and a cut-off washer, or seal, in a through hole of a secondary case at where in relation to an water outlet from a deck of a primary case for the coil spring to push against the cut-off washer to maintain watertightness between the through hole and the water outlet of the primary case thus to prevent seepage from the interface where the primary and the secondary cases are incorporated to each other.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A mixer valve is usually provided inside a tap so to mix the hot and the cold water before being delivered through a sprout for use. The construction of a mixer valve to a tap of the prior art to mix hot water and cold water tends to focus on the design of mixing without safety measures to cope with abnormal conditions including interrupted supply of water. Therefore, when the supply either of the hot water or the cold water is interrupted, the sprout remains delivery the water to cause sudden supply of hot or cold water only. Sudden cold water supply particularly in the wintertime would expose the user to catch cold; and sudden hot water, to be scalded. To correct this problem, an improvement was introduced by providing a pressure balance valve to automatically stop water delivery in case of sudden interruption of hot or cold water for safety concerns.
The pressure balance valve of the prior art is essentially comprised of having a rubber diaphragm inserted into the space inside a combined case, and a balance valve inserted through a through hole disposed at the center of the diaphragm. In normal supply of cold and hot water, the diaphragm stays at its position in the case while the valve is away from its status to close up both inlets of hot and cold water. When either hot or cold water supply is suddenly interrupted, the changed water pressure causes the diaphragm to be deformed and displaced, leading further to the valve to the end of the water is not interrupted to contact its water inlet and to indicate watertight status. Since the other end of the water is already interrupted, the supply of both hot and cold water is stopped to prevent a sudden supply of cold or hot water only, thus to prevent the user from catching cold or getting scalded.
However, in the prior art, the installation of the diaphragm and the valve is achieved by having their respective cases combined to each other. The possible seepage at the interface between both cases must be taken into consideration. To achieve watertight results, usually a cut-off washer is provided to the interface to present seepage of water from the interface of combination.
Both cases must compress against the cut-off washer for the cut-off washer to achieve the watertight results, i.e., close coordination from the interface of the combined cases must be provided. Any error in the manufacturing process of the interface between the combined cases would fail to provide good watertight results, leading to possible seepage from the interface between the combined cases that may significantly affect the normal operation of the tap as a whole.
Furthermore, a shallow slot may be provided on the case for the insertion of the cut-off; however, insufficient depth of the slot fails to effectively secure the water. As a result, the water is vulnerable to leaking or deflection in the course of the combination of both cases to compromise the assembly quality and function. During the assembly process, greater compression force is required for the cases to secure the cut-off washer for the expected watertight results. Accordingly, how to secure ideal watertight results for the pressure balance valve of the tap becomes the primary target of the R&D efforts for the present invention.


Genes encoding phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), tyrosine ammonia lyase (TAL) and phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) have been introduced into a host organism for the production of Para-hydroxycinnamic acid (PHCA). The introduction of these genes results in the redirection of carbon flow in the host, optimizing the flow of carbon from glucose to PHCA. The intermediates, tyrosine and cinnamic acid are also produced.

Production of chemicals from microorganisms has been an important application of biotechnology. Typically, the step in developing such a bio-production method may include 1) selection of a proper microorganism host, 2) elimination of metabolic pathways leading to by-products, 3) deregulation of such pathways at both enzyme activity level and the transcriptional level, and 4) overexpression of appropriate enzymes in the desired pathways. The present invention has employed combination of the steps above to redirect carbon flow from phenylalanine to tyrosine through phenylalanine hydroxylase which supplies the necessary precursor and energy for the desired biosynthesis of Para-hydroxycinnamic.
Para-hydroxycinnamic (PHCA) is a useful monomer for production of Liquid Crystal Polymers (LCP). LCP's may be used in electronic connectors and telecommunication and aerospace applications. LCP resistance to sterilizing radiation has also enabled these materials to be used in medical devices as well as chemical, and food packaging applications.
Para-hydroxycinnamic (PHCA) or p-coumarate is a known intermediate in the lignin biosynthetic pathway in plants (Plant Biochemistry, Ed. P. M. Dey, Academic Press, 1997). Methods of isolation and purification of PHCA are known (R. Benrief, et al., Phytochemistry, 1998, 47, 825–832; WO 972134). These methods are time consuming and cumbersome and a more facile method of production is needed for the large scale synthesis of this monomer. A fermentation route offers one possible solution.
A fermentation route to PHCA will require the engineering of several of the key enzymes involved in PHCA synthesis into an appropriate host. PHCA is a natural intermediate in the lignin biosynthetic pathway and key enzymes for synthesis may be obtained from a variety of plants. Lignin biosynthesis is initiated by the conversion of phenylalanine into cinnamate through the action of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL). The second enzyme of the pathway is cinnamate-4-hydroxylase (C4H), a cytochrome P450-dependent monooxygenase (P450) which is responsible for the conversion of cinnamate to PHCA also called p-coumarate.
Thus, it is evident that one possible route to PHCA is via phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) from phenylalanine. However this route also requires the presence of the second enzyme, cinnamate-4-hydroxylase, an enzyme which is rare in most microbes.
Information available indicates that PAL from some plants and micro-organisms can accept tyrosine as substrate in addition to its ability to convert phenylalanine to cinnamate. In such reactions the enzyme activity is designated tyrosine ammonia lyase (TAL). Conversion of tyrosine by TAL results in the direct formation of PHCA from tyrosine without the intermediacy of cinnamate. However, all natural PAL/TAL enzymes prefer to use phenylalanine rather than tyrosine as their substrate. The level of TAL activity is always lower than PAL activity, but the magnitude of this difference varies over a wide range. For example, the parsley enzyme has a KM for phenylalanine of 15–25 μM and for tyrosine 2.0–8.0 mM with turnover numbers 22/sec and 0.3/sec respectively (Appert et al., Eur. J. Biochem. 225:491 (1994)). In contrast, the maize enzyme has a KM for phenylalanine only fifteen times higher than for tyrosine, and turnover numbers about ten-fold higher (Havir et al., Plant Physiol. 48:130 (1971)). The exception to this rule, is the yeast, Rhodosporidium, in which a ratio of TAL catalytic activity to PAL catalytic activity is approximately 0.58 (Hanson and Havir in The Biochemistry of Plants; Academic: New York, 1981; Vol. 7, pp 577–625). Thus an alternate pathway to PHCA, might involve the direct conversion of tyrosine to PHCA via TAL, assuming an abundant source of tyrosine. Tyrosine is however, generally in low supply in most microorganisims, whereas phenylalanine is abundant. A method to convert phenylalanine to tyrosine would facilitate the pathway to PHCA through TAL.
Phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) systems appear to be infrequent in prokaryotes. Phenylalanine hydroxylase has been reported in a few species belonging to the α division of the class Proteobacteria and in Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the γ division (Zhao et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 91: 1366 (1994)). Of these, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the best characterized at the molecular-genetic level (Song et al. Mol. Microbiol. 22:497–507 (1996) and Zhao et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 91: 1366 (1994)). Pseudomonas aeruginosa possesses a multi-gene operon that includes phenylalanine hydroxylase which is homologous with mammalian phenylalanine hydroxylase, tryptophan hydroxylase, and tyrosine hydroxylase (Zhao et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 91: 1366 (1994)). The bacterial Phenylalanine hydroxylase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Chromobacterium violaceum has been cloned, expressed, purified, and fully characterized (Abu-Omar et al. Book of Abstracts, 219 ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, Calif., Mar. 26–30, (2000) INOR-068 Publisher: American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C.)). Moreover, the presence of PAH in Streptomyces aureofaciens has been demonstrated (Maladkar, Hind. Antibiot. Bull., 28: 1–4, 30–6 (1986)).
The enzymatic conversion of phenylalanine to tyrosine is known in eukaryotes. Human phenylalanine hydroxylase is specifically expressed in the liver to convert L-phenylalanine to L-tyrosine (Wang et al. J. Biol. Chem. 269 (12): 9137–46 (1994)). Deficiency of the PAH enzyme causes classic phenylketonurea, a common genetic disorder.
The literature is silent as to the conversion of glucose to para-hydroxycinnamic acid via re-directing the carbon flow from phenylalanine to tyrosine through phenylalanine hydroxylase maximizing the concentration of tyrosine in the cells to allow for the use of the TAL pathway for conversion of glucose to PHCA.
The problem to be solved here is to develop an industrially suitable method for production of tyrosine and para-hydroxycinnamic acid using genetically engineered microorganisms.
Applicants have solved the stated problem by engineering several recombinant microorganisms comprising at least one gene encoding a phenylalanine hydroxylase activity and at least one gene encoding a phenylalanine and tyrosine ammonium lyase activity for the production of tyrosine and para-hydroxycinnamic acid from fermentable carbon substrates.

Methods for the production of tyrosine, cinnamic acid and para-hydroxycinnamic acid


The 3D contact measuring device senses work pieces in machine tools for adjusting the zero point of a numerically controlled machine tool or for positioning tasks. The device comprises a preferably elongated housing, a sensing arm projecting from the housing and bearing a sensing tip. The sensing arm being movable in the direction of a measuring axis and pivotable in all directions about the measuring axis. A sensing lever is connected to the sensing arm and forms the first universal joint, and a measuring device for detecting a parameter, which characterizes the displacement and/or the pivoting of the sensing arm. A further control surface forms a second universal joint. An elongated toothed rack of a gear transmission is aligned along the measuring axis and is movably supported and is coupled to the sensing lever via the second universal joint.

The present invention relates in general to a 3D contact measuring device and in particular to a 3D contact measuring device, which is in particular suitable for tactile sensing workpieces in the direction of a measuring axis and transverse to the measuring axis.
In general, such 3D contact measuring devices comprise a sensing arm, which projects from the housing and which bears a sensing tip, wherein said sensing arm can be moved relative to the housing in the direction of a measuring axis and can be pivoted in all directions about the measuring axis, and a measuring device for detecting the deflection of the sensing arm. Typically, common mechanical gauges are used for this purpose. For the most part, they comprise a round scale and an analog display, wherein the longitudinal movement of a measuring bolt is transferred to a rotatable indicator of the gauge display by means of a toothed rack, which is attached to an inner end of the measuring bolt, and by means of a gear transmission, which is driven by means of the toothed rack. Gauges comprising a digital display are also used.
The 3D contact measuring devices can be used, e.g., for adjusting the zero point of a numerically controlled machine tool in relation to the workpiece, which is to be machined. For this purpose, the contact measuring device is clamped into a machine tool spindle and is moved with its sensing tip to a reference surface of the workpiece. By further advancing the machine tool spindle, the sensing arm is then pushed away from the workpiece, until the indicator of the gauge reaches its zero position.


A common mode filter with a choke portion and an electrical isolation portion is made up of two core members, each core member having two legs. A first winding is wrapped around the first leg of the first core member to form a first coil of the isolation section, but the secondary coil of the isolation section and both coils of the choke section are formed by a single winding which may be a single wire or may include a portion connected through a circuit board. The ends of the second winding may be shaped so as to form the mating sections of a pair of RJ contacts, while the ends of the first winding may be shaped to form pins for insertion into openings in a LAN interface card, the core structures being positioned in a rear chamber of an RJ connector.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the combination of an isolation circuit and a common mode filter circuit which may be used, by way of example, to connect a computer to a local area network (LAN), and to an electrical connector which includes such a combined isolation and common mode filter circuit.
2. Description of Related Art
Electrical connectors known as modular phone receptacles or jacks have been known for many years. Although connectors of this type were originally designed for use in telephone systems, they have found wide acceptance in a variety of other contexts. For example, modular jacks are now commonly used as input/output (I/O) interface connectors for enabling computers to communicate with each other and with a variety of peripheral equipment, and in particular as connectors between a local area network (LAN) and an appropriately configured interface card.
In order to receive a corresponding modular plug, the conventional modular jack is generally made up of a socket housing which includes a plug-receiving opening, opposed top and bottom surfaces joined by opposed side surfaces extending from the opening to a back surface, and a plurality of stamped, metallic elongated contacts mounted in the housing for engaging contacts of the corresponding plug. Each contact in this type of connector includes a contact mating portion at one end extending diagonally into the socket, a vertically extending lead portion at the other end, and a horizontally extending intermediate portion between the contact mating portion and the lead portion. Generally, the lead portions of the contacts are inserted directly into openings in the interface card and soldered in place.
Because the above-described type of modular jack is often used for digital communications, the devices in which this type of connector is used have a tendency to emit high frequency radiation which can interfere with other electrical equipment. In addition, the devices are themselves vulnerable to noise or transients induced in an incoming line by external sources. While adding filtering circuitry to the interface card can often be used to solve such problems, the difficulty at designing circuitry which meets current emissions requirements as well as space considerations suggests that inclusion of filtering or transient suppression capabilities in the connector would be desirable under certain circumstances, and in particular where the cost of providing on-board filtering exceeds the cost of adding filters to the connector.
In general, prior attempts to add common mode filtering to interface connectors for LANs and similar applications have fallen into one of three categories:
1.) connectors in which the filter components are provided on a miniature circuit board fitted into or onto the connector, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,641 (Sakamoto et al.), or on circuit board traces applied directly to the connector, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,759 (Sakamoto et al.);
2.) connectors in which the connector contacts are inserted through central openings in a ferrite block which forms the inductive component of the common mode filter, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,772,224 (Briones) and 5,397,250 (Talend); and
3.) connectors in which the contacts are wrapped around the filter components, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,015,204 (Sakamoto et al.) and 5,139,442 (Sakamoto et al.).
Filters of the first type, in which the circuitry is provided on a printed circuit board, have the disadvantage that they are relative expensive in comparison with corresponding circuitry mounted on a host interface card or circuit board, due to the limited space available within the standard connector and the consequent need for miniaturization. Filters of the second and third types, on the other hand, are simpler to install and use less expensive bulk components, but have the disadvantage of failing to offer electrical isolation between input and output circuits, as a result of which the isolation circuitry must still be provided on the host circuit card.
FIGS. 1A-1C show a typical example of the third type of prior art filtering arrangement mentioned above, in which the common mode filter is formed by wrapping the connector contacts around a ferrite core, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,204. The prior arrangement provides an inductive core 1, which is positioned at the rear of an RJ connector, and contacts that extend from a first end, the first end being in the form of a front mating interface portion 2 arranged to engage corresponding portions of the contacts of an RJ connector plug, to a second end which forms PCB tails 3 for insertion into openings in a printed circuit board 6. In order to form the common mode filter, the electrical schematic for which is illustrated in FIG. 1A, the contacts are wrapped around legs 4 of the inductive coil 1 to form coils 5.
In order to accommodate the filter, the conventional arrangement requires modification of the connector by constructing the connector of a lid member 8 and a base member 7 having an extension 9 which separates the interior of the connector into a plug receiving chamber 10 and a filter accommodating chamber 11. The filter is positioned in the chamber 11 by a cavity 12 provided in the base member 7, and held in place by a pressure bar spring 13 itself positioned in a positioning member 14 depending from the lid member 8 or upper half of the connector housing.
As indicated above, the disadvantage of this arrangement is that it does not/cannot accommodate both the common mode filter and isolation circuitry, and thus it has conventionally been necessary to include a transformer on the interface card, or eliminate bulk components in favor of circuit traces at the rear of the connector and a prepackaged miniature transformer of the type described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,207.
As will be discussed in more detail below, the present invention modifies the concept exemplified by the arrangement illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1C by including within the connector both a common mode filter and an isolating transformer, while using easily assembled bulk components.
This is basically accomplished by separating the front portion of the RJ contact structure from the portion which extends from the connector and is inserted into the host circuit board or interface card, and by utilizing a unique core and winding structure that enables assembly of the filter and transformer structures in an especially efficient manner. As a result of this structure, all of the circuitry shown in FIG. 2 can be placed within a connector rather than on the circuit board.

Circuit boardless common mode filter and transformer connector


A method for selecting a local C/A code for GPS signal processing includes performing an autocorrelation of a received GPS C/A code with a plurality of versions of a local coarse acquisition (C/A) code. In such an autocorrelation, each local C/A code version is autocorrelated with the received GPS C/A code over a plurality of autocorrelation periods, and an autocorrelation result is generated for each autocorrelation period. A maximum autocorrelation result and a minimum autocorrelation result are determined from among the autocorrelation results of each C/A code version. Next, one of the local C/A code versions is selected based upon that version's maximum autocorrelation result and the minimum autocorrelation result.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a global navigation system made up of a constellation of orbiting navigation satellites receivers. A GPS receiver uses signals received from three or more of the GPS satellites to determine navigational data, such as position and velocity. The GPS receiver is able to determine position and speed information by computing the relative times of arrival of the GPS signals that are simultaneously transmitted from a multiplicity of GPS satellites.
Each satellite transmits its navigation message with at least two distinct spread spectrum codes: a publicly available Coarse/Acquisition (C/A) code, and a Precise (P) code, which is usually encrypted and reserved for military applications. The C/A code is a 1,023 chip pseudo-random code having a repetition period of 1 millisecond. Each satellite transmits its own C/A code on a GPS carrier band L1 (1.57542 GHz), so that it can be uniquely identified and received separately from the other satellites transmitting on the same frequency.
The presence of a GPS signal is detected by autocorrelation of the C/A code of the received GPS signal with the locally-generated or "local" C/A code in the GPS receiver. If the received GPS C/A code is present and punctual with the local C/A code, the autocorrelation result will be at the triangular peak as shown on FIG. 1. However, if the received GPS signal C/A code is not punctual with the local C/A code, or if the received GPS signal strength is weak and/or the random noise riding on the GPS signal is dominant, such triangular shape won't be observed.
One way to improve GPS receiver sensitivity is to double the autocorrelation period. Such a technique will improve the autocorrelation quality by 3 dB, as the correlated signal gains 3 dB in power while the uncorrelated noise does not. This lengthening autocorrelation process to increase the GPS receiver sensitivity is commonly adopted in most GPS receivers, but it requires the local oscillator to be in synchronization with the received GPS carrier frequency for the best result.
Another method used to enhance receiver sensitivity of the GPS signal is called AGPS (Assisted GPS) that gets assistance from another communication link, typically a cellular network, to acquire the GPS signal. This method provides increased sensitivity to address operation indoors and in urban canyons, but demands expensive propositions for the cellular operators, handset manufacturers and GPS users. In particular, cellular operators are typically required to upgrade the existing network to support AGPS, handset manufacturers must add a GPS device in limited space, and the GPS users must pay the usage for the expensive cellular bands.
What is therefore needed is an alternative technique and system which provides increased GPS signal sensitivity and which does not suffer from the aforementioned disadvantages.

System and method for selecting a local C/A code for GPS signal processing


A gripping device is disclosed for a set of pinch rollers used in a wire feeder that supplies a welding operation with a consumable welding wire. The welding wire passes between the pinch rollers whereby the pinch rollers engage the wire with a gripping force and incrementally rotate to control the outflow of the wire to the welding operation. The gripping device has a first member which is displaceable relative to a second member and a spring mechanism extending between the first and second members which has at least a first and a second spring modulus. The spring mechanism produces the gripping force as the first and the second members are displaced toward one another. The gripper urges one roller of the set of pinch rollers toward the other roller of the set to engage the wire and to apply the gripping force. By including a spring mechanism with a first and second spring modulus, the gripper can apply a first range of gripping forces with the force produced by the first spring modulus and a second range of gripping forces with the force produced by the second spring modulus.

The present invention is particularly applicable for use in connection with welding wire feeders and, therefore, the invention will be described with particular reference to wire feeders used in connection with a welding operation. However, the invention has broader applications and may be used with other types of wire or other wirelike materials.
It is, of course, well known that utilizing a welding wire as a consumable electrode in the welding process can enhance the weld. Furthermore, in order to maximize the appearance and strength of the weld, accurately controlling the feed of the welding wire is important. Another important aspect of utilizing a consumable welding wire is maintaining a consistent and reliable flow of wire to the welding operation. As can be appreciated, interruptions in the flow of the welding wire can stop the welding process thereby reducing its efficiency.
Another aspect of wire feeding relates to choosing the optimal welding wire for the particular welding process. In this respect, the type of metal to be welded and the desired strength properties of the welded joint, will dictate which welding wires should be utilized. As can be appreciated, different welding wires can have very different properties both metallurgically and physically. The primary concern in the invention of this application relates to the physical properties of the welding wire. There are several different types of welding wire including copper wire, steel wire and aluminum wire. Each of these wires have different physical characteristics which influence the drive unit of the wire feeder.
One such physical characteristic is the hardness of the wire which influences the pinch rollers ability to grip the wire and accurately control the feed rate of the welding wire. In view of the importance in maintaining a desired feed rate, the welding wire feeders known in the art include control systems to accurately control the rotation of the pinch rollers that drive the welding wire. But these control systems are effective only if the pinch rollers maintain a constant grip on the wire. More particularly, a set of pinch rollers are two opposing rollers having parallel but spaced roller axes. The rollers rotate in opposite directions about their respective axis such that the portions of the peripheral roller edges that face one another move in the same direction. The pinch rollers are moveable toward one another so the welding wire is sandwiched between both rollers. As the drive unit of the wire feeder rotates the set of pinch rollers, the engagement between the pinch rollers and the welding wire drives the wire in the desired feed direction. The feed rate of the wire corresponds to the surface speed of the peripheral edges of the pinch rollers. As can be appreciated, a wire feeder can include more than one set of pinch rollers as is shown in Seufer and one or all of the sets of pinch rollers can be drive rollers. It should also be appreciated that non-drive pinch rollers can be used to help direct the flow of welding wire.
Turning to roller grip, controlling the outflow of welding wire is a function of the accuracy of the step motor used to drive the pinch rollers and the slippage between the peripheral edges of the pinch rollers and the welding wire. As can be appreciated, if the pinch rollers move relative to the wire, namely, slide on the surface of the wire, the rotation of the pinch rollers is not fully translated into wire outflow. As a result, prior art welding wire feeders have utilized different peripheral surfaces on the pinch rollers to maintain accurate contact with the welding wire. These outer surfaces include knurling or even high friction materials on the surfaces of the rollers. But it is important that the contact between the pinch rollers and the welding wire does not damage the welding wire which can impact the wire outflow to the welding torch or gun and the welding operation. In addition, it is also advantageous to utilize pinch rollers that have a long service life to minimize the repairs necessary to maintain a properly functioning wire feeder.
It has been found that pinch rollers can be used in connection with different types of welding wires. However, the different physical characteristics of the many types of welding wire require different application forces to be applied by the pinch rollers against the welding wire. More particularly, a soft wire such as a copper wire, requires a low amount of application force to obtain the desired contact between the welding wire and the pinch rollers, In contrast, a steel wire requires a much greater application force to prevent slippage between the welding wire and the pinch rollers. In fact, the application force necessary to accurately move a steel wire would likely damage a copper wire. Other types of welding wire typically require different application forces. As a result of the different physical characteristics of the many welding wires, prior art feeders are set-up to only work in connection with only a small range of welding wires. Changing from a copper welding wire to a steel welding wire requires modifications to the wire feeder that often requires professional assistance.
A force generating device is used to create an application force that is transferred to the pinch rollers by a force applicator. The force generators can utilize a spring to produce the desired application force within a given range. As the spring is deflected, the application force increases. As is known in the art, a spring has a spring modulus or spring rate wherein the spring modulus is the additional force necessary to deflect the spring an additional unit distance. As an example, a compression spring having a 100 pounds per inch spring modulus will be compressed ½ inch by a 50 pound weight. Similarly, a spring cylinder having a spring with a 100 pounds per inch modulus will produce 50 pounds of force if the spring is compressed ½ inch. In connection with wire feeders, the 50 pounds force is used to create the application force on the welding wire.
The adjustability of the application force is at least in part a function of the force generator's ability to controllably compress the cylinder spring. As can be appreciated, based on the spring modulus which is linear, controllably compressing the spring will control the application force of the pinch rollers. Therefore it is important to be able to accurately control the compression of the spring. As is known in the art, threaded engagement between two components of the cylinder can be used to compress the spring and therefore control the application force. The accuracy of this arrangement is influenced by the gauge of threads used in the threaded engagement along with the spring modulus. As will be appreciated, a fine thread will provide finer adjustment ability than a coarse thread. Furthermore, a coarse thread will increase the amount of hand force necessary to compress the spring. But, the coarse thread will allow quicker changes to the application force.
One of the problems with prior art force generating devices is that ease of use must be compromised to provide increased adjustability to the application force. One such compromise is the use of a coarse threads to allowing quicker adjustment to the application forces for different welding wires.
Another problem with prior art force generating devices is that major modifications are necessary in order to obtain the application force necessary to work in connection with a wide range of wire types and wire sizes. The basis for the modifications is that force generating spring can produce only a limited range of forces. The range of forces needed to work in connection with both soft and hard wires is great enough to necessitate an excessively large spring cylinder and a significant amount of adjustment to change the application force from a desired force for a soft wire to a desired force for a hard wire. As a result, prior art wire feeders can require professional attention to change from one type of welding wire to another type of welding wire by necessitating changes to the force generator cylinder.
Yet another problem with prior art welding wire feeders is that the necessary adjustability for a soft wire is much different than the necessary adjustability for a harder wire. In this respect, in order to fine tune the application force for a soft wire, the force generating device must be capable of small incremental changes. More particularly, while a 10 pound change in application force will have a recognizable influence on the engagement between the pinch rollers and a soft wire, a 10 pound change in a harder wire may have virtually no recognizable change. Therefore, it is desirable to have finer adjustment abilities for softer wires. But, fine adjustment abilities can be a disadvantage with harder wires. The fine adjustment can increase the time and effort necessary to make the adjustment. In view of the fact that the threads utilized in the generator to compress the cylinder spring cannot be easily changed, a cylinder designed for fine adjustment of a soft wire may not even work with a hard wire. Conversely, a cylinder designed to be used in connection with a hard wire may not have the sensitivity necessary to make the fine adjustments for use in connection with a soft wire. These types of problems necessitate physical changes to the design of the wire feeder to change from a soft wire to a hard wire.

Wire gripper for a drive unit of a wire feeder


A catwalk is provided for use in trenching operations that provides increased safety and improves efficiency. Methods are also provided that save time over the prior process of building multiple land bridges. Selected features include reduction in the number of ladders used increases worker safety, along with several other safety features such as catwalk railings, holding devices for ladders, etc. One catwalk is shown with a skid assembly to further increases efficiency by allowing the trench box to be towed with the catwalk in place.

FIG. 1 shows a common trench 100. Trenches are used for a variety of purposes such as utility installation. Some examples of utilities include, but are not limited to, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, water supply, gas, electric, etc. A trench box 110 is commonly used when constructing trenches 100 to keep the sides of the trench 100 from caving in during construction.
During construction, workers must move in and out of the trench 100. Currently, workers construct a land bridge 120 from dirt and lower a first ladder 130 to the land bridge 120. A worker must go down the first ladder 130 to the land bridge 120 in order to cross from the edge 102 of the trench 100 to an edge 112 of the trench box 110. Then the worker must use a second ladder (not shown) to get from the edge 112, into the trench box 110. As digging of the trench 100 progresses, the trench box 110 must be moved, and a new land bridge 120 must be constructed for each move of the trench box 110.
What is needed is an improved device and method to increase efficiency and safety during trenching operations.


A tape unit includes:. a cassette mount section for detachably mounting a tape cassette therein, the cassette mount section having at least two reel bases for engagement respectively with two tape reels of the tape cassette mounted; a cover movably supported on a chassis, the cover being movable between an open position for opening the cassette mount section and a closed position for closing the cassette mount section; a cassette holder movably supported on the chassis, the cassette holder being movable between an ejection position for insertion and removal of the tape cassette and a cassette mounting position for mounting the tape cassette in the cassette mount section; a tape-loading device for drawing a portion of tape out of the tape cassette mounted in the cassette mount section and causing the tape portion to pass through a predetermined tape path; and a link device for linking the cassette holder and the tape-loading device to the cover, the linkage being such that during movement of the cover from the open position toward the closed position, a first forward movement of the cover from the open position toward the closed position moves the cassette holder to mount the tape cassette into the cassette mount section, and a further forward movement of the cover subsequent to the first movement operates the tape-loading device to perform tape loading.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tape unit which has a head drum provided with a rotary magnetic head or heads, in which recording or reading of signals on a tape is carried out in the condition where a portion of the tape drawn out of a tape cassette mounted in a cassette mount section is wrapped around the head drum and in which the tape cassette is mounted into and removed from the cassette mount section through a cassette holder turnably supported on a chassis. More particularly, this invention relates to a tape unit of the above type which enables drive means, control means, various detection switches and the like for tape loading and tape unloading to be omitted, with the result of a marked reduction in cost and a more compact configuration, and which permits recording or reproduction (playback) to be started immediately after completion of an operation for closing an opening side of the cassette mount section.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
There have been known tape units in which a tape cassette is fitted into and removed from a cassette mount section through the function of a cassette holder, in the manner as follows. The cassette holder, in which the tape cassette is removably loaded, is coupled to a cover for closing and opening an opening side of the cassette mount section so that the cassette holder can be moved together with the cover. When the cover is moved to an open position for opening the opening side of the mount section, the cassette holder is moved to an ejection position, namely, a position for insertion and ejection of a tape cassette. When the cover is moved to a closed position for closing the opening side, on the other hand, the cassette holder is moved to a cassette mounting position, namely, a position for mounting the inserted tape cassette into the cassette mount section.
There have also been known rotary head type tape units, such as video tape recorders and rotary head digital audio taperecorders (R-DAT), in which recording or reading of signals on a tape is carried out by drawing out a predetermined length of tape from a tape cassette mounted in a cassette mount section, wrapping a portion of the drawn-out length of tape around an outer peripheral surface of a head drum comprising a rotary magnetic head or heads, and feeding the tape in the thus wrapped condition while rotating the magnetic head or heads.
During a tape loading operation for drawing out a predetermined length of tape from the tape cassette and during a tape unloading operation for taking up the drawn-out portion of tape onto one of the tape reels in the tape cassette, in use of the tape unit of the above type, rotation of the other tape reel is prevented by a lock means. In this condition, a reel base drive means for selective rotation in a tape takeup direction of two reel bases in engagement respectively with the two tape reels is located in a neutral position for non-linkage with any of the reel bases, and is prevented by a restricting means from moving in a direction for linkage. By these arrangements, the tape loading and unloading operations can be achieved smoothly, without slacking of the tape and without any excessive load on the reel bases. Further, the locking of the reel base and the position control over the reel base drive means are canceled substantially simultaneously with the completion of the tape loading so that no trouble occurs in tape feeding.
In the tape units of this type, the tape unloading operation is so scheduled that the movement of the cassette holder to the ejection position is enabled after the tape portion drawn out of the tape cassette is completely taken up onto one of the tape reels.
Therefore, the above type of tape unit requires a number of components, in addition to a mechanism for mounting and removing a tape cassette from the cassette mount section, a tape feeding means, a rotary head or heads for recording or playback, etc. One of the additionally required components is a tape loading mechanism which performs a tape loading operation, i.e. an operation of drawing out a portion of tape from a tape cassette, wrapping the tape portion around the head drum and passing the tape portion along a predetermined tape path, and a tape unloading operation. Another component needed is a drive means for moving a movable member of the tape loading mechanism which is moved between a position inside the tape cassette fitted in the cassette mount section and a position external to the tape cassette, to thereby serve for drawing out a portion of tape and for other functions. Besides, because a certain degree of strong force is necessary for tape loading, the drive means generally should be provided with a speed reduction mechanism composed of a gearing system, for obtaining an increased torque, in addition to a motor provided as a drive source. Furthermore, in order to prevent malfunction or to ensure automatic starting of a tape loading operation upon mounting of the tape cassette in position, the tape unit of this type needs a variety of sensors for detecting completion of the mounting of a tape cassette into the cassette mount section, completion of the tape loading, etc.
Moreover, due to the presence of the speed reduction mechanism provided for the drive means for the tape loading mechanism, as mentioned above, it requires some time to complete the tape loading or tape unloading operation. Accordingly, there must be a certain waiting time before recording or playback can be started after the movement of the cover to the closed position, or before the cover can be moved to the open position after recording or playback is finished.

Mechanism for loading and unloading a cassette tape


A holographic screen of a rear projection type for use in a projector for transmitting projection light received from a rear end of the projector onto a viewing surface. The holographic screen includes a holographic sheet including a viewing surface for forming the received projection light into an image viewing, a plurality of diffusion protrusions disposed on the viewing surface in predetermined intervals along horizontal and vertical directions of the viewing surface for diffusing incident projection light, and a plurality of scattering protrusions formed over the entire viewing surface for scattering the received projection light, and a plurality of light absorbers formed between the plurality of protrusions, for absorbing ambient light incident to the viewing surface. Thus, an image with improved contrast is displayed on a viewing surface of the holographic screen.

The present invention relates to a holographic screen for use in, for example, a rear projection screen. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a holographic screen including convex protrusions having light diffusion and/or light scattering functions.
A conventional rear projection screen contains a diffusion material, and commonly use a lenticular lens and a Fresnel lens. However, such a lenticular-Fresnel screen has a narrow angle of view and limited luminescence. A holographic screen has been proposed, as a result of research that has been conducted in the development of a screen that overcomes these problems.
Since holographic screens are manufactured easily once a master is fabricated and the features of the screen can be adjusted freely, holographic screens have become popular for use in rear projection screens.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing part of a conventional holographic screen including convex protrusions having light diffusion and/or light scattering functions.
The holographic screen can be made in a variety of shapes, and primarily includes a Fresnel lens sheet 2 and a holographic sheet 4. The holographic screen is made of a polymer of a transparent acryl-group such as acryl and polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA). Projection light incident from a light source (not shown) is incident to the surface of the Fresnel lens sheet 2. The Fresnel lens sheet 2 has an uneven shape on the surface opposite the light source, which varies a focal point of projection light incident from the light source. Thus, the projection light transmitting the Fresnel lens sheet 2 has a substantially uniform light characteristic on the surface of the screen.
The projection light passed through the Fresnel lens sheet 2 is incident to the holographic sheet 4. The holographic sheet 4 is formed on the viewing surface of the holographic screen, and includes a plurality of diffusion protrusions 6 and a plurality of scattering protrusions 8 which protrude from the viewing surface of the screen. The diffusion protrusions 6 are disposed in predetermined intervals along the horizontal and vertical directions on the surface of the holographic sheet 4. The scattering protrusions 8 are formed over the entire viewing surface of the holographic sheet 4 that includes the diffusion protrusions 6. Respective scattering protrusions 8 have a minute size compared with each of the diffusion protrusions 6. The light incident from the Fresnel lens sheet 2 to the holographic sheet 4 is diffused by the diffusion protrusions 6 and is scattered by the scattering protrusions 8. Most of the light incident to the holographic sheet 4 projects onto the viewing surface via the diffusion protrusions 6. The diffusion protrusions 6 and the scattering protrusions 8 formed on the diffusion protrusions 6 form an image to be viewed by the light passing through themselves. Thus, an area which has no diffusion protrusions 6 becomes dead space with regard to an actual image to be viewed.
When light is incident to the viewing surface of the holographic screen from the surrounding area, the received ambient light causes irregular reflection on the viewing surface of the holographic screen, thereby lowering the contrast of an image.

Holographic screen including convex protrusions


A mesoporous alumina molecular sieve and a method of manufacturing a mesoporous alumina mesoporous alumina molecular sieve of the invention is produced without using traditionally used additives. Also, because the size and distribution of the pores can be controlled, the molecular sieve can be produced simply and economically, producing molecular sieve with high surface area and thermal stability. Further, a method of manufacturing an alumina nanotube by using a surfactant and a use of the alumina nanotube as a hydrogen storage material are provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a mesoporous alumina molecular sieve and an alumina nanotube by using a surfactant and a use of the alumina nanotube as a hydrogen storage material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, alumina is considered an important catalyst and support in industrial processes. A reaction of mesoporous alumina with uniform porosity, high surface area, chemical stability and thermal stability is becoming more valuable than existing alumina with non-uniform pore distribution.
Various surfactants, such as cationic, anionic, neutral and nonionic surfactants have been used in producing alumina with mesopores. Specifically, there have been reports in producing alumina with mesopores and high surface area, by using a nonionic surfactant, a sodium dodecyl sulfate and a long chain carboxylic acid.
However, due to an extremely rapid hydrolysis of alumina in an aqueous solution, it is difficult to synthesize mesoporous alumina molecular sieve using a cationic surfactant. Even in the presence of a surfactant, a hydrated hydroxide in a lamellar form can be produced. Therefore, additives such as triethanoleamine, a hydrolysis inhibitor, are added to prevent rapid hydrolysis in synthesizing mesoporous alumina molecular sieve. Currently, a method of producing mesoporous alumina molecular sieve with high surface area, good thermal stability and simple production method is in demand.
Hitherto, there have been reports on methods of producing mesoporous alumina materials with pore structures of a wormhole or sponge-like motifs by utilizing a supramolecular assembly phenomenon of a surfactant, but there are no reports on producing alumina nanotube by using surfactants.
There have been reports on the reaction of alumina fiber in a nano-structure, by sol-gel process, in which temperature is continuously raised until a predetermined cut-off temperature. There have also been reports on the reaction of alumina nanotube by an electrochemical anodizing method. However, these processes cannot produce a large amount of alumina nanotube.
There has been no report regarding the usage of an alumina nanotube as a hydrogen storage material.
Hydrogen is considered an infinite energy source since hydrogen can be obtained from the earth's water source and it can be recycled back into water form after combustion. Hydrogen is a clean energy source since it produces only water, and not environmental pollutants during combustion. Hydrogen energy can be used in almost all industries, including transportation and electricity generating systems. However, a problem in using the hydrogen energy has been raised due to lack of developments on simple and economical hydrogen storage system.
Hydrogen can be physically stored in a high-pressure chamber by compressing the hydrogen beyond 100 atm. But loading the chamber on a transportational vehicle is extremely dangerous. Also, another physical storage method involves storing the hydrogen at an extremely low temperature, below its boiling point (20.3K). However, although this method allows storing large amount of hydrogen by reducing the storage volume, the cost of equipments used in maintaining the low temperature is too high.
Hydrogen can be chemically stored by using a hydrogen storage alloy. Although such method efficiently stores hydrogen, with repeated cycle of storage and release of hydrogen, impurities may enter and cause deformation of the hydrogen storage alloy, which leads to a deterioration of the hydrogen storage capacity. Also, because a metallic alloy is used as the storage medium, the weight per unit volume increases, thus, it is difficult to load the storage alloy onto a transportation instrument.
Another hydrogen storage method is achieved by forcing adsorption of hydrogen gas on to a solid material. Among such methods, hydrogen storage by carbon nanotube or nano-structured carbon materials shows hydrogen storage efficiency exceeding 10 wt. %. However, these results are difficult to reproduce and many researches are continuing to overcome problems caused by such method.
There are ongoing active researches to develop a hydrogen storage method that reaches at least 6.5 percent by weight of storage efficiency, which is the target hydrogen storage required by the US Department of Energy (DOE), while providing stability and economical efficiency.

Method for manufacturing mesoporous alumina molecular sieve and alumina nanotube and use of the alumina nanotube for storage of H2


In a device for inking a pitted cylinder, and for ensuring a regular inking, a pressing roller is placed within a seal tight chamber formed between doctor blades provided for laminating ink within the seal tight chamber.

Flexographic printing processes use more and more so called "anilox" pitted cylinders for ensuring a suitable distribution of ink.
The advantage of a pitted cylinder arrangement comparatively to other arrangements that use a rolling of two smooth cylinders for pressure dosing an amount of ink, is a far better regularity of the film of ink that is distributed, whatever is the printing speed.
This is mainly due to the constant volume formed by the pits in the cylinder.
A first improvement of the distribution arrangement by pitted cylinder has been obtained by adding a doctor blade which rigorously removes the excess of ink whatever is the speed, and this is done better than with an ordinary drying cylinder.
A second improvement has been obtained by mounting a second doctor blade in order to form a seal tight feeding chamber, with a circulation of pressurized ink, which results in:
1--suppressing any overflow of ink and consequently making the flexo-machine clean; PA1 2--improving penetration of ink into the pits due to the pressure of ink within the chamber.
The known devices have however a defect comprising a printing of a phantom image.
The invention comes from the finding that the above mentioned problem can be explained as follows:
The pitted cylinder makes the ink contained in the pits to go out on the printing parts of the plate, thereby creating a negative image of the printed image.
The pits that have been drained of their ink become filled with air that enters the seal tight chamber.
This air must thus be expelled by the pressure of the ink circulating in the chamber and discharged with the excess of ink through the return opening.
Unfortunately it is found that the faster the cylinder rotates and the smaller the time for the pressure of ink to discharge the air contained in the pits, there is incomplete inking.
The ratio between the pitted arrangement and the plate carrying cylinder being generally different from 1:1, irregular printing results, including return of the image that has been previously printed. This drawback is known under the term of "ghosting", i.e. a phantom image.
Consequently, the purpose of the invention is to provide a better and faster discharge of air.
The prior art has disclosed an inking unit shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,476 to Kobler and Ia. However this inking unit does not eleminate the above drawbacks.


A side-entry excitation arrangement is provided with a multi-channel analyte-separation device. In various embodiments, a plurality of channels are disposed in an array, with a laser disposed to direct an excitation beam of light along a beam path that crosses the longitudinal axes of the channels, so as to simultaneously irradiate a region of each of the channels. Devices of the invention can be useful, for example, in the separation and analysis of bio-molecules, such as DNA, RNA, etc.

Devices for carrying out separations of analytes, such as biomolecules (e.g., proteins, DNA, RNA, etc.), have gained widespread use in recent years.
In electrophoretic separations, it is often desirable to illuminate a plurality of migrating analytes, tagged with excitable reporters (e.g., fluorescent dyes), to stimulate detectable emission indicative of the nature (e.g., identity or composition) of the tagged analytes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Multi-channel analyte-separation device employing side-entry excitation


A hinge structure having the characteristics of space-saving and ease of installation is disclosed to include a mounting base member affixed to a base member of a low profile flip-up electronic product, female hinge shafts fixedly mounted in the mounting base member, a male hinge shaft affixed to a cover member of the flip-up electronic product and rotatably and axially movably inserted through the female hinge shafts, and a rotary knob coupled with one end of the male hinge shaft and rotatable to move the male hinge shaft axially relative to the female hinge shafts and the mounting base member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hinge technology and more particularly, to a hinge structure for use in a flip-up electronic product that allows adjustment of the position of the male hinge shaft relative to the female hinge shafts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hinges are intensively used in flip-up mobile electronic devices, such as notebook, electronic dictionary, PDA and etc. to pivotally connect a base member and a cover member together, allowing only a limited angle of rotation between them.
A conventional hinge structure for flip-up electronic product generally comprises a female hinge shaft having a mounting leaf for fixation to a cover member of a flip-up electronic product, and a male hinge shaft rotatably inserted through the female hinge shaft and having a mounting leaf for fixation to a base member of the flip-up electronic product for allowing the cover member of the flip-up electronic product to be turned relative to the base member between an open position and a close position. However, this conventional design of hinge structure still has drawbacks as follows:
1. The cover member and base member of the flip-up electronic product must provide a respective mounting leaf for mounting. It is complicated to respectively fasten the mounting leaf of the male hinge shaft and the mounting leaf of the female hinge shaft to the cover member and base member of the flip-up electronic product with screws.
2. Today's electronic products are facing light, thin, short and small design. The mounting leaf of the male hinge shaft and the mounting leaf of the female hinge shaft occupy much space in the cover member and base member of the flip-up electronic product, minimizing available internal space of the flip-up electronic product, not facilitating small size design.

Hinge structure with male shaft position adjustability


A method for using network address translation in switches and routers to define a virtual host as the source of a multicast channel within a single-source multicast model and to translate packet addresses from different multicast sources so that the packets appear to be originating from the virtual host. Address-translated packets are thus forwarded through a single-source multicast channel and received by the subscribing host(s)/clients as though the packets came from a single “virtual” source. This methodology can be used to map two or more sources simultaneously onto the same multicast channel. Such a mapping is useful, for example, to present multiple views of a sporting event video broadcast, provide advertisement insertion capability, or to support transparent fail-over to a backup video source in a critical multicast application. Subscribing client hosts in the multicast reception group simply subscribe to the single virtual host as the source of a multicast channel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to internetworking and in particular to packet multicasting.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional Internet Protocol (IP) multicast provides a multi-source group model in which receivers in a multicast group G receive packets from any source S on the Internet. Conventional IP multicasting is further described in Karanjit S. Siyan, Inside TCP/IP, 3d ed., New Writers Publishing, 1997, pages 426-429. IP multicasting is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,494 to Green entitled "Method and System of Multicast Routing for Groups with a Single Transmitter" and M. Handley, "Internet Multicast Today," The Internet Protocol Journal, December 1999, p. 2. All of these references are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Recent work has recognized that major benefits in addressing, access control, and routing scalability are to be found from restricting multicast to a single-source multicast model. For example see, Hugh W. Holbrook and David R. Cheriton, "IP Multicast Channels: EXPRESS Support for Large Scale Single-source Applications" ′presented at SIGCOMM 1999, incorporated herein and by reference in its entirety. Most current applications for multicast are transmitted from a single-source or largely from a single-source out of a small group of sources. For example, video broadcasts, corporate file distribution, and stock quote distribution and dissemination applications are a few well-known, single-source applications. All essentially provide source data from one transmitting host.
One problem seen in the art is encountered when supporting multicast applications that are largely, but not entirely, single-source. Current state of the art approaches typically delegate the multicasting operation entirely to (slower) application level proxies, such as those provided by Akamai or FastForward. Other alternatives known in the art rely on complicated network and receiving host protocols. Such systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,894,480 and 5,561,670, both to Hoffert et al. And both entitled "Method and Apparatus for Operating a Multicast System on an Unreliable Network." These patents describe variations on the well-known Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) and are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
All of these prior art methods share a common failing in that each is necessarily slowed by the overhead of the messaging protocols and OSI upper-layer application processing. This slow down also increases cost by constraining transmission speed, adding processing complexity, and increasing the probability of error.
What is needed is a simple, scaleable method of providing single-source multicasting from a small plurality of sources that appears to receiver groups as if it were originating from a unique, single-source host.

Network address translation for multicast virtual sourcing


The disclosed systems and methods determine compensation factors, compensated conductivities, concentrations, and other related parameters of a solution based on the solution's temperature and absolute conductivity.

Solutions in which a chemical is dissolved in water are commonly referred to as aqueous solutions. Some aqueous solutions conduct electricity; this property is referred to as conductivity. The conductivity of an aqueous solution depends on the solution's concentration, which is a ratio between the amounts of chemical and water in the solution, and the solution's temperature.
The conductivities of some concentrations of some species (i.e., chemical types) of aqueous solutions are well known. For example, the conductivities of many different concentrations of sulfuric acid have been measured at several temperatures by Darling and other researchers. These conductivities are often presented in the form of reference conductivity curves. A reference conductivity curve shows the relationship between conductivity and concentration for a species of aqueous solution at a reference temperature. FIG. 6 shows reference conductivity curves for sulfuric acid at reference temperatures of 0° C., 18° C., or 25° C.
Since the conductivity of an aqueous solution depends on its concentration, a measurement of conductivity is often used to deduce concentration. This measurement is compensated for temperature by scaling it to the conductivity that the solution would have if the temperature of the solution were brought to the reference temperature of a reference conductivity curve for the species (e.g., 0° C., 18° C., or 25° C. for the curves for sulfuric acid shown in FIG. 6). This scaling depends solely on temperature and results in a compensated conductivity. The compensated conductivity is then compared to the reference conductivity curve, and the concentration of the solution is determined to be the reference concentration whose reference conductivity most closely approaches the compensated conductivity.
The ratio between absolute conductivity and compensated conductivity is usually referred to as the temperature compensation factor. The temperature compensation factor for most species of aqueous solutions depends relatively strongly on temperature and relatively weakly on concentration. As such, computing the temperature compensation factor based solely on temperature, but not on concentration, is sufficient for ordinary applications, e.g., applications that do not require high degrees of accuracy. (In other words, assuming that different concentrations of a solution have the same temperature compensation factor is usually a sufficient approximation for ordinary applications.) Computing the temperature compensation factor based solely on temperature is not sufficient, though, for applications that require high degrees of accuracy.
Unfortunately, while a solution's temperature can be measured prior to compensating the solution's conductivity, the solution's concentration cannot be determined until after compensation. Present scenarios for determining compensated conductivities, compensation factors, concentrations, and other related solution parameters have, therefore, limited accuracy.

Systems and methods for determining compensated conductivities


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming an insulating layer, a first conductive layer, a dielectric layer and a capping conductive layer over a semiconductor substrate in which a cell region is defined. The capping conductive layer and the dielectric layer is etched to form contact holes in a first region of a drain select line and a source select line region of the cell region. A second conductive layer, a tungsten silicide layer and a hard mask layer are formed over the semiconductor substrate including the contact holes. The hard mask layer, the tungsten silicide layer, the second conductive layer, the capping conductive layer, the dielectric layer and the first conductive layer are etched to form a cell gate. The hard mask layer, the tungsten silicide layer, the second conductive layer and the first conductive layer of the first region are etched to form a drain select line and a source select line.

The present invention relates to semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, in which a Drain Select Line (DSL) and a Source Select Line (SSL) can be formed to have a desired size.
Semiconductor memory devices for storing data are commonly classified into volatile memory devices and non-volatile memory devices. Data stored in volatile memory devices is lost when power is cut off, whereas data stored in non-volatile memory devices is not lost when power is cut off. Non-volatile memory devices include flash memory devices.
Flash memory has become more popular with the advent of portable devices, such as mobile phones, PDAs, cameras, game machines and MP3 players. Flash memory is becoming more commonly used as storage media for IT technologies and home appliances. Flash memory is suitable for these applications in view of its non-volatile and low-power consumption characteristics. Flash memory is also becoming more commonly used as main storage devices in various portable devices. Research has shown that flash memory may be used in an even broader range of applications. A flash memory device having a channel length of 70 nm grade or less and having a level of integration of at least 4 Gb has been recently developed.
As the line width of a semiconductor device decreases, the sizes of various patterns constituting the semiconductor device also decrease. This results in problems associated with a drawing rule of photo scanner equipment.
As can be seen in FIG. 1, a Depth Of Focus (DOF) margin varies on a pitch basis according to ArF 100 having a wavelength of 193 nm and KrF 102 having a wavelength of 248 nm. This has a great influence on the size of a gate line and space pitch.
If ArF 100 having a wavelength of 193 nm is used in a formation process of a gate, the DSL and the SSL cannot be formed at 200 nm or less in size. Consequently, it is impossible to reduce the size of the line and space pitch and, therefore, the chip size.
Accordingly, as devices continue to become smaller, the size of the line and space pitch is also reduced.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device


A received communication signal in which input data has been differentially encoded using a number of nominal symbols is filtered according to variable filter coefficients. A symbol is predicted based on the filtered signal, as if the input data had been encoded non-differentially in the communication signal. The filter coefficients are updated in response to the predicted symbol. An example of the differential encoding is differential phase shift keying (DPSK) modulation.

An embodiment of the invention is in general related to digital modulation communication systems and in particular to a receiver that can recover input data in the presence of multiplex/multi-access interference.
Communication systems are composed of at least one transmitter and at least one receiver. In digital modulation systems, input data (which is the information message to be communicated, such as a stream of binary bits) is encoded into nominal, digital symbols suitable for transmission over a particular channel. For example, with differential encoding, the information may be carried by the difference in phase between two successive waveforms. In some cases, a high frequency carrier waveform is modulated with the symbols (e.g. the symbols may be upconverted to passband), prior to being transmitted. At the receiver, the received communication signal may be demodulated (e.g. the symbols may be downconverted to baseband), prior to being decoded in an attempt to recover the input data.
In multiplex/multi-access communications, such as in a mobile telephone (e.g. cellular) network or a wireless computer network, a communication resource such as a carrier frequency is shared by many users who wish to transmit their input data simultaneously. The data for multiple units is transmitted over the same frequency band, but spread spectrum techniques are used to hold the mutual interference to manageable levels. The use of unique signature sequences for each transmission creates virtual channels within a single frequency band. A receiver may then be 'tuned' to a given channel, to detect the input data of a particular user. In this manner, each user may be assigned a separate virtual channel over which to communicate input data, to minimize interference with other users sharing the same communications resource. However, the ability of a receiver to detect this input data is impaired by the presence of noise (including interference) in its channel.
Various types of commonly occurring noise have been analyzed and mathematically modeled by those working in the field of communication systems. For example, there is the omnipresent additive white Gaussian noise. This noise may be represented by a term that is added to every transmitted signal. Also, certain channel environments have multiple paths from the transmitter to the receiver. These paths may be created by, for example, atmospheric reflections and refractions, and reflections from buildings or other objects. Such paths can cause a received communication signal to exhibit a multiplicative type of noise called multipath fading. Yet another type of noise, which is particularly apparent in a multiplex/multi-access communication system, is multiplex/multi-access interference caused by transmissions within the same frequency band but using different signature sequences (co-channel or intra-cell interference) and on adjacent frequency bands (inter-cell interference). This interference may be represented as an additive, time varying, noise term.
To compensate for noise which has corrupted a received communication signal, each receiver can be equipped with an adaptive filter. For example, in a typical differential encoding communication system, the adaptive filter can be positioned between a demodulation stage and a differential detection stage. The demodulation stage as mentioned above essentially removes the carrier waveform (if any) to yield a baseband communication signal. This signal contains the input data as differentially encoded into symbols, but corrupted by noise. The adaptive filter makes corrections to this signal according to a number of variable filter coefficients. The signal at the output of the adaptive filter is then processed by the differential detection stage which attempts to recover the input data using a differentially coherent detection scheme. An error signal, being a difference between the output of the detection stage and a reference, where this reference is predicted to be the input data that is sought by the detection stage, is generated. This error signal is fed back to the adaptive filter which in turn adjusts its coefficients according to an algorithm, in response to updates in the error signal. Over time, this closed loop feedback process is expected to converge to a set of filter coefficients that minimize the error signal and fully compensate for the noise. There is a trade-off between the speed of convergence and oscillation of the adaptive coefficients from their ideal values.

Adaptive receiver for multiplex/multi-access communications


A new attachment structure for an antenna unit includes a gasket that prevents entry of water and is configured to have an improved external appearance. An antenna unit includes an antenna module which receives radio waves transmitted from a satellite and a cover member which has inner space large enough to house the antenna module. The cover member has an opened bottom surface which joins with a bottom plate that closes the opened bottom surface of the cover member. A gasket covers at least a periphery of the bottom plate. The gasket comes into contact with the inner surface of the cover member to seal the inner space. Because the gasket does not have a cover portion which covers the outer surface of the cover member, the problem of reduced waterproofed quality when the cover portion is pulled can be prevented, while also providing a fine appearance.

1. Field or the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna unit which receives radio waves transmitted from a satellite, and particularly to an antenna unit suitable for a car antenna attached onto an automotive roof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In car navigation systems, the present position is specified by speed and running distance of the car, while, in order to improve accuracy of position, radio waves transmitted from a GPS (global positioning system) satellite are received and the present position is specified also by the position data obtained from the received radio waves.
Recently, in the USA, it has been promoted to provide digital radio broadcasting by radio waves transmitted from an earth satellite. Also, in a digital radio receiving system which receives such the digital radio broadcasting, an antenna for receiving radio waves transmitted from the satellite is still required, and a so-called satellite radio broadcasting reception antenna is used.
The radio wave from the satellite, since a high-frequency band is used, has high directivity. Accordingly, in the car navigation system and the digital radio receiving system, in order to receive the radio waves from the satellite in a good reception state, it is necessary to attach a reception antenna onto a top surface (i.e., roof) of the car. Therefore, for the antenna unit for receiving the radio waves from the satellite, high atmospheric corrosion resistance and waterproof property are necessary.
As a conventional waterproof countermeasure in this kind of antenna unit, it is general to use a gasket (packing) composed of rubber, and attachment structure as shown in FIG. 6 is widely adopted. Namely, a bottom surface of a cover member 101 in which an antenna module for receiving radio waves transmitted from the satellite is housed is sealed by a bottom plate 103 to which a gasket 102 is attached, and the antenna unit is set onto a roof panel 104 of a car thereby to prevent entry of water. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7, a slit 102a is provided for the gasket 102 thereby to provide double structure, and an end 101a on the bottom side of the cover member 101 is inserted into this slit 102a thereby to secure the sealing state.
However, in case that the aforesaid waterproof structure is adopted, the surroundings near the bottom surface of the cover member 101 are covered with a cover part 102b of the gasket 102 like a skirt, and such mischief that this skirt-like portion is pulled by a hand has been frequently reported. In case that the cover part 102 of the gasket 102 is pulled, there is fear that a waterproof function is damaged, which is a large problem.
Further, the state in which the surroundings near the bottom surface of the cover member 101 are covered with the cover part 102b like the skirt mare the appearance greatly. Further, also from a viewpoint of the waterproof function, there is a problem that water easily enters the inside of the cover member 101 from a gap between the cover part 102b and the cover member 101, and improvement of this problem is desired.


A controller employed in conjunction with a synchronous generator monitors the output voltage of the generator. The controller employs the monitored output voltage as feedback that is used to control the excitation provided to an exciter field winding. In addition, the controller applies a control loop to the monitored output voltage that detects and modifies voltage ripple signals within the monitored output voltage to generate a compensated signal that is used to control the excitation to the exciter field winding. In particular, by detecting and modifying voltage ripple signals within the monitored output voltage, the controller is able to counteract armature reaction voltage ripples caused by unbalanced short-circuit faults, thereby preventing the build-up of voltage on the DC link.

The present invention is related to generators and in particular to control schemes for suppressing DC link voltage build-up in, generators due to unbalanced short circuit conditions.
In synchronous generators, the generation of an alternating current (AC) output voltage is controlled based on the magnitude of an exciter current provided as an input to an exciter field winding. For instance, in a common configuration, a permanent magnet generator and a rectifier circuit are used to provide a DC link voltage. In turn, the DC link voltage is employed to provide a DC current of a desired magnitude to the exciter field winding. An AC voltage induced in the exciter rotor windings is converted to a DC voltage by a rotating rectifier circuit and provided as excitation to a main field winding. In response to the DC excitation in the main field winding, an AC output voltage is generated in the main armature winding that is then provided to a load. In addition, the output voltage and/or output current of the generator are provided as feedback to a controller that controls the magnitude of the DC current provided to the exciter field winding. In, this way, the output voltage of the generator is maintained at a desired magnitude.
To detect potentially fatal errors (e.g., diode faults in the rotating rectifier), the controller may also monitor the DC link voltage. In response to, an increase, in the magnitude of the DC link voltage, the controller orders a shutdown of the generator. However, problems arise when unbalanced short circuit faults at the output of the generator are transmitted through armature reaction to the DC link voltage. The unbalanced short-circuit fault results in the magnitude of the DC link voltage increasing such that a shutdown of the generator is triggered by a condition in which it is preferable to maintain the operation of the generator. It would therefore be beneficial to prevent the buildup of DC link voltage in response to an unbalanced short-circuit fault to prevent the improper shutdown of the generator.

System and method for suppressing DC link voltage buildup due to generator armature reaction


In one or more aspects, a determination is made as to whether a connector is securely fastened, whether the connector connected within a socket structure is the expected connector for that socket structure, and/or whether connectors coupled to one another via one or more cables are properly positioned for communication between them. Information on selected physical connection elements of a connector is used to determine one or more structural characteristics of the cable(s) connected to the connector and to determine whether the connector is the expected connector for a particular socket structure.

One or more aspects relate, in general, to connectors, and in particular, to connection of pluggable-style connectors, such as cable connectors.
Pluggable-style connectors are often used in association with or within electronic systems, such as within an electronics rack, or between racks within a data center. These connectors facilitate electrical and/or communication coupling between the different components of an electronic system, electronics rack or data center. Such connectors, which are generally referred to as cable connectors, facilitate connection of one or more cables to one or more sockets within the electronic system, electronics rack or data center. For instance, cable connectors are widely used to make connections to routers or servers within an electronics rack, where space is often at a premium. In addition to there being little extra space, cable connectors of this type may have the tendency to separate or become partially disconnected from the socket component to which they are connected, particularly if one of more of the associated cables are inadvertently moved or pulled.

Validating connection, structural characteristics and positioning of cable connectors

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