The side wall (8) of the cylindrical casing (1) of an oil filter containing a filtering element (2) consists of a heat exchanger defining two entwined circuits one (6, 14) of which is intended for the oil before its filtration and the other (9, 15) of which is intended for a cooling liquid. Each circuit extends helically and is delimited by a cylindrical sleeve (11, 12) and by a groove (14, 15) hollowed out of an intermediate partition (13).

The lubrication oil of internal combustion engines is heated as it works, and if its temperature becomes too high, it risks degrading, which poses problems for its filtration by the filtering element, generally consisting of paper.
In order to overcome this drawback, it has already been proposed to cool the oil Just before its filtration by making the side wall of the casing of the oil filter consist of a heat exchanger defining two entwined circuits one of which is intended for the oil before its filtration and the other for a cooling liquid.
The invention relates more particularly, amongst the oil filters of the type in question, to those for which the heat exchanger consists of two coaxial cylindrical sleeves which surround one another, and of an intermediate partition of generally cylindrical shape, but deformed, and arranged in the annular space lying between the two sleeves.
In the known embodiments of these oil filters, the deformed intermediate partition consists of a cylindrical sheet which is folded axially so as to form a succession of grooves and ribs which are annular and of revolution and whose axial half-section exhibits a substantially sinusoidal shape (see document WO-A-88/06228).
These constructions exhibit advantages, but also certain drawbacks, including the following:
the portion of the oil circuit included by the exchanger, along which portion the heat is transmitted from each of the small volumes of oil to the cooling liquid, extends over a quarter of a circle only, PA1 the cross-section of the intermediate sheet portion which defines each of the two heat exchange circuits exhibits the shape of a U with smooth walls, which shape is imposed by the folding. PA1 the circuit reserved for the cooling liquid comprises several helical segments connected in parallel, PA1 in a filter according to the preceding point, each helical segment extends over 1.5 turns, PA1 the cross-section of at least one of the grooves exhibits the general profile of a U with lateral cutouts projecting towards the inside of the U.
The invention allows these drawbacks to be overcome.


A coffee bean roaster and a method for roasting coffee beans using the roaster are disclosed. The coffee bean roaster includes an oven having a ceramic heating plate with a gate, and a rotary sliding unit to enter the gate so as to slide into the ceramic heating plate, so that the rotary sliding unit roasts coffee beans while rolling the coffee beans and spacing the coffee beans from both the ceramic heating plate and a burner. The method for roasting coffee beans using the coffee bean roaster includes entering the rotary sliding unit containing the coffee beans into the oven through the gate so as to place the rotary sliding unit in the oven at a position spaced apart from both the ceramic heating plate and the burner, roasting the coffee beans by far-infrared radiant heat emitted from the ceramic heating plate, and reburning combustion gases, generated from the roasting of the coffee beans, by the burner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to coffee bean roasters and methods for roasting coffee beans using the same and, more particularly, to a coffee bean roaster and a method for roasting coffee beans using the same in which green coffee beans are roasted by far-infrared radiant heat emitted from a ceramic heating plate while combustion gases generated from the roasting of the coffee beans are reburnt by a burner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a conventional method for producing coffee from green coffee beans comprises: roasting the green coffee beans; blending desired additives, such as perfumery, with the roasted coffee beans when desired; and grinding or crushing the roasted blended coffee beans to manufacture roasted ground or crushed coffee beans which are put on the market. To take coffee as a beverage, the roasted ground or crushed coffee beans are infused in hot steam of boiled water.
In the above-mentioned method for producing coffee, the roasting of the green coffee beans which is the initial process of the method means that the green coffee beans are heated and roasted until the color of the coffee beans changes from light chocolate brown into dark brown-black. Further, the roasting grades of the coffee beans may be classified into several grades from light roasting to dark roasting according to the extent of the roasting executed after the coffee beans are dewatered during the roasting process.
The roasted coffee beans have a flavor, such as a sour flavor, a bitter flavor or a sweet flavor. However, the green coffee beans do not have any flavor expected from the roasted coffee beans, but have only the smell of greens.
Thus, the roasting of the coffee beans means a process in which the green coffee beans are heated to cause a chemical change therein, resulting in generation of ingredients causing the flavor in the coffee beans. In other words, the roasting of the coffee beans causes the coffee beans to exhibit their properties and thereby enhance their taste and aroma. Therefore, the roasting of the coffee beans has become recognized as the most important process in the method for processing the coffee beans.
Conventional methods for roasting green coffee beans include a hot-air method, a half-hot-air method and a direct-fired method.
In the hot-air method, a burner chamber is provided to directly blow hot air at a controlled temperature into a rotary drum, thus using the hot air to roast green coffee beans contained in the rotary drum. In the half-hot-air method, hot air from a burner chamber is guided to a part of a rotary drum through a hot air guide pipe, thus indirectly roasting green coffee beans contained in the rotary drum while preventing the coffee beans from being directly affected by the flame of the burner chamber. In the direct-fired method, green coffee beans are contained in a rotary drum with a net structure, while the flame from a burner placed under the rotary drum reaches the rotary drum to directly roast the coffee beans.
However, the conventional coffee bean roasting methods which are executed using hot air or direct fire inevitably generate combustion gases from the burning of the coffee bean skins to cause bad coffee smells. Thus, the conventional coffee bean roasting methods must need smokestacks that are installed around coffee bean roasters to discharge the combustion gases from the roasters to the atmosphere. However, the smokestacks increase the space taken up by the coffee bean roasters. If the coffee bean roasters operate without the smokestacks, the combustion gases generated from the roasting of the coffee beans soak into the coffee beans, reducing the taste and aroma of the coffee.

Coffee bean roaster and method for roasting coffee beans using the same


Systems, apparatus and methods are described related to accelerated object detection filter using a video estimation module.

Object detection has a wide range of applications. For example, face detection may be used in human-computer interaction, photo-album management, biometric authentication, video surveillance, automatic-focus imaging, and a variety of other vision systems. Human detection may be used in video surveillance, advanced driver assistance systems, and the like. Other object detection examples include traffic monitoring, automated vehicle parking, character recognition, manufacturing quality control, object counting and quality monitoring.
In some existing object detection systems, a Viola-Jones cascade detection framework is used. In the Viola-Jones cascade detection framework, an input image is scanned with a sliding window to probe whether or not a target exists in the window using a cascade classifier. Such methods ma employ feature-based classifiers, which are complicated to implement. Additionally, such methods are computationally intensive. Various software and hardware implementations have been proposed, however the proposed implementations have limitations, particularly as image and video resolutions increase.
Since object detection may be used in such a side variety of applications, it may be desirable to make object detection execute efficiently.

Accelerated object detection filter using a video motion estimation module


A computer system and process extract information from a literary work regarding relationships between entities (e.g., characters, locations, etc.) described or represented in the literary work, and generate a graph representing these relationships. The graph data is parsed into sub-graphs, and the subgraphs are used to generate a signature of the literary work. The respective signatures of different literary works may be compared for purposes of generating literary work recommendations for users.

Systems exist that use simple dimensions to identify books that are similar. For example, the systems can (1) analyze item purchase histories and item viewing histories for a large number of users, (2) compare catalog or bibliographic data (e.g., author, subject, title, etc.) to look for titles with similar attributes, and/or (3) apply traditional collaborative filtering to users' ratings of individual books. However, these existing systems may have trouble identifying similar books when the books are self-published. The number of available self-published books may be large, yet only a small number of users may have viewed or read any given self-published book. Thus, few, if any, self-published books may be rated by enough users to provide meaningful recommendations.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Generation and use of literary work signatures reflective of entity relationships


An object detection system may be capable of sensing a buried object and providing an estimate of the object's depth. The object detection system may comprise a signal generator transmitting one or more signals. At least one of the signals may be directed toward the buried object and reflected off of the object back to the system. At least one of the signals may be transmitted along a variable length path. A correlator may then receive the signals and determine an offset between their arrival times at the correlator. The variable length path may then be adjusted over a range which includes a minimum offset indicating a distance to the object.

The present invention relates to Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) systems, and more particularly, to timing within GPR systems.
GPR systems often comprise at least one transmitter that transmits an electromagnetic impulse. The transmitted impulse may reflect off of a buried object to create a reflected electromagnetic waveform. At least one receiver may receive the reflected waveform to collect information about the object. Difficulty arises, however, in accurately scheduling the time when each transmitter transmits an impulse signal and when each receiver samples a received waveform.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,496,137 to Johansson, which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it contains, describes a GPR timing system comprising a control circuit that receives a transmit timing input signal and a receive timing input signal. The system delays the transmit timing input signal and generates a number of intermediate transmit timing signals delayed with respect to each other by a delay time, selects either the transmit timing input signal or a corresponding one of the intermediate transmit timing signals as a corresponding output transmit timing signal, delays the receive timing input signal and generates a number of intermediate receive timing signals delayed with respect to each other by the delay time, adds the delay time to the intermediate receive timing signals, and selects either the receive timing input signal or a corresponding one of the intermediate receive timing signals as a corresponding output receive timing signal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,054 to Warhus, et al., which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it contains, describes how the accuracy of a calculation of distances using a GPR system depends on how precisely a time-delay of echoes can be measured. Ideally, each returned echo is a scaled and time-shifted version of the transmitted pulse. Thus, a reference point on the pulse can be used to calculate the time-delay, e.g., either the leading or trailing edge of the pulse. In the presence of noise, however, such reference points can be hard to determine. Correlation or inverse filtering of the incoming signal with the transmitted pulse can be used to produce a peak at the time-delay of the echo and provide a reference point that is much easier to locate.
Despite these advances, simplified means for timing GPR systems is desirable.

Ground penetrating radar with variable dwell time


In one aspect, a method for displaying measurement information from at least one sensor of a machine is provided. In another aspect, a computing device for displaying measurement information from at least one sensor of a machine is provided. In another aspect, a system for displaying measurement information from at least one sensor of a machine is provided.

The field of the invention relates generally to displaying information, and more particularly to methods and systems for use in plotting data in a format that graphically shows information about the distribution of the data.
In a facility in which resources are received, processed, and converted by machines into electricity or another product, it is often beneficial to monitor the status of the machines to determine whether they are operating normally. To facilitate such monitoring, in at least some facilities, sensors are positioned adjacent to such machines to measure one or more parameters or characteristics, such as vibrations, temperatures, voltages, or currents associated with the machines. In some environments with multiple machines and multiple sensors, information collected by the sensors is transmitted to a central computer for evaluation by the computer and/or a user of the computer. Additionally, the information may be stored in a database and reviewed on an as-needed basis.
Data stored as described above may relate to a particular type of measurement for a particular machine, over a specified time period. The information may be presented to a user as a plot of the data over the time period. However, the plot does not graphically show how data pertaining to a particular type of measurement for a particular machine is distributed over repetitions of the time period.

Method and system for plotting a distribution of data


An apparatus that is usable with a well includes a first equipment section that includes a first inductive coupler and a second equipment section that includes a second inductive coupler. The second equipment section is adapted to be run downhole into the well after the first equipment section is run downhole into the well to engage the first equipment section. A mechanism of the apparatus indicates when the first inductive coupler is substantially aligned with the second inductive coupler.

Inductive couplers may be used in a well for purposes of wirelessly transmitting power and/or data between downhole components. The inductive couplers typically are constructed so that a coil of an inner inductive coupler is positioned within a coil of an outer inductive coupler. A time-varying current typically is communicated through the one of the coils, which causes a time-varying electromagnetic field to be generated, which induces a corresponding current in the coil of the other inductive coupler.
The efficiency of the inductive coupling is a function of how closely the coils are placed together. One of the inductive couplers may be part of an upper completion assembly, which is landed in a lower completion assembly that contains the other inductive coupler. Due to the tolerances of the well equipment, it may be challenging to position the coils of the inductive couplers so that optimum inductive coupling is achieved. One way to ensure that inductive coupling occurs is to make the coil of one of the inductive couplers significantly longer than the coil of the other inductive coupler. Thus, at least a portion of the longer coil is surrounded by or surrounds (depending on whether the longer coil is the inner or outer coil) the shorter coil. However, such an approach may be relatively inefficient, as excessive energy may be dissipated due to a significant portion of the electromagnetic field straying outside of the shorter coil.
Thus, there exists a continuing need for better ways to align inductive couplers in a well.


A game console capable of communicating with other game consoles over a link or network is provided with a headphone and microphone for each player who will engage in voice communication. Verbal communications directed to one or more other players are converted to pulse code modulated (PCM) digital data and are encoded and compressed in real-time, producing data packets that are transmitted to another game console. The compressed data packets are decompressed and decoded, producing PCM data that are converted to an analog signal that drives a headphone of the intended recipient. Players can selectively mute voice communications to and from a specific other player. The PCM data can be encoded in a round-robin fashion that reduces the number of encoders required. A predefined level of computing resources is used for voice communication to avoid aversely affecting the quality of game play.

When playing a non-electronic game with one or more other people, for example, a card game such as bridge, the social interaction arising through verbal communication between the players during the game typically adds much to the enjoyment of the game. Verbal communication is also often an element of game play, since comments made by a player to an opponent during a game can have the effect of causing the opponent to lose concentration and perform poorly, while comments made to team members can provide encouragement, thereby improving their quality of play. Verbal communication between persons playing games is thus clearly an important element of the gaming experience.
The verbal repartee between players that is so important to game play was initially missing when players first began to play electronic games over the Internet and other network links. Players at different sites were generally not able to communicate with each other, because their personal computers (PCs) only communicated data related to the play of a game over the network. The loss of the verbal communication and related social interaction that is such an important aspect of games played by people at the same location thus caused games played over the Internet to be less interesting. To address this problem, hardware and software solutions were developed that support voice communications between PCs over the Internet or other network during game play. At about the same time, techniques were developed to convey voice over the Internet or other networks (i.e., voice over IP) to enable communications between parties connected by the network without incurring the cost of conventional telephone long distance calls. This work resulted in the creation of various protocols supporting voice over IP communication, including the H.323 specification, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and Media Gateway Control Protocol/Media Gateway Controller (MGCP/MEGACO) specification. The techniques developed for voice over IP are generally applicable to and have been used in schemes to enable verbal communications between players of PC electronic games over a network. Examples of systems that provide voice communication between connected PCs during game play include Microsoft Corporation's SIDE WINDER GAME VOICE™, Mindmaker, Inc.'s GAME COMMANDER 2™ device and software, TEAMSOUND™ software, GameSpy Industries' ROGER WILCO™ software, and Alienware Technology's FIRST CONTAC™ software. The voice communication provided by these products greatly adds to the enjoyment of playing games on PCs that are connected over the Internet or other networks. Some of these systems operate in peer-to-peer mode, in which voice data are transferred over the network directly between PCs, while others require a voice server that receives the voice data from one game player's PC and forwards the voice data over the network to one or more other PCs that are connected to the network for playing the game.
Since these systems provide communication for only one player per PC, each PC produces its own network stream of voice data, and this network stream is directed to other PC of each other player (or to the voice server, which then directs the voice data to the PC of each other player). This approach thus produces a substantial network data overhead.
Currently, none of the prior art systems for PC game voice communication enable multiple players per PC in a game played over the Internet or other network and therefore, the prior art does not support multiplayer-per-PC voice communication functionality. Also, if such multiplayer PC systems were developed using existing voice communication protocols for several players on a PC, they would likely require an excessive amount of computational resources. Allocating the required resources to voice communication for all players of the game on a PC might well have an adverse effect on the quality of game play, unless the PC had a very fast processor, lots of memory, and a fast video driver card.
In contrast to PCs, dedicated game consoles often do not have the processing power and available memory of a powerful PC, so this problem is of even greater concern in developing a scheme to support voice communications by multiple players on each game console. It would be desirable to allocate a fixed level to the requirements for memory and other computer resources needed for voice communication, independent of the number of players who are capable of voice communication on the game console, as appropriate for the game functionality and design, so that the resources required for voice processing are not allowed to increase beyond a defined limit as the number of players participating in voice communication changes. It would also be advantageous to enable voice communications between multiple players for each instance of a game at a site, and to enable each player to control with whom the player verbally communicates (both speaking and listening), and to combine all of the voice data from that instance of the game into a single network data stream in order to reduce the network bandwidth required for voice communications between multiplayer game consoles. It would further be desirable to share certain resources, such as a voice data encoder or decoder, between multiple players for a single game instance at a site.
As the quality of game graphics improves, it becomes more important to maintain other features relating to realism. One such feature is the ability to provide lip sync or other viseme (lip position) information with the voice data during game play, to enable the lips of a graphic character displayed in a game to move in synchronization with the words of a player who is represented by and controlling the graphic character in the game display. However, existing voice communication systems typically do not convey data to enable lip sync, and as a result, the player receiving the voice communication will not see the lips of the character in the game corresponding to the player who is speaking move in sync with the speaker's words.
While voice communication is generally a desirable feature, if misused by a specific player, it may become annoying and reduce the enjoyment of games by other players. The prior art also does not enable a player to block an annoying player from talking or listening to the player during any game in which an annoying player is a participant, regardless of the game console used by the annoying player. Different people have varying degrees of tolerance for annoying behavior of others. However, any player who chooses not to listen or speak to a specific other player for any reason, must have the ability to prevent communication with the specific other player, without giving up the ability to communicate with other players in games. A player may be upset because the player feels a specific other player uses excessive profanity or sexually explicit language, or uses language or makes comments that the player feels to be derogatory or socially unacceptable.
A parent may also want to block a child from participating in voice communication during game play to avoid exposing the child to any profanity and to preclude verbal communication with someone who might attempt to contact the child outside the scope of game play for harmful purposes. This parental block of a child's voice communication should be stored on an online game service so that it remains in effect if the child connects to the online game service from a different game console. The prior art game voice communication systems do not permit blocking verbal communications by a selected player, such as a child, participating in games using a multiplayer game console.
Should any player's verbal conduct while playing games over the Internet or other network become so egregious (based upon the number of complaints received from other players) as to warrant it, an online game service should be able to prevent that player from participating in voice communication while playing games through the online game service for a period of time, and if further justified by the continued receipt of complaints about that player's verbal behavior, to ban the player from using voice communication permanently. The current voice communication systems do not enable this level of control to be applied at each online game service so that a player is banned regardless of an alias used or the game console through which the player participates in game play through the online game service.
Although voice communications systems are well known for use on PCs playing games, gaming consoles have a different architecture, with a defined limit on available system resources. Most game consoles enable multiple players on a single instance of a game, i.e., on the same console. When gaming consoles are interconnected over the Internet or other network, they should preferably be able to provide voice communications for each of multiple players on the game console. Use of conventional techniques that have been developed to enable voice communication during game play on PCs will be unacceptable on game consoles, because of the more limited computing resources and the need to accommodate voice communications for multiple players. Accordingly, there is clearly a need for a method and system to enable voice communication for games played on one or more multiplayer game consoles, which addresses the issues noted above.

Use of multiple player real-time voice communications on a gaming device


A light-light transfer method using a spatial light modulator realizes an image display with a high utilizing of light without causing an undesirable residual image. The spatial light modulator is constituted to include two electrodes and at least a photoconductor layer member and a photo-modulation layer member used in a birefringence operating mode both being sandwiched between the two electrodes. A writing light is entered from the photoconductive layer member side so that its exposure value varies from the minimum exposure value to the maximum exposure value in a condition that a predetermined operation voltage is supplied between the two electrodes. In this instant, a voltage applied between both ends of the photo-modulation layer member corresponds to a voltage obtained by subtracting a voltage drop amount, occurring in the photoconductor layer member due to an incidence of the writing light, from said predetermined operation voltage applied in advance between said two electrodes. An operational condition of the spatial light modulator is set so that the voltage applied between both ends of the photo-modulation layer member becomes a voltage monotonously exceeding a voltage value corresponding to an extreme value of a degree of photo-modulation in a characteristic curve showing a relationship between an applied voltage and a degree of photo-modulation in the photo-modulation layer member, at the timing when the writing light of the maximum exposure value is entered into the spatial light modulator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-light transfer method using a spatial light modulator and its display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been conventionally known a display apparatus in which light fluxes having intensities modulated by serial information are projected on a screen by a projection-optics system so that a two-dimensional image display can be realized. However, in such a conventional technology wherein light signals having intensities modulated based on respective picture element signals of the image signal are scanned in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, even if required to form an optical two-dimensional image which is highly bright and has high-resolution by use of serial signals; for example, a highly accurate two-dimensional image resembling a real time condition in which 4000 picture elements are arranged in both a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction, such a requirement could not be satisfied because there was no signal transfer element capable of realizing it.

Driving method for photoconductive-type SLM


A high pressure discharge lamp in which the cathode has a cylindrical body part and a conical part which is doped with thorium dioxide (ThO2), and with a diameter which decreases in a direction from the body part toward the tip area of the conical part by at least one light receiving surface area being formed between the body part and the tip area of the cone in a base part of the conical part. The light receiving area lies at an angle with respect to the center axis of the conical part and the body part, said angle which is measured from the side of the body part being greater than the angle of inclination which is formed between the outer periphery of the conical part in the tip area of the cone and the center axis.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a high pressure discharge lamp, such as a xenon lamp, a high pressure mercury lamp, or the like. The xenon lamp is used, for example, in a projection apparatus or the like using DLP (digital light processing) technology as a light source. The high pressure mercury lamp is used, for example, as a light source in a semiconductor exposure device of a liquid crystal exposure device, a device for exposure of a printed board or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a lamp with the arrangement which is shown by way of example in FIG. 3 is known as a high pressure discharge lamp. This high pressure discharge lamp 10 is made of a silica glass bulb which has a light emitting part 11 and hermetically sealing parts 12. Furthermore, the high pressure discharge lamp 10 consists of a cathode 13 and an anode 14 which are located within the light emitting part 11 opposite one another.
The tungsten upholding part 131 of the electrode supports the cathode 13 and the tungsten upholding part 141 of the electrode supports the anode 14. The upholding parts 131, 141 of the electrodes are each inserted into and held in a holding cylinder 16 which is fixed within the hermetically sealing part 12, which is cylindrical, made of silica glass and within which there is a through opening which runs in the axial direction. The upholding parts 131, 141 of the electrode are sealed by means of a graded glass 15 in the hermetically sealing part 12, extend from the outer end of the bulb to the outside, projecting over it, and also act as outer lead pins which feed power to the cathode 13 and the anode 14.
In a high pressure discharge lamp 10 with the above described arrangement the cathode 13, as shown in FIG. 4, has a cylindrical body part 132 and a conical part 134 which has the shape of a truncated cone and which is located on one end of this body part 132 integrally with it. The diameter along the axis L of this body part 132 forward (to the left in the drawing) gradually decreases and on its tip a round flat tip surface 133 is formed. This conical part 134 is made of thoriated tungsten in which tungsten, as a metal with a high melting point, has been doped with an electron emissive material of thorium dioxide (ThO2). The anode 14 is made of pure tungsten.
In this cathode 13, in its conical part 134, thorium which is produced by reduction of the doped-in thorium dioxide by the tungsten acts as the emitter; this leads to stable emission of electrons. As a result the formation of a discharge arc is simplified.
However, for the reduction of thorium dioxide by tungsten, a very high temperature of at least 2500° C. is necessary. In a normal state of use, in the area outside the tip-side area 136 which is adjacent to the discharge arc in the conical part 134—i.e., in the area 135 on the base side—it is difficult to obtain such a high temperature state. As a result, in this area 135, on the base side, the reduction reaction of thorium dioxide by tungsten does not progress. Therefore, thorium which acts as an emitter cannot be efficiently produced.
On the surface of the conical part 134, the ratio of the reduction to thorium to the total amount of doped thorium dioxide—i.e., the reduction ratio of the thorium dioxide—is low, as was described above. Therefore, thorium dioxide cannot be used with high efficiency. As a result of the fact that the absolute amount of thorium which in fact contributes to the formation of the discharge arc decreases, therefore, there is the disadvantage that in the high pressure discharge lamp 10 a long enough operating service life cannot be obtained.
In order to eliminate the above described disadvantage, it has been proposed that, in the conical part 134, the surface of the area 135 on the base side be subjected to carbonization and that, in this area 135 on the base side, surface layers of tungsten carbide (W2C), be formed (see, for example, Japanese patent disclosure document 2000-21349).
This arrangement makes it possible to reduce the thorium dioxide in a relatively low temperature range of at least roughly 1800° C.; in a normal state of use, this also leads to accomplishment of a temperature which is necessary for reduction of thorium dioxide in a wide range on the surface of the conical part 134 of the cathode 13. In this way, the degree of reduction of the thorium dioxide is increased and a large amount of thorium does in fact contribute to formation of the discharge arc. Therefore, it becomes possible to prolong the service life of the high pressure discharge lamp 10.
However, in the normal state of use, in the conical area 134, on the surface of which the tungsten carbide layers have formed, in the area 135 on the base side, there is an area in which a high enough temperature is not reached. Therefore, a high enough degree of reduction of the thorium dioxide cannot be implemented. Thus, it was found that there is the disadvantage that in this high pressure discharge lamp 10 the expected service life cannot be achieved.

High pressure discharge lamp having a conical part and a cylindrical body part


An image forming apparatus forms images. A developer bearing body receives a first voltage and supplies developer to the electrostatic latent image formed on an image bearing body. A supplying member receives a second voltage and supplies the developer to said developer bearing body. A detector detects at least one of an environmental condition, e.g., temperature and humidity outside of an apparatus and an environmental condition e.g., temperature inside of the apparatus. A controller controls the difference between the first voltage and the second voltage in accordance the environmental conditions. The controller makes a decision to determine whether the outside temperature is not lower than a first reference, whether outside humidity is not higher than a second reference, and whether inside temperature is not lower than a third reference. If the above criteria are met, the controller decreases the absolute value of the difference.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional image forming apparatuses include printers, copying machines, and multi-function peripherals (MFPs). For example, a printer is configured as follows: A charging roller charges the surface of a photoconductive drum. An LED head illuminates the charged surface of the photoconductive drum in accordance with image data to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive drum. A thin layer of toner is formed on a developing roller and the toner on the developing roller is supplied to the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image. The toner image is then transferred onto a print medium or paper. The residual toner on the photoconductive drum is removed by a cleaning blade.
JP 2002-108089A discloses a printer in which the settings (e.g., voltages for charging, developing, and toner supplying operation) for image forming process are set in accordance with the environmental conditions including ambient temperature and humidity when the image forming apparatus is turned on.
A conventional printer suffers from a problem in that soiling of paper may occur to impair print quality due to changes in environmental conditions.


A novel C-glycoside of isopropylthiogalactoside (IPTG), isobutyl-C-galactoside (IBCG), is described. IBCG may be used as an IPTG substitute for increased induction of protein expression of plasmid-based genes for the production of recombinant proteins under the control of the lac promoter. IBCG offers the advantage over IPTG of being stable at ambient temperature.

Addition of isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) to bacterial cultures is a long-standing way to induce expression of plasmid-based genes for the production of recombinant proteins under the control of the lac promoter. IPTG binds to the lac repressor in Escherichia coli, thereby preventing binding of the repressor protein to DNA and blocking gene transcription.
There are several drawbacks to the use of IPTG. From the standpoint of experimental practicality, IPTG and its solutions should be stored well below room temperature (typically −20° C.) to prevent decomposition over time. In addition, multiple additions of IPTG are often necessary for longer induction times as the compound degrades under culture conditions.
There is therefore a need in the art for a more stable version of IPTG to circumvent the stability issues described above, and provide greater control of protein expression, especially over long periods of induction.
It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide a new compound, method and means of inducing expression of genes for the production of recombinant proteins.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a new compound that may be used to induce expression of genes for the production of recombinant proteins, whereby the compound is stable at ambient temperatures.
It is still a further objective of the present invention to provide a new compound that may be used to induce expression of genes for the production of recombinant proteins that is easy to synthesize.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a new compound that may be used to induce expression of genes for the production of recombinant proteins that is a functional substitute of IPTG.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a new compound that may be used to induce expression of genes for the production of IPTG that is more convenient and economical to store and transport.
It is yet a further objective of the present invention to provide a new compound that may be used as a galactose substitute.
These and other objectives will become clear from the foregoing detailed description.

More stable analog of isopropyl thiogalactoside for induction of protein expression

Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc.


A motorized wheeled vehicle includes a support frame, a head tube secured on the support frame, a front fork pivotally mounted on the head tube, a front wheel rotatably mounted on the front fork, a steering tube pivotally mounted on the head tube and secured on the front fork, a speed reduction control switch mounted on the head tube and provided with a plurality of contact points, and a contact board mounted on the steering tube and movable relative to the speed reduction control switch to press or detach the contact points of the speed reduction control switch. Thus, the speed reduction control switch has a multi-stage and micro-adjustment speed reduction function so as to reduce the speed of the motorized wheeled vehicle gradually when the motorized wheeled vehicle is turned.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wheeled vehicle and, more particularly, to a motorized wheeled vehicle, such as a motorized bicycle, an automotive vehicle and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional motorized wheeled vehicle comprises a turning reduction gear that is operated to slightly reduce the speed of the motorized wheeled vehicle when the motorized wheeled vehicle is turned around so as to prevent the motorized wheeled vehicle from being upset or fall down due to an excessive speed. However, the turning reduction gear only has a single-stage speed reduction function when turning, so that the speed of the motorized wheeled vehicle cannot be reduced efficiently when the motorized wheeled vehicle is turned around.

Motorized wheeled vehicle having a multi-stage speed reduction function when turning


A method and apparatus for automatically training a data loss prevention (DLP) agent deployed on an endpoint device is described. In one embodiment, the method includes monitoring information content on a client computer system for violations of a policy. The method further includes determining, with the client computer system, whether a violation of the policy has occurred for the information content based on a classifier. The method may also include transmitting monitored data indicative of a policy decision and the information content to a remote system and receiving a response from the remote system including an updated classifier, wherein the updated classifier was automatically generated by the remote system utilizing fingerprint matching.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) involves computer and information security, where DLP systems identify, monitor, and protect data in use (e.g., endpoint actions), data in motion (e.g., network actions), and data at rest (e.g., data storage). DLP systems may be deployed at user endpoint devices, network servers, etc. to inspect information content. DLP systems are designed to detect and prevent the unauthorized use and transmission of confidential information.
Client computer systems and devices, such as personal computers, laptop computers, personal digital assistants, smart phones, etc. are prolific in modern organizations. Often these systems include applications that allow users to create and edit documents, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, etc, which are referred to collectively as "documents." These systems also increasingly include the capability to transfer the documents, as well as other sensitive data, to other systems.
DLP systems that are employed at endpoint devices, to prevent the unwanted or unintended transmission of sensitive information, are usually lightweight applications due to the limited resources of the endpoint device (e.g., limitations resulting from a CPU, memory, disk size, processing speed, etc.). To achieve high accuracy in detecting sensitive documents in this resource-limited environment, training of the application typically required. However, if this training is only performed in advance of deployment on an endpoint system, false positive and false negative DLP decisions for new information content may result. To rectify an overabundance of false DLP decisions, some endpoint DLP applications may be retrained. However, retraining an endpoint DLP system involves human interaction which is costly, time-consuming, and highly inefficient.

Leveraging indexed document matching to automatically train SVM classifiers


Provided is a visible-light-responsive titanium oxide microparticle dispersion or the like readily enabling manufacture of a highly transparent photocatalyst thin film demonstrating photocatalyst activity even using visible light alone, and having exceptional titanium oxide microparticle dispersion stability even after storage for prolonged periods of time in cold and dark interior locations. The present invention makes it possible to: produce a peroxotitanic acid solution containing vanadium and a tin compound from a titanium compound, a vanadium compound, a tin compound, a basic substance, hydrogen peroxide, and an aqueous dispersion medium as starting materials; subject the peroxotitanic acid solution to a hydrothermal reaction under high pressure; subsequently admix a copper compound into the acid solution; and obtain a visible-light-responsive titanium oxide microparticle dispersion or the like.

Titanium oxide finds use in a variety of applications, for example, pigments, UV screeners, catalysts, photocatalysts, catalyst carriers, adsorbents, ion exchangers, fillers, reinforcements, ceramic stock materials, precursors to complex oxides such as perovskite type complex oxides, and primers for magnetic tape.
Among others, photocatalytic titanium oxide fine powder is a material having photocatalytic activity upon exposure to light including UV light of 400 nm or shorter. The photocatalytic activity refers to the action that holes and electrons generate upon excitation by UV light of 400 nm or shorter, diffuse to a surface, and act on molecules adsorbed to that surface to undergo redox reactions. By the redox reactions, organic matter is decomposed when adsorbed to the titanium oxide surface.
Once titanium oxide fine particles having such photocatalytic activity are applied to the substrate surface to form a photocatalyst thin film, harmful organic materials adsorbed thereto can be decomposed by irradiating excitation light. They are often used in applications including cleaning of the substrate surface, deodorizing, and sterilization. It is required to increase the contact area of photocatalyst particles with a material to be decomposed for the purpose of enhancing photocatalytic activity, and film transparency is required for the purpose of preserving the aesthetic appearance of a substrate to be coated. To meet these requirements, titanium oxide fine particles in the titanium oxide dispersion must have an average particle size of not more than 50 nm.
Furthermore, titanium oxide exerts satisfactory photocatalytic activity upon exposure to light in the UV region of relatively short wavelength (wavelength 10 to 400 nm) in sunlight or the like, but is sometimes awkward to exert satisfactory photocatalytic activity in an indoor space with lighting from a light source mainly producing light in the visible region (wavelength 400 to 800 nm) such as fluorescent lamps. Recently, a tungsten oxide photocatalyst (Patent Document 1: JP-A 2009-148700) attracts attention as the visible-light-responsive photocatalyst. Since tungsten is a rare element, it is desired to enhance the visible light activity of a photocatalyst using a common element, titanium.
The general processes for preparing titanium oxide fine particles, which are industrially implemented, include the sulfate process using ilmenite ore or rutile ore and the chloride process (Non-Patent Document 1: Titanium Oxide, Gihodo Publishing Co.), as well as the hydrolysis/calcination process, reaction in organic solvents, and the solid phase process (Non-Patent Document 2: Standard Research of Photocatalysts, Tokyo Tosho Co.). The resulting titanium oxide fine particles are subjected to ultrafine dispersion treatment in a coating liquid in order that titanium oxide fine particles be coated onto the substrate surface while maintaining the aesthetic appearance of the substrate to be coated. The general fine dispersion treatments include, for example, methods of dispersing titanium oxide fine powder as synthesized in dispersing media with the aid of dispersing agents such as organic dispersants by a wet dispersing machine (Patent Document 2: JP-A H01-003020, Patent Document 3: JP-A H06-279725, Patent Document 4: JP-A H07-246119, Patent Document 5: JP-A 2004-182558), and methods of surface-treating titanium oxide so that it may be dispersed in dispersing media in a stable manner (Patent Document 6: JP-A 2005-170687, Patent Document 7: JP-A 2009-179497). However, these manufacturing methods have the problem that since ultrafine particles with an average particle size of not more than 50 nm are prone to agglomerate, a great deal of labor is necessary in order that even primary particles be dispersed, and in some cases, it is impossible to disperse even primary particles; and the problem that when particles are surface-treated with inorganic or organic components or when dispersing agents such as surfactants are added, both for the purpose of enhancing dispersion stability, the photocatalyst is surface coated therewith, which becomes a factor of inhibiting the photocatalyst from exerting activity.
Also disclosed are the method of preparing an anatase type titanium oxide dispersion having long-term stability by hydrothermal treatment of a peroxotitanic acid solution obtained by dissolving titanium hydroxide with the aid of hydrogen peroxide (Patent Document 8: JP-A H10-67516); the method of preparing rutile type titanium oxide sol (Patent Document 9: JP-A H02-255532); and the method of preparing titanium oxide sol (Patent Document 10: JP-A H10-182152). In these dispersions, titanium oxide fine particles are kept dispersed without a need for surface treatment or dispersing agents while the average particle size is not more than 50 nm. Photocatalytic coating films obtained by coating substrates with the dispersions exhibit high transparency and activity upon UV light exposure, but not sufficient visible light activity.

Visible-light-responsive titanium oxide microparticle dispersion, method for manufacturing same, and member having surficial photocatalyst thin film formed using same dispersion


The present invention discloses as a steam that includes an iron casing, a first steam outlet, a second steam outlet, a heating member installing a water input portion and a steam output portion disposed at the iron casing, and a switch valve connected to the steam output portion and the first and second steam outlets. The switch valve having a switching routine for a first switch position and a second switch position is used for determining whether the steam heated by the steam output portion is outputted from the first steam outlet or the second steam outlet. The steam iron can provide both board-type and standing-type designs of steam irons and improve the value of the steam iron significantly.

Steam iron can be divided into two types: a board-type and a standing-type. The board-type iron is mainly used for ironing clothes, and its structure mainly includes a cold water storage portion, a vaporizer and an ironing plate, such that the cold water coming from the cold water storage portion is heated and vaporized by a vaporizer to produce steam, and the steam is discharged from a plurality of steam holes of the ironing plate. The structure of the standing-type steam iron is substantially the same as that of the board-type steam iron, but the major difference resides on that the standing-type steam iron includes a handheld ironing portion with steam holes, such that the discharged high-temperature steam can be used for ironing clothes, as well as cleaning clothes and removing smells.
The aforementioned two steam irons require processes of heating and vaporizing cold water into water vapors, and then using the steam for ironing or cleaning clothes, and thus the vaporization effect directly affects the performance of the steam irons. Water in a liquid state will be vaporized when the water is heated to a vaporization temperature, but the water is coexisted in both liquid and gaseous states, which is called "wet steam", and the wet steam is at situated at an unstable state. Particularly, if the temperature drops during the process of transmitting the steam, the steam will be condensed into water at a liquid state to make the clothes wet. If the temperature continues rising and exceeds the vaporization temperature, the water at a liquid state is vaporized into steam, which is called "dry steam", and the dry steam will not wet the clothes easily due to a drop of temperature.
To use dry steam for cleaning or ironing clothes by a steam iron, a steam washer and vaporizer structure as disclosed in R.O.C. Utility Model Patent No. M250728 is provided for giving a better vaporization effect. The structure comprises a base, an upper casing and a water input device, wherein the water input device provides water at a liquid state to be entered from the vaporizer, and the base installs a plurality of isolating pillars and a U-shape water passage to define a closed space after the upper casing is combined with the base, and an isolating pillar increases the contact area with the liquid water, and the U-shape water passage increases the time of heating the liquid water, such that the water at a liquid state can be heated sufficiently to form dry steam. In another conventional structure for increasing and storing the temperature for the steam in a steam chamber of a steam iron as disclosed in R.O.C. Utility Model Patent Publication No. 319256, an appropriate quantity of erected fins are installed in the steam chamber to achieve the effects of increasing the temperature of the steam and storing the steam, but the vaporizers of the foregoing two steam irons or devices still cause a temperature drop of steam while transmitting steam, so that the dry steam will be condensed into the wet steam.
At present, steam is used for ironing and cleaning clothes, and it is necessary to use a board-type steam iron or a standing-type steam iron, since the board-type steam iron can iron clothes better, but the quantity of steam is scattered and all components are concentrated at the single iron, and thus it cannot be applied to the hanging clothes due to its weight. On the other hand, the standing-type steam iron discharges steam at a spot and thus it cannot be applied for ironing different kinds of clothes, and thus causing inconvenience to users.


A three-dimensional stacked fin complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) device having dual work function metal gate structures is provided. The stacked fin CMOS device includes a fin stack having a first semiconductor fin over a substrate, a dielectric fin atop the first semiconductor fin and a second semiconductor fin atop the dielectric fin, and a gate sack straddling the fin stack. The gate stack includes a first metal gate portion surrounding a channel portion of the first semiconductor fin and a second metal gate portion surrounding a channel portion of the second semiconductor fin. The first metal gate portion has a first work function suitable to reduce a threshold voltage of a field effect transistor (FET) of a first conductivity type, while the second gate portion has a second work function suitable to reduce a threshold voltage of a FET of a second conductivity type opposite the first conductivity type.

The present application relates to the fabrication of semiconductor devices, and more particularly, to the formation of dual work function metal gate structures for a stacked fin complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) device.
Three-dimensional (3D) monolithic integration in which transistors are stacked on top of each other is a promising approach for continue transistor density scaling. In a 3D stacked fin CMOS device, a self-aligned stack of fins can be formed where the top tier and bottom tier fins are used for devices with opposite conductivity types (i.e., p-type and n-type), respectively. Such an approach not only allows smaller footprint by stacking one type of fin field effect transistors (FinFETs) (e.g., p-type FinFETs) on top of a complementary type of FinFETs (e.g., n-type FinFET), but also permits use of different channel materials for two types of FinFETs simply by bonding appropriate device layers. In a stacked fin CMOS device, the n-type FinFET and the p-type FinFET share a common gate electrode. Because a threshold voltage of a FinFET is primarily determined by the work function of the gate metal used, and in order to obtain a desired threshold voltage for either n-type or p-type FinFET, two meal gate structures having different work functions are typically used. It is challenging, however, to form independently adjustable duel work function metal gate structures in the stacked fin CMOS device due to the difficulty in selective removal of one of the metal gate structures by lithography and etching in vertically stacked devices. Therefore, there remains a need for an improved method for fabricating dual work function metal gate structures for a stacked fin CMOS device that is compatible with existing CMOS process flows.

Dual work function integration for stacked FinFET

International Business Machines Corporation


Provided is an electronic device capable of supplying desired electric power to a load so as to operate the load even in a case where charged power is minute and a voltage increase rate of a capacitor, which increases by charge, is low. The electronic device includes: a power source which has supply power less than consumption power of the load; a capacitor to be charged with the supply power; and a charge/discharge control circuit which controls charging of the capacitor and consumption of charged power of the capacitor by the load, and the charge/discharge control circuit includes: a first node to which the supply power of the power source is supplied; and a circuit which charges the capacitor with the supply power from the first node.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic device including a charge/discharge control circuit, which is used to charge a capacitor with minute electric power, and to supply charged power of the capacitor to a load when a voltage of the capacitor to be increased by the charge reaches a predetermined voltage.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there have been an increasing number of electronic devices which operate by using electric power generated by sunlight in one's surroundings, a body temperature of a human being, or the like. A solar cell is known as one that generates electric power by sunlight, and a thermoelectric conversion element is known as one that generates electric power by the body temperature of a human being. However, these generators are downsized for improving portability and cutting costs, and hence the generated power is minute. Therefore, there have been an increasing number of cases where the generated power is less than the consumption power of the electronic devices. In this case, a charge/discharge control circuit is used to charge a capacitor with generated power once, and to supply charged power of the capacitor to the electronic device when enough electric power is charged for operating the electronic device for a predetermined period of time.
FIG. 4 illustrates a conventional electronic device including a charge/discharge control circuit. The electronic device includes a power source 401, a capacitor 405, a control circuit 406 for controlling charge/discharge, and an electronic device body circuit 407 serving as a load. The power source 401 includes a thermoelectric conversion element 402, a booster circuit 403, and a Schottky diode 404.
The thermoelectric conversion element 402 converts a temperature, such as a body temperature and an outside air temperature, into generated power and outputs the generated power. The generated power output from the thermoelectric conversion element 402 has a voltage less than an operation voltage of the electronic device body circuit 407. Therefore, in the booster circuit 403, the generated power is converted into boost power having a voltage equal to or more than the operation voltage of the electronic device body circuit 407. The boost power is output from the booster circuit 403 via the Schottky diode 404 for preventing reverse flow, and charges the capacitor 405. The control circuit 406 includes a switching element and a voltage detection circuit, and a hysteresis circuit and a delay circuit, or a latch circuit, a timer circuit, and a delay circuit. The voltage detection circuit monitors a voltage of the capacitor 405, and hence monitors a charge amount of the capacitor 405, thereby detecting that the charge amount of the capacitor 405 has reached electric power high enough for operating the electronic device body circuit 407 for a predetermined period of time.
When the control circuit 406 detects the above-mentioned state, the switching element is turned ON, thereby supplying charged power of the capacitor 405 to the electronic device body circuit 407. When the control circuit 406 includes the hysteresis circuit and the delay circuit, a detection voltage is provided with hysteresis, and the switching element is turned ON after a delay period of the delay circuit. Then, the charged power of the capacitor 405 is supplied to the electronic device body circuit 407 until the voltage of the capacitor 405 becomes a hysteresis voltage. When the control circuit 406 includes the latch circuit, the timer circuit, and the delay circuit, after detecting the voltage of the capacitor 405, inversion of the latch circuit and operation of the timer circuit are performed during a delay time of the delay circuit. Then, the switching element is turned ON after the delay time of the delay circuit. Then, until the latch circuit is reset by the timer circuit, the charged power of the capacitor 405 is supplied to the electronic device body circuit 407. When the charged power of the capacitor 405 is supplied to the electronic device body circuit 407, the electronic device body circuit 407 operates (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 11-288319).
In the above-mentioned conventional electronic device including a charge/discharge control circuit, the voltage of the capacitor is monitored, and, when it is detected that the voltage of the capacitor has become a predetermined voltage, the charged power of the capacitor is supplied to the electronic device body circuit serving as a load. In this configuration, during the delay time, which is after it is detected that the voltage of the capacitor has become the predetermined voltage and until the switching element is turned ON, it is required to determine the inversion of the latch circuit or the operation of the hysteresis circuit before the switching element is turned ON. In order to invert the latch circuit or operate the hysteresis circuit, a potential difference of several mV or more is necessary after the start of the operation and until the completion thereof During the above-mentioned delay time, the voltage of the capacitor needs to increase to this potential difference or more. When the switching element starts being turned ON in a state where the voltage of the capacitor has not reached this voltage or more, the electric power to be supplied to the electronic device body circuit gradually increases. When this electric power becomes equal to the charged power, the voltage of the capacitor stops increasing. Then, when the voltage of the capacitor stops increasing, the operation of the control circuit 406 stops while the operation of the latch circuit or the hysteresis circuit and an ON resistance of the switching element are left in an indefinite state. The charged power keeps being consumed by the electronic device. As a matter of course, as compared to the electric power necessary for the operation of the electronic device body circuit, the charged power in this case is much smaller, and hence the electronic device body circuit cannot perform a desired operation.
As described above, in the conventional electronic device including a charge/discharge control circuit, there has been a problem that desired electric power cannot be supplied to a load in a case where the charged power is minute and the voltage increase rate of the capacitor, which increases by charge, is low. Further, the generated power is decreased due to downsizing of the generator, and a consumption current is increased due to improvement of functions and performance in the electronic device operated by the generated power, and hence there have been an increasing number of cases where a capacitance value is increased, with the result that the above-mentioned problem is liable to occur.


A direct conversion radio frequency (RF) tuner includes a mixer generating I and Q quadrature components. A phase detection circuit generates a phase error measurement between the I quadrature component and the Q quadrature component. A phase correction circuit corrects a phase of the Q component based on the phase error measurement, and outputs a phase-corrected Q quadrature component. An I quadrature component gain control circuit receives the I quadrature component and outputting an amplitude corrected I quadrature component. A Q quadrature component gain control circuit receives the phase corrected Q quadrature component and outputs an amplitude corrected Q quadrature component.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to RF receivers, and more particularly, to direct conversion television tuners and receivers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Direct-conversion, or homodyne, receivers are today popular for many communications applications because of their simplicity and low power. They do not require intermediate-frequency (IF) filters, which are often costly, and need only one frequency conversion stage and one local oscillator (LO). Direct-conversion receivers rely entirely on quadrature mixing to obtain the necessary image rejection. The conversion gain and phase of the quadrature mixing stages must be precisely matched to obtain good image rejection.
At the frequencies used for direct broadcast satellite (DBS) transmissions (approximately 1-2 GHz), 40 dB of image rejection is about the maximum level of image rejection that can be achieved solely through component matching in practical integrated circuits.
This is adequate for the quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) and 8-ary phase shift keying (8PSK) modulation formats used in these systems. However, analog television requires signal-to-noise ratios of about 50 dB for ideal image quality. As there are many contributors to the noise budget in realistic communication systems, the noise contribution from images must be on the order of 60 dB below the signal or better.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional direct conversion analog television tuner. As shown in FIG. 1, RF input is received by a low-noise amplifier 101. The RF input is then fed into mixers 102a, 102b. Phase-lock loop (PLL) 105 outputs a waveform at a specified frequency to the mixer 102a, and, through a 90-degree phase shifter 104, to the mixer 102b. Collectively, the mixers 102a, 102b, the PLL 105 and the phase shifter 104 may be referred to as a mixing stage 125.
The outputs of the mixing stage 105 are fed to low-pass filters 106a, 106b, and then to variable gain amplifiers 108a, 108b. The variable gain amplifiers 108a, 108b are in a closed loop that includes power detection circuits 109a, 109b, respectively. The outputs of the amplifiers 108a, 108b are the quadrature components I and Q, respectively.
The analog television spectrum contains a discrete tone at the picture carrier. This picture carrier will appear in the I and Q signals at the same frequency. Ideally, the I and Q picture carriers will be equal in amplitude and 90 degrees apart in phase. However, because of circuit imperfections, the I and Q picture carriers will have slightly different amplitudes and be somewhat more or less than 90 degrees apart. This is illustrated in the spectrums of FIG. 2.
As may be seen in FIG. 2, the I and the Q components are unbalanced. In this case, the amplitude of the Q component is larger than the amplitude of the I component by δ, and is out of phase with the I component by φ.

Quadrature correction method for analog television reception using direct-conversion tuners


Disclosed is a denture adhesive composition comprising at least one non-adhesive self-supporting layer; and a partial salt of a lower alkyl vinyl ether-maleic acid copolymer, the partial salt copolymer comprising carboxyl groups, of which from about 50% to about 95% are neutralized by one or more metal cations; wherein the partial salt copolymer is covalently crosslinked with an organic crosslinker and wherein the molar ratio of organic crosslinker to carboxyl groups, prior to neutralization by the metal cations, is from about 0.1% to about 30%.

Ordinary removable dentures, dental plates and the like, comprise teeth mounted in a suitable plate or base. Denture adhesives or stabilizers are used to provide a cushion or gasket between the denture and the gums or tissues and to fill the interstices between the dentures and the gums or tissues.
Denture stabilizing or adhesive compositions can exhibit several deficiencies. Aesthetic deficiencies may include oozing of the adhesive from under the dental plate during insertion and throughout the wearing period and messiness and difficulty of removing the residual adhesive from the mouth and dentures. Additionally, food may become trapped between the denture and the oral cavity of the wearer. Considerable effort has been made over the years to develop denture adhesive compositions with improved holding capabilities which are aesthetically pleasing and easy to use.
Lower alkyl vinyl ether-maleic copolymers and salts thereof are known in the art for use in denture adhesive compositions. Such disclosures include: U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,391 to Kumar et al., issued Dec. 25, 1990; U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,604 to Holeva et al., issued Dec. 17, 1991; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,652 to Clarke, issued Jun. 11, 1996.
Technologies comprising crosslinked alkyl vinyl ether-maleic copolymers providing absorbent fibers and adhesives have also been taught in the art. Examples include: U.S. Pat. No. 3,983,095 to Bashaw et al., issued Sep. 28, 1976, disclosing a method for preparing water-insoluble, water-swellable fibers by reacting a copolymer of maleic anhydride and a cross-linking agent; U.S. Pat. No. 2,866,775 to Sellers, issued Dec. 30, 1958, disclosing adhesive compositions comprising esters of maleic anhydride and vinyl ether copolymers optionally crosslinked with glycols; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,235 to Barcus et al., issued Sep. 17, 1991, disclosing absorbent fibers comprising a cellulosic fiber, a poly(methyl vinyl ether-co-maleate) copolymer and a polyol, all of which are chemically bonded together. Layered denture adhesive compositions have also been disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,702 to Homan et al., issued Nov. 14, 1989 and European Patent Application 0,353,375 to Altwirth, published Feb. 7, 1990.
Despite the above-noted technologies, as well as others, a need still exists for denture stabilizing compositions providing improved hold and aethestics.
In accordance with the present invention, it has been discovered that denture adhesive compositions comprising a non-adhesive self-supporting layer and partial salts of lower alkyl vinyl ether-maleic acid copolymers lightly crosslinked covalently with an organic crosslinker provide superior denture stability and retention over a significantly longer period of time versus conventional denture adhesives. Specifically, the compositions exhibit higher resistance to salivary washout while maintaining the same or better denture hold as conventional denture adhesives. This added resistance to salivary washout translates to longer denture hold and stability. It is believed that the low level of covalent crosslinking of the partial salt of a lower alkyl vinyl ether-maleic acid copolymer distinguishes the present invention from other technologies utilizing crosslinked alkyl vinyl ether-maleic acid copolymers or their partial salts.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide partial salt lower alkyl vinyl ether-maleic copolymers which are lightly crosslinked with an organic crosslinker, which are delivered on a non-adhesive self-supporting layer vehicle. It is also an object of the invention to provide an improved adhesive compositions which may be used with dentures and provide a firm hold and exhibit higher resistance to salivary washout.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent from the detailed description which follows.


A fitness device includes a body, a pedaling unit, a rotating unit, a seat unit, and at least one coupling unit. The coupling unit is pivotally mounted to the base and is coaxially aligned with the axle. The coupling unit is engaged with the rotating unit such that the rotating unit coaxially rotates with the coupling unit for driving the seat unit to convert between a first position in which the seat unit is located away from the base, and a second position in which the seat unit is located proximate to the base. A vertical distance and a horizontal distance between the seat unit and the pedaling unit are altered when converting between the first and second positions. By rotating the rotating unit, the horizontal and vertical distances between the seat and pedaling units are altered for allowing users to exercise in an upright posture or a recumbent posture.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a multi-mode exercise machine 1 in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,215 is disclosed. The multi-mode exercise machine comprises a base frame 11, a pedal unit 12 mounted to the base frame 11, a first seat 13 disposed on the pedal unit 12, a post 14 pivotally mounted to the base frame 11 and located on one lateral side of the pedal unit 12, a first handle 15 mounted to the post 14, a second seat 16 slidable along the post 14, a retractable pulling rope unit 17 pivotally mounted to the pedal unit 12, and a treadle unit 18 pivotally disposed on another end of the post 14. The pulling rope unit 17 includes a pulling rope 171 that is wound in the pedal unit 12, and a second handle 172.
When the post 14 is in an upright position, a user is able to sit on the first seat 13, and grasp on the first handle 15 using both hands while pedaling the pedal unit 12 for exercising. When the post 14 is in a horizontal position, the user is able to sit on the second seat 16 in a recumbent posture with pedals on the treadle unit 18. The user grasps on the second handle 172 with both hands for pulling the pulling rope 171, so that the retractable pulling rope 171 and the slidable second seat 16 allows the user to achieve an exercise effect. Thereby, the user is able to obtain different exercise effects by switching between an upright posture and a recumbent posture.
Despite the effects the aforementioned exercise machine 1 can provide, however, the exercise machine 1 requires two seats (first seat 13, second seat 16), two handles (first handle 15, second handle 172), and two pedal units (pedal unit 12, treadle unit 18). This structure of the exercise machine 1 is complicated and thus difficult to operate.


Systems and methods are provided for monitoring a machine. In one implementation, a system for monitoring the machine includes a monitoring server in communication with a machine. The monitoring server receives data from the machine, estimates, based on the received data, an operating condition of the machine, and estimates a depreciation value of the machine based on the operating condition.

A modern machine (e.g., a fixed or mobile commercial machine, such as a construction machine, fixed engine system, marine-based machine, etc.) may be leased to a customer from a machine owner with financing handled by a financial entity. Typically, at the beginning of the lease, the customer enters into an application agreement, which specifies the type of application the machine is agreed to be subject to during the lease (e.g., mining, construction, types of environments, etc.), the agreed number of hours of machine use for the term of the lease, and any other restrictions or requirements. Further, the application agreement typically specifies penalties for overuse of the machine and/or use of the machine in a manner that is inconsistent with the terms of the application agreement.
In some situations, the customer may use the machine in excess of the agreed upon number of hours of use during the lease. In other situations, the customer may use the machine for an application that was not specified in the application agreement. Based on the terms of the application agreement, the financial entity that leased the machine may have expected the machine to have a greater value at the end of the lease term. As a result of overuse or use of the machine in an environment not specified in the application agreement, the depreciated value of the machine may be less than expected.
During the term of the lease, the financial entity is typically unaware of the present value of the machine because it is costly and impractical to expend the resources necessary to perform regular inspections of all leased machines. Further, due to the overuse of the machine or use of the machine that is inconsistent with the application agreement, the financial entity may have to charge the customer a penalty. Even though the penalty is specified in the application agreement, due to the passage of time since the customer entered into the agreement, the penalty might be an unexpected cost. After being charged the penalty, the customer might come away from the transaction with a negative impression of the experience.
The financial entity would like to provide the customer with a better experience in order to encourage repeat business and customer goodwill. For example, the financial entity would prefer to inform the customer of the overuse of the machine during the term of the lease. At that time, the customer may then have the option of adjusting the amount of use of the machine in order to use the machine in a manner that is more consistent with the terms of the application agreement. Alternatively, the customer may indicate that the current level of use of the machine is required for the remainder of the lease term. In such a situation, the financial entity would have an option available to renegotiate the rate of the lease for the remainder of the lease term with the customer. By renegotiating the rate, the customer would not incur an unexpected and likely greater penalty at the end of the lease term. However, since the financial entity is unaware of the overuse of a leased machine and/or use of the machine that is inconsistent with the application agreement, these options are not available.
One method of tracking and managing physical assets is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,952,680 B1 (the '680 patent), which issued to Melby et al. on Oct. 4, 2005. The '680 patent describes a system that gathers, analyzes, and delivers information relating to assets, such as a fleet of industrial equipment. Although the system of the '680 patent may analyze the information relating to the assets and schedule asset maintenance as required, the system nevertheless has several disadvantages. For example, the system of the '680 patent does not determine whether a machine has been used in excess of an application agreement. Further, the system of the '680 patent does not use data collected from a machine to notify a customer of overuse and a penalty that will be incurred if the level of overuse continues to the end of a lease term.
The disclosed system and methods are directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.

Systems and methods for monitoring a machine


“A micro beam collimator for compressing beams is described, where the collimator has channel means for providing a channel having a cross section and guiding the beams from an entrance end to an exit end of the channel. The invention provides a micro beam collimator for compressing beams which allows easy adjustment of the width of the cross section of the beams while making it possible at the same time to adjust the length of the cross section of the beams. The invention forms the channel means by at least three rod members each of which having at least one bordering surface for bordering the cross section, wherein the rod members are moveable against each other along the bordering surfaces so that the geometry of the cross action is variable.”

The present invention relates to a micro beam collimator having an iris like capillary for compressing or concentrating beams. The invention is applicable for the formation of X-ray micro beams or neutron micro beams. Further fields of application are X-ray lithography and the fabrication of miniature mechanical devices.
It is known in the art to use a glass capillary for the formation of X-ray micro beams to provide high resolution in many studies related to material characterization. All prior art developments rely on the principal of total multiple reflections of X-rays from the smooth internal glass capillary surface.
High-resolution X-ray examination on ultra small regions of materials extended the application of numerous laboratory and industrial techniques, such as diffraction, spectroscopy, fluorescence, as well as metal refining, semiconductor and ceramic manufacturing [see prior art references 1,2]. The increasing interest in X-ray microanalysis in many research and commercial fields yielded an intensive demand on methods for formation of X-ray micro beams. Nevertheless the most popular technique still remains the use of glass capillaries with various shapes of longitudinal cross section (usually tapered of parabolic) either single as mono-capillary or bundled as poly-capillary concentrators.
The generation of high intensity X-ray beams in the micrometer size is succeed through the multiple total reflection of X-rays [see prior art references 5,6] inside lead-glass capillary tubes [see prior art references 1–4,7,8]. By directing the source X-rays towards the capillary entrance, the incident beam may compressed as long as the angle of incidence for each reflection remains below the critical value θc which is calculated in the simplified form to θc=(2δ)1/2 and δ=(Ne2λ2Zρ/(2πmc2A), where N=Avogadro's number, e=electron charge, λ=wave length of radiation, Z=atomic number, ρ=material density, m=electron mass, c=velocity of light and A=atomic mass [see prior art references 3, 4].
For lead glass and X-ray photons of 8 KeV, θc does not exceed 3 mrad (0.17°) [see prior art reference 9]. This means that a tapered lead glass capillary about 10 cm long will be limited to an entrance opening of about 20–50 μm if an output beam size of 3–11 μm is required [see prior art references 1,7]; the capillary capture tip must be even smaller for higher photon energies. Hence, only a small fraction of the incident radiation can be condensed, resulting that micro beam experiments usually being conducted at high-energy synchrotron radiation sources with high input X-ray intensities.
A possible way to increase the amount of radiation that can be condensed is to use reflecting materials with higher θc and better properties in the X-ray optics. Ideal materials for such a purpose are the heavyweight metals with high electron densities. Of course, construction of a metallic capillary tube in the style of the classic glass capillary with very smooth inner wall is extremely difficult.
The above mentioned difficulty has been overcome by the micro beam collimator for high resolution XRD investigations according to EP 1 193 492 A1. The known micro beam collimator has a channel for compressing X-ray beams being formed by two opposite, polished, oblong plates made of one of the heavyweight metals or materials having total reflection properties comparable to those of the heavyweight metals. The channel for guiding and compressing the beams has a line- or slit-shaped rectangular cross section. Spacer foils of different thickness can be used depending on the required widths of the generated beam. However, changing the width of the cross section of the channel by replacing the spacer foils is a complicated and time consuming process. Further, the known micro beam collimator does not allow an adjustment of the lengths of the cross section of the channel which is required in some applications.

Micro beam collimator having an iris like capillary for compressing beams


A method for reducing delay of playing media includes: a user node obtaining information on a list of nodes that can provide a desired program content; selects a best node among the nodes that can provide the program content corresponding to one or more time segments, wherein the program content is to be played in more than one time segment and the best node is closest to the user node among all the nodes; creating a connection with the selected best node; receiving media stream data of the program content from the best node; and playing the media stream data. An apparatus for reducing delay of media playing herein includes: a node information obtaining module, a best node selecting module, a connection creating module, and a playing module.

The streaming technology is a technology which can transfer multimedia data streams over IP network. In the traditional play technology, the client downloads a complete file from the server for playing. The streaming technology utilizes streaming transmission, divides the whole multimedia file into multiple compressed packets, and transmits the compressed packets to the client sequentially in real time. The user may decompress the arriving packets while downloading subsequent compressed packets, thus saving time. With the development of computer technologies, the streaming technology is more and more widely applied to Video On Demand (VOD). The VOD technology converts a recorded video program into a digital video file directly playable on a computer through a series of processes such as capture and compression, and stores the file on a web server, thus being available for users. The user watches the video and audio programs of the video service provider through a terminal device, and can play the program forward, backward, or pause the program while watching the program. VOD service is characterized by celerity, convenience and interaction. With the increase of network bandwidth, the VOD service is more and more promising. The development of the Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) spurs the popularity of applying the streaming technology.
When the VOD media data are transmitted in IPTV system, the traditional streaming system exposes many problems. The VOD imposes an excessive impact on the server of the IPTV, which tends to cause a single-point failure. Therefore, a Content Delivery Network (CDN) technology is introduced. The essence of the CDN technology is to push the content from the center to the edge nearby the user, thus effectively improving the Quality of Service (QoS) of the content and relieving the pressure on the central devices and backbone networks. Through the CDN technology, the content service changes from a single central structure to a distributed structure. When the user clicks the program, the desired media content can be obtained from the edge server nearby the user. The user obtains resources from the same edge server when playing fast forward/backward and jumping forward/backward.
With the rapid development of the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) technology in recent years, the P2P technology is more and more applied to the streaming service, for example, the P2P-based streaming software such as PPLive and PPStream. By virtue of the characteristics of the P2P, the user node acts as a server for providing contents and sharing the load of servers, thus enhancing the extensibility of the system and making the media data more distributed. In the current streaming system based on P2P, each node sends the received content to other nodes while receiving the content. Therefore, the content provided by each node to other nodes varies with the content watched by the node. Consequently, in order to create a TCP connection, the user has to search for the corresponding program source again while playing the media fast forward/backward, or jumping forward/backward.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of PPLive streaming software. When the user drags the progress bar of the media during play, the user needs to query the user list on the central server first, and then creates a corresponding TCP connection with the relevant node to play the media according to the current play conditions. This prolongs the delay of playing the media, and disregards the proximity between nodes. Meanwhile, the central server needs to keep updating the content provided by each node, thus increasing the load of the central server. Moreover, each user node stores only a small portion of media contents. In this case, if a user wants to access a complete program, the user has to access multiple user nodes before obtaining the complete resources. When the user plays fast forward and fast backward or drags the progress bar, the user may need to span different nodes which provide program contents, search for the program source again and create a TCP connection, which further prolong the delay of playing the media.
After the user drags the progress bar of the media in a CDN-based network, the user still obtains the resources from the same server, and does not need to search the server again or create a TCP connection. Therefore, the play delay is about 2-3 seconds. However, after the user drags the progress bar in a P2P-based network, the user needs to search the server again and create a TCP connection, and the play delay is over 5 seconds if the buffer time of play is considered, which is unacceptable to the user.

Method and apparatus for reducing delay of media playing