An apparatus for creating a radio map includes a radio signal acquiring unit that acquires information on radio signals between one or more cooperative intelligent robots, a radio environment modeling unit that estimates radio strength for each cell configuring the radio map from the information on radio signals acquired by the radio signal acquiring unit, and a radio map creating unit that classifies a communication region of each cell and models the radio map according to the radio strength for each cell estimated by the radio environment modeling unit.

1. Field
The following description relates to cooperative intelligent robots, and particularly, to an apparatus and method for creating a probability-based radio map to provide information on communication capabilities, in order to estimate and prevent disconnection of communication between cooperative intelligent robots.
2. Description of the Related Art
As utilization of robots in daily life is increasing, research on robots in various fields is increasing. Various studies have found that utilizing a plurality of cooperative intelligent robots rather than a single robot is more efficient in cases where there are a wide range of complex tasks to be carried out. Accordingly, research on cooperative intelligent robots is actively progressing.
Fields such as construction, defense, security, disaster management, and emergency management are typical examples of fields capable of increasing task effectiveness by utilizing a plurality of cooperative intelligent robots. Since such fields involve non-formalized work environments, corresponding cooperative intelligent technologies are needed. Further, in such environments, since it is difficult to use an existing communication infrastructure, need for a cooperative intelligent network is increased, and a countermeasure for responding to disconnections of radio transmissions due to changes in the environment is required.
In performing tasks by such cooperative intelligent robots, the most basic function is communication between robots. In establishing a cooperation policy between robots, the ability of the robot to communicate is the biggest issue. In performing tasks such as search and rescue, construction of an uninterrupted network between robots is essential.
As existing communication systems for cooperative intelligent robots, a single-hop to communication system based on one access point (AP), or a multiple-hop routing, system using an ad-hoc mesh network, are being researched. However, in case of the single-hop communication based on one access point, a communication radius is limited, and in case of the ad-hoc mesh network, communication obstacles caused by changes in radio waves are frequent, disconnecting communications in the area.

Apparatus and method for creating probability-based radio map for cooperative intelligent robots

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


This invention is directed to a roller shoe having a pair of rollers connected together by a strap which may be converted to a walking or running shoe by removing the rollers and strap as a unit from the outsole of the shoe.

Traditional roller skates, and more recently, inline roller skates, are popular among children and adults alike. While originally intended for roller rinks and the like, modern roller skates commonly employ rollers with a rubber-like covering which permit them to be used on roadways, sidewalks and other outdoor surfaces. One issue with these types of roller skates is that they may only be used for skating. If an individual is using the roller skates outdoors, he or she must either carry a pair of walking or running shoes, or return home, when finished skating because its is difficult to walk around in such skates.
This problem has been addressed at least to some extent in the prior art. In one design, the outsole of a shoe is formed with one or more cavities which receive rollers capable of moving between an extended position in contact with the ground or other surface and a retracted position inside of the outsole. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,474,661; 6,523,836; 5,797,609 and 5,785,327. These types of shoes may be used as a roller skate with the rollers extended, but can function as a walking or running shoe by retracting the rollers within the cavities. This versatility provides an advantage over traditional roller skates or inline skates, but also creates problems. In particular, shoes of this type are relatively heavy when worn as a walking or running shoe due to the presence of multiple rollers in the shoe outsole. Additionally, the outsole must be made relatively thick to receive the entirety of the rollers when in the retracted position which adds weight to the shoes and detracts from their aesthetic appearance.
Another approach in the prior art is to provide a shoe with a detachable skate. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,736,411 and 6,120,038 disclose shoes which may be releasably attached to an inline roller assembly to covert the shoe from a conventional walking or running shoe to a roller skate. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,729,629 and 6,702,304 teach the combination of a shoe and a roller base having a platform with a pair of rollers at either end. The shoes of these two patents may be releasably attached to the roller base, and detached, depending on whether they are to be used as roller skates or walking shoes. Limitations with both of these designs include the fact that both the inline roller assembly and the roller base are relatively cumbersome to attach and detach from the shoe, and they are inconvenient and heavy to carry around after conversion from a roller skate to a walking shoe.


A method of purifying 1,3-bis(3-aminopropyl)-1,1,3,3-tetraorganodisiloxane represented by the formula (I) as described hereinbefore, which comprises recrystallizing a crude product of the compound as its acid addition salt, and then neutralizing the acid addition salt to obtain a purified product of the compound. According to the method of the present invention, the compound of the formula (I) can be purified at high purity in high yield, and the purification treatment can be industrially conducted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of purifying 1,3-bis(3-aminopropyl)-1,1,3,3-tetraorganodisiloxane which is useful as a modifier for synthetic resins such as polyimides, polyamides or polyurethanes.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, as a method of purifying 1,3-bis(3-amino-propyl)-1,1,3,3-tetraorganodisiloxane, a method of isolating crude 1,3-bis(3-aminopropyl)-1,1,3,3-tetraorganodisiloxane by distillation is known. However, this method involves the problem that, of impurities by-produced in a reaction for obtaining the desired product, impurities having a boiling point close to the boiling point of the desired product cannot be finally removed, and also Involves the problem that since the distillation is carried out while containing such impurities, thermal decomposition of the impurities occurs due to heat generated at the distillation, resulting in contamination of other impurities.

Method of purifying 1,3-bis(3-aminopropyl)-1,1,3,3-tetraorganodisiloxane


Beverage container lid assemblies provide a combined premium display area and cooling/insulating structure for the beverage container.

A variety of beverage lid assemblies to which premiums (e.g., digital media disks, CD-ROM business cards, phone cards, coupons, booklets, advertising materials, etc.) can be attached are known. However, known beverage lid assemblies are not optimally suited for use with hot beverage containers (e.g., carry-out cups for coffee or tea). Among other deficiencies, known beverage lid assemblies to which premiums can be attached do not adequately protect the premium from being damaged by heat from a hot beverage product. Thermal protection is important where the premium is sensitive to heat, as in the case of media such as CD-ROM and DataPlay disks. For example, warpage caused by close proximity to heat from a hot beverage product can cause CD-ROMs to spin unevenly in the CD reader thereby rendering them unusable, causing consumers to be upset and manufacturers to incur additional costs. Additionally, media such as DataPlay disks or other cassette-type systems that use a closed compartment are vulnerable to condensation that could damage internal mechanisms. Condensation can occur on a premium when bathed in steam from a hot beverage or when cooled to a temperature lower than the dew point by proximity to an iced beverage. It would be desirable in these situations to have a lid assembly, for a hot or cold beverage, that insulates the premium from the pooling of moisture through condensation.
It would also be desirable to have a lid assembly for a beverage container that prevents the beverage product from splashing out of the container onto either a person or the premium.
It would also be desirable to have a lid assembly for a beverage container that allows the beverage product to be dispensed from the container with the premium still attached to the lid assembly.
It would also be desirable to have a lid assembly for a beverage container that securely holds the premium but also allows the premium to be removed from the lid assembly with a small amount of force, thereby lessening the changes of accidentally removing the lid assembly from the beverage container along with the premium or otherwise unintentionally separating the lid assembly from the beverage container.

Beverage container lids with a premium and a combined display area and cooling/insulating structure for the premium


The present invention relates to a magnetic recording medium comprising at least a magnetic layer, optionally by means of an under layer and an intermediate layer thereon, on a non-magnetic substrate and, occasionally a protective layer disposed on the magnetic layer, wherein projections each of a shape having a plurality of protrusions per one projection are formed by the number of from 10 to 10.sup.6 per 1 mm.sup.2 by irradiation of energy beam to a surface of at least one of the substrate, the under layer, the intermediate layer, the magnetic layer and the protective layer.

The present invention relates to a magnetic recording medium and a method of producing the same and, more specifically, it relates to a thin film type magnetic recording medium used for a hard disk drive and a method of producing the same, capable of improving a CSS (contact start and stop) property and a sticking property of the magnetic head to the surface of the magnetic recording medium, and simultaneously capable of lowering a flying height of the magnetic head.
Usually, information is written into and read out of a recording medium by means of a magnetic head, in which the disk is rotated at a high speed to hover the magnetic head. In the disk, texturing for applying a mechanical polishing is applied to make texturing traces (texture pattern) on the surface of the disk concentrically in the circumferential direction of the disk (hereinafter referred to as mechanical texture) for improving a magnetic characteristic. Generally, the mechanical texture is applied on the surface of the non-magnetic substrate or on an under layer such as an Ni-P layer plated thereon.
Since a recent increasing of data amount and demand for miniaturizing and the light weighting the device, the linear recording density and track density are increased, so that scratches caused by the existent mechanical texture result in a reading or writing error at a high probability.
Accordingly, it has been proposed a method of applying the mechanical texture only in a CSS zone at the inner circumference of the disk while leaving a data recording zone as it is. However, the surface of the data recording zone is made higher than the height for the surface of the CSS zone, to bring about a problem that the magnetic head crushes upon seeking.
Further, a method of making the texture pattern by a laser beam (hereinafter referred to as laser texture)has also been proposed instead of the mechanical texture. For instance, in U.S. Pat. specifications Nos. 5,062,021 and 5,108,781, there is proposed an attempt of locally melting a Ni-P layer by a Q-switch laser beam of Nd-YAG, in which a pulse width is very narrow and an energy density is very high, and forming crater-like projections, thereby improving the CSS property with respect to the magnetic head by the circular rim of the protrusions.
However, by the texture pattern produced by the laser texture disclosed in above-mentioned patents, the area of contact with respect to a lower surface of the magnetic head is not decreased outstandingly, and it can not be deemed that the problem of sticking between the magnetic head and the disk is improved more compared with the mentioned using mechanical texture.
Further, a method of forming projections by using photolithography has also been proposed. For instance, preprint for Tribology published by The Japan Society of Tribologists (1991-5, A-11), (1992-10, B-6) show the result of CSS test for disks having concentric projections formed by photolithography at a 0.1 to 5% area ratio relative to the entire surface of the disk.
However, since the top of the projection formed by in the above-mentioned method is flat, it involves a drawback that the frictional force is increased along with the sliding cycles of the magnetic head and that industrial application is not easy.

Magnetic recording medium and method of producing the same


In a DNA base sequencing, a consensus sequence is obtained by linking a plurality of DNA fragments obtained by a DNA sequencer, and a base sequence to be edited is determined in the consensus sequence. Then, a trace corresponding to the determined base sequence to be edited is identified among traces obtained by the DNA sequencer. The identified trace is displayed in correspondence with the base sequence to be edited. At this time, the base sequence to be edited is displayed so that an interval between bases becomes even.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for determining a base sequence of a DNA which is one type of nucleic acid, and more particularly to a method for displaying a base sequence trace (waveform) of a DNA fragment for use in a DNA base sequencing using a DNA sequencer.
2. Description of the Related Art
A constituent of a nucleic acid is a nucleotide, which is composed of a base, pentose, and phosphoric acid. The phosphoric acid and a nucleoside combine to form the nucleotide. Nucleosides are cross-linked by the phosphoric acid, so that a DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and an RNA (ribonucleic acid), which are polymers, are generated.
The base forming the nucleic acid comprises two types, a purine and a pyrimidine. The purine comprises an adenine A and a guanine G, while the pyrimidine comprises a cytosine C and a thymine T.
The DNA has a polynucleotide-chain structure, in which adenine A, guanine G, cytosine C, and thymine T are aligned as a string. If DNAs were extracted from one chromosome of a human cell and linked in sequence, they would extend for about one meter, in which three billion bases remain in sequence.
Accordingly, determining a sequence of the four bases adenine A, guanine G, cytosine C, and the thymine T allows genetic information to be analyzed. The DNA sequencing technology for determining a base sequence progresses as techniques in other fields advance. Its progress correlates closely to progress made in technical fields such as the discoveries of restriction enzymes and enzymes related to nucleic acid, DNA cloning, nucleo-chemistry, etc.
In recent years, computer technology is frequently applied to the DNA sequencing. Since the computer technology enables accumulation and entry of huge amounts of data beyond the capability of a human being, a computer is used as an essential tool for determining a base sequence.
As described above, the DNA has a structure of a primary base sequence linked in the form of a chain. The DNA chain has directionality. That is, a base sequence ATGCACGA.fwdarw. is different from a base sequence ATGCACGA.rarw. (that is, AGCACGTA.fwdarw.).
Both ends of the DNA chains are named. The end where a hydroxyl group is linked to a sugar at a location 3' is called the 3' end, while the other end where a phosphoric acid group is linked to a sugar at a location 5' is called the 5' end. Normally, a DNA chain is described so that the 5' and 3' ends are arranged at the left and right sides respectively.
The DNA exists in a double-stranded state where two complementary base sequences in different directions are united. There is a definite relationship between the two complementary base sequences which face each other. That is, the adenine A only faces the thymine T, while the guanine G only faces the cytosine C. An example of a double-stranded DNA is given below.
ATGCATGCTAGCTAGCT.fwdarw.("a" strand) PA1 TACGTACGATCGATCGA.rarw.("b" strand) PA1 AGCTAGCTAGCATGCAT.fwdarw.
As shown above, the "a" strand pairs with the "b" strand. The "b" strand is complementary to the "a" strand. Accordingly, the "b" strand can be also represented as follows:
The DNA is genetically defined by making a pair of two complementary base sequences. If one of the two complementary base sequences is determined, the other of the two can be determined. This means that the base sequence of the DNA can be determined.
For a DNA sequencer for automatically reading a base sequence of a DNA, the dideoxyn method or the Sanger method is used to determine a base sequence. Normally, when DNA synthesis is performed using a portion of one of the complementary double strands of a DNA as a primer for initiating the DNA synthesis, adding a dideoxynucleotide halts the DNA synthesis. As a result, fragments of the DNA having a variety of lengths can be obtained. Therefore, by adding the dideoxynucleotide corresponding to each of the bases G, A, T, and C at the time of DNA synthetic reaction, the DNA fragments having a variety of lengths whose chains are cleaved at each location of each of the bases, can be obtained.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a process for generating DNA fragments cleaved at locations of one particular nucleotide, the adenine A in this case. As shown in this figure, the chemical process for removing one nucleotide, that is, the adenine A from a DNA 1 whose 5' end is labelled with .sup.32 p, is performed. As a result, the DNA 1 is separated into radioactive labelled fragment 2 having a phosphoric acid group at the 5' end on the left side of the figure and fragments 3 which are non-labelled. Then, these fragments are isolated by gel electrophoresis. The radioactive fragments 2 are detected at locations respectively corresponding to the lengths of the fragments (or molecular weights) by autoradiography.
With the DNA sequencer, DNA fragments generated by a reaction of the dideoxyn method are fluorescence-marked. The DNA fragments having a variety of lengths of fluorescence-marked chains are isolated by a gel electrophoresis. For the DNA fragments electrophoresed in a gel, their fluorescent pigment is excitation-radiated at a certain location on the gel by laser irradiation, and detected by an optical detector. By detecting the fluorescence continuously and simultaneously with the electrophoresis, data of the electrophoretic patterns of DNA fragments corresponding to each of the bases G, A, T, and C, can be obtained. The data thus obtained is analyzed by a computer, and converted into base sequence data.
Output data from the DNA sequencer includes a DNA base sequence itself, and trace data (waveform data) used to determine a base sequence. The trace data corresponds to data of a gel electrophoretic pattern, and a location of a peak in each of the traces (waveforms) of the bases G, A, T, and C corresponds to a location where a corresponding base exists.
However, since the number of bases included in a base sequence of a DNA is generally very large, it is difficult to determine the whole of the base sequence at one time using the DNA sequencer. Accordingly, by separating a DNA to be determined into a plurality of fragments, determining a base sequence of each of the plurality of fragments, and linking the base sequences, the entire base sequence is determined. For the fragmentation, the DNA is fragmented by overlapping both ends of each of the fragments, and a base sequence of each of the fragments is obtained.
For the process for determining a base sequence using the DNA sequencer, the number of bases read at one time is limited, as described above. Furthermore, the contents of read sequence data may be quite ambiguous depending on the accuracy of experiments conducted by using gel electrophoresis.
FIG. 2 shows an output example of trace data obtained from a DNA sequencer. In each of the graphs shown in this figure, a vertical axis indicates fluorescent intensity, while numerical values on a horizonal axis indicate base numbers in a DNA sequence. Since traces can be enlarged for display depending on need as shown in the four graphs in this figure, the base sequence can be read corresponding to the peak locations of the respective traces in these graphs.
For a DNA whose base sequence is desired to be determined as described above, an editing operation such as enlarging a fragment sequence, linking fragment sequences, removing a base which is difficult to be identified, inserting a base, depending on need, etc., is performed to assemble a base sequence. In this case, it is desirable that the editing and assembling operations be performed more accurately and more quickly to obtain a desired base sequence.
When fragment data read by the DNA sequencer is linked or edited in order to assemble a base sequence, it is often the case that a character sequence is extracted from the data read by the sequencer to perform linking and editing operations, and at the same time, trace data is referenced, depending on need. Conventionally, only trace data corresponding to a fragment is displayed for referencing the trace data. Such a display does not enable a study by making a comparison between traces. As described above, peak intervals of trace data may differ depending on experimental data due to non-uniformity of quality of gels used in electrophoresis, slight differences in experimental conditions, etc. Therefore, as long as traces are simply displayed, there is a difficulty in finding visual correspondence between portions of traces to be compared, and the display is not helpful for accurately assembling a base sequence.
Furthermore, as a molecular weight of a base increases in gel electrophoresis, a travel distance of the base becomes shorter, in a conventional method. As a result, base intervals corresponding to a trace become irregular.
FIG. 3 shows a graph where such irregularities of base intervals exist. For example, the interval between base numbers 100 and 200 is different from that between base numbers 600 and 700 in this figure. That is, it indicates that the base intervals are not regular. Due to slight differences in experimental conditions, locations of traces corresponding to the same base number are different. Accordingly, with an editing operation using such a graph, a simple comparison between traces cannot easily be made.

Method and device for fragment trace data display in DNA base sequencing


A method for continuous data transfer when a USB mass storage device is disconnected and reconnected is provided. The method may include monitoring state information from one or more mass storage devices, using a software driver to detect a change in state of the mass storage device on the computer. Active I/O transfers using the USB mass storage device are paused when the software driver detects that the USB mass storage device is detached from the computer. A configurable timer is started. The software drive may detect the attaching of a USB device. If, prior to the expiration of the timer, the software driver verifies that the USB mass storage device is the same that was previously attached to the computer, active I/O transfers are continued.

USB is an industry standard that was designed to standardize connecting computer peripherals, such as printers, keyboards, and mass storage devices, to a computer. Because of their convenience and ease of use, USB devices may be used to facilitate transporting data from one computer to another without needing the support of a communications network, and without the devices requiring extensive technical configuration. A USB device, in general, may be accessed simply by plugging the USB device into a USB port on a computer. Despite the convenience, however, a USB device has disadvantages that may cause it to spontaneously disconnect and reconnect at the computer. For example, this may occur when a voltage fluctuation is detected at the host controller port, or if power to the USB hub containing the USB device is momentarily lost. Additionally, a computer user may accidentally remove a USB device, for example, a USB mass storage device such as a disk drive; from the computer without properly quiescing any active data transfer operations. In these examples, active Input/Output (I/O) operations will be interrupted when the USB device is disconnected. Even if the USB device is reconnected within a few milliseconds, the outstanding I/Os will be discarded and a permanent failure will be returned to the executing program, which then must logically reopen the USB device and restart the data transfer. An application accessing the data may function incorrectly as a result of data that may have become corrupted. The consequences of improperly removing a USB device may be especially harmful with USB mass storage devices, since these devices may frequently be used to install operating system software or other critical firmware components on computer hardware. Data that was being transferred at the time of the interruption may potentially corrupt the critical computer system software, requiring extensive remediation.
It may therefore be desirable, among other things, to provide a more efficient method of transparently continuing USB device operations despite, for example, transient disconnecting and reconnecting of the USB device.

Continuously transferring data using a USB mass storage device

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention provides a system for easily, safely, and securely tying down a Christmas tree to the roof top of any vehicle. The system allows the tree to be secured to the vehicle in minutes by using a cable tie system which adjust to any vehicle. The system includes a central loop attached to the tree trunk, a pair of lines extending out from the sides of the central loop, and a pair of outboard loops that operably attach to the vehicle. The outboard loops attach directly to the rails of a roof rack, or to each other in the interior of the vehicle if the vehicle has no roof rack. When the tree arrives at its destination, only the central loop and outboard loops need to be cut to remove the tree from the roof top.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of vehicle cargo transporting accessories, and more particularly to a Christmas tree tie down system for securing a tree to the roof top of a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
For every real Christmas tree sold, the consumer has the dilemma of how to safely transport the tree home. This not only causes problems for the people who do purchase a real tree but, also prevents just as many from buying one. When a tree is bought, it is usually put on the top of a vehicle which needs to have a roof rack. The tree is then secured to the top of the vehicle by tying it to the roof rack using twine supplied by the tree retailer. The consumer then has the time consuming headache and worry of trying to safely tie the tree to the vehicle, so it won't fall off during transit. When the tree arrives home, they have the pleasure of trying to untie the tree from the vehicle with hopes their roof isn't damaged from the tree's branches.
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,244,482; 6,892,912; Des. 410,224; 6,230,951; and 5,590,775, the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse vehicle cargo transporting accessories.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with respect to their failure to provide a simple, efficient, and practical Christmas tree tie down system.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need for a new and improved Christmas tree tie down system, and the provision of such a construction is a stated objective of the present invention.


Extracting principal content from Web pages includes identifying and classifying items on the Web page, building a list of candidates, calculating candidate scores, selecting a top score candidate, performing clean up processing for the top score candidate, and performing final page processing for the top score candidate. Candidate scores may vary according to a number of paragraphs and images grouped according to size. A word length of CJK (Chinese-Japanese-Korean) text may be determined according to punctuation therein. Candidate scores may be modified according to a number of containers and pieces and wherein a container is a Web page element that is associated with tags ‘body’, ‘div’, ‘td’, ‘li’, ‘article/section’ and pieces are candidates that do not include other candidates. Candidate scores may be modified according to a number of ratios corresponding to text and link density.

In 2011, over two billions of Web users were reading contents of more than 14 billion Web pages in numerous languages, formats and layouts. Thanks to a variety of technological, economical, aesthetical and other factors, modern designs of Web pages are becoming increasingly sophisticated; examples of diverse content elements simultaneously present on Web pages include articles, navigation panels, text and link boxes, images and icons, advertising buttons, banners, dynamic and interactive advertising contents, embedded video clips, overlays, pop-ups, floating elements, forms, etc. While each of these elements has its own place within integrated Web experience, rich Web layouts may interfere with an immediate goal of uninterrupted and concentrated reading by a Web page visitor of item(s) presented on the page, such as news or research article, blog post, list of search results, article headings, and other principal content types. Some Web sites, such as Yahoo News slideshows, deliver separate clean views of articles after clicking on news items. In addition, browser features, such as Safari Reader on iPad, attempt to extract significant pieces of content from arbitrary Web pages. However, existing methods of processing complex Web layouts do not work exceptionally well for many types of Web page content, such as search lists and headings, multipage articles, etc. The existing techniques do not consistently extract important components of key page items, such as article title, author and publication date, and have difficulty processing international pages. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide enhanced systems that simplifies Web page layouts for viewers, determining principal page content, presenting it to user in best readable format, and allowing easy and convenient clipping to personal note sets such as the Evernote product provided by Evernote Corporation of Redwood City, Calif.

Extracting principal content from web pages


Column (1) for counter-currently contacting gas and liquid having a gas inlet and a liquid outlet arranged in its lower end and a liquid inlet and a gas outlet arranged in its upper end, which column is provided with a plurality of horizontal contact trays (5, 6, 7, 8) arranged axially spaced apart in the column (1), each contact tray (5, 6, 7, 8) being provided with gas passages and a downcomer (10, 11, 12, 13) opening below the contact tray (5, 6, 7, 8), and with a plurality of horizontal separation trays (15, 16, 17) provided with swirl tubes (20, 21, 22) and with means (29, 30, 31) for removing liquid from the separation tray (15, 16, 17), each separation tray (15, 16, 17) being arranged above a contact tray (6, 7, 8), wherein each swirl tube (20, 21, 22) is provided with an annular U-turn deflector (34, 35, 36) arranged over the upper end of the swirl tube (20, 21, 22).

In counter-currently contacting, gas flows upwards and liquid flows downwards through the column. To allow contacting of upwardly flowing gas and downwardly flowing liquid, the column is provided with a plurality of horizontal contact trays arranged axially spaced apart in the column, wherein each contact tray is provided with gas passages and a downcomer which opens below the contact tray.
In the specification and in the claims the word `downcomer` is used to refer to a conduit for downward transport of liquid from a tray, wherein the inlet end of the conduit is provided with a weir extending above the tray. The weir can be part of the downcomer or the weir can be separately arranged on the tray.
During normal operation, gas flows upwards through the gas passages of the contact tray and liquid is supplied onto the contact tray through the downcomer of the next higher contact tray. Liquid collected on the tray forms a layer and contacting of gas and liquid takes place in the layer of liquid on the contact tray. Liquid flowing over the weir is removed through the downcomer, and gas disengaged from the liquid on the contact tray flows upwards to the next higher contact tray on which it is again contacted with liquid.
To reduce the amount of liquid entrained with the gas that flows to the next higher contact tray it has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,983,762 to Kotzebue to provide the column with a plurality of horizontal separation trays provided with swirl tubes and with means for removing liquid from the separation tray, wherein each separation tray is arranged above a contact tray. The next higher contact tray is then arranged above the separation tray.
The swirl tube is a cylindrical pipe in which swirl imparting means are arranged. During normal operation, gas with entrained liquid flows through the swirl tube and the swirl imparting means cause the gas to rotate; under influence of centrifugal forces, entrained liquid moves away from the center of the swirl tube and is collected on the inner surface of the cylindrical pipe where a film of liquid is formed. At the upper end of the pipe, the liquid film breaks up and liquid droplets move away from the pipe; these liquid droplets should fall on the separation tray. The path of some of the liquid droplets will be such that they hit the contact tray above the separation tray, and they are entrained through the gas passages of that contact tray. To reduce this entrainment, the upper ends of the swirl tubes discharge straight into the gas passages of the contact tray above the separation tray, so that the gas flows towards the gas passages of the contact tray and the liquid hits the contact tray around the gas passages. Also, the known separation tray comprises as many swirl tubes as there are gas passages in the next higher contact tray, and the diameter of the swirl tubes is equal to the diameter of the gas passages in the next higher contact tray. And the layout of the swirl tubes is similar to the lay out of the gas passages, consequently the net free area of the known separation tray equals the net free area of the contact tray, wherein the net free area of the separation tray is the area of the passages in the swirl tubes divided by the active area of the separation tray, and wherein the net free area of the contact tray is the area of the gas passages divided by the active area of the contact tray.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a separation tray which contains a much smaller number of swirl tubes which have a diameter that is larger than the diameter of the gas passages.

Column for counter-currently contacting gas and liquid


A method for enhancing fuel ignition performance by preheating the fuel with laser light at a wavelength that is absorbable by the fuel prior to ignition with a second laser is provided.

Laser light has been used to initiate the ignition of fuel/oxidizer mixtures for more than a decade. Recent developments have included laser induced ignition of liquid fuel aerosols to overcome problems with capacitive discharge igniters. State of the art laser-based ignition processes use a laser-spark, air-breakdown ignition method in which a single, high peak-power, short duration laser light pulse is used to initiate fuel ignition via the generation of a high temperature, air-breakdown, ionization plasma. The performance of this spark breakdown ignition method to reliably ignite fuel aerosols is limited to a narrow range of fuel parameters such as fuel/oxidizer ratios, fuel droplet size, number density and velocity within a fuel aerosol, and initial fuel and air temperatures.
Laser spark breakdown ignition of fuel/oxidizer mixtures occurs basically in four steps: (1) non-resonant multiphoton ionization of gas molecules generating a light absorbing plasma via electron cascade; (2) deposition of thermal energy and vaporization of fuel droplets; (3) initiation of combustion through both thermal and photo-chemical reaction of fuel and oxidizer; and (4) formation and propagation of the flame kernel to regions outside the initial site of plasma formation.
The plasma formation of step (1) requires the application of high pulse energy and high peak power density laser light. This requirement necessitates the use of a large-sized laser source and short duration laser pulses which are no more than tens of nanoseconds in pulse length. High peak laser power can cause the formation of intense shock waves within the ignited fuel which can cause self-extinguishing of the laser induced ignition flame.
Typically, a Q-switched laser with a pulse width and pulse energy which will provide the high peak power density required to initiate plasma formation is used to initiate plasma formation and satisfy concurrently the need for time-averaged power for sustaining ignition.
Therefore, there is a need for an energy efficient process for initiating and sustaining the ignition of a broad range of aerosol fuel/oxidizer mixtures.
There is also a need for a laser ignition process which can reliably ignite aerosol fuel mixtures within a broad range of parameters such as fuel/oxidizer ratios, fuel droplet size, number density and velocity within a fuel aerosol, and initial fuel temperatures.
Economical improvements in ignition technology are also needed.
Therefore, is an object of this invention to provide a method for improved ignition performance.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method for initiating and sustaining ignition of aerosol fuel.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a laser ignition method having reduced peak power requirements.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method of laser ignition which can use a smaller, less complex laser.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a fuel pre-heat method for enhancing the stability of fuel combustion.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The Regents of the University of California


[Problem] Provided is a relaying device that can track and record a communicated voice of a specific communication terminal using a mixing function of the relaying device.

Relaying devices that relay voice communication made by a radio transceiver, a telephone, or the like over a network have been proposed (refer to Patent Literatures 1, 2, and 3). As a result of connecting a plurality of relaying devices to a network, it is also possible that different types of communication apparatuses such as an IP telephone and a radio perform voice communication to each other. If a relaying device outputs a relaying voice signal to the outside, it is possible to record the voice signal.

Relaying device and method of recording voice communication

Abstract: [Solution] When a communication terminal has made a call, a communication session in which the communication terminal that has made a call and a communication terminal that has been called are participating terminals is established. When a voice signal is transmitted from one participating terminal of the established communication session, this voice signal is transmitted to the other participating terminal(s) of the same communication session along with session information. A virtual device is associated with a communication terminal, and is registered in a communication session in which the communication terminal participates as a participating terminal together with the communication terminal. A communication monitoring unit records a voice signal transmitted to the virtual device from the communication session.


The corrosion of steam and condenser systems and piping therefor is minimized by the addition of anti-corrosion amounts of Vitamin A or Vitamin E.

In steam generating apparatuses, such as boilers and concentration cans, the metal in contact with steam and condensed water may corrode due to feed water-containing oxygen and components of M-alkalinity. Regarding to condenser systems in particular, carbon dioxide generated together with steam in boilers and the like dissolves again in water at condensation of steam, leading to the decrease in pH of condensed water (condensation), which frequently causes severe corrosion of pipes and devices. As the methods to prevent such corrosion, there has been conventionally carried out the chemical process with strong basic-type amines such as morpholine and long-chain aliphatic amines such as octadecyl amine, besides the processes of ion exchange and degassing for the objective to degass carbonate in feed water.
In case that the steam generated in boilers is to be used for food processing and the production process of pharmaceutical agents and for humidification of air conditioning of buildings, a high degree of hygienic safety is required for steam. Some of the amine-type chemical agents described above have received approval for their use as the additives for boilers from U.S. FDA Standards, but the objectives of the utility of generated steam have been limited and the concentration of the agents in steam also has limitation. Additionally, they are not necessarily satisfactory in terms of safety. Hence, even in the case that some concerns about the corrosion of pipes and devices of steam and condenser systems may be present, steam is used without chemical processing, in order to ensure safety.

Anticorrosive method of stream and condenser systems


Systems and methods for storing and accessing data. A query language statement may reference a plurality of data sets and a plurality of algebraic relations between the data sets may be composed from the query language statement. The algebraic relations may be used to define new data sets and to optimize access to data sets. A store of algebraic relations may be accumulated over time. Alternative collections of algebraic relations may be generated and evaluated to determine an optimized collection of algebraic relations to use in calculating and providing a requested data set. The optimization may be performed using the algebraic relations rather than retrieving underlying data sets from storage. As a result, optimization may be performed at processor speeds to minimize the amount of time required for data to be retrieved from slower storage.

I. Field
The field of the present invention relates to systems and methods for storing and accessing data, and more particularly to data storage, database queries and data retrieval.
II. Background
Many database and data storage systems have predetermined schema that impose a structure on data when it is received. The schema may not capture information regarding the structure of data as it is originally provided. In addition, the schema may be designed around predefined relationships that are not optimized for the way that data is actually provided or queried. The logical relationships inherent in the schema may also result in a database structure that is not optimized for the manner in which the data is actually stored. Moreover, the logical relationships inherent in the schema and/or their associated database structures may constrain the kinds of logical relationships that can be specified in data queries. A single query may require multiple accesses to storage resulting in significant inefficiencies, particularly given the increasing disparity between processing speeds and storage access speeds. While substantial efforts have been made to improve access methods for relational and other conventional databases, they are inherently limited by the predefined relationships and resulting structures imposed on the data. The tight coupling between these relationships and the structure of many databases also makes it difficult to efficiently capture, translate and process data provided in various different formats, such as flat files, comma separated value (CSV) files, and data defined using Extensible Markup Language (XML).

Systems and methods for data storage and retrieval using algebraic relations composed from query language statements


To provide a shift register unit, which comprises a positive control signal input terminal, a reverse control signal input terminal, a first thin film transistor, a second thin film transistor, a positive input terminal, a reverse input terminal, a pull-up module and a first reset module, a gate of the first thin film transistor is connected with the positive input terminal, a first electrode of the first thin film transistor is connected with the positive control signal input terminal, a second electrode of the first thin film transistor is connected with a pull-up node of the pull-up module, a gate of the second thin film transistor is connected with the reverse input terminal, a first electrode of the second thin film transistor is connected with the pull-up node of the pull-up module, a second electrode of the second thin film transistor is connected with the reverse control signal input terminal.

During displaying with a liquid crystal display, an image is displayed by outputting a signal from a drive circuit inside the liquid crystal display and scanning pixel units of the liquid crystal display line by line. In a liquid crystal display, scanning for an image line by line is mainly realized by a shift register. FIG. 1 shows a structural diagram of a shift register in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, the shift register comprises shift register units connected in multiple stages, a low voltage supply line connected with a low level input terminal VSS, a first clock signal supply line connected with a first clock signal input terminal CLK and a second clock signal supply line connected with a second clock signal input terminal CLKB, wherein, a signal from an output terminal OUTPUT of a shift register unit in nth stage is provided to a reset terminal RESET of a shift register unit in (n−1)th stage as a reset signal, and is provided to an input terminal INPUT of a shift register unit in (n+1)th stage as an input signal.
However, only a method of scanning in a single direction from top to bottom can be realized by such a shift register, so that a liquid crystal display provided with such a shift register has a single display mode, display flexibility thereof is poor, and different requirements for display cannot be satisfied.
Therefore, how to realize a bidirectional scanning for a liquid crystal display becomes a technical problem to be solved in the art.

Shift register unit, shift register, gate drive circuit and display apparatus

BEIJING BOE DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


To generate an unpolluted high enthalpy air blast of several seconds duration a mass of feed air intended to constitute the high enthalpy air blast is preheated to a given temperature and stored at a given pressure in an elongate confinement tunnel with thermally insulative walls. A downstream orifice of the tunnel is kept closed and a blast of high-pressure air is applied to the upstream end of the mass of feed air to compress it quasi adiabatically to obtain a feed air temperature of at least 1,800K. The downstream orifice is opened and application of the high-pressure air blast is continued whereby the mass of feed air is expelled through the downstream orifice in the form of a feed blast, the temperature of which remains constant for several seconds.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a device and a method for generating during periods of at least several seconds a high mass flow of unpolluted high enthalpy air at a velocity of approximately Mach 6 (the expression "hypersonic flow" is often employed in relation to such velocities).
It is more particularly, although not exclusively, directed to generating a high mass flow of unpolluted air in a wide range of flight conditions over simulation periods sufficient for studies of the steady state operation of supersonic ram jets of the type usually referred to as "scramjets".
The invention is also applicable to studying the behavior of materials in hypersonic airflows, for example.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of a scramjet would appear to be the inevitable choice for the propulsion of hypersonic vehicles of the future, whether launch vehicles, missiles, aircraft, etc.
Testing scramjets on the ground entails simulating high Mach numbers and therefore generating high enthalpy airflows.
Existing scramjet test facilities in Europe are restricted to simulating Mach numbers below 6.5, i.e. to a temperature of around 1 800K. of the air to be injected into a motor under test. However, Mach 6.5 is at the very lowest end of the range of operation of scramjets which are designed to operate at velocities up to Mach 12 and above.
Attempts have been made to adapt existing test facilities to raise the aforementioned limit of Mach 6.5 but the results have been less than perfect (causing significant pollution of the air).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,305 teaches, for generating a flow of air at hypersonic velocities in the order of Mach 8 to Mach 10, pressurizing an enclosure with air at a pressure of 100 to 200 atmospheres and at a temperature of 5,500.degree. R (3,060K) to 6,000.degree. R (3,336K) and then injecting a gas adapted to react exothermically with the pressurized air so as to maintain the pressure and the temperature of the air as it escapes at high velocity from the enclosure. This chemical reaction is incompatible with obtaining unpolluted air.
The main difficulty is to raise the air to be fed to a motor under test to a high temperature without polluting it and while approximating as closely as possible actual flight conditions (in particular, over a duration of at least several seconds).
Conventional scramjet test facilities which heat the air by thermal exchange or by combustion in a burner combined with re-oxygenation cannot be used above Mach 6.5.
Accumulator and continuous type heaters are at the limits of existing technology; hydrogen burners, for example, supply a mixture of air and water vapor in which the quantity of water considerably disrupts combustion beyond Mach 6.5. with the result that combustion studies are not reliable.
The use of plasma torches may seem feasible but, apart from their high cost, they have the drawback of causing dissociation of the air molecules which disturbs the kinetics of the combustion chemistry.
As for so-called "shock tunnel" devices, they can generate high enthalpies for only a few milliseconds, totally insufficient for steady state combustion studies.
One example of a shock tunnel generating very short air blasts is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,505,867.
Thus it has become clear that new propulsion unit test facilities must be developed if scramjets are to be developed further.
An object of the invention is to generate at moderate cost unpolluted airflows at high temperatures (at least 1,800K) for periods of several seconds to enable simulation of stable hypersonic combustion at Mach numbers of 6.5 and above, possibly as high as Mach 8 or above.
To this end the invention teaches that the air to be fed to the motor under test should be heated by compressing it.
Compressing a given quantity of air is known to increase its temperature.
If the compression is carried out under adiabatic conditions, that is to say without exchange of heat with the surrounding environment, and assuming that air is a perfect gas in the usual thermodynamics sense of the term, the laws of thermodynamics enable us to write: ##EQU1## in which: To and Po are the temperature and pressure of the quantity of air in question before compression,
T and P are the temperature and pressure of this quantity of air after compression, and PA0 .gamma. is the ratio (assumed constant) of the calorific capacities of this air at constant pressure and volume, respectively. PA0 r is a constant characteristic of the gas, expressed in energy per degree and per unit mabs (the value of this constant is approximately 287 J/K/kg for air).
Taking .gamma.=1.3, the final temperature T obtained as a result of compression is therefore expressed as a function of the initial temperature To and the compression ratio (P/Po) by the equation: ##EQU2##
This equation shows that if meaningful results are to be achieved a high compression ratio or a high initial temperature is required.
To compress the feed air the invention teaches the use, without the interposition of any screening means, of a high pressure air blast such as can be delivered by a conventional blow down type wind tunnel. The investment costs of the invention are reduced commensurately.
One example of a blow down type wind tunnel is described in French Patent No. 2,633,677 but is restricted to temperatures of 40.degree. to 90.degree.C. and to velocities of 200 to 300 m/s.
The performance that can be achieved by using an air blast to compress the feed air without the interposition of any screening means is improved if there is no (or little) mixing between the air blast and the feed air, i.e. if the area of the interface between these masses of air is small. To this end, according to the invention the mass of feed air is elongate with a circular, polygonal or other cross section and the air blast is applied to one side of the mass of feed air while confining it laterally. To this end the mass of feed air is enclosed in a tube or tunnel with thermally insulative walls, that is to say a quasi adiabatic tube or tunnel.
For a given mass of feed air at given pressure and temperature the surface area of the interface and the degree of mixing between the air masses is inversely proportional to the length/cross section ratio of the mass of feed air (i.e. the tunnel).
However, thermal exchange between the feed air and the confining tunnel containing it is directly proportional to this ratio so that the more elongate the shape the more marked the departure from adiabatic compression.
A compromise is therefore required in respect of the length/cross section ratio of the mass of feed air in order to minimize the mixing of the air masses (and therefore the area of the interface with the air blast) and thermal exchanges (the area of the interface with the confinement tunnel).
The thermal losses are reduced if the time of thermal exchange at the boundaries of the feed air is short (and therefore compression is fast and the flow rate of the air blast is high) and also if the feed air is used quickly after it is compressed.
The compressed and therefore heated feed air is itself provided in the form of a blast of mass flow rate d.sub.r and of duration t.sub.r so that its total mass is given by the equation: EQU M.sub.r =d.sub.r. t.sub.r
The volume required to store this mass of feed air at pressure Po and temperature To is deduced using the laws of thermodynamics for perfect gases: EQU V=r.multidot.(To/Po).multidot.M.sub.r
in which:
This equation shows that the storage volume in the tunnel is inversely proportional to the storage pressure Po, which mitigates against a high compression ratio since the maximum pressure that can be obtained after compression is limited by the maximum pressure of the compression air blast.

Method and installation for generating a high mass flow of unpolluted high enthalpy air

Aerospatiale Societe Nationale Industrielle


A light emitting device comprises: a concave mirror having one focal point; a plurality of main light sources each of which is arranged between the focal point and a light reflection surface of the concave mirror, and emits light toward the light reflection surface; and a plurality of main lenses each of which is arranged between a corresponding one of the main light sources and the light reflection surface, refracts the light emitted from the corresponding main light source toward the light reflection surface, and produces a virtual image of the main light source on the focal point situated at a backside of the main light source.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting device using a light emitting diode or the like as a main light source, being intended for general illumination and a projector, or the like.
2. Description of the Background Art
As a light emitting device used for general illumination and a projector, a combination of a concave mirror and a discharge lamp or a halogen lamp, in which a focal point of the concave mirror is positioned at a light emitting point of the lamp, is widely used. However, the discharge lamp or the halogen lamp needs large electric power and has large heat discharge. Thus, a light emitting diode (LED, representing a light source that has a lesser amount of light and a lesser amount of heat discharge than the discharge lamp) has been proposed to be used as a light source of the light emitting device. In the light emitting device, in order to compensate for the disadvantage of the LED that the amount of light emission per one unit is smaller than that of the discharge lamp and the halogen lamp, a light emitting device having a plurality of LEDs is developed so as to emit a larger amount of light (for example, patent document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-101732, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5).
As shown in FIG. 14, a light emitting device 1 according to patent document 1 includes two LEDs 2, and a concave mirror 4 having arranged thereon divided curved surfaces 3 which are obtained by cutting a surface of revolution, having a focal point, into two along a plane passing through the focal point, and by slightly isolating the divided curved surfaces 3 from each other such that the divided curved surfaces 3 have separated focal points Fx and Fy. The LEDs 2 are arranged at the focal points Fx and Fy, respectively, so as to face the light reflection surfaces 5 of their corresponding divided curved surfaces 3.
According to the light emitting device 1, the light emitted from each of the LEDs 2 is reflected on the corresponding light reflection surface 5. When the light reflection surface 5 constitutes a part of the paraboloid, the reflected light travels as parallel light, whereas when the light reflection surface 5 constitutes a part of an ellipsoid, the reflected light converges on a light converging point. Accordingly, it is possible to use light from a plurality of LEDs 2 more efficiently in the form of the parallel light, or by reducing unnecessary light (=stray light) that does not converge.
However, in the light emitting device 1 of patent document 1, as above described, a surface of revolution having a focal point is divided into a plurality of divided curved surfaces 3, and the divided curved surfaces 3 need to be arranged slightly distant from each other so as to have individual focal points, respectively. That is, a special concave mirror 4 is required and thus, it is impossible to use an ordinary concave mirror having a paraboloid (or an ellipsoid) light reflection surface. The light emitting device 1 has a problem of lack of versatility.
In addition, the above-described special concave mirror 4 has a problem of its manufacturability. That is, in the case of manufacturing the concave mirror 4 with glass, a thickness of the concave mirror 4 needs to be biased in accordance with shapes of the plurality of divided curved surfaces 3, which leads to deterioration in a yield of the material, and which causes difficulty in improving the accuracy of the shape. Moreover, even in the case of using aluminum, the above-described problems are caused, and it is substantially impossible to mold the concave mirror 4 by spinning. Moreover, in the case of using resin, a die for molding the concave mirror 4 will be of a complicated shape, and consequently, a cost for manufacturing the die is increased, and in addition, it will be difficult to improve the accuracy of the shape.
In addition, as above described, the concave mirror 4 has a plurality of focal points, and thus a portion of light, which is emitted from an LED 2 disposed at one focal point, is reflected on a divided curved surface 3 on a side opposite to the divided curved surface 3 facing the focal point, and is consequently converted to certain parallel light or converging light, which limits improvement in efficient use of light.


A user interface system for a vibroacoustic bath includes a resistive touchscreen device configured to display images and to receive touch input via a panel of the resistive touchscreen device. The resistive touchscreen device is configured to display at least one image for use in controlling the vibroacoustic bath. The resistive touchscreen is further configured to receive a user selection relating to the image. The user interface system also includes a control circuit configured to use the received user selection to determine output signals for driving a plurality of transducers of the vibroacoustic bath.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of bathroom fixtures. More specifically, various embodiments of the present disclosure relate to bathroom fixture systems configured to provide aural and/or vibratory stimulation and systems and methods for controlling such bathroom fixture systems.
Shower and bath fixtures vary widely in the features they provide. Many basic bath fixtures, for example, provide a bath tub or basin, a faucet for adding water to the tub and a drain for removing water, and few, if any, other features. Some consumers wish to purchase fixtures that have more advanced features that make taking a bath or shower more enjoyable and/or relaxing in addition to being merely functional. One such feature, for example, may include water jets in a bath tub configured to provide a tactile (e.g., massaging) stimulus for the user. Another feature may include devices (e.g., transducers) configured to generate sound to allow a user to listen to music, relaxing nature sounds, or some other manner of aural stimulus while showering or bathing.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

User interface device for a bath or shower


An electrophotographic printer which includes a developing device for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of a photoconductor by adhering a developer thereto, a cleaning device for collecting the developer which remains on the photoconductor for reuse after the transference of the developer, and a toner recycling route for flowing the collected developer from the cleaning device back to the developing device by gravity. The photoconductor is exposed to a light source prior to the developer being applied to the surface of the photoconductor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic printer composed of a photoconductor, a developing device, and a cleaning device and particularly to an electrophotographic printer which can reuse developer remaining on a photosensitive drum.
2. Technology Review
Electrophotographic printers employ a method of printing comprising the steps of exposing a charged photoconductor to an exposing light source to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoconductor, developing the latent image by applying toner powder thereto, and thereafter transferring the thus developed toner image onto a recording medium such as a recording paper.
FIG. 9 is a schematic side view of an exemplified arrangement of such an electrophotographic printer. In the figure, denoted at 1 is a photosensitive drum having on the surface thereof a photosensitive semiconductor such as a Se photoconductor, a Cds photoconductor, an amorphous Silicon photoconductor, an organic photoconductor or (OPC); 2 is a first electrifier; and 3 is light for forming an image coming from a light source, not shown. Denoted at 4 is a developing device comprising a toner tank 4a disposed therein for storing toner, 5 is a sheet guide, 6 is a transferring electrifier, 7 is a fixing device, and 8 is a light source for removing electrical charge. Denoted at 9 is a cleaning device, 10 is a developing roller disposed in the developing device 4, 11 is a recording paper, and 12 is a feed roller for feeding the recording paper 11.
In the thus constructed electrophotographic printer, the photosensitive drum 1 is rotated at a given speed in the direction of the arrow R so that the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 is uniformly electrified by the first electrifier 2. A latent image is formed on the surface of the electrified photosensitive drum 1 by radiating light 3 from an exposing light source. The thus formed latent image reaches a position opposing the developing roller 10 in the developing device 4 as the photosensitive drum 1 is rotated in the direction of the arrow R. The toner supplied from a toner reservoir by way of the developing roller 10 adheres to the photosensitive drum 1 to make the visible latent image.
Recording paper 11 which is fed sheet by sheet from a paper feed portion by way of the feed roller 12 are transported to the upper portion of the transferring electrifier 6 along a sheet guide 5 in accordance with the rotation of the photosensitive drum 1. The toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 1 is transferred onto the recording paper 11 by the transferring electrifier 6. The recording paper 11 on which the toner image is transferred but not fixed is transported toward a fixing device 7 by a transporting means, not shown, and the toner image is fixed on the recording paper 11 by being heated or pressed in the fixing device 7 to complete printing.
The latent toner image on the photosensitive drum 1 is thereafter erased by irradiation from the light source 8. The toner which remains on the photosensitive drum 1, instead of being transferred onto the recording paper, is removed and collected by the cleaning device 9. The photosensitive drum 1 is electrified again by the first electrifier 2 for successive image forming processing after complete removal of the toner by the cleaning device 9.
The toner collected in a collecting case 9a provided in the cleaning device 9 is regularly removed by an operator or a person in charge of maintenance of the electrophotographic printer.
However, when the electrophotographic printer is used frequently or for a long time, the increased quantity of collected toner causes a frequent, troublesome dumping operation. As a result, a large collecting case has to be used in order to reduce the frequency of the dumping operation, thus resulting in a large sized electrophotographic printer.
Consequently, an electrophotographic printer in which the toner collected by the cleaning device 9 is recycled to the developing device 4 has been provided recently.
FIG. 10 is a schematic side view showing an arrangement of such an exemplified electrophotographic printer in which the toner is recycled to the developing device. As illustrated in the figure, the remaining toner 19 which has not been transferred onto the recording paper is transported to the cleaning device 20 while the electric charge on the photosensitive drum 1 is discharged by a light source 8, with the rotation of the photosensitive drum 1 in the direction of the arrow R. For collecting the toner 19, there are various methods such as using a blade or a brush. An embodiment using a brush will now be described.
A cleaning brush denoted at 21 scrapes off the remaining toner 19 from the photosensitive drum 1 as it rotates in the direction of the arrow A, to transfer the toner 19 onto a collecting roller 22. At this time, a blade 23 scrapes off the toner 19 causing it to fall into a guide 24 after the toner 19 is transferred from the cleaning brush 21 to the collecting roller 22 by an electrostatic effect (force).
An Auger shaft, feed spring, etc. (not shown), provided on the lower portion of the guide 24 transport the dropped toner 19 toward a sending portion 25a. The toner 19 is transported from the sending portion 25a into a guide pipe 25. Another Auger shaft (not shown) is provided to transport the toner 19 by the rotation thereof to a conveying in portion 25b provided on the developing device 4. The toner 19 is recycled into the developing device 4 from the conveying in portion 25b. As described above, the toner 19 collected by the cleaning device 20 is recycled to the developing device 4 by way of the guide pipe 25 for reuse in developing. The recycling of the toner 19 makes it unnecessary to carry out the troublesome dumping operation and can reduce the amount of toner consumed in the electrophotographic printer.
There are, however, the following three problems in the conventional electrophotographic printer described above in which the remaining toner is recycled to the developing device 4 for reuse.
The first problem is that the electrophotographic printer has a wide width and needs a large floor area for its installation since the guide pipe 25 for transporting the collected toner from the cleaning device 20 to the developing device 4 is provided aside the photosensitive drum 1.
The second problem is that the toner collected is unevenly distributed (piled locally) in the side edge portion of the developing device 4 since the toner flows back into the developing device 4 from the conveying in portion 25b in the side edge portion of the developing device 4.
The third problem is that the collected toner clogs the guide pipe 25.
These problems will be described more in detail hereinafter with reference to FIG. 11 which is a schematic plan view showing the arrangement of the electrophotographic printer illustrated in FIG. 10 in which the toner is recycled to the developing device 4 for reuse.
The first problem comes from the fact that the guide pipe 25 is provided aside the photosensitive drum 1, as easily understood from FIG. 11. Generally the width of the recording portion of an electrophotographic printer is determined by the width of the photoconductor, i.e., the photosensitive drum 1. This is because the developing roller 10 housed in the developing device 4 and the cleaning brush 21 provided in the cleaning device 20 are shorter than the photosensitive drum 1 in width. As a result, if the collected toner recycling route is designed so as to pass aside the photoconductor, the electrophotographic printer becomes wider by the width of the guide pipe 25, as understood from FIG. 11.
The second problem comes from the fact that the collected toner is carried back to the side edge portion of the developing device 4 from the conveying in portion 25b of the guide pipe 25, as understood from FIG. 11.
Toner is stored uniformly in the width direction of the developing device 4 when it is supplied thereto, and it is fed to an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor by way of the developing roller 10.
However, the collected toner which has been carried back by way of the guide pipe 25, is carried back to the side edge portion of the toner containing portion of the developing device 4, so that the toner is piled in the vicinity of the side edge portion as described above, and is not distributed evenly in the toner containing portion. When the toner is not distributed evenly in the developing device, it is difficult to correctly detect the presence or absence of toner in the developing device. That is, the presence of remaining toner is reported when the sensor detects the presence of toner in the vicinity thereof, and the absence of toner is reported when the sensor does not detect the toner in the vicinity thereof. But if the toner is not evenly distributed (if much toner remains in the side edge portion as described above) in the developing device, it sometimes occurs that there remains very little toner on the opposite side of the sensor (the opposite side of the side edge portion 25b in the developing device 4 to which the toner is carried back) even if the sensor detects toner in the vicinity thereof, which results in the deterioration of printing quality (partial reduction in printing density).
Furthermore, inasmuch as the collected toner is electrically charged at a reverse electrical potential, its major portion is different in electric potential from that first supplied to the developing device. As a result, printing quality is liable to be partially deteriorated, which is caused by the difference in electric charge between the collected toner and the first stored toner when they are unevenly distributed in the developing device.
Also, when the toner is removed from the photoconductor by the cleaning device, powders of paper which has adhered to the photoconductor are also swept together with the toner, and are carried back to the developing device 4 by way of the guide pipe 25 with the toner. Other than the powders of paper, an antistatic agent which was primarily added to the toner and came off in the course of printing is also collected by the cleaning device and carried back to the developing device. As a result, they cause blurred printing or uneven density in printing when they are unevenly distributed in the developing device 4 although it does not matter when they constitute a very small amount and are evenly distributed therein.
The third problem is caused by the friction between the toner and the inner surface of the guide pipe 25, the electric charge due to the friction between the toner and the Auger shaft for feeding and the deformation and deterioration of the toner due to the friction between the toner and the guide pipe 25 or Auger shaft. The electrostatic charge due to friction causes condensation of the toner itself, which deteriorates its fluidity, or the adhesion of the toner to the inner surface of the guide pipe 25 by electrostatic force, which deteriorates its fluidity locally. The deformation of toner particles also deteriorates its fluidity so that toner fed one after another are caught in the portion where the fluidity of the toner is deteriorated and finally clogs the guide pipe 25. When the guide pipe 25 is clogged by toner, the flow of toner is stopped entailing the inundation of toner in the cleaning device and dirty printing caused by insufficient cleaning.

Electrophotographic printer having a gravity driven toner recycling unit


A computer readable storage medium includes executable instructions to receive an input message specifying a query identifier and query parameters. A query definition specified by the query identifier is retrieved. The query parameters are mapped in accordance with the query definition to form a query. The query is passed to a semantic layer with semantically dynamic objects. Query results are received from the semantic layer. The query results are mapped to a specified web service interface to form an output message.

Business Objects of San Jose, Calif. has developed a widely deployed relational database access system that uses semantically dynamic objects. The technology is known as the Business Objects semantic layer. The technology is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,403, which is incorporated herein by reference. The Business Objects semantic layer obviates the need for a user to master the various subtleties of existing query languages when writing database queries.
A web service is a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. A web service has an interface that is specified in a format such as the Web Service Description Language (WSDL). Other systems interact with the web service in a manner prescribed by the interface using messages, which may be enclosed in a container, such as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), which is a protocol for exchanging eXtensible Markup Language (XML) messages over a computer network. SOAP forms the foundation layer of the web service stack, providing a basic messaging framework that more abstract layers can build on.
Web service messages are typically conveyed using the Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) and normally comprise XML in conjunction with other Web-related standards. Software applications written in various programming languages and running on various platforms can use web services to exchange data over computer networks, such as the Internet.
It would be desirable to expand access to database semantic layers through web services.

Apparatus and method for querying databases via a web service


One exemplary embodiment involves a computer-implemented method that comprises receiving, via a touch display, a touch down event on an object depicted on a user interface rendered on the touch display. The embodiment involves determining whether to provide access to a complete set of actions responsive to the touch down event based at least in part on whether the object comprises an advertisement. Additionally, the embodiment may also involve determining whether to provide access to the complete set of actions responsive to the touch down event based at least in part on whether the object is associated with one or more listeners. Then, the embodiment involves implementing one or more accessible actions responsive to the touch down event.

Touch computing devices are operated by providing one or more inputs via a touch display associated with the touch computing device. For example, a user operating the touch computing device may use a finger, a stylus, and/or other device to provide one or more inputs to the touch computing device. The user may operate the touch computing device to access web content such as news, media, and/or other content that is rendered on a touch display screen of the touch computing device. For example, the web content may be received over the internet, intranet, and/or some other network for accessing the web content. In some situations, the web content may include advertisements. For example, the advertisements may include one or more banners, hyperlinks, and/or other types of advertisement content.


A gas friction pump including a rotor located in the pump housing and formed of a plurality of coaxial first cylindrical elements, and a stator located in the housing and formed of a plurality of second cylindrical elements coaxial with the first cylindrical elements and surrounding respective first cylindrical elements, with the first cylindrical elements or the second cylindrical elements having smooth inner and outer surfaces, and another ones of the first cylindrical elements and the second cylindrical elements have a plurality of parallel discharge channels formed on their inner and outer surfaces, arranged one beneath another and separated by a respective plurality of webs, the parallel discharge channels defining a plurality of parallel discharge chambers forming a plurality of parallel operating pumping chambers for pumping gas form the suction port to the discharge port.

1. Field of the Invention PA1 2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention relates to a gas friction pump including a cylindrical rotor element, a cylindrical stator element surrounding the rotor element, and a plurality of parallel, arranged beneath each other, discharge channels formed by spiral grooves and separated by webs, with the discharge channels forming a discharge chamber which provides for pumping gas from the pump suction port to the pump discharge port.
Different types of gas friction pumps are used for gas delivery. Their operation is based on the transfer of pulses from movable walls to gas particles. In this way, a gas flow in a predetermined direction is created. Gas friction pumps, which function in a pressure region in which a free path length of gas molecules is large in comparison with geometrical dimensions of a pump, i.e., which function in a molecular flow region, are called molecular pumps.
A first gas friction pump of this type was proposed by Gaede. A further modification of a Gaede pump, without changing its basic principle, was made by Siegbahn. In Siegbahn pump, a rotatable disc is used as a movable wall.
Another modification of the Gaede pump was made by Holweck. In the Holweck pump, a cylinder surface serves as a movable wall.
A large advance in a further development of gas friction pump was made by Becker. In the pump construction of Becker, movable and stationary walls are alternatively arranged one behind the other, with both movable and stationary walls being formed as turbine disc provided with vanes. These pumps were called turbomolecular pumps.
All of the above-mentioned gas friction pumps play an ever increasing role in vacuum technology, in particular, in high and ultrahigh vacuum technology. At that, the Becker turbomolecular pump is used on one side of a vacuum system, and a gas friction pump of Gaede, Holweck, or Siegbahn is used on the opposite side. A multi-stage turbomolecular pump permits to obtain high pressure ratios and, therefore, is particularly suitable for use in a high and ultrahigh vacuum region. However, their application range is limited by their inability to operate in the region of higher pressures. Therefore, because of large distances between the pump elements they are fully operational only at low pressures of about 10.sup.-3 mbar.
The Gaede, Siegbahn and Holweck gas friction pumps are suitable for application in the above-discussed pressure region. They can be used in this region separately or be consecutively connected with a turbomolecular pump. The combination of turbomolecular pumps with gas friction pumps permits to shift the operational region of the turbomolecular pumps toward the region of higher discharge pressures.
However, the gas friction pumps have certain drawbacks which adversely affects their operation. It is important for a proper operation of the gas friction pumps that the distance between rotatable and stationary elements be very small to keep the backstreaming and discharge losses to a minimum. This is particularly applicable to Gaede, Siegbahn and Holweck pumps. In addition, these pumps, as well as the turbomolecular pumps, can function in the high pressure region and molecular flow region only then when the distance between the rotatable and stationary elements is small in comparison with the mean free path length of the molecules of a pumped gas. Only then, the gas friction pumps can achieve the full pressure ratio in the molecular flow region.
A narrow rotor-stator split is a necessary premise for proper functioning of the gas friction pumps. However, a narrow split leads to small dimensions of the discharge chamber and, thus, results in a limited suction capacity. Therefore, the gas compressed in a turbomolecular pump can be further upgraded only to a definite magnitude, so that its suction capacity is limited toward higher pressures. In order to further expand the operational range of the turbomolecular pumps toward a higher pressure region, they should be combined with gas friction pumps with a high suction capacity the geometrical dimensions of which permits them to operate in a molecular flow region.
The Gaede and Siegbahn gas friction pumps, because of their construction, cannot be modified so that their suction capacity substantially increases, without an adverse affect on their basic function. Moreover, they have specific drawbacks which reduce their efficiency in certain applications. For example, in the Siegbahn gas friction pump, the gas is pumped against a centrifugal force.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is a gas friction pump operable in the molecular flow range and having a higher suction capacity than the conventional gas friction pumps.
Another object of the present invention is a gas friction pump the geometrical dimensions of which are comparable with the geometrical dimensions of conventional gas friction pumps.
A further object of the present invention is a gas friction pump operable in a combination with a turbomolecular pump.


A synthesized signing image is generated which includes an original image of a subject and a sign image superimposed on the original subject image. The sign image is selected from a sign language database based on the speech (i.e., a letter or word) spoken by the subject. Based on the size and tone (intensity) of the subject's face in the original image, the database sign image is modified to match the intensity and have a proportional size to the subject's face. The modified database sign image is then superimposed on the original image of the subject to create a synthesized image in which the subject appears to be signing.

The present invention relates to image processing, and more particularly to segmentation and sign language synthesis for facilitating communication between hearing and deaf individuals.
Sign language, an important form of communication for deaf individuals, is not normally understood by hearing individuals. An important question is how to facilitate communication between the two groups, particularly through visual communication technology. Research has been conducted in methods for coding and transmitting signing images across telephone lines. Examples of this type of work include D. Pearson, "Visual Communication Systems For The Deaf," IEEE Transaction On Communications, vol. Com-29, no. 12, pp. 1986-1992 (December, 1981), and G. Sperling, "Video Transmission of American Sign Language and Finger Spelling: Present and Projected Bandwidth Requirements," IEEE Transaction On Communications, vol. Com-29, no. 12, pp. 1993-2002 (December, 1981). Methods have ranged from transmitting hand outlines, such as described in M. W. Whybray et al., "A DSP Based Videophone For the Hearing Impaired Using Valledge Processed Pictures," Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, pp. 1866-1869 (1989), to transmitting signing motion parameters, an example described in J. Xu et al., "A Method For Synthesizing Animation to Transmit Sign Language By Intelligent Communication," Electronics and Communications in Japan, Part 3, vol. 76, no. 2, pp. 108-117 (February, 1993). Other research has focused on processing at the receiver, such as sign language recognition and synthesis. Articles which discuss sign language recognition include E. Ohira et al., "A Segmentation Method For Sign Language Recognition," IEICE Transactions On Information and Systems, vol E78-D, no. 1 (January, 1995) and T. Starner et al., "RealTime American Sign Language Recognition From Video Using Hidden Markov Models," Proceedings of the International Symposium on Computer Vision, pp. 265-270 (1995). Articles which discuss synthesis include M. Waldron et al., "Parsing Method For Signed Telecommunication," IEEE Engineering In Medicine & Biology Society 11th Annual International Conference, pp. 1798-1799 (1989), and A. Downton et al., "Image Analysis For Model-Based Sign Language Coding," Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of Image Analysis & Processing, pp. 637-644 (1992). The problem with the synthesis approaches has been their complexity, i.e., they are based on complex graphics which require high CPU processing times.
Therefore, there exists a need for a less complex approach to allow deaf and hearing individuals to communicate.

Matching, synchronization, and superposition on orginal speaking subject images of modified signs from sign language database corresponding to recognized speech segments


A computer implemented technique, system and method for providing enhanced search results for searches for documents on the Internet. In response to a search request form a user at a client computer, a search engine at a search server performs a search for documents at Internet sites matching the search criteria. A list of matching documents is provided to the client in the form of a hits list. For each document on the hits list, a link is provided to a server which will provide the document to the client in an enhanced format. Upon selection of such a link for a document, a message is sent to the server, and the server retrieves the document from its home server, and modifies the document to graphically highlight the matches to the search criteria found in the document and logically links the matches, so that selection of one match in the document by the user will automatically cause the client to display the portion of the document having the next sequential match. The server sends the modified document to the client for review by the user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique, system and computer program for providing users of search engines with enhanced search results. More particularly, the present invention relates to a technique which permits a user of a search engine to review enhanced search results and more easily determine if a document listed in the search results actually contains information sought by the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past few years there has been an explosive growth in the Internet, and in particular of the World Wide Web (WWW), which is one of the facilities provided on top of the Internet. The WWW comprises many documents or pages or files of information, distributed across many different servers. Each page is identified by a Universal Resource Locator (URL). The URL denotes both the server machine, and the particular document or file or page on that machine. There may be many documents or pages or URLs resident on a single server.
In order to use the WWW, a client runs a piece of software known as a Web browser, such as Netscape Navigator.TM. from Netscape Communications Corporation. The client interacts with the browser to select a particular URL, which in turn causes the browser to send a request for that URL or page to the server identified in the URL. Typically, the server responds to the request by retrieving the requested page, and transmitting the data for that page back to the requesting client (the client-server interaction is performed in accordance with the hypertext transport protocol ("HTTP")). This page is then displayed by the browser to the user of the browser.
Most WWW pages also contain one or more references to other WWW pages, which need not be on the same server as the original page. Such references may generally be activated by the user selecting particular locations on the screen, typically by (double) clicking a mouse control button. These references or locations are known as hyperlinks, and are typically flagged by the browser in a particular manner (for example, any text associated with a hyperlink may be in a different color). If a user selects the hyperlink, then the referenced page is retrieved and replaces the currently displayed page.
Further information about HTML and the WWW can be found in "World Wide Web and HTML" by Douglas McArthur, p18-26 in Dr Dobbs Journal, December 1994, and in "The HTML SourceBook" by Ian Graham, (John Wiley, New York, 1995).
In 1997, it has been estimated that there are 30 million different Web sites and hundreds of millions of subsidiary pages, with millions of additional sites being added each year. Because the content of the WWW is so vast and is constantly being updated, "search" sites were developed to assist users of the WWW to find desired information. Web sites, such as www.altavista.digital.com, www.excite.com, www.infoseek.com and www.lycospro.lycos.com, have been created which permit users of the WWW to search the Web for desired information. The search sites rely on search engines which go out and search the Web for information, which is then indexed and maintained by the search site. The engines themselves rely on technology called spiders, which are automated software robots, to go out and crawl the Web and collect information about sites. These spiders are the cornerstones of current search, directory and indexing products/sites deployed throughout the Web which permit Web users to gather targeted information. According to a press release dated Sep. 2, 1997, Lycos, Inc. was to soon receive a patent on spidering technology.
Still, when searching an index of Web information, the results of a simple word search can yield a huge number of "hits". Accordingly, a need developed to assist users of the search sites/products to determine which sites they find using the search site are truly pertinent to their searches. One technique for helping users of Web search engines to find relevant Web sites is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,732. As with most search techniques, this technique provides a user with a list of Web sites that may be of interest in response to a user search. Additionally, this technique provides a ranking of each Web site on the list for potential relevance to the user's search based on some internal criteria. However, this technique relies on the relevance of the internal criteria to the user's search in order to provide the user with useful information. To actually determine whether a site is relevant or not, a user must still select the hyperlink provided in the hit list and access the site itself. Of course, this can be quite time consuming.
Accordingly, a need exists for a technique by which a user of a Web search site or product can quickly and easily ascertain whether a site listed in a search results list merits further investigation.

Technique for providing enhanced relevance information for documents retrieved in a multi database search

International Business Machines Corporation


Techniques for managing space in a flash storage-based cache are provided. In one embodiment, a computer system can calculate “ratio of effective cache space” (rECS) values for a plurality of VMs, where each VM has a cache allocation comprising a subset of a global pool of cache blocks in the flash storage-based cache, and where the rECS value for the VM indicates a proportion of the subset that has been populated with cached data and re-accessed by the VM within a current time window. The computer system can further determine a new cache allocation size for at least one VM in the plurality of VMs based on the rECS values. The computer system can then adjust the number of cache blocks in the at least one VM's cache allocation based on the new cache allocation size.

Hypervisor-based flash caching is a technology that enables the hypervisor of a server system to leverage flash storage to accelerate virtual machine (VM) I/O operations. In particular, the hypervisor can store, in a portion of a flash storage device referred to as a "flash cache," data that one or more VMs read from and/or write to virtual disks stored on, e.g., a traditional hard disk-based storage array. When the hypervisor detects a VM I/O request, the hypervisor can service the I/O request, if possible, from the flash cache rather than from the storage array. Since the I/O latency for flash storage access is typically several orders of magnitude less than the I/O latency for hard disk access, this caching mechanism can significantly improve VM I/O performance.
One of the challenges of implementing hypervisor-based flash caching in a server system that hosts multiple VMs involves managing the amount of flash cache space that is allocated to each VM (referred to as the VM's "cache allocation"). The size of this cache allocation represents the maximum amount of data that the flash storage device can hold for the VM; once this cap is reached, the hypervisor must begin evicting cached data from the VM's cache allocation in order to make room for additional data. A cache allocation size that is too small will decrease the utility of the flash cache for the VM because the hypervisor will delete a significant percentage of the VM's cached data before the VM can re-access it. On the other hand, a cache allocation size that is too large will unnecessarily consume space on the flash storage device—space that can be better utilized by being allocated to one or more other VMs.

Hypervisor-based flash cache space management in a multi-VM environment