A coating composition comprising a hydroxy functional graft copolymer characterized by macromoners attached at a terminal point to a polymeric backbone. The composition further comprises a polyisocyanate curing agent. Such compositions provide an improved balance of pot life and cure properties.

Automobiles and trucks receive exterior finishes for several well known reasons. First, such finishes provide barrier protection against corrosion. Second, consumers prefer an exterior finish having an attractive aesthetic finish, including high gloss and excellent DOI (distinctness of image).
A typical automobile steel panel or substrate has several layers of finishes or coatings. The substrate is typically first coated with an inorganic rust-proofing zinc or iron phosphate layer over which is provided a primer which can be an electrocoated primer or a repair primer. Optionally, a primer surfacer can be applied to provide for better appearance and/or improved adhesion. A pigmented basecoat or colorcoat is next applied over the primer. A typical basecoat or colorcoat comprises a pigment, which may include metallic flakes in the case of a metallic finish. In order to protect and preserve the aesthetic qualities of the finish on the vehicle, it is well known to provide a clear (unpigmented) topcoat over the colored (pigmented) basecoat, so that the basecoat remains unaffected even on prolonged exposure to the environment or weathering.
Coating compositions comprise one or more film-forming polymers. Most commonly, linear polymers are employed that cure, upon application, by reaction with crosslinking agents. However, the use of non-linear graft copolymers has been disclosed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,653 to Das et al. describes the use of hydroxy functional graft copolymers. Das et al. disclose grafting by a condensation reaction between epoxy groups of a glycidyl ester, contained in an acrylic polymer, and carboxy groups on at least a portion of vinyl monomers which are polymerized in the presence of the acrylic polymer. Such graft copolymers were found to exhibit excellent sag resistance without the necessity for externally added rheology control.
In preparing graft polymers in general, various living polymerization methods have been disclosed for obtaining functional ended polymers by selective termination of living ends. Such functional ended polymers may subsequently be attached to another polymer, that is, as so-called macromonomer "arms" on a polymeric backbone to form a comb graft copolymer. Webster, in "Living Polymerization Methods," 251 SCIENCE 887 (22 Feb. 1991) generally discloses living polymerization methods for preparing architectural forms of polymers, including graft and comb copolymers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,352 to Janowicz et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,984 to Janowicz disclose the use of cobalt (Co) chelates as chain transfer agents in free radical polymerization. The latter patent discloses that macromonomers prepared by cobalt chain transfer can be polymerized to produce graft copolymers which are useful in coating and molding resins, including high solid finishes and aqueous or solvent based finishes, although the use of such polymers have so far found only limited use in the finishes area. The use of chain transfer agents to prepare dispersed polymers used in automotive coatings is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,140. Such dispersions are disclosed to be useful for modifying the rheology and/or the physical properties of coatings.
The present invention relates to coating compositions involving isocyanate chemistry. The evolution towards low volatile organic content (VOC) coatings has led to the need to develop new products with desirable properties. For example, with regard to isocyanate systems, it is now even more desirable to solve the problem of poor pot life and initial hardness and to achieve an optimum balance of these properties.

Coating compositions based on graft polymers


An improved ignition interlock system being of the type including a plurality of ignition interlock devices. A vehicle is provided in which each device is installed. The plurality of service centers are provided with each service center having an associated computer adapted to extract data. A wireless transceiver is associated with each device. A wireless transceiver is associated with each service center. Computing functionality is associated with the service centers and with the devices and adapted such that when any of the vehicles attends any of the service centers, the computer associated with that service center can extract the data from the device disposed within that vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of ignition interlock devices, including breath alcohol ignition interlock devices.
2. Prior Art
In many jurisdictions, it is illegal to operate a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
In some jurisdictions, a person who has been convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol is required, prior to recovery of full driving privileges, to participate in a program which involves the temporary installation of a breath alcohol ignition interlock device [BAIID] in his or her vehicle. The BAIID is capable of receiving and analyzing a breath sample, to determine the extent to which the person giving the sample is under the influence of alcohol, and renders the vehicle disabled until a satisfactory breath sample is delivered.
It is commonplace for the governing legislation to require the vehicle to be returned on a periodic basis for visual inspection [to ensure that tampering has not occurred] and for extraction of data.
It is also commonplace for a BAAID supplier to a jurisdiction to establish a number of service centers in that jurisdiction whereat the units can be installed and removed from vehicles and maintained and whereat visual inspection and data extraction can be carried out.
Data extraction typically involves the creation of a physical link between the BAAID and a network computer resident at a service centre.


An intake system for an internal combustion engine wherein an intake conduit (16) within a cylinder head (14) is configured to receive a vane control module (24). The vane control module (24) includes a vane (34) mounted within an airflow conduit (30). An actuator (36) pivots the vane (34) to different positions depending upon engine operating conditions. Under high load engine operating conditions, with the vane (34) in a fully retracted position, minimum restriction to the fluid flow is achieved, and in-cylinder tumble flow is created due to the shape and orientation of the vane 34. Under low load engine operating conditions, with the vane (34) in an extended position, the vane (34) causes a redirection of the fluid in order to create a swirl flow pattern in the cylinder (12).

The power which can be delivered by an internal combustion engine is limited by the rate at which it can take in air, combine it with fuel and reject the products. A concern, then, arises with effective breathing (i.e., taking in sufficient air) for high engine load conditions. Further, with a strong emphasis on increasing fuel economy and decreasing certain emissions in the exhaust, the operation of the internal combustion engines under light and medium load conditions is also critical, where the way in which the breathing is accomplished is important. Thus, an automotive internal combustion engine can be considered as a multiapplication machine, which requires variable design considerations in order to achieve the optimum performance throughout its wide range of operating speeds and loads.
The inlet conduit to each cylinder, including the intake valve and throat region, is one of the most important areas influencing the engine's volumetric efficiency and combustion burn rate. For high load conditions, if the inlet conduit is correctly designed, it will reduce intercyclic combustion variation through high gas velocities, tumble fluid motion during the cylinder filling process and, hence, higher turbulent intensity with improvement in exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) tolerance, specific fuel consumption and specific power output. The term tumble is used herein to refer to spin in the generally vertical direction in the cylinder, and is used in high flow rate situations.
For reasons of increased burn rate at low speed, low load engine conditions, it is desirable to promote some type of in-cylinder fluid motion. This in-cylinder fluid motion (in-cylinder flow field), the conventional swirl rotation around the cylinder axis (horizontal swirl) generates intake fluid motion to extend the lean capability (improved lean burn capability by having a high air/fuel ratio) of the engine while still maintaining its integrity at full load performance.
Some prior art engine intake configurations have addressed the concerns with adequate swirl in the cylinder at low to moderate engine load conditions by placing vanes in the fluid stream in the vicinity of the intake port. However, these vanes at high load conditions then act to partially block the flow path and restrict the amount of fluid that can flow into the cylinder, thus limiting the maximum power. Further, the vanes will still direct the fluid flow to create swirl rather than a tumble flow field in the cylinder for these high load engine operating conditions.
As used herein, the reference to fluid flow in the intake system can mean just air or an air/fuel mixture depending upon where the fuel is injected into the air stream. The point at which the fuel is injected into the intake system is not directly relevant to the present invention.

Modular intake port for an internal combustion engine


A cereal separation apparatus includes a frame and a size grading device mounted at an upper portion of the frame for grading particles according to a size of the particles. An oscillating specific gravity grading device is mounted at a lower portion of the frame. An air flow-producing device produces an air flow for effecting the specific gravity grading. A feed passage feeds the particles, selected by the size grading device, from the size grading device to the specific gravity grading device. The size grading device comprises a perforated, hollow cylinder for grading the particles according to particle size. The cylinder is supported on the frame for rotation about an axis of the cylinder. The specific gravity grading device is supported on the frame through oscillation support portions. The apparatus further comprises a rotation drive device for rotating the hollow cylinder and an oscillation drive device for oscillating the specific gravity grading device. The rotation means and the oscillation drive means are operable independent of each other. An air passage connects the specific gravity grading means to the hollow cylinder so as to pass the air flow, produced by the air flow-producing means, which has passed through the specific gravity grading means, through the hollow cylinder.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cereal separation apparatus for removing inclusions or foreign matters, such as stones, from raw material of cereals such as rice grains, wheat grains and beans, thereby separating the cereals or cereal grains from foreign matters such as stones and straws, and more particularly to a cereal separation apparatus of a type comprising a frame, size grading means mounted at an upper portion of the frame for grading or selecting particles according to the particle size, oscillation- or vibration-type specific gravity grading means mounted at a lower portion of the frame, air flow-producing means for producing an air flow for effecting this specific gravity grading, and a feed passage for feeding the selected or graded raw material from the size grading means to the specific gravity grading means.
Herein, the term "size grading means" is referred to as a structure capable of grading raw material grains (i.e., particle-like matters to be graded) according to the size of the particle-like matters, and this size grading structure may have any mechanical construction as well as any grading principle. The term "size" or "particle size" of the particle-like matter is referred to as a dimension or magnitude in the direction of a minor axis of the particle-like matter.
Herein, the term "specific gravity grading means" is referred to as a structure capable of selecting the raw material grains (i.e., particle-like matters to be graded) according to the specific gravity or density of the particle-like matters, and this specific gravity grading structure can have any mechanical construction as well as any grading principle.
Herein, the term "air flow-producing means" is referred to as a structure capable of producing a flow of the air, and this structure can have any mechanical or electromechanical construction as well as any air flow-producing principle in so far as the structure can cause a pressure difference between its air suction side and its air discharge side so as to produce an air flow therebetween, and as the structure is of such a type that the air will not be substantially contaminated with oil or the like.
2. Related Art
Conventional cereal separation apparatuses of the type mentioned above are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,971,684, 4,913,804 and 4,652,362.
As shown in FIG. 6, the apparatus 101, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,684, comprises a screening device 102 (serving as a size grading unit) having sorting screens 115 and 118 provided at an upper portion of a frame 108, and a stone sorter 105 (serving as a specific gravity grading unit) which comprises a perforated plate, and is provided at a lower portion of the frame 108. In this apparatus 101, the screening device 102 and the stone sorter 105 are combined together into an integral or unitary oscillation or vibration unit 150 supported on the frame 108 through oscillation or vibration supports 107. The apparatus 101 further comprises an exhaust connection piece 123 (serving as air flow-producing means) for producing an air flow for effecting the specific gravity grading, and a throw-off duct 121 (serving as a feed passage) for feeding the selected raw material from the screening device (size grading unit) 102 to the gravity grading unit. Reference numerals 112 and 113 denote respectively a non-oscillating cover, stationary relative to a floor 109, and a flexible sleeve 113.
In this apparatus 101, the so-called size grading is effected by the screening device 102, and thereafter the so-called specific gravity grading is effected by the stone sorter 105. More specifically, inclusions or foreign matters, such as sand, stone and wood chips, are removed from the raw material grains supplied from a product feed line 110 into the apparatus 101, and are discharged from discharge outlets 116, 120 and 136, and the grains, containing a relatively small amount of such foreign matter, is discharged from an outlet 135. The above U.S. Patent teaches further, in FIG. 3 and others, about circulating the air flow within a range of the stone sorter 105.
However, in the above apparatus 101, the screening device 102 and the stone sorter 105 are arranged in a vertical direction relative to each other, and are formed into the integral oscillation or vibration unit 150, and are vibrated in unison by oscillation or vibration applying mechanism. Therefore, a large load acts on a oscillation or vibration supports 107 of the oscillation unit 150, and therefore the apparatus lacks in durability.
And besides, because of this integral construction, regardless of the nature and conditions of the raw material grains 152 supplied from the product feed line 110 (for example, even when the raw material grains 152 contain a large amount of inclusion foreign matters 153 to be removed by the screening device 102, or even when the raw material grains 152 contain a large amount of inclusion foreign matters 154 to be removed by the stone sorter 105), the optimum vibrations can not be applied respectively to the screening device 102 and the stone sorter 105, and therefore the optimum grading of the raw material grains 152 according to the nature and conditions of the raw material grains 152 could not be effected.
Furthermore, although the screening device 102 can separate from the raw material grains 152 the inclusion foreign matters 153 mixed therein according to their size, this screening device 152 could not satisfactorily remove sand and dust adhering or sticking to the surfaces of the grains 152.
Herein, the term "raw material grains" is referred to as cereals or cereal grains supplied or charged into the cereal separation apparatus so that foreign matters can be separated and removed therefrom by this cereal separation apparatus.
Herein, the term "broken grain" is referred to as a cereal or cereal grain which is at least partially broken into a small particle-like form. The term "normal grains" is referred to as cereals or cereal grains of a normal shape excluding the broken grains. The term "mixture grains" is referred to as a mixture of normal grains and foreign matters other than the normal grains, and is usually referred to as those raw material grains from which foreign matters are partially separated and removed. The term "foreign matter" is usually referred to as those matters except the cereals or cereal grains, such as stone and straw, and in some cases, is also referred to as those grains except the normal grains, as defined for the mixture grains.
Herein, the term "larger", used for foreign matters such as stone, is referred to as that it is larger in size or diameter than the normal grain, and the term "smaller" is referred to as that it is smaller in size or diameter than the normal grain, where the term "size" or "diameter" is defined in connection with whether or not the relevant matter can pass through a hole such as a screen mesh within a normal time period during which the apparatus operates or functions, and usually this term is referred to as a length of a minimum diameter portion or a minor axis. Herein, the term "diameter" is equivalent to the term "size", and does not suggest that the relevant particle-like matter has a circular or oval sectional shape.

Cereal separator using size and specific gravity grading


The invention provides a human lysyl hydroxylase-like protein (HLHLP) and polynucleotides which identify and encode HLHLP. The invention also provides expression vectors, host cells, antibodies, agonists, and antagonists. The invention also provides methods for treating or preventing disorders associated with expression of HLHLP.

This invention relates to nucleic acid and amino acid sequences of a human lysyl hydroxylase-like protein and to the use of these sequences in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer and connective tissue disorders.
Collagens are a family of nineteen different fibrous structural proteins that are found in several types of tissues. Collagens are the most abundant proteins in mammals, and are essential for the formation of connective tissue such as skin, bone, tendon, cartilage, blood vessels and teeth. Members of the collagen family can be distinguished from one another by the degree of cross-linking between collagen fibers and by the amount of carbohydrate units (e.g., galactose or glucosylgalactose) attached to the collagen fibers. Hydroxylated lysine residues (hydroxylysine) are essential for stability of cross-linking and as attachment points for carbohydrate units.
The enzyme lysyl hydroxylase catalyzes the hydroxylation of lysine residues to form hydroxylysine. Lysyl hydroxylase targets the lysine residue of the sequence X-lys-gly. Two isoforms of lysyl hydroxylase have been characterized, termed PLOD (procollagen-lysine, 2-oxoglutarate 5-dioxygenase) and PLOD2. The two enzymes share 75% sequence homology, with even higher similarity in the C-terminal region (Valtavaara, M. et al. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272: 6831-4).
Diminished lysyl hydroxylase activity is involved in certain connective tissue disorders. In particular mutations, including a truncation and duplications within the coding region of the gene for PLOD, have been described in patients with type VI Ehlers-Danos syndrome (Hyland, J. et al. (1992) Nature Genet. 2: 228-31; Hautala, T. et al. (1993) Genomics 15: 399-404).
The discovery of a new human lysyl hydroxylase-like protein and the polynucleotides encoding it satisfies a need in the art by providing new compositions which are useful in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer and connective tissue disorders.
The invention features a substantially purified polypeptide, human lysyl hydroxylase-like protein (HLHLP), comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:1.
The invention further provides a substantially purified variant of HLHLP having at least 90% amino acid identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:1. The invention also provides an isolated and purified polynucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:1. The invention also includes an isolated and purified polynucleotide variant having at least 90% polynucleotide identity to the polynucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:1.
Additionally, the invention provides a composition comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:1. The invention further provides an isolated and purified polynucleotide sequence which hybridizes under stringent conditions to the polynucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:1, as well as an isolated and purified polynucleotide sequence which is complementary to the polynucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:1.
The invention also provides an isolated and purified polynucleotide sequence comprising SEQ ID NO:2 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:2, and an isolated and purified polynucleotide variant having at least 90% polynucleotide identity to the polynucleotide sequence comprising SEQ ID NO:2 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:2. The invention also provides an isolated and purified polynucleotide sequence which is complementary to the polynucleotide sequence comprising SEQ ID NO:2 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:2.
The invention further provides an expression vector containing at least a fragment of the polynucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:1. In another aspect, the expression vector is contained within a host cell.
The invention also provides a method for producing a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:1, the method comprising the steps of: (a) culturing the host cell containing an expression vector containing at least a fragment of a polynucleotide sequence encoding HLHLP under conditions suitable for the expression of the polypeptide; and (b) recovering the polypeptide from the host cell culture.
The invention also provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising a substantially purified HLHLP having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:1 in conjunction with a suitable pharmaceutical carrier.
The invention further includes a purified antibody which binds to a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:1, as well as a purified agonist and a purified antagonist of the polypeptide.
The invention also provides a method for treating or preventing a cancer, the method comprising administering to a subject in need of such a treatment an effective amount of an antagonist of HLHLP.
The invention also provides a method for treating or preventing a connective tissue disorder, the method comprising administering to a subject in need of such treatment an effective amount of a pharmaceutical composition comprising substantially purified HLHLP.
The invention also provides a method for treating or preventing a connective tissue disorder, the method comprising administering to a subject in need of such treatment an effective amount of an agonist of HLHLP.
The invention also provides a method for detecting a polynucleotide encoding HLHLP in a biological sample containing nucleic acids, the method comprising the steps of: (a) hybridizing the complement of the polynucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide comprising SEQ ID NO:1 or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:1 to at least one of the nucleic acids of the biological sample, thereby forming a hybridization complex; and (b) detecting the hybridization complex, wherein the presence of the hybridization complex correlates with the presence of a polynucleotide encoding HLHLP in the biological sample. In one aspect, the nucleic acids of the biological sample are amplified by the polymerase chain reaction prior to the hybridizing step.


A method and device for measuring the binding affinity of a receptor to a ligand. According to one aspect of the invention, arrays of polymers are synthesized or immobilized on a substrate (212). The array of polymers is exposed to a fluorescently-labelled receptor in solutions of varying concentration. The fluorescence intensity of the labelled receptor is measured by way of, e.g., a photon counter using a confocal microscope (316). Binding affinity is determined through analysis of the relationship between fluorescence intensity and the solution concentration of the receptor. On-rates are measured as a kinetic increase in surface fluorescence intensity, and the on-rate constant rate extracted from fits to the data.

The present invention relates to the field of ligand/receptor interaction evaluation. More specifically, in one embodiment the invention provides a novel system for the determination of the binding affinity of a receptor to a surface-bound, high-density ligand array and vice versa (ligand to bound receptor). Due to the nature of the immobilized array, this system also permits measurements of both on- and off-rates of receptor binding. In a particular embodiment, the present invention provides a method and device for quantitation of binding affinity utilizing fluorescence intensity data from labelled receptors bound to peptides which have been synthesized or immobilized on a solid support. In another embodiment, the present invention provides a method for determining the fidelity of synthesis of peptides by comparing the fluorescence intensity of a receptor bound to an array to the fluorescence intensity of the receptor bound to an array of known purity and composition.
Techniques have recently been introduced for synthesizing large arrays of different peptides and other polymers on solid surfaces. For example, in Pirrung et al., PCT Publication No. WO 90/15070, incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, a technique is disclosed for generating arrays of peptides and other materials using, for example, light-directed, spatially-addressable synthesis techniques. See also U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/624,120 (Fodor et al.) which discloses, among other things, a method of gathering fluorescence intensity data, various photoprotective groups, masking techniques, and automated techniques for performing light-directed, spatially-addressable synthesis techniques. Because of their relationship to semiconductor fabrication techniques, these methods have come to be referred to as "Very Large Scale Immobilized Polymer Synthesis," "VLSIPS.TM." synthesis technique. Such techniques have met with substantial success in, for example, screening various ligands such as peptides to determine their relative binding affinity to a receptor such as an antibody.
While meeting with substantial success, such techniques generally provide a qualitative estimate of binding affinity for a ligand-receptor pair as well as the relative order of affinities for a multi-ligand substrate. Other techniques of measuring binding affinity provide only indirect indications of binding affinity.
It is desirable to provide a direct method and device for more precisely determining the binding affinity of a receptor to a specific ligand substrate synthesized in a multi-ligand array.

Method and apparatus for measuring binding affinity


An apparatus comprising means for performing: determining an expiration of a service request timer generated in association with a service request message from the apparatus; and handling the expiration of the service request timer based on a determination of a service type of the service request message.

A communication system can be seen as a facility that enables communication sessions between two or more entities such as user terminals, base stations and/or other nodes by providing carriers between the various entities involved in the communications path. A communication system can be provided for example by means of a communication network and one or more compatible communication devices. The communication sessions may comprise, for example, communication of data for carrying communications such as voice, video, electronic mail (email), text message, multimedia and/or content data and so on. Non-limiting examples of services provided comprise two-way or multi-way calls, data communication or multimedia services and access to a data network system, such as the Internet.
In a wireless communication system at least a part of a communication session between at least two stations occurs over a wireless link. Examples of wireless systems comprise public land mobile networks (PLMN), satellite based communication systems and different wireless local networks, for example wireless local area networks (WLAN). The wireless systems can typically be divided into cells, and are therefore often referred to as cellular systems.
A user can access the communication system by means of an appropriate communication device or terminal. A communication device of a user may be referred to as user equipment (UE) or user device. A communication device is provided with an appropriate signal receiving and transmitting apparatus for enabling communications, for example enabling access to a communication network or communications directly with other users. The communication device may access a carrier provided by a station, for example a base station of a cell, and transmit and/or receive communications on the carrier.
The communication system and associated devices typically operate in accordance with a given standard or specification which sets out what the various entities associated with the system are permitted to do and how that should be achieved. Communication protocols and/or parameters which shall be used for the connection are also typically defined. One example of a communications system is UTRAN (3G radio). Other examples of communication systems are the long-term evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) radio-access technology and so-called 5G or New Radio (NR) networks. NR is being standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
One of the aspects of 5G relates to a Service request procedure. A Service request procedure specifies change of the 5GMM (5GS Mobility Management) mode from IDLE to CONNECTED and the corresponding request to establish user-plane resources.
In this case the UE is configured to transmit a "SERVICE REQUEST" message to the network side. Standard causes for starting the procedure are, for example, when UE or network have signalling or user data pending and UE is in a 5GMM-IDLE mode. However, this procedure may also be invoked when the UE receives a request for emergency services fallback (ESFB) from the upper layer and performs ESFB.
Emergency services fallback (ESFB) data sessions may be established between devices for important communications, for example for calls to an ambulance, police or fire service.


In an MPEG-2 decoding system, a transport decoder decodes a transport packet corresponding to a Program Identification (PID) from an input transport stream, and retrieves a Program Association Table/Program Map Table PAT/PMT) from the stream when it is requested to retrieve Program Specific lnformation (PSI). A pre-decoder checks PSI stored in a PSI memory in response to a request to change to a desired channnel, reads PIDs of transport packets for a Packetized Elementary Stream (PES) of a program corresponding to the desired channel from the PSI memory to provide it to the transport decoder, receives the PAT/PMT and updates the contents of the memory using the PAT/PMT. After decoding, PSI previously extracted therefrom is stored in the memory. PIDs of transport packets for the PES of desired program are obtained referring to the stored PSI, and transport packets having the PIDs are retrieved and decoded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for decoding a multiple Moving Picture Experts Group-2 (MPEG-2) encoded Transport Stream (TS), and more particularly to an MPEG-2 decoding system and method for extracting Program Specific Information (PSI) from a transport stream in order to effectuate a channel change.
2. Description of the Related Art
An MPEG-2 system handles two kinds of multiplexed bit streams: a program stream and a transport stream. The program stream is used in a multiplexing scheme where a single broadcast program, including video, audio and captioning data, is transmitted in an error-free channel environment, or when an error correction function of a medium such as a CD is utilized without any alteration thereof. The transport stream is used in a multiplexing scheme where a number of broadcast programs are simultaneously transmitted in a channel environment where there is an error. For example, the program stream is used when storing a single program of a video CD or the like, whereas the transport stream is used when performing digital broadcasting of a plurality of programs using a satellite.
The MPEG-2 system incorporates a packet multiplexing scheme according to a Time Division Multiplexing system. In the packet multiplexing scheme, each of video and audio bit streams is first divided into so-called Packetized Elementary Stream (PES) packets of suitable lengths. The PES packets have an upper size limit of 64 KB to cope with various applications, and each packet size may be fixed or variable. A variable transfer rate and discontinuous transmission are also allowed for the PES packets. The PES packets are multiplexed into a single bit stream to produce the program or transport stream described above.
The packet size highly depends on a transmission channel or medium. For example, 53-byte packets (cells) are used in an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) protocol in Broadband Integrated Services Digital Networks (BISDN). A header in such a packet, containing basic information thereof, is 5 bytes, and thus an actual payload is 48 bytes. The transport stream packet (hereinafter abbreviated to a "transport packet") has a fixed size of 188 bytes in an ATM system. The first 4 bytes of the transport packet includes a header information, and the remaining 184 bytes includes a payload carrying video or audio data. The transport packet is transmitted while being carried in 4 ATM cells. If one byte of the 48 payload bytes of each ATM cell is used for an ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL), the actual payload is 47 bytes.
In operation, each broadcast station multiplexes and outputs transport packets. Multiplexed transport packets from a number of broadcast stations are then multiplexed into a single bit stream for a subsequent transmission via a single repeater. Digital satellite broadcasting employs a multiplexing scheme using Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) and Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) protocols. Each repeater has a bandwidth of 27 MHz and is operated according to the FDM scheme, and multiple broadcast stations may share a single repeater. A transport stream carried by each repeater is subjected to Reed Solomon coding and convolution coding for error correction, and transmission thereof between a satellite and the ground is performed through Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) modulation.
At the receiving end, the reverse procedure of that described above is performed when a received transport stream is decoded. First, a repeater carrying a broadcast signal to be received is selected, and then QPSK-demodulation and error correction are performed on the broadcast signal. The resulting signal is a bit stream into which a number of broadcast signals are multiplexed. Thus, only transport packets of a broadcast station to be received are first selected from the multiplexed bit stream, and video and audio packets thereof are decoded by the video and audio decoders in order to reproduce image and audio signals, respectively.
As described in the International Standard Organization/International Electro-technical Commission (ISO/IEC) 13818, the decoding system includes an elementary stream decoder, including at least one MPEG-2 audio decoder and at least one MPEG-2 video decoder, and an MPEG-2 transport decoder. The decoding system receives MPEG-2 transport streams (bit streams) from a number of service providers (that may have various source types). All the MPEG-2 transport streams may contain a number of programs that can be displayed to users. Thus, switching (i.e., channel change) from one program (or channel) to another program requires switching from one transport stream source to another transport stream source.
If a desired channel exists in a transport stream received by the decoding system, a latency between selection of a new channel and display of the desired channel is influenced based on the time it takes to resynchronize the data of the new channel by the elementary stream decoder and the transport decoder. However, if data of the desired channel does not exist in the currently used transport stream, the desired data must be selected from another transport stream, thus further delaying the switching process. In this case, the transport stream inputted to a transport decoder must be switched to a new transport stream. To parse and decode a program from the new transport stream, the transport decoder must first check Program Specific Information (PSI). Such an operation worsens the latency associated with the channel change, thereby making it difficult to smoothly provide broadcasting services such as digital broadcasting services to users.


A modular system and method is provided for low bit rate encoding and decoding of speech signals using voicing probability determination. The continuous input speech is divided into time segments of a predetermined length. For each segment the encoder of the system computes a model signal and subtracts the model signal from the original signal in the segment to obtain a residual excitation signal. Using the excitation signal the system computes the signal pitch and a parameter which is related to the relative content of voiced and unvoiced portions in the spectrum of the excitation signal, which is expressed as a ratio Pv, defined as a voicing probability. The voiced and the unvoiced portions of the excitation spectrum, as determined by the parameter Pv, are encoded using one or more parameters related to the energy of the excitation signal in a predetermined set of frequency bands. In the decoder, speech is synthesized from the transmitted parameters representing the model speech, the signal pitch, voicing probability and excitation levels in a reverse order. Boundary conditions between voiced and unvoiced segments are established to ensure amplitude and phase continuity for improved output speech quality. Perceptually smooth transition between frames is ensured by using an overlap and add method of synthesis. LPC interpolation and post-filtering is used to obtain output speech with improved perceptual quality.

The present invention relates to speech processing and more specifically to a method and system for low bit rate digital encoding and decoding of speech using separate processing of voiced and unvoiced components of speech signal segments on the basis of a voicing probability determination.
Digital encoding of voiceband speech has been subject to intensive research for at least three decades now, as a result of which various techniques have been developed targeting different speech processing applications at bit rates ranging from about 64 kb/s to about 2.4 kb/s. Two of the main factors which influence the choice of a particular speech processing algorithm are the desired speech quality and the bit rate. Generally, the lower the bit rate of the speech coder, i.e. higher signal compression, the more the speech quality suffers to some extent. In each specific application, it is thus a matter of compromise between the desired speech quality, which in many instances is strictly specified, and the information capacity of the transmission channel and/or the speech processing system which determine the bit rate. The present invention is specifically directed to a low bit rate system and method for speech and voiceband coding to be used in speech processing and modern multimedia systems which require large volumes of data to be processed and stored, often in real time, and acceptable quality speech to be delivered over narrowband communication channels.
For practical low bit rate digital speech signal transformation, communication and storage purposes it is necessary to reduce the amounts of data to be transmitted and stored by eliminating redundant information without significant degradation of the output speech quality. There are some well known prior art speech signal compression and coding techniques which exploit signal redundancies to reduce the required bit rate. Generally, these techniques can be classified as speech processing using analysis-and-synthesis (AAS) and analysis-by-synthesis (ABS) methods. Although AAS methods, such as residual excited linear predictive coding (RELP), adaptive predictive coding (APC) and subband coding (SBC) have been successful at rates in the range of about 9.6-16 kb/s, below that range they can no longer produce good quality speech. The reasons for that are generally related to the fact that: (a) there is no feedback mechanism to control the distortions in the reconstructed speech; and (b) errors in one speech frame generally propagate in subsequent frames without correction. In ABS schemes, on the other hand, both these factors are taken into account which enables them to operate much more successfully in the low bit rate range.
Specifically, in ABS coding systems it is assumed that the signal can be observed and represented in some form. Then, a theoretical signal production model is assumed which has a number of adjustable parameters to model different ranges of the input signal. By varying parameters of the model in a systematic way it is thus possible to find a set of parameters that can produce a synthetic speech signal which matches the real signal with minimum error. In practical applications synthetic speech is most often generated as the output of a linear predictive coding (LPC) filter. Next, a residual, "excitation" signal is obtained by subtracting the synthetic model speech signal from the actual input signal. Generally, the dynamic range of the residual signal is much more limited, so that fewer bits are required for its transmission and storage. Finally, perceptually based minimization procedures can be employed to reduce the speech distortions at the synthesis end even further.
Various techniques have been used in the past to design the speech model filter, to form an appropriate excitation signal and minimize the error between the original signal and the synthesized output in some meaningful way. There appears to be a consensus, however, that no single technique is likely to succeed in all applications. The reason for this is that the performance of digital compression and coding systems for voice signals is highly dependent on the speaker and the selection of speech frames. The success of a technique selected in a particular application thus frequently depends on the accuracy of the underlying signal model and the flexibility in adjusting the model parameters. As known in the art, various speech signal models have been proposed in the past.
Most frequently, speech is modeled on a short-time basis as the response of a linear system excited by a periodic impulse train for voiced sounds or random noise for the unvoiced sounds. For mathematical convenience, it is assumed that the speech signal is stationary within a given short time segment, so that the continuous speech is represented as an ordered sequence of distinct voiced and unvoiced speech segments.
Voiced speech segments, which correspond to vowels in a speech signal, typically contribute most to the intelligibility of the speech which is why it is important to accurately represent these segments. However, for a low-pitched voice, a set of more than 80 harmonic frequencies ("harmonics") may be measured within a voiced speech segment within a 4 kHz bandwidth. Clearly, encoding information about all harmonics of such segment is only possible if a large number of bits is used. Therefore, in applications where it is important to keep the bit rate low, more sophisticated speech models need to be employed.
One typical approach is to separate the speech signal into its voiced and unvoiced components. The two components are then synthesized separately and finally combined to produce the complete speech signal. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,465 describes a speech analyzer and synthesizer system using a sinusoidal encoding and decoding technique for voiced speech segments and noise excitation or multipulse excitation for unvoiced speech segments. In the process of encoding the voiced segments a fundamental subset of harmonic frequencies is determined by a speech analyzer and is used to derive the parameters of the remaining harmonic frequencies. The harmonic amplitudes are determined from linear predictive coding (LPC) coefficients. The method of synthesizing the harmonic spectral amplitudes from a set of LPC coefficients, however, requires extensive computations and yields relatively poor quality speech.
Different techniques focus on more accurate modeling of the excitation signal. The excitation signal in a speech coding system is very important because it reflects residual information which is not covered by the theoretical model of the signal. This includes the pitch, long term and random patterns, and other factors which are critical for the intelligibility of the reconstructed speech. One of the most important parameters in this respect is the is the determination of the accurate pitch. Studies have shown that the human ear is more sensitive to changes in the pitch compared to changes in other speech signal parameters by an order of magnitude, which is why a number of techniques to accurately estimate the pitch have been proposed in the past. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,226,108 and 5,216,747 to Hardwick et al. describe an improved pitch estimation method providing sub-integer resolution. The quality of the output speech according to the proposed method is improved by increasing the accuracy of the decision as to whether given speech segment is voiced or unvoiced. This decision is made by comparing the energy of the current speech segment to the energy of the preceding segments. The proposed methods, however, generally do not allow accurate estimation of the amplitude information for all harmonics.
In an approach related to the harmonic signal coding techniques discussed above, it has been proposed to increase the accuracy of the signal reconstruction by using a series of binary voiced/unvoiced decisions corresponding to each speech frame in what is known in the art as multiband excitation (MBE) coders. The MBE speech coders provide more flexibility in the selection of speech voicing compared with traditional vocoders, and can be used to generate good quality speech. In fact, an improved version of the MBE (IMBE) vocoder operating at 4.15 kb/s, with forward error correction (FEC) making it up to 6.4 kb/s, has been chosen for use in INMARSAT-M. In these speech coders, however, typically the number of harmonic magnitudes in the 4 kHz bandwidth varies with the fundamental frequency, requiring variable bit allocation for each harmonic magnitude from one frame to another, which can result in variable speech quality for different speakers. Another limitation of the IMBE coder is that the bit allocation for the model parameters depends on the fundamental frequency, which reduces the robustness of the system to channel errors. In addition, errors in the voiced/unvoiced decisions, especially when made in the low frequency bands, result in perceptually objectionable degradation in the quality of the output speech.
Therefore, it is perceived that there exists a need for more flexible methods for encoding and decoding of speech, which can be used in low bit rate applications. Accordingly, there is a present need to develop a modular system in which optimized processing of different speech segments, or speech spectrum bands, is performed in specialized processing blocks to achieve best results for different types of speech and other acoustic signal processing applications. Furthermore, there is a need to more accurately classify each speech segment in terms of its voiced/unvoiced content in order to apply optimum signal compression for each type of signal. In addition, there is a need to obtain accurate estimates of the amplitudes of the spectral harmonics in voiced speech segments in a computationally efficient way and to develop a method and system to synthesize such voiced speech segments without the requirement to store or transmit separate phase information.

Low bit-rate speech coding system and method using voicing probability determination


A polishing apparatus polishes a substrate by moving the substrate and a polishing pad relative to each other. The apparatus includes: an elastic modulus measuring device configured to measure an elastic modulus of the polishing pad, and a polishing condition adjustor configured to adjust polishing conditions of the substrate based on a measured value of the elastic modulus. The polishing conditions include pressure of a retaining ring, arranged around the substrate, exerted on the polishing pad and a temperature of the polishing pad.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polishing method and a polishing apparatus for polishing a substrate, such as a wafer, and more particularly to a polishing method and a polishing apparatus that change a polishing condition in accordance with an elastic modulus of a polishing pad which is used in polishing the substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
A CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) apparatus polishes a surface of a wafer by providing sliding contact between the wafer and a polishing pad in the presence of a polishing liquid, while pressing the wafer against the polishing pad. The polishing pad is formed from an elastic material, such as porous polyurethane. A top surface of the polishing pad provides a polishing surface for polishing the wafer, which is placed in sliding contact with this polishing surface.
The polishing surface of the polishing pad is regularly processed by a pad dresser (or a pad conditioner). This pad dresser has a dressing surface having abrasive gains, such as diamond particles, fixed thereto. The pad dresser presses this dressing surface against the polishing pad while rotating the dressing surface to scrape away the surface of the polishing pad slightly to thereby restore the polishing surface. As the dressing process (or the conditioning process) is repeated, the polishing pad becomes thinner gradually. Further, as the polishing of the wafer is repeated, the polishing liquid gradually soaks into cells formed in the polishing pad. As a result, an elastic modulus of the polishing pad changes.
The elastic modulus of the polishing pad is a value of physical property representing a difficulty of being deformed when a force is applied to the polishing pad. Specifically, a higher elastic modulus indicates a harder polishing pad. The elastic modulus of the polishing pad depends not only on a thickness of the polishing pad and the existence of the polishing liquid that has soaked into the polishing pad, but also on a temperature of the polishing pad. Typically, the polishing pad is made of resin as described above. Therefore, as the temperature of the polishing pad increases, the polishing pad becomes soft.
The elastic modulus of the polishing pad greatly affects a polishing profile of the wafer. In particular, when the polishing pad is soft, the wafer, which is pressed against the polishing pad, sinks into the polishing pad. As a result, a peripheral portion of the wafer is excessively polished as compared with other portions of the wafer. This is a so-called rounded edge. In order to prevent such an undesired polishing result, it is preferable to change wafer polishing conditions based on the elastic modulus of the polishing pad.
In a conventional technique, the elastic modulus of the polishing pad is measured so that a remaining lifetime of the polishing pad is determined or conditions of the dressing process are adjusted based on the elastic modulus (see U.S. patent document US 2006/0196283). However, the conventional technique does not provide the use of the measured elastic modulus for adjusting the polishing conditions of the wafer.
It has been proposed to measure the temperature of the polishing pad and to estimate the elastic modulus of the polishing pad from the measured pad temperature (for example see Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2012-148376). However, the elastic modulus of the polishing pad depends not only on the temperature of the polishing pad, but also on other factors as described above. Therefore, the estimated elastic modulus of the polishing pad can be different from an actual elastic modulus.

Adjusting a substrate polishing condition


An arrangement with self-amplifying dynamic MOS transistor storage cells has in each case a MOS selection transistor AT, whose gate is connected to a word line WL, and an MOS storage transistor ST at whose gate a capacitor C for charge storage acts. This self-amplifying storage cell can be written on and read out with only one bit line BL and one word line WL. The two transistors AT and ST are connected in series and a common drain source region DS is connected via a voltage-dependent resistor VR to the gate electrode GST of the control transistor. The advantages reside in the fact that the cell geometry can be scaled without at the same time the quantity Q of charge which can be read out on the bit line BL having to be reduced, in that the quantity Q of charge which can be read out is larger than a charge stored in the capacitor C which acts at the gate of the storage transistor ST and in that the two MOS transistors AT and ST can be produced relatively simply.

The invention relates to an arrangement with self-amplifying dynamic MOS transistor storage cells as claimed in the preamble of patent claim 1.
An arrangement of self-amplifying dynamic MOS transistor storage cells of this kind is disclosed in the publication with the title .THETA.New Dynamic RAM Cell for VLSI Memories" by T. Tsuchiya and M. Itsumi in IEEE Electron. Device Letters, Vol. EDL-3, No. 1, January 1982 (pages 7 to 10). This is a storage cell with two write lines and one read line which is composed of a MOS-FET, a MOS capacitor and a junction FET.

Arrangement with self-amplifying dynamic MOS transistor storage cells


A seat lifter for height adjustment of vehicle seat, which has a lifter linkage for vertical movement of the seat and a drive mechanism therefor. The lifter linkage includes a pair of links, a bell crank portion formed in one of the two links, and a rotation transmission link element including a sector gear which is operatively connected with the bell crank portion. The drive mechanism comprises a ratchet-type lever mechanism operatively connected via a brake unit with the lifter linkage, the arrangement of which ratchet-type lever mechanism is such that only one-stroke operation of a lever causes a bifurcated ratchet pawl to rotate so as to bring a selected one of its two pawl portions to engagement with a ratchet gear wheel, thereby allowing for automatically selecting a desired operative direction without any switch-over operation and then continuously transmitting a certain amount of rotation force to the lifter linkage, so that the vehicle seat can easily be raised or lowered to a certain level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a seat lifter (or seat height adjuster) for adjustment in height of an automotive seat and a lever drive mechanism provided in the seat lifter, which is driven by an operation lever for actuation of the seat lifter for the height adjustment of seat. Particularly, the invention is directed to a seat lifter having forward and rearward links movable interlockingly for adjustment in height of the seat and also to a ratchet-type lever mechanism adaptable for use in the seat lifter to cause such interlocking movement of those two links.
2. Description of Prior Art
A seat height adjuster or what is known as a seat lifter is incorporated in automotive seat to enable an occupant on the seat to selectively adjust the height of seat according to his or her physique and seating posture. In the seat lifter, typically known is a linkage-type seat lifter having forward and rearward links which are interlockingly movable and pivotally coupled with the forward and rearward portions of the seat, respectively, so that the seat may be raised and lowered via those two links. This seat lifter includes plural transmission gears (reduction gears and the like), a brake unit, and a drive mechanism provided with a lever or handle, wherein the drive mechanism is operatively connected through the transmission gears and bake unit to the forward and rearward links. Thus, the drive mechanism is operable by a user who handles its lever to cause both of the two links to move in synchronized way, thereby selectively raising and lowering the seat to a desired point of level.
In this construction of seat lifter, a load is directly transmitted to the drive mechanism via the foregoing constituent elements, and therefore, a much force is required on the user""s part to operate the lever or handle. This poses an unfavorable bar to a smooth and easy operation.
Conventionally, to avoid such defective aspect, a ratchet-type lever mechanism has been employed, which utilizes a known ratchet gear comprising a ratchet gear and ratchet pawl so as to limit the rotation of a lever to one operative direction. With this mechanism, one can simply rotate an operation lever repeatedly in vertical direction, with a small force, due to the combination of ratchet and lever, so that a rotational force is smoothly transmitted to the seat lifter for adjustable vertical movement of the seat to a desired level.
In ordinary, such known ratchet-type lever mechanism requires switching over the direction of rotation of the ratchet gears through operation of secondary associated lever or button. This secondary lever or button is normally disposed adjacent to the main operation lever of the lever mechanism. In most instances, however, the main operation lever of this kind is situated in a narrow space between the lateral side of seat cushion and the door or wall of automobile, which results in a user having to grope for that secondary lever or button to switch over the ratchet gears. Most possibly, this will be a issue of poor usability of the mechanism in that it frequently forces a user to feel for the secondary lever without ascertaining it with his or her own eyes, with the result that the user will erroneously switch over the secondary lever to a wrong operative position. It is therefore of a high likelihood that the user has not noticed this error until he or she handles the main operation lever and then needs to again switch over the secondary lever to a right operative position, which raises a troublesome aspect or a poor usability as well. Further, the provision of such secondary switch-over lever or button leads inevitably to a complicated structure of the ratchet-type lever mechanism on the whole.
Also, with regard to the conventional structure of seat lifter itself, the forward and rearward links thereof are connected, via transmission gears (reduction gears), to the ratchet-type lever mechanism. The gears are prone to wabbling or rattling due to clearances among the gears, and there is the likelihood that the stability or seating touch of seat will be degraded.
In view of the above-stated drawbacks, it is a primary purpose of the present invention to provide an improved seat lifter with ratchet-type lever mechanism which is easy to operate and simplified in structure.
In order to achieve such purpose, a seat lifter in accordance with the present invention is basically comprised of:
a linkage means for operative connection with a vehicle seat, the linkage means including a first link means and a second link means, each being to be pivotally connected with forward and rearward sides of the seat, respectively, such as to allow rotative vertical motion of the linkage means, wherein one of those first and second link means is formed with a bell crank portion in an integral manner;
a drive means operatively connected with the linkage means;
wherein the linkage means includes a rotation transmission link means operatively connected between the linkage and drive means such that an operative rotation force applied from the drive means is transformed into such rotative vertical motion of linkage means;
a brake means for providing a braking action to the rotative vertical motion of linkage means;
the rotation transmission link means including a sector gear means which is in a meshed engagement with the brake means; and
the drive means comprising a ratchet-type lever mechanism which includes:
a support base means;
a ratchet gear wheel means having: a central axis portion rotatably supported by the support base means and securely connected with the brake means; and an outer gear teeth defined circumferentially thereof;
a ratchet base means attached rotatably around the central axis portion of the ratchet gear wheel means;
a lever means attached rotatably around the central axis portion of the ratchet gear wheel means;
a bifurcated ratchet pawl means pivotally attached on the ratchet base means, the bifurcated ratchet pawl means having first and second pawl portions extending from one side thereof, wherein the bifurcated ratchet pawl means is operatively connected with the lever means at another side thereof opposite to that one side, with such an arrangement that the bifurcated ratchet pawl means is selectively rotatable from a neutral position where it is normally out of engagement with the ratchet gear wheel means, so as to bring a selected one of the first and second pawl portions to engagement with the outer gear teeth of ratchet gear wheel means;
a first biasing means for normally biasing the ratchet base means in a direction to the foregoing neutral position; and
a second biasing means for normally biasing the lever means to a neutral non-use position.
Accordingly, by initially rotating the lever means in a selected one of two directions, a selected one of the first and second pawl portions is brought to engagement with the outer gear teeth of ratchet gear wheel means, so that a user can readily select a desired corresponding direction for operation of the drive means or ratchet-type lever mechanism without any switch-over operation, and then, by continuing to rotate the lever means, the linkage means is moved in a selected one of upward and downward directions, thereby allowing the user to adjust the height of seat. Further, the seat lifter per se is simplified in structure since the linkage means may be basically formed only by the first and second link means and the rotation transmission link means, without requiring no other transmission gear mechanism, so that the seat lifter can be easily assembled with a less amount of parts and fittings required.
In this connection, the foregoing rotation transmission link means may further include a connecting link means having one end pivotally connected with the sector gear means and another end pivotally connected with the bell crank portion formed with one of the first and second link means. Or, this rotation transmission link means may be defined integrally in one of the first and second link means such that the sector gear means is integrally formed with the bell crank portion.
Another various advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from reading of the descriptions hereinafter, with reference to the annexed drawings.

Seat lifter with ratchet-type lever mechanism


A processing line, inspection line, or both, includes a first conveyor line with shackles for suspending the poultry by the legs. The conveyor line is arranged to move the poultry in a conveying direction passed a processing and/or inspection station for the poultry, wherein at least along a part of the conveyor line an endless belt is provided that supports the shackles and moves the shackles sideways away from a first neutral vertical suspension position to a second position in which the shackles are suspended obliquely in the conveyor line so as to arrange that any back-and-forth movement of the shackles in their conveying direction is prevented or counteracted.

A processing and/or inspection line provided with an inspection station is disclosed in European patent EP 0 530 868 in the name of the applicant. In this patent, an apparatus for processing poultry is proposed, including a suspension conveyor for conveying the birds with the legs suspended therefrom. A processing station is disposed along a portion of the suspension conveyor, having processing means for removing the entrails from the abdominal cavity as the birds are conveyed by the suspension conveyor. A further conveyor synchronously driven with the suspension conveyor is disposed substantially parallel to and at a predetermined distance from a portion of the suspension conveyor. The further conveyor is disposed after the processing apparatus for receiving the separated entrails and conveying the entrails along the inspection station at the same time as the corresponding birds are carried by the suspension conveyor along the inspection station.
With the currently applied high speeds of the conveyor line for the poultry, conveying approximately 6000 birds or more per hour, a problem may occur where the poultry starts swinging in the conveyor line, and this is not because they are enjoying themselves. In particular, the birds start swinging back-and-forth in the conveying direction of the conveyor line, which may result in inadequate processing of the poultry by a processing station adjacent the line, or unreliable inspection of the poultry and the entrails by a veterinary inspector standing next to the line, since due to the swinging the one-on-one correspondence between the poultry and the entrails is lost. Another problem in the latter situation is that moisture and/or body fluids like blood may drip from a bird to entrails that belong to another bird resulting in contamination which should be avoided.

Processing and/or inspection line for poultry suspended by the legs


A friction stir welding apparatus includes a displacement detecting device that detects displacement of a welding tool caused by deformation of a fitting jig, at the time of performing friction stir welding in which an arm to which the fitting jig fitted with the welding tool is fixed is moved to move the welding tool with respect to the processing target member. The fitting jig can be deformed more than the arm at the time of performing friction stir welding. The displacement detecting device has a displacement sensor fixed to the welding tool, and a reference member fixed to a fixing portion between the fitting jig and the arm to provide a reference position for detecting the displacement to the displacement sensor.

The present invention relates to a friction stir welding apparatus, and more particularly relates to a friction stir welding apparatus having a displacement detection device.
In recent years, in addition to general arc welding and the like, there has been proposed a friction stir welding apparatus that performs friction stir on a predetermined weld portion in a processing target component formed from a plurality of metal plates such as aluminum plates by using a probe rotating at a high speed, and that welds the metal plates to each other. A configuration including a weld portion welded by the friction stir welding apparatus has been realized even in strength components of a mobile object such as an automobile.
In such a friction stir welding apparatus, it is necessary to move the probe and the processing-target component relatively to each other, and precisely weld a predetermined weld portion. Therefore, it is important to move the probe and the processing target component relative to each other accurately without unnecessarily causing relative displacement therebetween.
Under such circumstances, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. H6-87075 relates to an inclination control welding method, although does not relate to a friction stir welding apparatus. Such a configuration is disclosed in which a distance between a torch 1 and a workpiece 2 is measured momentarily by distance measuring sensors 15, 16, and 17 provided on right and left side surfaces and a front surface of the torch 1, and relative right and left inclination angles and longitudinal inclination angle of the torch 1 with respect to the workpiece 2 are controlled so that the torch 1 and the workpiece 2 can be held at predetermined angles, respectively, based on the measured values. Furthermore, right and left absolute angles and front and rear absolute angles of the torch 1 are measured momentarily by a torch inclination measuring sensor 18 provided on the top of the torch 1, and an optimum welding condition depending on the absolute angles of the torch 1 is selected from welding conditions by the absolute angles of the torch 1 based on the measured value, thereby executing control.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2004-136365 relates to a friction stir welding apparatus 20 and discloses a configuration including a tool-rotation drive unit 24, a tool-displacement drive unit 25, a tool movement-amount detecting unit 40, a welding-pressure detecting unit 41, a deflection-correction-data accumulating unit 42, a welding-condition-data accumulating unit 43, an inter-tool distance obtaining unit 44, a deflection-amount calculating unit 45, an input unit 46, a display unit 47, and a control unit 48. The deflection-correction-data accumulating unit 42 compiles a database and accumulates a deflection amount δ of the friction stir welding apparatus 20 with respect to a welding pressure F1 of a welding tool 21, and the deflection amount δ is obtained in advance by experiments. The deflection-amount calculating unit 45 extracts the deflection amount δ from the deflection-correction-data accumulating unit 42 based on a detection result provided by the welding-pressure detecting unit 41. It is also disclosed that the deflection amount δ is actually measured and stored.


A client/server application is provided for performing synchronous builds on a server. The client, running on a development platform, communicates with the server and, together, they complete a build transaction. In a build transaction, the client transfers all the resources that are needed for the build to the server. The server completes the build and returns any resulting output resources to the client. The end user invokes the client for each build transaction and such calls may be embedded in a script facilitating automation of the overall build process.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to data processing and, in particular, to performing application builds on a server. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method, apparatus, and program for performing synchronous builds on a server.
2. Description of Related Art
Server software is typically developed by programmers at a client workstation. Thus, a programmer may develop this software using a source repository and development environment that is different from the target of the software. After developing source code, the application must be built on the target platform.
Typically, a "build" process then converts a set of input files to a set of output files on the target platform using a transformation rule called the build script. As a simple example, a set of input files could be COBOL source, the build script could invoke a COBOL compiler on the server, and the output could be the files created by the compiler. After the build is successfully completed, the developer may retrieve the output from the server and store the output files in the repository of the development platform, perhaps as input to a subsequent build.
Consequently, the developer must transform the input files to the target platform using file transfer protocol (FTP) or another file transfer utility. Then, the developer must invoke the build script. The build script is the prescription for transforming the input into the output. The build script may take the form of a command file or a job in a job control language (JCL) stream. JCL is a command language for mini and mainframe operating systems that launches applications. JCL specifies priority, program size, and running sequence, as well as the files and databases used. To invoke the build script, the user could use the network job entry (NJE) protocol or another tool.
The user must then determine the result of the execution of the build script. In other words, the user must determine whether the build completed and whether or not the build script executed successfully. If the build script execution is successful and the output needs to be retrieved from the server, then the developer must transfer the output files from the server, again using FTP or another file transfer utility.
This process for performing builds on a target platform is inconvenient and prone to errors. There are products that allow a user to do a remote edit on a workstation platform, but the file resources are still stored in the server environment. They allow a build to be started from the workstation, but they require the user to monitor a job queue to determine the results of the build. These solutions are usually proprietary to the specific tool or product.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a single, seamless process for defining inputs, outputs, and build scripts to perform a synchronous build on a server.

Method, apparatus, and program for synchronous remote builds

International Business Machines Corporation


A transparent conductive substrate, that has excellent heat resistant characteristic, shock resisting characteristic, chemical resisting characteristic, oxygen barrier characteristic, steam barrier characteristic, and scratch resisting characteristic while the substrate is easy to handle and has a thin, and light-weight structure, is provided. A display apparatus having such a transparent conductive substrate is also provided. The transparent conductive substrate comprises a transparent composite base having a transparent heat resisting resin base and a metallic oxide layer or a metallic nitride layer, the metallic oxide layer or the metallic nitride layer being formed on at least one of two main surface of the transparent heat resisting resin base, and a transparent electrode layer formed on the metallic oxide layer or the metallic nitride layer of the transparent composite base, wherein a coupling agent is coated on the metallic oxide layer or the metallic nitride layer of the transparent composite base, and wherein the metallic oxide layer or the metallic nitride layer has an exposed surface. In addition, a resin base mainly composed of thermosetting type allyated polyarylene ether is used.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transparent conductive substrate for use with various types of display apparatuses and a display apparatus thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
As technologies for satellite and mobile communications have advanced, light-weight display apparatuses for handy information terminal units have been developed. As substrates of the display apparatuses, transparent conductive substrates have been used.
A conventional transparent conductive substrate is constructed by forming a transparent electrode layer on a glass plate with a thickness of 0.7 to 1.1 mm. The glass plate has a heat resisting characteristic, a chemical resisting characteristic, and optical characteristics such as high light transmittance, low haze, and low retardation Since the transparent conductive substrate has a glass plate as a base, it can satisfactorily withstand a photo etching process and a sputtering process performed in an alignment film forming process and an electrode forming process that are performed in the fabrication of a liquid crystal display apparatus.
On the other hand, a handy information terminal unit should have a shock resisting characteristic and a light weight. However, when the thickness and weight of the glass plate are reduced, the shock resisting characteristic of the resultant plate becomes lower than that of the conventional glass plate. Thus, a technology for using plastics, which have high shock resisting characteristic and light weight, for a transparent conductive substrate has been required.
Thus far, many attempts for using plastic bases for liquid crystal display apparatuses have been made. To improve the display quality, transparent conductive substrates used for the liquid crystal display apparatuses should have for example an oxygen barrier characteristic, a steam barrier characteristic, and a scratch resisting characteristic. However, with only a plastic base, such characteristics cannot be accomplished.
To solve this problem, a method for forming a laminate of an oxygen barrier layer, a steam barrier layer, a hard coat layer as a protection layer for improving mechanical strength and chemical resisting characteristic, a variety of adhesive agent layers for improving adhesive characteristics between each layer, between the base and the adjacent layer, or between the transparent electrode layer and the adjacent layer and so forth on a plastic plate as a compound base for a transparent conductive substrate has been proposed. In this case, to form a transparent electrode layer an orientation film, the base should have a heat resisting characteristic.
However, the conventional plastic bases cannot satisfy both optical characteristics such as high light transmittance, low haze value, low retardation value, and so forth and high heat resisting characteristic that is required for the fabrication process of the transparent conductive substrate at the same time. In particular, both the high light transmittance and the high heat resisting characteristic cannot be satisfied at the same time. For example, to improve the heat resisting characteristic and thereby form a highly conjugated structure, an aromatic ring or a hetero ring is introduced in the main chain of a macromolecule compound that composes a plastic. In this case, the plastic is inevitably colored. Thus, the light transmittance of the visible portion is deteriorated. To improve the heat resisting characteristic, a high crystal structure is formed. In this case, the haze value and the retardation value increase. In consideration of both the high light transmittance and the high heat resisting characteristic, as examples of the plastic base, polycarbonate, polyarylate, polysulfone, polyethersulfone, and norbornene resin which has a norbornene structure are normally used. The thermally deforming temperatures of these materials are at most around 220.degree. C. Thus, the heat resisting characteristic and the light transmittance should be further improved.
In addition, when an oxygen barrier layer, a steam barrier layer, a hard coat layer, various adhesive agent layers, and so forth are laminated as a base, since the heat resisting characteristic of these layers is low, a fabrication process of which the material temperature exceeds 170.degree. C. cannot be used. From a view point of the heat resisting characteristics of such various protection layers, structures of which a metallic oxide thin film layer composed of SiOx, AlOx, or MgOx or a metallic nitride thin film layer composed of SiNx is formed as an oxygen barrier layer and a steam barrier layer on the base have been used (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 6-99536 and 63-112632, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,442,686).
These layers are formed by sputtering method, evaporation method, CVD method, or sol-gel method. In particular, when a metallic oxide thin film layer or a metallic nitride thin film layer that is free from a defect, they provide very good oxygen barrier characteristic and steam barrier characteristic. The oxygen barrier characteristic and the steam barrier characteristic of these layers are around 10 times higher than those of ethylene-vinylalcohol copolymer, polychloro vinylidene, or polypropylene. However, when the metallic oxide thin film layer or the metallic nitride thin film layer that have excellent barrier characteristics are densely formed, high temperatures are required in the crystallizing process. Thus, the required temperatures may exceed the heat resisting characteristic of the base.
Normally, to improve the adhesion of the base and the metallic oxide thin film layer or the metallic oxide thin film layer, a surface treatment is performed for the base. However, the effect of the surface treatment is not always satisfactory. To solve this problem, a protection layer composed of a thermoplastic resin is formed on the front surface of the metallic oxide thin film layer or the metallic nitride thin film layer. In addition, to improve the adhesion of the protection layer and an electrode material formed on the front surface thereof, an adhesive agent layer should be disposed between these layers. Alternatively, a proper surface process should be performed on the front surface of the protection layer. However, such an adhesive agent layer has a problem on the heat resisting characteristic. Thus, it is difficult to equally form a transparent electrode layers
As described above, although the transparent conductive substrate is important for reducing the thickness and weight of a display apparatus, the transparent conductive substrate that has the conventional plastic base cannot satisfy both the optical characteristics such as high light transmittance, low haze value, and low retardation value and high heat resisting characteristic in comparison with the transparent conductive substrate that has a conventional glass material.
In addition, from a view point of the thermal process environment, it is difficult to form a metallic oxide thin film layer or a metallic nitride thin film layer that satisfies the oxygen and steam barrier characteristics and scratch resisting characteristic.
Moreover, when the metallic oxide thin film layer or the metallic nitride thin film layer is formed, the adhesion of the base and such thin film layers and of a transparent electrode layer and such thin film layers is deteriorated.

Transparent conductive substrate and display apparatus


A power generation system with a predetermined rating limit includes one or more wind turbine generators and a vanadium redox battery. The vanadium redox battery absorbs excess energy to ensure that the rating limit is not exceeded, provide system stability, and improve power generation availability. The power generation system may further include a control system to manage the vanadium redox battery's absorption and power generation to control system stability and system frequency.

Wind generation systems have received much interest as an alternative to fossil fuels plants. Wind generation systems have the disadvantage of providing fluctuating or intermittent power output due to the variability of wind speed. Additionally, there is a finite ramp up and ramp down (decay) function from individual wind turbines when wind speeds change. The decay function is generally of the order of several minutes. Models of short term fluctuations are well advanced, and variations can be predicted with high levels of confidence. Combining such models with physical turbine inertias, the power outputs from wind turbine farms is predictable and can be included in power system planning as a dispatchable resource.
There remains a limit to how much capacity credit can be given to a wind farm or individual wind turbine. This is particularly true where the wind regimen is not coincident with load demand. For example, in certain wind turbine farm locations, wind speeds are greatest when the system demand is lowest. Prices for wind energy and capacity will always, therefore, be discounted at a short run avoided cost rate unless there is very high confidence that load demand and wind turbine output overlap.
A solution to variable output from wind turbines is to provide storage for the excess energy. The energy may then be delivered to a grid when the wind turbine output drops off. From the supply side perspective, this is an availability enhancement tool to provide a spinning reserve and a firm source of supply. From the demand side perspective, the storage is a load shaping or leveling tool. New electrical storage technologies are able to provide fast response to load fluctuations and large scale shifting of energy from off-peak or low value time periods to peak periods.
Integrating an energy storage system and a wind based generator in either a single wind turbine form or in a group of turbines involves the selection of a capacity and storage duration which allows the output to be firmed up in an optimal fashion. If the cost of this energy storage system is such that the added benefits resulting from its installation including increased energy sales (less spillage), increased capacity payments, and ancillary service benefits amount to more than its operating and repayment costs, then the energy storage system becomes a viable option. In addition, the energy storage system improves the penetration levels of wind power generation and improves system parameters, such as power quality, voltage control, and overall load factor. By applying energy storage at distribution levels, localized benefits as well as summated transmission system benefits occur.
Thus, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a stable and constant power output from one or more wind turbine generators by employing the benefits of an energy storage system.

Method for retrofitting wind turbine farms


The invention is directed to an electrical distribution harness assembly and a method of manufacturing the electrical distribution harness assembly. The electrical distribution harness assembly is configured for coupling with a modular wall panel. The electrical distribution harness assembly includes at least one electrical connector including an elastic clip bracket configured for snap-fitting to the modular wall panel. The method of manufacturing the electrical distribution harness assembly includes the steps of forming an elastic clip bracket configured for snap-fitting to the modular wall panel and encapsulating at least a portion of the elastic clip bracket in an electrical connector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrification of modular wall panels, and, more particularly, to a mounting apparatus for an electrical distribution harness assembly of a modular wall panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modular office wall panels are used to separate work stations which require electrical power. Raceways within the wall panels are often used to carry electrical circuitry, hidden from view, to the work stations. One proposal has suggested that the electrical circuitry can be transported in a partition panel using a powerway which is coupled with the panel using a fastener. This proposal requires using tools and is, thus, often undesirable.
Another proposal has suggested using an electrical distribution assembly including a channel connected to a connector block. A plurality of plates are also connected to the channel and are used to fasten a plurality of electrical outlets with the connector block. The projections extend from respective plates and connect with a bracket associated with a partition panel. At least one projection includes a lateral projection extending laterally from a respective plate. Another projection includes lips and a resilient retainer. After placing the lateral projection within an opening of the bracket, the assembly is rotated sideways such that the lips projection is placed within another opening. The resilient retainer causes the lips to engage the top of the bracket, thereby preventing relative movement between the assembly and the bracket. An example of this type of mounting arrangement for an electrical distribution harness is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,970, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
While this latter proposal couples an electrical distribution harness assembly to a partition panel in a way that does not require the installer to use tools, the latter proposal requires a channel fastened to plates which include the mounting projections. The latter proposal further requires using different types of projections and an accompanying resilient member to secure the harness assembly to the bracket.
What is needed in the art is a mounting apparatus of an electrical distribution harness assembly where the mounting apparatus does not require a fastener for mounting to a wall panel, does not involve a multiplicity of parts, and is simple to use and manufacture.

Mounting apparatus for an electrical distribution harness assembly


A sheet processing apparatus includes: a loading tray on which a sheet is loaded; a pair of ejection rollers that eject the sheet to the loading tray and in which a pair or roller members are configured to be able to contact with and separate from each other; a pair of shift rollers that is provided upstream of the pair of ejection rollers in a sheet conveyance direction, are movable in a sheet width direction that is a direction perpendicular to the sheet conveyance direction, convey the sheet towards the loading tray, and performs a shift operation of shifting the sheet to a different position in the sheet width direction; and a control unit that performs control to change, based on sheet information, a shift operation timing of the sheet by the pair of shift rollers and a contacting and separating timing of the pair of ejection rollers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet processing apparatus that performs a predetermined process on a sheet, such as a paper sheet, and to an image forming system that includes the sheet processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as an image forming system, one that includes a sheet processing apparatus that is able to sort sheets on which images have been generated by an image forming apparatus has been know.
A sheet processing apparatus described in Japanese Patent No. 4063704 includes: a paper ejection tray on which paper sheets, which are sheets ejected from an outlet of a main body of the apparatus, are to be loaded; and a pair of paper ejection rollers, which eject the paper sheets to the paper ejection tray and in which a pair of roller members are configured to be able to come into contact with and separate from each other. Further, a pair of shift rollers are included, which are provided upstream of the pair of paper ejection rollers in a sheet conveyance direction, are movable in a paper sheet width direction, convey the paper sheets towards the paper ejection tray, and perform a shift operation of shifting the paper sheets to different positions in the paper sheet width direction.
During the shift operation on the paper sheets by the pair of shift rollers, the pair of paper ejection rollers are separated from each other, and after the shift operation is completed, the pair of paper ejection rollers are abutted onto each other to convey the paper sheets while holding the paper sheets therebetween and eject the paper sheets to the paper ejection tray. When the paper sheets ejected by the pair of paper ejection rollers are loaded on the paper ejection tray, the paper sheets are distributed to left and right in paper the sheet width direction by a predetermined amount by the pair of shift rollers to load the paper sheets onto different shift positions on the paper ejection tray.
However, conventionally, controlling the shift operation has been carried out in the same way regardless of a type of the sheets, and thus, depending on the type of sheets, if the shift operation is controlled as described above, failure in the loading of the sheets may be caused. For example, if sheets not having enough firmness as sheets are used and the shift operation is controlled as described above, the following problems may be caused.
Specifically, since the paper sheets are conveyed while being shifted by the pair of shift rollers in a state in which the pair of paper ejection rollers are separated, a paper sheet leading end side is not held by the pair of paper ejection rollers and only a paper sheet tail end side is held by the pair of shift rollers, providing no firmness at the paper sheet leading end side. Therefore, the paper sheet leading end side not provided with firmness is largely hung down towards the paper ejection tray.
After the shift operation on the paper sheets by the pair of shift rollers is completed, the pair of paper ejection rollers are caused to come into contact with each other and the paper sheets are conveyed while being held between the pair of paper ejection rollers. However, if the paper sheets are conveyed by the pair of paper ejection rollers in a state in which the paper sheet leading end side not provided with firmness is largely hung down towards the paper ejection tray, when a sheet leading end contacts the paper ejection tray, there is a risk that curling may occur at the sheet leading end side and failure in the loading of the paper sheets may be caused.
In view of the above, there is a need to provide a sheet processing apparatus, which is able to suppress failure in loading of sheets that have been subjected to a shift operation, regardless of a type of the sheets, as well as an image forming system including the sheet processing apparatus.

Sheet processing apparatus and image forming system


A fireplace has a manifold positioned between a combustion chamber and a flue. The manifold has a pair of inlets to supply dilution air to the flue, one extending from a front face of the fireplace, and the other from a rearward location. A baffle extends across the outlet of the manifold to prevent direct communication between the combustion chamber and flue. The inlet at the front face enables the flow of dilution air to be checked with the fireplace installed without having to accomodate the full flow of dilution air. The baffle prevents downdrafts from adversely affecting the combustion in the combustion chamber.

The present invention relates to fireplaces. It is now quite common to provide a fireplace with a prefabricated combustion chamber that is intended to be connected to a flue. These fireplaces may either be inserted into existing conventional masonry fireplaces or may be installed and subsequently framed within the structure of the building. The heating and visual effects of the fireplace are conventionally supplied by means of a gas burner which simulates a conventional wood fire.
In order to retain the visual appeal of the fire, it is necessary for the combustion conditions to be carefully controlled and, more significantly, for safety purposes it is necessary to ensure that combustion products from the burner are conveyed to the flue. For this reason, it is usual to provide a supply of air to the flue to ensure that there is a constant flow of air along the flue that will induce the flow combustion products from the combustion chamber and into the flue and also to dilute the combustion products to reduce condensation in the flue.
Because of the importance of the air flow through the flue, it is now considered a requirement to provide for verification of the air flow after the unit has been installed. Conventionally, the balance flue has been provided from the front of the appliance but in order to maximize the viewing area of the combustion chamber, it has been proposed to provide the balance flue solely from the rear. However, where the appliance is to be located in a recess, this prevents testing of the balance flow to ensure that the flue has not been blocked.