In a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus, audio signals are recorded over a track where video signals have been recorded. The audio signals are subject to time base compression, and are recorded on a magnetic recording medium. The audio signals undergo time base expansion before they are reproduced. When recording television signals from a plurality of channels on one magnetic recording medium or reproducing video signals intermittently, the audio signals are recorded without interruption.

1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates to a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus, and more particularly, to a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus in which video signals and audio signal television signals on a plurality of channels are recorded alternately by superimposing these signals on a recording medium, and thus a television signal of a desired channel can be selectively reproduced from the recording medium.
This invention further relates to a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus, and more particularly, to a monitor video tape recorder which can also record audio signals over a long period of time for the purpose of crime prevention.
2. Description of the Related Arts
FIG. 12 of the accompanying drawings shows a configuration of a video tape recorder (hereinafter called "VTR") as an example of a conventional magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus.
In FIG. 12, the VTR comprises a rotary drum 10 with a non-illustrated rotary head; a head amplifier 11 for amplifying video signals read by the rotary head; a signal processing circuit 12 for demodulating the video signal amplified by the head amplifier 11; an analog-to-digital converter circuit 13 for converting the analog video signals demodulated by the signal processing circuit 12 into digital signals; a memory circuit 14 for storing an output from the analog-to-digital converter circuit 13; a digital-to-analog converter circuit 15 for converting the digital signals outputted from the memory circuit 14 into analog signals; a video signal output terminal 101 for outputting the analog video signals; a memory control circuit 16 for controlling sampling timings or timings for processing the digital signals for the analog-to-digital converter circuit 13, the memory circuit 14, and the digital-to-analog converter circuit 15; a deck sequence control circuit 17 for controlling the sequence of the whole apparatus; a special reproducing circuit 18 for controlling tape running for special reproduction such as frame hold or slow motion reproduction; a servo control circuit 19 for controlling the rotation speeds of the rotary drum 10 and a capstan motor 22 in response to the outputs from the deck sequence control circuit 17 and the special reproducing circuit 18; a capstan motor drive circuit 20 and a drum motor drive circuit 21 to be controlled by the output from the servo control circuit 19; and a capstan motor 22 to be driven by the output from the capstan motor drive circuit 20. The rotary drum 10 is driven by the output from the drum motor drive circuit 21.
Operation of the conventional VTR will now be described.
A VTR performs a reproducing operation in a mode specified by an operation panel as follows. When a tape cassette as a recording medium is loaded in the VTR, the tape is set at a predetermined position in response to a command from the deck sequence control circuit 17. The servo control circuit 19 is actuated under the control of the deck sequence control circuit 17, driving the capstan drive circuit 20 and drum motor drive circuit 21. Then, the capstan motor 22 and rotary drum 10 are driven so as to be rotated constantly at a predetermined speed.
Video signals, which are read by the video head of the rotary drum 10 whose rotation speed and phase are controlled by the foregoing control mechanisms, are amplified by the head amplifier 11, and are demodulated to video signals from FM signals by the signal processing circuit 12.
The video signals demodulated by the signal processing circuit 12 are outputted to the video terminal 101 as they are, being inputted to a television set as ordinary video signals. Otherwise, the analog video signals are converted temporarily into digital signals by the analog-to-digital converter circuit 13 for reasons to be described later.
The digital video signals from the analog-to-digital converter 13 are stored temporarily in the memory circuit 14 including five 256-kb RAMs, converted into analog signals by the digital-to-analog converter circuit 15, and outputted to the video signal output terminal 101 as analog signals.
Needless to say, the number of bits and memory capacity for analog-to-digital conversion can be determined as desired. To prevent deterioration of image quality, a six-bit analog-to-digital converter, a six-bit digital-to-analog converter and a memory having five 256-kb RAMs are necessary. When the frame memory system is adopted as a recording system, it is known that memory capacity twice as large as that for the field memory system is necessary.
The signals are processed digitally by the memory control circuit 16, which performs sampling with a 14-MHz clock frequency and includes a gate array having 3,000 to 4,000 gates.
Generally speaking, it is not always necessary to operate the analog-to-digital converter circuit 13, memory circuit 14, digital-to-analog converter 15 and memory control circuit 16 during reproduction. They are however used to perform a special reproducing operation such as freeze frame or slow motion reproduction. Drive control by the special reproducing circuit 18 and operation of the memory control circuit 16 recall the contents of the memory circuit 14, thereby offering an excellent still or slow motion image.
Specifically, when stopping the tape from running or having the tape run intermittently, the video signals are stored in the memory circuit 14 serving as a field memory while field-reproducing the video signal, thereby providing a good still or slow motion image.
With the conventional VTR as described above, TV signals for only one channel are recorded at a time. Two VTRs must be used to record TV signals on two channels simultaneously.
In addition, since the memory circuit is used only for still or slow motion operation, demands to use the memory circuit more effectively during reproducing have increased.
There is an intermittent recording type of VTR in which the video signals are sampled so as to be recorded and reproduced intermittently. Such a VTR cannot record audio signals but records only the video signals in frames (or fields) intermittently.
FIGS. 13 to 15 show the conventional VTR for intermittent recording.
In FIG. 13, reference numeral 201 stands for a video signal amplifier for receiving video signals from a TV camera at a high impedance, 202 a video signal reproducing circuit including an FM modulator for modulating the video signals into FM signals, 203 an FM signal amplifier for amplifying the FM signals, 204 a mode selector switch for selecting the recording or reproducing mode, 205 a video signal reproducing circuit including an FM demodulator for demodulating the FM signals detected from a magnetic tape at the time of reproducing, 206 an intermittent drive circuit for feeding the magnetic tape intermittently, 300 a rotary drum having two video heads VR and VL, 301 a magnetic tape running to a predetermined extent around the rotary drum 300, 302 a capstan shaft for feeding the magnetic tape 301, and 303 a pinch roller adapted to rotate together with the capstan shaft 302 with the magnetic tape 301 sandwiched between them.
In operation, upon passing through the video signal amplifier 201, video signal reproducing circuit 202 and FM signal amplifier 203, the video signals are converted into FM signals, and applied to the video heads VR, VL on the rotary drum 300 via the mode selector switch 204.
As shown in FIG. 14(a), TV signals from a TV camera include fields V.sub.0, V.sub.1, . . . V.sub.9, V.sub.10, V.sub.11, V.sub.12, . . . in succession. When these fields are recorded successively on the magnetic tape 301, an existing VTR for intermittent recording and reproducing records the fields for a maximum of only eight hours. If every two fields are recorded intermittently, for example, a VTR can perform recording up to 160 hours (8 hours.times.40/2).
For this purpose, not only the magnetic tape 301 should be fed intermittently but also video tracks to be recorded intermittently on the magnetic tape 301 should be obliquely adjacent to one another in succession as shown in FIG. 15.
Therefore, intermittent drive pulse signals are generated based on vertical synchronizing signals by the intermittent drive circuit 206. The pulse signals are applied to a non-illustrated capstan motor drive circuit, so that the magnetic tape 301 is fed accurately to a predetermined extent by intermittent rotation of the capstan shaft 302 and the pinch roller 303, as shown in FIG. 14(b).
The foregoing operation enables the signals to be written on the magnetic tape 301 by the video heads VR, VL of the rotary drum 300. In an ordinary VTR, since both video heads VR and VL have a narrow head gap of 0.25 .mu.m, recording is performed only on a surface layer of the magnetic tape 301.
During reproduction, the FM signals detected by the video heads VR, VL from the magnetic tape 301 are demodulated by the video signal reproducing circuit 205, thereby producing the video signals.
The foregoing VTR of the intermittent recording and reproducing type is composed so as to have the magnetic tape fed intermittently. Therefore, no audio signal has been recorded, by using a stationary head, on the upper edge (linear audio track) of the magnetic tape since the magnetic tape is on standby for about 0.63 seconds.
When the audio signals are recorded by the VHS-HiFi system of the deep layer recording type in timed relation with intermittent recording of the video signals, the video signals sampled at 1/20 can be read as data while the audio signal sampled at 1/20 cannot be read at all.
With the foregoing VTR, recording of the audio signals has to be sacrificed. Unfortunately such a VTR is inconvenient when it is applied as a monitor unit in a burglar alert system, since no sound (voice) can be recorded.

Magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus which records analog time-base-compressed audio signals along with video signals


[Object] To enable a device that is a target for denial of communication to be shared over a network.

In recent years, more and more home electrical appliances have been network-enabled, and they are increasingly used in a way in which their communication apparatuses with the wireless local area network (LAN) function communicate with each other without through base stations.
For wireless LAN devices conforming to the IEEE 802.11 series standard, there are ad-hoc network specifics called the independent basic service set (IBSS) for directly connecting the devices. With an ad-hoc network, all communication apparatuses are in equal relationship, and typically, if communication parameters are correctly set, relevant communication apparatuses can be readily connected to each other.
One example method for limiting communications between communication apparatuses is the one by specifying an address, such as a MAC address, of a partner and filtering a received packet. For an infrastructure network between a wireless base station and a wireless child station, there is a mechanism in which a MAC address corresponding to a connection that should be denied is specified in a base station to limit a connection of a child station (see, for example, Patent Literatures 1 and 2).
A function of easily setting communication parameters between a wireless base station and a wireless child station (Wi-Fi protected setup (WPS)) is proposed by the Wi-Fi Alliance, which is the industry standard group (see, for example, Non Patent Literature 1).
When communication apparatuses having the wireless LAN function directly communicate with each other without through a wireless base station, an ad-hoc network is used in many cases. For an ad-hoc network, if communication parameters of communication apparatuses match with each other, they can communicate, so convenience is high. The communication parameters can be readily set by the use of the above-described WPS.
To prohibit a specific communication apparatus from participating in a network, for an infrastructure network, because communication is carried out through a base station, denial of connection, such as filtering setting using MAC addresses, can be set in the base station. However, for an ad-hoc network, communication is not carried out through a specific apparatus, such as a base station. Accordingly, denial of connection, such as filtering setting using MAC addresses, needs to be set for all communication apparatuses, so the operation is complicated.
Even when denial of connection is set in a base station, if communication parameters are set by communication apparatuses using a simple communication parameter setting technique, such as WPS, an apparatus that should not communicate may easily communicate.    Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-204338    Patent Literature 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-072682    Non Patent Literature 1: Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™) for Wi-Fi Protected Setup Easing the User Experience for Home and Small Office Wi-Fi® Networks, http://www.wifi.org/wp/wifi-protected-setup

Communication device, control method for communication device, and storage medium

Abstract: [Solution] A communication device registers identifying information of a denial target device that is present in a first network and that is a target for denial of communication and notifies another device of the registered identifying information of the denial target device. The communication device constructs a second network different from the first network with the other device.


The invention provides for novel polypeptides of Candida species found on the cell wall of the Candida organism. The invention further provides for methods of using these polypeptides, the genes encoding the polypeptides and fragments thereof for preparing antibodies, vaccines, therapeutic and diagnostic compositions.

The heterogeneous genus Candida belongs to the family Saccharomycetaceae with the Deuteromycetes (Fungi Imperfecti). The genus contains approximately 200 species, the number of which may change due to technological advances that will affect the current apparent taxonomic relationship perhaps leading to new species belonging to the genera.
The genus Candida is responsible for candidiasis and other conditions, some of which are lethal. In humans, the most common cause is C. albicans. However, other species are also responsible for candidiasis including C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, C. guilliermondii, C. glabrata, C. dubliniensis and C. krusei. For example, C. tropicalis accounts for about one third of all cases of deep candidiasis in neutropenic patients. Other medically important Candida spp. include C. catenulata, C. ciferrii, C. haemlulonii, C. kefyr, C. lipolytica, C. lusitaniae, C. norvegensis, C. parapsilosis, C. pulcherrima, C. rugosa, C. utilis, C. viswanathii and C. zeylanoides.
Species of Candida that are pathogenic for humans exist as benign commensals in their host organisms, in one or more body locations. As opportunistic pathogens, they are poised to overgrow cavities and penetrate tissue in response to an alteration in host physiology that presumable compromises the immune functions that normally suppress their growth.
Candida albicans is one species of Candida. It is normally a commensal organism that lives in different parts of the body. However, C. albicans is responsible for numerous common infections in humans including vaginal yeast infections, thrush (oral candidiasis), esophagitis, gastrointestinal candidiasis, cutaneous candidiasis, diaper rash, paronychia (nail fold infection), chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis, and life-threatening systemic infections. In fact, C. albicans is the leading fungal infection in immunocompromised patients and is also one of the leading infections in patients with long hospital stays and indwelling catheters. Such infections result in an estimated cost to hospitals of $34,000-$45,000 per patient and a national annual cost of $216-280 million dollars per year. As the number of immunocompromised patients increases, the amount of money spent annually will correspondingly also increase. The need is further compounded by the emergence of drug resistance of certain fungi to the existing drugs.
Another Candida species is C. glabrata. C. glabrata is regarded as a symbiont of humans and can routinely be isolated from the oral cavity and the genitourinary, alimentary and respiratory tract of most individuals. As an agent of serious infection, it has been associated with endocarditis, meningitis, and multifocal, disseminated disease.
Although the genomes of some organisms have been fully sequenced, the Candida genome has been not completed and publicly accessible portions present proteins which are not complete and contain errors. Development of genome-wide functional analysis in C. albicans has been hampered by the asexual and diploid nature of the organism. Moreover, there is still a need for the identification of reliable determinants of virulence (Navarro-Garcia et al., 2001 FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 25: 245-68). Also, some of these pathogens have become resistant to antifungal agents, especially triazole compounds.
As a consequence, methods of treating C. albicans are of growing importance. Thus new targets for treating C. albicans need to be identified. The invention disclosed herein provides a rapid method for identifying such targets, e.g., cell surface proteins, and the proteins identified thereby. The proteins thus identified can then be used to develop therapeutic, prophylactic and diagnostic antibodies, vaccines, drugs, diagnostic kits, and prophylactic compositions and compounds.


An antenna grounded with U-shaped high-impedance surface metal strips and its wireless communication device may include an antenna radiation unit and its ground plate, such that a plurality of high-impedance surface units are set in the ground plate at relevant intervals.

The radio waves transmitted by a wireless communication device during communications may expose the user to measurable radio frequency (RF) radiation. When a user uses a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone to make a call, the head of the user is always within the electromagnetic radiation field emitted by the mobile phone. Therefore, many countries including the People's Republic of China have issued complete and safe standards and specifications to manage and restrict the problem of exposure of RF energy. Here, the specific absorption rate (SAR) is an important evaluation parameter, which refers to the electromagnetic wave energy absorption rate of mobile phones or wireless communication products. Popularly, SAR is used to measure whether the influence of mobile phone radiation upon the body of a user, especially, the head of the user conforms to the relevant standards. SAR is also a unit for measuring the amount of RF energy absorbed by the body when using a mobile phone, and is used as a criterion for body protection.
Presently, mobile terminals have been designed for use in such very rigid limitations, so various devices and methods are being developed to reduce the SAR, for example, materials for absorbing electromagnetic waves are added to mobile terminals, or metal parts are arranged properly to optimize the RF-induced current, complicated antenna design is used to reduce the SAR, and so on. However, these design methods are easily affected by the type of mobile terminals, so they do not have universal applicability.
Therefore, there is a need to improve and develop the prior art.

Antenna grounded with U-shaped high-impedance surface metal strips and its wireless communication device

HUIZHOU TCL MOBILE COMMUNICATION CO., LTD


A position-measuring device for generating a reference-pulse signal at at least one reference position includes a scanning unit and also a reflection-measuring graduation displaceable relative thereto in at least one measuring direction. The scanning unit for generating the reference-pulse signal includes a plurality of optical elements, including at least one imaging optics as well as at least two diaphragm structures, which are disposed in a diaphragm plane and have a plurality of diaphragm openings in each case. Furthermore, a light source as well as at least two detector elements are assigned to the scanning unit. The reflection-measuring graduation has a reference marking at the at least one reference position. It includes at least one set of first structure elements, which is arranged in the plane of the reflection-measuring graduation, perpendicular to the measuring direction, periodically at a first transversal periodicity. Furthermore, the reference marking has at least one set of second structure elements, which is arranged in the plane of the reflection-measuring graduation, perpendicular to the measuring direction, periodically at a second, different transversal periodicity. The structure elements are arranged as diffractive structure elements, which, in the measuring direction, optically act like a cylinder lens having a specific focal length and, perpendicular to the measuring direction, act like a deflecting grating having the graduation period.

In addition to periodic incremental signals regarding the relative offset of two objects that are displaceable relative to one another, conventional position-measuring devices also supply so-called reference-pulse signals. With the aid of the reference-pulse signals, it is possible to obtain a precise absolute reference with regard to the position of the two mutually displaceable objects at individual specified reference positions along the measuring path. The incremental measurement, which typically has a much higher resolution, can be related to the absolute position determined in this manner. Numerous possibilities for generating the reference-pulse signals are convention.
In this context, reference is made, for example, to U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,710 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,941, both of which disclose variants of optical position-measuring devices. To generate the reference-pulse signals, diffractive reference-marking structures are mounted adjacent to the incremental track on the side of the measuring graduation at the reference position. Scanning of the reference marking produces a corresponding reference-pulse signal at the individual positions.
In particular in the case of high-resolution optical position-measuring devices operated in incident light, specific requirements will result with regard to the generation of the reference-pulse signals. For example, possible tilting of the scanning device and reflection-measuring graduation caused by, for example, a less than optimal installation of these devices should not cause any position error, if at all possible. This applies both to the generation of the incremental signals and the generation of the reference-pulse signals. The two above-referenced patent documents do not offer any suggestions for solving these problems.


A head-driving method includes outputting, to a plurality of head modules arranged in a recording head, nozzle control data via a data bus, wherein the data bus is shared between the plurality of head modules with the data being switched sequentially every bit, setting the nozzle control data for each head module to be supplied via the data bus as nozzle data for each of the head modules at a timing depending on each of the head modules, and outputting a drive voltage signal to an ejection energy generating element configured to eject liquid in each of the head modules.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head-driving method, a head-driving device, and an inkjet printing device, and particularly to a head-driving method, a head-driving device, and an inkjet printing device for controlling an ejecting operation for a plurality of head modules.
Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-320671 (PTL 1) discloses a printer head including one head chip in which a plurality of ink ejection mechanisms of the head chip are divided and grouped into a plurality of blocks which each have a predetermined number of the mechanisms and are dividedly driven simultaneously in parallel. PTL 1 discloses that a phase signal for dividedly driving the grouped ink ejection mechanisms is generated, and data for dividedly driving a grouped ink ejection mechanism is parallelized and serially transferred to reduce control signal lines on dividedly driving.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-066905 (PTL 2) discloses that, in specifying a drive timing for ejection energy generating means provided to an inkjet recording head in a time-sharing manner, the ejection energy generating means is specified in a time-sharing manner by a combination of bit signals supplied to control signal lines, a number of the signal lines being smaller than a time-sharing number, and thereby areas needed for forming the control signal lines are reduced as compared with a related art.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-000834 (PTL 3) discloses a head controller in which a data bus for transmitting nozzle control data from a data transfer control circuit to each head module is communalized among a plurality of head modules to reduce a number of IC pins of the data transfer control circuit, and wiring patterns on a circuit substrate.

Head-driving method, head-driving device, and inkjet printing device


A laryngoscopic device includes a laryngoscope video blade and a handle module arranged to support the video blade or auxiliary direct laryngoscopy blades interchangeably thereon. The video blade includes a camera and contacts for receiving electrical power from the handle module while outputting video to the handle module from the camera. The handle module can also provide electrical power to a light source on the video blade or include its own light source to be conveyed to a light guide of a blade coupled to the handle module. The laryngoscopic device also includes a display monitor which can be removably coupled to an output of the handle module to display video generated by the video blade camera. The handle module can be used alone with non-video blades or readily converted to a video laryngoscopic device by replacing the non-video blade with a video blade and connecting the display monitor.

Video laryngoscopy is a relatively new development in the field of anaesthesia. Traditional DIRECT LARYNGOSCOPY (DL) involves using a blade with a light at the end to obtain a view of the glottis via a direct view from the maxillary teeth to the vocal cords. This allows passage of an endotracheal (ET) tube under direct vision. Direct laryngoscopy involves alignment of the oral, pharyngeal and tracheal axes to produce this view. RIGID INDIRECT LARYNGOSCOPY (RIL) involves obtaining a view of the glottis without alignment of the oral, pharyngeal and tracheal axes. This view has been obtained with prisms, mirrors and fiber-optics in the past and more recently with video cameras (i.e. CMOS or CCD cameras). Although initially used primarily as rescue devices (i.e. when direct laryngoscopy has failed) video laryngoscopes are being increasingly used as primary devices as well. Unfortunately one barrier to the use of video laryngoscopes is that they are expensive to buy and so are in limited supply in many health care facilities and even more limited supply in the pre-hospital setting. This is despite the fact that they have been shown to be highly effective in the hands of anaesthetists, non-anaesthetists, experienced and non-experienced providers alike in numerous studies of both human's and manikins. Outside of expense as a barrier to these devices being stocked another barrier to their use is that these devices have only one possible use rather than being multifunctional. This means that in usual practice direct laryngoscopy is the primary technique with VIDEO-LARYNGOSCOPY (VL) as a secondary technique and supra-glottic devices, fiber-optic bronchoscopes or surgical airways following after this if unsuccessful. No device has been able to bridge the barriers between techniques and become truly multifunctional. Multi functionality would allow providers to quickly and seamlessly bridge between techniques with the same device. It would also allow providers to customize their device to their particular skills.


The invention relates to a method for providing an indication of movement from a sensor signal from a position transmitter (9), wherein the indication of movement indicates a speed of movement, wherein the sensor signal from the position transmitter (9) generates an edge following a movement via a particular path range having the following steps:—a pulse duration (dT) is ascertained (S1) as the interval of time between the last two provided edges of the sensor signal;—depending on whether a period which corresponds to the pulse duration (dT) has elapsed since the last provided edge of the sensor signal, an indication which is dependent on the pulse duration (dT) or an indication which is dependent on the period since the last edge of the sensor signal is provided (S4, S6) as an indication of movement.

The invention relates to methods and apparatuses for generating an indication of speed on the basis of a position transmitter. The invention also relates to closing apparatuses with a means for detecting trapping for the purpose of implementing a trapping protection function.
Electrical drive units are used in a multiplicity of applications and are used, in particular, to cause a movement of elements. For example, drive units may be used in automatic closing apparatuses, for example electrical window regulators or sliding roofs in motor vehicles. In order to increase the comfort for the passengers there, an additional function may be implemented, with the result that the operator must only start the opening or closing movement of the window by actuating an actuating element once for a particular direction, that is to say an opening or closing direction. The window is then automatically moved even after releasing the actuation of the actuating element.
In the case of such a function or a comparable function, the operator does not need to continue to monitor the further movement of the element or the window and there is therefore the risk of objects or body parts being trapped between the movable part and a stationary part.
In particular, electrical window regulators must be provided with a so-called anti-trapping function which detects a trapped object or body part and releases it from the trapped state again.
Trapping may be detected by different types of sensors on the basis of measurement variables. For example, a pressure sensor, such as a piezoelectric sensor, on a stop edge, toward which the movable element moves, can detect when the element strikes the stop edge. The movement of the movable element or the rotational movement of the drive unit driving the movable element can be detected using a motion sensor, for example a Hall sensor, an AMR sensor, a GMR sensor or the like. Alternatively or additionally, a current sensor may also be provided for the purpose of detecting a motor current of the drive unit.
For reasons of cost, speed sensors based on magnetic or optical position transmitters, which are directly arranged on an output shaft of the drive unit and output a pulse or a level change in the event of a movement by a particular angular range, are used to implement such functions. The interval of time between the edges generated by the position transmitter depends directly in this case on the rotational speed of the drive unit. In this case, the rotational speed is determined from the interval of time between the edges or from their frequency. For this reason, the temporal resolution of the rotational speed indication determined using the position transmitters naturally fluctuates since the interval of time between the individual edges of the position transmitter becomes longer, in particular at low rotational speeds. This results in there being no current rotational speed indication within the period between two edges. In time-critical applications in particular, such as the trapping protection function in electrical closing apparatuses, the period during which no current rotational speed indication is provided may be too long to meet the legal requirements imposed on the reaction speed and sensitivity of the detection of trapping of an object or body part.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus which can also be used to provide a continuous rotational speed indication when using a position transmitter as the rotational speed or motion sensor.

Method and apparatus for providing an indication of movement, particularly  for recognition of blocking in a locking system


A storage system is connected to a computer, and a name server exercising control over the interrelation between initiators and targets, and includes a first storage node and a second storage node. The first storage node has a first logical unit to which a first target is set, and the second storage node has a second logical unit. For data migration from the first logical unit to the second logical unit, the first storage node forwards data stored in the first logical unit to the second storage node, and the second storage node stores the data into the second logical unit. The first storage node also forwards information about the first target to the second storage node, and the second storage node sets a target to the second logical unit using the received information about the first target.

The present invention relates to a storage system for use in a computer system.
The data migration technology from a first storage system to a second storage system is described in JP-A-2000-187608.
In JP-A-2000-187608, once connected with a host computer, the second storage system issues a read request to the first storage system so that data in the first storage system is copied into the second storage system. The second storage system is provided with a copy pointer for recording the completion level of data copying to indicate the progress of data migration.
During such data migration, an I/O request issued by the host computer is accepted by the second storage system. In an exemplary case where a read request is issued from the host computer during data migration, the second storage system refers to the copy pointer to see whether data in the request has already be copied to the second storage system. If so, the second storage system forwards the data to the host computer. If not, the second storage system reads the requested data from the first storage system for transfer to the host computer.


An air-fuel ratio control using an A/F sensor which outputs a current representing an air-fuel ratio in response to a voltage applied thereto. If the A/F sensor is still in a state prior to activation and the actual air-fuel ratio is different from an air-fuel ratio represented by a current of the sensor in the state prior to activation when the engine is started, that is, if the air-fuel ratio is put on the rich side by an increased amount of fuel injected at a start of an internal combustion engine at a low temperature or other causes, for example a CPU employed in an ECU, determines whether the difference between the .lambda.-conversion value of the current of the A/F sensor and a target air-fuel ratio is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. If the determination is YES, a feedback control of the air-fuel ratio is started. Then, the CPU carries out the feedback control of the air-fuel ratio based on a deviation of the current of the A/F sensor from a current value representing the target air-fuel ratio.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air-fuel ratio control for internal combustion engine which feedback controls an air-fuel ratio of air-fuel mixture to a target air-fuel ratio based on a deviation of a current output of an air-fuel ratio sensor.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there has been implemented an air-fuel ratio feedback control apparatus for carrying out feedback control of the air-fuel ratio based on the output of an oxygen sensor (O.sub.2 sensor) which generates a stepwise voltage signal in dependence on whether the air-fuel ratio is on the rich side or the lean side of the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio. In an air-fuel ratio control apparatus employing an oxygen sensor, feedback control of the air-fuel ratio is started when the oxygen sensor starts outputting a voltage signal. With the exhaust gas regulation enforced in recent years, on the other hand, another air-fuel ratio sensor such as a linear A/F sensor of a limit current type which is capable of outputting a current signal linearly is used to feedback control of the air-fuel ratio in place of the oxygen sensor (JP-A 8-201334). This linear air-fuel ratio sensor outputs a current representing the air-fuel ratio in response to a voltage applied to the sensor. In the case of the linear air-fuel ratio sensor, a feedback gain of the feedback control can be set at a higher level.
Such a linear air-fuel ratio sensor starts outputting the current even before reaching a temperature of activation. Before attaining the temperature of activation, however, the output current representing the actual air-fuel ratio becomes smaller than a current which is to be output after the temperature of activation is reached or the sensor response characteristics becomes slow. If the feedback control of the air-fuel ratio is started while the air-fuel ratio sensor is still before the activation, the feedback control will be carried out with the correlation of the current output of the sensor to the actual air-fuel ratio remaining shifted. This will degrade drivability. In addition, when the feedback control is started later due the fact that the air-fuel ratio sensor is in a cold state (in an inactive state), the air-fuel ratio control to the highest purification range of a catalyst is delayed. It is thus desirable to start the feedback control at an earlier stage.

Air-fuel ratio control for internal combustion engine enabling feedback before sensor activation


Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for facilitating the assigning, generating, managing, and distributing of identifiers. In one implementation, a system is provided that comprises a first Web service for returning an identifier to a requester in response to an identifier request of the requester. The system also comprises a second Web service for mirroring identifiers that have been returned by the first Web service.

Identifiers are required for the performance of many data processing tasks, especially transactional data processing tasks. For example, an identifier is often assigned to a customer, a purchase order, an invoice, a transaction and/or another logical or physical entity for the purpose of administration and/or data processing. Such identifiers have some level of uniqueness that corresponds to the purpose of the identifier. Further, some identifiers are globally unique whereas other identifiers are unique only within a certain defined field of application.
Identifiers are also used in enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, such as the SAP R/3 system, SAP ERP or SAP CRM, commercially available from SAP AG (Walldorf, Germany). For example, in the R/3 system every document that is administered and processed by the system can be assigned a document number that is unique for a company within a fiscal year. Various number ranges are used to define how the document number is generated and assigned.
Such document numbers serve as identifiers and can be assigned externally or internally. For external assignment, an accounting clerk enters the number of the original document during a document entry, or the number is transferred automatically from a pre-invoicing system.
A prerequisite for the external assignment is that the document numbers are unique. For internal assignment, the system automatically assigns a sequence number and the accounting clerk manually records this number on the original document. This method is used if the original documents do not have an unique document number, for example, with vendor invoices.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for systems and methods that facilitate the assignment of identifiers, especially in a distributed data processing system, while reducing or avoiding the need for manual system interaction. Such solutions should facilitate the automatic provision of identifiers in a distributed data processing system. For example, a number of transactional computer systems may be coupled to the Web service. When a transaction number is required, a corresponding request may be generated and sent from one of the transactional computer systems to the Web service. In response to the identifier request, the Web service may return a unique transaction number. Depending on the implementation, the transaction number may be unique with respect to the requesting transactional computer system, within a certain task area or kind of transaction, or it may also be globally unique.

Systems and methods for mirroring the provision of identifiers


An externally fired gas turbine system according to the present invention has a compressor for compressing ambient air and producing compressed air, an air heat exchanger for heating the compressed air to produce heated compressed air, a turbine for expanding the heated compressed air to produce heat depleted expanded air, and a generator connected to the turbine for generating electricity. According to the present invention, the system also includes combustible products producing apparatus for processing fuel to produce combustible products that include combustible gases and an external combustion chamber for burning the combustible products and transferring heat to the air heat exchanger and producing heat depleted combustion products. The system also includes a closed Rankine cycle steam power plant having a water heat exchanger for vaporizing water and producing steam using heat contained in the heat depleted combustion products. The power plant further includes a steam turbine for expanding the steam producing power and expanded steam, and a steam condenser for condensing the expanded steam producing condensate that is returned to the water heat exchanger.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to externally fired combined cycle gas turbine systems which are sometimes referred to as EFGT Systems.
2. Background of the Invention
Externally fired gas turbine/combined cycle systems have been described in the literature for a number of years. Such systems include a compressor for compressing ambient air, an indirect contact heat exchanger in which combustible products, e.g., gas and/or fuel vapors, hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9ccombustible gasesxe2x80x9d, are burned to heat the compressed air, and a turbine in which the heated compressed air is expanded driving a generator that produces electricity. Heat contained in the turbine exhaust is used to vaporize water that is converted into steam in a separate water-based, closed Rankine cycle power plant, the steam being expanded in a steam turbine in the power plant for driving a generator that produces additional electricity.
EFGT systems have been proposed for use with low calorific, unclean gaseous fuels as well as with hot gaseous fuels. Solid fuels are more difficult to incorporate into EFGT systems because of the problems associated with ash and noxious gases produced during the combustion process. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved externally energized gas turbine system such as an externally fired combined cycle gas turbine system which is capable of using solid fuels without many of the usual attendant problems associated with burning such fuel in a combined cycle gas turbine system.
An externally energized gas turbine system such as an externally fired gas turbine system according to the present invention has a compressor for compressing ambient air and producing compressed air, an air heat exchanger for heating the compressed air to produce heated compressed air, a turbine for expanding the heated compressed air to produce expanded air, and a generator connected to the turbine for generating electricity. According to the present invention, the system also preferably includes what is termed xe2x80x9ccombustible products producing apparatusxe2x80x9d for processing fuel to produce gas and/or fuel vapor collectively referred to hereinafter as xe2x80x9ccombustible gasesxe2x80x9d, and an external combustion chamber for burning the combustible gases and transferring heat to the compressed air flowing through the air heat exchanger and producing heat depleted combustion products. The system also preferably includes a closed Rankine cycle steam power plant having a water heat exchanger for vaporizing water and producing steam using heat contained in the gaseous heat depleted combustion products. The power plant further includes a steam turbine for expanding the steam thereby producing power, and from which expanded steam exits, and a steam condenser for condensing the expanded steam producing condensate that is returned to the water heat exchanger.
In one embodiment of the invention, the water heat exchanger includes a preheater heated by the expanded air for heating the condensate and producing preheated water, and a vaporizer heated by the heat depleted combustion products for vaporizing the preheated water thereby producing steam for the turbine of the power plant.
In a preferred form of the invention, the combustible products producing apparatus includes a pyrolyzer for processing oil shale and producing combustible gases and a carbonaceous residue, and an air furnace for combusting the organic material remaining in the carbonaceous residue thereby producing hot flue gases and ash in the form of hot particulate. Means are provided for returning hot ash to the pyrolyzer. In this instance, the combustible gases produced by the pyrolyzer and the hot flue gases produced by the air furnace, together with solid particulate matter, constitute the combustible products produced by the processing of the oil shale by the combustible products producing apparatus.
In another embodiment of the invention, the water heat exchanger includes a superheater heated by the flue gases for superheating steam produced by the vaporizer. In another embodiment of the invention, the water heat exchanger includes a preheater heated by both the heat depleted combustion products and the expanded air (for heating the condensate thereby producing preheated water), and a vaporizer heated by the flue gases for vaporizing the preheated water.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the water heat exchanger includes a vaporizer heated by both the heat depleted combustion products and the expanded air for converting the condensate into steam. In such case, a second water-based, closed loop Rankine cycle power plant may be provided. The second power plant has a second water heat exchanger for vaporizing water and producing steam using heat contained in the flue gases produced by the gas producing apparatus, and a second steam turbine for expanding the steam and producing power and expanded steam. The second power plant also includes a second steam condenser for condensing the expanded steam exiting the steam turbine and producing condensate which is returned to the second water heat exchanger.
In a still further embodiment, heat depleted combustion products and expanded air heat an organic fluid in an organic fluid vaporizer producing organic vapor for operating an organic vapor turbine. In such case, the flue gases produced by the combustible products producing apparatus heat water in a water heat exchanger for vaporizing the water and producing steam for operating a steam turbine.
The organic vapor is supplied to the organic vapor turbine for producing power. Expanded organic vapor exits from the organic vapor turbine and is supplied to a condenser for producing organic fluid condensate. Steam produced in the water heat exchanger is supplied to the steam turbine for producing power. Expanded steam exhausted from the steam turbine is supplied to a steam condenser for producing steam condensate. In this embodiment, the expanded steam supplied to the steam condenser is cooled by organic fluid condensate and the resultant steam condensate is supplied to the water heat exchanger. Organic fluid condensate supplied to the steam condenser is thus preheated and then supplied to the organic fluid vaporizer. A second Rankine cycle organic fluid power plant is also included in this embodiment, the organic fluid being vaporized by heat extracted using an interstage cooler associated with the air compressor of the gas turbine. In the second Rankine cycle organic fluid power plant, organic vapor produced by cooling the interstage cooler is supplied to a second organic vapor turbine for producing power. Expanded organic vapor exhausted from the second organic vapor turbine is supplied to a condenser for producing organic fluid condensate which is supplied by a circulation pump to the interstage cooler.

Externally fired combined cycle gas turbine system


Known is a digital communication system comprising wireless terminals for voice and non-voice data communication. In order to get a flexible mixed voice and non-voice data communication system terminals for mixed real time voice and reliable non-voice data communication are provided in which set-up channels are dynamically assigned to non-voice or to mixed voice and non-voice communications without first releasing the assigned communication resources. Herewith, at a higher level layer such as an application layer very fast switching over is achieved while other devices in the system are fully unaware of such switching over. In multimedia communications, such a fast switching over is particularly advantageous.

A digital communication system of this kind is known from the European patent application EP 0 615 393. In EP 0 615 393 non-voice data packets are transmitted on a cellular voice network by means of so-called data phones whereas voice communication is done via voice phones. In the known system a pool of free voice channels is reserved for the data phones that try to seize a free channel from the pool when a digital data transmission is needed. If unsuccessful, the data phone tries again within a matter of a few seconds. Such a system is not very suitable for mixed voice and non-voice data communication via a single station when there is a need for quickly varying operation modes between voice and/or non-voice data communication. In particular, in multimedia communications the station should be able to very quickly change operation modes at quickly varying communication needs.
Further known is a DECT cordless telephony system as standardised by ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute). In such a DECT system, a TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) TDD Crime Division Duplex) system, voice and non-voice communication are standardised in separate standards. For a voice communication or any other real time communication a continuous stream of data should be guaranteed, whereas for a non-voice data communication it should be guaranteed that the radio link is very reliable. To this end, the DECT data standard prescribes various data formats and protocols to make a data communication link reliable. It is however not disclosed how to arrange the system to make it suitable for quickly varying communication needs, in particular multimedia applications.

Digital communication system, a communication station for use in the system, and a method for use in the station


The present invention relates to a method for verifying the identity of a person or for relating the identity of a person to a document or other thing presented by that person, which method comprises:. a). Observing topographically related permanent natural physical characteristics on a person to provide a machine readable identification of the identity, relative orientation and relative location of a plurality of the observed characteristics; and PA0 b). Comparing the observed characteristics with a machine readable record of the identification of the identity, relative orientation and relative location of the corresponding topographically related permanent natural physical characteristics purporting to belong to that person; PA0 c) Establishing the existence or otherwise of substantial identity between a plurality of the characteristics held in the record and those observed, the establishment of identity being based upon the identification, relative orientation and relative position of at least some of the characteristics; PA0 i) selecting a first set of at least three of the characteristics, which may be the same or different, from the record and a second set of at least three of the characteristics, which may be the same or different, from the observed characteristics; PA0 ii) counting the numbers of some other permanent natural physical feature lying between each of the characteristics with respect to each and every other member of that set for each of the first and second sets; and PA0 iii) comparing the counts for each and every characteristic in a set with the corresponding counts for the other set to substantiate identity between the two sets.. characterised in that the establishment of identity also includes:

Credit cards and bank cheque cards as currently used by many millions of people carry information relating to the user in machine readable form, usually in the form of one or more magnetic stripes or other recording medium on or in the card carrying binary or other coded information thereon. This provides a simple method for identifying the account to which a transaction relating to that card is to be debitted. However, there is no means contained in the card for verifying that the person presenting the card is the true owner of the card, other than the signature of the card holder. Such a signature can readily be copied with sufficient accuracy to satisfy the cursory inspection usually given to such signatures at the location of use. It is thus possible for a thief to use a stolen card for a period of time as if he were the true owner thereof. Losses due to theft and fraud of credit cards currently runs at many millions of pounds per annum.
Many attempts have been made to personalise credit and other cards so that it is possible to verify that the person presenting the card is the true owner. Such proposals have in general required the incorporation of a secret code within the magnetic strip or some other medium carried by the card which the presenter has to identify correctly when using the card. For example, bank cards require the identification of a special number (the PIN number) before the card can be accepted. However, many users carry their PIN number written down on a cheque book or the like which they carry with their cheque card to act as an aide memoire, notably where they use more than one bank or credit card. When the card is stolen, the PIN number often becomes available to the thief and he can thus present the card as if he were the true owner. The more complex the PIN or other code to be identified, the greater the security against a thief randomly picking the correct code; but the more likely it is that the owner will carry some form of aide memoire. Furthermore, the use of a PIN number is only possible where the number can be verified on site when the card is presented. This effectively limits the use of the PIN number to locations either linked to the central location from which the PIN number was issued, for example to banks which are linked via a data transmission network, or to locations having means for keying in data on the PIN number and verifying that against the card. Many locations, e.g. retail stores or garages, do not have these facilities.
It has been proposed to use a photograph of the card user as a supplement to or in place of the PIN number on a card to increase the security thereof, but sophisticated photographic and other techniques have enabled acceptable forgeries to be produced readily. Furthermore, verification of the identity of the presenter's photograh is again often cursory.
It has also been proposed to incorporate coded information e.g. in binary coded form, about the person's fingerprint on the card and to compare this information with a corresponding record held in a data base. In one form of such a proposal, the whole of the fingerprint image is stored upon the card and when verification is required it is necessary to display both the presenter's fingerprint and the print extracted from the record on the card for visual comparison. In an attempt to mechanise the comparison of the fingerprint with the stored data, it has been proposed to store the data either on site at the location where identification is required or at a remote location which is accessed from the verification site. In the former case, the amount of data required to enable identification to be carried out means that records of only a few people can be stored on site. Where a remote data store is used, this can store data for a large number of people, but the verification time is then far longer than members of the public would accept and, again, the system is of use only at those locations which have access to the remote data base.
It has also been proposed to record only some of the data relating to the identity, orientation and position of certain characteristics of a person's fingerprint on the card and to compare that with the corresponding finger print presented by the user. Whilst this may reduce the amount of data required to be stored on the card, the accuracy of that method is stated by one source to be as low as 2%, making it unacceptable for many commercial operations unless it is supplemented by some other form of identity check carried out at the same time.
The need to relate the identity of a person to a document purporting to identify or relate to that person arises in a wide number of other circumstances, for example to control access to high security areas in buildings, at polling stations during elections, at immigration checks at air ports and the like, and in general at any location where a lock mechanism is used to prevent unauthorised access to a locus or use of a device. The need for a simple and accurate method for identifying or relating a person to a document or other object is thus widespread and of increasing importance. So far, despite all the previous proposals, no satisfactory solution to the problem has been proposed.
I have now devised a system by which the identity of a person can be rapidly and accurately verified or related to a document or other thing presented by that person, but which can be adapted for use wherever such relation or verification is required without the need for a complex and costly data base either on site or at a remote location. Furthermore, since the information used in the verification is based on physical characteristics of the person's body, notably the ridge pattern on his finger, the user does not have to carry any PIN number or other aide memoire.

Method and apparatus for verifying identity


A new and distinct Lantana plant cultivar is disclosed, characterized by inflorescence umbels with Red/Orange flower color. The plants have increased inflorescence longevity, compact size, and a mounding, uniformly round plant shape.

The new cultivar is a product of hybridization of an unknown female parent Lantana variety and an unknown male parent Lantana camara variety. To prepare for the hybridization, the inventor collected 16 different lantana varieties having red coloration in the flowers. These varieties were placed together away from other blooming lantana plants in March through July of 2001, in order to promote red dominance in the resulting seedlings. The seeds were gathered and planted. In September, 2001, the resulting seedlings flowered. The new cultivar 'RIVRRED' was discovered as a single plant growing among the flowering seedlings and selected by the inventor in September, 2001.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal tip cuttings was performed in a controlled environment in Riverview, Fla., and in Oxnard, Calif., and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type on successive generations.


A circle cutter, particularly a cutting instrument, is adapted for cutting circles on objects. It includes a rotary disc assembly and a cutting tool. The rotary disc assembly is made up of an outer ring board, a rotary disc, a fixing ring cap and a plurality of beads. The rotary disc mounted to the outer ring board is movably limited in place by the fixing ring cap and are rotatably supported by the multiple beads received in a tunnel defined between the outer ring board and the rotary disc. On the rotary disc are disposed a plurality of holes marked with a numeral that is the diameter of a circle to be cut. The cutting tool has a hollow pen stick and a cutting knife attached to a knife clip that is movably engaged with a holding head. The holding head is further secured to the bottom end of the hollow pen stick and is free to rotate with respect to the pen stick so that the cutting knife can be smoothly guided in a cutting operation.

The present invention relates to a circle cutter, particularly to an instrument adapted for cutting circles on objects. It includes a rotary disc assembly and a cutting tool. The rotary disc assembly is made up of an outer ring board, a rotary disc, a fixing ring cap and a plurality of beads. The rotary disc mounted to the outer ring board is movably limited in place by the fixing ring cap and are rotatably supported by the multiple beads received in a tunnel defined between the outer ring board and the rotary disc. On the rotary disc are disposed a plurality of holes marked with a numeral that is the diameter of a circle to be cut. The cutting tool has a hollow pen stick and a cutting knife attached to a knife clip that is movably engaged with a holding head. The holding head is further secured to the bottom end of the hollow pen stick and is free to rotate with respect to the pen stick so that the cutting knife can be smoothly guided in a cutting operation.
The circle cutter of the present invention is placed on top of an object in use, and a cutting tool is selectively engaged with a hole on the rotary disc which is made to rotate by the cutting tool so that a circle area can be cut on the object by a cutting knife mounted to the cutting tool.
In general, to cut circles on various kinds of paper, thin cardboard and soft thin wood board, circles of proper sizes are first drawn on them by a compass and then a pointed knife is used to cut along a drawn line a circle. Such a conventional way of cutting circle is tedious and time consuming in one aspect; and so obtained circles are not smooth and precise enough in another aspect. Besides, accidental cutting can often result in damage to the used material.


In the present technique of a data transmission management, responsive to a reselection during a data transmission, a determination (314, 514) is made as to whether remaining untransmitted data blocks of the data transmission can be sent within an allowed transmission time. If so, the remaining untransmitted data blocks are transmitted (318, 518) to complete the data transmission. If, however, the remaining untransmitted data blocks cannot be transmitted within the allowed transmission time, the communication link is terminated (312, 510) to stop the downlink data transmission with a serving station.

In the current Universal Mobile Telecommunication System ("UMTS"), R4 compliant mobile stations are supported by a Network Assistant Cell Change procedure. Specifically, for networks that support a Cell Change Notification ("CCN") mode, upon a mobile station detecting the need to change cells due to deteriorated radio frequency ("RF") conditions, the network is notified of the proposed cell change with a Packet Cell Change Notification ("PCCN") message from the mobile station. If the network knows the target cell data, the network responds accordingly by sending one or more Packet Neighbor Cell Data ("PNCD") messages back to the mobile station. Two general scenarios happen at this point. In one scenario where the network determines that the cell chosen by the mobile station is an optimal cell, the network sends a Packet Cell Change Continue ("PCCC") message to the mobile station. If, on the other hand, in the second scenario where the network determines that the cell chosen by the mobile station is not an optimal cell, a Packet Cell Change Order ("PCCO") message is sent to the mobile station. This whole procedure of sending the PCCC or the PCCO message to the mobile station is guarded by a timer of 960 milliseconds. In other words, the network is given 960 milliseconds to respond with the PCCC or PCCO message to the mobile station, counting from the time when the network receives the PCCN message from the mobile station.
The problem is that if the mobile station sends out the PCCN message while the Count Down ("CV") is starting to decrement, meaning that very little data are left to complete the data transmission between the mobile station and the serving station, the mobile station will, nevertheless, terminate the ongoing Temporary Block Flow ("TBF") as soon as it receives the PCCC or PCCO message from the network. This is true even when the data transfer could have been finished in less than 960 milliseconds. Similarly, in the downlink example, the mobile station could receive the PCCC or PCCO message when the remaining data could have been transferred within the allowed time. So, instead of finishing the data transfer with the current serving cell, the mobile station starts the data transfer all over again by establishing a new TBF at the target cell to finish transferring the remaining data. Starting a new TBF is very inefficient, however, because it requires a significant amount of time, especially when the data transfer could have been finished in less than 960 milliseconds. Another problem is that if the data transfer involves the Transmission Control Protocol ("TCP") layer that requires an acknowledgement ("ACK") packet, this ACK packet can be further delayed, because the mobile station is forced to leave the current cell and establish a new TBF in the target cell to finish the data transfer. This again is very efficient. Thus, for all these reasons, the overall data transfer rate of the mobile station is reduced, resulting in deterioration of mobile station overall performance.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common and well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention.

Methods for managing data transmissions between a mobile station and a serving station


Embodiments include systems and methods for using a shared virtual ground to implement a dual memory bitcell. Some embodiments of the dual memory bitcell described herein operate substantially as would two adjacent conventional bitcells, but with reduced power, reduced area, and other features. For example, each of two memory bitcells can be coupled with a write bitline, a virtual ground line, and a respective write wordline. The virtual ground is configured to be switched according to the write bitline. In such a configuration, the value stored by the memory bitcells can be a function of the write bitline and the virtual ground line (e.g., when the respective write word line of the memory bitcell is asserted). Certain embodiments can include a novel physical layout of the dual memory bitcell. Some implementations of the novel physical layout can include changes to the physical memory bitcell components and to one or more metal layers.

Typical memory circuits, such as static random access memory (SRAM) circuits, include a number of bitcells that can be written to and read from. Conventional bitcell designs in modern nano process technology often use a dual bitline scheme to help ensure writability. Such a scheme can have various limitations. One such limitation is that, as the channel length gets smaller (e.g., as circuit dimensions decrease with newer manufacturing processes), bitcells are becoming more track/signal limited than transistor limited, which can result in many dummy transistors being added to accommodate the bitcell area dictated by wiring tracks. Another such limitation is that conventional bitcell designs typically seek a balanced structure of true/false nodes, which can not only limits the flexibility of choosing transistor characteristics (e.g., types, size, and usage to fit various design specifications), but can also limit design alternatives. Still another such limitation is that, even when bitcell layouts are packed as tightly as possible, many dummy transistors are often added to fulfill LPE (Layout Proximity Effect), which is typically a waste of area.

Dual memory bitcell with shared virtual ground


A control system for controlling the temperature in a high-temperature battery to which hot air is supplied via an air duct system or in a high-temperature electrolyzer to which hot air is supplied via an air duct system is provided. The control system includes at least two temperature probes designed to detect the temperature at two different points in the air duct system, at least one first air-conditioning unit for physically conditioning the air, mounted in the air duct system upstream of the high-temperature battery or high-temperature electrolyzer, and a recirculation duct which recirculates hot air discharged from the high-temperature battery or high-temperature electrolyzer to a point in the air duct system upstream of the high-temperature battery or high-temperature electrolyzer and feeds the hot air back into the air duct system. The control system controls the first air-conditioning unit in accordance with the temperatures detected by the temperature probes.

A high-temperature battery, and also a high-temperature electrolyzer, have to be supplied with sufficient heat for providing a suitable operating temperature. Therefore, in a high-temperature battery as described in DE 10 2009 057 720.3, for example, heating of the battery cell up to a temperature level of at least 700° C. is necessary in order to be able to ensure an efficient operation. Equally, high-temperature electrolyzers, as described in EP12163588, for example, are to be supplied with heat in order to be able to operate an efficient electrochemical gas separation plant. The efficiency of both devices is influenced significantly by the operating temperature which, for example, determines the necessary ion fluxes in the devices.
The necessary heat is made available in this case, at least partially, by a flow of hot air which is fed to the high-temperature battery or to the high-temperature electrolyzer. The temperature level of this hot air, however, does not have to achieve the operating temperature level of the high-temperature battery or of the high-temperature electrolyzer but should be high enough in order to be able to make a significant heat contribution. In the present case, thermally conditioned air, the temperature level of which lies above the ambient temperature level, is therefore to be understood by hot air. Within the scope of the present invention, a high-temperature battery, and also a high-temperature electrolyzer, is to have an operating temperature of at least 300° C., preferably of at least 650° C. In particular, the temperatures are to be high enough in order to be able to operate, according to design, a high-temperature battery or a high-temperature electrolyzer which work at least partially on the basis of a solid electrolyte fuel cell (SOFC). In this case, temperatures of at least 650° C. are typically required.
Comparable operating preconditions are known from the technical scope of high-temperature fuel cells which are designed as a solid electrolyte fuel cell (SOFC). Thus, it is described in US 2004/0013913 A1, for example, that such a high-temperature fuel cell is supplied with heated air by means of an air piping system. The heating is carried out in this case so that the air which is fed to the high-temperature fuel cell is conditioned by means of a heat exchanger and a suitable heating device. The energy which is released from the heat exchanger to the air is partially extracted from a backflow pipe which discharges used air from the high-temperature fuel cell and feeds it to the heat exchanger. Depending on the amount of hot air which is discharged from the high-temperature fuel cell, a greater or lesser quantity of heat can therefore be fed again, by means of the heat exchanger, in a thermal recirculation circuit to the high-temperature fuel cell, as a result of which the overall heat loss can be minimized. Moreover, with increased recirculation the temperature gradient across the fuel cell can be reduced. The controlling of the overall quantity of thermal energy which is fed to the air flow is undertaken by a control system which determines the additional external heat input in order to be able to ultimately supply the high-temperature fuel cell with sufficient overall heat.
Since, however, unlike in the case of a high-temperature fuel cell, the operation of a high-temperature battery or of a high-temperature electrolyzer is typically carried out under different and temporally variable load- and working conditions, a temporally varying supply of the high-temperature battery or of the high-temperature electrolyzer with thermal heat is necessary. A process step absorbing electric energy is typically conducted endothermally in the case of a high-temperature electrolyzer, which necessitates a feed of heat. In contrast to this, a process step releasing chemical energy is typically conducted exothermally. If the operation of a high-temperature electrolyzer is now carried out in such a way that both types of operation are undertaken alternately, a varying supply with heat is necessary. Similarly, a high-temperature battery can be operated in two different working states, being an electric energy-absorbing and endothermal charging state and also an electric energy-releasing and exothermal discharging state. Consequently, a varying supply with heat is also necessary here if both working states are selected alternately with each other.
Furthermore, high-temperature batteries or high-temperature electrolyzers can be provided for absorbing surplus energy from renewable, fluctuating energy sources (wind energy, solar energy). This leads to a continuous change of the power to be absorbed and therefore also to changes in their working state.
Different working states, however, typically also require mass flows in the air supply which differ from each other. As a result, the operation of a high-temperature battery or of a high-temperature electrolyzer differs in principle, however, from that of a high-temperature fuel cell which typically has only a single defined working state.
If a high-temperature battery or a high-temperature electrolyzer has to be supplied with temporally varying mass flows of air, it is shown that the thermal conditioning, as described in US 2994/0013913 A1, cannot be operated with adequate efficiency. Under such circumstances, there may specifically be a requirement for a higher thermal heat input into the air flow which can be covered only by providing large quantities of thermal energy by means of an external heat source. The exclusively thermal injection of heat from the backflow pipe proves energetically to be of insufficient advantage in this case. Moreover, the control speed can prove to be insufficient for the rapid heating of large air flows.
Consequently, it is technically necessary to propose a control system for temperature control of a high-temperature battery which is supplied with hot air via a piping system, or of a high-temperature electrolyzer which is supplied with hot air via an air piping system, which avoids the disadvantages from the prior art. In particular, an energy-efficient operation is also to be enabled in the case of varying mass flows in the air supply. Furthermore, the supply of a high-temperature battery or of a high-temperature electrolyzer with a temporally varying mass flow is to be enabled, wherein the thermal conditioning of this mass flow is carried out in a comparatively energy-efficient manner.

Temperature control system for a high-temperature battery or a high-temperature electrolyzer


The computer peripheral bay cooling apparatus comprises a blower chassis adapted to fit within the 5xc2xc inch drive bay of a computer chassis and a blower enclosed within the blower chassis.

The present invention pertains to the field of computer peripherals. More particularly, the invention relates to a cooling apparatus for use in an enclosed computer system.
The speed of integrated circuits has grown at an exponential rate in recent years. This has resulted in an unprecedented surge in computing performance. Unfortunately, the use of faster and more powerful integrated circuits generally results in an increase in heat generation.
In addition to the integrated circuits required for computer operation (e.g., the microprocessor and disk drive controllers residing on the motherboard), computers today incorporate numerous additional integrated circuits though the use of add-in circuit cards. These add-in cards can be plugged directly into the expansion bus slots of the motherboard. Common expansion bus slots today include the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus the Extended ISA (EISA) bus, and the high-speed PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus. It is not uncommon for a computer to have the majority of these expansion bus slots filled. For example, a typical personal computer will contain a 3D video card, a modem or network card, and a sound card. These additional components, while providing additional functionality, contribute to the electrical heat dissipation within the computer chassis and also take up significant amounts of space within the chassis.
Maintaining computer system components below certain temperature levels is important to ensure performance, reliability, and safety. Most integrated circuits have specified maximum operating temperatures above which the manufacturer does not recommend operation. Moreover, transistors, the building blocks of integrated circuits, tend to slow down as operating temperatures increase. In severe cases, integrated circuits may be physically damaged if temperatures elevate beyond those recommended. Such physical damage will clearly impact system performance. Accordingly, it is desirable to keep a computer system from operating its integrated circuits close to or beyond recommended temperatures.
Typically, heat sinks, fans, blowers, and heat pipes are employed to dissipate heat from integrated circuits and other electronic components. Increases in heat generation are often accompanied by increases in the quantity and size of the heat dissipation elements. However, the size of such elements is limited by the space available within a typical computer chassis. Moreover, the usefulness of such heat dissipation elements decreases if the ambient temperature surrounding the elements (i.e., the air temperature within the computer chassis) becomes too high.
DC brushless blower systems are therefore necessary to remove the heated air from the computer chassis (or, alternatively, to blow cool air into the chassis). For many years, a single DC brushless blower located within the power supply has been adequate for removing hot air from the computer chassis. However, as the speed of computer components increases, accompanied by an increase in heat dissipation, such a configuration will prove unworkable. Today, in more powerful computers (e.g., high powered file servers) which require additional cooling, an area of space within the computer chassis is specifically allocated for an additional fan or blower. Attaching the supplemental fan or blower to the computer chassis requires an interface on the computer chassis adapted specifically for the attachment of the fan or blower.
It would be advantageous to provide a blower package which would fit within a computer chassis without taking up a specifically allocated area of space within the computer chassis. Such an area would be better utilized to incorporate integrated circuit boards. It would also be advantageous to provide a cooling blower apparatus which could be attached to an interface common to most computer systems, thereby eliminating the need for a specialized interface.
The computer peripheral bay cooling apparatus comprises a blower chassis adapted to fit within the 5xc2xc inch drive bay of a computer chassis and a blower enclosed within the blower chassis.

Computer peripheral bay cooling apparatus


A CMC wall (22) with a front surface (21) heated (24) by a working fluid in a gas turbine. A back CMC surface (23) is coated with a layer (42) of a thermally conductive material to accelerate heat transfer in the plane of the CMC wall (22), reducing thermal gradients (32-40) on the back CMC surface (23) caused by cold spots (32) resulting from impingement cooling flows (26). The conductive material (42) may have a coefficient of thermal conductivity at least 10 times greater than that of the CMC material (22), to provide a minimal thickness conductive layer (42). This reduces thermal gradient stresses within the CMC material (22), and minimizes differential thermal expansion stresses between the CMC material (22) and the thin conductive layer (42).

Ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials are used for high-temperature components such as gas turbine blades, vanes, and shroud surfaces. The walls of these components have a front surface that optionally may be coated with a ceramic insulating material and that is heated by the turbine combustion gas, and a back surface that is cooled by a cooling air flow. Cooling is accomplished by any of several conventional methods. For lower temperature applications, laminar backside cooling is effective; however, entry points for cooling air flow tend to have locally high heat transfer coefficients. For higher heat flux conditions, more aggressive cooling methods are required, including, for example, impingement cooling. Typically, impingement cooling is accomplished by directing jets of the cooling air toward the back side of the CMC wall in order to remove heat energy and to lower the temperature of the CMC material. For high thermal conductivity CMCs such as melt-infiltrated SiC/SiC composites and others, the adverse side effects from such impingement cooling are negligible. However, for low thermal conductivity CMCs such as the oxide-oxide classes of materials, the impingement method results in high in-plane thermal gradients on the cooled surface. Improved techniques for cooling ceramic materials used in high temperature applications are thus desired.

Cooling arrangement for CMC components with thermally conductive layer


Provided is a method and system for dynamically parallelizing an application program. Specifically, provided is a method and system having multi-core control that may verify a number of available threads according to an application program and dynamically parallelize data based on the verified number of available threads. The method and system for dynamically parallelizing the application program may divide a data block to be processed according to the application program based on a relevant data characteristic and dynamically map the threads to division blocks, and thereby enhance a system performance.

1. Field
One or more embodiments relate to a method and system for dynamically parallelizing an application program, and more particularly, a method and system having multi-core control that may dynamically divide a data block to be processed according to an application program, and may dynamically allocate threads to division blocks, respectively, and thereby perform a dynamic parallelization.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, processors including a plurality of cores to maximize silicon efficiency are popular. Because of an increase in processor density, a parallel scheme of controlling the plurality of cores, that is, multi-core control is proposed.
The parallel scheme is widely used for cluster super computers and general personal computers (PCs), due to a dissemination of a multi-core technology.
A multi-core processor having a few to tens of cores is currently produced. In the near future, a multi-core processor having hundreds or more cores will be produced.
In a parallel system having the above multi-core processor, many application programs may share increased resources. In this case, the resource demand of the application programs needs to be changed depending on an amount of available resources.
However, even when the amount of available resources is changed, a conventional parallel system may not dynamically utilize the available resources.
In a situation where a parallel application program dynamically operates in the parallel system, a number of threads determined when the parallel application program is generated may be used as resources without considering the number of available threads corresponding to the available resources. Accordingly, when more resources are desired to be used in the parallel application program, a source code may need to be changed and re-compiled.

Method and system for dynamically parallelizing application program


A modular flooring surface freely supported on the upper surface of a flat floor. The modular flooring surface is made up of shaped tiles which snap together to form a playing surface for sports such as roller hockey, tennis, basketball and the like. The tiles of the flooring surface are preferably not rectangular in shape and thus, the resulting playing surface has no long straight seams. The flooring surface preferably has a pattern formed so that it is not completely smooth but instead has small ridges extending upwardly from a base. A preferred shape of modular tile of the playing surface is hexagonal.

The field of the invention is flooring surfaces for recreational use. Numerous designs are in use and perhaps the most popular design is sold under the trademark "Sport Court". One design of this flooring is shown in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 of the drawings where a square tile having a playing surface 1'.times.1' has outwardly extending interlocking members on two of the sides and inwardly extending interlocking members on the other two sides. The inwardly extending members have pegs which interlock with the outward extending members to form a uniform playing surface. Because the tiles are square, however, long straight seams are formed over the playing surface and particularly in the sport of roller hockey, these long straight seams can interfere with the play of the sport, as well as to create a weak point where the floor buckles when it expands. While some designs of the "Sport Court" brand of playing surface are open in a lattice design, the prior art style most popular for use in the sport of roller hockey has a generally smooth flat playing surface. A generally smooth playing surface tends to create a tendency for the wheels of the inline skates of the skater to slip or skid but speeds the sliding of a roller hockey puck. A rougher playing surface slows and shortens the travel of the puck but permits the skater to make sharper turns without slipping. Because of the difficulties caused to the skater, an improved design would be beneficial.
Ice hockey has been a major sport for many years. Roller hockey is a relatively new sport which utilizes inline skates and a plastic puck. With ice hockey the puck moves quickly on the ice surface and the skater moves quickly and has the ability to make sharp turns without skidding. It would be ideal to simulate these two benefits for the sport of roller hockey. In roller hockey the puck moves slower as more friction is created by the floor surface and moves faster as the friction is reduced. With ice hockey, the skater is able to turn or stop very quickly because his skates dig into the ice surface. This does not occur with inline skates. Until now there has not been a floor for roller hockey that provides both a fast puck movement and the ability for the skater to grip the floor surface for sharper turns. For instance, with asphalt the skater is able to grip the surface and thus, turn quickly, but the puck moves very slowly because of the high friction. Likewise, with a wood surface, the skate wheels grip the wood surface very well but the puck moves relatively slowly. With normal cement, once again the skater can turn quickly but the puck is slow. A painted or roll-on cement surface can be made either to provide a slow puck and a fast skater or a fast puck but a slippery surface. In the plastic squares commonly used in the sport of roller hockey, the puck surface is slippery for the skater who is thus unable to turn quickly.
Several patents have been issued on modular flooring. One is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,375 which has the outwardly extending and inwardly positioned interlocking members which snap together to form the modular playing surface. Another design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,548 which also has an open surface and interlocks to form the modular playing surface. U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,987 shows yet another open surface design with interlocking pegs and outwardly extending members.


The photoelectric conversion element includes a semiconductor substrate, a first amorphous film of a first conductivity type disposed on an entire surface of one surface of the semiconductor substrate, a first conductive oxide layer disposed on the first amorphous film, a second amorphous film of the first conductivity type disposed on a part of the other surface of the semiconductor substrate, a second conductive oxide layer disposed on the second amorphous film, a third amorphous film of a second conductivity type disposed on the other part of the other surface of the semiconductor substrate, and a third conductive oxide layer disposed on the third amorphous film. Electric conductivity of the first conductive oxide layer is lower than electric conductivities of the second and the third conductive oxide layer. Transmittance of the first conductive oxide layer is higher than transmittances of the second and the third conductive oxide layer.

Recently, expectations for a solar cell capable of directly converting solar energy into electric energy have increased rapidly as an energy source of the next generation, in particular, from a viewpoint of global environmental problems. As the solar cell, various solar cells such as a solar cell using a compound semiconductor or an organic material are included, and currently, a solar cell using silicon crystal is mainly being used.
Then, currently, a solar cell which has been manufactured and sold most commonly is a solar cell having a structure where electrodes are respectively formed on a light receiving surface on a side on which solar light is incident and on a back surface on an opposite side of the light receiving surface. However, when the electrode is formed on the light receiving surface, the amount of solar light to be incident is decreased by the area of the electrode due to reflection and absorption of the solar light in the electrode.
Therefore, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-101151 (PTL 1), a solar cell (a hetero-junction back contact cell) in which an i-type amorphous silicon film is formed on a back surface of an n-type single crystal silicon substrate, an n-type amorphous silicon film and a p-type amorphous silicon film are formed thereon, and an electrode is formed thereon has been developed.

Photoelectric conversion element and method for manufacturing same


In an adjuster (1) for a vehicle seat, in particular a backrest inclination adjuster for an automobile seat, having at least one detent fitting (5) with two fitting parts (7, 8) that can be pivoted relatively to one another around a central axis (13) and can be locked together, and a lever (6) which is mounted for pivoting around a pivoting axis (A), the pivoting of the lever (6) allowing to unlock the detent fitting (5), said detent fitting (5) can be unlocked via a rotatable driver (11) which is arranged around the central axis (13) and is accessible from the outside of the detent fitting (5), the lever (6) being in direct contact with the driver (11).

The present invention pertains to an adjuster for a vehicle seat, in particular a backrest inclination adjuster for an automobile seat, having at least one detent fitting with two fitting parts that can be pivoted relative to one another around a central axis and can be locked together, and a lever which is mounted for pivoting around a pivoting axis, with the pivoting of the lever causing the detent fitting to unlock.
An adjuster of the type described in the immediately preceding paragraph is known, for example, from WO 00/44582 A1. For the adjuster of WO 00/44582 A1, the lever is mounted on a central shaft, and the detent fittings on both sides of the vehicle seat can be unlocked simultaneously by turning the shaft.


The present disclosure provides an antibody, antigen binding fragment thereof, or an antibody conjugate thereof, useful in methods for treatment or diagnosis of conditions characterized by the expression of PTGFRN. The antibodies or antigen binding fragments thereof may also be used in imaging or detecting cells that express PTGFRN.

Monoclonal antibodies have become one of the most important tools in the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of diseases, including cancer. As of Jan. 11, 2017, the FDA has approved 68 therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (Cai H H (2017) Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibodies Approved by FDA in 2016. MOJ Immunol 5(1): 00145). "Monoclonal antibody products today are approved for the treatment of a variety of diseases, ranging from those that treat patient populations of a few thousand or less for such orphan indications as paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria or the cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes to those treating hundreds of thousands of patients for some cancers and multiple sclerosis or even millions of patients for diseases such as asthma and rheumatoid arthritis." (Ecker, et al., Monoclonal Antibodies 7(1):9-14, 2015).
Monoclonal antibodies that recognize antigens expressed on the surface of cancer cells can be used to target specific tumor types. For example, a monoclonal antibody that recognizes the EpCAM/17-1A antigen located on the cell surfaces of carcinomas, edrecolomab and a monoclonal antibody directed against the receptor tyrosine-protein kinase erbB-2 (also known as CD340 and HER2/neu), trastuzumab, is a frontline therapy for the treatment of positive breast cancer. Other monoclonal antibody therapeutics include rituximab, which binds to the CD20 antigen, and is used to treat B-cell lymphomas, alemetuzumab which binds the CD52 antigen and is used to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and ipilimumab, which binds to CTLA-4 and is used to treat melanoma.
Monoclonal antibodies can also be conjugated to drug molecules to create antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). In one example, an anticancer drug (e.g. a cell toxin or cytotoxin) is coupled to a monoclonal antibody that specifically binds to an antigen found on the surface of a cancer cell. When the antibody binds the cell surface antigen, the antibody (and the toxin) can be internalized. This has the effect of conveying the toxin predominantly to cancer cells allowing the introduction of a toxin into cells that otherwise would not receive it, thereby increasing the antibody therapeutic effect, or alternatively, allowing the use of less toxin and resulting in fewer toxin-induced side effects. An example of this type of therapeutic is trastuzumab emtansine in which the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab has been conjugated to the microtubule assembly inhibitor mertansine (also called maytansinoid DM1 and emtansine). Kadcyla® is used to treat breast cancer patients that have HER2 positive tumors and are resistant to trastuzumab.
Despite the numerous examples above, there remains a need in the art for monoclonal antibody based therapeutics. In particular, there remains a need in the art for monoclonal antibody therapeutics that bind to antigens on the surface of cancer cells, thereby providing opportunities for new therapeutic development. This need and others are met by the present disclosure.

Monoclonal antibodies and conjugates against prostaglandin F2 receptor inhibitor and uses thereof