A method of treating neurological condition in a subject by administration of a neuroprotective composition of a mixture of two or more triterpenes. Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, stroke or Parkinson's disease are treated by administering a therapeutically effective amount of the neuroprotective composition to a subject.

Neurological diseases and disorders affect brain function. Many efforts have been made to develop curative or ameliorative therapies for these diseases and disorders; however, no comprehensive or universally curative therapy has been developed, even though there are numerous pharmacotherapeutic approaches that have been proven to be effective against various diseases and disorders.
Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited disease of the brain that affects the nervous system. It is caused by a defective gene that is passed from parent to child. The HD gene interferes with the manufacture of a particular protein known as 'Huntington' which appears to be crucial for proper brain development. The classic signs of HD include emotional, cognitive and motor disturbances. Huntington's is characterized by jerky involuntary movements (chorea), but sometimes causes rigidity without abnormal movements, changes in using the limbs (apraxia), loss of control of bodily functions and dementia, including a progressive deterioration of memory, speed of thought, judgment, and lack of awareness of problems and planning. There is no known cure for Huntington's disease. Although there are a number of medications to help control symptoms associated with HD such as emotional and movement problems, there is no treatment to stop or reverse the course of the disease. Huntington's disease has been recognized as a disease with a general membrane abnormality. A significantly elevated level and activity (10 fold increase) of Na,K-ATPase has been observed in membranes of erythrocytes and basal ganglia of Huntington's patients compared to that of normal (Butterfield D A, Oeswein J Q, Prunty M E, Hisle K C, Markesbery W R). Increased sodium, potassium adenosine triphosphatase activity in erythrocyte membranes in Huntington's disease. Ann Neurology, 4:60-62, 1978) fibroblast membranes obtained from the skin of Huntington's disease patients (Schroeder F, Goetz I E, Roberts E, Membrane anomalies in Huntington's disease fibroblasts. J. Neurochem. 43: 526-539, 1984).
Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia—a neurodegenerative disease that damages the brain's intellectual functions (memory, orientation, calculation, etc.), but usually preserves its motor functions. In Alzheimer's disease, the mind gradually deteriorates, causing memory loss, confusion, disorientation, impaired judgment and other problems that may affect a person's ability to perform normal daily activities. The type, severity, sequence and progression of mental changes vary greatly. There is no known cure for Alzheimer's disease and no known way to slow its progression. For some people in the early or middle stages of the disease, medication such as tacrine may alleviate some cognitive symptoms. Aricept (donepezil) and Exelon (rivastigmine) are reversible acetylcholinesterase inhibitors that are indicated for the treatment of mild to moderate dementia of the Alzheimer's type. These drugs (called cholinesterase inhibitors) work by increasing the brain's levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, helping to restore communication between brain cells. Some medications may help control behavioral symptoms such as sleeplessness, agitation, wandering, anxiety, and depression. These treatments are aimed at making the patient more comfortable. Although no medication is known to cure Alzheimer's disease, cholinesterase inhibitors may improve performance of daily activities, or lessen behavioral problems. Medications for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease currently being tested include estrogens, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents, vitamin E, selegiline (Carbex, Eldepryl) and the botanical product gingko biloba.
Nerium oleander is an ornamental plant widely distributed in subtropical Asia, the southwestern United States, and the Mediterranean. Its medical and toxicological properties have long been recognized. It has been used, for example, in the treatment of hemorrhoids, ulcers, leprosy, snake bites, and even in the induction of abortion. Oleandrin, an important component but not the sole component of oleander extract, is a cardiac glycoside.
Extraction of glycosides from plants of Nerium species has provided pharmacologically/therapeutically active ingredients from Nerium oleander. Among these are oleandrin, neriifolin (nerifolin), and other cardiac glycoside compounds. Oleandrin extracts obtained by hot-water extraction of Nerium oleander, sold under the trademark ANVIRZEL™, contain the concentrated form or powdered form of a hot-water extract of Nerium oleander. A Phase I trial of a hot water oleander extract (i.e. Anvirzel™) has been completed (Mekhail et al., Am. Soc. Clin. Oncol., vol. 20, p. 82b, 2001). It was concluded that oleander extracts, which would provide about 57 ug oleandrin/day, can be safely administered at doses up to 1.2 ml/m2/d. No dose limiting toxicities were found.
Rong et al. (Pharm. Biol. (January 2011), 49(1), 78-85) suggest oleanolic acid might be suitable for attenuating ischemic stroke. So et al. (Arch. Pharm. Res. (June 2009), 32(6), 923-932) suggest oleanolic acid might be suitable for the prevention and treatment of neurodegeneration in stroke. Li et al. (Brain Res. (February 2013), 1497, 32-39) suggest ursolic acid might provide neuroprotection after cerebral ischemia in mice. Garcia-Morales et al. (Arch. Pharm. Res. (July 2015), 38(7), 1369-1379) suggest that an extract of Bouvardia ternifolia should be further studied for treating Alzheimer's disease. Zhang et al. (Neuroscience Letters (2014), 579, 12-17) report that ursolic acid reduces oxidative stress following experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage. Qian et al. (Eur. J. Pharmacol. (2011), 670(1), 148-153) report that maslinic acid protects cortical neurons against oxygen-glucose deprivation-induced injury in rats. EP 2260851 A1 to Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (Madrid, ES) suggests the use of oleanolic acid for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Yoo et al. (Molecules, (May 2012), 17(3), 3524-38) suggest the use of terpenoids as anti-Alzheimer's disease therapeutics. Heo et al. (Mol. Cells (February 2002), 13(1), 5-11) suggest ursolic acid reduces amyloid beta protein-induced oxidative cell death. Chung et al. (Mol. Cells (April 2001), 11(2), 137-143) suggest ursolic acid appears to be a potent inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase in Alzheimer's disease. US 2007/0249711 A1 (Pub. Date. Oct. 25, 2007) to Choi et al. suggests the use of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid for improving brain functions to prevent and treat mild cognitive impairment and dementia.
Oleanolic acid is in a class of triterpenoids typified by compounds such as bardoxolone which have been shown to be potent activators of the innate cellular phase 2 detoxifying pathway, in which activation of the transcription factor Nrf2 leads to transcriptional increases in programs of downstream antioxidant genes containing the antioxidant transcriptional response element (ARE). Bardoxolone itself has been extensively investigated in clinical trials in inflammatory conditions; however, a Phase 3 clinical trial in chronic kidney disease was terminated due to adverse events that may have been related to known cellular toxicities of certain triterpenoids including bardoxolone at elevated concentrations.
Compositions containing triterpenes in combination with other therapeutic components are found as plant extracts. Fumiko et al. (Biol. Pharm. Bull (2002), 25(11), 1485-1487) discloses the evaluation of a methanolic extract of Rosmarimus officinalis L. for treating trypanosomiasis. Addington et al. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,481,086, 9,220,778, 9,358,293, US 20160243143 A1) disclose a supercritical fluid (SCF) extract (PBI-05204) of Nerium oleander containing oleandrin and triterpenes for the treatment of neurological conditions. Addington et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 9,011,937, US 20150283191 A1) disclose a triterpene-containing fraction (PBI-04711) of the SCF extract of Nerium oleander containing oleandrin and triterpenes for the treatment of neurological conditions. Jager et al. (Molecules (2009), 14, 2016-2031) disclose various plant extracts containing mixtures of oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid and other components. Mishra et al. (PLoS One 2016 25; 11(7):e0159430. Epub 2016 Jul. 25) disclose an extract of Betula utilis bark containing a mixture of oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid and other components. Wang et al. (Molecules (2016), 21, 139) disclose an extract of Alstonia scholaris containing a mixture of oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid and other components. L. e Silva et al. (Molecules (2012), 17, 12197) disclose an extract of Eriope blanchetti containing a mixture of oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid and other components. Rui et al. (Int. J. Mol. Sci. (2012), 13, 7648-7662) disclose an extract of Eucaplyptus globulus containing a mixture of oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid and other components. Ayatollahi et al. (Iran. J. Pharm. Res. (2011), 10(2), 287-294) disclose an extract of Euphorbia microsciadia containing a mixture of oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid and other components. Wu et al. (Molecules (2011), 16, 1-15) disclose an extract of Ligustrum species containing a mixture of oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid and other components. Lee et al. (Biol. Pharm. Bull (2010), 33(2), 330) disclose an extract of Forsythia viridissima containing a mixture of oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid and other components.
None of the art suggests a neuroprotective composition containing a combination of two or three different triterpenes selected from oleanolic acid, ursolic acid and betulinic acid, nor use of such a composition for the treatment of neurological conditions, in particular wherein the neuroprotective composition excludes cardiac glycoside and excludes a pharmacologically active polysaccharide obtained from Nerium species or Thevetia species. None of the art recognizes the improvements provided by administration of a combination of triterpenes as compared to administration of the individual triterpenes, in particular wherein cardiac glycoside is absent.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of treating neurological conditions with extract of


A power supply device for a discharge lamp has a rectifier for rectification of an AC voltage from an AC voltage source into an output DC voltage, a smoothing capacitor connected across the rectifier for providing a smoothed DC voltage, and an inverter which receives the smoothed DC voltage to provides a high frequency output to the lamp. The inverter includes a composite resonant circuit with first and second resonant systems each including an impedance element. The lamp is connected across the impedance element of the first resonant system. A balancing circuit is included to combine the high frequency powers fed respectively through the first and second resonant systems in a direction of canceling the high frequency powers with each other to provide a combined high frequency power. A feedback arrangement is included to superimpose the combined high frequency power upon the output DC voltage of the rectifier so as to feedback the resulting power to an input of the inverter for flowing a charge current for the smoothing capacitor. The first and second resonant systems are arranged to vary an amount of the combined high frequency power provided from the balancing means in response to a varying load condition of the lamp for reducing the canceling effect at the balancing means as the high frequency power supplied to the lamp increases.

Conventionally, there has been provided a power supply device for transforming a relatively low frequency AC voltage such as from a commercial voltage source into a high frequency current. Such power supply device is required to solve a technical problem of restraining input current distortion while maintaining a high input power factor. In order to solve the technical problem, a prior power supply device has been proposed which includes a power factor improving circuit, for example, composed of a step-up chopper to convert an AC voltage into a DC voltage, and an inverter for converting the resulting DC voltage into a high frequency power. That is, various prior power supply devices have been proposed to include the chopper for AC-to-DC conversion and the inverter for DC-to-AC conversion.
However, the chopper requires a relatively large number of components which makes the device bulky with attendant increase in component cost. In view of this, the prior power supply devices have been configured to use the number of components less than the device in which the chopper and the inverter are formed separately from each other so as to achieve a compact and low-cost design.
FIG. 44 illustrates a circuit diagram equivalent to one embodiment of a power supply device disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 4-193067. In this circuit configuration, a rectifier DB composed of a diode bridge makes a full-wave rectification of an AC voltage from a voltage source AC and a smoothing capacitor Cdc is connected in series with two diodes D1 and Di across output ends of the rectifier DB so as to convert the AC voltage into a DC voltage. A pair of switching elements Q1 and Q2 is connected across capacitor Cdc. Connected across switching element Q2 is a series circuit of a DC blocking capacitor Cc, an inductor Lrs, and a capacitor Crs across which a discharge lamp is connected as a load L. Switching elements Q1 and Q2 are cooperative with capacitor Cc to form an inverter INV of half-bridge configuration and are driven to turn on and off alternately at a frequency sufficiently higher than that of the voltage source AC. MOSFETs are utilized respectively as the switching elements Q1 and Q2. The inverter thus configured operates to provide a high frequency power from the voltage across capacitor Cdc and supply the resulting high frequency power to the load L through a resonant circuit of capacitor Crs and inductor Lrs. In this configuration, it is made to insert a distortion improving capacitor Cin between the inverter output (connection point of inductor Lrs to capacitor Crs) and a connection point of diodes D1 and Di in order to avoid an increase of an input current distortion for keeping a high input power factor.
Regarding the voltage applied across the load L as the high frequency voltage source, the circuit of FIG. 44 can be recognized to have a series circuit of capacitor Cin and the high frequency voltage source connected across the DC output ends of rectifier DB and to have capacitor Cdc connected across DC output ends of rectifier DB through diode Di. Since the series circuit of capacitor Cin and the high frequency voltage source develops thereacross a voltage which is equal to that of the DC output ends of rectifier DB, capacitor Cin is caused to repeat being charged and discharged in accordance with polarity of voltage developed across the high frequency voltage source. That is, two conditions occur alternately at a high frequency in one of which a charging current flows into capacitor Cin through diode D1 from rectifier DB, and in the other of which voltage across the high frequency voltage is added to voltage across capacitor Cin to apply the resulting voltage to capacitor Cdc. Since the input current from AC voltage source can be supplied at the high frequency through this operation, the input current continuously flows from the AC voltage source for restraining an increase in the input current distortion when a high frequency blocking filter is provided between the AC voltage source and capacitor Cin. Also with this configuration, the voltage across capacitor Cdc is held substantially constant and the voltage amplitude of the high frequency voltage source is held substantially constant such that the input current to capacitor Cin is made approximately proportional to the voltage of the AC voltage source with an attendant increase of the input power factor.
The like operation is also realized in a circuit of FIG. 45 which corresponds to one embodiment disclosed in Japanese laid-open publication No. 5-38161. In this circuit, a load L and a capacitor Crs have their one ends commonly connected to a point between diodes D1 and Di. Also, a capacitor Cin3 is utilized instead of capacitor Cin and is connected across diode Di so as to reduce the increase of input current distortion for keeping the high input power factor.
The above-mentioned prior circuit configurations are generally referred to as a charge-pump type in which capacitor Cin is charged by an input current from the AC voltage source and capacitor Cdc is charged by capacitor Cin. In the power supply device of the charge-pump type, the AC voltage source provides an input of flowing a charging current into capacitor Cdc even the load L consumes no substantial power in the no-load (or light-load) condition, giving an energy surplus between the input and output of the inverter and thereby leaving a problem that capacitor Cdc is caused to develop thereacross excessively increased voltage. With this result, the electronic components particularly the switching elements Q1 and Q2 must be selected to have high dielectric strength, which poses a problem of incurring high component cost.
Japanese Patent laid-open Publication No. 7-288984 discloses another prior power supply device in which feedback means is provided to feedback a portion of a high frequency output from an inverter through a plurality of paths to a smoothing capacitor so as to superimpose the portion of the high frequency output upon a voltage developed across the smoothing capacitor. The device is designed to differentiate the voltages fed-back through the individual paths with each other for reducing crest value of an input current to the device or regulating a current for charging the smoothing capacitor in accordance with the output from the inverter. However, the device necessitates a rather complicated configuration of regulating the frequency of the inverter in order to vary the feedback amount of the voltage from the inverter in anticipation of varying load conditions, for example, loading of a discharge lamp. In fact, the prior device fails to monitor the changing load condition and therefore fails to vary the feedback amount of the voltage in exact correspondence to the changing load condition. Thus, the prior device is not successful for limiting otherwise developed unduly high voltage at the smoothing capacitor over a wide range from a no-load condition, lamp-starting condition, and a normal lighting condition.


A dynamic self-adjusting dual-action clamp comprising a first clamping component defining a plane and generating clamping force along a first clamping axis in that plane, and a second clamping component generating force in a second clamping axis substantially perpendicular to the first clamping axis, but within the same plane as the first clamping axis. The invention further includes elements used to adapt a standard spring actuated pliers-type clamp to convert such clamp to the dual-action clamp described above.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to clamps used to hold work pieces which are to be joined. Specifically, the invention relates to spring clamps having clamping components acting in a single plane along two axes for use in affixing edge pieces to surface pieces such as table and counter tops.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In various industries, but particularly in the laminate industry and in solid surface industries using Corian, Fountainhead, Gibraltar, and Avonite, there has long been a need for clamps to hold edge pieces to be joined to surface pieces for use in fabricating counter tops, tables, and other products. For example, it is often necessary to adhere an edge strip or facing to a counter top or table. Dual-action or compound clamps are useful for holding such pieces, and many dual-action clamps have been developed specifically for such use. Such clamps generally have a first clamping component which clamps in one axis in a plane defined by the clamping component, and a second clamping component which clamps in the same plane but on a different axis from the first clamping component. In use, the first clamping component holds the clamp securely to the surface work piece while the second clamping component, usually acting in an axis perpendicular to the first clamping component, holds the edge piece against the side of the surface work piece.
Examples of such clamps are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 242,959 Naglee, and in U.S. Pat. No. 1,402,621 Knittel and Kesslering. However, certain problems are inherent in the clamps disclosed in the above patents. The first clamping component of each of these clamps includes two opposed coaxial clamping screws which provide a force for clamping in a first clamping axis. The second clamping component also includes a clamping screw. Application of the clamp to the work requires adjustment of all three clamping screws. Turning each clamping screw is a relatively slow process. Slow application of clamps to the working pieces is a particular problem in fabricating counter tops because long edge strips typically require many clamps to secure the edge strips until the adhesive sets. Typically, the adhesives used to bond the edge strips become tacky very rapidly, preventing realignment after a short time. Therefore, the time required to place and adjust each clamp is critical.
Other solutions, have been proposed to solve this problem with limited success. For example, the clamp disclosed in, U.S. Pat. No. 2,624,905, Hewat, uses only two clamping screws instead of three. However, in Hewat the clamping screw of the second clamping component is mounted to the side of the frame. This configuration results in clamping force being directed along a clamping axis which is beside the frame and out of a plane defined by the first clamping component. This causes torque about the frame which can cause the entire clamp to twist. Once the clamp twists, the second clamping component is directed at an angle to the work pieces. The twisting of the clamps is a particular problem because when the clamp twists, the edge piece will tend to slide on the adhesive. Any such sliding of the work pieces may cause disastrous results as the edge piece may become permanently adhered to the work piece in an incorrect position. The clamp U.S. Pat. No. 1,788,546 in Schmieder, suffers from the same problem due to its similar configuration.
The clamp disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,257, Gonzalez, attempts to overcome both the problem of time consuming adjustment, and of twisting caused by a second clamping component acting outside the plane of the first clamping component. The speed at which the Gonzalez clamp may be applied is increased by allowing one arm of the first clamping component to slide into contact with the work piece before adjusting the threaded clamping component in the first clamping plane. Twisting is avoided by having the second clamping component act within the same plane as the first clamping component. However, installation and adjustment is still accomplished with threaded clamping components which must each be adjusted in a time consuming process in each clamping axis.
There are several other problems with the prior art dual-action clamps which have not been addressed. For example, the pressure exerted by the clamps must be constant even as the pieces may be drawn closer together as the adhesive dries. The pressure exerted by the threaded clamping components of the prior art clamps does not automatically adjust, and time consuming manual re-adjustment of the threaded clamping components may be necessary. Additionally, it is difficult to gage the pressure being exerted by the threaded clamping components of the prior art clamps. Consequently it is easy to exceed the maximum recommended clamping pressure for the materials on which the clamp is used, or to apply too little pressure, possibly causing damage to the materials or negatively effecting the appearance of the materials. For example, too much pressure may mar the surfaces of the material to which the clamps are applied, or may squeeze too much adhesive out of the joint between the work pieces, thereby weakening the joint. Too little pressure may leave a conspicuous glue line.
The present invention provides a solution to each of the problems discussed above, by providing a quick and easy to use clamp with clamping components acting within a single plane, having a spring force which is calibrated not to exceed the recommended clamping pressure for the materials on which the clamp is used, and which automatically adjust to provide a constant pressure even as the work pieces are drawn closer together as the adhesive dries.


A mobile terminal according to an aspect of the invention may include: a terminal body having a ground; and conductive members embedded in the terminal body, bent at at least one point, extending in a first direction, separated from each other in directions crossing the first direction, and having a set of ends connected to form a loop, wherein a first conductive member electrically connected to a feed connection portion to feed the first conductive member and a second conductive member electrically connected to the ground to ground the second conductive member among the conductive members are separated from each other and arranged adjacent to each other to transmit and receive a radio signal while coupling occurs between the first and second conductive members extending in the first direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal having an antenna part transmitting and receiving a radio signal.
2. Background of the Invention
In general, a terminal may be classified into a mobile (portable) terminal and a stationary terminal according to a moveable state. The mobile terminal may be also classified into a handheld terminal and a vehicle mount terminal according to a user's carriage method.
As functions of the terminal become more diversified, the terminal can support more complicated functions such as capturing images or video, reproducing music or video files, playing games, receiving broadcast signals, and the like. By comprehensively and collectively implementing such functions, the mobile terminal may be embodied in the form of a multimedia player or a device.
Various attempts have been made to implement complicated functions in such a multimedia device by means of hardware or software. For instance, a user interface environment is provided in a portable terminal to enable a user to easily and conveniently search for or select a desired function among available functions.
Also, as mobile terminals are considered as personal belongings designed to make a fashion statement, various design forms are being required. Design forms may include structural changes and improvements that make mobile terminals user-friendly. Antennas can be considered as one of these structural changes and improvements.


Systems and methods for print coating de-saturation. An embodiment of the present invention relates to a method and system for controlling the output of a printer. When content is transmitted to a printer to be printed on a surface with a location-encoding pattern, the pattern is generally printed in a material different from the content material. By way of example, the content is generally transmitted in the CMYK color spectrum. The Key or black value is translated into the CMY values resulting in the K or black value being zero. The system and method alter the C, M, and Y values of the content such that it is ensured that no conversion occurs which would cause the Key color to be used in printing the content. The adjusted output is then sent to the printer.

There are many different types of printers and print services in the market today. All of these printers are controlled with hardware and software that instructs the printer how to print content on a page. These instructions are generally referred to as printer language sets. Examples of printer language sets are Adobe PostScript and Printer Control Language. Any of these instruction sets exploit the characteristics of the printer being used and allows for the control of any brand of printer.
In order to print color onto a page, printers may use any color model in any color-space such as RGB or CMYK; current printers in the marketplace use a full range of colors based on a method called four color process printing. Four color process printing uses three primary ink colors cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) plus Key (K) ("CMYK"). Key is generally black in four color process printing. Cyan, magenta, and yellow are the three main pigments used for color reproduction. When these three colors are combined in printing, the result should be a reasonable reproduction of the original, but in practice this is not the case. Due to limitations in the ink pigments, the darker colors are dirty and muddied. To resolve this, a technique called black replacement is used. One method of replacement (black replacement) is to replace highly saturated CMY values with the Key color. An example printer replaces color within a 25% range of theoretical black (fully saturated CMY) with K. This is done to increase the quality of the color, but is also done because black ink is typically less expensive then colored ink.
While black replacement is beneficial for everyday home/home office printing there are several applications in which the detail or intensity of black is important to the user, such as the digital pen industry. In the digital pen industry, the pen generally requires a location-encoding pattern printed on a surface to orient the pen or any other perceiving device having the ability to recognize a qualitative difference between a material used for a location encoding pattern and a material used for content. A surface is generally defined as any printable medium that can accept a print coating, injection, or fusion. By way of example the pattern may be printed with pure black ink, infrared absorbing ink, ultra violet ink or any material that can be distinguished from content material that is detectable by an infrared or other type of sensor in the pen. Content, which is defined as text, a map, images or any printable subject matter, may be placed over the pattern to allow a user with the pen to manipulate the document. If the content is placed over the location-encoding pattern and the content uses black ink (in this case both the content and the pattern using the same material) then the content may interfere with the pattern not allowing the pen to effectively locate itself on the page.


Methods and systems are provided for detection of cylinder-to-cylinder air fuel ratio imbalance in engine cylinders. In one example, a method may include indicating air fuel ratio imbalance in an engine cylinder based on a comparison of an estimated cylinder acceleration for the cylinder and a calibrated cylinder acceleration for each of the engine cylinders. The indication of imbalance may be further confirmed based on one or more of an exhaust air-fuel ratio, an exhaust manifold pressure, and an individual cylinder torque weighted by respective confidence factors.

Engine emissions compliance requires detection of air-fuel ratio (AFR) imbalances across all engine cylinders. An AFR imbalance between cylinders may occur when the AFR in one or more cylinders is different from the other cylinders due to issues such as intake manifold leakage, fuel injector issues, exhaust gas recirculation issues, and fuel flow delivery issues. In addition to degrading emissions, cylinder-to-cylinder imbalances may result in torque errors that reduce engine performance and vehicle drivability.
One example approach for detecting cylinder-to-cylinder AFR imbalances is shown by Behr et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 7,802,563. Therein, AFR imbalance is identified based on a response of a Universal Exhaust Gas Oxygen (UEGO) sensor at frequencies that are at or above a firing frequency of the cylinders during selected operating conditions. Specifically, when the engine is not operating under transient conditions, imbalance is identified if the integration of high frequency differential signals detected by the UEGO sensor is higher than a threshold. Still other approaches for AFR imbalance detection involve detecting AFR imbalance based on exhaust manifold pressure estimated by a pressure sensor and/or individual cylinder torque estimated by a crankshaft torque sensor.
However, the inventors herein have recognized potential issues with such methods. When using exhaust gas sensors, as in the approach of Behr, there may be conditions where cylinder-to-cylinder imbalance is not detected due to insufficient mixing of exhaust gas at the exhaust gas sensor. Further, the exhaust gas sensor may not be able to reliably detect cylinder-to-cylinder imbalance during an engine cold-start condition due to insufficient warm-up of the exhaust gas sensor. As another example, when using exhaust manifold pressure to detect AFR imbalance, the detection may be affected by the distance between the pressure sensor and the cylinder. With increased distance, exhaust gas from other cylinders is more likely to mix with the exhaust gas from the cylinder under estimation. In other words, the reliability of any given imbalance diagnostic approach may vary based on operating conditions. Additionally, when using individual cylinder torque measurements for AFR imbalance detection, engines need to be equipped with additional hardware such as crankshaft torque sensors. As such, if fuel injection or throttle position is adjusted responsive to an indication of AFR imbalance during conditions when the sensor output is not reliable, further AFR and torque issues may be generated.
In one example, the issues described above may be at least partly addressed by a method comprising: during engine operation at stoichiometric air fuel ratio, indicating cylinder-to-cylinder imbalance in an engine cylinder based on a first sensed cylinder acceleration and a calibration profile for each cylinder, and confirming the indicated cylinder-to-cylinder imbalance based on one or more of an exhaust air-fuel ratio, an exhaust manifold pressure, and an individual cylinder torque. In this way, by using existing engine sensors to estimate cylinder accelerations of each engine cylinders, one or more cylinders with AFR imbalances may be individually identified.
As one example, during stoichiometric engine operation, cylinder calibration profiles (calibration profiles) may be generated for each cylinder over a plurality of engine speed-load conditions. Further cylinder calibration profiles may be generated for each cylinder operating at a plurality of richer than stoichiometric and leaner than stoichiometric AFR at a range of speed-load conditions. Prior to generation of the calibration profiles, the crankshaft acceleration sensor for each cylinder is calibrated and a tooth range for estimation of crankshaft acceleration is determined. In response to conditions for cylinder AFR imbalance detection being satisfied, cylinder acceleration values for each cylinder may be estimated at current speed-load conditions. The current cylinder acceleration for each cylinder may be compared to their calibration profile and a difference is estimated between the estimated acceleration and calibrated value. The difference may then be compared to threshold difference and an average difference (between estimated acceleration and calibrated value) for all other cylinders. If it is determined that the difference for one or more cylinders is higher than both the threshold difference and the average difference, the one or more cylinders may be indicated with AFR imbalance. Based on a positive or negative difference between the estimated acceleration and calibrated value, it may be identified if the one or more cylinders are leaner or richer than stoichiometry. The identified cylinders may be further confirmed by comparing acceleration values for the one or more identified cylinders to calibrated values at corresponding non-stoichiometric AFR. For each cylinder, AFR imbalance diagnostics may be carried out by combining one or more other imbalance detection methods such as using an UEGO sensor, EGO sensor, and/or crankshaft torque sensor. A confidence factor may be assigned to each cylinder for each method. Once one or more cylinders with AFR imbalance have been identified, mitigating actions, such as adjustments to fuel injection amounts to each cylinder, may be taken to maintain stoichiometric AFR.
By using existing engine sensors such as a crankshaft acceleration sensor, it is possible to identify one or more distinct engine cylinders with AFR imbalance without adding cost or complexity of additional sensors. By comparing accelerations amongst cylinders, it is possible to separate AFR imbalance from being erroneously detected as a misfire and decrease instances of undiagnosed imbalance. Also, for carrying out diagnostics for determining cylinder imbalance, engine operating conditions need not be modified and such diagnostics may be carried out during cold start conditions prior to UEGO warm-up. By using crankshaft acceleration sensor, degraded cylinder response caused by distant measuring locations of an exhaust pressure sensor and UEGO sensor may be averted. The technical effect of assigning confidence factors to each imbalance detection method for each cylinder is that imbalance for each cylinder may be accurately identified based on the method most suited for that cylinder. As such, the method allows shortcomings of any single estimation approach to be overcome, improving the overall accuracy and reliability of the cylinder imbalance estimation.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

Method and system for cylinder imbalance detection


A robot route interpolation method for interpolation a polygonal route of a robot which is defined by the predetermined three or more points, wherein the acceleration at the time when a first velocity on the above polygonal route before a turning point is changed into a second velocity on the above polygonal route after the turning point is obtained based on the above first and second velocities so that, based on the above first velocity and the above acceleration, the above robot is moved toward the turning point at an uniform velocity of the first velocity and is also moved at an uniform acceleration in the direction of the above acceleration.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot route interpolation method for interpolating a polygonal route of a robot which is defined by the predetermined three or more points.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
As shown in FIG. 3, when a robot hand (not shown) is moved along a polygonal route 1 which is defined by the predetermined three points A, B and C, the route becomes discontinuous at the turning point B and therefore, a velocity change or an acceleration also becomes discontinuous.
As a result, there is arisen such a drawback as exerting a greater shock on the above robot hand.
Accordingly, in order to solve the above drawback, there has been proposed a route interpolation method in which the above polygonal route 1 is interpolated by a curve line so as not to pass the above turning point B.
For example, in the technical teaching disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. hei 1-27443, an interpolation is carried out in the following manners. First, along a route of a straight line before a turning point, the robot hand is moved toward a turning point at a velocity which is monotonously reduced and becomes zero at the turning point. Next, along a route of a straight line after the turning point, the robot hand is moved at a velocity which is monotonously increased from zero to the predetermined velocity. Then, there is added an increment from the above turning point to the position determined by the above velocity increasing interpolation, on the position determined by the above velocity reducing interpolation, to thereby form the route.
However, in the above prior art, the route interpolation is carried out by adding vectors which are changed in uniformly reduced velocity or uniform acceleration, so that the acceleration becomes larger as an angle formed between two adjacent lines of the polygonal route (refer to FIG. 3) becomes small, thus exerting a greater shock on the robot hand.


A tester is provided for a control yoke of an oil-filled electrical power switch. The tester can be easily and safely used by a line crew member. The tester is connected to the yoke which carries electrical signals to control the position of the switch. Control signals are then furnished to the yoke in the usual manner. Indicators on the tester identify whether the yoke or the switch is the source of the problem.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to test equipment for yokes for electrical power switches.
2. DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
In electrical power distribution, oil-filled switches have been widely used on power distribution lines. The position of the switch has been controlled by signals furnished to the switch from an associated control yoke.
From time to time, a switch became inoperative, in that it would not change position in response to control signals to the yoke. A fault was then known to be present, but it was not possible to identify the yoke or the switch as the source of the problem. In order to isolate and identify the source of the fault, a line crew member typically in an elevated line basket had to disconnect the yoke from the oil switch. Volt-meter probes could then be brought into contact with the yoke and the switch in an attempt to isolate the fault. This was a cumbersome and inconvenient procedure.


A cam actuated valve method and apparatus utilize an electronically controlled stepper motor driving a cam. A diaphragm type low flow, high accuracy diaphragm valve is positioned off axis with respect to the cam. A transmission translates linear motion of the cam to the valve diaphragm. High accuracy is maintained because the transmission is preloaded by pressure within the valve and the valve diaphragm.

High accuracy, low flow valves are used in a variety of applications. Such applications include high pressure gas chromatography, fractional distillation, and the manufacture of semi-conductor wafers. The manufacture of semi-conductor wafers presents specific problems in managing gas flow in epitaxal reactors which manufacture today's semi-conductor products. As is well known by those of ordinary skill in the art, a silicon wafer for a semi-conductor device is built up in layers from a semi-conductor wafer substrate, typically manufactured from silicon dioxide. The degree to which the silicon dioxide conducts electricity in the presence of an electrical field is determined by the quantity of "impurities" which are driven into the surface of the substrate. These "impurities" are in fact desirable elements and their presence or absence must be carefully controlled. Furthermore, the circuits which are imbedded in the semi-conductor wafer are deposited in layers on top of the substrate. Subsequent etching and redeposition steps, including a final metalization layer results in a complex circuit imbedded in the semi-conductor wafer.
All of the above described deposition steps are typically accomplished by chemical vapor deposition in a high temperature oven better known as an epitaxal reactor. In all cases, the different layers are deposited by vapor deposition from materials in a gaseous state. In order to control the deposition, and to more precisely control the growth of the layers which are built up on the substrate surface the following variables must be carefully controlled: the temperature of the reactor, the flow rate of the selected gas over the substrate, and the time of exposure. It is well known that the degree to which the above steps can be achieved quickly and accurately significantly increases yield thereby reducing the cost of producing a semi-conductor product.
Before the development of the present invention, it was necessary to control the flow of gasses through the epitaxal reactor manually by turning valves connected to an appropriate gas generator such as a pressurized cylinder. In addition to the inaccuracies inherently present in a manual system considering operator variability, it is also known that the epitaxal reactor must be "shut down" while the gas flow valves are adjusted. This time consuming, labor intensive and inherently variable process is one major source of inefficiency in the semi-conductor manufacturing industry.
Thus, a need exists for a high accuracy, automatic gas flow control valve which can be operated under electronic or computer control so as to eliminate the deficiencies noted above.


In a digital radio communication system in which information is transmitted and received in time slots and some bits of each received audio frame is interleaved over at least two time slots and other bits in each audio frame at are non-interleaved, bad received audio frames are detected by detecting possible bit errors in a channel encoded non-interleaved bit sequence in each received time slot. If bit errors have been detected in this bit sequence a bad received frame is indicated.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for bad frame detection in a digital communication system.
Methods for coding/decoding of speech signals in a radio communication system are well known and even standardized (for example IS-54 in the U.S. and GSM in Europe). Furthermore, methods for improving encoding/decoding of background sounds, primarily intended for digital cellular telephone systems, have been described in Swedish Patent Application 93 00290-5. Both these types of methods are primarily designed to handle a situation where the connection between the speech encoder and the speech decoder is close to ideal, in the sense that only a small amount of bit or transmission errors remain after channel decoding. However, since the connection is a radio channel the received signal may contain some bit or transmission errors. In such cases it may be necessary to modify the methods mentioned above.
Thus, it is essential to be able to reliably detect bad received frames in order to perform these modified methods. Usually a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is used at the receiver as a quality measure. If the CRC fails this is an indication that the received frame may be bad. Another quality measure is so called soft information from the detector. This soft information essentially indicates the probability of the received speech frame (or parts of it) to be correct. A problem with the first type of measure (CRC) is that a speech frame is interleaved over a number of time slots. Since the CRC requires the bits from all these time slots before the check can be made, this implies a delay until the decision can be made and error concealment measures can be taken. A problem with soft information is that it is difficult to set thresholds correctly. If the thresholds are set too low a high false alarm rate will occur (acceptable frames treated as bad frames).
An object of the present invention is an apparatus and a method in which bad frames are more reliably detected to enable bad frame concealment in accordance with the above mentioned modified methods.


An airbag comprising a bag (11) that can be inflated with the gas provided by a gas generator when the vehicle experiences a collision, with a venting device (13) comprising first a first gas discharge opening (15) and a sealing member (17) thereof intended to break due to the effect of the pressure inside the inflatable bag (11), and second a part (19) with a second opening (21) of a smaller surface area than the first opening (15), which is fixed to the inside portion of the inflatable bag (11) and of the sealing member (17), acting as an airbag venting area once the sealing member (17) of the first opening (15) breaks.

Airbags consist of frames in which there is fixed a folded bag which inflates rapidly by means of a gas produced by a generator when specific sensing devices detect that the vehicle has been involved in a collision. The bag is thus deployed, protecting the driver or a passenger, depending on his or her location, and prevents their bodies from impacting against any part of the vehicle.
When an airbag is activated, the main function is to restrain the occupant by exerting force against him or her which produces a deceleration. The airbag must maintain a certain degree of pressure during the collision of the occupant, and this pressure must be comprised between certain limits which allow complying with biomechanical parameters assuring the safety of the occupants, because otherwise the surface may be too hard and the occupants will bounce off, or it will be too soft and the occupants will impact against the vehicle.
The pressure of the bag depends on the amount of gas it houses inside. Once the airbag is activated, the generator expels all the gas, the only manner of controlling the amount of gas in the bag is by removing it.
Different proposals in this sense are known such as:                The use of more or less permeable fabrics for the bag of the airbag.        The demarcation of outlet areas by means of seams which break when a specific pressure or temperature is reached, leaving an area free for discharging the gases.        The incorporation of venting openings for discharging the gas, in some cases provided with different means of sealing the opening to achieve a better control of the internal pressure in the bag than that provided by the variation of the size of the opening, for example. Fabrics burning at a specific temperature or resilient membranes breaking at a specific pressure can be mentioned among these means. Patent applications WO02/096721, WO02/14115, and WO2004/056618 of the same applicant of the present invention belong to this category.
However, for the case of airbags in which small venting areas are required or for the case in which it is desirable to vary the venting area using the same sealing means, the mentioned proposals do not solve the problem of suitably controlling the pressure of the gas inside the bag.
The present invention is aimed at solving this problem.

Airbag with a double regulating venting device


A steam turbine is provided. The steam turbine includes a housing and a steam inlet configured to discharge a primary steam flow within the housing. A stator is coupled to the housing and a rotor is coupled to the housing and located within the stator. The rotor and the stator are configured to define a primary flow path there between and in flow communication with the primary steam flow. The steam turbine includes a seal assembly coupled to the housing. The seal assembly includes a packing head and a plurality of seals. The packing head is configured to define a cooling flow path in flow communication with the rotor and configured to discharge a cooling steam flow toward the rotor. An anti-swirl device is coupled to the seal assembly and located between the rotor and the packing head.

The embodiments described herein relate generally to steam turbines, and more particularly, to methods and systems for reducing a swirl effect of a cooling flow for a rotor of the steam turbine.
As steam turbines rely on higher steam temperatures to increase efficiency, steam turbines are fabricated to withstand the higher steam temperatures so as not to compromise the useful life of the turbine. During a typical turbine operation, steam flows from a steam source through a housing inlet and substantially parallel to an axis of rotation along an annular hot steam path. Typically, turbine stages are positioned within the steam path such that the steam flows through vanes and blades of subsequent turbine stages. The turbine blades may be secured to a plurality of turbine wheels, where each turbine wheel is coupled to, or is formed, integral with the rotor shaft for rotation therewith. Alternatively, the turbine blades may be secured to a drum type turbine rotor rather than individual wheels, wherein the drum is formed integrally with the shaft.
At least some turbine blades include an airfoil that extends radially outward from a substantially planar platform, and a root portion that extends radially inwardly from the platform. The root portion may include a dovetail or other means to secure the blade to the turbine wheel of the turbine rotor. In general, during operation, steam flows over and around the turbine blade, which are subject to high thermal stresses. These high thermal stresses may limit the service life of the turbine blades, the wheel, and/or the rotor. More particularly, as steam temperatures increase, the rotor materials may experience creep and rupture. Conventional steam turbines may use materials that are more temperature resistant to increase the operating life and performance of the rotor. However, these materials may increase the cost of fabrication of the turbine rotor. Some steam turbines may inject cooling steam from an intermediate pressure stage towards the rotor. Typical cooling steam, however, may have a swirl effect that may affect the heat transfer from the rotor and/or negatively affect rotor operation.

Steam turbine and methods of assembling the same


Processes for converting C1 to C3 alkanes into high purity C6 to C24 normal alpha olefins and internal combustion engine grade fuels and/or lubricating oils comprising a sequence of fractionation and thermal cracking and/or hydrocracking operations. The C6 to C24 normal alpha olefin fractions generally have a purity of at least about 90 wt. %.

The invention relates to a method for converting Fischer-Tropsch type reaction products rich in C16-C50 linear paraffins into high purity C6-C24 normal alpha olefins (xe2x80x9cNAOsxe2x80x9d) having a purity of at least about 90 wt. %. This invention also relates to the conversion of C1-C3 alkane rich gases to more useful liquid hydrocarbons. In a further aspect it relates to the conversion of natural gas discharged in the recovery of crude oil, commonly referred to as flare gas, and excess C1-C3 alkanes produced as byproducts in various refinery operations, into more useful liquid hydrocarbon products such as normal alpha olefins, lubricating oil and liquid fuels. (The term liquid refers to hydrocarbons which are liquid at ambient conditions, including however, pentane.)
In the recovery of crude oil a large amount of natural gas (methane) is frequently encountered. In the past, depending on the location of the oil field, the value of the natural gas was frequently not considered to be worth the cost of recovery and transportation. Accordingly, in many cases, the natural gas which was generated was simply burned off. As well as being wasteful this practice is no longer considered acceptable from an environmental standpoint and in many cases prohibited by governmental regulations. A similar problem may also exist with respect to excess C1-C3 alkanes produced during petroleum refining operations or other chemical manufacturing operations to the extent it exceeds the fuel requirements of the facility. Thus, a need to convert natural gas or methane ethane and propane to more valuable products has been recognized for a number of years. Efforts have been undertaken since before World War II to convert methane to synthesis gas and synthesis gas (CO+H2) into more desirable liquid products and are still continuing today Typically these processes involve the use of the Fischer-Tropsch process, in which a less valuable material, e.g. coal or methane, is first converted to synthesis gas by incomplete oxidation and the synthesis gas converted to liquid or solid hydrocarbon products, e.g., paraffins, olefins and oxygenates. The Fischer-Tropsch products may in turn be upgraded to more useful products by a variety of operations. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,345,019 and 5,378,348 disclose a process for hydrocracking paraffins produced by a Fischer-Tropsch to produce kerosene, gas oil, and base oil. U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,672 discloses a process for producing lubricating oil from Fischer-Tropsch waxes by hydroisomerization. U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,986 is directed to a process for making C10-C20 linear olefins which comprises thermal cracking, in the presence of steam, C20+ paraffins obtained by a Fischer-Tropsch process using certain Fischer-Tropsch catalysts containing cobalt and zirconium, titanium and/or chromium. The patent also teaches that in addition to being useful as a feed for the preparation of linear C10-C20 olefins, the C20+ fraction is useful for obtaining solid paraffins, lower olefins (primarily ethene), high VI lubricating oil and middle distillates (Col. 4, lines 55-68) and that the C19-fraction may be used to prepare lower olefins, high VI synthetic lubricants, solvents and specialty oils (Col. 5, lines 1-23). U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,172 discloses a process for preparing high VI synthetic lubricants and U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,308 discloses a process for preparing lower olefins from a hydroprocessed synthetic oil fraction such as may be obtained from a Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The general thermal cracking of petroleum waxes to produce normal alpha olefins is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,488 and in The Oil and Gas Journal, pages 102-104, Dec. 13, 1965.
Many improvements have also been made in the basic Fischer-Tropsch process since its origins in the 1923, such that even though the Fischer-Tropsch process still produces a wide range of molecular weight products, the selectivity of the process may be directed between lighter paraffin and heavier paraffins (e.g. C20+ waxes) by adjusting reaction conditions and/or using different catalyst; see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,041,097; 4,522,939; 4,579,986; and 5,378,348 and S. T. Sie, et al. Conversion of Natural Gas to Transportation Fuels via The Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis Process, Catalyst Today, Vol. 8 (1991) pp. 371-394 B. Jager, Developments in Fischer-Tropsch Technology, Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis, Vol. 107 (1997) pp. 219-224, and P. Chaumette, Gas to Liquid Conversionxe2x80x94Basic Features and Competitors, Petrole et Techniques, No. 415 (July-August 1998) pp. 83-85.
One of the problems with thermal cracking, at least where high purity normal alpha olefins are desired, is that the purity of the product is generally relatively poor because of the presence of dienes and branched olefins. Thus in the past ethylene oligomerization has bee used where high purity normal alpha olefins are desired. Therefore, it would be desirable to develop a process embodying thermal cracking which produces a high purity normal olefin product. Further, although much work has ben done with respect to Fischer-Tropsch processes and upgrading the products therefrom, it would be desirable to develop improved processes for converting Fischer-Tropsch reaction products into more valuable products especially in locations where the transportation costs associated with methane or other hydrocarbon gases are economically unattractive.
The present invention provides an efficient process for upgrading Fischer-Tropsch reaction products and for converting natural gas and other gases containing large amounts of methane ethane or propane or mixtures thereof into normal alpha olefins or other liquid hydrocarbon products particularly normal alpha olefins. The invention further provides a process embodying thermal cracking which produces a high purity C6-C24 normal alpha olefin product at least equal or better than that produced using the more expensive ethylene oligomerization processes. The C6-C24 normal alpha olefin products provided by the present invention contain at least 90 wt. % and preferably at least 95 wt. % C6-C24 normal alpha olefins. Further by using more rigorous separation processes purities of at least 98 wt. % approaching 100% can be obtained.
In one embodiment the present invention provides a process for upgrading Fischer-Tropsch products or product fractions comprising at least about 90 wt. % C16-C50 linear paraffins into high purity C6-C24 normal alpha olefin products which comprises the steps of:
a) thermal cracking the 90 wt. % C16-C50 linear paraffin mixture in the presence of steam at a mole ratio of steam to said mixture of at least about 5:1, under thermal cracking conditions adjusted to produce a cracking conversion of said mixture of about 30% or less thereby yielding a reaction product mixture comprising a fraction boiling within the C6-C24 normal alpha olefin boiling range, recomprising at least 90 wt. % C6-C24 normal alpha olefins.
b) fractionating the reaction product mixture of step a) into separate fractions comprising at least one normal alpha olefin product fraction comprising normal alpha olefins selected within the range of 6 to 24 carbon atoms in which said fraction has a normal alpha olefin purity of at least about 90 wt. % and a higher boiling fraction boiling above about 740xc2x0 F. (393xc2x0 C.) comprising higher boiling olefins and paraffins;
In another embodiment of the above process, full boiling range Fischer-Tropsch products are separated into a fuel fraction boiling below and about 540xc2x0 F. (282xc2x0 C.) a wax fraction boiling between about 540xc2x0 F. to 1100xc2x0 F. (593xc2x0 C.) containing at least about 90 wt. % linear paraffin and a high boiling fraction boiling from above about 1100xc2x0 F. (593xc2x0 C.). The wax fraction is thermal cracked as described above and one or more of the other fractions are hydrocracked to more valuable liquid hydrocarbon products. Similarly, the higher boiling fraction from step b) above may also be upgraded by hydrocracking.
The present invention also provides a process for converting C1-C3 alkane gases, e.g. natural gas, into more valuable products such as higher molecular weight liquid fuels and normal alpha olefins (NAO) which comprises the steps of:
a) reforming said C1-C3 alkanes into synthesis gas for example, by steam reforming, partial oxidation or catalytic oxidation;
b) contacting the synthesis gas with a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst under reactive conditions to yield two hydrocarbon product streams, one a wax containing product stream boiling above about 540xc2x0 F. (282xc2x0 C.) comprising C16-C50 linear paraffins, and a second product boiling below about 540xc2x0 F., comprising hydrocarbons boiling in the vacuum gas oil and liquid fuel ranges (e.g., paraffins, oxygenates and middle distillate, gasoline) and tail gases;
c) distilling the wax containing product of step b) into fractions comprising a linear C16-C50 paraffin fraction boiling in about the range of 540xc2x0 F. (282xc2x0 C.) to 1100xc2x0 F. (593xc2x0 C.) containing at least about 90 wt. % linear C16-C50 paraffins, a liquid fuel fraction boiling below about 540xc2x0 F. (282xc2x0 C.) and a heavy fraction boiling above about 1100xc2x0 F. (593xc2x0 C.);
d) thermal cracking the linear C16-C50 paraffin fraction of step c) in the presence of steam at a steam to said C16-C50 paraffin fraction mole ratio of at least about 5:1 under thermal cracking conditions adjusted to produce a conversion no greater than about 30 wt. % to produce a reaction product mixture comprising a substantial amount of C6-C24 NAOs without the formation of significant amounts of dienes;
e) fractionating the reaction product of step d) into NAO product fractions of varying chain length within the range of C6-C24 having a NAO content of at least 90 wt. % and a higher boiling fraction boiling above about 1100xc2x0 F. (593xc2x0 C.) containing branched olefin, paraffins and NAO""s having more than 24 carbon atoms;
f) hydrocracking the liquid fuel portion of the second product of step b); the vacuum gas oil fraction of step c) and the higher boiling fraction recovered in step e) with hydrogen in a hydrocracker in the presence of a hydrocracking catalyst under hydrocracking conditions to produce a mixture comprising gasoline and middle distillate; and
g) fractionating the reaction product of step f) and recovering at least one liquid fuel fraction, and at least one higher boiling hydrocarbon fraction and recycling at least one of said higher boiling hydrocarbon fractions back to said hydrocracker.
In another embodiment the invention provides a process for upgrading a substantially full boiling range Fischer-Tropsch reaction product including tail gases through bright stock boiling range hydrocarbons, which process comprises the steps of:
a) fractionating said Fischer-Tropsch reaction product into separate fractions comprising a fraction boiling in the liquid fuel boiling range, a wax fraction boiling in about the range of about 540xc2x0 F. to 1100xc2x0 F. comprising at least 90 wt. % C16 to C50 linear paraffins and a high boiling fraction boiling above about 1100xc2x0 F.;
b) thermal cracking the wax fraction of step a) in the presence of steam at a mole ratio of steam to said wax fraction of at least 5:1, under reactive conditions adjusted to produce a conversion based on said wax fraction no greater than 30 wt. % to yield a reaction product mixture containing a substantial amount of C6-C24 normal alpha olefins without the fomation of significant amounts of C6 to C24 dienes;
c) fractionating the reaction product of step b) into separate fractions comprising at least one normal alpha olefin product fraction comprising a normal alpha olefin fraction selected within the range of 6 to 24 carbon atoms having a C6-C24 normal alpha olefin purity of at least 90 wt. % and a higher boiling fraction comprising higher boiling olefins and paraffins;
d) hydrocracking said higher boiling fraction of step c), and the liquid fuel fraction of step a) with hydrogen in a hydrocracker in the presence of a catalyst comprising a hydrogenation component and an acid catalyst cracking component, under hydrocracking conditions to produce a liquid reaction product mixture comprising liquid fuel boiling hydrocarbons; and
e) fractionating the liquid reaction product mixture of step d) into separate fractions comprising a liquid fuel fraction, and at least one higher boiling hydrocarbon fraction and recycling at least one of said higher boiling fraction back to said hydrocracker.
In another embodiment the invention provides a process comprising the steps of:
a) converting C1-C3 alkanes into synthesis gas for example, by steam reforming, partial oxidation or catalytic oxidation;
b) contacting the synthesis gas with a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst under reactive conditions to yield a reaction product mixture of hydrocarbons comprising linear C16-C50 paraffins, vacuum gas oil, middle distillate, gasoline light oxygenates and light olefins;
c) fractionating the Fischer-Tropsch reaction product mixture of step b) into separate fractions comprising a linear C16-C50 paraffin fraction containing at least about 90 wt. % linear C16-C50 paraffin, at least one liquid fuel fraction and at least one higher boiling fraction boiling above the temperature of the C16-C50 rich fraction;
d) thermal cracking the linear C16-C50 paraffin fraction of step c) in the presence of steam at a mole ratio of steam under reactive conditions adjusted to produce a conversion based on said linear C16-C50 paraffin fraction of about 30 wt. % producing a mixture of NAO""s of varying chain length as a substantial product without the formation of significant amounts C6-C24 dienes;
e) fractionating the reaction product of step d) into NAO product fractions of varying chain length within the range of six to twenty-four carbon atoms having an NAO purity of at least 90 wt. % and a higher boiling fraction containing NAO""s having more than 24 carbon atoms and branched olefins and paraffins;
f) hydrocracking at least one of the liquid fuel fraction and higher boiling fractions recovered in step c) and the higher boiling fraction recovered in step e) with hydrogen in the presence of a hydrocracking catalyst under hydrocracking conditions to produce a reaction product comprising liquid fuel hydrocarbons; and
g) fractionating the reaction product of step f) and recovering at least one liquid fuel fraction and at least one higher boiling hydrocarbon fraction and recycling at least one higher boiling hydrocarbon fraction back to said hydrocracker.
Additional aspects of the invention will be apparent from the description which follows:

Conversion of C1-C3 alkanes and fischer-tropsch products to normal alpha olefins and other liquid hydrocarbons


In one embodiment, a system comprises at least one processor and a peripheral interface controller coupled to the processor. Further coupled to receive transactions from a peripheral interface, the peripheral interface controller is configured to accumulate freed credits for a given transaction type of a plurality of transaction types that are not yet returned to a transmitter on the peripheral interface. The peripheral interface controller is also configured to cause transmission of a flow control update transaction on the peripheral interface responsive to a number of the freed credits exceeding a threshold amount that is less than a total number of credits allocated to the given transaction type.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of interface controllers and, more particularly, to updating flow control credits for transmissions on an interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various interfaces are used to communicate among components of an electronic system. For example, components integrated on the same semiconductor substrate (e.g. a system on a chip configuration) use intrachip interfaces to communicate. Similarly, separate circuit components (e.g. separate chips) communicate using interfaces that are physically realized on a circuit board to which those components are connected.
In many cases, the interfaces need to be flow controlled. Generally, flow control is needed whenever a receiver of a transaction on the interface may sometimes not be capable of receiving the transaction. For example, if the receiver has a queue to store transactions until they can be processed, the queue may fill and new transactions cannot be received until queue space is available. As used herein, a transaction may refer to any communication from a transmitter to a receiver on an interface. For example, if the interface is a bus, the transaction may be a transmission on the bus. If the interface is packet-based, a transaction may be a packet. In general, an interface may include any predefined communication medium and the protocol for communicating on the medium (e.g. transaction definitions).
Accordingly, flow control refers to any mechanism that may be used to control the flow of transactions on the interconnect. One common method of flow control is typically referred to as "retry". In retry mechanisms, a transmitter attempts to transmit a transaction on the interconnect and, if the receiver cannot handle the transaction currently, the receiver signals a retry to the transmitter. The transmitter cancels the transaction internally, and may reattempt the transaction later. On a bus-based interface, the retry may be signalled via a signal on the interface. On a packet-based interface, the retry may be signalled by a negative acknowledgement packet (and positive acknowledgement packets may be used if no retry is desired).
Retry mechanisms waste bandwidth on the interface, since transactions that are attempted and retried use bandwidth that could otherwise be used to transmit transactions that are not retried. Another flow control mechanism that avoids retry is a credit-based flow control mechanism. In a credit-based system, the receiver advertises the number of credits it has allocated to a given transaction type. The credits may generally be a measure of the number of transactions that the receiver can accept before processing a received transaction to an implementation-dependent point at which the credit is freed. A transmitter records the number of credits, and consumes credits as transactions are transmitted to the receiver. If the transmitter reduces the credit count to zero, the transmitter inhibits transmitting additional transactions to the receiver until credits are freed. Thus, bandwidth is not wasted on transactions that would be retried because of flow control reasons.
For example, in the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) interface, a credit based system is used. Credits are indicated as freed by transmitting flow control update packets from the receiver to the transmitter. PCIe defines two required mechanisms for generating flow control packets. First, if the free credits at the transmitter for a given transaction type (as defined in the PCIe specification) are less than the number required to transmit a maximum payload sized packet and the receiver has at least one freed credit, the receiver generates a flow control update packet. Second, a timer is established (e.g. between 30 microseconds and 120 microseconds, dependent on a power savings mode of the system), and the receiver generates a flow control update packet each time the timer expires. The first mechanism may not sustain the streaming of transactions when the credits are consumed, which reduces throughput. In order to prevent starvation of credits, large buffers are required in PCIe devices. The second mechanism does not generate flow control updates frequently enough to prevent credits from being starved, either, in at least some cases. A third mechanism that is recommended, but not required, is to generate flow control update packets at the expiration of a timer that has a time interval equal to the sum of the internal delay and a fraction whose numerator is the sum of the maximum payload size and the packet overhead, multiplied by an update factor, and whose denominator is the link width. This third mechanism again requires a large buffer to support streaming transactions, since it is a fixed interval used to deal with a dynamic flow of transactions of different sizes.


An encoder includes an encoder engine, a storage device and a controller to implement an iterative coding process. The encoder engine compresses a selected portion of a data sequence. The storage device stores the compressed portion of the data sequence after each iteration. The controller selects the portion of the data sequence to compress for each iteration. The controller gathers statistics from the compressed portion of the data sequence. The gathered statistics include statistics generated by the selected frames and statistics extrapolated from the selected frames for the non-selected frames. The controller adjusts coding parameters of the encoder engine on each iteration until the gathered statistics meet a specified performance requirement.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to video encoders. More specifically, the present invention provides multipass encoding of a video sequence without encoding the entire video sequence on each pass.
2. Background Art
Highly efficient video compression can be achieved by multipass encoding. With multipass encoding, a video sequence is encoded several times and each encoding pass uses the results of the preceding pass to adjust coding parameters to optimize, for example, average bit rate and/or decoder buffer fullness. Overall, the mulitpass encoding process is a trial and error process: select initial coding parameters, code the video sequence, examine the results to determine if performance requirements are met and recode as necessary using adjusted coding parameters for each subsequent iteration.
For long sequences of digital video, however, coding the entire video sequence several times is inefficient and greatly increases the time required to generate an efficiently compressed sequence. Accordingly, what is needed is an encoder capable of generating a compressed video sequence by multipass encoding without encoding the entire video sequence on each pass.

Multipass video encoding and rate control using subsampling of frames


A liquid crystal display device that is not influenced by a noise in obtaining positional information can be provided. The liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate provided with a pixel electrode and a common electrode with a first insulating film interposed therebetween. The pixel electrode and the common electrode partly overlap with each other. The liquid crystal display device further includes a second substrate provided with a pair of electrodes, a resin film covering the pair of electrodes, and a conductive film on the resin film. The pair of electrodes partly overlap with each other with a second insulating film interposed therebetween. The liquid crystal display device further includes a liquid crystal layer between the conductive film on the second substrate side and the pixel electrode and the common electrode on the first substrate side. A predetermined potential is supplied to the conductive film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to liquid crystal display devices. In particular, the present invention relates to liquid crystal display devices having a touch panel function.
2. Description of the Related Art
A touch panel functions as a position input device that can detect a position indicated with a finger, a stylus, or the like to generate a signal including the positional information. A capacitive touch panel can obtain positional information without being influenced by external light, unlike an optical touch panel such as an infrared touch panel. Furthermore, the capacitive touch panel can obtain the positional information at high speed as compared with a resistive touch panel and does not cause physical wear of electrodes. For these reasons, capacitive touch panels have come into wide use in the market in recent years.
In addition, as the kinds of liquid crystal display devices including a touch panel, there are an in-cell liquid crystal display device in which part of a touch panel function is provided inside a liquid crystal panel and an on-cell liquid crystal display device in which a touch panel is provided between a polarizing plate and a liquid crystal panel. The in-cell type is more advantageous than the on-cell type in manufacturing a thin and lightweight liquid crystal display device including a touch panel.
Patent Document 1 discloses an in-cell liquid crystal display device including a capacitive touch panel.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., LTD.


The invention is directed to a method or use of 2,9-dichloro-quinacridone as an alpha crystal phase inhibitor and optionally, 4,11-dichloroquinacridone during the beta-quinacridone or gamma-quinacridone crude pigment particle size reduction processes. The invention is also directed to solid solutions of quinacridone comprising about 98 to about 80 weight % gamma or beta-quinacridone, about 0.1 to about 10 weight % 2,9-dichloroquinacridone and about 0.1 to about 10 weight % 4,11-dichloroquinacridone.

Quinacridone (QA) is known to exist in three crystal phases. The alpha phase, described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,844,484 and gamma phase described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,844,581 and 2,969,366 forms are a bluish red color. The beta form described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,844,485 and 4,857,646 is violet. The alpha quinacridone crystal form is not commercially valuable because it is not heat stable. See W. Herbst and K. Hunger, "Industrial Organic Pigments", VCH Publishers, Inc., 1997, page 464.
It is well known in the art that organic pigments, such as quinacridones, as synthesized, are generally unsuitable for use as pigments and must be further processed to develop the requisite pigmentary properties such as particle size, particle shape, polymorphic phase, and tinctorial strength.
In order to obtain the color properties required for a particular application, the pigment crude must be converted to a pigmentary grade with a proper tint strength, transparency or opacity for a particular application. The effectiveness of a given pigment type in imparting color is dependent upon its particle size in dispersion. Thus, color strength, transparency and opacity are all properties that are highly dependent on particle size. Consequently, crude organic pigments undergo one or more finishing or conditioning steps that require particle size reduction. See, for example R. B. McKay, "Control of the Application Performance of Classical Organic Pigments" in JOCCA, 89-93.
Thus, the crude beta- or gamma-quinacridone usually undergoes a particle size reduction process. During this particle reduction of the beta or gamma quinacridone, the beta or gamma quinacridone may convert to the alpha crystal form depending on the milling conditions without a crystal phase director. As mixing of the alpha-quinacridone with either the beta or gamma phase changes product color shade and decreases heat stability of the final finished pigment, inhibition of this conversion during milling is to be avoided.
EP 517662 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,269 describe an aqueous milling process of modifying beta-quinacridone with base and phase-transfer catalyst.
EP 1020497 describes the color property of the mixed crystal phase pigment with 2,9-dichloroquinacridone.
EP 799863 describes the preparation of beta-phase quinacridone by conversion of alpha-phase quinacridone.
EP 517663 and EP 517662 describe a process of preparing magenta color beta-1 form quinacridone pigment by either dry milling of beta-quinacridone crude, or milling of beta-quinacridone crude in the presence of water and alcohol.
EP 305328 describes a new magenta color beta-quinacridone that has average particle size over 0.1 microns.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,160,510, discloses solutions of various solid solutions of 2,9-dichloroquinacridone or 4,11-dichloroquinacridone.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,129, Harmon Colors, is directed to a process for preparing quinacridones.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,980, is directed to a method of producing solid solutions of gamma quinacridone and 4,11-disubstituted quinacridones.
However, none of the above references disclose the use of 2,9-dichloroquinacridone as an alpha-quinacridone crystal phase inhibitor in beta or gamma quinacridone particle size reduction process. None of the above references disclose the use of 4,11 dichloroquinacridone in combination with 2,9-dichloroquinacridone during the particle size reduction process. Surprisingly, it has been discovered that the incorporation of 4,11-dichloroquinacridone with the 2,9-dichloroquinacridone not only inhibits alpha crystal phase formation but the formed milled product shows increased heat stability properties.
The beta-quinacridone crystal phase can be preserved during particle size reduction by the addition of 2,9-dichloroquinacridone during the finishing process. The beta-quinacridone product obtained from this process has blue shade violet color that is not achievable when alpha-quinacridone exists in the product.
Furthermore, it has also been discovered that the same crystal phase inhibitor, 2,9-dichloroquinacridone can also be used with the gamma-quinacridone during the particle size reduction to prevent the formation of alpha-quinacridone. Gamma-quinacridone has red color that can be shifted to yellow or blue shade. Particle size reduction of the gamma shifts the color to a bluer shade without alpha-quinacridone. Beta-quinacridone develops violet color as particle size is reduced. Without alpha-quinacridone, the beta shifts to a bluer violet shade. Thus, a saturated violet color product for beta and red color for gamma is produced with better pigment properties for coatings, plastics and ink applications is achieved for both beta-quinacridone and gamma-quinacridone by milling in the presence of 2,9-dichloroquinacridone as an alpha crystal phase inhibitor.
The addition of 4,11-dichloroquinacridone to the 2,9 dichloroquinacridone during the particle size reduction of gamma quinacridone helps to increase the stability of the final product while retaining the red color of the gamma quinacridone.

2,9-dichloro-quinacridone as α-quinacridone crystal phase inhibitor


One embodiment in accordance with the invention relates to detecting a homogeneous surface. A first surface image is received. A plurality of values are generated by performing a plurality of auto correlations with the first surface image and a copy of the first surface image. The plurality of values includes a first peak value. A determination is made as to whether a normalized second peak value of the plurality of values satisfies a defined condition associated with a value. If so, a homogeneous surface image filter is utilized with a second surface image.

Conventional computer systems provide several ways for enabling a user to interact with them. One conventional technique for enabling user interaction with a computer system is for a user to utilize one or more keys of an alphanumeric keyboard communicatively connected to the computer system. Another conventional technique for enabling user interaction with a computer system is for a user to utilize a cursor control device such as a computer mouse that is communicatively connected to the computer system.
Currently, there are different types of computer mice that can be utilized in conjunction with computer systems. For example, there are traditional mechanical computer mice along with optical computer mice. Unlike traditional mechanical computer mice, optical computer mice have no moving ball that can clog with dust, dirt and/or grim. As such, users of optical computer mice no longer need to perform cleanings to any mechanical parts. In addition, the optical technology utilized within optical mice can work on many surfaces where ball mice have difficulty, including curved surfaces or soft fabric. Because of their advantages, optical computer mice are fast becoming the standard around the world.
However, there are disadvantages associated with optical computer mice. For example, one of the disadvantages associated with optical computer mice is that their tracking performance can be adversely affected depending on the type of surface they are navigated over.

Homogeneous and plain surface detection in optical navigation systems


A particle accelerator (12) generates an input particle beam having an initial energy level above a threshold for generating secondary nuclear particles. A thin target (14) is rotated in the path of the input beam for undergoing nuclear reactions to generate the secondary particles and correspondingly decrease energy of the input beam to about the threshold. The target (14) produces low energy secondary particles and is effectively cooled by radiation and conduction. A neutron scatterer (44) and a neutron filter (42) are also used for preferentially degrading the secondary particles into a lower energy range if desired.

The present invention relates generally to Boron Neutron Capture Therapy, and, more specifically, to the generation of low energy epithermal neutrons therefor.
Energetic epithermal neutron enable penetration to the site of the tumor. Achieving a suitable neutron energy spectrum is very important for effective treatment. If the neutron energy spectrum is too low, their penetration depth into tissue is too small to reach the site of the tumor, if too energetic, the radiation dose to normal tissue is excessive.
BNCT treatment effectiveness is being experimentally investigated using nuclear reactors as the source of neutrons. In the U.S., several patients have been treated at Brookhaven Medical Research Reactor (BMRR), located at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Leakage neutrons from the core are moderated and collimated to produce a suitable beam at the external treatment port.
Reactors have very low neutron utilization efficiencies. Typically, only about 10.sup.-6 of the neutrons that are released in the core are actually available at the treatment port. This is a result of the inherent dimensional constraints imposed by criticality, and the relatively long distances required to slowdown high energy neutrons using conventional moderators. Gamma shielding requirements are also a contributing factor. As a result, in the BMRR, for example, the treatment port is located at a distance of 177 centimeters from the center of the core. In the MURR (Missouri University Research Reactor) BNCT design, the treatment port is 310 centimeters from the center of the core.
As a result of this very low neutron utilization efficiency, a reactor-based neutron source for BNCT requires high operating power, on the order of several megawatts, and is a large, very expensive, one of a kind facility with a limited capability to treat large numbers of patients.
In contrast, accelerator-based neutron sources for BNCT appear to have very attractive features, as compared to reactor based neutron sources: much lower facility cost, greatly reduced residual radioactivity, much lower operating power, greatly reduced safety concerns, and a better neutron energy spectrum for treatment.
Compared to reactor-based BNCT facilities, accelerator-based facilities could be located at a much larger number of sites, enabling many more patients to be treated.
Various concepts for accelerator-based BNCT systems have been proposed in which a particle beam interacts with a target to generate neutrons. Depending on the particular concept, the nuclear reaction involved can be a (p, n) reaction, a H.sup.3 (d, n) He.sup.4 reaction, and so forth.
A particularly promising approach is the proton beam--lithium target concept, in which a low energy proton beam (about 2 MeV) strikes a lithium target, generating neutrons by the (p, n) reaction. Its attractive features include:
Relatively high neutron yield per proton (about 10.sup.-4); PA1 Low maximum energy of generated neutrons; PA1 Simple, low energy proton accelerator; PA1 Simple, readily cooled target; and PA1 Minimal shielding and residual radioactivity.
A number of design studies of the proton beam--lithium target concept have been carried out, including the use of a radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) linac to accelerate protons to strike a lithium target with an energy above the 1.8 MeV production threshold for the .sup.7 Li(p,n).sup.7 Be reaction. These previous studies, while they show that the concept is feasible, end up requiring the proton beam current to be in the range of 50-100 milliamps in order to achieve adequate neutron flux at the treatment port.
Accelerators for producing beam currents at this level are technically challenging, and costly as well. In addition, the target generated neutron energy spectrum typically has a substantial fast neutron component that would cause objectionable radiation dose in normal, noncancerous tissue. The gamma dose to normal tissue is also significant. Finally, cooling of the accelerator targets at the required power levels is difficult.
In these previous designs, the high energy neutrons generated by the target/proton interactions are degraded to the treatment regime, i.e., on the order of 10 keV in energy, by scattering collisions with a suitable moderator (e.g., BeO, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, etc) With such materials, to achieve the requisite energy degradation needed for a useful energy spectrum, the target must be located at some distance from the patient treatment zone. Consequently, for such systems, the neutron utilization efficiency, that is, the ratio of the rate at which useful neutrons are introduced into the patient treatment zone to the rate at which neutrons are generated by proton/target interactions, is typically in the range of 0.1 to 0.5 percent. That is, only 1/1000th to the 1/200th of the neutrons in the target actually are available for use in the patient treatment zone.
However, such efficiencies are still orders of magnitude greater than those achieved by medical reactor systems. Because of the inherently much greater distance between the neutron generating reactor core and the patient treatment zone, due to the inherent dimensional constraints imposed by criticality and the shielding requirements, the neutron utilization efficiency for medical reactors is on the order of 10.sup.-6. Thus for medical reactors, only about one millionth of the generated neutrons actually are available for use in the patient treatment zone.
The accelerator-based proton beam-lithium target approach still has unsolved critical problems including high proton beam current requirements, excess energy neutrons, and cooling of the lithium target which has a low melting temperature. An alternate target being considered is beryllium which has a higher melting point than lithium, is easier to cool, and has been used successfully in clinical fast neutron therapy facilities. The neutron production threshold for protons impinging on a beryllium target is 2.2 MeV and the yield becomes comparable to a lithium target yield at about 4 MeV. However, using 4 MeV protons and a beryllium target produces even more energetic neutrons than the system described above, and therefore requires suitable moderation.
Accordingly, it is desirable to generate low energy epithermal neutrons for BNCT in an accelerator-based apparatus having relatively low proton beam current and suitable cooling of the target.

Method and apparatus for generating low energy nuclear particles