Alkaline earth and transition metal scaling such as calcium and magnesium scaling can be controlled or removed in pipes, vessels, heat exchanges, evaporators, and filters, and in the oil field applications such as, for example, for drilling, production, and recovery operations with the addition of an effective amount of 2-hydroxyethyl iminodiacetic acid (HEIDA) or a salt thereof.

The present invention is to novel intermediates useful in the synthesis of 2-hydroxyethyl iminodiacetic acid.
Chelants or chelating agents are compounds which form coordinate-covalent bonds with a metal ion to form chelates. Chelates are coordination compounds in which a central metal atom is bonded to two or more other atoms in at least one other molecule or ion, called a ligand, such that at least one heterocyclic ring is formed with the metal atom as part of each ring.
Chelating agents for metal ions, such as calcium, magnesium, iron, and manganese, are required for a wide range of technical fields. Examples of fields of application and end-uses are detergents, in electroplating, in water treatment, photography, textile industry, paper industry and also various uses in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, foodstuffs and plant nutrition. Some of these activities may result in the chelating agents entering the environment. For example, agricultural uses or use in detergents may result in measurable quantities of the chelants in water.
As chelants may enter the environment from various uses, it is desirable to have chelants that would readily degrade after use. It would be particularly advantageous to have a chelant which is biodegradable, that is, susceptible to degradation by microbes which are generally naturally present in environments into which the chelants may be introduced.
Iminodiacetic acid derivatives are known to possess metal sequestering properties. U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,212 discloses that iminodiacetic acid, when combined with organic solvents, provide very good results in terms of soil removal from hard surfaces. The use of iminodiacetic acid derivatives in aqueous compositions for cleaning hard surfaces is reported in PCT Application No. WO 94/12606. The iminodiacetic acid derivatives in WO 94/12606 are also reported to have good biodegradable characteristics.

Method for controlling alkaline earth and transition metal scaling with 2-hydroxyethyl iminodiacetic acid


A detect control device is provided that monitors a position error signal signature associated with a transducer while being operably supported by an actuator at a substantially constant fly height adjacent a storage medium to characterize the extent to which the actuator contacts an unload ramp. A method is provided for: supporting a transducer at an end of an actuator at a substantially constant fly height adjacent a storage medium; moving the actuator toward an unload ramp while maintaining the substantially constant fly height; and detecting a contacting engagement between the actuator and the unload ramp by monitoring a position error signal signature associated with the transducer.

Disc drives are data storage devices that store digital data in magnetic form on a rotating disc. Modem disc drives comprise one or more storage discs that are coated with a magnetizable medium and mounted on the hub of a spindle motor for rotation at a constant high speed. Information is stored on the discs in a plurality of tracks, typically by an array of transducers ("heads") mounted to a radial actuator for movement of the heads relative to the discs. During a write operation data is written onto the disc track, and during a read operation the head senses the data previously written onto the disc track and transfers the information to an external environment. Important to both of these operations is the accurate and efficient positioning of the head relative to the center of the desired track on the disc. Head positioning within a desired track is dependent on head-positioning servo patterns, i.e., a pattern of data bits recorded on the disc surface and used to maintain optimum track spacing and sector timing. Servo patterns or information can be located between the data sectors on each track of a disc ("embedded servo"), or on only one surface of one of the discs within the disc drive ("dedicated servo"). Regardless of whether a manufacturer uses "embedded" or "dedicated" servos, the servo patterns are typically recorded on a target disc during the manufacturing process of the disc drive.
Recent efforts within the disc drive industry have focused on developing cost-effective disc drives capable of storing more data onto existing or smaller-sized discs. One potential way of increasing data storage on a disc surface is to increase the recording density of the magnetizable medium by increasing the track density (i.e., the number of tracks per millimeter). Increased track density requires more closely-spaced, narrow tracks, and therefore requiring enhanced accuracy in the recording of servo-patterns onto the target disc surface. This increased accuracy requires that servo-track recording be accomplished within the increased tolerances, while remaining cost effective.
Servo patterns are typically recorded on the magnetizable medium of a target disc by a servo track writer ("STW") during the manufacture of the disc drive. The STW records servo patterns on the discs following assembly of the disc drive. The STW receivingly engages a disc drive that has a disc pack with mounted discs that have not been completely pre-recorded with servo patterns. The STW essentially uses the drive's own read/write heads to record the requisite servo patterns directly to the mounted discs.
These and other recent improvements in the art have significantly improved both, often competing, goals of enhanced quality and faster throughput. It is to the furthering of those efforts that the embodiments of the present invention are directed.


A load control system may be provided including control devices and a system controller. The system controller may be configured to broadcast a service set identifier (SSID) and provide a wireless network connection to a network device. The system controller may provide a web page to the network device, wherein the web page may include an indication of target system controllers. The target system controllers may be used for configuring (e.g., associating) the control devices. The system controller may receive an indication of a target system controller selected to associate the control devices. The system controller may determine an address and port number of the target system controller identified by the network device. The system controller may provide, to the network device, the web page from the target system controller while the network device is connected to the system controller via the wireless network connection.

A load control environment, such as a residence or an office building, may be configured using various types of load control systems. The load control environment may include load control devices that are associated with input devices for communicating load control instructions for controlling an electrical load. The load control environment may include one or more rooms. Each of the rooms may include load control devices that are capable of directly controlling an electrical load. For example, each of the rooms may include lighting control devices (e.g., ballasts, LED drivers, or dimmer switches) capable of directly controlling an amount of power provided to lighting loads. A room may include additional load control devices, such as motorized window treatments and/or an HVAC system.
Each of the rooms may include input devices capable of indirectly controlling an electrical load by transmitting digital messages, which may include load control instructions, to a load control device. The input devices in the rooms may include remote control devices that may be mounted to the wall and that may send digital messages to the lighting control devices. The lighting control devices may control an amount of power provided to the lighting loads, based on the digital messages received from the remote-control devices.
The load control environment may also include multiple system controllers that may be dispersed throughout the environment. Each system controller may be configured to wirelessly communicate with one or more load control and input devices and in particular, may be configured to communicate with devices that are within communication range of the system controller. Each system controller also may be configured to wirelessly communicate with a computing device (such as a laptop computer or mobile phone) over a wireless communications network provided by the system controller. The wireless network provided by each system controller may be independent of the others. A user may wirelessly connect a computing device to each system controller via its respective wireless communications network and use the computing device to configure load control and input devices that are within range of the system controller. In other words, a user may need to connect to a first system controller via its respective wireless network to configure a first set of load control and input devices, and then connect to a second system controller via its respective wireless network to configure a second different set of load control and input devices.
Several problems may exist with this environment. For example, a user may connect a computing device to a system controller via the network provided by the system controller and begin configuring one or more devices. If during this configuration the user moves outside the range of the system controller's wireless network, or within range of another system controller's wireless network having a stronger signal, the user may lose contact with the original system controller and thus not be able to configure a set of devices. As another example, a user may wish to connect to a certain system controller to perform configurations on a set of devices and not be in range of the system controller's wireless network. As a user may need to walk around a load control environment to perform configurations, both example problems can make configuring the load control environment difficult.

Seamless connection to multiple wireless controllers


A new and improved portable cellular phone with integral solar panel including a portable cellular telephone with a rectangular configuration having a front face, a rear face, and a periphery formed therebetween defining an interior space. The front face has a plurality of operating components including a display, a plurality of keys, a microphone, and a speaker situated thereon for allowing conventional usage of the telephone. A planar rectangular solar panel is coupled to the rear face of the telephone. The solar panel is adapted to convert ambient light into electric power. At least one rechargeable battery is situated within the interior space of the telephone and electrically connected to the operating components of the phone for supplying power thereto. Finally, power connection circuitry is electrically connected between the solar panel and the batteries. The power connection circuitry is adapted to permit the flow of power from the solar panel to the at least one battery and further preclude the flow of power from the at least one battery to the solar panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable cellular phone with integral solar panel and more particularly pertains to powering a portable cellular phone via a solar panel attached to a rear face thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of cellular phones is known in the prior art. More specifically, cellular phones heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of affording portable communication are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, the prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,270 to Ono; U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,256 to Franklin et al.; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 355,183 to Ino et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,176 to Burke et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,655 to Thrower et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,143 to Richardson, Jr.
In this respect, the portable cellular phone with integral solar panel according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of powering a portable cellular phone via a solar panel attached to a rear face thereof.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved portable cellular phone with integral solar panel which can be used for powering a portable cellular phone via a solar panel attached to a rear face thereof. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.

Portable cellular phone with integral solar panel


An emulsion polymerization process for making a low molecular weight alkali-soluble copolymer of a water insoluble monoethylenically unsaturated aromatic monomer and methacrylic acid, includes heating an aqueous reaction mixture, said reaction mixture having a pH of less than or equal to about 4.5 and including from about 25 parts by weight to about 75 parts by weight of the water insoluble monoethylenically unsaturated aromatic monomer; from about 25 parts by weight to about 75 parts by weight methacrylic acid; a polymerization initiator; a reducing agent; a catalyst effective for promoting decomposition of the polymerization initiator in the presence of the reducing agent; and an amount of a chain transfer agent effective to limit copolymer weight average molecular weight to a range of about 2,000 to about 40,000; to a temperature greater than or equal to about 75.degree. C.; and maintaining the reaction mixture at a temperature greater than or equal to about 75.degree. C. for a period of time effective to allow formation of the copolymer.

Low molecular weight, alkali-soluble copolymers are used in inks, floor finishes, paper coatings, paints and adhesives. The copolymers are produced by bulk or solution copolymerization of a water insoluble monomer and a water soluble monomer. Acrylic acid and methacrylic acid are commonly used to introduce solubilizing functionality into such copolymers.
Emulsion polymerization offers a particularly desirable process for making such polymers because the process is free of residual solvents and the polymer produced can be solubilized directly from the emulsion by addition of base. However, the emulsion route presents a significant problem with respect to maintaining a high polymerization rate when using high levels of chain transfer agent to obtain a product having a low molecular weight.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,071 discloses an aqueous emulsion process for preparing a low molecular weight alkali-soluble resin from a water insoluble vinylic monomer and acrylic acid. However, substitution of methacrylic acid for acrylic acid in the method disclosed in the '071 patent is said to produce an unsatisfactory product.

Method for making an alkali-soluble emulsion copolymer


Alloys are provided which consist essentially by weight percentages of from about 30% to about 35% Ni, from about 22% to about 25% Cr, from about 4% to about 6.5% Mo, from about 0.2% to about 1.5% W, from about 0.2% to about 0.6% Nb, from about 0.1% to about 0.6% Ti, from about 0.35% to about 1.75% Co, from about 0.05% to about 0.3% C, from about 0.2% to about 1.3% Si, from about 0.2% to about 1.5% Mn, and the balance essentially iron and the usual impurities.

Spendelow, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,703,277 discloses a nickel-base superalloy of relatively low strategic metal content for high temperature service as well as for resistance to attack by various corrosive media. This alloy has been widely employed under the tradename Hastelloy X or by the designation HX or, simply, X.
Hundreds of newer heat and/or corrosion resistant alloys have been developed in the almost four decades since the introduction of the X alloy, yet it continues to be employed in a wide variety of applications. It is said to have an excellent balance of resistance to chemical substances, oxidizing, reducing and neutral atmospheres at temperatures up to 2200.degree. F. combined with good weldability and fabricability. It is used in turbine and furnace parts and petrochemical equipment and is a standard material for gas turbine combustors. Alloy X has good resistance to carburization and nitriding and to stress-corrosion cracking, in part, due to its high molybdenum content. In industrial furnaces the alloy is especially suitable for fans, roller hearths and support members.
Most of the innovations in the field of heat resistant alloys have related to increasing high temperature hot strength with the consequent penalty of much lowered ductility, elongation, weldability and fabricability. However, there is an inverse relationship of generally diminishing corrosion resistance with increasing hot strength in the heat resistant alloy field. Also, the higher hot strength alloys not only have low ductilities as produced but also often suffer much further loss of ductility in service at elevated temperature; thus welding before or after periods of service may vary from difficult to virtually impossible. Furthermore, austenitic alloys based upon iron, nickel and chromium of less than about 7% tensile elongation values are very difficult to weld, while those above 15% elongations will have very good weldability.
Thus, there has remained an increasing demand for alloys of the X type. However, because of the increased demand and consumption of nickel and cobalt in industrial and military applications, there has been a tremendously increased interest in development of alloys of the X type but of much lower nickel contents and without the need for large amounts of cobalt.
While nickel base alloys of little or no iron content and large amounts of molybdenum and/or niobium (columbium) have equalled the corrosion resistance of alloy X, and while leaner alloys have equalled the fabricability of alloy X, there has remained a long term demand for alloys that equal Hastelloy X properties at about 35% nickel content and twice the iron content of alloy X, which is about 18%. A series of alloys designated commercially as 800, 800H, 800T and 802 have attempted to provide some of the alloy X properties at a nickel content lower than the nominal 50% Ni content of alloy X. These alloys all nominally contain about 32.5% Ni, 21% Cr, 0.4% Ti, 0.4% Al and up to 0.36% C.

Heat and corrosion resistant iron-nickel-chromium alloy


A communicating device, method, and computer readable medium for performing a process of authenticating a physical structure. The communicating device includes circuitry that is configured to transmit a first instruction to a mobile device, receive first information associated with execution of the first instruction by the mobile device, validate the first information in order to determine a first score corresponding to the first instruction, by comparing the first information with pre-stored information, transmit a second instruction to the mobile device, receive, from the mobile device, second information associated with execution of the second instruction by the mobile device, validate the second information to determine a second score corresponding to the second instruction, by comparing the second information with pre-stored information, and generate an authentication result for the physical structure in response to the first and second scores being greater than first and second predetermined thresholds respectively.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Authentication processes may include credentialing or compliance validation processes. Credentialing may refer to a process of establishing the qualifications of persons, organizational members or employees, or organizations, and assessing their background and legitimacy. Credentialing may include on-site inspection(s), such as an inspection of an organization's infrastructure (for instance, an inspection of the organization's building/property) to determine whether the organization is authentic.
Compliance validation may refer to a process of establishing the adherence to policies and procedures of persons, organizational members or employees, or organizations, and assessing their diligence in complying with such policies. Compliance validation may include on-site inspection(s), such as an inspection of an organization's infrastructure (for instance, an inspection of the organization's building/property) to determine whether the organization is conforming to the established policies and procedures.
A credentialing or compliance validation process generally includes an inspector manually entering inspection information on survey form(s) and further generating a report based on the gathered inspection information. Such a technique of generating the inspection report is unreliable and inefficient, as it is prone to human errors, potential fraudulent activities, and may not include a detailed inspection of the building/site under consideration. For instance, the inspector may enter erroneous information of the building under inspection, may not be visiting the correct location and/or may not fully complete a set of tasks that are required to generate an accurate inspection report.
Organizations are generally driven by speed and simplicity, and tend to have a 'need-it-now' approach for services such as building inspections, personnel screening, compliance to policies and the like. Typically, such organizations face a cumbersome and multi-faceted process of credentialing or compliance validation via an onsite inspection. Such a process severely lengthens the amount of time and effort required in obtaining an inspection report. For instance, inspections conducted in the healthcare industry, financial organizations, onsite inspections, appraisals, and the like maintain multifaceted processes as a part of conducting business. Such organizations are burdened with manual paper-based workflows that rely on human involvement with limited capabilities in place to effectively validate the quality and accuracy of the inspection report. The inspection processes are cumbersome, time consuming, and create an elevated level of risk due to potential errors and fraudulent activities.
Accordingly, there is a need for a quick and easy to use tool that enable organizations to efficiently define the proper steps required to be performed for an authentication process, in order to execute inspection processes in a task-based and automated manner that will streamline their business, reduce their reliance on human interaction, and ultimately decrease the level of risk involved.

Device and method for performing validation and authentication of a physical structure or physical object


An apparatus and method for bending glass substrate(s) are provided. Microwave radiation is used to heat glass substrate(s) for bending. As a result, a coating supported by the substrate(s) is not heated as much during the bending process compared to if only conventional IR radiation was used. Thus, more extreme degrees of glass bending may be achieved, and/or the likelihood of coating damage reduced.

Devices and methods for heat bending glass sheets are well known in the art. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,383,990; 6,318,125; 6,158,247; and 5,443,669.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a conventional apparatus and method for heat bending glass sheets in making a laminated product such as a vehicle windshield. Vehicle windshields are typically curved, and thus require first and second curved (as a result of heat bending) glass sheets laminated to one another via a polymer interlayer. First glass substrate 1 has a multi-layer solar control coating 3 thereon (e.g., low-E coating 3 including at least one IR reflecting layer of a material such as Ag); while second glass substrate 5 need not be coated.
Referring to FIG. 1, two flat glass substrates 1, 5 are placed in a bending furnace (e.g., on a bending mold) in an overlapping manner by interposing an optional lubricating powder (not shown) such as sodium hydrogen carbonate, cerite, magnesium oxide, silica, or the like between contacting surfaces of the two glass substrates. The glass substrates 1, 5 are then heated using infrared (IR) emitting heating elements 7 to a processing temperature(s) near a softening point of the glass (e.g., from about 550 to 850 degrees C., more preferably from about 580 to 750 degrees C.) in order to soften the overlapping glass substrates 1, 5. Upon softening, the glass substrates 1, 5 (including any solar control coating 3 thereon) are bent by their deadweight (i.e., sagging) along a shaping surface of a bending mold (not shown) into the desired curved shape appropriate for the vehicle windshield being made. A press bending apparatus (not shown) may optionally be used after the glass is sufficiently softened (the press bending may be conducted as the final step before cooling the glass).
After being heat bent in such a manner, the bent glass substrates 1, 5 (with solar control coating 3 still on substrate 1) are separated from one another and a polymer inclusive interlayer sheet (e.g., PVB) is interposed therebetween. The glass substrates 1, 5 are then laminated to one another via the polymer inclusive interlayer 9 in order to form the resulting vehicle windshield shown in FIG. 2.
Different vehicle windshield models require different shapes. Some shapes require more extensive bending (i.e., tighter/smaller radii of curvature after bending) than others. As windshields requiring extensive/extreme bending are becoming more popular, the need for high performance solar control coatings (e.g., including one or more IR reflecting Ag layers) has also increased. An example high performance solar control coating 3 is disclosed in WO 02/04375 (and thus counterpart U.S. Ser. No. 09/794,224, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,576,349, filed Feb. 28, 2001), both hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Unfortunately, it has been found that when using conventional glass bending techniques, certain solar control coatings cannot on a regular basis withstand the bending process(es) sometimes used without suffering damage, especially when very tight radius of curvature(s) are required for the windshield. For example, when using conventional IR heating techniques to bend glass sheets for a windshield when the aforesaid solar control coating is provided on one of the sheets, the tightest radius of curvature consistently achievable in the windshield without coating damage is about 3,500 mm. However, windshields having a smaller (or more extreme) tightest radius of curvature are sometimes required, and thus cannot be consistently made using IR heating techniques without damaging the aforesaid coating. Set forth below is an explanation as to why certain solar control coatings have a hard time withstanding conventional IR heat bending processes without suffering undesirable damage.
Referring to FIG. 1, conventional glass bending heating elements emit IR radiation 8 in the near, mid and far IR ranges. By this we mean that heating elements 7 emit each of near-IR (700–4,000 nm; or 0.7 to 4.0 μm), mid-IR (4,000–8,000 nm; or 4–8 μm), and far-IR radiation. Much of the IR radiation that reaches the glass to be bent is in the near-IR range, as the peak of this IR radiation is often in the near-IR range. In certain example instances, at least about 50% of the IR radiation that reaches the glass to be bent is in the near-IR range, sometimes 70% or higher.
As shown in FIG. 3, it has been found that typical soda lime silica glass (often used for substrates 1, 5) absorbs much incident IR radiation at wavelengths above about 3–4 μm (microns). FIG. 3 shows that soda lime silica glass is substantially opaque to IR radiation above 3–4 μm, but rather transmissive of IR radiation below 3–4 μm. Unfortunately, this means that a significant amount of IR radiation in the near-IR range (from 0.7 to 3–4 μm) is not absorbed by the glass substrate(s) 1 and/or 5 and as a result passes therethrough and reaches solar control coating 3. As used herein, the phrase "from 0.7 to 3–4 μm" means from 0.7 m to 3 and/or 4 μm.
Unfortunately, certain of this near-IR radiation which is not absorbed by the glass substrate and reaches solar control coating 3, is absorbed by the coating 3 (e.g., by Ag layer(s) of the coating) thereby causing the coating 3 to heat up. This problem (significant heating of the coating) is compounded by: (a) certain solar control coatings 3 have a room temperature absorption peak (e.g., of 20–30% or more) at wavelengths of approximately 1 μm in the near IR range, at which wavelengths the underlying glass is substantially transmissive, and (b) the absorption of many solar control coatings 3 increases with a rise in temperature thereof (e.g., sheet resistance Rs of Ag layer(s) increase along with rises in temperature). In view of (a) and (b) above, it can be seen that the peak absorption of certain solar control coatings 3 at near-IR wavelengths of about 1 μm can increase from the 20–30% range to the 40–60% range or higher when the coating temperature increases from room temperature to 500 degrees C. or higher, thereby enabling the coating to heat up very quickly when exposed to significant amounts of near-IR radiation.
Coating 3 is more susceptible to being damaged when it is unnecessarily heated up during the glass bending process. When coating 3 is damaged, the bent glass substrate 1 with the damaged coating thereon is typically discarded and cannot be commercially used.
This problem (i.e., coating overheating) affects the shapes that can be attained in the bending process. In particular, more extreme glass bending requires more extreme heating (i.e., at higher temperatures and/or for longer times) of the glass to be bent. As mentioned above, when the coating 3 of WO 02/04375 (and thus counterpart U.S. Ser. No. 09/794,224, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,576,349) is provided on one of the glass substrates (1 or 5), the tightest radius of curvature of bent glass consistently achievable using conventional IR radiation to bend without damaging the coating is about 3,500 mm. This is, or course, undesirable if a portion of a windshield is desired to have a tighter (smaller) radius of curvature; i.e., to be more bent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,827,345 discloses the use of microwave energy during the bending and tempering of glass. However, the '345 patent uses microwave energy solely for its heating speed. Thus, the '345 patent fails to recognize or solve the problem(s) (e.g., coating over-heating and/or need for smaller radii of curvature(s) for bent glass) addressed and solved by the instant invention. In other words, the '345 patent fails to disclose or suggest using microwave radiation to heat coated glass sheet(s) for the purpose of enabling the coated glass sheet(s) to be bent to a more significant degree or smaller tightest radius of curvature.
An object of this invention is to minimize the peak temperature attained (and/or the time at which a peak temperature is attained) by a solar control coating 3 during a process for heat bending a glass substrate that supports the coating.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus and/or method for heat bending glass substrate(s)/sheet(s), the apparatus and/or method being designed to reduce the amount of near-IR radiation that reaches the glass substrate(s) to be bent during the bending process.
Another object of this invention is to provide a method and/or apparatus for heat bending coated glass substrate(s), where the substrate(s) is/are heated using at least microwave radiation. The use of microwave radiation (and/or less IR radiation) to heat the glass enables the solar control coating supported by the glass substrate to reach a lesser temperature and/or a maximum temperature for a lesser time period than if only conventional IR radiation was used for heating.
By reducing the maximum coating temperature and/or the time at which the coating realizes this temperature, certain embodiments of this invention can achieve one or more of the following advantages: (a) the solar control coating is less likely to be damaged during the bending process of an underlying glass substrate, (b) higher degrees of bending (i.e., tighter radii of curvature) of an underlying glass substrate(s) can be achieved without damaging the solar control coating; and/or (c) power consumption of the heater may possibly be reduced in certain instances.
Another object of certain example embodiments of this invention is to use microwave radiation to heat a coated glass substrate(s) during a bending process, in order to enable the coated substrate to be bent so as to have a tightest radius of curvature of no greater than about 3,000 mm, more preferably no greater than about 2,000 mm, and even more preferably no greater than about 1,000 mm without significant coating damage. In certain example instances, the tightest radius of curvature for a windshield may be as low as 200–500 mm.
Another object of this invention is to fulfill one or more of the above-listed objects.
In certain example embodiments of this invention, one or more of the above-listed objects is/are fulfilled by providing a method of making a vehicle windshield, the method comprising: directing microwave radiation toward first and second glass substrates in order to heat the glass substrates for bending, and wherein a coating supported by one of the glass substrates comprises at least one infrared (IR) reflecting layer comprising silver (Ag) sandwiched between at least a pair of dielectric layers; and bending the glass substrates and laminating the substrates together to form a vehicle windshield so that a tightest radius of curvature defined by a major surface of the resulting windshield is no greater than about 3,000 mm.
In other embodiments of this invention, one or more of the above-listed objects is/are fulfilled by providing a method of bending coated glass, the method comprising: directing microwave radiation toward a glass substrate in order to heat the glass substrate for bending, and wherein a coating supported by the glass substrate comprises at least one infrared (IR) reflecting layer comprising silver (Ag) sandwiched between at least a pair of dielectric layers; and bending the glass substrate and the coating thereon so that a tightest radius of curvature defined by a major surface of the resulting bent glass substrate is no greater than about 3,000 mm.

Apparatus and method for bending glass using microwaves


A video signal-processing device includes an arrangement for detecting film scratches. To distinguish slant scratches in the video signal from other scratch-like image structures in a safe manner, the arrangement for detecting scratches is intended to determine whether at least the section of a scratch extends from the lower margin of an image N-1 preceding a current image N into the upper margin of the current image N, and whether at least a further section of a scratch extends from the lower margin of a current image N into the upper margin of an image N+1 succeeding the current image N.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a video signal-processing device comprising an arrangement for detecting film scratches. The invention also relates to the arrangement for detecting film scratches as such, and to a method of detecting scratches.
2. Description of the Related Art
Older films, particularly those which are frequently used, often have vertical scratches which extend continuously through longer parts of the film. These scratches may have already been produced in the film camera or during the copying process, or also by frequent playback of the film.
When such film material is displayed, the scratches occur as white or black horizontal stripes in positive or negative film material, respectively. A method and arrangement for detecting and concealing errors in a video signal caused by vertical film scratches is known from German Offenlegungsschrift DE 44 32 787.0, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,887, in which an error signal is derived from disturbed spots produced by disturbed pixels and used in the form of a control signal for concealing the errors in the video signal. To be able to safely distinguish scratches from other, vertically extending picture details such as, for example, flag poles, the error signal is only generated when an adjustable, locally limited scratch width in the horizontal direction is not exceeded and when each scratch essentially extends vertically, and when the scratch length corresponds approximately to the frame height. The disturbed spots in the video signal are subsequently replaced by the corresponding low-pass-filtered video signal with the aid of the error signal, so that the pixels of the scratch assume the brightness and color of the pixels in the close surroundings of the scratch and very strong contrast differences can thus be avoided.
As has become apparent, scratches exactly corresponding to the film travel direction can be reliably concealed. Unfortunately, it has become apparent that certain scratches in positions at acute angles to the film travel direction are not detected by means of the known method and the known arrangement. Such a scratch, which does not extend exactly perpendicularly across the film frame, travels towards the right or left, dependent on the inclination of the scratch with respect to the high axis of the frame, and thus becomes particularly visible. As has been found, such scratches, hereinafter referred to as slant scratches, are mainly produced during copying in the copying installation.
Slant scratches cannot be satisfactorily concealed by means of the known method and the known arrangement, because the risk of, for example, an increase of the adjustable scratch width is that image objects having vertically extending structures are erroneously recognized as slant scratches and are concealed.

Detecting slant scratches in images of a video signal


A medical instrument sterilization system and method is provided. The system includes a sterilization container having a first container portion engagable with a second container portion to enclose an interior compartment from an exterior atmosphere. At least one insert is locatable within the interior compartment of the sterilization container, the at least one insert having a medical instrument holding area surrounded by a plurality of sidewalls, wherein the medical instrument holding area is sized to hold at least one medical instrument. A filter is secured within a wall of the first container portion, wherein the filter is in communication with the interior compartment and the exterior atmosphere.

Traditionally, medical instrument sterilization cases are constructed with holes formed along the entirety of the surface. The cases are sometimes placed within sterilization containers during sterilization processes, while the medical instruments are housed in trays within the cases. Sometimes the trays have inserts/platforms mounted therein with instrument holders mounted to the platforms. Conventionally, the sterilization cases may be put into autoclaves by either wrapping the cases in a non-woven polymeric filter material or by placing a sterilized case in sterilization containers that are near airtight after a sterilization process. These conventional containers are generally airtight, except for one or two controlled sections where filters are affixed.
Commonly, the filters on the conventional containers are air and water permeable. When the filters are dry, microorganisms cannot penetrate the filter, but when the filters become wet, microorganisms, bacteria and cleaning solutions can permeate the filter. Thus, a sterilized case with sterilized medical instruments therein, that is placed within a container, may stay sterilized as long as the filter remains dry and secure. Similarly, a sterilized case wrapped in a filter material may stay sterilized, so long as the filter material isn't compromised or removed. However, the wrapped filter material can only provide a reliable sterile barrier for about two weeks and the conventional container with a filter affixed can only provide the sterile barrier for six months. The sterile environment is not compromised until the container, and the sterilization case having the sterilization tray with medical instruments are in the operating room for use. With operating room space at a premium, there is a significant amount of packaging taking up space in one operating room.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

Medical instrument sterilization system and method


An air bearing assembly includes: an upper portion having a plurality of air supply and vacuum holes therethrough; a lower portion; and a plurality of spacers disposed between and maintaining the upper and lower portions in spaced relation, wherein a density of the air supply and vacuum holes is high enough to provide an air bearing for a substrate, but low enough such that at least one of: (i) a sufficient number of the spacers are employed, and (ii) the spacers are located in close enough proximity, to maintain a substantially uniform flatness of the upper portion relative to the lower portion.

The present invention relates to an air bearing assembly, and more specifically, an air bearing assembly used for processing or measuring flat substrates.
Flat substrates, such as glass substrates, may be checked for stress deformation after cutting or any other process that may affect the quality of the substrate on an air bearing assembly. The air bearing assembly is typically a singular piece of granite having a flat upper surface. The granite is usually very thick to ensure that a solid, stable, and flat platform is obtained. Typically, it is desirable to apply air pressure (or another fluid) or to create a vacuum pressure between the substrate and the upper surface of the air bearing assembly. The vacuum pressure and air pressure is delivered by a combination of air and vacuum holes placed throughout the air bearing surface assembly. The vacuum pressure and air pressure is used to secure the substrate (e.g., for testing purposes) or to float the substrate at a specified fly height above the air bearing assembly for the purposes of manipulation and inspection.
Air pressure and vacuum pressure are applied to the substrate via air holes and vacuum holes, respectively. The air and vacuum holes are arranged throughout the air bearing assembly to ensure proper fly height, as well as maintaining the flatness of the substrate. Without the vacuum holes, air pressure is more likely to build up at the center of the substrate because air provided via the air holes does not readily escape from between the substrate and the air bearing assembly. In contrast, air more easily escapes past the edges of the substrate. A buildup of air pressure at the center of the substrate causes bowing and deformation of the substrate. Vacuum pressure provided via the vacuum holes helps prevent the build up of excess air pressure at the center of the substrate. Thus, flatness of the substrate is controlled by maintaining even pressure across the entire surface of the substrate via the air and vacuum holes.
Typically, the air and vacuum holes extend through the entire thickness of the air bearing assembly, which again is very thick. Unfortunately, boring the air and vacuum holes through the entire assembly weakens the overall structural integrity of the air bearing assembly. Further, it is exceedingly difficult to bore a small diameter hole through a hard substance such as granite. Among the problems encountered with drilling such holes is the likelihood of the hole not extending in a proper axial direction (such as perpendicular to the flat upper surface of the granite), the holes being of improper cross-sectional shape (e.g., oval instead of circular), or the drill bit used to bore the hole being damaged. As the overall structural integrity of the air bearing assembly is important for maintaining a stable, flat upper surface of the assembly (e.g., to manipulate and process the substrate), the conventional surface assembly has not been entirely satisfactory.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an air bearing assembly that allows individual air and vacuum lines to be installed within the assembly without having to bore through the entire thickness of the assembly.


A system for turning a person from a supine position to a prone position and vice versa includes opposing patient support platens each coupled to a corresponding end of a first and a second COG assembly, the first and second COG assemblies each coupled to a corresponding one of a pair of spindles, each one of the spindles disposed on a corresponding lift column. In yet another embodiment, registration plates, coupled to the system, conveniently align the attachment mechanisms of each COG assembly with distal ends of one or more platens. The registration plates allow for medical staff to align the system so that it straddles the operating table with the attachment mechanisms of the COG assembly in alignment with platen tubes (or other complimentary attachment mechanisms) located at the distal ends of the anterior platen.

Generally, surgeries and procedures performed to the posterior of a patient require the patient to be positioned in a prone position to provide access to a surgical site. Prior to performing the surgery, protocol typically requires that the patient be anesthetized and intubated while lying on their back. For the vast majority of back surgeries performed in the United States today, most patients are still anesthetized on a gurney, and then manually lifted, inverted and deposited on an operating table.
There are many challenges associated with the transfer of the patient to the operating table from the gurney, and vice versa. The manual process of transfer is physically demanding and non-physiologic for the staff, and is potentially unsafe for the anesthetized patient. For instance, an anesthetized patient who is in an unconscious state has absolutely no control over their appendages and head, which all have a tendency to flop-down from gravity. If any appendages are not properly supported, it is possible to break, dislocate, or otherwise injure the patient's neck, shoulder area, and/or appendages while manually lifting and inverting the patient. Additionally, the patient may have a preexisting disease or injury to the spine, which if moved or twisted improperly could cause damage or paralysis to the patient. Thus, the staff must remain vigilant to properly support the appendages and body of the patient each time the patient is lifted and inverted. There is also a potential to accidentally lose control of or drop a patient incurring injury to the patient and/or staff.
Additionally, an anesthetized patient assumes "dead weight" which makes that person feel heavier. The weight of the patient exposes staff members, such as nurses, assistants, and doctors, to injuries when lifting the patient. Often times a staff member must lean across a gurney or operating room table exposing themselves to lifting injuries. Sometimes, the weight of the patient is not evenly distributed potentially risking injury to a staff member or patient. Accordingly, liability issues arise when patients are dropped or injured while being oriented on the operating table while sedated. Doctors and hospitals are also exposed to liability when operating staff are injured lifting and positioning sedated patients.
A further potential problem associated with turning the patient from his/her stomach or back involves the potential for patient motion or staff interference with life-support and life-monitoring systems that may be attached to the patient, such as an intravenous line, a catheter, electrode monitoring lines for monitoring the patient's vital signs, and an endotracheal tube for the purposes of administering oxygen and/or anesthesia to the patient. If any one of these life-support or life-monitoring systems is pulled out, crimped, or twisted, it can injure the patient and/or the operating staff.
Still another complication associated with manually lifting and inverting a patient onto an operating table for back surgery involves positioning the patient in proper alignment on the table. Some patients are placed on a "Wilson Frame" to properly align the back properly thereby and enhancing proper ventilation. The Wilson Frame allows the abdomen to hang pendulous and free. It is often difficult to manually manipulate the patient once placed onto the operating table to ensure proper alignment with the Wilson Frame underneath the patient.
Other ancillary problems involve positioning of the head, chest, and legs with proper support and access for devices such as the endotracheal tube. Anthropometric considerations, such as patient size, including weight and width, cause the operating staff to ensure that proper padding and elevations are used to support the head, chest, and legs. It is not uncommon to find operating staff stuffing pillows or bedding underneath a patient to adjust for different anthropometric features of a patient.
Attempts have been made to solve the transfer problems described above including systems which can turn rotate a patient. Unfortunately, many such systems for turning a patient have an axis of rotation and a center of gravity that are different. In such systems the separation of the rotation axis and the center of gravity make the system "top-heavy", or unbalanced, and therefore it is difficult to manually turn a patient. Furthermore, the unbalanced load creates greater stresses on the mechanical equipment and presents greater risk of mechanical failure to the patient.


Fuel cell parameters and limited electrochemical fuel cell sensors are used to calculate the concentration of diluting gas on the anode side of the fuel cell. The calculated concentration is then used to optimize fuel cell efficiency and/or stability by controlling the evacuation of diluted fuel from the anode side of the cell. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention the dilution gas crossover rate of the membrane electrode assembly is calculated and the dilution gas concentration in the anode flow field is determined as a function of the crossover rate. The vent valve is opened when the dilution gas concentration in the anode flow field is above a high threshold value and is closed when the dilution gas concentration in the anode flow field is below a low threshold value.

The present invention relates to the electrochemical generation of power and, more specifically, to electrochemical fuel cells where diluting gases migrate from the cathode side of the cell's membrane electrode assembly to the anode side of the cell's membrane electrode assembly. For example, by way of illustration and not limitation, where oxygen from air is used as a cathode-side reactant in a fuel cell and hydrogen is used as the anode-side reactant in the fuel cell, the partial pressure of nitrogen in the air drives nitrogen through the membrane electrode assembly from the cathode side to the anode side, diluting the hydrogen fuel on the anode side of the fuel cell and leading to poor fuel cell performance.


A kind of normal incidence broadband spectroscopic polarimeter which is easy to adjust the focus, has no chromatic aberration, maintains the polarization and has simple structure. The normal incidence broadband spectroscopic polarimeter can make the probe beam normal incidence and focus on the sample surface by using at least one flat reflector element to change propagation direction of the focused beam. Moreover, the normal incidence broadband spectroscopic polarimeter contains at least one polarizer as to measure the anisotropy or non-uniform samples, such as three-dimensional profile and material optical constants of thin films consisting of the periodic structure. An optical measurement system including the normal incidence broadband spectroscopic polarimeter is also provided.

Generally, a key step in optical measurement technique is to make the probing beam focused onto the sample. Two methods are currently widely used. One method is to separate the last focusing lens from other components and only to adjust the focusing lens to focus the probing beam onto the sample. An example was illustrated in FIG. 1, the focusing is achieved by moving the last focusing lens up and down. The other method is to adjust the whole optical measurement system to focus the probing beam on the sample. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the focusing is achieved by moving the whole optical system up and down (refer to the U.S. Pat. No. 5,747,813 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,701).
With the rapid development of semiconductor industry, it becomes very critical to apply optical technology to accurately measure the critical dimension (CD), spatial profile and material properties of three-dimensional structures formed by the single or multiple layer on wafers. While detecting 150 mm, 200 mm and 300 mm wafers, its surface may not be flat due to various reasons such as film stress. Therefore, auto-focusing for each measurement point is a key technique to achieve high accuracy and rapid measurement and ensure production of semiconductor production line across the whole wafer. And it is widely known that focusing the broadband probing beam into a small spot size on the sample surface is highly desired. The small spot size allows to measure the micro patterned structures and broadband spectrum is helpful for better measurement accuracy. There were some issues for the first approach in this case: lens usually has chromatic aberration which results in different wavelengths of light focusing on different locations and thus worsen the accuracy. It is also hard to find the lens materials with good transmission in the whole broadband wavelength range. The second approach inherits the same problem of lens aberration and has additional technical challenges. It is not a trivial job to adjust the entire optical system to focus and precise measurement is therefore difficult to be achieved.
A new approach was proposed as the above reasons, that is, focusing the broadband probe beam on the sample surface by using the curved mirrors (for example, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,526 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,505,133B1, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0247624A1 and Chinese patent application Publication No. 101467306A). This method has advantages as below: the reflector mirror does not produce chromatic aberration in whole wavelength range, and has high reflectivity in wide wavelength range.
However, although the application of curved mirrors does not produce chromatic aberration and thus improve the focus and the accuracy, compared with lens, it is more difficult to align the optical path with curved mirrors. The adjustment of focal point and spatial orientation of curved mirrors was constrained by the incident light, often requiring the simultaneous adjustment of the entire optical system for better control of the output optical path and focusing point. For example, (1) elliptical mirror: While the spatial location of two focusing point is relatively fixed, the adjustable range of optical path and focusing position is very limited by adjusting the individual elliptical mirror after the incident light path was corrected. (2) Toroidal mirror: Although the two corresponding focusing points can be achieved in a certain range of incident angles, the spatial relationship of the two focusing points changes with the relationship between toroidal mirror and incident light. The correlations between two focusing points are complex and it is very difficult to achieve focusing. Another drawback is that its adjustable range is small and is easy to create image aberrations. (3) Off-axis parabolic mirrors: The adjustable range was very limited because the aberrations were resulted as the angle of off-axis parabolic mirrors changes relative to the direction of incident light. While a wide range of the focusing position can be achieved by moving the off-axis parabolic mirror along with the direction of the collimated light beam, the relative position of focusing point to the off-axis parabolic mirror center cannot be changed. This also limits the adjustable range of the focusing points. In summary, the use of a single curved mirror itself does not produce chromatic aberration, but it is difficult to control the direction of the optical path and focusing positions. Furthermore, the polarization of beam will be changed after reflected by a single mirror. Take an aluminum reflector mirror as an example, the reflection coefficient rs and rp of S and P polarized light were changed with the incident angle, the amplitude and phase difference between the S and P polarized light vary with the angle and the wavelength of incident beam. In short, because the polarization states S and P with the polarization direction orthogonal to each other have different reflectivity and phase change, after being reflected by a mirror, the polarization states of broadband beam varies, resulting the control of the change of beam polarization difficult (for example, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,829,049B1 and No. 6,667,805).
In addition, the beam polarization control capability of the spectrometer determines the scope of its applications. Take Optical Critical Dimension (OCD) equipment as an example. Such equipment is widely used in integrated circuit manufacturing lines for process controls. The OCD tools can measure the critical dimension (CD), three-dimensional profile of periodic pattern on sample surface, thickness and optical constants of multilayer film materials by collecting reflectance spectra and phase characteristics of the polarized beam from the sample surface and fitting numerical simulation results. For this kind of applications, the focusing system of spectrometer must be able to control the beam polarization in the process of focusing and optical signal collection.
Furthermore, when the spectrometer without polarizer was used to measure the sample with periodic structures, as mentioned in China patent application No. 201010270454.2, the incident beam must be natural light because the rotation angle of incident beam cannot be adjusted relative to the anisotropic angle of samples. In theory, the natural light emitted from light source is required to arrive on the sample surface either maintaining absolutely polarization or passing through none of polarization components. The anisotropic samples cannot be measured if polarization states were not maintained; under this circumstance, the measured values change as the anisotropic samples rotate. Therefore, the spectrometer capable of measuring the anisotropic samples while without polarization control components included demands the high quality of optical elements and the sophisticated adjustment of the optical path. The light reflected by the sample is partially polarized; starting from the light source to the detector, in theory, the polarization of the incident beam either was maintained completely or no polarization-sensitive component was present in the path. For example, if a polarization sensitive component was encountered in the path, a depolarizer is required, thus it will reduce the signal to noise ratio. Moreover, the above problem cannot be corrected by numerical methods.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Normal incidence broadband spectroscopic polarimeter and optical measurement system


A method of illuminating a fishing lure employs an illuminator that connects to a fishing line at a leading end and a fishing lure or bait at a trailing end. The illuminator has a light emitting diode (LED) or laser contained within a body having a battery. The light emitter emits a light beam out past the trailing end that illuminates the lure when tension is applied to the leading end such as by trolling, retrieving or drifting. The light beam subtends a narrow solid angle so that the battery energy is only used to illuminate the lure.

This invention relates to fishing and more particularly to methods and apparatus for illuminating fishing lures to make them more attractive to fish.
It is well known that fish often use visual information to find their edible prey. Certain fishing lures employ visual effects to enhance their attractiveness to fish. These include reflective metal spinners, various colors, and hair, and streamers with various shapes and textures. When drift fishing for swordfish at night, a large dead squid fished about 100 feet down is a preferred bait. Attaching a chemically activated light stick, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,306 issued Jun. 16, 1992 to Van Moer, positioned above the ten foot leader greatly increases the probability of attracting a fish, even though the squid itself is not illuminated.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,951 issued Jan. 5, 1998 to Fruchey discloses a fish lure with a hollow body having a light emitting diode within the body for attracting fish to the lure. U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,450 issued Jun. 2, 1998 to Young discloses a fish lure with a laser within the body of the lure for illuminating a part of the lure to attract fish.
Providing a battery operated light source within the lure as disclosed by Fruchey and Young greatly increases the cost of the lure. Lures are frequently lost during fishing by hooking onto obstructions or breaking off or cutting off by fish. Users are reluctant to pay for expensive lures that are so easily lost. When fishing, it is common to change lures frequently until a lure is found that attracts strikes under the current fishing conditions. Users are reluctant to pay for a plurality of different lures if they are all made more expensive by their light emitting properties. It may be more desirable to illuminate more of the lure than can be achieved when the light source is within the lure.


A system and method controls access to a network. The system and method intercepts communications received from, and responses and other communications to, devices on the network. Communications may be forwarded to their intended destination if the sending device has sufficient privileges to do so, or the communications may be handled by the system and method or forwarded to a different destination (e.g. a printer nearby the access point to which the user is communicating) using network address translation or redirection. Responses are received and stored by the system and method and may be forwarded to the device that sent the original communication, either directly or via a different device that requests the stored communications using a tunnel.

Computers and other devices are connected to a network in order to communicate with destinations available to that network. Destinations available to a network may include peripheral devices, such as storage, printers, fax communication devices and the like, an internal Intranet, and destinations on the Internet such as web sites and FTP sites and the like. Each of these destinations may be made available to the network via a computer system attached to the network, via a direct connection to the network, or via another network.
If a computer system or other device is connected to a conventional network, the computer system or device can be configured to easily access destinations available to users of the network. For example, a technician can configure a workstation that is being attached to an Ethernet network to allow a user of the workstation to easily access destinations such as printers and file servers to which that user is supposed to have access. Destinations may be configured by a network administrator to grant or deny access to that computer system. Although such configuration is a time-consuming and error prone task, because the configuration of the computer system and destinations is set up and then often not changed for many months or years, this time-consuming and error-prone method of configuration is tolerated in order to maintain the security of the network.
In many networks, configuration is accomplished by assigning a workgroup to the computer system, installing drivers that operate certain peripheral devices, and then assigning names to the locations of those devices for ease of use. This makes it cumbersome to allow guest access (e.g. temporary access to a user who does not have a username for the network) to a network. Because the guest could compromise the security of the network, the lack of easy network access by a guest was viewed as a feature of the network, not a problem. A party who wired a computer into a network could be an intruder, and so the configuration process served as a barrier to such intruders. The fact that the relatively few guests who had a legitimate need to access the network required significant configuration resources to do so was seen as a minor problem compared with the problems that could be unleashed by a malevolent party with access to the network. Because such a party could learn the proper workgroup identifier and other configuration information from studying another computer system already configured for network access, the technique of using the configuration process as a form of security is not truly secure. Instead, the process acts as a sort of an inexpensive door lock: it's only protection is the nuisance it causes. However, because a guest would have required physical access to a facility and would have to physically connect the computer system to the network, the relatively low amount of network security was seen as adequate for the circumstances because of the physical access requirement.
Recently, facilities have started providing more public-type access to a network at various locations via access points such as network hubs or switches. For example, jacks coupled to a network hub may be available in a conference room, allowing users to connect to the network a portable, mobile or other type of computer system. A properly configured computer system can remain configured no matter which jack is used to connect to the network, so that if a user disconnects a laptop from a jack in his or her office and plugs it into a conference room jack, the computer will perform just as it did when the computer was in the office.
Access to a computer network need not be via a jack. A network may provide wireless access to computer systems wishing to connect to the network. Wireless access allows a computer having the proper transceiver to access the network via wireless communication with a wireless access point, which is a transceiver that is in communication with the network. The computer and access point communicate via a wireless protocol such as the conventional IEEE 802.11 protocol. A user can bring his or her laptop into a conference room and the laptop will be connected to the network via the wireless access point serving the conference room without any physical connection.
However, there are several problems associated with providing public access to a network. First, organizations may not want to provide guests (e.g. users who do not have a user identifier identifying the user to the network) access to network destinations limited only by the configuration ability of the guest. Otherwise, a guest could connect to a network and then use facilities of that network such as printers or access sensitive material stored on network servers or other computers on the network. Another reason it is undesirable to allow a guest to connect to a network is the fact that many networks such as Ethernet broadcast their communications to all devices, and those devices must discard communications not intended for that device. A guest could connect a computer system to the network, and have access to all communications flowing over the network. If the guest recorded all such communications, the security of sensitive information could be compromised.
There are other problems for even legitimate users and authorized guests. First, access to the same destinations the user has at one location may not meet the user's needs at another location. For example, a user in a conference room on the other side of a corporate campus may wish to use a printer closer to the access point than the printer near his or her office that the user's computer is configured to easily use. Second, if guests wish to connect to a network a computer system or other device that is not properly configured, that computer system or device will be denied access to the entire network, and cannot use destination such as printers or the Internet that the operator of the network would otherwise readily grant the guest, but for the time consuming process of configuration. As a result, such configuration may be perceived to be not worth the effort due to the relatively short amount of time the user will be using the network and the configuration will not occur, or an inefficient use of a network administrator's resources will be used to configure the network and an inefficient use of a service technician's resources will be used to configure the guest's computer system to allow the guest to use certain capabilities of the network for a short period of time.
Another problem exists if the network access points use the 802.11 protocol. The 802.11 protocol does not provide transparent handoff from one access point to another if the access points are on different subnetworks. As a user moves from one access point to another access point, certain information transmitted to the user may never be received by the user.
Some network systems involved with providing access to a network utilize network address translation, or NAT. When a user sends a message to such network system, the network system intercepts the message, substitutes its own address and an assigned port number in place of the user's IP address and port number, and then forwards the message to the intended recipient. The network system maintains a table to allow it to match responses with its own IP address and the assigned port number to the original message sender's IP address and port number. When the response arrives, the network system performs the NAT process in reverse, and forwards the response to the IP source address specified in the original message. While this approach may be transparent to many users, it can interfere with the operation of certain software or mobile devices, for example, during certain sessions such as Telnet, virtual private networking (VPN) or IPSec sessions.
What is needed is a system and method that controls access to a network, allows guest access with only a limited amount of configuration, does not provide access to all communications being made over a network, allows simple access to location-related destinations such as nearby printers, allows a user to move between any set of access points without significant loss of communications, and can avoid network address translation interference.

System and method for providing access to a network with selective network address translation


Fuselage skin lap splice for aircraft formed of metal or composite skin panels. The adjacent skin panels comprise an outer skin and an inner skin, having contacting overlapping longitudinal edge portions, and a plurality of fasteners connecting such overlapping edge portions. A plurality of outwardly extending fingers are integrally connected along the edge portion of the inner skin and at least one longitudinal row of fasteners passes through the fingers and connects the outer skin and the fingers. Preferably the fingers are lollipopped, that is, have one or more protrusions thereon. The fingers at the end of the inner skin are flexible and soften and the load transfer through the fasteners, reducing the peak bearing stress and increasing the fatigue life of the splice. Alternatively, the desired flexibility at the end of the inner skin can be achieved by providing a plurality of large holes near the edge of the inner skin rather than by the provision of the fingers having apertures therebetween.

This invention relates to an aircraft skin lap splice between adjacent panels on an aircraft, and is particularly directed to the provision of an improved fuselage skin lap splice.
In the longitudinal fuselage skin lap joint splicing of adjacent panels on an aircraft, longitudinal rows of fasteners are used to connect the overlapping outer and inner skins. However, high load transfer occurs through the outermost rows of fasteners in such skin lap splices, resulting in high shear loads on such fasteners, and a limited fatigue life of the connection.
To overcome this problem, one or more so-called "finger doublers" are sometimes used at the skin lap splice between adjacent skin panels. One form of such prior art longitudinal skin lap splice arrangement is shown in FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawing. In this figure, numeral 10 is a longitudinal fuselage skin lap splice formed of the overlapping edge portions of an outer skin 12 and an inner skin 14 combined with a pair of finger doublers 16 and 18. The two full rows of rivets 20 and 22 are located in the overlap between the adjacent outer and inner skin portions, and the finger doublers 16 and 18 are added to decrease the critical bearing stress that would otherwise develop on such rows of rivets. The need for reducing the bearing stress exerted by the rivets on the skins is particularly pronounced for the outer skin 12 whenever the rivets are countersunk, or flush, since the parallel shank of the rivet is far more effective than the sloping head in transmitting load. Even though the rivet loads are common to both skins, the inner skin 14 is less critical because the full thickness is available to withstand the bearing loads on each rivet.
The finger doubler 16 at the top picks up one of the full rows of rivets 20 between the outer and inner skins, along the row of holes at 24 and the row of rivets at 26 which pass at 28 through the fingers 30 of the doubler 16. The lower finger doubler 18 fits inside the inner skin 14 and picks up all of the fasteners in rows 20 and 22 in holes 32 and 34, and also picks up all of the fasteners in row 36 of the inner skin 14, in the row of holes 38 of the fingers 40. Rows 26 and 36 contain holes spaced twice as far apart as in rows 20 and 22. The longeron 42, which functions to stabilize the splice or connection against buckling, is connected to the skins 12 and 14 and doubler 18 by the line of fasteners through the row of holes 34 in the inner skin, matching row 22 in the outer skin.
The term "fastener" is sometimes used generically to refer to all fasteners including, for example, bolts, rivets and pin-collar combinations. Aircraft joints can contain a mixture of threaded fasteners and rivets at different locations within the same joint, depending on the local load transfer. In the present invention the word fastener is used in its generic sense, and the word rivet is used to illustrate specific examples.
A simpler but less durable form of prior art lap splice is shown in FIG. 2, consisting of three (or sometimes two or four) full rows of fasteners 11, 13 and 15 through a uniformly wide overlap. The critical location is at the countersunk holes around the rivets 11 in the outer skin 17 nearest to the end of the inner skin 19. The holes at the opposite end of the splice are less critical because the continuous (inner) skin is not countersunk there. The full thickness of the skin is available to react the bearing stress due to the loads on fasteners 15 and to transmit the "bypass" load to the other fastener rows. Although the fastener loads peak at both ends of the overlap in FIG. 2, the holes adjacent to the end of the outer skin are less critical than at the opposite end because the load in the outer skin has been decreased by the loads transmitted by the other rows of fasteners. For the same reason, the inner skin 19 is more critical at the fastener row 15 than it is at row 11. The fatigue life of such a simple splice has sometimes been increased by using a row of protruding-head fasteners as shown at 11' in FIG. 2a for only the most critical row, in an otherwise flush joint. This local modification improves the fatigue life of the joint by decreasing the bearing stress in the outer skin 17 by having the entire thickness of the skin available to resist the bearing loads transmitted by fasteners 11', in contrast with only the parallel shank depth in FIG. 2. The difference is the depth of the countersink in the row of holes for the fasteners 11 in FIG. 2. The modified joint in FIG. 2a is now equally critical in the outer skin 17 at the row of fasteners 11' and in the inner skin at the row of fasteners 15 (see FIG. 2). While the fatigue life has been increased with respect to the flush joint shown in FIG. 2, the 50--50 likelihood of the cracks occurring where they would be visible from the outside and where they would not is a significant disadvantage. Also, the protruding head fasteners 11' in FIG. 2a will add to the aerodynamic drag of the airframe.
The overlap splices shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 have an eccentricity in load path between the inner and outer skins. This causes them to bend out of plane as the load is applied. An alternative prior art splice design to eliminate this bending is shown in the butt splice of FIG. 3, in which the adjacent skin panels 21 and 23 are butted together at 25 and spliced by the flange of the longeron 27, the external longitudinal strap 29, and the internal fingered splice plate 31. Since there is no direct connection between the skins, the load is transferred from one skin to the splice straps and back into the other skin at the opposite end of the joint. This design enables the skins to be safely operated at higher stress levels than with the lap splices shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, but requires almost twice as many fasteners. This design also uses fingers on the thin inner splice plate 31 both to reduce the fastener loads at the outermost full rows of fasteners and to increase the inspection intervals by permitting longer cracks to grow between the more widely spaced partial outermost rows.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved skin lap splice for aircraft.
Another object is to provide an improved fuselage skin lap splice for aircraft with respect to the prior art splice shown in FIG. 2, by reducing the load transfer on the most critical row of fasteners connecting the outer and inner skins of the splice, and thereby reducing metal fatigue.
A still further object is to provide an improved fuselage skin lap splice which is simpler in construction and formed of fewer components than the prior art lap splice of FIG. 1, and requiring fewer fasteners than the prior art butt splice of FIG. 3, while providing the same advantages from the finger doublers, namely reduced load transfer and bearing stress at the most critical fastener holes in the skins at the splice.


A control knob device has a main body defining a top surface having a ring-shaped stopping wall with two inserting openings formed thereon, and a lateral surface having a guiding recess extending upwards and downwards and a sliding slot running circumferentially and communicating with the guiding recess, with the depth thereof greater than that of the guiding recess. A shell coupled to the main body has a covering plate with two blocking portions located outside the stopping wall and adjacent to the inserting openings, and a lateral plate extending inwards to form an inserting slice corresponding to the sliding slot. The shell is coupled to the main body by the inserting slice passing through the guiding recess and inserted into the sliding slot. Two elastic ends of a spring element are inserted into the inserting openings and abut against the blocking portions for making the rotated shell return automatically.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control knob device, and more particularly to a control knob device with a compact and simple assembling structure.
2. The Related Art
A control knob are used for various functions on many different types of device. Conventionally, the control knob, adapted for offering a degree of control to a user, is mounted to a main body of the device by a shaft. Related U.S. Pat. No. 7,233,313 entitled "Control Knob with Multiple Degrees of Freedom and Force feedback", which is incorporated herein by reference, teaches a structure that the control knob is rigidly coupled to a pusher member of the device by the shaft for achieving fine and coarse adjustment. However, such structure is complicated and occupies a biggish space, as a result, adding the manufacturing cost, the assembling time and the volume of the designed device.


The invention downsizes and simplifies structures of a compressor and its driving system apparatus, and achieves a reduction of a noise. An oil free screw compressor is constituted by compressor main bodies compressing a gas, a motor driving rotors of the compressor main bodies via step-up gears, a gear casing storing the step-up gears, cooling apparatuses cooling a discharge air and the like. An oil tank is provided independently from the gear casing, the motor is fixed to a common base, the gear casing is integrally attached to the motor via a flange, and the compressor main bodies are integrally attached to the gear casing via the flange. Further, the cooling apparatuses are arranged in an upper side of the driving system apparatus, and a cooling fan is installed in an upper side thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oil free screw compressor having a compressor airend compressing a gas such as an air or the like, a driving apparatus driving the compressor airend, a cooling device cooling the gas discharged from the compressor airend and the like, and is particularly suitable for a middle capacity package type oil free screw compressor provided with a low pressure stage compressor airend and a high pressure stage compressor airend.
2. Description of Related Art
As one example of the conventional middle capacity oil free screw compressor, there is a structure described in patent document 1 (JP-A-2002-155879 (FIG. 1)). In this conventional structure, a gear shaft within a gear casing and a motor shaft driving the gear shaft are coupled by using a coupling. Further, generally, the motor and the gear casing are both fixed to a driving system special purpose base fixed to a common base, and cooling devices such as an air-cooled cooler (an after cooler, an inter cooler, an oil cooler or the like) and the like is arranged in a back surface of the compression main body or a driving system apparatus (a motor, a gear casing or the like). The cooler constructing the cooling device is arranged so as to be exposed to a back surface of a package, and is structured such as to directly take a low-temperature ambient air into the cooler, thereby achieving a downsizing.
Further, such as a prior art described in patent document 2 (JP-A-11-141488 (FIGS. 2 to 8), there has been known a structure in which the inter cooler, the after cooler, the oil cooler or the like is arranged in one side which is isolated from the compression main body and the driving system apparatus within the package, the motor and the compressor airend are fixed to the gear casing, and the gear casing is fixed to the base.
In both of the conventional oil free screw compressors, since the structure is made such that the gear casing and the motor are fastened by using the coupling, and the motor and the gear casing are both provided with the driving system special purpose base fixed to the common base, and are fixed thereto, it takes a lot of trouble to regulate so as to center the coupling, and a unit length is elongated. Further, there is a disadvantage that the driving system special purpose base, the gear shaft, the gear shaft bearing and the like are necessary.
Since the gear casing doubles as a function of an oil reservoir, the gear casing is enlarged in size, so that there is a problem that a high cost is involved by a necessity of a great working equipment. Further, since the gear casing is large, it is known that the gear casing itself is vibrated like a drum so as to form a noise source.
Further, in the package-shaped oil free screw compressor or the like, since the structured is generally made such that the device such as the cooler or the like constructing the cooling apparatus is exposed to a back surface of the package, or is directly communicated, there is a disadvantage that a vibration sound or a pulsation sound tends to leak to an outer side of the package from a surface of the cooler portion.

Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.


A black and white direct positive image forming process is disclosed. The process comprises imagewise exposing to light a silver halide light sensitive material and developing the material with a black and white developing solution. The light-sensitive material comprises a non-pre-fogged internal latent image type silver halide emulsion layer provided on a support. The material further contains a quaternary salt nucleating agent and a nucleating accelerator. In the present invention, the black and white developing solution contains an imidazole compound and a benzotriazole compound. The amount of the benzotriazole compound is preferably in the range of 0.1 to 10 wt.% of the amount of the imidazole compound. The black and white direct positive image is preferably formed on a computer output microfilm (COM).

Rapid developments of computers have made the information industries of today so prosperous. Studies on methods to output a great amount of recorded information have been enthusiastically made. In this technical field, a reversal silver halide photographic material has been used as the recording material. In the reversal image forming process, a negative image is formed by a first development; the negative image is bleached without fixing to remove a reduced silver from the negative image (desilvering); the remaining undeveloped silver halide is exposed to light; and a second development is carried out to form a positive image. The steps of the process are so complicated that a finishing speed of the film is slow and a maximum density (Dmax) and a minimum density (Dmin) are not stable. Further, a strong oxidizing agent such as potassium dichromate must be used in a bleaching bath.
A direct positive image forming process has been proposed to solve the problems of the reversal image forming process. In this process, a direct positive image can be obtained without using a negative film.
The known direct positive silver halide photographic materials can be classified into two types exclusive of special cases which are not practically used.
One is a process using a fogged silver halide emulsion. A direct positive image is by a developing process after the fogged nuclei (latent image) is destroyed within the exposed area by solarization or Herschel effect.
The other is a process using a non-pre-fogged internal latent image type silver halide emulsion. A direct positive image is obtained by carrying out an imagewise exposure and then conducting a surface developing process after or simultaneously with a fogging treatment.
A process of using a nucleating agent, called "chemical fogging process" has been known to produce selectively a fogged nucleus as is described above. The fogging process is described in "Research Disclosure", Vol. 151, No. 15,162, p. 72-87 (Nov. 1976).
The internal latent image type silver halide emulsion means such a silver halide emulsion that sensitivity specks exist mainly inside the silver halide grains and a latent image is formed mainly inside the grains by exposure.
The process of the latter type generally has a higher sensitivity as compared with the process of the former type. Therefore, the internal latent image type is suitable for use application in which a high sensitivity is required.
Various internal latent image type emulsions have been proposed in this technical field. For example, the emulsions are described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,592,250, No. 2,466,957, No. 2,497,875, No. 2,588,982, No. 3,317,322, No. 3,761,266, No. 3,761,276 and No. 3,796,577, and U.K. Patents No. 1,011,062, No. 1,151,363 and No. 1,150,553. The photographic material described in these documents has a relatively high sensitivity for the direct positive type.
The direct positive image forming system is described in detail in T.H. James, "The Theory of the Photographic Process" 4th ed., Chap. 7, pp. 182-193 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,761,276.
The developing solution of the non-pre-fogged internal latent image type silver halide light-sensitive material usually is a high alkaline solution of hydroquinone-metol or hydroquinone pyrazolidone having a pH value of not less than 10.5.
An amino compound has been contained in the developing solution to accelerate the development. Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 56(1981) - 106244 discloses an amino compound such as N-methylaminoethanol.
N-methylaminoethanol is relatively inexpensive and easily available, and shows excellent developing effect. However, it has various problems as is described below.
1. Amines usually have offensive odor like fish. The odor is unfavorable in various stages such as preparation of a developing solution, introduction of the solution and treatment of the solution.
2. Lower alkyl amines (e.g., N-methylaminoethanol) have a low boiling point. They often produce smoke when the solution is handled. The smoke adheres to the surrounding machines and walls to make those machines and walls sticky.
3. Amines have a high absorption capacity of CO.sub.2 existing in the atmosphere, so that the amines absorb CO.sub.2 from the atmosphere having a large amount of CO.sub.2, whereby pH of the developer is lowered. Therefore, the developing activity is decreased.
4. It is known that amines often deteriorate plastic parts of an automatic developing machine which is used for the photographic process.
5. For the effective developing acceleration, a large amount such as an amount of 40 to 80 g per 1 liter of the developing solution is needed, so that the cost becomes high and the concentration of the developer is difficult.
6. Amines are liquid at normal temperatures Therefore, they cannot be used to prepare the later-described one-pack type powdery processing agent which is advantageously used for saving the space of containers.

Black and white direct positive image forming process


An apparatus includes a bracket (110) that has at least one retainer (136) disposed on a first side of the bracket (110) and a mounting mechanism (134) disposed on a second side of the bracket (110) such that the mounting mechanism (134) grips a fluid rail (104). The at least one retainer (136) retains wires (112) adjacent to the bracket (110) and away from the fluid rail (104). The bracket (110) is disposed between the wires (112) and the fluid rail (104).

Internal combustion engines are known to have wire routing systems, also known as wire harnesses, that connect an engine control module with one or more fuel injectors and/or one or more sensors.
The engine control module is known to direct commands through the wire routing system, for example, to electronically operate a fuel injection system that injects fuel into the cylinders. Typically, the fuel injection system has a fuel injector for each cylinder. The fuel injector injects fuel into the cylinder in response to commands from the engine control module or another electronic control device.
The fuel injectors are often disposed above the cylinders near the engine's valve operating mechanism, such as rocker arms, camshafts, push rods, and so forth. The valve operation mechanism operates the intake and exhaust valves for the cylinders. During engine operation, the wires may become entangled in the moving parts of the valve operation mechanism and may be damaged.
Accordingly, there is a need for a wiring system for an electronic fuel injection system, which wiring system avoids entanglements with the valve operation mechanism.

International Engine Intellectual Property Company, LLC


An ATM billing system includes a data (billing) generator at each slot of an ATM switch, a plurality of billing collectors, and a billing center coupled to the ATM network. The data generators are provided with SNMP communication capability and with a modified TFTP communication capability. The data generators monitor the MIBs in their respective slots in ATM switches and, in particular, monitor the contents of tables which contain accounting information. When a table is 90% full, the data generator sends a trap to the billing collector associated with the particular switch and the billing collector sends a TFTP GET request to the data generator. The modified TFTP protocol in the data generator creates a pseudo filename, generates TFTP data packets containing the entire contents of the MIB billing table, and sends the packets according to TFTP protocol to the billing collector. The billing collector uses standard TFTP protocol to receive the TFTP packets and assemble them as a file which is stored. Upon successful receipt of the billing data, the billing collector sends the TFTP acknowledgement to the data generator and the data generator deletes the records in the MIB table for terminated calls. The billing collectors periodically read the billing data files and convert the data contained therein to a format which is suitable for the billing center.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to ATM switches. More particularly, the invention relates to methods and apparatus for collecting and processing billing information in ATM networks.
2. State of the Art
The modern telecommunications infrastructure is moving rapidly toward adopting an ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) standard. The ATM technology has been evolving for many years and is continuing to evolve. While many aspects of ATM technology have been agreed upon, many are still in relatively early stages of development. For example, since ATM technology is only recently being deployed for commercial use, there are no agreed upon standards for collecting billing information from an ATM network.
Presently, all of the operations, administration, and maintenance (OAM) of an ATM network is accomplished pursuant to an interim specification which provides for two types of management information base (MIB). The first MIB is the interim local management interface (ILMI) MIB which is utilized at a user network interface (UNI). The second MIB is the ATM MIB which is utilized at a network to network interface (NNI) between ATM switches. According to the interim specification, access to the MIB information is provided via the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). The MIBs are implemented by a management entity which resides at the interface and which contains an SNMP agent and typically a management application.
The MIBs each contain several groups of information, each group being stored as a table in RAM at the management entity. For example, the ILMI MIBs include tables for a physical group, an ATM layer group, a layer statistics group, VPC and VCC groups, and network prefix and address groups. The ATM MIBs include tables for an interface configuration group, a DS3 PLCP group, a TC sublayer group, VPL and VCL groups, VP and VC cross-connect groups, and the AAL5 connection performance statistics group.
According to various schemes being implemented presently, accounting information is derived from statistics stored in MIBs. The accounting information is then used to create billing information in order to bill customers for use of the ATM network. Generally, a separate billing MIB is provided for each slot controller (interface) in an ATM switch. Each billing MIB typically includes 500 entries (also referred to as records or rows). In order to gather the statistics from the MIBs, a "billing collector" entity must communicate with the ATM switch(es) using the SNMP protocol and gather data from each MIB. The SNMP protocol requires that information be retrieved from MIB tables one record at a time. For example, a typical sequence of SNMP commands from a billing collector involves repeated use of the GET command as illustrated in the code listing below.
______________________________________ repeat SNMP GET-Has slot restarted since last poll period SNMP GET-how many available records while (outstanding records) ( SNMP GETNEXT-First row in table save record to file SNMP GET-Delete first row ) wait (poll.sub.-- period) ) ______________________________________
This is a tedious procedure which taxes the processing resources in the ATM switches because it is relatively time consuming. This is further exacerbated by the fact that the MIBs are stored in RAM. The entries in the billing table will roll over and be lost if not read before the table fills. Therefore, the entries must be accumulated from the MIBs in a timely manner.

Billing system utilizing a modified file transfer protocol for collecting non-file MIB tables for billing in an ATM network