A method for providing data regarding a storage system comprising storage devices is described herein. A storage management module of an operating system of the storage system may be used for servicing (e.g., monitoring or testing) storage devices according to servicing parameters. For each serviced storage device, a reporting module of the storage management module may collect storage device and storage system data upon the occurrence of predetermined events (e.g., when a storage device exhibits an error and monitoring begins, when monitoring ends, and when testing of the storage device ends). The collected data may be saved to a report file in a predetermined format and received by a program configured to automatically extract the data according to the predetermined format for use in storage device and storage system analysis and to determine modified servicing parameters used by the storage management module to service storage devices.

A file server is a computer that provides file service relating to the organization of information on storage devices, such as disks. The file server or filer may be embodied as a storage system including a storage operating system that implements a file system to logically organize the information as a hierarchical structure of directories and files on the disks. As used herein, the term "storage operating system" generally refers to the computer-executable code operable on a storage system that manages data access and client access requests and may implement file system semantics in implementations involving filers. In this sense, the Data ONTAP™ storage operating system, available from Network Appliance, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., which implements a Write Anywhere File Layout (WAFL™) file system, is an example of such a storage operating system implemented as a microkernel within an overall protocol stack and associated disk storage. The storage operating system can also be implemented as an application program operating over a general-purpose operating system, such as UNIX® or Windows®, or as a general-purpose operating system with configurable functionality, which is configured for disk servicing applications as described herein.
A storage system's disk storage is typically implemented as one or more storage volumes that comprise physical storage disks, defining an overall logical arrangement of storage space. Available storage system implementations can serve a large number of discrete volumes (150 or more, for example). A storage volume is "loaded" in the storage system by copying the logical organization of the volume's files, data and directories into the storage system's memory. Once a volume has been loaded in memory, the volume may be "mounted" by one or more users, applications, devices, etc. permitted to access its contents and navigate its namespace.
A storage system may be configured to operate according to a client/server model of information delivery to thereby allow many clients to access files stored on a server, e.g., the storage system. In this model, the client may comprise an application, such as a file-system protocol, executing on a computer that "connects" to the storage system over a computer network, such as a point-to-point link, shared local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), or virtual private network (VPN) implemented over a public network such as the Internet. Communications between the storage system and its clients are typically embodied as packets sent over the computer network. Each client may request the services of the storage system by issuing file-system protocol messages formatted in accordance with a conventional file-system protocol, such as the Common Internet File System (CIFS) or Network File System (NFS) protocol.
Conventionally, the storage operating system monitors any errors of the storage devices and provides servicing of the storage devices using a set of servicing parameters. The servicing parameters may define error thresholds and recommendations for courses of action to be taken on storage devices exceeding any error thresholds. Conventionally, however, the set of servicing parameters are encoded as code instructions within the storage operating system where modification of the servicing parameters requires modification of the code instructions of the storage operating system. Therefore, to implement a modified set of servicing parameters, a new storage operating system version having modified code instructions would have to be developed by software programmers and then installed onto the storage system. As such, there is a need for a method for modifying disk servicing parameters of a storage operating system in a convenient and non-disruptive manner.
Also, conventionally, the storage operating system may be configured to send disk and storage system data over a computer network to an outside entity (e.g., the provider of the disks or storage system) for performance or error analysis. Conventionally, however, the disk or storage system data is sent to provide overall storage system performance analysis and is not designed to specifically analyze disk errors. Therefore, conventionally, disk and storage system data is collected and sent on a predetermined regular schedule (e.g., collected and sent every week) and does not contain relevant disk or storage system data collected at the time a disk error occurred. As such, the disk or storage system data typically does not contain data for properly analyzing disk errors since the received data may have been collected long after the disk errors occurred and are not relevant for disk error analysis.
Also, the collected disk and storage system data is typically sent in a file comprising a stream of unformatted data having data of particular disks and storage system data randomly interspersed throughout the file. As such, when analyzing problems of a particular disk, the entire file (or several files) is usually searched (often manually) for data pertaining to the particular disk. When a general disk trend or issue across multiple disk types or storage systems is to be analyzed, a specialized programming script needs to be created for searching specific disk or storage system data relevant to the trend or issue (e.g., a script created for searching all data relating to a specific disk error type). As such, it is difficult to analyze errors of a particular disk as well as general disk trends or issues. Therefore, there is a need for a method for sending more relevant disk and storage system data relating to disk errors and a more efficient and convenient method for analyzing such disk and storage system data.
Further, conventionally, when the storage operating system encounters multiple errors of a storage device during servicing (e.g., monitoring or testing) of the storage device, it does not determine whether the errors are localized to a particular physical area of the storage device and counts each error as a separate error. A storage device having multiple errors that reach a specified error threshold may be failed by the storage operating system (and later removed from the storage system) when, in fact, the storage device may have a single localized physical defect, whereby the multiple errors were confined to a small area. Since, conventionally, the storage operating system counts each error as a separate error without determining whether the errors are localized to one area, the storage operating system may unnecessarily and prematurely fail storage devices in the storage system and cause a higher rate of storage device failure than warranted. As such, there is a need for a method for servicing (e.g., monitoring or testing) storage devices that considers localization of errors.

Method and apparatus for reporting storage device and storage system data


A controller for a power inverter having a gate assembly with an alternating current power output. A gate driver controls the activation of the gate assembly while a processor controls the operation of the gate driver. A current sensor has an output signal representative of the current at the power output. A noise detector circuit provides an output signal to the processor of the frequency of electromagnetic noise in the power inverter and the processor is programmed to sample the current from the current sensor at the frequency of the noise.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to power inverters of the type used in hybrid electric vehicles, electric vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles, and more particularly, to such a power inverter with noise compensation.
II. Description of Related Art
In view of the high cost of hydrocarbon fuel, hybrid electric vehicles, electric vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles have enjoyed increased popularity. In such vehicles, one or more electric motors are utilized to assist the engine to provide more traction power as well as to regenerate power to charge the battery. For both driving the vehicle as well as regenerating the battery, a power inverter is required to complete the power conversion between alternating current used to power the motor and generated by the motor during a braking cycle, and direct current. The direct current is used to store power in the battery during a regeneration period of operation of the vehicle while DC power from the battery is used to power the motor for increased traction and/or acceleration.
For a fall hybrid system, the electric motor typically has a power capacity of at least 50 horsepower in order to power the vehicle independently without the gasoline engine. This high power rating for the electric motor results in high voltages and high current requirements for the hybrid electric vehicle.
In order to obtain proper operation of the hybrid electric vehicle, current sensing is an important function for the electrical drive system of the vehicle. The typical HEV system utilizes electric motors to assist the traction torque when acceleration is required as well as to regenerate power during braking. Previously, the hybrid controller regulates the driving current of the electric motor and thus controls the output torque for the electric motor system. Consequently, current sensing results are very important to accurately control the performance of the hybrid vehicle. Such performance factors include power transition, smoothness, acceleration quality, braking performance and the like. Conversely, rough or inaccurate current sensing quality may affect the driving quality, the overall performance of the electric vehicle and, in extreme cases, even cause system failure.
Accurate current sensing for the power inverter in an REV, however, is oftentimes difficult to obtain due to the number of electromagnetic noise (EMI) sources within the power inverter. For example, a typical power inverter utilizes high battery voltage which is electrically connected to the HEV motor through insulated gate bipolar transistors which operate under the control of a gate driver. The gate driver selectively switches the transistors in the gate assembly to produce three phase alternating current electrical output for the HEV motor. The switching of the high current and high voltage within the power inverter also creates excessive noise.
Typically, the power inverter for an HEV uses pulse width modulation (PWM to regulate the phase currents and thus the torque of the REV motor. The switching frequency for the gate assembly transistors is typically in the range of 1 kilohertz to 20 kilohertz and this noise typically enters the AC output to the motor.
Although the switching of the gate transformers in the gate assembly for the inverter constitutes a major source of EMI in the inverter, there are other sources of EMI in the inverter which also enter the current output to the motor. For example, many HEV power inverters include different DC voltages so that DC-DC converters, oftentimes using PWM switching power supplies, also add to the EMI within the inverter These other sources of EMI, furthermore, oftentimes operate at different frequencies than the gate assembly for the power inverter.
Since EMI is present on the current sensor output, the current sensor for the previously known power inverters provides an inaccurate signal to the controller for the power inverter. Since the controller controls the activation of the gate assembly, and thus the current to the HEV motor, less than optimal operation of the electric motor results.


Disclosed are various embodiments for a multi-panel lighting device. The multi-panel lighting device may include a primary light-emitting panel having a primary power supply and a base, and at least one auxiliary light-emitting panel coupled and detachably attached to the primary light-emitting panel. The at least one auxiliary light-emitting panel may include an auxiliary power supply such that the at least one auxiliary light-emitting panel can operate in conjunction with and/or independent of the primary light-emitting panel.

Area lights, such as lanterns and work lights, have existed for decades with little to no innovation. Traditionally, work lights, such as those used in a garage or industrial facility, must be plugged in to operate and must be repeatedly pivoted to adjust an angle of illumination. Continuously moving a work light from one area to another during a project is not ideal and can be cumbersome. Lanterns, on the other hand, offer more flexibility as lanterns can be conveniently relocated from one area to another. However, it is difficult to orient the illumination provided by a lantern and lanterns tend to be bulky such that they cannot be used in many spaces and various applications. Also, for difficult areas to illuminate, lanterns require use of a hand of an operator, preventing the operator from utilizing both hands to complete a task.


In order to reproduce music suitable for a situation where a user listens to the music while performing repetitive exercise, if a walking tempo value sensed by a walking tempo sensing portion 3 falls outside a certain range defined on the basis of a music tempo value of a music data file currently being reproduced by a music data reproduction portion 6, a music tempo specifying portion 4 specifies a music tempo value agreeing with the walking tempo value. A reproduction control portion 5 selects a music data file having a music tempo value corresponding to the music tempo specified by the music tempo specifying portion 4 from among a plurality of music data files stored along with data on music tempo of the respective music data files in a data storage portion 2, and causes the music data reproduction portion 6 to start the reproduction of the selected music data file.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for controlling music reproduction, the apparatus being suitable for situations where a user listens to the music while performing repetitive exercise such as walking and jogging. The present invention also relates to an apparatus for reproducing music, the apparatus using the apparatus for controlling music reproduction.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been a conventional apparatus for reproducing music, the apparatus sensing a walking pitch (walking tempo) and modifying music tempo in accordance with the sensed walking tempo to provide a user who is walking while listening to the music with a sense of togetherness between his movements and the music (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-85888). There has been another conventional apparatus which, if a difference between the speed of the music in use (music tempo) and an average speed of steps (walking tempo) exceeds a certain value, modifies the speed of the music so that the difference is reduced by a certain ratio (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-177749).
The above-described conventional apparatuses only reproduce previously specified music at a modified tempo. In a case where the music is reproduced at a tempo significantly different from the original tempo, as a result, the conventional apparatuses force the user to listen to unnatural music which is quite different from the intention of a performer of the music. Since the conventional apparatuses simply modify a music tempo but fall short of changing user's mood, furthermore, the user gets tired of the music, resulting in his decreased willingness to continue the exercise. In a case where the music data was recorded as waveform data, moreover, a modification to music tempo causes changes in tone pitch and makes the user feel uncomfortable at the music unless the music data is subjected to special signal processing. In a case where the music was recorded as performance data such as MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) data, although a modification to music tempo does not cause changes in tone pitch, the music data recorded as performance data has less musical richness than the music data recorded as waveform data.
There has also been an apparatus called running pacemaker (a conventional art described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-299980). This apparatus allows a user to specify the highest and lowest values of his allowable pulse, and his desired pace (running pitch), so that the output pace of electronic tones output by a variable frequency circuit decreases when his pulse exceeds the specified highest value, while the output pace of electronic tones increases when his pulse falls below the lowest value.
Furthermore, there has been a conventional exercise support apparatus which uses music data instead of electronic tones, and modifies tempo (music tempo) through the use of a sensor for sensing motion tempo (running tempo) (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-299980). More specifically, this exercise support apparatus generates a function of target pulse time in accordance with values specified by the user, so that a modified tempo is obtained by adding a correction amount obtained by multiplying a difference ΔH(t) between a user's pulse and a target pulse by the original tempo and a coefficient A to a value obtained by multiplying the exercise tempo by a coefficient D. As a result, the exercise support apparatus achieves control of the user's pulse. Letting the coefficient A=0, the music tempo is modified to agree with the running tempo.
There has also been a conventional apparatus for reproducing music, the apparatus leading user's heart rate to an ideal heart rate by measuring user's heart rate to modify the speed of music (music tempo) when the difference between the measured heart rate and an ideal heart rate derived from user's information exceeds a certain value (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-177750). In these above-described conventional arts as well, however, these apparatuses only reproduce previously specified music data at a modified tempo.
Furthermore, there has been an automatic performance apparatus which senses user's pulse to calculate the percentage of exercise load on the basis of the sensed pulse. In accordance with the percentage of exercise load of 70% to 100%, the automatic performance apparatus specifies a tempo coefficient P=1.0 to 0.7, selects one of automatic performance data files each of which has an original tempo slowing down in the order of the tempo coefficient P and is stored in correspondence with the tempo coefficient P, and reproduces the selected automatic performance data (see the second embodiment of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H10-63265). As the exercise load rate increases, the automatic performance apparatus selects an automatic performance data file having a slower reproduction tempo (music tempo), resulting in the user also slowing down his jogging pace in harmony with the decreased music tempo. At each change in the tempo coefficient P, in addition, the automatic performance apparatus stops the currently reproduced song before starting a newly selected song from the beginning of the song. In order to switch to a newly selected song, furthermore, the automatic performance apparatus can also cross-fade the currently reproduced song and the newly selected song, or complete, in a more natural manner, the automatic performance of the currently reproduced song until the end of the song before starting the reproduction of the newly selected song.
As a result, the automatic performance apparatus switches the automatic performance data in accordance with exercise load rate but reproduces songs at their respective original tempos. From a user's point of view, however, the user only recognizes the current exercise load rate from the music tempo, but this apparatus does not affect his walking pitch in order to lead to the optimal exercise load rate. Since the reproduction tempo does not necessarily agree with the user's walking tempo, more specifically, exercise while listening to such music makes the user feel uncomfortable. If there is no change in the user's exercise load rate, furthermore, there is no change in the tempo coefficient P as well, resulting in the termination of the automatic performance at the end of the reproduction of the currently reproduced song.
There has also been a distribution apparatus (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-108154). This distribution apparatus transmits time TC elapsed from the beginning of exercise, an exercise intensity m, a heart rate S, a walking tempo T to a distribution site every time a user walks for a certain distance, while the distribution site searches for song data having a tempo (music tempo) providing the user with a most suitable exercise load, distributes the found song data to allow a tone generator of a terminal apparatus to reproduce the song data. More specifically, the distribution is done such that a load heart rate F corresponding to the exercise intensity m is read out from a heart rate historical table TBL1 to multiply the walking tempo T by a tempo increase/decrease coefficient C corresponding to a difference Δd between the load heart rate F and the user's heart rate S to obtain a load tempo TMP to retrieve song data having a tempo which approximately agrees with the load tempo TMP from a database.
Therefore, this conventional art realizes reproduction of song data having a tempo which approximately agrees with a walking tempo providing a user with an optimal exercise load. However, this conventional art requires access to a distribution site to download the song data, demanding a prolonged process delay for switching song data. In addition, both the intervals between the measurement of user's heart rate and the intervals between the switching of music data are the time required for the user to walk for a certain distance. In order to quickly respond to the changes in heart rate, as a result, the certain distance has to be short. If there is no change in heart rate over some period of time, however, reproduction of the same song from the beginning will be reiterated over the period of time with short intervals. In addition, intervals between the switching can vary, depending on user's walking tempo. Moreover, this conventional art requires a sensor for measuring the walking tempo T. Furthermore, this conventional art has not yet considered how the song data files are stored and how a song data file having a tempo which approximately agrees with the load tempo TMP is retrieved by the distribution site.
There has also been a conventional art for prompting a user to do exercise which naturally quickens the user's heart rate (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-87731). When the user's instant heart rate falls below the lowest heart rate of a target exercise range during his exercise, more specifically, this conventional art provides the user with a song of a rhythm faster than the current instant heart rate (beat falling within a range from the lowest heart rate to a mean heart rate of the target exercise range) to make the user recognize his low heart rate, prompting the user to do exercise in harmony with the song having the rhythm faster than the current heart rate. However, the rhythm (beat) of a song merely tells the user that his instant heart rate is lower than the lowest heart rate of the target exercise range, but will not be modified with consideration given to walking tempo or the like. Therefore, the beat of the song does not agree with user's walking tempo.

Apparatus for controlling music reproduction and apparatus for reproducing music


The invention can provide an improvement in the connection reliability in mounting semiconductor chips. The invention can include solder balls that are disposed on a back surface of an interposer substrate, in a manner to avoid diagonal lines of the interposer substrate, and a semiconductor chip is mounted on a surface of the interposer substrate. The invention permits electronic devices to be made that are smaller and lighter, while improving their reliability.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to wiring substrates, semiconductor devices, semiconductor modules, electronic devices, methods for designing wiring substrates, methods for manufacturing semiconductor devices, and methods for manufacturing semiconductor modules. In particular, the present invention can be applied to chip size packages (CSPs) or ball grid arrays (BGAs).
2. Description of Related Art
In chip size packages and ball grid arrays, ball bumps are disposed with full grids or staggered arrangements. FIG. 12 (a) schematically shows a plan view of the structure of a conventional chip size package, and FIG. 12 (b) shows a cross-sectional view taken along lines J—J of FIG. 12 (a). In FIGS. 12(a) and (b), a semiconductor chip 101 includes a wiring layer 102 that is connected to an active region formed thereon, and pad electrodes 103 are formed on the wiring layer 102. Additionally, a stress buffer layer 104 is formed on the active region formed in the semiconductor chip 101 in a manner to expose the pad electrodes 103, and rearrangement wirings 105 are formed on the pad electrodes 103, which extend over the stress buffer layer 104. Further, a solder resist film 106 is formed on the rearrangement wirings 105, and opening sections 107 are formed in the solder resist film 106, which expose the rearrangement wirings 105 on the stress buffer layer 104. Also, solder balls 108 can be formed over the stress buffer layer 104, and the solder balls 108 are connected to the rearrangement wirings 105 through the opening sections 107 formed in the solder resist film 106.
FIG. 13 (a) schematically shows a plan view of the structure of a conventional ball grid array, and FIG. 13 (b) shows a cross-sectional view taken along lines K—K of FIG. 13 (a). In FIGS. 13(a) and (b), wirings 112a and 112c are formed on both surfaces of an interposer substrate 111, and the wirings 112a and 112c formed on the respective surfaces are mutually connected via through hole wirings 112b that are formed in the interposer substrate 111. Further, a semiconductor chip 113 is mounted on a front surface of the interposer substrate 111, and the semiconductor chip 113 is connected to the wirings 112a via bump electrodes 114, and sealed with molding resin 115. Also, solder balls 116 are disposed in a full grid configuration on a back surface of the interposer substrate 111, and the solder balls 116 are connected to the wirings 112c.

Wiring substrate, semiconductor device, semiconductor module, electronic equipment, method for designing wiring substrate, method for manufacturing semiconductor device, and method for manufacturing semiconductor module


A lighting unit is incorporated in an LC display. The lighting unit includes a light guide and a light source adjacent to the light guide. The light guide includes a rear surface facing an LC panel, a front surface opposite to the rear surface, a first side surface between the rear and the front surfaces, and a second side surface spaced widthwise from the first side surface. The light from the light source travels into the light guide, and from the first toward the second side surfaces. A reflector for reflecting the light incident on the second side surface toward the first side surface is formed on the second side surface. The front surface of the light guide is formed with first and second slant portions. Each first slant portion reflects the light, traveling from the first toward the second side surfaces, toward the rear surface of the light guide. Each second slant portion reflects the light, traveling from the second toward the first side surfaces, toward the rear surface of the light guide.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display, and more particularly to a lighting unit used in a liquid crystal display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a liquid crystal display used in a notebook-size computer for example includes a liquid crystal panel and a lighting unit for illuminating the panel. Conventionally with respect to the lighting unit, various efforts have been made to achieve as uniform illumination of the liquid crystal display as possible. For example, JP-A2000-200049 discloses two kinds of lighting units described below.
A first lighting unit B1, as shown in FIG. 7A of the present application, includes a light source 80 and a light guiding plate 9A. Light emitted from the light source 80 enters into the light guiding plate 9A via a first side surface 90a and travels toward a second side surface 90b. The light guiding plate 9A has a front surface formed with a plurality of slant portions 91A. The light traveling from the first side surface 90a toward the second side surface 90b is reflected by the slant portions 91A to be emitted toward a panel P via a rear surface 92 of the light guiding plate 9A.
A second lighting unit B2, as shown in FIG. 7B of the present application, includes a light source 80, a light guiding plate 9B and a reflector 89. Light emitted from the light source 80 enters into the light guiding plate 9B via the first side surface 90a to meet the second side surface 90b. The light is subsequently reflected by the reflector 89 and travels toward the first side surface 90a. Like the first lighting unit B1 described above, the light guiding plate 9B has a front surface formed with a plurality of slant portions 91B. The light, reflected by the reflector 89 and subsequently traveling toward the first side surface 90a, is reflected by the slant portions 91B to be emitted toward the panel P via the rear surface 92 of the light guiding plate 9B.
As above described, the lighting unit B1 and the lighting unit B2 are respectively provided with a plurality of highly reflective slant portions formed on the front surface of the light guiding plate. The slant portions are provided in order to illuminate the liquid crystal panel P with light emitted from the light source 80 as uniformly as possible. However, such a conventional arrangement does not always achieve sufficiently evenly distributed light.
As explained with reference to FIG. 7A, in the lighting unit B1, light traveling from the first side surface 90a toward the second side surface 90b is reflected by the slant portions 91A and subsequently emitted from the rear surface 92 of the light guiding plate 9A. With this arrangement, light tends to be emitted in large amount around the first side surface 90a facing the light source 80, whereas light tends to be emitted in small amount around the second side surface 90b positioned far from the light source 80. As a result, it is difficult to uniformly illuminate the whole surface of the panel P. Further, in the lighting unit B1, part of the light entering into the light guiding plate 9A leaks via the second side surface 90b. This also obstructs the achievement of uniform illumination of the panel P.
On the other hand, the lighting unit B2 shown in FIG. 7B is provided with the reflector 89 positioned opposite to the light source 80 across the light guide 9B. Therefore, there is no possibility of leakage of light via the second side surface 90b of the light guide. However, light output from the rear surface of the light guiding plate 9B is also different by location in the lighting unit B2. Specifically, light tends to be emitted in large amount around the second side surface 90b, whereas light tends to be emitted in small amount around the first side surface 90a.

Liquid crystal display and lighting unit having parabolic surface


Disposable pants allow a crotch section and a front abdominal section to be bonded securely while ensuring the stretchability of the front abdominal section in a pants structure in which the crotch section and front abdominal section formed as separate members are bonded. The disposable pants have functions of both pants and a diaper, and a left front abdominal part and a right front abdominal part can be developed to the left and right by breaking left and right breaking parts. The left front abdominal part and right front abdominal part are provided with adhesive pieces to be attached/detached to/from adhesive parts of a central front abdominal part. A crotch section on which an absorber is provided is connected to the central front abdominal part using sheet members so as not to interfere with stretchability of the central front abdominal part resulting from an elastic member.

As conventional disposable pants of this type, there is a technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-317356. The pants described in this gazette are provided with breaking lines on both left and right sides of a front section to allow the front section to be separated at the breaking lines as well as adhesive pieces bonded to bonding parts on the left and right sides of the front section and a rear section. When the front section is separated at the breaking lines, the front section and rear section are fastened by the left and right adhesive pieces. Besides, an elastic stretchable member is provided around the hips of the front abdominal section.
The pants disclosed in this gazette, provided with an elastic stretchable member around the hips of the front abdominal section, have a structure in which sections including the front abdominal section, crotch section and rear section are formed integrally, which is different in fundamental structure from the disposable pants according to the present invention in which the crotch section and front abdominal section are formed as separate members and are then bonded.
That is, the structure in which the front abdominal section and crotch section are formed as separate members as in the present invention presents a great problem of how to bond the crotch section having an absorber to the front abdominal section while ensuring the contractibility of the front abdominal section. However, such a problem does not arise in the disposable pants described in the above gazette having a structure in which the front abdominal section and crotch section are integral.


A grid-type microwave antenna, easy to manufacture, assemble and disassemble, is formed of a number of spaced reflector rods which, when mounted in a frame, form a parabolic reflecting surface. The frame includes U-shaped channels for mounting and supporting the spaced reflector rods. Each of the rods has a curvature so that the combination of the rods spanning the frame forms a parabolic reflector. The frame is formed by channels having holes to receive the central and the end portions of the reflector rods. Insulating sleeves are provided for the central portion of each rod. Insulating cups are used for the end portions of each rod.

Grid-type microwave antennas are known in the prior art. When compared to antennas whose reflecting surfaces are formed of solid metal, the grid-antennas offer the advantages of low wind load, light weight, and can be shipped disassembled, then assembled on site. Grid antennas are shown in several prior art patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,850,735 to Harris discloses a parabolic antenna structure including a circular rim to which hollow tubular members of aluminum alloy are welded or otherwise fastened together.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,178,713 to Yang discloses a parabolic antenna consisting of two triangular sections and spaced parallel rods bent in planes which are parallel with each other to form a reflecting surface of a paraboloid of revolution. The spacing of the rods is gradually increased with the distance from the center-line of the reflector.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,445,854 to Callaghan discloses an antenna consisting of a hollow, rectangular, elongated support structure with holes at a top surface and holes at a bottom surface in line with those at the top surface, respectively. The dimensions of the support structure restrict the access to the interior of the structure. Collars surrounding the holes are fabricated at the interior or exterior of the holes at both the top and bottom sides. A U-shaped member formed with beads or die surfaces therealong is inserted at an interior or exterior of the support structure to coact with the collars to lock the rods in place extending through the holes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,980 to Murray discloses a dipole antenna with parabolic reflector which includes a circular horizontal rim to which a plurality of spokes are riveted. The rim can be formed from a pair of semi-circular rim sections or from a single unitary metal strip.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,928 to Elsbernd discloses a wind load reduction in tower mounted broadcast antennas consisting of reflectors as horizontal members and vertical members interconnected by inserting the members through each other and then welding the members or fastening them by screws, bolts etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,943 to Metcalfe discloses a mesh dish antenna and hub consisting of a plurality of curved ribs radially extending from a central hub to a rim where the curved ribs are secured with screws.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,777 to Halverson discloses a dish antenna structure which consists of radially extending ribs connected at their outer ends to a circular, peripheral ring by nuts and bolts. The ring is preferably formed with a peripheral ring groove facing the center of the antenna, which groove receives and holds the outer edges of antenna panels supported by the ribs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,946 to Matz, Jr. discloses a grid antenna consisting of a plurality of spaced metallic reflector ribs having an elongated cross-sectional configuration that is in the direction generally parallel to the axis of the feed. The ends of the ribs are connected to a hoop.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,212, to Cox discloses a grid-type paraboloid microwave antenna consisting of a rigid rim surrounding an array of parallel conductive rods. The rim forms a U-shaped channel along which a pair of opposed channels extend to receive an insulating strip to cover entry to the channel. The strip includes a series of spaced holes to admit ends of the rods into the channel. A second insulating strip in contained in a second pair of channels along the bottom of the U-shaped channel to prevent the ends of the rods from making electrical contact with the bottom of the channel. The insulating strip holds the ends of the rods in the desired positions relative to each other. The holes in the insulating strip gradually change from circular to increasingly elongated slots having radiused ends to accommodate the changing angle of intersection between the arches of the rods and the strip around the circumference of the rim.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 275,197 to Feagle discloses a design for a portable antenna ground scoring unit for air to ground gunnery which appears to include a plurality of parallel arranged ribs or rods mounted to a supporting frame work.


This is to provide a catalyst for purifying exhaust gases, catalyst which are good in terms of the purifying performance.

A catalyst for purifying exhaust gases, in general, is formed by forming a porous loading layer, which is made of a heat-resistant inorganic oxide, and the like, on a surface of a catalytic support substrate, which exhibits heat resistance, and loading a catalytic metal on this loading layer. The catalyst for purifying exhaust gases, by the action of the catalytic metal, converts harmful nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO), which are included in exhaust gases, into harmless nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water.
It has been known that the purifying performance of exhaust gases, which results from catalytic metals, receives the influence of temperatures strongly, and accordingly the purification is generally carried out at temperatures of 300° C. or more. Because of this, like immediately after starting engines, the temperature of exhaust gases is low, the catalytic activity of catalytic metals is low, and so the purification of exhaust gases has been difficult.
As the method of improving the purifying performance and ignition performance of catalyst for purifying exhaust gases, a method of letting one catalyst for purifying exhaust gases possess two different characteristics has been known widely. Such a catalyst for purifying exhaust gases is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 62-68,542 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 62-65,746.
However, these catalysts for purifying exhaust gases are such that the durability has not been sufficient.

Abstract: A catalyst according to the present invention for purifying exhaust gases comprises: a catalytic support substrate (1); a first catalytic layer (2) having a first loading layer formed on an upstream side of the catalytic support substrate (1) and made of a fire-resistant inorganic oxide, and Rh loaded in the first loading layer; a second catalytic layer (3) having a second loading layer formed on a surface of the catalytic support substrate (1) on an downstream side of the first catalytic layer (2) and made of a fire-resistant inorganic oxide, and Pd and/or Pt loaded in the second loading layer; and a third catalytic layer (4) having a third loading layer formed on a surface of the second catalytic layer (3) and made of a fire-resistant inorganic oxide, and Rh loaded in the third loading layer; and is characterized in that: the first catalytic layer (2) is such that, when taking Rh loaded in the first catalytic layer as 100% by weight, Rh is loaded in an amount of 70% by weight or more within such a range that the distance from the surface is 20 μm; and the loading amount of Rh loaded in the first catalytic layer (2) is from 1.5 to 15 times as much as the loading amount of Rh loaded in the third loading layer. Because of the fact that Rh is loaded in a great loading amount in the superficial layer portion on an upstream side of exhaust-gas flow, it turns into a catalyst for purifying exhaust gases, catalyst which is good in terms of the purifying characteristics.


A recipe presentation system which presents an integrated recipe for a plurality of dishes includes: a recipe storage unit storing recipes for dishes including preparation elements arranged in a hierarchy according to closeness to completion of preparation of the respective dishes; a recipe selection unit which allows a user to select a first recipe and a second recipe from among the recipes; an overlapping preparation element identification unit which identifies common preparation elements between the first recipe and the second recipe; a recipe integration unit which generates the integrated recipe by arranging, in order of preparation, the preparation elements included in the first recipe and the preparation elements included in the second recipe, in a manner such that the user recognizes, as a single preparation element, the common preparation elements; and a recipe output unit which outputs the integrated recipe.

Conventionally, information on dishes and recipes for the dishes have been available on cookbooks, cooking shows, and websites including cooking information on the Internet. The information on recipes for dishes includes a method for making a dish (preparation method), ingredients and quantity thereof, utensils to use, cooking time, and nutrition values. Users prepare the dishes shown in such media with reference to the recipes.
There has been a disclosed technique for displaying, as a single combined method, preparation methods for parallel preparation of a plurality of dishes (see Patent Literature (PTL) 1). Furthermore, there has been a disclosed technique which enables searching of recipes based on an ingredient or a step in a preparation method in the recipes (see PTL 2).

Recipe presentation system and recipe presentation method

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


The disk transfer device according to the present invention includes a disk tray for holding the disk during the disk transfer action and a tray driving mechanism for driving the tray forward and backward between a first position which is the retracted location of the tray corresponding to a turn table in a disk drive and a second position which is the loading and unloading location of the disk outwardly of the disk drive, wherein the disk tray comprises a main tray for supporting one side of the disk and a sub tray provided separately of the main tray for holding the other side of the disk, the main tray and the sub tray are joined to each other to have a pocket for accommodating partially the disk.

Conventionally, as a disk transfer device to be used in the above-mentioned disk drive, a disk transfer device to be used in a disk loading equipment that has an opening on the front panel through which a disk tray is drawn out or retracted is well known. In this case, after the tray is drawn out from the disk loading equipment and a disk is loaded onto the tray, the tray is automatically retracted into a predetermined position (a mounted position onto the turntable) in the disk drive assembled in the loading equipment.
In such a type of disk drive, when a disk on the tray is retracted into the disk drive, it is held between the turntable and a clamper. And thereafter, the disk is driven at a specific rotational speed so that data signals recorded to the disk can be read by the disk drive, that is recording or reproducing apparatus, during a read operation, for example. More specifically, signals are recorded to tracks within a specific area of the disk, and a pickup for signal reading is driven according to the track address of the desired signal so that the desired signal can be reproduced.
Incidentally, in the above-mentioned disk drive utilizing a tray in transferring a disk, as types sorted by the installation posture, what is called a horizontal installation type is generally used. In this type of the disk drive, the disk is loaded in a horizontal position. However, depending on the purpose to use or the installed place and the like, what is called a vertical installation type is required. In this type of the disk drive, the disk is loaded in an inclined position to a certain degrees from the horizontal position (in a substantially vertical position, for example).
When such a vertical installation type of disk drive is desired, it might be considered to provide a plurality of claws on an outer periphery in a disk supporting surface of the tray so as to receive an outer periphery of the disk in a substantially vertical position. In this case, the disk is transferred in a state where it is supported by the claws at the outer periphery thereof.
FIG. 44 is an overall perspective view of a vertical type of personal computer E12. As shown in this drawing, in a disk drive assembled into the personal computer E12, a plurality of engaging claws 102 are disposed on a vicinity of an outer periphery in a disk supporting area 101a of a disk tray 101. The engaging claws 102 are mounted on the tray so as to rotate about supporting axes 102s respectively.
And, in a state that each claw 102 is turned outwardly, a disk (not shown) is placed to disk supporting area 101a. Thereafter, each claw 102 is turned inwardly (as shown in FIG. 44), and the disk is engaged by the claws. Thereby, the disk can be held between the claws 102 and the disk supporting area 101a of the disk tray 101, and the disk is transferred in the held state.
However, in this constitution of the disk transfer device, there is a problem that disk setting/removal works in which a disk is set to or removed from the tray are very troublesome. That is, in loading a disk to the tray 101 and in unloading a disk from the tray, each engaging claw 102 must be turned always with very careful attention in order to avoid damage to the disk.
Further, in the above-described constitution of the disk transfer device, it is very inconvenient to use one desk drive in both horizontal installation and vertical installation depending upon the purpose to use or the installed place and the like.
Further more, in the above-described constitution of the disk transfer device, the disk is held onto the tray with supported only by a plurality of engaging claws at the lower peripheral portion thereof when it is in the vertical position. Accordingly, it is difficult for the disk to be held with high stability and transferred with no wobbly movements when it is in the vertical position.
The basic object of the present invention is therefore to provide a disk transfer device whereby disk setting/removal works in which a disk is set to or removed from the tray can be performed easily even in vertical installation usage. And another basic object of the present invention is to provide a disk transfer device capable of supporting the disk with high stability and transferring with no wobbly movements even when it is in the vertical position. Further, another basic object of the present invention is to provide a disk transfer device capable of dealing easily with usage in both horizontal installation and vertical installation.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Methods, systems, and computer-storage media are provided for using a generic aliasing scheme to facilitate electronic transcription of groups of clinical event data extracted from an electronic medical record to case report forms associated with clinical studies. The generic aliasing scheme is also used to electronically transcribe documentation of task completion to case report forms associated with the clinical studies.

Clinical studies are scientific studies that test how a new medicine or a new treatment works in humans. Based on the outcomes of these studies, clinicians are able to find new and better ways to prevent, detect, diagnose, control, and treat diseases. Clinical studies often rely on clinical event data collected at healthcare facilities and stored in electronic medical record (EMR) systems associated with the healthcare facilities. Integrated data capture is used to electronically transcribe clinical event data culled from EMRs to case report forms associated with the clinical study. Previously, programs used by integrated data capture systems specified only a limited number of discrete data elements to pull from the EMR systems. If a clinical study required more than this limited number of data elements, a custom program would have to be created-a time-consuming and expensive endeavor. Moreover, previous programs were limited in that they were not designed to group clinical event data together or gather data regarding task documentation from the EMR. For example, previous programs would be unable to gather data regarding whether informed consent was documented for a particular clinical study.

Integrated data capture using aliasing schemes


A winch bar for use together with a strap winch to tighten a load-securing strap for a flatbed truck or trailer. In addition to an offset angle, the winch bar also includes one or more compensating angles establishing an obstacle clearance area defined by a laterally offset portion of the winch bar.

The present invention relates to winch bars. More particularly, the present invention relates to winch bars for strap winches such as are used on flatbed trailers.
Flatbed trailers of various lengths, widths, and load capacities are used to transport materials of various types from one location to another, both on and off roadways.
Loads are usually secured to such flatbed trailers by one or more straps of woven webbing extending over a load from one side of the trailer to the other side. Each strap is tightened by being wound on a strap winch such as the strap winch 18 shown in FIGS. 1-3, mounted at one side of the trailer. Such a strap winch usually includes a ratchet mechanism including a ratchet wheel 20 and a related pawl 22 on a spool 24, and a spool drive hub, or winch bar receiver 26, so that a winch bar can be used as a lever to turn the winch spool 24 and tighten the strap. The spool drive hub, or winch bar receiver 26 usually has two intersecting through-bores orthogonal to each other and to the axis of rotation 28 of the winch spool 24. The through-bores thus define four winch bar sockets 30 separated from one another by a quarter revolution of the winch bar receiver 26.
A strap 32 fastened to one side of the trailer is thrown over a load item on the trailer and the other end is laced through strap slots 34 on the winch spool 24. Such strap slots 34 and spools 24 may be of different types, such as those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, but are functionally similar. A spool drive engagement portion 36 of the winch bar is inserted into one of the winch bar sockets 30 in the winch drive hub, or receiver 26, and moved in a downward direction as seen in FIG. 3, winding the strap 32 around the spool 24 and tightening the strap 32 to hold the load item on the trailer. The winch bar sockets 30 are typically fashioned so that the spool drive engagement portion 36 of the winch bar, when inserted into one of these sockets, is perpendicular to the axis of rotation 28 of the winch spool. The spool ratchet mechanism, as shown in FIG. 1, holds the spool 34 to retain the tightened strap 32 after the winch bar has been moved in a downward direction.
A typical conventional winch bar 38, shown in FIG. 4, for use with a such a strap winch 18 may have a winch spool drive engagement portion 36, a lever arm portion 40, and a grip or handle portion 42. It may be a steel bar approximately 31-40 inches in length 44. The winch spool drive engagement portion 36 may be tapered and may typically have a length 46 of approximately 3½ to 4 inches, to mate with a typical strap winch 18. The drive engagement portion 36 is typically mounted at an offset angle 48 in the range of approximately 140 degrees to 170 degrees relative to a central longitudinal axis 50 of the lever arm portion 40.
On a typical winch bar 38 the offset angle 48 is defined adjacent the spool drive engagement portion 36, between it and the lever arm portion 40 of the winch bar. The offset angle 48 allows such a winch bar 38 to be used in two basic positions: angled up and angled down. This allows the winch bar to clear obstacles such as tires, trailer fenders, and boxes mounted on the sides of a trailer.
In order for a load securing strap 32 to be tightened on the strap winch 18, the spool 26 must be able to be turned at least a quarter rotation and then held by the ratchet mechanism, so that the winch bar can be inserted into the next socket 30 for further tightening. Often, due to obstacles such as tires, etc., mentioned above, the winch bar 38 cannot rotate the winch spool a quarter revolution without being changed from the angled down portion to the angled up position, or vice versa, in the same socket 30.
Use of a conventional winch bar 38 presents several hazards. The most important hazard is presented by use of the winch bar 38 in the "angled up" position as the winch bar 38 is shown in FIG. 5. If there is any misalignment of downward force on the winch bar handle 42, to one side or the other, the drive engagement portion 36 of the bar may slip in the winch bar socket 30 and twist down, in a pivoting action, and an uncontrolled conical rotation of the winch bar handle portion 42 thus suddenly occurs, as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 6. This often causes the winch bar user to fall towards the ground, potentially hitting his or her upper body or face against the trailer, the winch bar, a fender of the trailer, or even the ground. The user could thus sustain serious physical injury.
The next most important risk with use of conventional winch bars 38 is that the tip of the spool drive engagement portion 36 may slip out radially from engagement in the socket 30 of the spool drive hub 26. Although typically a winch bar 38 has small ridges around its drive engagement portion 36, sometimes they are not adequate to keep the winch bar 38 engaged in a winch bar socket 30. As a result the winch bar 38 can slip out when the user's pull on the winch bar to turn the winch spool 24 includes a great enough component directed radially outward along the spool drive engagement portion 36. Such slipping out may cause the winch bar user to fall towards the ground, potentially striking various portions of himself or herself against the winch bar, trailer, etc., with a possibility of substantial injury.
Another considerable risk in use of a conventional winch bar 38 is the downward slope of the handle portion 42 when the winch bar 38 is used in the most commonly used position, angled down. As the user applies downward pressure on the winch bar handle portion 42, he or she tends to be pushing his or her grip along the lever arm portion 40 and towards the outer end of the handle portion 42, instead of only perpendicular to it. This has a tendency of causing the user's grip to slip along the handle portion 42, causing the user to fall towards the winch bar, trailer, and ground, thereby often sustaining injury.
A number of prior winch bars or winch bar-like devices have not adequately addressed the above-described risks.
Gaudreault, et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2007/0215848 discloses a leverage tool having a pair of opposite end portions, one of which can be engaged with a strap spool drive, and the other of which is adapted to engage a load binder handle to operate the load binder.
Murdock, et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0074443 discloses a strap winch and a crank assembly removably connected to the strap winch.
Boydstun, IV, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,114,897 discloses a winch bar providing an indication when a sufficient force has been applied.
Treat, U.S. Pat. No. 7,017,847 discloses a winding apparatus including a crank that is used to quickly and conveniently wind cargo straps into coils for storage.
Guenther, U.S. Pat. No. 6,916,143 discloses a speed handle, or crank used to rotate the strap spool of a strap winch on a flat bed trailer.
Im, U.S. Pat. No. 6,854,939 discloses a winch bar that has an insertion portion of non-circular cross-section, typically square or hexagonal, adapted to fit in similar openings of a winch spool so that the winch bar cannot twist relative to the winch drum. Im, U.S. Patent Application No. 2006/0091368 discloses a winch bar that may have an insertion portion of any of several different shapes adapted to fit in openings of a winch spool.
Perkins, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 6,848,872 discloses a crank to drive a spool of a strap winch, to wind a strap on the spool for storage when the strap is not being used to secure a load.
Childers, U.S. Pat. No. 6,824,339 also discloses a crank handle for speed winding a strap back onto a strap winch for storage.
Guenther, U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,697 discloses a winch bar having two positions of stable engagement with a strap winding winch.
Mosley, U.S. Pat. No. 6,398,470 discloses another strap winding crank for winding a strap on a strap winch for storage.
Mocci, U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,637 discloses yet another crank for winding a strap onto a winch for storage.
Sumner, U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,437 discloses a winch bar for use with ratcheting winches to tighten straps for securing cargo on truck beds. The winch bar is provided at one end with a hooked end member and a crank handle portion to assist in the rapidly winding a strap secured to the winch spool.
Depoy, U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,488 discloses a winch bar having a locking mechanism for securing the driving end portion of a winch bar in a drive socket of a winch.
Whiteman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,829 discloses an extensible winch bar for use in tightening the straps used for the securing loads on trucks.
Chan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,565 discloses a winch bar with a winch spool-engaging end portion shaped to engage a spool of a strap winch securely and to resist unintentional disengagement under strap-winding force.
Edwards, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,154 discloses a winch bar for use on a strap winch. A second end of the bar includes a latch for engaging and operating an over-center locking load binder.
Flippin, U.S. Pat. No. 2,838,281 shows a winch bar with an end portion shaped to mate with a corresponding socket in a winch.
Thus, there is a need for a winch bar that addresses and can reduce risks of using a conventional winch bar, including the risks mentioned above.


One aspect of the invention provides container for thermal cycling a plurality of samples in a microfluidic array. The container includes a plurality of walls defining an interior volume and a conductive member for heating the interior volume. Another aspect of the invention provides container for thermal cycling a plurality of samples in a microfluidic array. The container includes a plurality of walls defining an interior volume and a plurality of conductive members for heating an interior volume. Another aspect of the invention provides a container for thermal cycling a plurality of samples in a microfluidic array. The container includes a plurality of walls defining an interior volume and a first conductive member located in the interior volume and adapted to contact a first end of the microfluidic array.

Various research and diagnostic techniques employ thermally-mediated chemical reactions such as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), nucleic acid hybridization, and protein immunoassays and/or thermally-controlled environments for cell culture. Such techniques utilize a thermal cycler (also known as a thermocycler, PCR machine, and/or DNA amplifier). Thermal cyclers provide the high temperatures necessary to physically separate the strands of DNA double helix that is used as a template at lower temperatures for DNA synthesis by a DNA polymerase (e.g. Taq polymerase) to selectively amplify the target DNA.
Current methods for changing temperature of a liquid contained in a microtiter plate or sealed tube (e.g. Eppendorf tube or capillary tube) make use of an external, temperature-controlled liquid or solid to transfer heat into or extract heat from the liquid PCR reagents in an enclosed container. The primary limitation of this approach is the requirement for an intervening material between the energy source and the heated or cooled liquid. Miniaturization and scaling to larger numbers of liquid volumes to be heated and cooled is particularly problematic with the current art because of the dual design constraints of having to seal and heat/cool a large volumes of liquids contained in the well of a thermoplastic microtiter well plate.

Devices and methods for thermally-mediated chemical reactions


An embodiment relates to a speaker and a speaker module. The speaker comprises a vibration system and a magnetic circuit system; the vibration system comprises a diaphragm and a voice coil coupled to the diaphragm; a space between a front side of the diaphragm and a front sound cavity cover forms a front sound cavity, and a space between a back side of the diaphragm and a rear sound cavity cover forms a rear sound cavity; wherein the speaker further comprises a plurality of injection molding inserts disposed along a vibration direction of the diaphragm, and the injection molding insert comprises a first end and a second end; the first end is joined with a surface of the front sound cavity cover close to the diaphragm, and the second end is joined with a surface of the rear sound cavity cover close to the diaphragm. One technical problem to be solved by the embodiment of the present invention is to ensure, by using the injection molding inserts, the stability of relative distance and parallelism of the diaphragm connection surface of the housing with respect to both the front sound cavity support surface and the rear sound cavity support surface, so as to ensure stability of the acoustic performance of the speaker.

The existing speaker generally includes a housing and a sound generating system arranged in the housing. The parts connecting the sound generating system and the housing include a diaphragm, a front sound cavity cover, a rear sound cavity cover, and the like. The housing of the existing speaker is generally made from plastic material through an injection molding process. Before the injection molding, the volume of the front sound cavity and the volume of the rear sound cavity are limited by providing a plastic pallet.
However, when the plastic pallet and the housing are injection molded, the housing is prone to warpage and deformation (warpage means that the plastic part is not formed according to the designed shape, but the surface is twisted. The warpage of the plastic part is attributed to the uneven shrinkage of the formed plastic part), the warpage and deformation will cause the relative distance between the connection surface of each sound cavity cover on the housing and the connection surface of the diaphragm to be unstable, and ultimately lead to unstable acoustic performance of the speaker.


A combinational service is made enjoyable on the terminal of a user of a communication network in a simplified way. The user establishes a call on the circuit domain, and on his/her terminal, menu options are made available related to the enjoyment of the combinational service in consequence of the establishment of such call on the circuit domain.

Mobile telephony networks have initially been conceived for allowing voice communications, in a way similar to the Public Switched Telephone Networks, shortly PSTNs, but between mobile users. The mobile telephony networks have experienced and are experiencing an enormous spread, especially after the introduction of second generation mobile networks, and particularly of digital mobile networks, such as those conforming to the GSM ("Global System for Mobile communications") standard, and to the corresponding systems adopted in the United States and in Japan.
In way similar to the PSTNs, the second generation mobile networks are circuit switched networks; this greatly limits the bandwidth that can be allocated for a given user, especially in mobile networks of the second generation. On the contrary, data communications networks such as computer networks and, among these, the Internet, adopt packet switched schemes, that allow much higher data transfer rates.
Some solutions have been proposed for overcoming the limitations of the traditional circuit switched mobile networks such as the GSM networks, so as to allow the users of mobile terminals to exploit in efficient way the services offered through the Internet. One of the solutions that is acquiring a significant popularity is the GPRS ("General Packet Radio Service"). The GPRS is a digital mobile telephony technology compatible with the GSM networks (actually, it is built on the existing GSM network architecture) that allows data transfer at a higher speed than that allowed by the pure GSM. Essentially, the GPRS can be seen as an add-on to the GSM, that supports and enables packet data communication. Although third generation wireless communications systems such as those conforming to the standard UMTS ("Universal Mobile Telecommunication System") are more promising in terms of data transfer speed, the GPRS is a within reach solution to improve the data exchange capability in existing GSM networks.
The services offered by these mobile networks in addition to the simple vocal communications have quickly increased in number and quality; just to cite some examples, in the last few years short messaging services ("Short Messaging System", shortly SMS) and multimedia messaging services ("Multimedia Messaging System", or MMS), and Internet connectivity services have been made available.
In particular, there is a strong interest in providing multimedia services to the users of mobile communications networks, i.e., services thanks to which there is the possibility of adding images, video, access to data through the Internet or through the electronic mail, to a communication between users that is made of voice alone. Among these services, the so-called "combinational services" are attracting great attention of the mobile telephony operators. For the purposes of the present description, by "combinational service" there is, in general, intended a service through which a terminal of a (not necessarily mobile) communications network can simultaneously open and use two connections, typically a circuit (circuit-switched or CS) connection and a packet (packet-switched, PS) connection.
U. Olsson and M. Nilsson, in the article "Combinational services—The pragmatic first step toward all-IP", Ericsson Review No. 2, 2003, describe, inter alia, an example of so-called "combinational services", in which the ability to simultaneously handle traffic on a circuit connection and on a packet connection is used: the sharing of images during a conversation. The authors notice that the possibility of simultaneously handle traffic on a circuit connection and on a packet connection is allowed both with the WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), giving the possibility to use multiple and parallel bearers in the "over-the-air" interface (multiple Radio Access Bearers, multi-RAB), and with the GSM, in which a standardized mechanism—the Dual Transfer Mode, or DTM—yields similar possibilities. In the article, the authors notice however that the mere technical possibility of "successfully crossing the air" is not enough. Sometimes it is forgotten that the average final user is not interested in the complications of the channels coding and wave propagation. Instead, the final user wants a mobile terminal that is reliable, simple to use, and well adapted to the current context. In other words, some entity in the mobile terminal has to interpret what the user is trying to do and translate it into a sequence of operations. An example described in the article relates to a woman and her husband during a conversation about an extraordinary gardens exposition. During the conversation, the woman decides to show to her husband what she is describing. Ideally, the user interface (Man-Machine Interface or MMI) should be sufficiently simple, in such a way that she only needs to press the key for turning the video camera on. The mobile terminal should contain enough intelligence to discover how to reach the other participant to the call on a packet connection and send the images. According to the authors, in order to let this happen, the following base blocks are necessary:                a coordination function in the mobile terminal (at least, an extended address book with information related to the reachability of all the pertinent networks);        a reachability mechanism in the packet connection part. According to the authors, the long term solution will probably be based on IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), using a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) session protocol to find the other participant and negotiate the session parameters;        a mechanism for distributing informative capability that allows to applications based on the terminals and on the network to make an intelligent use of the information related to the subscription, the session state, the bearer states, user preferences and so on. In this respect, the authors suggest, among the other things, the SIP, the use of the HTTP protocol and the Web XML services.
Another description of a service enjoyable through mobile terminals is given in the White Paper "Video sharing—Enrich your voice call with video", by Nokia Corporation, publicly available for download at the Internet site:                http://www.nokia.com/BaseProject/Sites/NOKIA_MAIN—18022/CDA/Categories/Phones/Technologies/VideoSharing/_Content/_Static_Files/video_sharing_a4—2510.pdf
The real time video sharing service allows the users, during a telephone conversation, to easily enrich their communication. One or the other of the users can share a live video taken by a video camera or video clips from the terminal. Both the users see the same video and can discuss about it while they are continuing their voice call. In an example described in the White Paper, Keith and Malcom are in a normal call on a circuit connection (CS) and Keith wants to share live video with Malcom. They both have devices capable of video sharing and are registered for the service. The following flow is described in the White Paper:                During the ongoing CS voice call, Keith chooses to share the live video.        Keith confirms Malcom as a recipient.        Malcom receives video request from Keith and accepts it.        The system shows the acceptance to Keith, who activates the sending of the video stream.        Malcom's device starts showing the same video as Keith's device. They can discuss it via the voice call.        Keith ends the video sharing when he has shown what he wanted. The voice call between Keith and Malcom remains active.
The technology used by the video sharing service described by the above-mentioned White Paper is the general SIP or IMS infrastructure.
In another White Paper, entitled "White Paper: IP Convergence Based On SIP: Enhanced Person-To-Person Communications", publicly made available by Forum Nokia for download at the Internet site                http://www.forum.nokia.com/main/1,040,00.html?fsrParam=2-3-/main.html&fileID=5336the use of the SIP protocol is described for the establishment of peer-to-peer connections type between terminals capable of supporting the IP protocol. As described in the White Paper, in order to communicate, IP-based applications must have a mechanism to reach the correspondent. Today, fixed and mobile telephony networks perform this critical task of establishing a connection. By dialing the other user's telephone number, the network can establish an ad-hoc connection between any two terminals. This critical connectivity capability still does not exist widely in the Internet. According to this White Paper, SIP-based sessions management, complemented by other critical mobile networks capabilities (i.e., authentication, roaming, and network interconnection provided by the IMS standard) provides the required structure. With the implementation of such a system, it is possible to establish an IP connection between two terminals. Once the connection is established, it can be used to exchange all types of communication media (voice, video, content, etc.). Like HTTP, SIP is a text-based client-server protocol. SIP was designed to establish, modify and terminate multimedia sessions or calls, and it differs from the HTTP in the fact that a "SIP terminal" (or User Agent, UA) may act as both a client and a server. Therefore it is possible to establish a client-to-client communication. The version 6 of the IP protocol (IPv6) provides, according to this White Paper, a robust base for the SIP-based services. The most important benefit of IPv6 is the large address space. In fact, a problem also underlined in this White Paper is that the version 4 of the protocol IP (IPv4) and that such protocol has been designed for a smaller number of Internet hosts, compared to what the Internet is experimenting today. The problem of the address space will become even greater when hundreds of million (or billions) of cellular handsets will be connected to the Internet. Among the possible applications of the SIP protocol described in this White Paper, the real time video sharing service is cited.

Enabling combinational services in a communications network


Described herein is a method for providing a clean edge at the interface of a portion of a substrate coated with a coating system and an adjacent portion of the substrate which is uncoated. The method includes the step of forming a zone of non-adherence on the substrate portion which is to be uncoated, prior to application of the coating system. The zone of non-adherence is adjacent the interface, so that the coating system will not adhere to the zone of non-adherence, but will adhere to the portion of the substrate which is to be coated with the coating system.

The present invention is generally directed to methods for providing coatings on selected portions of a substrate. In more particular embodiments, the invention relates to masking techniques used in the application of protective coatings to metallic substrates employed in high temperature applications.
Metal alloys are often used in industrial environments which include extreme operating conditions. For example, the alloys may be exposed to high temperatures, e.g., above about 750° C. Moreover, the alloys may be subjected to repeated temperature cycling, e.g., exposure to high temperatures, followed by cooling to room temperature, and then followed by rapid re-heating. As an example, gas turbine engines are often subjected to repeated thermal cycling during operation.
The turbine engine components (and other industrial parts) are often formed of superalloys, which are usually nickel-, cobalt-, or iron-based. Superalloys can withstand a variety of extreme operating conditions. However, they often must be covered with coatings which protect them from environmental degradation, e.g., the adverse effects of corrosion and oxidation.
Various types of coatings are used to protect superalloys and other types of high-performance metals. As one example, a thermal barrier coating (TBC) system is often employed. The TBC system includes a bond layer (usually an MCrAlX material, as described below) and a ceramic overcoat, such as a zirconia-based material. The bond layer promotes adhesion between the substrate and the ceramic overcoat. Many techniques are available to apply the TBC systems. Examples include vacuum plasma deposition (VPS) and air plasma spray (APS).
It is usually very important that protective coatings like the TBC's are deposited on very specific areas of a substrate. As an example, various sections of a turbine engine nozzle need to be completely covered with a highly adherent TBC system, since these sections are exposed to high-temperature combustion gasses. However, in many instances, adjacent sections of the nozzle must be completely free of the protective coatings. For example, some of the "slash faces" of a nozzle may have to be eventually welded. Therefore, they must not contain any coating material which would interfere with the welding process. A "clean", distinct edge between a coated and an uncoated section of a substrate is often critical to the overall coating process.
To provide one specific example, FIG. 1 is a perspective of a portion of a typical turbine airfoil 10, which includes superalloy substrate 12. In some instances, it is necessary to apply a high-quality TBC system on the surface of substrate 12, as well as on platform 14 and vertical face 16. However, it may also be necessary to keep surface 18 entirely free of TBC or bond coat material. In other words, corner-edge 20 must sometimes be, ultimately, very clean. Top platform 22 is depicted in simplified form, and would also usually include various surfaces which are to be coated, along with adjacent surfaces which are to remain uncoated.
Various techniques are available for ensuring that a clean edge is formed between a coated and uncoated section of a substrate. Usually, the surfaces which are to remain uncoated are taped off prior to the coating deposition step. Often, masks are also used—alone or in conjunction with tape—to prevent deposition of a coating onto an area covered by the pattern of the mask. Mask or tape may also be used to protect sections of the substrate from various pre-treatment steps. As an example, a grit-blasting step is often necessary to roughen a surface prior to the thermal spray-deposition of a coating. It is usually necessary to tape off other sections which are not to be coated, since grit blasting can damage those sections. After the desired coating is deposited, the mask and tape can be removed. Additional coating steps or other treatment steps can then be carried out, which may involve additional masking and taping steps.
While masking techniques are effective in many coating processes, they sometimes exhibit serious drawbacks. "Hard" metal masks have typically been used in the past. They are usually very thick (at least about 0.125 inch (3.2 mm)), and made of high temperature materials like nickel-based superalloys. It is often time-consuming to position these hard masks on specific sections of the substrate. Moreover, the hard masks are not pliable, and do not easily conform to sections of the substrate which are curved or contain many indentations. Since that conformance is often necessary, hard masks may have to be pre-shaped in separate metalworking procedures, which can be costly and time-consuming.
Furthermore, the "clean edge" discussed above is often not possible when a hard mask is used. Such a mask is usually positioned at the boundary between a substrate section to be coated and another section which is to be left uncoated. As coating material is deposited, a hump or ridge of material is built up at the edge adjacent the uncoated section. (This occurrence is often referred to as "bridging"). When the mask is removed, chipping and cracking often occurs along the edge. This problem can be especially severe in the case of ceramic overcoats (e.g., zirconia-based coatings), which have high cohesive strength in a direction horizontal to the plane of the substrate. The force needed to remove the hard mask can cause a significant amount of the desired coating to be pulled off the coated section of the substrate.
In the case of turbine engine components, the loss of any coating material can be a very serious problem, since the edge of the underlying part is then directly exposed to very high in-service temperatures. Moreover, chipping and cracking along the edge can serve as crack propagation sites for further degradation throughout the coating. Thus, time-consuming steps have to be undertaken to repair the coating imperfections. More often, the parts must be entirely stripped and re-coated. These steps add considerable expense to the overall manufacturing process.
Other masking procedures can be used in place of the hard masks. For example, chemical masking techniques are sometimes used, in which a non-bonding coating (e.g., an "anti-bond" material) is sprayed or painted on selected portions of the substrate. These types of non-bonding materials prevent the protective coatings from permanently adhering to the substrate.
While chemical masking techniques are effective in some applications, they often include drawbacks as well. For example, it often takes about 8-16 hours for the chemical mask to dry, prior to protective coating deposition. Moreover, additional steps are needed to remove the chemical mask after coating deposition is complete. A variety of solvents and additive-based solutions may have to be used to completely remove the chemical mask, since any chemical residue may interfere with subsequent coating, treatment, or welding operations.
It should thus be apparent that new masking processes would be very welcome in the field of protective coating technology. Use of the processes should result in a very clean edge or boundary between coated and uncoated sections of a substrate. The processes should be capable of being carried out in an efficient manner, without causing delays in any other steps undertaken in processing the substrate. Moreover, the processes should be compatible with techniques used to apply protective ceramic and metallic coatings to superalloy substrates—including those which may be curved and/or which may contain various cavities or indentations.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for masking selected regions of a substrate


An Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) method and system are provided to dct i) friendly ground-based vehicles, ii) each of the vehicle's unique identity, and iii) each of the vehicle's approximate position. A video image of an area of interest on the ground is generated from an aircraft. The video image is defined by a matrix of pixels. A range from the aircraft to a reference position within the area of interest is provided. The reference position is defined by known latitude, longitude and height within the area of interest and is further defined in the matrix of pixels by matrix coordinates. A coded signal is transmitted from a vehicle on the ground to uniquely identify the vehicle and identify the vehicle as friendly. The coded signal is also detectable as part of the video image when the coded signal is transmitted from the area of interest. The vehicle position within the area of interest is thus defined in the matrix of pixels by matrix coordinates. Using image processing techniques, offset distances between the reference position defined by matrix coordinates and the vehicle position defined by matrix coordinates are determined. The range to the reference position and the determined offset distances are indicative of the vehicle's latitude, longitude and height within the area of interest.

The identification of friendly ground-based equipment and/or vehicles (hereinafter referred to as vehicles) from a military aircraft is of paramount concern in combat operations. Accordingly, numerous Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) systems have been developed to enable friendly vehicles to clearly indicate their affiliation with associated friendly aircraft.
A simple example of an IFF system is constant-on, visual recognition system in which each vehicle is constantly emitting a visual (friendly) signal that may be seen by the pilots of the aircraft flying overhead. Other IFF systems that are more complex in nature include interrogation IFF systems in which ground-based vehicles emit a (friendly) infrared or radio signal only when in receipt of an acceptable interrogation signal from overhead aircraft. Security for both simple and complex IFF systems is typically achieved by coding the interrogation and friendly signals so that opposing forces cannot detect and/or duplicate same. Representative examples of such IFF systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,814,769 issued to Robin et al. on Mar. 21, 1989, U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,575 issued to Conner, Jr. on Jun. 6, 1989, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,176 issued to Voles on Aug. 29, 1989. Each of these prior art IFF systems provides a method/system for identifying a vehicle as a friend or foe.
While identifying a particular vehicle as friendly is paramount at the field operation level, this recognition does not provide enough information for command level observation of the larger theater of combat or training operations. At the command level, it is also desirable to know a vehicle's identity and position in order to evaluate current conditions and plan for the future.

Coded identification and positioning system

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A method to increase fluid hydrocarbon fluid BTU input for an appliance incorporating a combustion zone and a burner therein, and to increase fuel combustion intensity and thermal efficiency as well to reduce the appliance's harmful stack emissions, by employing a device which moderately pre-heats and conditions low temperature fuel delivered to the appliance prior to combustion, by extracting heat from the appliance's combustion zone in order to deliver fuel to the appliance's burner at a constant, pre-set operating temperature of between 37 degrees Fahrenheit and the fuel's flash point temperature.

It is generally recognized that combustion ability of certain heavy waste oil employed as furnace fuel may be improved by significantly pre-heating, vaporizing or pre-mixing such fuel with vaporized gases or other vapors prior to combustion. It is also understood, that in many cases a heating appliance itself does not provide sufficient heat to effect such fuel vaporization or similar fuel conditioning treatment, and therefore additional means, such as electric heating coils and the like, have to be installed in order to facilitate such conditioning or pre-combustion treatment of heavy waste oil fuels.
It is further known that such high temperature pre-heating and vaporizing treatment is especially useful to effectively reduce viscosity of such heavy fuel in order to render it at all usable, and a number of prior art disclosures describe various complicated methods and devices specifically developed for that purpose.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,363, La Haye et al. discloses a method, which uses an external source of heat as well as part of the combustion chamber heat, to finely atomize a hydrocarbon fluid such as fuel oil to produce an emulsion of the oil with a secondary fluid prior to fuel oil combustion, thereby increasing combustion efficiency and minimizing pollutant discharge during combustion of such emulsified fuel mixture. For this purpose, the fuel is pre-heated to a temperature of between 150 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,840,148, I. W. Akesson discloses a furnace burner-blower arrangement, which employs pressure and heat to pre-treat heavy fuel oil prior to combustion. The fuel oil is heated by way of a heating element which is controlled by thermostats to maintain a certain oil temperature range, but without stating any specific and most advantageous operating fuel oil temperature range.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,781,087, Peter Storti et al. disclose a rotary cup type, heavy oil burner system, which circulates the fuel through the burner on its way to the atomizer nozzle. This application further utilizes an electric heating device to pre-heat the fuel oil in a thermostatically controlled oil reservoir prior to combustion. This system presents a distinct improvement over other prior art, in that it greatly reduces the fuel oil temperature fluctuations inherent in other fuel pre-heating systems. However, no specific fuel oil operating temperature range is indicated to claim combustion efficiency or emission reduction.
In CA Patent No. 380,126, Andrew Palko discloses an oil burner comprising an electric heating element to pre-heat the burner so as to cause instant vaporization of the fuel oil as it is fed to the burner. This system includes temperature control means to regulate the fuel oil temperature without specifying any particular fuel oil temperature or temperature range, which would be required to obtain the claimed vaporization and desired combustion efficiency or emission reduction. In CA Patent No. 457,123, Earl J. Senninger discloses an oil burner especially adapted for heavy oils. Such heavy fuel oils are pre-heated by way of an electric heating element prior to reaching the atomizing nozzle of the burner unit. Here the desired fuel oil operating temperature range is described as a temperature to be such as to insure against carbonizing of the fuel, which would normally be a temperature just short of combustion.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,820, Niederholtmeier discloses a system for operating a heating appliance comprising the combination of unheated conventional fuel oil and pre-heated heavy waste oil in two separate pressure controlled distribution networks, precluding any intermingling of the two fuel sources. The waste oil is pre-heated to it's flash point level in order to reduce its viscosity and to render it combustible, and is fed to the burner after conditioning the burner by first operating it for a period of time with conventional untreated fuel oil, facilitating subsequent combustion of treated waste oil.
For the purpose of pre-combustion treatment of natural gas and propane gas, as well as other conventional hydrocarbon fuels for use in appliances incorporating a burner located in a combustion zone, so as to increase the thermal efficiency of such fuels in accordance with the present invention, a different set of circumstances is required.
In order to effect thermal energy and combustion efficiency, and a noticeable reduction in harmful flue gas emission, an appliance burner will respond to fuel delivered to its burner nozzle at a constant and specifically elevated pre-combustion temperature level. Such elevated temperature must not be as high as to approach the flash point temperature of the fuel or as to begin vaporizing the fuel prior to combustion, as this would interfere with the function of the burner nozzle, resulting in a loss of thermal efficiency, and as such would be contrary to the teaching in this disclosure. In fact, the most advantageous fuel pre-combustion operating temperature, according to the present invention, is a moderate temperature range somewhat above a normally low fuel delivery temperature experienced during the heating season, but sufficiently high to effect fuel expansion and effecting fuel BTU input of the normally low temperature delivered fuel without causing interference with the conventional combustion process of the appliance.
During more frigid periods of the year, when heating appliances are usually in operation, fuel stored in storage tanks especially, and fuel transported in conduits exposed to the elements for considerable distances, remains at a temperature well below the optimal contemplated operating range, and pre-heating fuel economically could provide a number of significant advantages available for both gas and oil applications. Even appliances operating during the summer period, such as gas fired cooling appliances or residential, commercial and industrial water and process heaters, may operate more efficiently with the contemplated fuel treatment method and device.
It is an established fact that some fluid hydrocarbon fuels may expand in volume by approximately 15% when heated from 35 degrees to 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore, in a situation where such fuel is delivered to the burner mechanism at a low temperature, especially when reaching levels below 35 degrees Fahrenheit, fuel pre-heating would automatically result in a possible expansion of fuel volume of up to 15% and more.
Furthermore, such pre-heated fuel delivered to the burner nozzle at its more optimal operating temperature would produce significantly more intense and complete combustion, as the expansion of fuel allows for a better fuel to air/oxygen ratio mix, resulting in a measurable increase in burner efficiency as well as a measurable decrease in harmful flue gas emission. It is estimated that burner efficiency could improve by up to 10%, while harmful flue gas emission could be reduced by up to 35%.
It therefore stands to reason that a simple device, which could provide an economical method for a moderate pre-heating of combustion appliance fuel, such as natural gas, propane gas or other conventional fluid hydrocarbon appliance fuel prior to combustion, would be most desirable.
All prior art examined however seems to be specifically designed to treat only unconventional combustion fuels like heavy fuel oils or waste oils, and then at much higher temperatures, up to the flash point level or up to the vaporization level, rather than moderately pre-heating a conventional combustion fuels such as gas or No. 2 fuel oil, and in all cases, such prior art must rely without exception on additional heating elements to effect the relatively high temperature pre-heating process to the level of up to or above fuel vaporization or up to the flash point level of the fuel. This is of course contrary to the teaching disclosed in the present invention and outside the function of the method and device contemplated and described further herein, and there is no prior art available at all which teaches the pre-heat treatment of natural gas or propane gas for the purpose of increasing its thermal efficiency in accordance with this invention.
Furthermore, it is presently believed in the gas combustion appliance industry that pre-combustion treatment of fuel, as contemplated in this invention, is not affective to increase thermal efficiency. In fact, a correction formula is always employed in the industry to eliminate any variance in fuel efficiency calculations due to a change in fuel supply temperature. Such correction formula calculation may be found in the "Gas Engineers Handbook", Ninth Printing, Chapter 8, "Gas Calorimetry", Pages 6-42.
Therefore, the method and device as disclosed in the present invention is completely contrary to industry norm, and is not at all obvious or known in the art.

Method and device to increase combustion efficiency heating appliances