The invention relates to the discovery of an HEV strain from a chronically infected patient. The virus grow unusually well in numerous cell cultures. Thus, the invention provides cell cultures, vectors, and vaccine compositions based on the virus. The invention relates, in part, on the identification of a new strain of HEV genotype 3 virus. Strain Kernow-C1 (genotype 3) of HEV, which was isolated from a chronically infected patient, was used to identify human, pig and deer cell lines permissive for infection. Adaptation of the Kernow-C 1 strain to growth in human hepatoma cells selected for a rare virus recombinant that contained an insertion of 174 ribonucleotides (58 amino acids) of a human ribosomal protein gene and additional mutations.

Hepatitis E virus gained notoriety as the cause of epidemics and sporadic cases of acute hepatitis in developing countries: examples include the 29,300 cases occurring during the New Delhi outbreak in 1956 and the 2,621 cases reported over 6 months in an Internally Displaced Persons Camp in Darfur in which pregnant women, as has been reported previously (1), had the highest mortality rate of 26-31% (2). HEV is the most, or second most, important cause of acute hepatitis in adults in developing countries. But contrary to recent dogma, the virus is not restricted to developing countries and sporadic cases are increasingly recognized in industrialized countries as awareness of the potential for infection spreads and tests for the virus are performed.
Historically, hepatitis E was described as an enterically-transmitted, self-limiting hepatitis that never progressed to chronicity (3). However, recently the first chronic hepatitis E was identified in Europe and chronicity has since been documented in immunocompromised solid-organ transplant recipients and HIV-infected individuals (4, 5, 6, 7). Although hepatitis E infection generally causes a mild to moderate disease, it occasionally has caused fulminant liver failure in acute cases, in chronically infected patients, and especially in those with underlying chronic liver disease or pregnancy (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8). Additionally, hepatitis E has been misdiagnosed as drug-induced liver injury, thus complicating drug trials or treatment regimens (9). Since its discovery in 1983, documented HEV transmission was linked almost exclusively to contaminated water; that changed abruptly with the discovery of HEV infection following ingestion of uncooked deer meat (10, 11). Hepatitis E is now recognized as not just a waterborne-disease of developing countries but also as an emerging food-borne disease of industrialized countries (11, 12).
HEV is a small non-enveloped, single-stranded RNA virus with a genome size of 7.2 kb (3). The 7.2 kb genome of HEV is a single strand of positive sense RNA with three overlapping reading frames (ORFs). Approximately the first 5 kb serve as mRNA for the ORF1 polyprotein; it is not known if the polyprotein is proteolytically processed. ORF1 contains regions encoding methyl transferase/guanylyltransferase, NTPase/helicase, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and ubiquinating activities. In addition, ORF1 encodes a Y region and X, or macro, region of unknown function and a hypervariable region (HVR) located near the middle of the ORF. The HVR varies in length and sequence among strains and genotypes: it tolerates small deletions but replication levels are severely depressed in cell culture. ORF2 and ORF3 are translated from a single bicistronic, subgenomic RNA to produce a 660 aa capsid protein and a 113 to 114 aa protein, respectively. The ORF3 protein is important for efficient release of virus particles from cultured cells and is required for infection of macaques.
To date, four HEV genotypes that infect humans are recognized (17). Genotype 1 and 2 infections have been identified exclusively in humans, whereas genotypes 3 and 4 viruses have been isolated from swine, deer, mongoose, cattle and rabbits in addition to humans (18). Genotypes 3 and 4 are ubiquitous in swine and undercooked pork may be a major source of zoonotic infections of humans (12, 18). However, cross-species transmission has not been extensively studied and additional zoonotic reservoirs probably exist.
HEV infection was long thought to be an acute infection lasting 2 to 7 weeks and that never progressed to chronicity. Recently, however, chronic HEV infection has been identified in immunesuppressed organ transplant patients or aids patients. Even more unexpectedly, some of these chronically ill patients have developed neurological symptoms and HEV has been isolated from cerebrospinal fluid. These chronic cases have been identified as genotype 3 infections.
HEV usually replicates to low titers in vivo and it has been exceedingly difficult to grow it in cultured cells and much of the virus life cycle is unknown. Okamoto and colleagues recently adapted a genotype 3 and a genotype 4 strain to replicate to high titers in two human cell lines, A549 lung cells and PLC/PRF/5 hepatoma cells (19, 20).
The epidemiology of HEV is far from understood and, in particular, the zoonotic aspects require further study. There is a need, therefore to develop HEV genotype strains that can replicate in cell culture. Further, there is a need to develop HEV vaccines, e.g., vaccines for genotype 3 strains.
The present invention relates, in part, to the discovery of a genotype 3 virus isolated from a chronically-infected patient (5) that was adapted to grow in human hepatoma cells and used to identify a set of human, swine and deer cell cultures permissive for HEV infection. The invention additionally relates to the characterization of the adapted virus to identify sequence changes that provide the ability to replicate in cell culture.

Infectious hepatitis E virus genotype 3 recombinants

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer-readable media, for obtaining a first image from a first sensor; detecting a first object within the first image; extracting discriminative features of the first object into a first feature vector; obtaining a second image from a second sensor; detecting a second object within the second image; extracting discriminative features of the second object into a second feature vector; and determining, based on a comparison between the first feature vector and the second feature vector, that the second object is same as the first object.

Monitoring systems may include one or more sensors that collect data. The data may be processed either using processors onboard the sensor or by sending sensor data to a computer that is configured to process the sensor data. A system may perform one or more operations based on the sensor data including, for example, identification of one or more elements represented in the sensor data and generating alerts based on the identification.


An information processing apparatus includes a processor that executes a process including calculating, for each of a plurality of registered users from which feature values have been obtained in advance, an index value indicating a probability of an authentication target being that registered user based on a matching degree between a feature value extracted from authentication information obtained from the authentication target and a feature value of that registered user, setting a synthesized access right by synthesizing, based on the index value, an access right of a certain one of the plurality of users to a plurality of resources and an access right of a user different from the certain registered user from among the plurality of registered users to the plurality of resources, and permitting the authentication target an access to a resource to which an access is permitted in the synthesized access right.

In recent years, services such as digital signage that use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have begun providing interactively personalized information. In these services, for example, an individual person is identified by using an authentication technique such as facial image recognition, voice recognition, etc. and the service is provided by using the personal information. Thereby, services that are tailored to individual persons while being directed to unspecified people are provided. Meanwhile, accompanying an increase in services utilizing personal information, more attention has been paid to the protection of personal information, and techniques related to control of accesses to information have been developed (see for example Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-260461
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 08-137800

Information processing apparatus and access control method


Methods and systems are described for upgrading an access manager framework. In response to an upgrade request from a client, current and new versions of the access manager framework are identified. Upon successful identification of the current version, one or more supported upgrade paths are determined for the upgrade process. An appropriate upgrade path from the current version to the new version is determined upon successful identification of the current and/or new version of the access manager framework. In response to determination of the appropriate upgrade path, a version specific program upgrade component and a version specific upgrade program are associated with the determined upgrade path. In addition, a set of information may be extracted from the access manager framework, transformed, and imported to the upgraded access manager framework based at least in part upon the determined version specific upgrade program and the version specific program upgrade component.

1. Field of Art
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of computer resource management. Specifically presented are methods and systems for upgrading frameworks used for computer resource access control and user identity administration.
2. Description of Related Art
Sharing and distribution of information has become the main focus in the computer age. Modern sharing and distribution methods and systems provide resource access regulations. This allows for increased security, reduced operational costs, and improved usability of shared and/or distributed resources.
Companies and agencies providing information would benefit from resource access regulations provided by sharing and distribution methods and systems. For example, these organizations may regulate their employees' access to various corporate data to control who can access what resource. For instance, an employee portal system may be protected with a username and password, but for a more sensitive HR self-service application that deals with sensitive data, users may be required to be authenticated using an RSA SecurID® token, thus providing a higher level of security to more sensitive resources or applications. Therefore, access management solutions have been developed to implement regulations for accessing resources for resource providers.
Access management solutions may provide centralized authentication, authorization, and auditing to enable single sign-on and secure access control using enterprise resources. For example, Oracle Access Manager, a product of Oracle International Corporation of Redwood Shores in California, is configured to support Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Collaboration suite applications.
Generally, access managers are not designed to be easily upgraded. An upgrade process of an access manager involves extensive and complex tasks to be performed by users, for example, system administrators and operators. For instance, upgrading an access manager framework may include as many as 25 manual steps to be performed by a user in order to upgrade the access manager framework from one version to a subsequent version of the access manager framework. A simplified upgrade process of an access manager framework can lead to an optimized and hassle free process while improving the performance of the access manager.
There exists a need in the art for better upgrading techniques using an upgrade framework to provide for easier upgrade process of the access manager and regulate upgrading process within multiple versions. This way, upgrading an access manager becomes a streamlined process requiring minimal, if any, user intervention that can used to meet the widely growing demand of simplified upgrading and management of access managers especially in today's growing complex enterprise environments.

Methods and systems for dynamic upgrade of an access manager


A dehydrating apparatus of an automatic washing machine includes: an unbalance sensor mounted on a controller mounted into a top cover, for sensing an unbalance of a washing tub during performing a dehydrating function; a magnet mounted on a door, for sensing an opening of the door during performing the dehydrating function; and a hall sensor mounted on an another controller more adjacent to the magnet, for sensing switch on or off state by means of a magnetic field of the magnet in the event of opening or closing of the door. To sense the unbalance of the washing tub for a certain time after performing the dehydrating cycle, sensing time of the unbalance is counted from starting time of the dehydrating function to compare with a certain time. If the sensing time of the unbalance is more than a certain time, a sub-routine for sensing the unbalance. If not, the sensing time of the unbalance is accumulatively counted and stored into a memory, to determine the dehydrating cycle time. Thus, the unbalance of the washing tub and the opening of the door can exactly be sensed to control them.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dewatering apparatus of an automatic washing machine and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a dewatering apparatus and the control method thereof in which an unbalance of a washing tub and an opening of a door can be accurately sensed to control them while performing a dewatering function after completing wash and rinse cycles in the washing machine.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A conventional automatic washing machine is shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 4. Since unbalance sensing switch 4a is mounted at one side of a top cover 1a on a body 16, switching points 24a,25a of first and second terminals 24,25 are coupled by upward movement of a door lever 22 and a switching lever 23 when a door 5a closes, to switch on current as shown in FIG. 2a.
As shown in FIG. 2a, if washing tub 3 oscillates during a dewatering process, the washing tub 3 bumps against an outer tub 15. At the same time, unbalance sensing lever 26 is deflected by a predetermined distance L by means of the outer tub 15. Likewise, the switching points 24a,25a of the first and second terminals 24,25 are isolated from each other by the action of switching lever 23 to switch off current as shown in FIG. 2b.
Laundry may lean to one side of the washing tub 3 while tub 3 spins to dewater the laundry, for dehydration after washing and rinsing. The washing tub 3 therefore becomes unbalanced thereby causing the washing tub 3 to bump against the outer tub 15. At the same time, the outer tub 15 pushes the unbalance sensing lever 26. As a result, the switching points 24a,25a of the first and second terminals 24,25 switch off for a certain time t.
Further, since the door lever 22 is not displaced when door 5a of the washing machine opens as shown in FIG. 2, the switching points 24a,25a of the first and second terminals 24,25 remain switched off until the door 5a closes.
Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 3, a low signal is input to the microprocessor 21 when the unbalance sensing switch 4a is closed, while a high signal is input to the microprocessor 21 when the unbalance sensing switch 4a opens. Thus, when a signal having a predetermined level is input to the microprocessor 21 as shown in FIG. 4, an unbalance of the washing tub 3 is sensed when the signal input time is shorter than a certain the threshold time t of about 80-200 ms. The opening of the door 5a is sensed when the signal input time is longer than the threshold time.
However, since the opening of the door 5a and the unbalance of the washing tub 3 are simultaneously sensed by the unbalance sensing switch 4a as above, it is difficult to sense the opening of the door 5a when primarily on using the unbalance sensing switch 4a for sensing the unbalance of the washing tub 3. On the other hand, it is difficult to sense the unbalance of the washing tub 3 when primarily using the same for sensing the opening of the door 5a. In addition, the sensing performance depends on position of the unbalance sensing switch 4a.
Moreover, once the unbalance sensing switch is fixed to the washing machine, it is hard to change its configuration and position. If a relatively large amount of laundry is loaded into the washing tub 3, the position of the outer tub 15 is lower than a bottom portion of unbalance sensing lever 26 because of laundry's weight and a buffer force of a damper 27 mounted between a top portion of the body 16 and a bottom portion of the outer tub 15. This makes sensing the unbalance of the washing tub 3 impossible or causes deformation of the unbalance sensing lever 26 in case of its restoration as it is to occur malfunction of the sensing function of the unbalance. It is also likely for the unbalance sensing lever 26 protruding towards a lower portion of the top cover 1a to become deformed while transferring and assembling the top cover 1a, and while disassembling the machine for assembly and change of the washing machine.

Dewatering method for automatic washing machine


A device for locating a parked vehicle has a remote mobile unit with an aerodynamic housing, including a base and a transparent lens covering an illuminating visual indicator, such as a strobe light. The base contains a battery power source, an electronic sound emitter and control circuitry, including a radio signal transceiver and a spread spectrum processor. An adhesive membrane layer on the bottom of the base facilitates quick and easy attachment to a vehicle, at a location which is easily visible from a distance (e.g. the roof or other high exterior position). A wireless handheld control unit has an internal I/O processor, pushbuttons for entering commands, a spread spectrum processor and a radio transceiver and antenna for sending and receiving spread spectrum signals to and from the transceiver in the mobile unit in order to selectively activate and deactivate the illuminating visual indicator and sound emitter. The distinct emitted sound and flash sequence and/or rhythm of the illuminating indicator can be selectively programmed and/or changed by the user with the wireless handheld unit. The sound emitter and illuminating indicator have a respective audible and visual range of at least 1,000 feet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices that aid in the location of an automobile parked in a large and/or crowded parking lot or garage. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device for aiding in finding the location of a parked automobile with the combined usage of both a distinct illuminating visual indicator and a district audible indicator detectable from a range of at least 1,000 feet, and wherein both the illuminating indicator and audible indicator can be selectively changed to provide user specific visual and audible signals detectable during daylight and nighttime hours.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
When parked in a large or unfamiliar parking facility, such as a shopping mall, airport, supermarket or stadium, people often have difficulty finding their parking location upon return to their vehicle. In some instances, this may be a result of other parked vehicles hiding or obstructing the view of the person's automobile. Other times, people just simply forget where they parked their car. Whatever the reason, when people lose their vehicle in a parking facility, they are left to wander about the lot or garage in search of their automobile. This problem is not only of great inconvenience to drivers but, more importantly presents a significant security concern, particularly for women and elderly persons. The relevant art is crowded with various devices for helping people locate their parked vehicle. For instance, a variety of visual aid devices, such as flags, colored balls, flowers and the like have been attached to antennae, or other structures on vehicles to assist drivers in locating their vehicle in a crowded parking lot. Others have proposed various illuminating devices to help identify a vehicle in a crowded parking facility. Additionally, vehicle alarm systems and other sound emitting devices have been used to assist automobile owners in finding their parked vehicle. Notwithstanding, these and other aids have been found to have limited success and fail to provide an adequate solution.
Accordingly, there remains an urgent need for a vehicle locater device which overcomes the problems which have yet to be solved by the various proposed devices in the art. Specifically, there remains a need for an improved automobile locating device which provides for both a distinct and user selectable visual indicator and audible indicator having a detectable range of at least one thousand feet.


A synergistic fuel additive composition, the composition having a sulfur additive; and a non-sulfur containing additive, wherein the ratio of the sulfur additive to the non-sulfur additive is about 1:1 to about 1:100. A method of reducing sulfur content in a fuel composition, the method provides adding a fuel additive to a fuel composition, the fuel composition having a silver corrosion inhibitor, the fuel additive having: a sulfur additive and a non-sulfur containing additive, wherein the ratio of the sulfur additive to the non-sulfur containing additive is from about 1:1 to about 1:100; wherein the fuel additive provides less than 5 ppm of sulfur addition to the fuel composition; and wherein the fuel composition does not cause silver corrosion.

Generally, spark ignition fuels, commonly referred to as gasoline, have silver corrosion and sulfur specifications that must be met by refiners and importers prior to introducing gasoline into commerce. In some cases, refinery processing units fail to remove trace contaminants that prevent the gasoline from meeting the silver corrosion specification such as the one contained in the ASTM D4814, Standard Specification for Automotive Spark-Ignition Engine Fuel.
In many of these cases, refiners and gasoline importers turn to corrosion inhibitor additives to help meet the specification. The industry workhorse silver corrosion inhibitor, alkyl dithiothiadiazole, contains sulfur and typically introduces several ppm of sulfur into treated gasoline. As such, the treated gasoline meets corrosion specifications, but may not meet sulfur regulations such as those found in the U.S. EPA's Tier 3 Gasoline Sulfur Regulations. Failure to meet the sulfur regulations can result in costly penalties in the form of sulfur credit purchases from other refiners and/or importers, where such sulfur credit purchases can potentially cost millions of dollars.

Silver corrosion inhibitor composition and method of use


A technique for merging conference session dialogs allows presenting content and media streams from a non-Skype endpoint to a Skype multipoint control unit (MCU), so that they present a single caller in a conference with both media and content. A signaling adapter intercepts session dialogs and merges or other modifies. When adding the non-Skype endpoint, requests from a content server are dropped while requests from the MCU handling non-Skype media streams are forwarded to the Skype MCU. Responses to the request from the MCU are also forwarded to the content server. When creating subscription dialogs, requests from the content server are modified to appear as if they came from the MCU, while responses go back to the proper requester. Conference notifications are forked to go to both the content server and the MCU. Because Skype uses separate media and content dialogs, merging of audio/video and content dialogs may be omitted. By merging dialogs, user experience is improved.

Enterprises can schedule online conferences using Skype® For Business (formerly known as Lync®) services. (LYNC and SKYPE are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp.) Some non-Skype videoconferencing systems can connect non-Skype videoconferences with Skype video conferences, but the connection has had limitations. Both Skype endpoints and non-Skype endpoints see content and video from endpoints of the other type as a cascaded videoconference in which the endpoints of the non-Skype videoconference appear in a single segment of a Skype screen layout and endpoints of the Skype videoconference appear in a single segment of a non-Skype screen layout, with a single stream passing between the Skype system and the non-Skype system. This presents a less than optimal user experience.
In addition, current approaches have used a separate server for handling content streams which use its own signaling, resulting in the Skype conference seeing the content as another caller in the Skype conference, which happens to use only content but no audio or video. Thus a single caller from a non-Skype endpoint ends up looking like two callers in the Skype conference.
A better approach to integrating Skype conferences and non-Skype conferences would be desirable.


A urinary catheter and a method of its manufacture are disclosed. The urinary catheter comprises a tubular shaft extending between an insertion end and a discharge end, the tubular shaft being formed of at least two materials having different properties. The materials are arranged substantially separated from each other in distinct zones, wherein at least one of the width and thickness of said zones varies over the length of the tubular shaft, to form two or more uniform sections of the tubular shaft having various relative amounts of said materials, and wherein at least one transition between two such uniform sections is formed by at least one transition section providing a gradual transition between the uniform sections. The catheter can e.g. be produced by intermittent extrusion.

Urinary catheters are commonly used for draining urine from the bladder. One type of urinary catheters is indwelling catheters, so-called Foley catheters, which are maintained in place in the urethra for an extended period of time, such as for days, weeks or even months. Another type of urinary catheters is intended for short term use, so-called intermittent catheters. Intermittent urinary catheters are used for draining the bladder once, and then be removed. Intermittent catheters are typically used for a few minutes, and catheterization is typically made by the user him/her self, so-called self-catheterization, and is typically performed many times a day. Typically catheters for intermittent catheterization are used by patients suffering from urinary incontinence, urinary retention or neurogenic bladder dysfunction. Many of the users using self-catheterization have limited or reduced dexterity. Using an intermittent catheter, the bladder may be drained through a natural or artificial urinary canal. Many catheters for intermittent catheterization are provided with a hydrophilic coating or the like, providing a smooth and slippery surface when wetted, for safe and comfortable insertion in the urinary canal.
However, catheterization, and in particular for male users, can often be complicated. The male urethra is long (typically 15-29 cm), and comprise a number of curves and restricted areas through which it may be difficult to insert a catheter. On the one hand, it is generally a desire to make the catheter as stiff and rigid as possible, since this makes it easier to push and control/manipulate the catheter from the rear end during insertion. A stiff catheter will also resist kinking, buckling and other deformations. However, a stiff catheter will have difficulty in finding its way and navigating around the narrow and restricted passages in the urethra, and may also cause pain and injury to the user. Thus, from this point of view, the catheter should instead be made as soft as possible. The solution to this problem has so far been to use a compromise, i.e. to use catheters which are neither soft nor stiff, and which are not optimal from the point of maneuverability and also not optimal in view of reducing pain, discomfort and injury on the user or patient.
There have been some proposals to use urinary catheters having varying properties over the length. For example, WO 2014/077881 discloses a urinary catheter in which sections or zones are made more flexible than other sections/zones, by providing cutouts and the like in these sections. However, this proposed catheter is still far from optimal from a use perspective, and also very difficult and costly to produce.
There is therefore a need for a urinary catheter which at least partly alleviates the above-discussed problems. In particular, there is a need for a new urinary catheter having improved flexibility/rigidity characteristics, and improved usability, and which is more cost-efficient to produce.

Urinary catheter with varying properties


A programmable and on-demand hot water heater unit that locally and remotely changes the set temperature for a conventional water heater and locally and remotely activates the hot water recirculation pump associated with a conventional hot water heating system.

1. Technical Field
The invention, a Backward-compatible, Programmable, and On-demand Water Heater and Recirculation Pump Control Unit (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "Control Unit") generally relates to devices that regulate residential and commercial hot water heating and recirculation systems and devices that regulate the temperature and movement of water through them. More particularly, the present invention relates to devices that can be retrofitted and mounted onto an already installed commercially available tank-type hot-water heater to regulate the temperature of the water in a hot water heating system and the movement of water through a hot water recirculation system in response to programmable, locally or remotely entered commands as well as an on-demand signal.
2. Background of the Invention
Tank-type hot water heaters, which are the most common type of hot water heaters found in the home typically use natural gas, propane gas, fuel oil, or electricity to heat the water in the tank to a predetermined or "set" temperature. The tank serves as a storage vessel as well as a heating vessel. Cold water is delivered to the bottom of the tank through a cold-water inlet pipe and heated water exits the tank through a hot-water outlet pipe. The hot-water outlet pipe connects to the house's piping system to deliver heated water to various fixtures throughout the house.
Hot water heaters typically use a thermostat of some type to establish a predetermined set temperature and then control the temperature of the water in the tank by activating and deactivating the heating source. The thermostat consists of an internal (inside the tank) thermometer or other heat sensing device connected by an electrical or electronic circuit to a temperature control device which establishes the set temperature. The temperature control device is connected by an electrical or electronic circuit to the heating source. For electric water heaters, the heating source is one or more electric heating elements which protrude horizontally from the sides of the tank into the water. Fuel-fired water heaters use fuel oil, natural gas, or propane gas piped to a burner located at the bottom of the tank as a heating source.
When the water inside the hot water heater reaches a predetermined temperature below the set temperature, the thermometer in the thermostat senses this decrease in temperature and sends an activating signal to the heating source which heats (or reheats) the water inside the hot water heater until it reaches the set temperature established by the thermostat. When the temperature in the tank reaches the set temperature established by the thermostat, the thermostat sends a deactivation signal to the heating source.
The decrease in temperature inside the tank is typically caused by static cooling of the water inside the tank; that is to say, the water just sits inside the tank and gradually cools down. However, the decrease in temperature can also be caused by demand. When a demand for hot water is placed on the house's hot water system (such as by turning on a hot water faucet or activating a washing machine), cold water enters the hot water heating/storage tank to replace the hot water entering the house through the open plumbing fixture.
Once the heated water leaves the hot water heater, it is transferred by water pressure into the pipe lines servicing the various plumbing fixtures throughout the house. Unless the house is equipped with a hot-water recirculation system, the hot water tends to remain in those pipe lines and, as a result, will cool rapidly if not used by the occupants. Accordingly, when the occupant of the house turns on the hot water faucet, cold water will come out until the cooler water standing in the pipe lines is replaced by heated water coming from the hot water heater. However, many homes are equipped with a hot water recirculation system that, by means of an external pump (typically powered by electricity), recirculates the water from the pipe lines back into the hot water heater so that heated water is always in the pipe lines and immediately accessible to the occupants of the house.
The heating cycle described in the foregoing paragraphs will continue as long as there is energy going to the heating source (electric current going to the heating elements and fuel oil, propane, or natural gas going to the burner jets). While hot water on demand is a service that has become essential in the daily lives of most people, the heating and cooling cycle that provides hot water on demand is not always the most energy-efficient method of providing this service.
The process of running tap water until the cold water resting in the pipe lines is replaced with heated water from the hot water heater simply sends all of that cold water down the drain resulting in the waste of several gallons of water each time any hot water faucet is turned on for the first time. Further, an occupant may initiate a demand for hot water on the tail end of the cooling cycle and thereby receive water that is cooler than the desired set temperature. As a result, the occupant will typically raise the set temperature which requires more energy (electricity, fuel oil, natural gas, or propane gas) to provide hot water at the desired temperature on demand at any time. The occupant might also continue running (and wasting) the water with the hope that it will eventually get hotter. Finally, as mentioned previously, the cooling and reheating cycle will continue whether there's any demand for hot water or not. Accordingly, water is continuously reheated during non-demand periods such as during the night, during the day while the occupants are absent from the house, and, more significantly, during extended absences such as weekends away from the home or vacations. While some energy-conscious occupants might think to set the thermostat on a vacation or low-demand setting, most occupants do not which results in a significant waste of energy as water is continuously heated for an empty house.
The prior art contains numerous examples of devices and methods that attempt to solve these problems. These inventions include, without limitation, devices that remotely program the thermostat for a more energy-efficient regulation of water temperature in the tank, devices that recirculate water from the pipe lines back into the hot water tank, and devices that make it easier to manually change the temperature control devices that input the set temperature to the thermostat.
With respect to devices that make it easier to manually change the temperature control devices that input the set temperature to the thermostat, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,459,159 and 4,456,169 issued to McGhee and McGhee et al. respectively (1985) disclose a thermostat control apparatus that uses an attached motor to mechanically change the temperature control knob settings in response to incoming and outgoing water temperature readings. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,775 issued to Scott (1983) discloses a device that automatically switches the thermostat temperature settings by means of a mechanical arm attached to the temperature control knob. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,692,051 issued to Stansbury, Jr. et al. (1987) discloses a cylindrically-shaped hot water heater knob adaptor that fits over most commercially available temperature control knobs found on residential hot water heaters.
With respect to devices that remotely program and or control the thermostat for a more energy-efficient regulation of water temperature in the tank, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,016,402 and 4,413,775 issued to Scott (1977 and 1983) disclose a water heater control system that senses the temperature on the outflow line from the water heater and adjusts the thermostat setting based on periods of high or low demand as the case may be. U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,078 issued to Boykin et al. (1992) discloses a programmable hot water heater control device and method that allows the user to program into a control module a particular living cycle and assign a desired temperature to each of a predetermined number or heating start/stop times within that living cycle. U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,087 issued to Day et al. (2002) discloses an apparatus and method for self-programmable temperature and usage control for hot water heaters that allows the user to enter a plurality of selections for control functions based upon idle period start and end times, sleep periods, and vacation periods. U.S. Pat. No. 6,920,843 issued to Wilson (2005) discloses a programmable water heater having a programmable timer coupled to the water heater for establishing predetermined times as to when the water heater should operate. The programmable controller allows the operation of a solenoid valve which controls the flow of natural gas to the burner. U.S. Pat. No. 7,015,432 issued to Valbh (2006) discloses a water heater control system that can be programmed to go on and off at predetermined times and maintain temperatures below normal usage temperatures. The controller can also be programmed based upon usage history and it can be remotely controlled using a computer, wireless communications, or other such communications devices. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 7,744,008 issued to Chapman, Jr. et al. (2010) discloses a programmable water heater control system that is married to the programmable HVAC control system.
With respect to devices that recirculate water from the pipe lines back into the hot water tank, U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,289 issued to Peterson (1990) discloses a usage responsive hot water recirculation system having a controller that automatically turns on a recirculating pump when there is a demand for hot water at any one or more usage points throughout the water supply system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,291 issued to Kaonohi (1998) discloses another hot water recirculating system having a (recirculating) water pump controlled by a timer/switch located at the hot water faucet.
These inventions show various levels of sophistication in design, function, and capabilities as they have evolved over time. They have become increasingly complex in design and operation while affording the user ever more options. While the field in which these inventions reside has obviously become more and more crowded, the prior art has yet to disclose a water heater control system that uses a remotely located computer to control both the hot water heater temperature settings and the recirculation system. Instead, the devices disclosed by the prior art focus on either remotely or locally controlling the temperature controls of only the hot water heater. In other words, the user is limited to controlling only the temperature of the hot water heater and that control is exercised at one location only; the user does not have the option of local or remote control of the temperature setting. The recirculation devices disclosed by the prior art typically rely upon control features at the (recirculating) pump or switches located at the demand point such as a faucet or shower head. Further, the water heater control devices disclosed by the prior art are only capable of use with either an electric water heater or a fuel-fired water heater, but not both. Accordingly, the design and operation of the devices found in the prior art give rise to certain limitations. Specifically and without limitation:
1. The water heater control devices disclosed by the prior art typically cannot be used with both an electric water heater and a fuel-fired water heater; they are typically restricted to use with one or the other.
2. The water heater control devices disclosed by the prior art can only control the thermostat set point by sending the thermostat an electric command signal changing the set temperature; typically, there is no provision for physically moving the temperature control knob.
3. The water heater control devices disclosed by the prior art do not interact with the hot water recirculation system.
4. The water heater control devices disclosed by the prior art do not contemplate an additional "on-demand" sensor that sends an activation signal to the heating elements immediately upon sensing a demand for hot water by the user.
5. The water heater control devices disclosed by the prior art having programmable commands typically receive commands through a land-line or hard-wired connection from the command source. In the alternative, they receive a wireless signal from a remote device similar to a TV remote control unit. None contemplate a local entry point where programmable commands can be manually entered at the site of the control unit in addition to the hard-wire and/or remote wireless option. Further none of the programmable devices disclosed by the prior art contemplated displaying the existing status of the system on a remote computing device such as a smart phone, notebook computer, or lap top computer. Further still, none of the programmable devices disclosed by the prior art contemplate receiving a command signal from a remote computing device such as a smart phone, notebook or laptop computer designed to send such programmable commands over the Internet.
6. The remotely signaled water heater control devices disclosed by the prior art are typically limited to electric water heaters.
7. The hot water recirculation systems disclosed by the prior art rely upon local switches near the recirculation pump or near a hot water fixture to activate the recirculation pump.
8. The hot water recirculation systems disclosed by the prior art do not interact or work in conjunction with the hot water heater temperature control system (thermostat). Similarly, they do not contemplate an additional "on-demand" sensor that sends an activation signal to the recirculation pump immediately upon sensing a demand for hot water by the user.
9. The devices disclosed by the prior art are typically limited to operations with residential hot water heaters as opposed to both residential and commercial hot water heaters.
10. The devices disclosed by the prior art typically cannot be retrofitted to operate with existing hot water heaters; instead, they must be installed as a component of a new water heater or water heater control system.
11. The devices disclosed by the prior art that can be retrofitted to operate with an existing water heater are exposed to the atmosphere making them susceptible to corrosion, contamination from dirt and dust, and accidental breakage.
12. The devices disclosed by the prior art have become increasingly more complex and difficult to operate which adds to their initial purchase price and increases the likelihood of breakage during use. Accordingly, these devices have not been commercialized to a point where they are in actual use by consumers.
13. The increasingly complexity of the devices disclosed by the prior art typically requires that they be factory-installed or installed by a plumber or electrician or both.
14. The devices disclosed by the prior art typically have only one power source rendering them inoperable during an electric power outage or after the battery power source is depleted.
15. The devices disclosed by the prior art typically require a service provider to disconnect the water supply to the water heater, water to the home/building, and/or power to the water heater prior to installation of the new device.
16. The devices disclosed by the prior art do not contemplate connecting to a business or residential wireless network
17. The devices disclosed by the prior art are typically individual parts/pieces or stand-alone components as opposed to an integrated operating system.

Backward-compatible, programmable, and on-demand water heater and recirculation pump control unit and method of using


Dynamic telephone call routing. A voice service initiates a voice call session on a data communication network in response to an incoming telephone call directed to a user and generates a notification of the telephone call. An alerts service receiving and responsive to the notification executes a set of routing rules to select a computing device associated with the user. The alerts service also generates an alert directed to the computing device. If the computing device is online, a messaging service sends the alert to the computing device and receives a user request from the computing device in response thereto. The messaging service communicates the user request to the voice service for completing the voice call session to the computing device if specified by the user request. If the computing device is not online, the telephone call is routed to a telephone device.

In the past, data-centric and telephony-centric communications networks have existed as separate domains. More recently, however, computer users are taking advantage of PC-to-phone technology. Many online service providers seek to offer users with the ability to place telephone calls from their computer devices, using the computer devices as the equivalent of telephone handsets. A frequently used protocol for providing advanced telephony services across the Internet is referred to as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). SIP, which is currently a proposed standard of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) (see RFC 2543), is a text-based protocol for initiating interactive communication sessions between users. SIP can be used to establish, change and terminate calls between one or more users in a network based on the Internet Protocol (IP).
Moreover, society is becoming increasingly mobile and telephone users strongly desire the ability to place and receive calls from myriad locations. In other words, the ability for a telephone call to "follow" the user, whether logged in from work, home, or a mobile location, is needed.
Conventional telephone and voice systems enable a telephone customer to automatically direct incoming calls to different phones based on a fixed time schedule. Other known systems merely notify an online user of an incoming call on the telephone line being used for the online session. In this context, "online user" refers to a user of a computer presently connected to a network such as the Internet via dial-up access. Unfortunately, users of these conventional systems cannot easily and route their incoming calls dynamically. The need exists to route a user's incoming phone call to wherever the user is currently online but also based on user preferences.
In light of the foregoing, further improvements are needed for intelligent routing of real-time communications using user context such as schedule and presence.

Voice call routing by dynamic personal profile


Implementations generally relate methods, systems, and computer readable media for providing automatic access point registration. In some implementations, a method includes receiving an indication of automatic device on-boarding activation. The method further includes receiving a selection of one or includes identification more reference devices. The method further includes determining one or more detectable devices of the one or more candidate devices to be onboarded that are detectable by at least one of the one or more reference devices. The method further includes obtaining one or more automatic configuration parameters from one or more of the reference devices. The method further includes configuring one or more of the detectable devices to be onboarded with the one or more automatic configuration parameters.

In network environments, securing a mission critical network such as a network of Internet of Things (or IoT) devices is a concern. A variety of endpoint security solutions with a firewall may apply security polices at different network segments. If a network environment has several access points but has a dead zone, a new access point can be added in order to cover the dead zone area. The new access point should be added in a secure manner. As such, security is a substantial challenge in providing networks.


A turbulence analysis system comprises a communication interface and a processing system. The communication interface receives time variance metrics for a plurality of satellite signals. The time variance metrics correspond to variances in signal transfer times for individual satellite signals. The processing system determines position metrics for the individual satellite signals. The position metrics correspond to geometric signal paths in a three-dimensional area for the individual satellite signals. The processing system processes the position metrics and the time variance metrics for the satellite signals to allocate atmospheric turbulence values to the three-dimensional area to produce an atmospheric turbulence map indicating the atmospheric turbulence values in the three dimensional area. The communication interface transfers the atmospheric turbulence map.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of atmospheric turbulence, and in particular, to systems and methods to detect and display atmospheric turbulence.
2. Statement of the Problem
The use of Global Position System (GPS) satellite signals for location determination is well known. Environmental conditions affect GPS signals, and thus, GPS signals have also been processed to monitor environmental conditions. For example, GPS signals have been processed to monitor temperature, wind, and water vapor in the atmosphere. Changes in the index of refraction or refractivity as the GPS signal passes through the atmosphere are a function of the temperature and water vapor content along the GPS signal path. Most meteorological applications of GPS technology seek to separate the temperature and water vapor effects. Some attempts have been made to process GPS signals to assess atmospheric turbulence. As discussed below, these attempts have failed to produce an effective system to process GPS signals to produce a three-dimensional map of atmospheric turbulence.
One technique for processing GPS signal to monitor atmospheric turbulence is described in Characterizing Atmospheric Turbulence with GPS by F. Kleijer, P. Elosegue, and J. L. Davis (1994). This technique postulates that the tropospheric delay caused by turbulence to be the zero-mean difference between the actual slant path delay and a mapped zenith delay. The turbulence strength factor obtained from a single GPS receiver site at Mount Washington, N.H. shows temporal variations that could be related to turbulence strength. However, there is no indication of the location of the turbulence as a function of height. The fundamental concern of the technique is that the data is a measure of the index of refraction fluctuations which consist of water vapor variations and gradients of water vapor mixed in with turbulence information. Clear air turbulence, primarily related to velocity gradients and has not been identified with water vapor fluctuations. The problem with this technique is that water vapor change is mixed in with the data. There can be heterogeneous variability of water vapor without any turbulence. The technique does not mention how a final four dimensional mapping in space and time of the dynamic atmospheric turbulence field can be achieved.
Another technique for processing GPS signals to monitor atmospheric turbulence is described in The Effect of Turbulence of GPS Signals: Theory and Measurement by L. Cornman and R. Frelich (July 2004). This technique recognizes that GPS data received at the ground can be characterized by strong humidity variations in the boundary layer, making it difficult to separate out fluctuations due to humidity and temperature fluctuations. This technique chooses to use GPS-LEO occultation data (data gathered in a vertical column) to get vertical information about atmospheric turbulent structures above the boundary layer. The technique uses GPS amplitude and phase data, removes the mean atmospheric effects (e.g., from a high resolution atmospheric model), then performs a Fourier spectrum analysis of selected time intervals of the occultation profile to get amplitude and phase spectra. The technique seems to produce reasonable agreement between the measured and modeled spectra. The technique deliberately sets out to use fluctuations of GPS signals passing through the upper regions of the atmosphere that are mainly influenced by temperature-induced turbulence—not water vapor. The limitation of the technique is that the relevant equation has three unknowns: L0 the length scale of the turbulence, C2 the turbulence intensity, and Δη the thickness of the vertical patch of turbulence. The length scale was assumed to be 3000 m a priori, and the combined two variables [C2Δη] are found by a single variable maximum likelihood fit. The problem is that Δη can vary greatly (and with a single occultation Δη cannot be determined) so that the intensity cannot be known for sure. The technique suggests that if many occultations (vertical profiles) through the same region of space were available, tomographic methods could be used. One could add occulatations (vertical profiles) from commercial aircraft with GPS receivers. However, the lower aircraft occultations would be influenced by water vapor—the very problem the statistical approximations and scattering theory used in the approach were trying to avoid. A far bigger problem is that the number of occultations per unit area would not be sufficient for convergence and removal of the ambiguity between the three unknowns listed above.
Another technique, described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,738,010, looked at signals transmitted from aircraft near the airport to assess turbulence near the airport. This technique measured phase change of the transmitted signals helped to identify turbulence. This technique did not use GPS signals or any other satellite signals from a system that is already deployed.


The mechanical roughening of the surface of a printing plate substrate comprising aluminum or an aluminum alloy is carried out by wet brushing with the use of a cylinder brush 1 in which brush rows 2, 3 having bundles of organic fibers 22 and metal wires 33 are arranged side by side on the surface 7. The suspension used for the wet brushing contains from 5 to 80% by weight of abrasive particles in water.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for the mechanical roughening of the surface of a printing plate substrate comprising aluminum or an aluminum alloy by wet brushing. The present invention also relates to a cylinder brush for carrying out the process.
2. Description of Related Art
The production of substrates for photosensitive printing plates requires roughening of the substrate surface, which is generally done by carrying out the roughening first mechanically and then electrochemically in an electrolyte. The mechanical roughening can be effected by brushing with a wire brush, sandblasting, wet and dry brushing techniques, ball milling and other similar techniques.
The printing process is carried out using a printing plate having an essentially even surface. The printing plate is prepared by roughening and chemical treatment. The chemical treatment is either a purely chemical treatment in a solution or an electrochemical treatment. This preparation provides a printing surface which accepts only the oily printing ink and repels water in the printing areas, and conversely accepts water and repels the printing ink in the nonprinting areas.
To carry out the printing process, the processed printing plate is moistened and the printing ink applied. In offset printing, the printing plate is then pressed against a rubber blanket which transfers the printed image inked by the printing ink to the paper to be printed. In the case of direct printing, the printing plate is pressed directly against the paper. High-quality images without any noticeable preferred direction are desirable. An undesired direction may occur when the surface of the printing plate has a nonuniform structure. Furthermore, it is desirable to produce consistent high-quality images when the same printing plate and the same printing plate type are used. A nonreproducible image may occur when the surface of the printing plate is not of constant quality or does not retain its surface quality in a long print run.
A photosensitive printing plate is produced by applying a photosensitive layer to a roughened substrate, which generally comprises aluminum or an aluminum alloy. As aforementioned, the surface is roughened either mechanically, purely chemically or electrochemically or by a combination of two or three of these techniques. The roughening is usually followed by an etch process, anodization and treatment of the surface which renders the surface hydrophilic if required. Finally, a photosensitive layer is applied to the roughened surface in order to obtain a presensitized printing plate. The printing plate is exposed imagewise to actinic radiation, developed and conserved in order to obtain a processed printing plate, which is then mounted in a printing press for printing.
A number of processes, as already mentioned above, are generally known in the area of the roughening of the surface of substrates for printing plates. These processes, however, have disadvantages. For example, in the case of ball milling, the edges of the substrate have a roughness which differs from that of the center of the substrate, so that the plate edges must be cut off in order to ensure uniform roughness over the width of the substrate. Brushing with a wire brush typically gives rise to the problem that the roughness is oriented, the orientation being in the direction of rotation of the wire brush. Characteristic center line average values R.sub.a of wire-brushed material are 0.25 .mu.m in the running direction of a substrate strip and 0.45 .mu.m transverse to the strip running direction. Thus, there is an overall 50% difference between the two directions perpendicular to one another.
In the case of sandblasting substrates, the spray jets are subject to considerable wear due to the abrasive sand particles, and, as a result, must frequently be replaced. In electrochemical roughening, the electricity consumption is high and there are typically problems with the disposal of the acid-containing solutions which contain dissolved aluminum ions. If purely chemical roughening is employed, the residence time of the substrate in the chemical bath is relatively long in comparison with electrochemical roughening.
In the case of wet brushing with a suspension in which small abrasive particles are dispersed in an aqueous solution, the suspension is rubbed against the surface of the substrate by means of a brush or a set of brushes. The bristles of the brushes are usually plastic, such as nylon or polypropylene, and the wet brushing is carried out until the desired surface roughness is reached. The disadvantage with this technique is that the plastic bristles are subject to considerable abrasion and the edges of the substrate cut off the bristles so that the bristles in the edge regions are considerably shorter than those in the other regions of the brush. As a result, if a broader substrate strip is then brushed, the shorter bristles cannot sufficiently roughen the broader substrate strip in these edge regions. This leads to considerably less roughening in the edge regions when compared with the other regions.
Using wire brushes instead of plastic brushes for the wet brushing results in the above-mentioned disadvantages, specifically, the surface of the substrate is not uniform in terms of roughness but has a preferred orientation. The roughness of the substrate surface also varies with the wear of the bristles.
The wet brushing of aluminum substrates is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,929,591 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,317.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,528 discloses a cylinder brush which is used for wet brushing. A substrate comprising aluminum or an aluminum alloy which contains 99% by weight of aluminum and small amounts of silicon, iron, copper, zinc, manganese, magnesium, chromium, lead, bismuth, calcium, indium, gallium, nickel and the like, is processed with a suspension under high liquid pressure which is applied at an angle to the surface of the substrate. The suspension contains finely milled powder of abrasive substances and, if required, may furthermore contain an acid or an alkali. This roughening step by means of a suspension is followed by a brush treatment, the cylinder brush comprising nylon fibers, polypropylene fibers, animal hair, steel wire or the like. The fibers or bristles have a uniform length and are mounted uniformly over the base part of the cylinder brush. The length of the bristles or fibers is from 10 to 150 mm and the diameter of the individual fibers or wires ranges from 0.1 mm to 1.5 mm. The cylinder brush is operated at a speed in the range from 200 to 2000 revolutions per minute. The abrasive suspension is sprayed through a spray nozzle onto the substrate under high liquid pressure before the substrate passes the cylinder brushes. The brushes are pressed against the substrate so that the substrate surface is roughened at a constant pressure between the support rolls and the cylinder brushes. After the roughening, the roughened surface of an aluminum substrate has a center line average value R.sub.a of from 0.3 to about 1.2 .mu.m, in particular from 0.35 to 0.8 .mu.m.

Process for the mechanical roughening of the surface of a printing plate substrate and cylinder brush for carrying out the process


Replicated polymeric microstructures have been used in the fabrication of optofiber waveguide connections, with the intention of simplifying the production of such connections, and therewith greatly reduce manufacturing costs. Fabrication is commenced from a silicon chip in which there has been etched grooves whose cross-sectional shape has been adapted to accommodate waveguides, such as optofibers. Firstly, the silicon chip is replicated, by plating the silicon chip with nickel for instance. The replication then serves as a model for producing a plastic copy of the silicon chip. This method of manufacture is able to produce waveguide accommodating grooves (2), such as optofiber accommodating grooves, to a very high degree of accuracy. Furthermore, the method provides a high degree of freedom in the configuration of the grooves, and also enables branched grooves for receiving branched fibres to be produced. The waveguide connection can then be used with a waveguide, such as an optofiber, together with a light transmitter or light receiver.

Known in the art are various types of waveguide connections that have been fabricated with etched silicon chips as substrate/carrier. Silicon chips, however, are expensive to produce, particularly large silicon chips, wherewith a silicon chip will preferably not be larger than 2.times.2 mm. Silicon chips are liable to break under the high pressures to which they subjected when pressing waveguide connections, besides being easily worn. Other types of waveguide connections include laboratory produced connections. These waveguide connections are also expensive to produce with the precision required. In order to enable fibreoptic connectors to be used on a large scale, said connectors must be able to compete strongly with existing solutions, especially with regard to cost.

Method and device for waveguide connection


A computer-based method of processing a computer graphics illustration having pieces of artwork includes mapping outlines of the pieces of artwork onto a grid of cells, determining a number of outlines that map to a cell, and identifying a complex region based on the determined number of outlines that map to the cell.

This invention relates to processing pieces of artwork in a computer-graphics illustration.
Many items in everyday life exhibit some degree of transparency. For example, a car windshield is almost completely transparent. The tinted glass of a bottle is less transparent than a car windshield; however, a viewer can still make out objects behind the bottle.
Simulating transparency in a computer-generated images can consume large amounts of computer memory due to the amount of data needed to describe the image. For example, an image printed by a typical computer printer is made up of millions of colored dots roughly 0.005 inches in size. For each dot, a computer must determine a color based on the different transparent graphics overlapping the area covered by the dot. The process of determining these colors is known as "compositing."

Processing complex regions of illustration artwork


A structure of a bush bearing includes: a bush on which a groove is formed; and an endless annular-shaped elastic member which is installed in the groove of the bush, and that supports a rack shaft, in which an inner circumferential surface of the bush includes a first inner circumferential surface that is in slide contact with an outer circumferential surface of the rack shaft, which is positioned opposite to a formation position of rack teeth, a second inner circumferential surface that faces the outer circumferential surface of the rack shaft with a gap interposed between the outer circumferential surface and the second inner circumferential surface, and the groove formed in a formation range of the first inner circumferential surface has a depth shallower than that of the groove formed in a formation range of the second inner circumferential surface.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a structure of a bush bearing.
2. Related Art
In a rack and pinion steering apparatus, a rack shaft with rack teeth, which meshes with teeth of a pinion, is movably supported via a bush bearing by a gear housing. Various synthetic resin-made bush bearings are proposed as the bush bearing. Typically, the synthetic resin-made bush bearing has a tightening margin with respect to the rack shaft, and movably supports the rack shaft.
When the bush bearing has a large tightening margin with respect to the supported rack shaft, the bush bearing can support the rack shaft so as to maintain a predetermined rigidity in a radial direction. However, when the rack shaft is tightened too much, the rack shaft has a high sliding frictional resistance, and thus is unlikely to slide. In contrast, when the bush bearing has a small tightening margin with respect to the supported rack shaft, the rack shaft has a low sliding frictional resistance, and has satisfactory moving characteristics. However, the rack shaft is likely to have a large center offset, or a gap or the like is likely to occur between the bush bearing and the rack shaft. In addition, the rigid support in the radial direction weakens, and when the rack shaft moves, rattle noise (gear rattle noise) is caused to occur between the teeth of the pinion and the rack teeth.
A gap between the synthetic resin-made bush bearing and the rack shaft is caused to occur by stress relief in association with creep deformation and thermal history of the synthetic resin. Accordingly, the rigid support in the radial direction weakens, and rattle noise (gear rattle noise) occurs. In particular, when radial contraction is caused to occur by the stress relief of the synthetic resin, the synthetic resin-made bush bearing has an increasing tightening margin with respect to the rack shaft, and the sliding frictional resistance becomes high. When a bush supports the entire circumference of the rack shaft, the rack teeth and the bush interfere with each other, and the bush is cut.
Patent Literature 1 (JP-A-2007-9962) discloses the bush that has a concave-shaped or a flat-shaped inside inner circumferential surface; an outside inner circumferential surface which is disposed on an outside in the radial direction farther than the inside inner circumferential surface; and a slit which is provided so as to correspond to the inside inner circumferential surface, and the bush bearing that is made of an endless annular-shaped elastic member installed in a circumferential groove of the bush. Since the bush bearing made of the endless annular-shaped elastic member is installed in the circumferential groove of the bush, the bush bearing can support the rack shaft so as to maintain predetermined rigidity in the radial direction and a direction in which the bush bearing departs from the teeth of the pinion, and the inside inner circumferential surface can prevent external disturbance from causing displacement of the bush bearing toward an opposite direction of the rack teeth of the rack shaft. The bush bearing has a low frictional resistance in a movement in an axial direction of the rack shaft, and can movably support the rack shaft. In addition, a gap is formed between the outside inner circumferential surface and an outer circumferential surface of the rack shaft, on which the rack teeth are formed. An impact of the stress relief in association with the creep deformation and the thermal history can be reduced.


An information processing apparatus is connectable to an external network, and includes a plurality of units, an external network interface, and an internal network interface. The external network interface is provided in at least one of the plurality of units, and connected to the external network. The internal network interface is provided in each of the plurality of units, and is connected to an internal network which is established by a second address system independent from a first address system of the external network connected to the external network interface. Then, the internal network interface of each of the plurality of units conducts communication between the plurality of units using the second address system. Therefore, the internal network having no influence on the external network can be established.

In general, an information processing apparatus which includes a server apparatus and a storage apparatus is improved in maintenance and availability (verbosity) by dividing various internal functions into a plurality of units.
When Ethernet (registered trademark) is introduced between the plurality of units for the cooperation between the plurality of units which are divided as described above, the information processing apparatus can use various application software which utilizes Ethernet. Therefore, it is possible to improve productivity of the information processing apparatus.
However, in a case where Ethernet is introduced as an internal network, it is advisable that the address system of Ethernet is established without contradiction (conflict) to the address system of an external network which is linked to the information processing apparatus. For this reason, a process of changing the address system of the internal network in cooperation with the address setting and address change of the external network is implemented. In this way, during a period while the process of changing the address system of the internal network, it is difficult to keeping the cooperation between the units.
Herein, an example of a conflict between the address system of the internal network and the address system of the external network will be described with reference to FIG. 13.
In the example illustrated in FIG. 13, a terminal 400 is communicably connected to an information processing apparatus 100 through an external network 200 and a gateway 300. Further, the information processing apparatus 100, for example, includes five units 101 to 105. These units 101 to 105 are communicably connected through an internal network 106.
Herein, the external network 200 is Ethernet which is managed by a user who uses the information processing apparatus 100. The information processing apparatus 100 is an interface which provides an Ethernet service.
Further, the internal network 106 of the information processing apparatus 100 is Ethernet which connects the units 101 to 105 in the information processing apparatus 100. The units 101 to 105 cooperate to each other through the internal network 106.
The respective units 101 to 105 are components included in the information processing apparatus 100, and divided according to certain functions in order to improve maintenance and availability (verbosity) of the information processing apparatus 100. In each of the units 101 to 105, a general-purpose OS is loaded to use Ethernet applications. Then, the unit 101 includes an external network interface 110 which is connected to the external network 200 and conducts communication with the external terminal 400. Further, the unit 101 includes an internal network interface 111 which is connected to the internal network 106 and conducts communication with the other units 102 to 105. Similarly, the units 102 to 105 include internal network interfaces 121 to 151, respectively, which are connected to the internal network 106 and conduct communication with the unit 101. In addition, the units 101 to 105 may be denoted by Units #1 to #5, respectively.
At this time, the Internet Protocol (IP) address 192.168.1.1 for the external network 200 is assigned to the information processing apparatus 100 (the external network interface 110). Further, the IP address 172.16.0.10 is assigned to the terminal 400. Then, the IP addresses 172.16.0.1 to 172.16.0.5 for the internal network 106 are assigned to the units 101 to 105 (the internal network interfaces 111 to 151) in the information processing apparatus 100, respectively.
In a case where the IP addresses are assigned as described above, the unit 101 loses its ability to conduct communication with the external terminal 400. This is because the IP address of the terminal 400 is 172.16.0.10 and belongs to the address system of the internal network 106 of the information processing apparatus 100. In this case, even when the unit 101 tries to conduct communication with the terminal 400, a packet addressed to the terminal 400 flows into the internal network 106.
Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 13, in a case where the address used in the outside of the information processing apparatus 100 comes into conflict with the address system used in the information processing apparatus 100, the process of changing the address system of the internal network, as described above, is performed in cooperation with the address of the external network.
As described above, when the process of changing the address system of the internal network in cooperation with the address of the external network is occurred, there is a problem in that it is difficult to keep the cooperation between the units during a period when the process is performed.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-49676
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-151744

Information processing apparatus, information processing system, and computer-readable recording medium having stored program


The disclosure relates to a server, system and method for communicating with a meter at a remote premise through power transmission lines. The system comprises a head end with a server for collecting and analyzing data from meters; a power transmission network connected to the meters and to the head end; and a gateway. The network provides both power to the remote location and data communications; the network includes a first network providing a first voltage and a second network connected to the first network. The server comprises a processor and a memory module storing instructions for execution on the processor. The gateway is a bridge between the first and second networks. Network communications may follow Internet Protocol (IP) communication standards. Based on the load index, each meter can generate and send its response to the server and the server will be able to process its response.

Powerline networks provide energy from a power source (e.g. a hydroelectric dam) to a network of residential and commercial customer sites. The power carried over transmission lines in the network can be distributed through a series of sub-networks to the actual sites. Meters at the sites monitor the power usage, which provides usage data for billing purposes. Some meters provide automated remote transmissions of reading data to a central location, such as a head end of the power network. Such meters have limited capabilities.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for communicating over power lines


The present invention belongs to the field of advanced manufacturing technology and relates to one set-up and method of electrohydrodynamic jet 3D printing based on resultant effect of electric field and thermal field. This method is used to fabricate micro/nano 3D structure, under the resultant effects of electro hydrodynamic force and thermal field. First of all, the ink reaches needle orifice at a constant speed under the resultant effect of fluid field and gravity field. Then a high voltage electric field is applied between needle and substrate. And the ink is dragged to form stable micro/nano scale jet which is far smaller than the needle size using the electric field shear force generated at needle orifice. The solvent evaporation rate of ink increases combined with the radiation of thermal field at the same time. Finally, the micro/nano scale 3D structure is fabricated on substrate with the accumulation of jet layer by layer. Compared with liquid jet printing technology, this method describing in present invention owns many advantages, including wide adaptability of material and manufacturing complex micro/nano scale 3D structures.

3D printing technology is an advanced manufacturing technology which rapid developed in recent years. 3D printing technology has many advantages compared with traditional removed manufacturing technology, such as manufacturing complex shape parts rapidly and precisely, reducing machining process and shortening the processing cycle, which provides a great potential in the aerospace, biomedical, electronic information and other fields.
M/NEMS devices have developed from flat and single structure to 3D, complex and flexible structure. And the manufacturing process is pursuing simple. 3D printing can realize rapid manufacturing of any designed structures and satisfy the demand for complex, 3D and flexible structures of M/NEMS devices. During printing technology, liquid jet printing technology is an important method to realize printing and manufacturing of 3D M/NEMS device. Liquid jet printing technology can generate droplets at needle orifice through squeezing the liquid in the specific cavity. The squeezing pressure is usually produced by the piezoelectric, ultrasonic, thermal bubble and other methods. The diameter of droplet which is printed by pushing printing technique is about twice the diameter of needle. The diameter of the needle is currently 20-50 μm. The minimum resolution of this pushing printing technology is greater than 20 μm due to the limit of needle size. The materials used in M/NEMS devices includes metals, polymers, ceramics, etc. In addition, these inks need to be solidified at a certain temperature to obtain specific performance. Furthermore, the 3D structure is manufactured by the ink solidified and accumulated layer by layer in a certain temperature in the printing process of 3D M/NEMS devices. However, the printing resolution of droplet jet printing technology which based on piezoelectric, ultrasonic and thermal bubble strongly depends on the needle size. Moreover, the ink is solidified easily on needle orifice in the printing mode with heating, resulting in needle clogging during printing process of micro/nano scale 3D structure. It is difficult for liquid jet printing technology based on piezoelectric, ultrasonic and hot bubbles to realize the printing and manufacturing of 3D structures with micro/nano scale. Thus, its application 3D M/NEMS devices is limited.

Set-up and method of electrohydrodynamic jet 3D printing based on resultant effect of electric field and thermal field


The present invention relates to a propeller drive arrangement for vessels used in water-borne traffic, and specifically to a propeller drive arrangement containing a propulsion unit, and to such an arrangement, which contains a propulsion unit, which is turnable relative the hull of the vessel. Particularly the present invention relates to a system and a method for braking a motor of a propulsion unit. The solution for braking the propulsion unit according to the present invention is based on short-circuiting a permanently magnetized motor.

In the most common cases the propulsion of various ships or equivalent vessels (such as e.g. passenger ships and passenger ferries, cargo ships, barges, oil tankers, ice breakers, off-shore vessels, naval ships etc.) is achieved by a pushing or pulling force produced by a rotatable propeller or several propellers. Separate rudder devices have conventionally been used for steering the vessels.
Conventionally the driving or rotating arrangements for the propellers have been implemented such, that the drive device for the propeller shaft, e.g. a diesel engine, a gas engine or an electric motor is provided inside the hull of the vessel, from which location the propeller shaft extends outside the hull of the vessel through a watertight sealed opening. The propeller itself is located at the other end, i.e. the end extending outside the vessel, of the propeller shaft, which is connected either directly to the motor or to a gearbox, if any. In the majority of all vessels used in water-borne traffic this solution is used for providing the force necessary for their movement.
Prior art is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 shows the structure of a propulsion unit according to prior art,
FIG. 2 shows a prior art propulsion unit with its turning arrangement, and
FIG. 3 shows a prior art arrangement for supplying power to propulsion units.
FIG. 1 shows the structure of a propulsion unit according to prior art. The prior art propulsion unit comprises a motor 1, a propeller 2, and a chamber 3, which is connected to the hull 5 of the ship by a hollow shaft 4. Shipbuilders have lately started to provide vessels with propeller units of the described kind, wherein the motor 1, providing the driving power for the propeller shaft, as well as any gearbox, are disposed inside a special chamber 3, which is located outside the hull 5 of the ship, said chamber 3 being supported rotatably in relation to said hull 5.
The chamber 3, containing the motor 1, is rotatably supported in relation to the hull of the ship by the hollow shaft 4, which is extending through the bottom of the ship. Thus, the unit is turnable relative the hull 5, whereby it, instead of any separate rudder equipment, can also be used for steering the vessel. Among others, the FI patent No. 76977, to the present applicant, discloses such a propulsion unit in more detail. These units are also generally called azimuthing propulsion units, and the present applicant, for example, is offering such azimuthing units under the trade name AZIPOD®.
In addition to the advantages gained from the elimination of a long propeller shaft and separate rudder equipment, these devices have been found to provide essential improvement in the maneuverability of a vessel. The energy economy of the vessel has also been found to become more efficient. In recent years, the use of azimuthing propulsion units in various vessels for water-borne traffic has become more common, and they are assumed to grow increasingly popular.
FIG. 2 shows a prior art propulsion unit with its turning arrangement. The propulsion unit according to prior art comprises a motor unit 6, a propeller 7, a supporting part 8, and a cabling unit 9 and motor units 10, 11 of the turning arrangement. The motor unit 6 and the propeller 7 of the propulsion unit are being supported at the hull of the ship by the supporting part 8. The driving electric power is supplied to the electric motor unit 6 by the cabling unit 9. The motor units 10, 11 of the prior art turning arrangement turn the propulsion unit via a suitable gear set. The prior art propulsion unit also comprises mechanical brake means for reducing and/or limiting the turning speed of the azimuthing propulsion unit.
FIG. 3 shows a power supply arrangement according to prior art for propulsion units. The prior art power supply arrangement for propulsion units comprises engine units 12, generator units 13, electrical power network switching panels 14, transformer units 15 for the propulsion system, frequency converters 16 for the propulsion units, frequency converters 17, 18 for the turning arrangement, propulsion units 19, 20 and a steering system 21.
In the power supply system according to prior art, the engine units 12 produce the power and the generator units 13 convert it to electric energy as input to the electrical power network. In the electrical power network, the electric power is directed, via the switching panels 14 and the transformer units 15 for the propulsion system, to the frequency converters 16 for the propulsion units and the frequency converters 17, 18 for the turning arrangement. The frequency converters 16–18 further establish the driving voltages to the motors for the propellers and the turning arrangements of the propulsion units 19, 20. The task of the steering system 21 is to control the operation of the turning arrangement.
The operating principle of the frequency converter 16–18 is a technique known to a person skilled in the art, and thus it need not be explained here, except by mentioning, that the main general parts of a frequency converter are a rectifier, an intermediate direct-current circuit and an invertor. Presently frequency converters 16–18 are commonly used, for instance, as supply devices for alternating-current motors, while being particularly preferable in various controllable electric drives. Frequency converters called PWM frequency converters (PWM, pulse width modulation), which are based on the pulse width modulation technique and have a so called voltage intermediate circuit, are the frequency converters being utilized the most frequently.
Should one or more of the propellers get damaged, it should be possible to move the vessel for service. The problem is, that should the vessel be moved, the damaged propeller will easily start rotating and causes additional damage to the propulsion device and possibly also to the vessel.
Accordingly, should there occur a break-down in the electric power supply to the motors in the turning arrangement for the propulsion unit, a sudden turning of the propulsion unit might cause additional damage to the propulsion device and possibly also to the vessel. If the propulsion device is free recklessly to turn this way and that, the maneuverability of the vessel is considerably impaired.
In regard to prior art reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 1,555,244, which presents a solution for dynamic braking of an asynchronous motor, whereby the stator windings are short-circuited in a known manner. Furthermore, in regard to prior art reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,049 which presents a solution for reducing the motor stopping time of the optical or magnetic discs by first supplying reverse voltage to and then short-circuiting the stator windings of an ac motor. Furthermore, in regard to prior art reference is made to International patent application WO97/05691 which presents a solution for controlling the servomotor by a PWM converter and the switches of the converter are controlled so that the windings are short-circuited during the braking period. In the prior art references, the asynchronous motors with short-circuited rotors do not produce any torque in zero speed, because there is no rotating magnetic field during in the rotors.
In propulsion units according to prior art, braking, means operating mechanically have been devised. The object of the braking means is to prevent rotation of the propeller and to restrain the propeller essentially in a standard position or, respectively, to prevent the turning movement of the propulsion unit and to restrain the propulsion unit essentially in a standard position.

System and method for braking a motor of a propulsion unit


A magneto-optical recording medium has a multi-layer magnetic film comprising at least a reproducing layer, a memory layer, and a recording layer which are successively deposited in magnetically coupled relationship to each other. Information is recorded on the magneto-optical recording medium selectively in a first state in which the reproducing layer and the memory layer are magnetized by copying a magnetized condition of the recording layer, with a intensity-modulated light beam of a low intensity applied to the magneto-optical recording medium, or a second state in which the reproducing layer, the memory layer, and the recording layer are magnetized by an external recording magnetic field, with a intensity-modulated light beam of a high intensity applied to the magneto-optical recording medium. Recorded information is reproduced from the magneto-optical recording medium by copying the information from the memory layer to the reproducing layer in a limited high-temperature region which is produced due to a temperature distribution within a spot of a reproducing light beam applied to the magneto-optical recording medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of recording information on and reproducing information from a magnetooptical recording medium.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the magnetooptical information recording and reproducing process, a light beam such as a laser beam is applied to a magnetooptical recording medium to form information recording pits or bubble magnetic domains where information is recorded, and the recorded information is read by a magnetooptical interaction known as the Kerr effect or the Faraday effect. To increase recording density of the magnetooptical recording medium, the size of information recording pits may be reduced. The resolution with which the recorded information can be reproduced from the magnetooptical recording medium is governed by the wavelength .lambda. of a reading laser beam applied to the magnetooptical recording medium and the numerical aperture N.A. of the objective lens through which the reading laser beam is applied to the magnetooptical recording medium.
Efforts have been made to increase the resolution beyond the above limitation, i.e., to accomplish super-resolution. One such attempt is disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 3-93058. The disclosed process employs a magnetooptical recording medium having a multilayer magnetic film structure including a reproducing layer and a recording layer. To read information recorded on the magnetooptical recording medium, a reading laser beam is applied to the magnetooptical recording medium, and, utilizing a temperature distribution of the magnetooptical recording medium within the spot of the applied laser beam due to the relative movement of the reading laser beam and the magnetooptical recording medium, information pits or magnetic domains are copied from the recording layer to the reproducing layer only in a local high-temperature region within the laser beam spot. This process is referred to as "RAD-MSR" process.
However, no special consideration is given to a recording process. According to the usual recording process, the information that has already been recorded on the magnetooptical recording medium is erased, and then new information is recorded on the magnetooptical recording medium. Therefore, the time required to record new information is relatively long, and the device used to record new information is relatively complex in structure.
More specifically, when information is to be recorded on a magnetooptical recording medium, i.e., information pits or magnetic domains are to be formed on the magnetooptical recording medium, any existing information is erased from the magnetooptical recording medium by magnetizing the magnetooptical recording medium in a uniform direction perpendicular to a magnetic film on the magnetooptical recording medium, and then a light beam such as a laser beam is applied to heat a local region of the magnetooptical recording medium for forming information pits therein that are perpendicularly magnetized in a direction opposite to the above uniform direction, thereby recording the information in binary form. This magnetooptical recording process, however, cannot record desired information in a short period of time as any previously recorded information must be erased before new information is recorded.
In view of the above problem, there have been proposed overwriting recording processes which are free of any independent erasing procedure.
These proposed recording processes include a magnetic-field-modulated recording process which modulates an external field to be applied to a magnetooptical recording medium depending on an information signal and a double-head recording process which uses a recording head and an erasing head.
One magnetic-field-modulated recording process is disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 60-48806, for example. According to the disclosed process, to record information on a recording medium with an amorphous ferrimagnetic thin film having an easily magnetizable axis extending perpendicularly thereto, a laser beam is applied to an overwrite region on the recording medium to heat the same, and a magnetic field with its polarity corresponding to the status of an input digital signal is applied to the overwrite region for thereby recording the information. However, attempts to record desired information on the recording medium at high speed with a high information transfer rate require an electromagnet that can operate at high frequencies of several megahertz. Such an electromagnet cannot easily be fabricated, consumes a large amount of electric energy, and dissipates a large amount of heat.
The double-head recording process needs an extra head, with the two heads positioned in spaced-apart relationship. The magnetooptical drive systems based on the double-head recording process are put under large burden during operation, are not economic, and do not lend themselves to mass-production.
To solve the above problems, there has also been proposed another overwriting recording method which record new information over previously recorded information on a recording medium having recording and reproducing layers. Such an overwriting recording method is disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 63-52354, for example.
According to this overwriting recording method, a light beam is intensity-modulated by information to be recorded and applied to heat a thermomagnetic (magnetooptical) recording medium to switch the recording medium, depending on the information to be recorded, between a first heated state in which the recording medium is heated to a first temperature T.sub.1 that is higher than the Curie temperature T.sub.C1 of the reproducing layer and at which the magnetic moment of the recording layer is not reversed, and a second heated state in which the recording medium is heated to a second temperature T.sub.2 that is higher than the Curie temperature T.sub.C1 and which is high enough to reverse the magnetic moment of the recording layer. When the recording medium is cooled from the above first and second heated states, two magnetized states are formed for thereby recording binary information on the recording medium.
The above recording method allows desired information to overwrite the recording medium with a light beam such as a laser beam that is intensity-modulated by such desired information.

Method of recording information on and reproducing information from magneto-optical recording medium