A method is disclosed for creating an anchor within the gastrointestinal tract for supporting a barrier device therein. The gastrointestinal tract has a first wall, a second wall and a body lumen. The method comprises advancing an anchoring device through the first wall and the second wall, threading the barrier device over the anchoring device and advancing the barrier device into the body lumen, and forming a closed loop with the anchoring device for supporting the barrier device.

It estimated that almost twenty four million people in the United States have diabetes. The most common form of diabetes is type 2 diabetes. In adults, 90 to 95% of the people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the way the body metabolizes sugar (glucose), the body's main source of fuel. With type 2 diabetes, the body is resistant to the effects of insulin or the body produces some insulin, but in insufficient amounts to maintain a normal glucose level. This is known as insulin resistance. (Insulin is a hormone that regulates the absorption of sugar into the body.) If type 2 diabetes is left untreated, the consequences can be deadly. Unfortunately, type 2 diabetes is on the rise. This is fueled largely by the current obesity epidemic.
In recent years, the medical community has made inroads in the fight against type 2 diabetes. Specifically, gastric bypass studies in rats and humans have shown that an endoscopically implanted barrier device such as a sleeve within the lumen of the duodenum causes a marked reduction in insulin dependence and hence a greater improvement in the control of type 2 diabetes. In short, the sleeve acts as a barrier to prevent nutrients from being absorbed by the lining of the duodenum. Current methods for securing the barrier sleeve within the lumen involve anchoring the device to the wall of the gastrointestinal tract. In this approach, the sleeve is actually implanted into tissue of the wall using clips, sutures, struts, barbs or other implantable anchoring devices. However, this method of securing the sleeve has not been effective over the long term. In some circumstances, the sleeve has dislodged after implantation and has migrated down into the gastrointestinal tract. In other circumstances, the specific areas in which the sleeve is implanted have become inflamed, and removal has become difficult. Dislodgement and/or inflammation cause serious complications for the patient.
It would be therefore desirable to offer a solution that would overcome the disadvantages of the method described above.

Method for securing a barrier device within the gastrointestinal tract and integral component for same

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


A battery pack charger and a method of charging a battery pack may properly charge a battery pack regardless of the number of cells in the battery pack. The battery pack charger includes a voltage sensing unit configured to sense an output voltage of the battery pack being charged with a predetermined voltage for a predetermined period, a controller configured to determine a number of cells in the battery pack in accordance with the output voltage, and a power source charge and discharge unit configured to supply a charge voltage to the battery pack, the charge voltage being determined in accordance with the number of cells in the battery pack.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to an apparatus and method for charging a battery pack. More particularly, embodiments relate to an apparatus and method for charging a battery pack that may be used while being charged, regardless of the number of cells of the battery pack.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a secondary battery, as opposed to a primary battery, refers to a battery that may be charged as well as discharged. Secondary batteries are used for portable electronic devices, e.g., a mobile phone, a notebook computer, camcorder, and so forth. Secondary batteries include a nickel-cadmium secondary battery, a nickel-hydrogen secondary battery, and a lithium ion secondary battery. Lithium ion secondary batteries have a higher driving voltage and a higher energy density per unit weight than nickel-cadmium and nickel-hydrogen secondary batteries. Thus, lithium ion secondary batteries are currently more widely used than other types of secondary batteries.
Secondary batteries are used for a battery pack of a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), an MP3 player, a notebook, an electrical bicycle, and so forth. For example, current mobile telephones, PDAs, and MP3 players may have a single cell battery pack that uses one secondary battery or 2 to 4 cell battery packs in which two to four secondary batteries are serially coupled. In addition, electrical bicycles currently use 7 to 13 cell battery packs in which 7 to 13 secondary batteries are serially coupled. Different chargers are used in accordance with the number of cells in the battery pack and these different charges are not interchangeable for the different battery packs.

Apparatus and method for charging a battery pack


A process for preparing a haloalkane comprising: (a) contacting a haloalkane starting material with an alkene in the presence of an effective amount of a catalyst complex under conditions effective to facilitate an addition reaction and to form a product stream comprising a haloalkane product from the addition reaction, wherein the catalyst complex has a boiling point higher than that of the haloalkane product; and (b) recovering the haloalkane product from the product stream.

Manufacturing of halogenated compounds is traditionally accomplished by using a batch or semi-batch process due to use of solid catalyst in liquid phase. Batch or semi-batch processes are not economical, resulting in relatively high cost products.
Addition reactions for preparing useful haloalkanes, such as 1,1,1,3,3-pentachloropropane (HCC-240) and 1,1,1,3,3 pentachlorobutane (HCC-360), are known in the art. Typically, in this reaction, a halogenated compound, such as, carbon tetrachloride, is added to an olefinic compound, such as, vinyl chloride, in the presence of a catalyst and under conditions sufficient to form a haloalkane product having a backbone longer than that of the haloalkane reactant. The halogenated product then is recovered by separating it from the reactants, catalyst and by-products using conventional techniques such as distillation. The conventional process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,902,914, which is incorporated herein in its entirety.
A continuous process is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,187,978, incorporated herein in its entirety, that can be used to manufacturing the HCC-240, HCC-360, etc. halogenated alkanes in a commercial scale process economically.
Both of the above prior arts dealt with making halogenated alkanes of a longer carbon chain by reacting a "halogenated" alkene with a halogenated alkane.
The present invention discloses a continuous process that can be used in a commercial operation for the manufacturing of halogenated alkane with increasing carbon chain by reacting a "non-halogenated" alkene, such as ethylene, propylene, butene, etc. with a halogenated alkane. This continuous process can also reduce manufacturing cost for production of halogenated compounds.
The present inventor has uniquely discovered that alkenes can be used in the manufacturing of halogenated alkanes in place of halogenated alkenes even though they must be used at a higher pressure, are more flammable and may be explosive. The present inventor has discovered that it is desirable to use alkenes versus halogenated alkenes because alkenes are less expensive and react faster, thus making them more commercially desirable. Moreover, alkenes produce products that are at least one halogen less than those produced from equivalent halogenated alkenes.

Continuous process for preparing halogenated compounds


A polygon sort engine including first and second apparatus for sorting. The first apparatus for sorting receives planar, externally convex polygon vertices from an external polygon tiling engine. This includes points and lines. The state machine on the second apparatus for sorting interfaces with the polygon tiling engine and a raster engine in a graphics pipeline. It provides a control signal which determines when the first apparatus for sorting will receive the next polygon. The second sorting appartus also controls whether the polygon is stored in the PING or PONG memory. For example, as the state machine is controlling the sorting of the current polygon into the PING RAM, the state machine will also be controlling the loading of the previous vertices and the PONG RAM into the raster engine.

Images used in computer graphics are comprised of many small polygons of various shapes and sizes. The algorithm to sort a polygon using digital techniques is well known. However, it is generally performed in software on a microprocessor. For real time applications, that is, situations where the display must be updated 20 times a second or more, the current state of the art is too slow. This is due to the fact that prior art devices depend primarily on software techniques and do not incorporate a viable hardware approach.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by implementing a polygon sort algorithm in electronic hardware, thereby allowing a much faster polygon sort speed. It also pipelines the polygon data so that a new polygon can be loaded into the hardware at the same time it is being sorted and simultaneously as a sorted polygon is being output to a graphics rendering engine. The invention also provides an apparatus which implements a polygon sort algorithm using a method wherein the polygon sort engine is never idle.


A retractable, refillable, sharpen-free pencil assembly comprises an outer tube, an inner tube and several sections of pre-sharpened leads. The inner tube is movable relative to the outer tube. An upper half portion of the inner tube is enlarged by fitting a squeezing tube such that a spring can be positioned below the squeezing tube. When the inner tube is shifted, a lower portion of a spring pushes a lowest lead to a chucking device by which the lead is tightly gripped. A push plate attached to the slot of the outer tube has a squeezing portion engaged with the last coil of the spring. Sliding the push plate upward can pull the lower portion of the spring out of the inner tube. The propelled lead can be retracted into the inner tube and the inner tube can be pulled back and enclosed completely by the outer tube.

The present invention relates to an automatic, sharpen-free pencil assembly. More specifically, the present invention relates to a retractable, refillable, sharpen-free pencil assembly.
A conventional sharpen-free pencil comprises a casing that has openings at both ends and a plurality of plastic, lead supporting members housing pre-sharpened leads. By inserting the lead supporting members into the casing, the relative movement of the members propels the lowest section of the lead forward and provides a protruding portion for writing. Since the plastic made lead supporting members occupy a certain space inside the casing, this lowers the amount of lead stored inside it. Therefore the life of the pencil is affected. In case a lead supporting member is lost, the leads cannot be propelled and the pencil set can no longer be used.
The inner tube of a conventional mechanical pencil cannot be retracted completely into the casing. In fact, known prior art arrangements do not provide for completely retracting a pre-sharpened lead into the casing. When the pencil is placed in a holder with its lead end upward, the sharpen lead may accidentally injure human bodies or eyes, raising a safety concern among users.

Retractable, refillable, sharpen-free pencil assembly


A sheet-fed rotary printing press having at least one printing unit with an impression cylinder includes a transfer cylinder assigned to the impression cylinder for onwardly transporting sheets printed thereby, the transfer cylinder having at least one gripper system and being formed with a cylinder-jacket surface assigned thereto, the surface being rigid and a full surface, and at least one unit of a varnishing, a numbering and an imprinting unit assigned to the transfer cylinder.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sheet-fed rotary printing press and, more particularly, to such a printing press having at least one printing unit with an impression cylinder to which a transfer cylinder for transporting sheets printed thereby is assigned, the transfer cylinder having at least one gripper system with an assigned cylinder jacket surface.
In such sheet-fed rotary printing presses, the sheets which are to be printed are transported by transfer drums from printing unit to printing unit and, at the end of the press, also via such cylinders, are fed to a delivery chain system. For special printing jobs, such as, for package printing, for example, customers want the printed sheets to be varnished, for example, in order to achieve a higher gloss. For other printing jobs, for example, consecutive numbers must be imprinted, or it is necessary to print a decorative color, for example. These additional jobs should be performable as much as possible without great expenditures in construction and without high costs. It would also be advantageous if a printing press could subsequently be changed over or convertible so as to perform such additional jobs.


A process for primer coating steel which is intended to be fabricated and overcoated, in which process the steel is primer coated with a primer coating comprising a silica binder. The binder comprises alumina-stabilized aqueous silica sol and, optionally, a minor amount of alkali metal silicate. The binder has a SiO2/M2O mole ratio, wherein M represents the total of alkali metal and ammonium ions, of at least 6:1. After the primer coating has dried to the extent that it is touch dry, it is optionally treated with a solution which increases the film strength of the primer coating.

Such semi-finished steel products are used in the shipbuilding industry and for other large-scale structures such as oil production platforms and include steel plates, for example of thickness 6 to 75 mm, bars, girders, and various steel sections used as stiffening members. The most important heat-intensive process is welding; substantially all such semi-finished steel products are welded. Other important heat-intensive processes are cutting, for example oxy-fuel cutting, plasma cutting or laser cutting, and heat fairing, where the steel is bent into shape while being heated. These steel products are often exposed to the weather during storage before construction and during construction, and they are generally coated with a coating called a "shop primer" or "pre-construction coating" to avoid corrosion of the steel occurring before the steel construction, e.g. ship, is given its full coating of anticorrosive paint, thereby avoiding the problem of having to overcoat or remove steel corrosion products. In most big shipyards, the shop primer is applied as one of several treatments carried out on a production line in which the steel is, for example, preheated, shot- or grit-blasted to remove mill scale and corrosion products, shop primed, and passed through a drying booth. Alternatively, the shop primer can be applied by a trade coater or steel supplier before the steel is delivered to the shipyard or other construction site.
Although the main purpose of the shop primer is to provide temporary corrosion protection during construction, it is preferred by shipbuilders that the shop primer does not need to be removed but can remain on the steel during and after fabrication. Steel coated with shop primer thus needs to be weldable without removal of the shop primer and to be overcoatable with the types of protective anti-corrosive coatings generally used on ships and other steel constructions, with good adhesion between the primer and the subsequently applied coating. The shop primed steel should preferably be weldable without any significant detrimental effect on the quality of the weld or on the speed of the welding process and should be sufficiently resistant to heat for the shop primer to retain its anticorrosive properties in areas heated during fairing or during welding of the opposite face of the steel.
Commercially successful shop primers available today are solvent borne coatings based on prehydrolyzed tetraethyl orthosilicate binders and zinc powder. Such coatings contain a large proportion of volatile organic solvent, typically about 650 grams per liter, to stabilize the paint binder and to enable the product to be applied as a thin film, typically of about 20 microns thick. Release of volatile organic solvent can be harmful to the environment and is regulated by legislation in many countries. There is a need for a shop primer which releases no, or much less, volatile organic solvent. Examples of such coatings are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,056 and JP-A-7-70476.
JP-A-6-200188 is concerned with shop primer coatings and mentions the possibility of using an aqueous alkali silicate salt-type binder. Coatings comprising an aqueous alkali metal silicate and zinc powder are also proposed in GB-A-1226360, GB-A-1007481, GB-A-997094, U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,496, and JP-A-55-106271. Alkali silicate binders for anticorrosive coatings are also mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 3,522,066, U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,784, U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,169, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,824. In EP-A-295 834 coatings containing a mixture of alkali metal silicate with a minor amount of colloidal silica, Al2O3 powder as filler, and metal powder as toughening agent are mentioned. U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,574 suggests coatings containing a mixture of alkali metal silicate with a minor amount of colloidal, preferably Al2O3 modified silica, and zinc dust. We have found that primer coatings based on an aqueous alkali silicate binder containing zinc powder can give adequate corrosion protection and allow the steel surfaces they cover to be welded, but give rise to problems when overcoated. The aqueous silicates contain a large quantity of alkali metal cations, which are required to keep the silicate in aqueous solution, and these ions are still present in the coating after it has dried. We have found that, if primer coatings having these large quantities of alkali metal ions are overcoated with any conventional organic coating and then immersed in water, blistering (local delamination of the coating) occurs. We have performed tests which show that this problem can be reduced if the coating is weathered outside for some time after application of the shop primer or washed prior to overcoating. However, these processes are not compatible with use in today's high productivity shipyards.
Aqueous silica sols having a very low alkali metal ion content are available commercially, but coatings based on such sols normally have very poor (initial) film strength in terms of adhesion, cohesion, hardness, and resistance to abrasion and water. These poor physical properties of the coating make it susceptible to damage during handling or further processing. This brings the potential requirement of significant coating repair with major cost implications. Suggested improvements to silica sol coatings are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,320,082, which adds a water-immiscible organic amine, GB-A-1541022, which adds a water-soluble acrylamide polymer, GB-A-1485169, which adds a quaternary ammonium or alkali metal silicate, and JP 55 100921, which adds clay materials and/or metal oxides such as Al2O3, and aluminium biphosphate and/or ethyl silicate. However, such coatings have not achieved physical properties similar to those of coatings based on alkali metal silicates. Coatings based on silica sols show low levels of blistering when overcoated/immersed. Although the water-soluble salt content and osmotic pressure are low, blistering can still occur, as the coating exhibits little resistance to blister initiation/growth due to its poor physical properties.
There is a need for a water based shop primer of low alkali metal ion content which has improved adhesion to substrates and improved film strength in terms of the properties discussed above to resist blister initiation and growth.
Further, there is a need for a blister-free water based shop primer showing fast development of the physical properties of the coating after application of the shop primer to enable handling and further processing of the substrate without the risk of damaging the coating.
Also the pot life of the composition is important. To broaden the application possibilities of these coatings, the pot life should be as long as possible.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The present invention provides an image forming apparatus main body for forming an image on a recording medium using consumable items removably attached thereto by at least two operation modes. The image forming apparatus main body comprises a communicating unit that communicates with a consumable item which retains switching information to change the operation mode of the image forming apparatus main body and a controller that switches among the operation modes according to the switching information retained in the consumable item when the consumable item is attached to the image forming apparatus main body, and restores the previous operation mode before switching when a predetermined validity condition has fulfilled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus in which an image forming apparatus main body forms an image on a recording medium using a consumable item removably attached thereto.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a method of switching an operation mode of an image forming apparatus, such as a copier, a printer, or the like, there has conventionally been known a switching method achieved using a service tool (such as, for example, a service mode of a control panel, a special-purpose jig, dedicated PC, or the like) by a customer engineer (CE) who has expert knowledge. Such a switching method is adopted in a case where the changing of operation mode arbitrarily achieved by a user is not desired.
The above-described method is, however, inconvenient for users because they are required to call a CE every time the need to change the operation mode arises. A manufacturer or a dealer is, on the other hand, required to send a CE to an installation site of the apparatus every time the operation mode is switched, which is very costly for them.

Image forming apparatus and main body of the same


The system is configured for automation of rotorcraft entry into autorotation. The system can provide a means to assist the flight crew of a rotorcraft in maintaining rotor speed following loss of engine power. The system can automatically adjust control positions, actuator positions or both to prevent excessive loss of rotor speed upon initial loss of engine power before the flight crew is able to react. The system uses model matching to provide axis decoupling and yaw anticipation; it includes pitch control initially to assist in preventing rotor deceleration; and it makes use of collective, pitch, roll and yaw trim functions to provide tactile cueing to the pilot to assist when the pilot is in the loop. The system can reduce workload by assisting the crew with controlling rotor speed and forward speed during stabilized autorotation.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates in general to a system and method of flight control of a rotorcraft. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a system and method for automation of a rotorcraft entry into autorotation and maintenance of stabilized autorotation.
2. Description of Related Art
A traditional method of dealing with autorotation relies on pilot recognition of the engine failure and subsequent pilot action to reduce the collective pitch rapidly in order to preserve main rotor RPM to allow for a controlled rate of descent and maintenance of sufficient rotor kinetic energy to slow the rate of descent prior to landing and cushion the landing. Also, pilot manipulation of the cyclic may be required, depending on the aircraft dynamics and the flight condition, to initially maintain rotor speed and subsequently adjust forward speed for maximum efficiency. Previous rotorcraft systems have used engine data and rotor speed measurements to trigger warnings to assist the flight crew in recognizing the condition. Significant room for improvement remains in the field of flight control systems for rotorcraft.

System and method for automation of rotorcraft entry into autorotation and maintenance of stabilized autorotation


The present invention provides a system and method of producing a description of the flight intent of an aircraft expressed using a formal language. The description may be used to generate a predicted aircraft trajectory, for example by air traffic management. Rules are used in association with information provided to express the flight intent of the aircraft in a formal language. The flight intent describes a flight in terms of flight segments, and provides information of the path to be flown and how it is to be flown. The flight intent does not necessarily define unambiguously the aerodynamic configuration of the aircraft and the motion of the aircraft during the flight. The flight intent is used alongside other information to generate the aircraft intent that does describe unambiguously the aircraft's trajectory.

The ability to predict an aircraft's trajectory is useful for several reasons.
Air traffic management (ATM) would benefit from an improved ability to predict an aircraft's trajectory. Air traffic management is responsible for the safe separation of aircraft, a particularly demanding task in congested airspace such as around airports. ATM decision-support tools based on accurate trajectory predictions could allow a greater volume of aircraft to be handled while maintaining safety.
By trajectory, a four-dimensional description of the aircraft's path is meant. The description may be the evolution of the aircraft's state with time, where the state may include the position of the aircraft's centre of mass and other aspects of its motion such as velocity, attitude and weight. This benefit is particularly significant where ATM is operating in and around airports.
As demand for slots at airports increases, ATM is under constant pressure to increase capacity by decreasing separation between aircraft: increased accuracy in predicting aircraft trajectories enables this to be done without compromising safety. Also, greater predictability in aircraft trajectories allows arrival times to be determined more accurately thereby enabling better coordination with ground operations.
In current ATM practice, aircraft must typically fly set routes. For example, when approaching and departing an airport, aircraft are usually requested to fly a STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival Route) and a SID (Standard Instrument Departure), respectively. However, aircraft operators are requesting additional flexibility to fly according to their preferences, so that they can better pursue their business objectives.
Furthermore, there is an increasing pressure on the ATM system to facilitate the reduction of the environmental impact of aircraft operations. As a result of the above, the ATM system requires the capability to predict operator-preferred trajectories as well as trajectories that minimize the impact on the environment, chiefly in terms of noise and emissions. In addition, the ATM system must be able to exchange descriptions of such trajectories with the operators in order to arrive at a coordinated, conflict-free solution to the traffic problem.
The ability to predict an aircraft's trajectory will also be of benefit to the management of autonomous vehicles such as unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), for example in programming flight plans for UAVs as well as in commanding and de-conflicting their trajectories.
In order to predict aircraft trajectory unambiguously, one must solve a set of differential equations that model both aircraft behavior and atmospheric conditions. The computation process requires inputs corresponding to the aircraft intent, as derived from flight intent.
Aircraft intent must be distinguished from flight intent. Flight intent may be thought of as a generalization of the concept of a flight plan, and so will reflect operational constraints and objectives such as intended or required route and operator preferences. Generally, flight intent will not unambiguously define an aircraft's trajectory, as the information it contains need not close all degrees of freedom of the aircraft's motion. Put another way, there are likely to be many aircraft trajectories that would satisfy a given flight intent. Thus, flight intent may be regarded as a basic blueprint for a flight, but that lacks the specific details required to compute unambiguously a trajectory.
For example, the instructions to be followed during a STAR or a SID would correspond to an example of flight intent. In addition, airline preferences may also form an example of flight intent. To determine aircraft intent, instances of flight intent like a SID procedure, the airline's operational preferences and the actual pilot's decision making process must be combined. This is because aircraft intent comprises a structured set of instructions that are used by a trajectory computation infrastructure to provide an unambiguous trajectory. The instructions should include configuration details of the aircraft (e.g. landing gear deployment), and procedures to be followed during maneuvers and normal flight (e.g. track a certain turn radius or hold a given airspeed). These instructions capture the basic commands and guidance modes at the disposal of the pilot and the aircraft's flight management system to direct the operation of the aircraft. Thus, aircraft intent may be thought of as an abstraction of the way in which an aircraft is commanded to behave by the pilot and/or flight management system. Of course, the pilot's decision making process is influenced by required procedures, for example as required to follow a STAR/SID or to comply with airline operational procedures as defined by the flight intent.
Aircraft intent is expressed using a set of parameters presented so as to allow equations of motion to be solved. The theory of formal languages may be used to implement this formulation: an aircraft intent description language provides the set of instructions and the rules that govern the allowable combinations that express the aircraft intent, and so allow a prediction of the aircraft trajectory.

Providing data for predicting aircraft trajectory


Disclosed is a process of making mesoporous silico-aluminates from calcium bentonite by controlled extraction of octahedral aluminum under mild condition, by acid, preferably phosphoric acid. The mesoporous silicoaluminates contain only tetrahedral aluminum as the residual aluminum. As the result of the selective removal of the octahedral aluminum, the mesoporous silico-aluminates have several unprecedented properties compared to products produced by conventional processes either by mild acid-activation or by a removal of all the aluminum.

Calcium bentonite clays, i.e., clay in which the principal exchangeable cation is a calcium ion, are also referred to as sub-bentonites, calcium montomorillonites or calcium smectites. Generally, these are hydrated aluminosilicate crystalline minerals. Usually, magnesium proxies for some of the aluminum in the crystals of the clay. Iron content varies with clays from different deposits.
For many years, selected bentonite source clays have been treated on a commercial scale with acids to leach aluminum from the structure. The acid leaching has been practiced to produce bleaching earths, cracking catalysts and reactive pigments for carbonless copying paper, among other commercial applications. See for example, patents and publications cited in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,008,226 and 5,008,227.
The starting clays which are used to produce known forms of acid leached bentonites typically contain approximately 20% alumina (based on the dry weight). The aluminum in bentonites are in octahedral and tetrahedral bonding structures. Acid dosages of about 40-50 gm of 96% H.sub.2 SO.sub.4 /100 gm clay are typically used. Alkaline earth and alkali metals are removed. The clays are usually leached to a residual aluminum content in the range of about 10-15 wt. %. The extent of leaching varies inter alia with the intended use of the leached clay. However, in general practice, both octahedral and tetrahedral aluminum remain in the solid residue which, when studied by XRD, exhibits lines characteristic of the clay crystals. The acid treated clay is invariably washed to remove soluble salts and entrained acid. While sulfuric acid is usually the acid of choice, other acids such as phosphoric and citric acids have been proposed.
It is known that repeated sulfuric acid leaches, resulting in extractions in excess of those used in the typical commercial prior art practice, can produce siliceous residues with essentially no aluminum. The porosity (surface area and pore volume) can be severely destroyed by such practice. This may explain why exhaustive leaching to remove virtually all aluminum has not been practiced commercially.
Acid-activated bentonites have been used as reactive pigments for several decades for paper products, in particular for use as a porous pigment in carbonless copy paper manufacture. The acid-leached bentonite was used with normally colorless leuco dyes to develop colored images. In the case of U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,371, Sugahara et al., proposed to use a relatively highly leached bentonite. The bentonite was leached by H.sub.2 SO.sub.4 or HCl to such degree that SiO.sub.2 content was about 82-96.5 wt %, preferably 85-95 wt %. The acid-leached bentonite was characterized by its loss of X-ray crystallinity, regardless of its aluminum content or structure. However, it was noted that the acid-leached bentonite had a relatively low BET surface area, about 180 m.sup.2 /g.
The use of acid-activated bentonite as petroleum cracking catalysts was proposed in the 1930s. The mild acid-leaching, usually using H.sub.2 SO.sub.4 or HCl, generated porosity and acidity which were required for the catalysis. After the acid-leaching, part of the clay crystallinity was maintained, and most aluminum still remained in the structure, about 10-15 wt. % expressed as Al.sub.2 O.sub.3. It was found that the catalytic activity was reduced after more aluminum was removed.
The following references are nonlimiting examples of references that relate to the preparation of acid-leached bentonites and to their use in catalytic cracking applications:
R. E. Grim, "Applied Clay Mineralogy", McGraw-Hill, New York, 1962, p. 307-332. PA1 G. R. Bond, "Acid-treated clay catalyst for cracking hydrocarbons", U.S. Pat. No. 2,551,580 (1951). PA1 A. Grenall, "Montomorillonite cracking catalyst, X-ray diffraction", Ind. Eng. Chem., 40 (1948) 2148-2151. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,482, Bruce R. Mitchell et al., "Process for the Cracking of High Metals Content Feedstocks".
Since the discovery of zeolites in the 1960s, the role of acid-activated bentonite in refinery cracking has substantially decreased except for some uses such as a matrix constituent. For example, in Mitchell et al patent (U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,482) acid-leached bentonite was used as matrix for high metals tolerant resid catalysts. Mitchell et al found that the acid-activated bentonite matrix must meet two requirements: (1) it must have a high aluminum content above 20 wt %, and (2) its average pore diameter must be larger than 100 A.

Mesoporous silicoaluminate products and production thereof by controlled acid extraction of aluminum from calcium bentonite clay


A method of controlling a controllable clutch in the drive train between a front axle and a rear axle of a motor vehicle having four-wheel drive including determining the rotational speed of each of the wheels with a wheel-speed sensor, supplying output signals from the sensor to an evaluation unit having a data memory, determining, from the wheel radii stored in the evaluation unit and from the difference between the averaged rotational speeds of the wheels of the front axle and the averaged rotational speeds of the wheels of the rear axle, a theoretical rotational-speed difference for cornering without wheel slip in the clutch, and generating a control signal for operation of the clutch in such a way that a constant basic transmitted torque is set in the clutch.

This invention relates to methods for controlling controllable clutches in the drive train between a front axle and a rear axle of a motor vehicle having four-wheel drive, in which each of the wheels has a wheel-speed sensor providing an output signal which is supplied to an evaluation unit with a data memory.
German Patent No. 37 21 626 C2 discloses a clutch control arrangement of this type in which the wheel speed is determined by wheel-speed sensors. In that clutch control arrangement an actuator acts on the clutch in such a way as to reduce the torque transmitted if the time derivative of a reduction in wheel speed exceeds a predetermined value. A clutch control system of this kind thus improves only the braking behavior and does not take into account exceptional situations, for example, spinning of the wheels. Moreover, clutch control distortions which can occur during cornering because of the rotational speed differences produced in the clutch, due to different front and rear wheel speed differences during cornering or due to different wheel radii, are not taken into account.
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 43 27 507 A1 discloses a clutch arrangement for heavy vehicles used on difficult terrain. In this case, however, lock-up clutches are provided for each of the front and rear axle differentials and a selectable clutch is included between the front and rear axles.
German Patent No. 35 04 455 C3 discloses a drive control arrangement for a road vehicle which includes three locking differentials. In this control arrangement, the only control positions provided are "locking differential locked" and "locking differential unlocked". There are no intermediate positions provided for the purpose of varying the torque transmitted by the locking differentials.

Method for controlling a clutch in the drive train of a motor vehicle with four-wheel drive


A gas bag for an occupant protection device in motor vehicles that includes a gas bag configured to be inflated by a gas generator. The gas bag has an envelope surface that is assigned to a vehicle occupant to be protected and an envelope that forms, in the inflated state, a gap leading into the envelope surface. The gap is defined along longitudinal sides by first and second sections of the gas bag that are opposite one another. The gas bag is configured so that a body part facing the gas bag of a vehicle occupant who is sitting outside a normal seating position can penetrate the gap as the gas bag inflates thereby expanding the gap. Additionally, the first and second sections of the gas bag are restrained relative to one another so that the first section and the second section close the gap after inflation of the airbag in order to prevent the penetration of a body part of a vehicle occupant into the gap after the complete inflation of the gas bag.

The invention relates to a gas bag for an occupant protection device in motor vehicles. In particular, a gas bag that can be inflated by means of a gas generator and the outer envelope of which, in the inflated state, includes an envelope surface assigned to the occupant to be protected.
Such a gas bag can be inflated by means of a gas generator and, in the inflated state, forms a cushion which is filled with gas and offers an occupant protection from injuries in the event of a crash. To this end, the gas bag or an airbag module containing the gas bag is arranged in a motor vehicle in such a way that the outer envelope of the gas bag, in the inflated state of the gas bag, has an envelope surface which faces the occupant and which the occupant is intended to strike in the event of a crash.
However, there is the problem that the gas bag unfolding during the inflation may cause considerable injuries to a vehicle occupant if the latter is outside his normal seating position when the gas bag is inflated (the Out Of Position or "OOP" situation). Different proposals have therefore already been made in order to avoid injuries to vehicle occupants by the unfolding gas bag. According to one proposal, sensors are provided which detect an unusual seating position of an occupant and then if need be prevent the triggering of an airbag module and thus the inflation and unfolding of the corresponding gas bag. Another known solution approach consists in using a multistage gas generator for the inflation of the gas bag, the gas bag, with the first stage, first of all only being inflated to a comparatively low internal pressure in order to avoid the risk of injury to the occupant.
German Patent No. DE 197 49 914 A1, hereby incorporated by reference, discloses an arrangement for impact protection on a steering wheel of a motor vehicle, this arrangement having a gas bag with an associated filling device for inflating the gas bag, the entire filling volume of the gas bag being designed in a ring shape and the gas bag having a conical or funnel-shaped recess on its front surface facing the driver. This is intended to reduce the impact of the vehicle occupant in an OOP situation.
German Patent No. DE 197 57 410 A1, hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a gas bag for an airbag module, this gas bag having a gas bag section which has been cut free, is movable independently of the remaining gas bag region and lies inside the outer contour of the gas bag. This section can accompany the movement of the occupant in the event of a crash.
The problem underlying the invention is to improve a gas bag of the type mentioned at the beginning to the effect that the risk of injury to an occupant during the inflation of the gas bag in an OOP situation is minimized.


A carrying case comprises a housing having a bottom and a plurality of walls extending from the bottom thereof. A drawer is received by the housing when the carrying case is in a closed configuration. To move the carrying case from the closed configuration to an open configuration, the drawer is removed from the housing and rotated substantially ninety degrees relative to the housing such that the drawer extends substantially perpendicular to the housing when the carrying case is in the open configuration.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carrying case and, in particular, to a camera carrying case with improved ease of access when being carried.
Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,363,814 issued to Hall et al. on Jan. 16, 1968, and the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a device for suspending a carrying case from a shoulder. The carrying case has a bottom wall, side walls and a lid hinged to one of the side walls. The suspending device comprises a generally U-shaped handle including spaced arms. There are pivot means for pivotally connecting the spaced arms to opposite side walls of the case. The pivot means define a pivot axis of the carrying case. There is a strap means connected to the handle and adapted to suspend the case from the shoulder of the person. There is a stop means for limiting the pivotal movement of the case about the pivot axis between a first position and a second position. In the first position the carrying case is generally vertical and in a normal carrying position. In the second position the carrying case is generally horizontal and access to an interior of the carrying case is available by lifting the lid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,180 issued to Lowe on Apr. 6, 1982, and the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a carrying case that can be suspended from a shoulder of a person and be opened while suspended from the shoulder of the person. The carrying case has a lower case part having opposite side walls and a front, rear, bottom, and open top. A cover is pivotally mounted to the rear of the lower case part. The cover opens and closes over the top of the lower case part. There is a shoulder strap with opposite ends mounted to opposite side walls of the lower case part. There is a fastener means, operable after the cover has been opened, for fastening together locations on the strap and the cover to prevent movement of the strap relative to the cover in a direction which would close the cover. The stiffness of the strap against compression along its length when the strap is under tension, while suspending the carrying case from the shoulder of the person, can be utilized to prevent the cover from closing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,806 issued to Lowe on Mar. 29, 1988, and the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, also discloses a carrying case that can be carried on a shoulder of a person and be opened while still on the shoulder of the person. The carrying case has a case part forming a rigid bottom wall having a multiplicity of holes. There is a plurality of pylon devices, each having a fastener insertable through a hole in said rigid bottom wall and fastenable in place thereat. The holes are closer together than the width of each pylon device so that two of the pylon devices cannot be mounted in a pair of adjacent holes This enables the mounting of pylons close to the ideal positions for pressing with moderate forces against an instrument to hold it. Each of the pylon devices may have a single threaded stud depending therefrom so the pylon device may be quickly installed by turning the pylon device.


The invention relates to an earth drilling device (1) for boring a borehole into the soil and/or for drawing a line (9) into an underground passage, comprising at least one system line (4, 6) extending from the earth drilling device to a start region, wherein the system line is designed in an electrically insulating manner.

The invention relates to an earth drilling device for drilling a borehole into the soil and/or for pulling a pipe into an underground channel.
Such earth drilling devices are used for a trenchless installation of utility lines, such as fresh water or wastewater lines, gas lines, telecommunication lines or electrical power cables, drainage pipes as well as geothermal probes into the soil or for a trenchless replacement of an already existing line.
Various different earth drilling devices are known in the art, wherein the earth drilling device to be used are typically selected depending on the type of the line to be installed, the length of the line to be installed or to be replaced, the accessibility of the start and target region of the line segment to be installed or replaced, and particularly also depending on the condition of the soil in which the line is to be installed or replaced.
A widely used type of earth drilling devices includes a drive unit which can be arranged in the start region (in an excavation pit, a shaft as well as at a location on the surface) of a borehole to be drilled and which drives a drill rod with a drill head disposed at the front end for driving the drill head through the soil along the desired drilling path. With such earth drilling devices, a pilot hole extending from the start region to a target region (likewise an excavation pit, a shaft or a location on the surface) is typically introduced into the soil in a first drilling operation. The drill head is then replaced in the target region by an expansion head to which the pipe to be pulled into the borehole can be attached. When the drilling rod with the attached expansion head and the new pipe are retracted with the drive unit, the previously produced pilot bore is expanded and the new pipe is simultaneously pulled in.
Another type of widely used earth drilling devices relates to the so-called earth rockets. These are self-propelled drilling rams which include an internal impact drive used to intermittently advance the earth rocket through the soil. The impact drive is continuously supplied with the required energy via compressed air which is supplied to the earth rocket through a trailing supply hose.
Until now, earth rockets have primarily been used to introduce pilot bores into the soil. In a subsequent operation, an expansion head to which the new pipe to be pulled is attached is then pulled through the pilot bore with a pulling device, whereby the pilot bore is expanded and the new pipe is pulled in. The new pipe has typically not been pulled directly with the earth rockets because of the problematic attachment of the new pipe to the earth rocket due to the intermittent impact operation of the earth rocket, which regularly caused damage to the new pipe. Because improvements in the attachment of a new pipe to an earth rocket have since been made, a direct pipe replacement, wherein the new pipe is directly attached to the earth rocket, is now more frequently used.
Impact drilling processes where the new pipe is advanced in the soil by applying pressure forces are used regularly only with pipes having a very large diameter. In the aforedescribed direct pipe replacement with an earth rocket—as well is in almost all other processes for trenchless installation of a pipe—the new pipe is pulled through the underground channel, i.e., by applying pulling forces which are applied to the new pipe either at the front via an adapter or via a pulling element and from the back end via a rear adapter. In the second case, although the new pipe is pulled in by a pulling process, the new pipe is actually rather pushed. When the pulling forces are applied to the front end of the new pipe, the new pipe is frequently additionally tensioned against the earth drilling device by a pulling element (e.g., pulling cable, chain, pulling rods) extending through the new pipe and a corresponding rear adapter, so as to prevent the pipe segments in a pipe string consisting of individual pipe segments from becoming detached from each other. In a long pipe which is typically made of plastic, tensioning may prevent overstretching of the plastic. A corresponding system for tensioning a new pipe in an earth drilling device is disclosed, for example, in DE 196 08 056 C1. Like essentially all components of an earth drilling device, the pulling element as well as the tensioning adapter are also made of a metal and in particular steel, because steel is inexpensive and withstands high mechanical stress. Metals, such as steel, also have a very high electrical conductivity.
In particular in a direct pipe replacement with an earth rocket, where the drilling the borehole and pulling in the new pipe occurs simultaneously, problems may be encountered when the earth rocket hits a current-conducting underground cable, partially destroying the underground cable. This has the risk that the current is conducted via the earth rocket and the frequently metal-reinforced and hence also electrically conducting supply hose and via the tensioning element provided for tensioning the new pipe to the start region, which can potentially endanger an operator coming into contact with these current-carrying cables.
Based on this conventional technology, it was the object of the invention to reduce the risk of endangering an operator when an earth drilling device hits a current-carrying underground cable.


Novel aniline terminated silicone monomers with (a) silane (Si--H) functionalities, (b) silanol (Si--OH) functionalities, or (c) alpha,omega-aniline terminated polydimethyl siloxanes, and a novel synthetic route. The alpha,omega-aniline terminated dimethyl siloxanes are prepared, starting with bromoaniline, in which the amine functionality is protected, such as by reaction with 1,1,4,4-tetramethyl-1,4-bis(N,N-diethylamino)-1,4-disilabutane, to form 1-(bromophenyl)-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-l-aza-2,5-disilacyclopentane. The protected bromoaniline is then reacted with n-butyllithium and chlorodialkylsilane to form 1-((dialkylsilyl)phenyl)-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-l-aza-2,5-disilacyclopentane. Next, the protected dimethylsilane aniline is subjected to de-protection to form aminophenyldialkyl silane, which is considered to be novel. This silane is then hydrolyzed to form the corresponding silanol, also considered to be novel. The silanol is then condensed to form bis(amino-phenyl)-1,1,3,3-tetraalkyldisiloxane. The amino group is in either the meta or para position, depending on the position of the bromo functionality in bromoaniline. The disiloxanes may be reacted further to form oligomers and polymers and may also be used to form copolymers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to siliconcontaining compounds, methods for the preparation of such compounds, and polymers thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to aromatic amine terminated silicone monomers, oligomers, and polymers thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Polyimides are widely used in the electronics and aerospace industry, f or example, as coatings, adhesives, and interlevel insulators in integrated circuits, and also to form composites and other structures.
Silicon-containing imides, specifically, silanol- and silyl-terminated aromatic imide oligomers, have been disclosed and claimed in a series of patents assigned to the same assignee as the present application: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,021,585; 5,075,475; and 5,081,201. These compounds possess good optical properties, good thermo-oxidative stability, resistance to atomic oxygen degradation, good mechanical properties, and good processing characteristics.
Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application 63-169561 discloses silicone-imide copolymers for flexible printed circuit boards, insulating material for heavy electric machines, carrier tapes, thermal resistant coating material for electric wire, and the like. This patent discloses the preparation of bis(3-aminophenyl)-1,1,3,3-tetramethylsiloxane as an intermediate in the reaction sequence to preparing the polymers of the invention. However, the synthetic route to forming the siloxane follows classical methods and requires several reaction steps.
The monomer bisaminophenyltetramethyl disiloxane is described in two articles, V. H. Kuckertz, Die Makromolekulare Chemie, Vol. 98, pp. 101-108 (1966) and J. C. Bonnet et al, Bulletin de la Societe Chimique de France, Vol. 1972, pp. 3561-3579 (1972).
The first reference describes polyimides prepared from the above monomer which are brittle and less soluble as compared to the aliphatic counterpart. The synthesis of the diamine in both references is through classical nitration chemistry, which most likely gives impure and isomeric monomers.
The second reference describes the diamino monomer, but does not describe polyimides.
Other aromatic polyimide siloxanes are described in another reference, P. P. Policastro et al, "Siloxane Polyimides for Interlevel Dielectric Applications", in the Proceedings of the ACS Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering, Vol. 59, pp. 209-213 (Los Angeles, Calif., 1988). These materials are made from a silicone anhydride.
There remains a need to continue to develop new materials which have novel electrical, electronic, and optical properties for use in the dissipation of spacecraft charging or electronic applications, for example.

Aromatic amine terminated silicone monomers, oligomers, and polymers therefrom


A method for detecting crude oil or gas in a drilling sample includes introducing a drilling sample into a sample solution containing nano particles, illuminating the sample solution comprising the drilling sample and the nano particles by a laser beam, collecting light scattered by the drilling sample and the nano particles in the sample solution, obtaining a Raman spectrum from the light scattered by the drilling sample and the nano particles in the sample solution, identifying, in the Raman spectrum, a spectral signature associated with a substance around a predetermined Raman shift, and detecting targeted chemicals correlated with crude oil or gas existence underground from where the drilling sample, based on the spectral signature of the substance in the Raman spectrum.

Raman scattering is an inelastic scattering of a photon which creates or annihilates an optical phonon. Raman scattering is the result of the interaction of incident photons with chemical molecular vibrations (i.e. phonons). A unique molecular structure results in a unique Raman scattering spectrum. Therefore, Raman scattering provides spectral fingerprint details about the molecules, and can also be used to distinguish molecular isomers and chiral molecules from each other.
Raman spectroscopy became commercially available after the invention of lasers in the late 1960's. A laser beam having a narrow line width is used to illuminate the testing chemicals in solid, liquid, or gas forms. The narrow line width of the laser beam can eliminate the overlaps of scattering peaks from photons with various wavelengths. The scattered light is collected by a photon detector such as Charge-Coupled Devices (CCD) or CMOS detector, which produces a Raman spectrum which is the intensity of the scattered light as a function of Raman shift defined as the wavenumber difference between the scattering light and incident laser. The spectral peaks in a Raman spectrum correspond to the vibration strengths of various molecular bonds, thus provide spectral fingerprints of the molecules.
Although Raman scattering is a useful analytical tool, Raman scattering has not been widely applied because of its weak scattering signals. Raman scattering has very weak signals due to the very small scattering cross section of molecules. Typically, only about 10−8 of the incident photons participates in Raman scattering. High power laser and high sensitivity CCD detector can be used to improve the scattering signals; however, it only makes limited improvement in detecting Raman scattered signal, and it requires extra costs and additional hardware, and can cause unexpected damages to samples.
Raman scattering signal can be enhanced by placing testing molecules in the vicinity of roughened surfaces. In Nano-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (NERS), or surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), a sample surface can be formed by deposition of metallic particles or clusters. The nano-enhanced Raman scattering phenomena can be explained by interaction between photons with localized electromagnetic field enhancement and chemical enhancement. The enhancement by SERS has been observed in different research labs. An Intel team used a porous silicon structure with coatings of noble metals such as silver on the surface, and demonstrated that Raman scattering signal increased as the porous silicon pore-size was decreased.
Accordingly, there is a need for low cost, convenient SERS devices for a wide-range of commercial applications.

System and method for detecting oil or gas underground using light scattering spectral analyses


Described are a test device, a multi-specimen test fixture star and a multi-specimen test fixture. The test device includes a bath chamber that is automatically replenished with bath liquid throughout an extended test period. The multi-specimen test fixture star is non-circularly symmetric and can be used, for example, in a rectangular bath chamber to hold a greater number of test specimens than a circularly symmetric test fixture star. The multi-specimen test fixture includes, in part, a multi-specimen test fixture star and a shaft having one or more keyways and enables the test fixture star to be repositioned along the shaft without loss of rotational alignment to the shaft.

During mechanical testing, specimens are often immersed in a liquid bath such as a saline bath. Test durations may extend from less than a day to several weeks or more. The liquid may evaporate during testing, consequently, test personnel may repeatedly add liquid to the bath to ensure the specimens remain immersed throughout the duration of the test. The temperature of the bath liquid and the temperature of the added liquid may be different. If the temperature difference is substantial and if the volume of added liquid is significant relative to the bath volume, the bath temperature can change significantly during liquid replenishment. As a result, the temperature of the specimens can change significantly. Additionally, the process of adding liquid to the bath introduces a risk of spillage and the movement of liquid in the bath resulting from adding the liquid may damage the specimens.
The specimens may be held in a multi-specimen fixture (MSF). Typically, the MSF has a radially symmetric configuration. Advantageously, the radially symmetric configuration has uniform deformation at each specimen site under application of a load; however, increasing the size of the specimens and/or increasing the number of specimens results in a large increase in the fixture size. In some instances, the increase may be limited by the available space of the test system. In addition, one or more specimens may be visually obscured due to the circular MSF geometry and components of the test system.
A user may want to test different lengths of specimens for different test procedures. Individual tests are configured for multiple specimens each at the same length. To change to specimens of a different length for a different test, significant time may be required (e.g., several hours or more) due to specimen alignment requirements and partial disassembly and reassembly of the test instrument.

Apparatus for multi-specimen test instrument


A broadcast/communication convergence system and method for transmitting and receiving Ethernet data by an optical network unit (ONU) performing a time division multiplexing (TDM) operation and switching by a network switch. A resultant signal is transmitted to a corresponding subscriber set-top box (SSTB), and data from the SSTB is provided to the network switch. A length of an Ethernet data frame is provided from the network switch, and an encapsulation generates and inserts data length information into an Ethernet data frame, for transmission to the SSTB. The SSTB carries out a TDM operation for a signal transmitted from the ONU, and separates the signal into Ethernet and broadcast data. A framing bit is detected based on a result of the separated signals, the length information is detected. A preamble bit and a start-of-field delimiter (SFD) are inserted into the recognized Ethernet data to recover the original Ethernet data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system based on broadcast/communication convergence, and more particularly to a TDMA system including an optical network unit for multiplexing and transmitting broadcast data and Ethernet data and a subscriber set-top box for receiving and processing the multiplexed data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, broadcast transmission is unidirectional transmission that is received by a number of unspecified receivers according to the characteristics of the broadcast. Service and network providers for the broadcast are typically identical. Communication, on the other hand, is bidirectional and is based on one-to-one transmission and reception operations according to the characteristics of the communication. In this case, service and network providers for the communication typically are not identical.
Furthermore, not only are the broadcast and communication service providers different, but the relay networks for the broadcast and communication transmission are also different. For this reason, the linkage of the broadcast and communication transmission has not been considered. However, as transmission networks are quickly developed and the boundary between broadcast and communication has become less distinct, interest in a system based on broadcast/communication convergence has increased.
In order for quality of service (QoS) of communication data to be ensured when the broadcast and communication transmission are converged, the communication data and broadcast data are time division multiplexed and the broadcast data is transmitted in the form of a multi-program transport stream (MPTS). In case of an Ethernet communication service, Ethernet data is transmitted in packets. Thus, a broadcast data transmission method and a communication data transmission method are different and must be accommodated in a system based on or providing broadcast/communication convergence.
In the case of a broadcast transmission, a seamlessly continuous signal must be provided. Thus, the broadcast data must be transmitted in packets wherein preceding and following packets can be linked to each other after the packetizing operation. It is thus necessary that a buffer and delay time are required for the packet processing operation. A processing operation based on the time division multiplexing is required wherein the broadcast data is provided by a seamlessly continuous signal in real time.
A communication network using conventional Ethernet equipment is a packet communication network, and is based on a local area network (LAN) or Internet communication network. A configuration of the Ethernet communication network used by subscribers typically uses a 10 Megabit/sec transmission (referred to as 10 Mbase-T). This is used in many LANs and is used in companies and schools. Recently, a 100-Mbps Internet communication service of 100 Mbase-T is being provided to subscriber homes using an unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable referred to as a metro Ethernet communication network. Typically, an Ethernet signal is a signal based on a unit of a packet consisting of frames. In order for the Ethernet signal to be multiplexed into a continuous bit stream, an operation for processing various information units such as packet information is needed. For this reason, overhead (O/H) increases and an additional operation must be carried out.
Systems based on the broadcast/communication convergence using the Ethernet communication network and Ethernet equipment are being developed. In such system, a time division multiplexer (TDM) multiplexes a digital broadcast stream and Ethernet data, and a new form of a digital stream is generated and distributed to the subscribers.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional system for providing a broadcast/communication convergence service. As shown, the system includes an optical line terminal (OLT) 10 for electro-optically converting broadcast data from a broadcast provider (not shown) and transferring the electro-optically converted broadcast data through an optical signal that can be transmitted and provided to subscribers, an optical network unit (ONU) 20 serving as a user side device for transferring information received from the OLT 10 to a subscriber set-top box 30, and an optical cable connected between the OLT 10 and the ONU 20. When the broadcast/communication data from a service provider (not shown) is transmitted to the ONU 20 through the OLT 10, the ONU 20 receives a service request from a terminal of a service user and carries out a time division multiplexing operation for the broadcast/communication data, such that a corresponding service is provided.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a conventional time division multiplexing and demultiplexing operation in a broadcast/communication convergence system. As shown, the broadcast/communication convergence system multiplexes broadcast signals and a communication signal into a single signal according to known time division multiplexing methods, and then transmits the multiplexed single signal. For the system shown, the system converts the communication signal into a media independent interface (MII) signal that is equivalent to a broadcast stream by means of a physical layer (PHY) transceiver 23. The converted communication signal and the broadcast signals are applied to a time division multiplexer (TDM) 21 such that the TDM 21 carries out the time division multiplexing operation on the inputted signals and causes to be transmitted the single signal 25. The Ethernet MII signal is 4-bit parallel signal that are discontinuously received with packet lengths varying between a minimum of 64 bytes and a maximum of 1518 bytes.
At the receiving side, the received signal is provided to time division demultiplexer (TDDM) 31 so that the TDDM 31 carries out a time division demultiplexing operation. Broadcast streams, based on each broadcast channel, and the MII signal, i.e., the communication signal, are outputted as a result of the time division demultiplexing operation.
When the broadcast/communication convergence system transmits an optical signal to a customer, e.g., a consecutive digital broadcast or Video on Demand (VoD) signal, the transmission is unidirectionally, and any Ethernet communication signal is transmitted and received in a burst mode. Thus, because the Ethernet packet length is variable, information of an Ethernet packet length is extracted and an idle signal is generated for a section in which Ethernet data is not present. Thus, a buffering operation is required to be carried out before the multiplexing operation is performed.
Furthermore, when the ONU 20 multiplexes 5-bit Ethernet packet data and a broadcast digital stream and transmits the resultant multiplexed signal, the Ethernet data must be converted into, for example, 4-bit data (100M) based on a media access control (MAC) format having xMII through the PHY transceiver 23. For this, when reaching a MAC layer (data link layer) through a physical layer (PHY) of the seven layer Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, the Ethernet data encoded into 5-bit data (125M) must be converted into 4-bit data (100M). Here, the 5-bit data includes control codes indicating a start and end of the data packet or is converted into the 4-bit data so that true Ethernet data can be generated. When a packet with the true Ethernet data is transmitted, the data link layer cannot recognize the start and end of a packet as long as Internet protocol (IP) information of a data field in a frame format, as shown in FIG. 3, is not analyzed.
A digital logic device such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) can further be provided downstream of the PHY transceiver so that a 4-bit code can be encoded into a 5-bit code. In this case, the 5-bit code in the FPGA can use 16 control codes, but the bandwidth is increased by 25%. When an Ethernet time division multiplexing operation for the 5-bit code is carried out, the bandwidth required is excessively increased. Hence, the 5-bit code is not appropriate for a relatively slow logic device such as the FPGA.
Hence, when the time division multiplexing operation for 4-bit MAC data and a digital stream is desired to be carried out, a need exists for an additional device capable of analyzing IP information in the data link layer and analyzing packet length information.

Method for transmitting and receiving ethernet data in system based on broadcast/communication convergence

Maetan-Dong, Yeongtong-Gu, Suwon-Si, Gyeonggi-Do


An integral carrier for carrying multiple containers by their necks is disclosed that has a plurality of annular neck-engaging structures and a pair of centrally located opposing finger loops that promote a balanced distribution of weight for ease in carrying and handling.

Six-pack or multiple bottle carriers which hold bottles or containers by their necks to allow them to be carried are well known. The bottles typically have labels to advertise their contents. A common type of commercially available prior art carrier is fabricated from thin gauge sheets of plastic. The thin planar sheet is die-cut to provide holes for engaging the necks of the containers and holes for grasping the carrier, and is thermo-formed into a three dimensional shape to provide structural integrity to the carrier. There are several problems with this carrier. First, the thermo-formed plastic sheet shrouds the container, obscuring visibility of the product and product labels. Second, the thin gauge of the plastic material makes the carrier uncomfortable to carry. Further, the thin gauge material requires a substantial amount of structural surface area to support the containers. This tends to further hide the product in the containers and advertising on the labels.
Another carrier design is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,633,962. It has keyhole-shaped neck retainers and sharp edges on both the neck retainers and the finger holes. This carrier is also uncomfortable to carry due to its sharp edges. In addition, the rigid keyhole-shaped neck retainers are difficult to fit over the neck flanges of the containers, and likewise it is difficult to remove the containers from the carrier due to the rigid key hole-shaped neck retainers.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,397 discloses a six pack carrier design that overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art. However, that carrier design allows the outboard containers to sag a bit due to inadequate support for them when the loaded carrier is lifted by the carrier's handholds.
What is needed is a carrier that is comfortable to carry, allows for excellent visibility of the product in the containers and the labels on the containers, allows for easy application and removal of the containers from the carrier, and provides good balance in carrying and handling containers.


A bicycle brake assembly includes a brake unit, a fixing structure and an alignment structure. The brake unit includes first and second brake arms. The fixing structure is configured to operatively couple the brake unit to a brake supporting portion of a bicycle frame. The alignment structure is disposed in the vicinity of the fixing structure. The alignment structure is configured to align the brake unit to the brake supporting portion.

Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a bicycle brake assembly. More specifically, the present invention relates to a bicycle brake assembly with a pair of brake arms.
Background Information
Bicycles are typically provided with at least one brake device for stopping. Currently, a wide variety of bicycle brake devices are available. One of the most popular types of bicycle brake devices is a rim brake. Rim brakes are configured to apply a braking force to the wheel of a bicycle by pinching the rim of the wheel with a pair of brake shoes attached to a pair of brake arms. One well-known example of a rim brake is a caliper brake. Caliper brakes are also available in several configurations. For example, caliper brakes include a side pull type, a center pull type and a dual-pivot type. One example of a caliper brake is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,880.
Brake devices should be accurately aligned relative to the rim of the wheel for properly applying a braking force to the rim of the wheel.


Provided is an apparatus for measuring convergence and ceiling subsidence using a fiber bragg grating sensor. The apparatus includes a plurality of unit-fiber bragg grating sensor modules having a predetermined length and sequentially connected to each other, where each of the sensor modules comprises: a fiber bragg grating stain sensor installed in a protective tube to sense a variation of a length; an installing member installed in parallel to one side of the protective tube; a fiber bragg grating angle displacement sensor mounted on the installing member to measure angle displacement; bases provided at both ends of each sensor module to connect adjacent sensor modules to each other; and a fixing member and a fixing unit to fix both ends of the protective tube and the installing member to the bases, respectively. Each of the sensor modules continuously measures two-dimensional or three-dimensional convergence and ceiling subsidence. Thus, the plurality of fiber bragg grating sensors are sequentially mounted on a measuring target to measure a moving distance and angle displacement due to section strain, so that convergence and ceiling subsidence may be precisely measured.

The embodiment relates to an apparatus for measuring convergence and ceiling subsidence using a fiber bragg grating sensor, and more particularly, to an apparatus for measuring convergence and ceiling subsidence using a fiber bragg grating sensor, which measures convergence and ceiling subsidence in real time while constructing and maintaining a tunnel.
In case of measuring the convergence of a tunnel, when a variation on a section of the tunnel only in a longitudinal direction is measured, since the directionality of coordinates cannot be known due to the strain property of lining after the lining is strained, if it is not known whether a tunnel is contracted or expanded, it is difficult to precisely measure the convergence of the tunnel.
Thus, according to a method of measuring convergence and ceiling subsidence, a length variation measuring sensor is buried while passing through the lining of a tunnel such that it is determined whether a tunnel is contracted or expanded. Differently, after degrees of length and angle variations are measured by using displacement and angle sensors for measuring convergence, two measurement results are combined with each other to be converted into convergence.
Since an electric sensor system utilizing the latter measures two kinds of values in connection with length and angle variations in mutually different measuring schemes, the accuracy of convergence measurement is dependent on the mutually different measurement accuracies of two kinds of sensors. In addition, since two-kinds of sensor systems are used, a device of collecting data is complex and the measuring cost is relatively increased.
Further, when a measurement length is 1 m, since a sensor having resolution of 1/100 mm and 1/100 degree is mainly used, there is a limit to measure a micro-strain.
In addition, as the measurement reliability is deteriorated due to effects of electromagnetic waves, the measurement cannot be performed while the subway is operated.
To solve the problems, the applicant has filed techniques of measuring convergence and ceiling subsidence by using a plurality of fiber bragg grating sensors as disclosed in following patent documents 1 and 2, which have been registered now.
However, an apparatus for measuring convergence and ceiling subsidence according to the related art including the patent document 1 and 2 includes a fiber bragg grating sensor mounted on a flat surface, so that there is a limit in the accuracy of 2D and 3D measurements.
However, when a gap is generated due to an interference substance formed on a target object on which an apparatus for measuring convergence and ceiling subsidence according to the related art will be mounted, it is difficult to mount the apparatus for measuring convergence and ceiling subsidence, so that the accuracy of a measured value is greatly deteriorated.
In addition, an apparatus for measuring convergence and ceiling subsidence according to the related art includes an angle displacement sensor mounted on a strain sensor, so that an error occurs in the measured value of length displacement due to a weight of the angle displacement sensor.

Apparatus for measuring convergence and ceiling subsidence using fiber bragg grating sensor