A fiber optic rotary joint is provided that is unaffected by variations in the optical properties of a fluid that fills its internal cavity. The rotary joint includes a housing defining the internal cavity, first and second optical collimation arrays on opposite sides of the internal cavity, and a reversion prism between the optical collimation arrays. Further, the rotary joint includes an interface optical element proximate at least one of the first and second optical collimation arrays and the reversion prism. Each interface optical element includes an optically-flat surface adapted to contact the fluid such that optical signals that are oriented normal to the optically-flat surface can be transmitted without refraction, thereby rendering the optical signals immune to variations in the fluid's optical properties. A reversion prism assembly, an optical collimation assembly and a method of aligning an optical collimation array utilizing alignment pins are also provided.

In a number of applications, it is desirable to interconnect two bundles of optical fibers, each of which includes a plurality of optical fibers. Moreover, it is frequently desirable that at least one of the bundles of fibers be permitted to rotate, such as about the longitudinal axis of the bundle, relative to the other bundle of optical fibers. As such, fiber optic rotary joints are employed to appropriately interconnect respective optical fibers of two different bundles, while permitting at least one of the bundles to rotate relative to the other. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,405 to Mitchel J. Keil, U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,721 to Gregory H. Ames and U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,076 to Gregory H. Ames, the contents of each of which are incorporated herein in their entirety.
A fiber optic rotary joint includes a housing that defines an internal cavity. The housing is adapted to engage end portions of two bundles of optical fibers, hereinafter referenced as the first and second bundles. As such, the first and second bundles of optical fibers are typically disposed on opposite sides of the internal cavity. By appropriately aligning the first and second bundles of optical fibers, respective pairs of the optical fibers of the first and second bundles can communicate across the internal cavity. In order to assist with this alignment and to facilitate communications between the first and second bundles of optical fibers, the fiber optic rotary joint includes a reversion prism. A reversion prism is a trapezoidal prism defining a longitudinal axis therethrough and having opposed end faces that are disposed at equal, but opposite, angles relative to the longitudinal axis. As such, optical signals emitted by an optical fiber of the first bundle are refracted by one angled end surface of the reversion prism, totally reflected from the longer base surface of the reversion prism, and then refracted again upon exiting from the other angled end surface of the reversion prism. If aligned properly, the optical signals exiting the reversion prism are received by a respective optical fiber of the second bundle. In order to facilitate this alignment and optical coupling of respective fibers of the first and second bundles, the reversion prism may be mounted upon a stage that permits the reversion prism to be controllably positioned. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,405.
The first and second bundles of optical fibers generally terminate with a respective optical collimation array. A conventional optical collimation array includes an outer sleeve or bearing that defines a lengthwise extending passage in which the end portions of the optical fibers are disposed. A collimating lens, such as a ball lens, may be associated with each optical fiber such that the signals emitted by the respective optical fiber are collimated by the ball lens before being launched through the internal cavity. At least one, if not both, of the optical collimation arrays is adapted to rotate about a longitudinal axis defined by the outer sleeve relative to the housing.
By appropriately aligning the optical collimation arrays and the reversion prism, however, the fiber optic rotary joint may maintain alignment of respective optical fibers of the first and second bundles as at least one of the first and second bundles rotates. In this regard, a fiber optic rotary joint is designed to rotate the housing at a rate that is 50% of the rate at which the bundle of optical fibers rotates. By rotating the housing at this rate, the reversion prism maintains optical alignment between respective optical fibers of the first and second bundles.
Fiber optic rotary joints are commonly utilized in sub-sea applications so as to couple first and second bundles of optical fibers in a manner that permits at least one of the bundles to rotate relative to the other. For example, fiber optic rotary joints may be utilized to optically couple the bundles of optical fibers that are utilized to communicate with underwater vehicles that may go to depths of 5,000 meters. In order to permit the fiber optic rotary joint to withstand the substantial compressive pressure experienced in a number of sub-sea applications in which the fiber optic rotary joint is at a substantial depth below sea level, the internal cavity defined by the housing of the fiber optic rotary joint is filled with an inert fluid, such as a halogenated hydrocarbon oil. Unfortunately, the optical properties of the fluid that fills the internal cavity of a fiber optic rotary joint vary significantly with changes in temperature and/or pressure due to corresponding changes in the density of the fluid. In particular, the index of refraction of the fluid varies as the temperature and/or pressure changes. As will be recognized, variations in the index of refraction of the fluid filling the internal cavity can significantly alter the angle at which the optical signals refract upon entering and exiting the reversion prism. Additionally, variations in the index of refraction of the fluid that fills the internal cavity of a fiber optic rotary joint alters the effective focal distance of the collimation lens. As such, the optical alignment between the first and second bundles of optical fibers is therefore diminished as the index of refraction of the fluid filling the internal cavity varies with changes in temperature and/or pressure, such as those experienced in a sub-sea environment. Accordingly, optical signals will not be coupled as efficiently, if at all, between the first and second bundles of optical fibers, thereby adversely affecting the optical performance of the fiber optic rotary joint.
As such, it would be desirable to provide an improved fiber optic rotary joint that further facilitates the alignment of first and second bundles of optical fibers, at least one of which is adapted to rotate relative to the other. In particular, it would be desirable to provide an improved fiber optic rotary joint that is capable of operating in a sub-sea environment in which the internal cavity has been filled with a fluid whose optical properties, including its index of refraction, may vary with changes in temperature and/or pressure. In particular, it would be desirable to provide a fiber optic rotary joint that maintains the alignment of the first and second bundles of optical fibers even as the optical properties of the fluid that fills the internal cavity vary.
In addition to the difficulties imparted by changes in the optical properties of the fluid, the optical fibers and the various optical components must also be properly aligned initially in order to avoid other sources of optical misalignment. In this regard, even a slight misalignment of the optical fibers will increase the insertion loss and, in some instances, render the fiber optic rotary joint unacceptable for at least some applications.
In order to properly align the first and second bundles of optical fibers, it is desirable that the optical fibers extend lengthwise through the respective outer sleeve with the longitudinal axes of the optical fibers being parallel to the longitudinal axis defined by the outer sleeve. As such, the outer sleeve is desirably sized such that the optical fibers are snugly received and held therewithin. This snug receipt of the optical fibers requires that the outer sleeve define an inner diameter very precisely with little tolerance. Such outer sleeves or bearings are therefore rarely, if ever, an off-the-shelf part and must be specifically manufactured to exacting tolerances, thereby increasing the overall cost of the fiber optic rotary joint. Even in instances in which the optical fibers are snugly received within the outer sleeve, the optical fibers may not necessarily be parallel to the longitudinal axis of the outer sleeve. In a common embodiment in which the bundle of optical fibers includes seven optical fibers arranged so as to have a central optical fiber and six optical fibers spaced thereabout, the six peripheral optical fibers may be twisted in a common direction, such as in a relatively helical pattern, about the central optical fiber. As such, the optical signals emitted by the bundle of optical fibers that are somewhat twisted may not be properly aligned with respective optical fibers of the other bundle of optical fibers, thereby reducing the efficiency with which optical signals are transmitted therebetween. Accordingly, each optical fiber and its respective collimation lens must generally be individually positioned so as to appropriately align the optic fiber and the associated collimating lens with the longitudinal axis defined by the sleeve. As will be recognized, this individual alignment can be quite time consuming. Once the optical fibers have been aligned, the optical fibers may be held in position by an epoxy. Unfortunately, the epoxy may cause the optical fibers to become slightly misaligned as the epoxy cures, thereby again disadvantageously increasing the insertion loss.

Fiber optic rotary joint and associated alignment method


A fluid mixing unit insertable along conveyance and/or distribution lines, particularly for mixing diagnostic or medical fluids or the like along biomedical lines, comprising a body that is internally hollow and is provided with at least one pair of intake ports for introducing two fluids to be mixed, which are associable with respective feeder devices, and a discharge port for discharging the mixture of the two fluids, which is associable with an outflow device, and a duct for the flow and mixing of the two fluids that is formed in the body and is connected to the intake ports and to the discharge port.

The present invention relates to a fluid mixing unit that can be inserted along conveyance and/or distribution lines, particularly for mixing diagnostic or medical fluids or the like along biomedical lines.
With particular but not exclusive reference to the biomedical sector related to imaging diagnostics, it is known that some investigation methods, such as for example computerized axial tomography, angiography, coronarography and others, entail administering contrast media, based for example on iodine, to the patients.
The nature and/or concentration of the contrast media varies according to the type of investigation to be performed.
For this very reason, a range of various packages is currently commercially available for each type of contrast medium, and said packages differ from each other in the concentration of iodine diluted in suitable vehicles.
This causes drawbacks, including the fact that the production of packages at different concentrations of the contrast media is very complex, slow and expensive, and the fact that radiology wards must acquire diversified stockpiles of the various packages, sustaining substantial procurement, management and stocking costs.
The execution of certain investigation techniques, moreover, requires the administration, for example intravenously, of boluses of physiological solutions, water or other equivalent liquids, alternated with boluses of contrast media: the two fluids mix with each other only after they have been injected into the patients.

Fluid mixing unit, particularly for mixing diagnostic or medical fluids along biomedical lines


The present invention makes it possible to transfer information between processors by a method that places little burden on the reception side processors. The information processing device is a device that processes information using a plurality of processors, comprising one or more first processors that have one or a plurality of local memories, and one or more second processors that write write information directly into the local memory that the target first processor has. The second processors store address maps in which local memory addresses for the first processors are recorded; these second processors acquire local memory addresses from these address maps, and write write information into the acquired local memory addresses.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for performing information processing using a plurality of processors, and more concretely relates to (for example) a memory control device that is installed in a RAID (redundant array of independent inexpensive disks) system.
2. Description of the Related Art
One type of device for performing information processing using a plurality of processors is (for example) a memory control device which controls access from a host device to a memory device that has a plurality of physical disks arranged in the form of an array. For example, two or more channel adapters that are used for communications with the host device and two or more disk adapters that are used for communications with the memory device are installed in the memory control device. One or more microprocessors (hereafter abbreviated to "MP") are installed in each of the adapters.
Control information is exchanged between the MPs mounted in the channel adapters (hereafter referred to as "channel MPs") and the MPs mounted in the disk adapters (hereafter referred to as "disk MPs"). For example, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-306265 (e. g., paragraph 44), the exchange of control information between the channel MP 17 and disk MP 21 is accomplished via a shared memory 32. In concrete terms, for example, when control information is sent from the channel MP 17 to the disk MP 21, the channel MP 17 writes control information into a specified region of the shared memory 32; meanwhile, the disk MP 21 periodically polls this specified region of the shared memory 32, and if there is control information in this specified, region, the disk MP 21 acquires the control information from this specified region.

Device and method for performing information processing using plurality of processors


An exemplary embodiment of a method is implemented in a wireless network and is advantageous in that an undesired interim media channel link which would have been used in prior art systems is identified during call setup and avoided. In response to a call request in the wireless network for a call with a first user's wireless subscriber unit, a determination is made if one of a calling home node and a called home node of the first user's wireless subscriber unit should not be used as a node in the media channel such as due to the one node's remote location relative to the rest of the nodes in the media channel. A resulting media channel is established so that the one of the calling home node and the called home node is not part of a path of the media channel thereby minimizing the total distance and delay of the media path.

Wireless subscriber units (SUs) are supported by wireless networks located at various geographic locations. A subscriber of wireless services has his subscriber unit registered in a home network at a home location register (HLR) or its equivalent. When traveling the subscriber is served by another network that uses a signaling channel and a media channel to establish wireless communications. As used herein a "media channel" refers to the communication path over which user information is conveyed, which is contrasted with a signaling channel that carries command and control information associated with the setup, management and termination of a media channel. The subscriber's HLR keeps track of the current location of the subscriber unit and serves as an "anchor" point for the voice traffic with a wireless subscriber unit. When the subscriber is served by another remote network, the media channel will likely include one or more wireline links as part of the voice path to the subscriber's home HLR in addition to the wireless link that supports the subscriber's wireless subscriber unit.
However, this routing for a media channel is not efficient in some situations. Assume there is a disaster in the Los Angeles (LA) area, and some firefighters from New York City (NYC) travel to LA to help. A firefighter from NYC using a first wireless SU is currently located at the LA area, while a firefighter from LA uses a second SU. The HLR of the first SU is at NYC, while both the serving node for the first SU and the HLR of the second SU are at LA. The path for the media channel includes cross-country links between LA and NYC. Similarly, if the firefighter from LA calls the visiting firefighter from NYC, the same cross-country path links would occur.

Route optimization of media channel in mobile wireless network


A workholding fixture for holding flat semiconductor substrates with                a carrier,        a holding body which is fixed or which can be fixed on the carrier with a holding side which faces away from the carrier and        at least one negative pressure channel which penetrates the holding body with one suction end on the holding side, the holding side having a defined suction structure of soft material.

Precise and positioned fixing of semiconductor substrates is essential for a host of processes in the semiconductor industry. To handle these semiconductor substrates, the generally very thin and susceptible semiconductor substrates are placed on a workholding fixture, a so-called chuck, and fixed there. The technologies known for fixing semiconductor substrates on chucks cannot be used especially for extremely thin semiconductor substrates with a thickness of less than 100 microns, especially less than 50 μm, and for substrates with a topography.
One very frequently used type of fixing takes place using a vacuum or negative pressure, a flat semiconductor substrate being fixed on a flat hardened surface into which vacuum paths are milled. For especially thin semiconductor substrates the semiconductor substrates can break or can at least be damaged along the vacuum paths.
A still greater problem is the fixing of substrates with very high topography, the topography being produced for example by so-called bumps. Bumps are spherically, conically or prismatically (cuboidally) applied conductive materials which are used later for making electrical contact with other components. The bumps can have a height of more than 500 μm, typically between 4-200 μm, generally between 10-150 μm, and can be distributed in a large plurality over the entire substrate surface. It follows from this that fixing of the semiconductor substrate is not sufficiently possible with the known methods.
Another possibility consists in electrostatic fixing. Electrostatic fixing devices however have the disadvantage that damage to the complex circuits on the semiconductor substrate is probable due to build-up of electrical fields.
Therefore the object of this invention is to devise a workholding fixture with which thin semiconductor substrates and semiconductor substrates with topography can be reliably and carefully held and fixed.

Receiving device for receiving semiconductor substrates


A reflective film includes a substantially non-drawn film having a layer A that includes a resin composition A containing a resin having a refractive index of less than 1.52 and titanium oxide. The titanium oxide has a refractive index of 2.5 or more, and a vanadium content of 5 ppm or less, and the film has a light reflectance of 95% or more to light having a wavelength of 550 nm, and a heat shrinkage ratio after treatment at 80° C. for 180 minutes of greater than −0.1% and less than 1.0% in both a longitudinal direction (MD) and in a transverse direction (TD).

Recently, reflective films are used in the fields of a reflective plate for use in a liquid crystal display, a member for a projection screen or a planar light source, a reflective plate for a lighting apparatus, and an illuminated sign. In the case of, for example, reflective plates in liquid crystal displays, reflective films having high light reflectance are demanded in order to supply light to liquid crystals as much as possible to improve the performance of the back light unit in response to the requirements of providing a larger screen of a liquid crystal device and higher displaying performance.
Further, as a display device in, for example, a notebook-type computer, there has been used a liquid crystal display device provided with a back light unit and liquid crystal display elements, which can be designed to have a reduced thickness and provide images that are easy to watch. Such back light units mostly include back light units of an edge-light system that has a transmission light guide plate provided on one end thereof a linear light source such as a fluorescent tube. In most of such edge-light systems, one side of the light guide plate is partially covered with a light diffusion material and that side is entirely covered with a reflective material to constitute a planar light source. Such a reflective material is required to have a high reflecting performance.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 4-239540 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-138150 disclose white polyester films obtained by drawing a sheet comprised by an aromatic polyester-based resin and a filler to form minute voids in the sheet to allow light scattering reflection. However, these films fail to provide the required high light reflectance. Further, the aromatic rings contained in the molecular chains of the aromatic polyester-based resin that constitutes the films absorb ultraviolet rays, so that the films are deteriorated and yellowed due to the ultraviolet rays from the light source of the liquid crystal display device and the like. This leads to the disadvantage of a reduced light reflectance of the reflective film.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 11-174213 discloses a porous sheet obtained by drawing a sheet made from a polypropylene resin to which an inorganic filler is added. In this case, it is necessary to add the inorganic filler in an amount of 60% by weight or more, so that there arises the problem that the film forming ability is poor.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 6-298957 discloses a film obtained by mixing a resin having a specified refractive index and an inorganic filler and drawing a film made from the mixture. Japanese Patent Applications Laid-open Nos. Hei 7-230004, Hei 7-287110, and Hei 8-262208 disclose reflective sheets obtained by mixing a polyolefin-based resin and an inorganic filler and drawing a film made from the mixture. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 11-149816 discloses a reflective film obtained by mixing a polyolefin and barium sulfate and drawing a film made from the mixture. In these case, however, a measure for improving the drawability, for example, addition of a processing auxiliary must be taken. Moreover, although the resultant film has an increased light reflectance by drawing, there arises another problem that it suffers from not a small size change with time or in a heated environment due to the phenomenon of orientational relaxation.


The entrance to an elevator cab is provided with wedge gaskets both above and below the cab door opening. The upper gasket is mounted on the door opening header, and the lower gasket is mounted in the door sill. Gasket-engaging brackets are mounted on the top and bottom of each door to snugly engage the gaskets when the cab doors are closed. The closed cab is substantially sealed against penetration by hoistway air so as to provide a quieter smoother ride, especially at high operating speeds. The seal is not established until the doors are completely closed.

Structures for sealing elevator hoistway doors from the landings in buildings have been proposed. The reason for sealing the hoistways from the remainder of the building is to prevent the hoistways from becoming conduits for smoke from one building floor to another in the event of a fire in the building. These systems have vertically reciprocating sealing panels on the upper and lower portions of the door frame. These panels are reciprocated vertically as a result of contact with the landing doors as the latter are opened and closed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,734,238, granted May 22, 1973 to A.V. Secresty, et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,293, granted Apr. 5, 1988 to L.R. Everhart, et al. are representative of such elevator systems. These systems are fine for the limited purpose for which they are intended.
With modern-day elevator systems operating at ever increasing speeds, chiefly due to the extremely tall buildings being built, the problem of hoistway cab-induced air turbulence adversely affecting cab ride and passenger comfort has increased. The higher the cab speed, the more noise and buffeting of the cab will occur. With present cab door systems, at high cab speeds air drafts inside of the cab can occur through the cab doors. The net result is a less than ideal ride from the passenger's viewpoint. The ride quality in such high speed elevators could be enhanced by the provision of a cab door system which effectively seals the interior of the cab from the hoistway when the cab doors are closed. Ideally, such a system would be susceptible to use in original equipment and would be factory installed as original equipment; and could also be installed as retrofit equipment in existing elevator systems in the field.


The time necessary for dubbing of a bit stream is reduced.

Recording on DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs) is performed according the DVD video recording (DVD-VR) standard or the DVD-video standard. The DVD-VR standard is used for real-time recording of contents. On the other hand, contents recorded according to the DVD-video standard can be played back by DVD players which are exclusively used for playback.
In digital recording equipment such as DVD recorders, recording is generally performed according to the DVD-VR standard because editing is easy. However, to perform playback by other equipment such as a DVD player, it is necessary to convert the format of a content recorded according to the DVD-VR standard into another format conforming to the DVD-video standard.
To convert the format of a recorded content from the DVD-VR standard into the DVD-video standard, a method in which a digital signal is decoded, coded again and then recorded can be used. In this method, however, coding is performed again after decoding. Accordingly, this method has not only a problem in which the time necessary for the conversion is equal to the actual length of the content but also a problem in which the image quality of the content deteriorates.
In view of this, a technique of converting a digital-recorded content into another format while leaving the content digital without decoding is proposed. For example, an apparatus and a method for converting a bit stream in an RTR (Real Time Recording) format into a bit stream in a DVD-video standard format are disclosed in Patent Document 1. Hereinafter, a conversion in which a bit stream conforming to the DVD-VR standard as data in the RTR format is directly converted into a bit stream conforming to the DVD-video standard while leaving the bit stream digital without decoding will be referred to as a "digital conversion".    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-242721

Abstract: A high speed dubbing apparatus includes: a read section (20) for reading a bit stream conforming to a DVD-VR standard from a first storage device (10), and outputting the bit stream; a first buffer (30) for storing an output from the read section (20) and outputting a bit stream; a navigation pack generator (40) for replacing a real time data information pack in the bit stream output from the first buffer (30) with a navigation pack, and outputting a resultant bit stream; a second buffer (50) for storing an output from the navigation pack generator (40) and outputting a bit stream; and a write section (60) for converting the bit stream output from the second buffer (50) into a bit stream conforming to a DVD-video standard, and writing the resultant bit stream in a second storage device (70). At least two of the read section (20), the navigation pack generator (40) and the write section (60) operate in parallel.


At least a pair of electrodes comprising semiconductors or a semiconductor compounds are arranged to be submerged in water or a liquid of a hydrogen-containing organic compound. Applying pulse electric power between the at least one pair of the electrodes activates hydrogen atoms contained in the water or the hydrogen-containing organic compound to produce hydrogen gas. The hydrogen activating apparatus thus constructed eliminates the necessity of doping electrolysis or the like for improving an electric conductivity of the water and allows production of hydrogen from materials containing hydrogen atoms such as water and the hydrogen-containing compound or the like with a low energy.

Recently, hydrogen has attracted attention as replicable fuel in place of petroleum from point views of starvation of natural resources such as petroleum and the greenhouse effect due to carbon dioxide.
Today, as such a method of producing hydrogen, 90% of industry-use hydrogen is produced from petroleum or natural gas by a steam reforming method or a partial oxidizing method.
As methods of producing hydrogen other than these methods, methods in which coal is used as crude material (COG method or the producer gasifying method), a method of collecting by-product hydrogen from a common salt electrolyzer, a method of electrolysis of water and the like have conventionally been done.
Furthermore, recently, a thermochemical producing method or a method of producing hydrogen using sunlight have been studied.
As a method of producing hydrogen other than the methods described above, for example, there is a method of producing hydrogen by thermally decomposing water. This method requires a reaction temperature of 1500° C. at the minimum and carrying out a reaction under a high temperature of 4300° C. in order to increase a decomposition rate of water into hydrogen in which an energy consumption is large, which is not practical except that a low cost power source is available.
On the other hand, there is also a possible method in which alkaline-earth metals such as sodium, potassium, and manganese are doped into water and these metals are caused to chemically react with water. However, these metals are relatively expensive, and it is difficult to utilize these chemical reactions because these reactions are severe.
Furthermore, instead of water used in the method of electrolysis of water, electrolysis with hydrocarbon such as methanol can be considered. Hydrocarbon has a relatively low bonding energy between hydrogen and carbon within a molecule, so that voltage differences necessary for these electrolyses are low, but accompanied with generation of by-products such as CO and CO2 as reaction products, which requires a countermeasure for decomposing and removal of these products.
Furthermore, the inventors have promoted a study regarding an active structure capable of producing hydrogen in which hydrogen is freed from hydrogen bonds in water or hydrocarbon without externally applying energy.
As a hydrogen activating apparatus for producing hydrogen, an apparatus and a method disclosed in a U.S. Patent are known (for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,794 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,419,815). This apparatus is constructed such that at least one pair of electrodes are immerged in water in a container containing the water in such a condition that the electrodes are made close to each other with respect to a distance therebetween, wherein when pulse electric power is applied between the electrodes, orthohydrogen (generating heat of combustion which is larger than that of parahydrogen) is produced, and when pulse electric power is supplied to a coil arranged at an upper part of water in addition of applying the pulse electric power between the electrodes, the parahydrogen is produced.
In this hydrogen activating apparatus, an input power is 12V×300 mA (a low voltage×a high current), and bubbles of oxygen and hydrogen are produced at the middle between the electrode plates though its principle has not been disclosed. In other words, it is described that water can be decomposed.
However, in the case of using the pulse of 12 V with 300 mA, when a current of 300 mA is conducted through the electrode plates, a decomposition action of water occurs due to the current which is similar to that occurs in the electrolysis. In other words, the power consumption becomes large.
Furthermore, when water is subject to electrolysis, to improve the electric conductivity of the solution, generally, electrolyte such as alkali metal (NaOH, KOH, or the like) is doped to increase a current density, so that a running cost regarding medicine is high.
Then, if water is subject to electrolysis without doping electrolyte, with utilizing super pure water as water, an amount of produced hydrogen becomes low and the cost is high. On the other hand, if service water, which is cheap and harmless, is used, it is difficult to efficiently utilize water because the current density at the electrodes cannot be made high.
The present invention is provided to solve the above-described problems and aims to provide a hydrogen activating apparatus which can produce hydrogen from a substance containing hydrogen atoms such as water or hydrogen-containing organic compound with low energy and which requires no dopant of electrolyte or the like into water to improve an electric conductivity.


The present invention aims for obtaining a fuel rail for gasoline direct injection which can be used for the direct injection at a high fuel pressure of 50 MPa or more by increasing the thickness at the portion near the branch hole and using the material having high thickness for the metal seal portion while keeping the weight light and keeping the cost low. A fuel rail for gasoline direct injection made of steel and used at a fuel pressure of 50 MPa or more, the fuel rail having: a plurality of block members 2; and a pipe member 1 which connects an interval between the block members, wherein the block members 2 have: a branch hole 3 which communicates with the pipe member 1; and a metal seal portion 6 to which an injector is connected, and the hardness of the block members 2 is higher than the hardness of the pipe member 1.

The fuel pressure of the conventionally and generally known gasoline direct injection system is 20 MPa or less. In general, a rail body having a fuel passage inside is used by connecting an injector holder, a mounting boss and the like with the rail body by brazing. When the fuel pressure is within the above described range, sufficient pressure resistant strength can be obtained even if the thickness of the rail body is relatively thin, and an injector and an injector holder can be connected with each other sufficiently by the sealing using only an O-ring. Accordingly, it is not particularly necessary to use a high strength material for the rail.
On the other hand, in a diesel common rail system using higher fuel pressure, the rail body is manufactured by forging and cutting for ensuring high pressure resistance of the rail body itself. However, since the fuel pressure is high, an O-ring cannot be used for connecting with the injector, a pipe should be arranged between the rail and the injector and they should be connected by a metal seal.
Furthermore, the fuel pressure of the gasoline direct injection system becomes higher (exceeding 50 MPa) in recent years through improvement of the fuel and strengthening of the exhaust emission regulations. Accordingly, the thickness of a fuel rail should be formed thicker to withstand higher pressure. Thus, there is a problem that sufficient pressure resistance cannot be obtained by the conventional method of brazing a block to the pipe member. In addition, although an O-ring is conventionally used for the connection with the injector, the sealing of the O-ring reaches the limit as the pressure increases. Thus, same as the above described diesel common rail system, the injector should be connected by a metal seal. In order to apply the same structure as the diesel common rail system to a high pressure-resistant rail, it is considered that the rail is integrally formed by forging as shown in Patent Document 1.
Patent Document 1: WO2016/042897


A wire protection structure includes a housing, a holder that is received in the housing through an opening of the housing, a cover that covers at least a part of the opening of the housing to define a wire-drawn port with the holder being received in the housing, and an electric wire that is drawn from the wire-drawn port. A flexible plate-shaped holder plate is provided to be extended from a surface of the holder toward the wire-drawn port. A deflection allowable space is formed between the holder plate and the housing to allow a deflection of the holder plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire protection structure, and more particularly to a wire protection structure, which is employed in a wire-drawn port of a housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
After terminal fittings are provided on terminal ends of electric wires and the terminal fittings are received in a housing, the electric wires become a state in which the electric wires are drawn from the housing (refer to JP-A-11-191446 and JP-A-2011-54370 as described below). In addition, if terminal ends of electric wires are connected to a board and the board is received in a housing, the electric wires in this case also become a state in which the electric wires are drawn from the housing.


A method for selecting data packets includes including identifying available data packets for transmission, determining a number of time-slots available for the transmission, identifying data packet types that fit into the available time-slots and meet a minimum transfer length requirement, and determining whether any of the identified data packet types are capable of transmitting the entire required data length. If so, a data packet type capable of transmitting most data in the shortest time is chosen for the transmission from the data packet types capable of transmitting the entire required data length. If not, a data packet type capable of transmitting most data in the shortest time is chosen for the transmission from the identified data packet types.

When transmitting data from one device to another, it is common for a large stream of data to be broken up into smaller packets of data in order to facilitate transmission. Breaking a large data stream into smaller packets facilitates retransmission and recovery should elements of the data stream become lost or corrupted. Breaking a large data stream into smaller packets may be completed using either hardware or software approaches.
The current segmentation approaches tend to identify the possible packet types and then select a single packet that encompasses the entire data stream. This requires either utilizing a small packet or avoiding transmission if available time does not accommodate the packet.

Computing system and method to select data packet


The separation of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), by electronic type, using centrifugation of compositions of SWCNTs and surface active block copolymers in self-forming density gradient media.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have, over the past several years, generated considerable interest as a result of their mechanical and electronic properties. SWCNTs can be one of two electronic types, either metallic or semiconducting, depending on their chirality. Significant progress has been made at controlling SWCNT structure during nanotube growth, but post-synthetic processing steps are still required to extract carbon nanotubes of particular electronic types at high purity levels. In order to achieve the wide-spread industrial use envisioned for SWCNTs, semiconducting and metallic species must be isolated efficiently and at extremely high purities. While methods exist to separate both semiconducting and metallic SWCNTs, much of the interest in carbon nanotubes lies in their semiconducting applications. For instance, incorporation of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes has shown to improve the functionality of a diverse array of technologies ranging from transistors to molecular detectors. Numerous separation techniques have been developed, including electrophoresis, gel chromatography and DNA wrapping. One particular prior separation method, density gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU), involves several time-consuming and labor-intensive steps, including the creation of a linear density gradient. Furthermore, the extraction of high purity semiconducting species requires complex fractionation procedures and associated equipment costs.
Improving the fidelity and yield of DGU separations has proven to be an often laborious process. Accordingly, there remains an on-going effort in the art to develop a nanotube separation system to better utilize the benefits available through DGU.

Separation of single-walled carbon nanotubes by self-forming density gradient ultracentrifugation


A gyroscope includes a first mass, a second mass, and a drive structure configured to drive each of the first mass and the second mass in a drive mode. The drive structure includes a first portion and a second portion, with the first portion being configured to drive the first mass in a direction along a drive axis and the second portion being configured to drive the second mass in a direction opposite to the first mass along the drive axis. The gyroscope further includes a sense structure configured to sense motion of each of the first mass and the second mass in a sense mode along a direction substantially perpendicular to the drive axis, and a plurality of flexures configured to couple the first portion to the second portion and further configured to decouple the drive mode and the sense mode.

The present disclosure generally relates to gyroscopes and more specifically to tuning fork gyroscopes (TFG).
Operation of a tuning fork gyroscope may be based on the Coriolis effect, wherein a mass moving at a given velocity will experience Coriolis acceleration when the mass is also rotated with an angular velocity. The Coriolis acceleration is perpendicular to the velocity and the angular velocity. The Coriolis acceleration vector is given by ac=−2(v×Ω), where v is the velocity vector and Ω is the angular velocity vector. Coriolis acceleration is thus indicative of the angular velocity of rotation.

Modal decoupling via flexure-based transmissions as applied to a micromachined tuning fork gyroscope

THE CHARLES STARK DRAPER LABORATORY, INC.


A method for determining an operating point of an oscillation controller. The method builds a model of an oscillation device based upon its design parameters. Then the resonant frequency of each specific oscillator is measured in its application environment, and the model, or a table derived from the model is used to define the operating point. The operating point may be expressed in terms of clock counts by factoring in the clock rate of the oscillation controller.

Electro-mechanical oscillators are used to drive electro-optical mechanisms such as printers, scanners, barcode readers and similar devices. A torsion oscillator, which is one type of oscillation device, typically includes a mirror that is disposed on a plate that is cut or etched from a silicon wafer and supported on trunnions. In one embodiment, magnets are attached to the plate and when electric current passes through a nearby coil, a force is exerted on the magnets which is translated to the plate. This force causes oscillation of the plate which twists the trunnions. Other forces may be employed to make such a system oscillate, such as electric fields or mechanical forces. The plate is excited to oscillate, preferably at or near a resonant frequency, by an oscillation controller that causes alternating current to pass through the coil at or near the resonate frequency or at or near a harmonic of the resonant frequency. The angle of the mirror moves sinusoidally with respect to time at a certain amount of sweep (termed amplitude), at a certain repetition rate (termed frequency), and with a potential lack of symmetry (termed median offset). Unfortunately, the characteristics of mirrors can vary significantly due to physical variations from manufacturing tolerances, and changing environmental conditions, particularly temperature changes, that typically affect the resonant frequency. Consequently, the amplitude, frequency and median offset of an oscillator must be stabilized for useful operation. What is needed is an effective method for controlling scan time intervals in these systems.

Determining operating point of feedback controller applied to operation of oscillating scanning device


A bearing mechanism for mounting a connecting rod to a crankshaft is disclosed. The bearing mechanism may include a first bearing half-shell forming a first semicylindrical member and a second bearing half-shell forming a second semicylindrical member. The second bearing half-shell may be assembled to the first bearing half-shell to form a cylindrical member. The cylindrical member may include an outer surface, an inner surface, and at least one end.

Construction and earthmoving equipment, as well as many other types of machines, are commonly used in a wide variety of applications. Generally, a machine is powered by an internal combustion engine such as a diesel engine, a gasoline engine, a gaseous fuel-powered engine, or any other type of engine. These engines include a piston moving in a cylinder with accompanying combustion, the piston being retained in a cylinder block. A connecting rod connects the piston to a crankshaft, where a first end portion of the connecting rod is assembled to the piston and a second end portion of the connecting rod is assembled to a crankpin associated with the crankshaft. As an engine increases its speed, the crankshaft rotates at an increased speed, and the rotational movement of the crankshaft is converted to linear movement of the piston through the connecting rod. An oil film associated with the crankpin and an inner diameter surface of the second end portion experiences shearing as the crankpin rotates within the second end portion.
When an engine operates at high speeds, the shearing velocity of the oil film increases and may become excessive. The excessive shearing velocity of the oil film may result in less than desirable engine durability. As shearing velocity becomes excessive, the oil film becomes hotter which may cause the oil film viscosity to reduce and subsequently the oil film to become thinner. This may lead to contact between the inner diameter surface of the second end portion and the crankpin and increased wear of the second end portion.
One system for improving engine performance and durability is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0238269 (the '269 publication) to Endoh et al., published on Oct. 27, 2005. The '269 publication describes a floating bearing formed as a single piece and disposed between a crankpin of a crankshaft and a big end of a connecting rod, with oil films formed on a side of the crankpin and on a side of the big end. The floating bearing acts in such a manner as to reduce friction loss of the crankshaft and wearing of the crankpin and the big end of the connecting rod. Specifically, during rotation of the crankpin relative to the big end, the floating bearing rotates at a velocity which is approximately one-half of the rotational velocity of the crankpin, such that friction between the floating bearing and the big end, and between the floating bearing and the crankpin, is smaller as compared to a crankpin rotating relative to just the big end of the connecting rod. Therefore, when the floating bearing is applied to an engine, the engine has increased durability and can operate at a high speed.
Although the floating bearing system of the '269 publication may reduce friction loss of the crankshaft and wear of the crankpin and the big end of the connecting rod, it may have limitations. The floating bearing is described as simply cylindrical in nature, and therefore, not likely to attain an efficient rate of relative rotation.
The bearing system of the present disclosure is directed towards improvements in the existing technology.

Bearing system having a floating bearing mechanism


A hitch and axle assembly including a support structure detachably securable to a vehicle and an axle assembly. A hitch is mountable on the support structure. The axle assembly includes a primary axle member defining a primary axis. Torsion beam assemblies are coupled to opposite lateral sides of the primary axle member. The torsion beam assemblies each include a torsion member that extends substantially coincident with the primary axis and a lever arm that extends substantially transversely from the torsion member. Wheel assemblies are mounted on a distal portion of the lever arms wherein the wheel assemblies each define an axis of rotation that is parallel and spaced from the primary axis. The two wheel axes are substantially coincident. The torsion bar assemblies may be rotationally adjustable relative to the primary axle to thereby provide for the vertical adjustment of the wheel assemblies.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicles having a towing hitch and, more specifically, to an axle and hitch assembly that can be attached to an existing vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known in the art to use a trailer dolly with a trailer when towing a trailer having a significant tongue weight. Such trailer dollies provide support for the trailer tongue and limit the load placed on the rear axle of the tow vehicle.
Pickup trucks are oftentimes used as tow vehicles. When the pickup truck is not being used as a tow vehicle it may be used to haul items in its truck bed. While a conventional trailer dolly is useful for supporting a trailer tongue load that would otherwise be placed on the rear axle of the pickup truck, such trailer dollies are not typically adapted to help support a load placed on the bed of the pickup truck.
Various other apparatus have also been developed that can be used to at least partially support the load of a pickup truck. Examples of such apparatus include U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,804 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,083. Such apparatus, however, may increase the overall length of the truck or require installation in the bed of the truck, either of which may possibly interfere with the operation of the truck.
An improved apparatus that can be used with a pickup truck or other tow vehicle to increase the tongue weight that can be placed on the truck by a trailer and which may also be used to increase the capacity of the truck with regard to the load in its truck bed is desirable.


A transitional feminine styled garment for use by mastectomy patients immediately following surgery, the garment being sleeveless and having wireless and non-binding pockets for soft molded cups. The garment has inside drainage pockets for drainage receptacles.

One of the most traumatic experiences a woman can endure is a mastectomy. There has been a long felt need for apparel for the patient after the surgery and numerous efforts have been made to supply these needs. Examples are garments with outside pockets for the support of drainage receptacles, camisoles with outer pockets having side openings or inside horizontal pockets with open ends for drainage vessels, prostheses inserted in pockets shaped to the normal configuration of the breast and surgical recovery brassieres with drain tube apertures and storage pouches.

Transitional feminine styled garment for mastectomy patients


An ink jet printing method and apparatus are provided which, even when an ink containing a colorant with a coagulating property is applied to a glossy print medium; enable to keep the glossiness of the print medium from being degraded. For this purpose, when forming an image on a glossy print medium, a coagulation inhibiting liquid for inhibiting a coagulation of ink is applied to at least a part of an area on the print medium where the ink is applied. This suppresses the coagulation of ink on the print medium surface and assures a quick spreading and soaking of ink. As a result, the surface of the glossy print medium can be kept smooth, retaining its glossiness.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet printing apparatus which forms an image by applying to a print medium an ink containing a colorant that coagulates under a predetermined condition. More specifically, the present invention relates to a construction that prevents problems caused by a coagulation of the colorant on a print medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
As office equipment such as computers, word processors and copying machines advance, a growing number of printing apparatus for outputting information from these equipment has become available on the market. The printing apparatus employing an ink jet printing system in particular has an advantage of being able to reduce the size of a print head easily, print an image at high resolution and high speed and print on plain paper without requiring special processing on the paper. Other advantages include low running cost, low noise and a relative ease with which a full color printing can be realized using multiple color inks. It has therefore found a wide range of applications, including personal users.
Such a widespread use can lead to the user making new demands on the ink jet printing apparatus. In recent years in particular, there are growing calls for increased image fastness such as waterfastness and lightfastness while maintaining a high color saturation. One method of enhancing the image fastness is to make some improvements on the print medium as dedicated paper. However, to stably maintain a high image fastness of various kinds of print mediums including plain paper, it is more effective to provide an ink itself with some features to achieve the above objective. For this reason, recent years have seen many novel inks developed and their applications proposed.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-227229 (1999) discloses, in addition to the conventionally used dye inks, the development of inks containing pigments as colorants and a variety of printing methods using such inks. The inks containing pigments tend to stay on the surface of a print medium with the colorants in a coagulated state, when compared with inks containing dyes as colorants. Thus, the pigment colorants have features of a high color saturation which is not easily faded by sunlight and ozone. To take advantage of both the superiority of the pigment ink and the superiority of the dye ink, the above-cited reference discloses a method that selectively uses these different kinds of inks according to the kind of print medium used and the kind of image to be output. For example, the above document describes that a pigment-based black ink with low penetrability and dye-based color inks with high penetrability are prepared and that a black image may be printed with the black ink or with a combination of different color inks, depending on the kind of print medium and the kind of image to be printed. The cited reference also describes printing color inks first, followed by a black ink overlapping the first printed color inks.
Other methods for enhancing the color saturation and the image fastness propose using a reaction liquid that reacts with color inks containing colorants to make the colorants insoluble or coagulate. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 56-89595 (1981) discloses a method which applies a polymer solution, such as carboxymethyl cellulose, polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinyl acetate, to the print medium before printing and then prints coloring inks. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 63-29971 (1988) discloses a method that involves applying to a print medium a liquid containing an organic compound having two or more cationic groups in one molecule and then printing coloring inks containing anionic dye. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 64-009279 (1989) discloses a method that first applies an acidic liquid containing succinic acid to a print medium and then prints coloring inks. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 64-063185 (1989) describes a method that applies to a print medium a liquid that makes a dye insoluble, before printing coloring inks containing the dye. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 5-202328 (1993) describes a method which applies a reaction liquid containing polyvalent metal ion before printing coloring inks.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 6-106841 (1994), 9-118850 (1997), 11-334101(1999), and 11-343441(1999), and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,428,383, 5,488,402 and 5,976,230 disclose a set of a black ink and color inks in which at least one of the color inks exhibits a mutual reactivity with the black ink, with other inks showing no reactivity with the black ink.
All these methods listed above that use a reaction liquid are characterized in that the reaction liquid chemically reacts with the coloring inks containing colorants to coagulate the coloring inks. That is, many ink jet printing apparatus of recent years, whether they use pigments or dyes or whether they require a reaction liquid to induce coagulation, have the colorants coagulate, remain and settle on the surface of a print medium, thereby realizing a satisfactory color saturation and image fastness.
However, the coagulation of colorants described above is not always desirable. For example, when an ink containing a colorant with a coagulating property is applied to glossy paper, a new problem arises. The ink with a coagulating nature tends to stay on the surface of the print medium and form relatively large undulations. Such large undulations on the print medium surface degrade the glossiness of the print medium. Not only can the printed paper in such a state not take advantage of the characteristic of the glossy paper, but a difference in glossiness between the printed portions and the non-printed portions becomes conspicuous, giving the user an impression of unnaturalness.

Ink jet printing method and ink jet printing apparatus


A motherboard error detection system includes a pluggable error detection board and a motherboard having a boot management chip. When the motherboard enters a device-driven status from a standby status, the boot management chip is used to manage power-on timings of different voltage sources; to collect a plurality of sets of status information; and to check whether the sets of status information and the power-on timings have errors. The pluggable error detection board includes an interpreting unit, a message-reading interface and a connector which is pluggably disposed on the motherboard. When the boot management chip notifies the pluggable error detection board to read an error message, the interpreting unit converts the error message to human-readable information, and the human-readable information is outputted through the message-reading interface.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit board error detection apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a motherboard error detection system.
2. Description of Related Art
The current electronic products all are equipped with motherboards. Each of the motherboards is composed of electronic elements and a circuit board. The electronic elements are mounted on the circuit board, and are electrically connected to each other via internal wiring of the circuit board. During the production of electronic products, tests are conducted on the motherboards of the electronic products, and the motherboards passing the tests are used for subsequent processes, thereby preventing process errors form being accumulated, thus promoting the overall process yield.
Herein, a motherboard applied in a computer is used as an example for explanation. In order to test a power-supplying status of the motherboard, a plurality of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes; such as 15-20 LEDs) specifically used for a hardware test are generally disposed on the motherboard. When the computer is booted and conducts the hardware test, the on or off of the LEDs will be used to indicate whether a power source is activated normally, thus benefiting subsequent test procedures to be conducted smoothly.
However, the LEDs occupy a certain proportion of overall cost, including stocking cost, material cost, assembling and soldering cost, test cost and manpower cost. The LEDs are distributed on the motherboard and also occupy quite a lot of space of the motherboard, thus increasing the complexity of circuit layout, and meanwhile consuming a lot of test time on a production line.
Hence, it is an urgent topic for those who are in this field to develop a motherboard error detection system for smoothly performing a start-up hardware test without needing to use the LEDs for the hardware test, thereby preventing the aforementioned inconvenience and disturbance.


A light pipe for an optical navigation system. The light pipe includes a collection surface, a collimation surface, and a reflective surface. The collection surface is to accept incident light into the light pipe from a light source. The collimation surface is to collimate the light and to direct the collimated light to a navigation plane for detection by a navigation sensor. The reflective surface is between the collection surface and the collimation surface and is to reflect the light along a reflective path as the light travels within the light pipe from the collection surface to the collimation surface. The reflective surface has a curved geometry oriented substantially along the path of travel of the light through the light pipe. The curved geometry of the reflective path facilitates convergence of the light with respect to a first axis.

Optical navigation sensors use a light source to illuminate a navigation surface to provide digital images for computing motion. However, as the spatial requirements of optical devices become more constrained, traditional light sources such as standard light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are replaced by smaller sources. In general, the available smaller sources have a lower power consumption, broader radiation patterns, and lower light intensity.
For optical mouse sensors, a typical imaged navigation surface is a surface such as a desktop or a mouse pad. Since this surface is to be lit in order to obtain an image, the light source should generate light with enough intensity to sufficiently illuminate the surface to obtain an adequate image for the generation of a navigation signal.
For a low profile illumination and sensor system with a total system height requirement of less than 5 mm, through-hole LED light sources can no longer be implemented in the system using conventional methods. One part of a solution to this spatial constraint is the replacement of the conventional LED with a low-profile LED, such as a Chip LED, Top LED, or a bare LED die as the light source. The result of replacing a conventional LED with the mentioned low-profile LED is that the radiation pattern of the low-profile LED has a lower light intensity due to the fact that the light is spread across a significantly wider angle. For example, the field of emitted light can be up to 160° at full angle. Such a large angle reduces power concentration and results in a lower light intensity. Due to this, it is difficult to collect the wide angle light, guide it properly, and emit the light with an intensity sufficient to obtain an adequate navigation image.

Light pipe for low profile optical navigation systems

Avago Technologies ECBU IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A vibration-damping device capable of reducing the transmission of noise caused by a water pump of a hybrid vehicle, for example, to a vehicle compartment. The vibration-damping device includes a cushion member, a pump mounting member, and an elastic support member. The cushion member supports the pump, and includes holding portions each with a slit formed between an upper and lower surface thereof for insertion therein of end edges of a pump extension member that extends from the pump. The pump mounting member includes inverted L-shaped cross-section retaining portions provided on an upper surface thereof, the supporting portions being disposed between the retaining portions and the upper surface of the pump mounting member to retain the cushion member to the pump mounting member. The elastic support member engages a lower side of the pump to provide support against lateral deflection of the pump.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration-damping device, and more specifically to a vibration damping-device for pumps mounted in vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in order to reduce undesirable effects on the environment, hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles and other non-gasoline powered vehicles have been developed. In these vehicles, water pumps are used for cooling inverters, which are provided in motors serving as power sources. The rotation of the water pump components causes vibration that is transmitted to vehicle compartments to cause noise therein.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a water pump 10 normally includes a main body 12 and a leg 14, which has a generally trapezoidal section and is provided at the bottom of the main body 12. The water pump 10 is secured to a side member M of a vehicle by inserting the leg 14 in retaining members 16 provided on an upper surface of the side member M. A plurality of annular projections 18 provided in the side faces of the main body 12 connect to water hoses H. With this arrangement, the water pump 10 is secured directly by the retaining members 16 provided in a vehicle body, and, consequently, multiple-frequency vibration of the water pump 10 is transmitted to the vehicle compartment via the side member M. This transmitted vibration is undesirable noise.
This noise is not a serious problem in conventional-engine vehicles because the noise is drowned out the engine itself, which causes even greater noise. However, in hybrid vehicles with the engines off, and in electric vehicles, such transmitted noise is a serious problem.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a vibration-damping device for a pump that is mounted to a vehicle which is capable of decreasing the transmission of noise to the passenger compartment.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a vibration-damping device for supporting a pump installed in a vehicle, the vibration-damping device comprising a cushion member, a pump mounting member, and an elastic support member. The cushion member supports the pump, and includes holding portions each with a slit formed between an upper and lower surface thereof for insertion therein of end edges of a pump extension member that extends from the pump. The pump mounting member includes inverted L-shaped cross-section retaining portions provided on an upper surface thereof, the supporting portions being disposed between the retaining portions and the upper surface of the pump mounting member to retain the cushion member to the pump mounting member. The elastic support member engages a lower side of the pump to provide support against lateral deflection of the pump.
Since the cushion member is provided between the main body of the pump and the pump mounting member, vibration caused by the rotation of the pump""s internal components, particularly multiple-frequency vibration, is absorbed to greatly reduce the transmission of noise to a vehicle compartment. In addition, since the cushion member is provided to cover and hold end edges of the leg of the pump, the pump is rigidly supported to prevent it from coming loose or disengaging from the pump mounting member, and the pump is also supported in a vibration-damping condition against input of the vibrations from various directions to enhance the vibration-damping effect. By virtue of the support member, the pump is prevented from undesirably leaning due to the deviation of the center of gravity of the pump, to decrease factors causing eccentricity of the pump, and reduce the effect of hose pulsations. Consequently, by virtue of the cushion member and the support member, the transmission of noise to the vehicle compartment is reduced.

Vibration-damping device for vehicle pump


A check is carried out for those stored transport formats which have been declared as being temporarily permissible by a mobile radio base station to determine whether these transport formats satisfy a selection criterion which is specific to that mobile radio device. The transport format used for data transmission is selected exclusively from those transport formats which satisfy the selection criterion which is specific to that mobile radio device.

A medium access control unit such as this, a mobile radio device such as this and a method such as this are known from the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) mobile radio system.
A UMTS mobile radio system normally has a core network (Core Network, CN), a mobile radio access network (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network, UTRAN) and a large number of mobile radio terminals (User Equipment, UE). UMTS provides a transmission mode, referred to as the FDD mode (Frequency Division Duplex), in which signals are transmitted separately in the uplink direction (also referred to as the uplink path which denotes a signal transmission direction from a mobile radio terminal to a respective base station in the mobile radio access network) and in the downlink direction (also referred to as the downlink path, which refers to a signal transmission direction from a base station, which is respectively associated with the mobile radio terminal, in the mobile radio access network to the mobile radio terminal) by means of separate assignment of frequencies or frequency ranges.
UMTS defines an air interface, which is subdivided into three protocol layers, for transmission of data between a mobile radio terminal and a respective base station for a mobile radio cell. An overview and a detailed description of the UMTS air interface protocol layers can be found in 3GPP TS 25.301, Technical Specification, Third Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Radio Interface Protocol Architecture.
The 3GPP standardization committee (3rd Generation Partnership Project) are developing, as described in RP-040081, Proposed Work Item on FDD Enhanced Uplink, TSG-RAN Meeting #23, Phoenix, USA, 10-12 Mar. 2004, an improvement for packet data transmission via the dedicated transport channel DCH (Dedicated Channel) based on UMTS in the uplink direction for the UMTS-FDD mode.
One of the three protocol layers in the UMTS air interface is known as the Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol layer. The RRC protocol or the RRC protocol layer is responsible for setting up and for clearance, as well as for reconfiguration of physical channels, transport channels, logical channels, signaling radio bearers and radio bearers, and for handling all of the parameters for the UMTS protocol layers for layer 1 and layer 2. For this purpose, the units in the RRC layer in the mobile radio terminal and in the mobile radio network control unit interchange appropriate RRC messages via the signaling radio bearers, as described in 3GPP TS 25.331, Technical Specification, Third Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; RRC Protocol Specification.
For management purposes, in general for administration of mobile radio transmission resources in the mobile radio terminal, it is known in the context of uplink packet data transmission for the mobile radio terminal to signal to a mobile radio network control unit (Radio Network Controller, RNC) information about the amount of data traffic in a transport channel, at the RRC protocol layer plane. This is done by means of so-called measurement report messages. As illustrated in Table 1, below, the currently responsible mobile radio network control unit in this context indicates the data buffer storage filling levels, that is to say the filling level of the data buffer storages for the RLC units, for the relevant transport channel. In other words, this means that, in accordance with 3GPP TS 25.331, Technical Specification, Third Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; RRC Protocol Specification, the number of data items to be transmitted which are currently located in the buffer storages of the RLC units in the respective mobile radio terminal is transmitted to the mobile radio network monitoring unit at the RRC layer plane.
In this context, the expression mobile radio transmission resources means in particular the transmission power of the mobile radio terminal, the number and the spreading factor of the assigned CDMA codes.
Table 1 shows one example of a measurement result list such as this, as is described in 3GPP TS 25.331, Technical Specification, Third Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; RRC Protocol Specification:
TABLE 1InformationElement/GroupType andSemanticsnameNeedMultireferencedescriptionTraffic volumeOP1 tomeasurement<maxRB>results>RB IdentityMPRB Identity10.3.4.16>RLC BufferOPEnumerated (0,In bytes AndPayload4, 8, 16, 32,N Kbytes =64, 128, 256,N*1024 bytes.512, 1024, 2K,Twelve spare4K, 8K, 16K,values are32K, 64K, 128K,needed.256K, 512K,1024K)>Average ofOPEnumerated (0,In bytes AndRLC Buffer4, 8, 16, 32,N Kbytes =Payload64, 128, 256,N*1024 bytes.512, 1024, 2K,Twelve spare4K, 8K, 16K,values are32K, 64K, 128K,needed.256K, 512K,1024K)>VarianceOPEnumerated (0,In bytes Andof RLC Buffer4, 8, 16, 32,N Kbytes =Payload64, 128, 256,N*1024 bytes.512, 1024, 2K,Two spare values4K, 8K, 16K)are needed.
On reception of information such as this, the mobile radio network monitoring unit can use this information to implement appropriate configurations of the mobile radio terminal in order, for example, to increase or to restrict the usable transport formats for a mobile radio terminal, or to carry out a handover to another mobile radio cell, reconfiguration of the dedicated physical channels or an RRC state change, in particular from a first RRC state CELL_DCH to a second RRC state CELL_FACH.
The measurement result list illustrated in Table 1 is thus sent from an RRC unit in the mobile radio terminal to the RRC unit in the corresponding mobile radio network control unit, and the respective RLC data buffer storage filling level is indicated for each radio bearer (RB). The values may be quoted either as an absolute value (RLC Buffer Payload), as an average, value (Average of RLC Buffer Payload), or as a variance from a defined value (Variance of RLC Buffer Payload).
The 3GPP standardization committee is currently working on the improvement of packet data transmission via dedicated transport channels in the uplink path, that is to say for the uplink direction for the UMTS air interface for the FDD mode, in order to increase the data throughput and the transmission rate. For this purpose, a new dedicated transport channel referred to as the Enhanced Dedicated Channel (E-DCH) has been introduced in order to improve the delineation from the already existing dedicated transport channel DCH. The major characteristics of this new transport channel include the use of a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request method (HARQ) based on the N channel Stop&Wait method, scheduling which is monitored by the base station, which is also referred to in UMTS as NodeB, as well as frame lengths of no more than 10 ms.
The N channel Stop&Wait-HARQ method is a transmission protection method, in which a total of N so-called HARQ processes are configured for one mobile radio terminal, with an HARQ process in each case representing one instance of the Stop&Wait method. The data for each HARQ process is sent to the network and is temporarily stored until the network receives a confirmation that the data has been received correctly (Acknowledgement, ACK). Otherwise, that is to say if the data has not been received correctly (Negative Acknowledgement, NACK), the data is retransmitted to the network.
NodeB monitored scheduling is a method in which the scheduling in the mobile radio terminal, that is to say the selection of an appropriate transport format from a set of defined transport formats for the E-DCH transport channel, is monitored in such a way that the NodeB can temporarily restrict or extend the use of transport formats from the set of defined transport formats for the E-DCH transport channel as a function of the traffic situation in the respective mobile radio cell for a mobile radio terminal.
However, so far, no decisions have yet been made on the details of how the data will be transmitted via the new transport channel E-DCH via a UMTS air interface. One possible solution is to subdivide the data items on the basis of their priorities between different data buffer storages, so-called Priority Queues (PQ), which are then processed with more or less priority corresponding to their importance, and are thus transmitted.
As stated above, a transmission protection method (HARQ) is used, in which the network sends the mobile radio terminal a confirmation that the data has or has not been received correctly. For this function as well, the mobile radio terminal contains different data buffer storages in order to temporarily store the data until correct reception has been acknowledged.
Both functions are carried out within the MAC protocol layer in the newly provided protocol sublayer, that is to say a so-called Medium Access Control Enhanced Uplink (MAC-e) entity, which is present, that is to say implemented, both at the terminal end and at the network end. At the network end, the entity which carries out the communication protocol in accordance with MAC-e is located in the NodeB, that is to say in the UMTS base station.
One important function of the MAC-e protocol sublayer in the mobile radio terminal (subscriber terminal, User Equipment, UE) is to carry out the scheduling of the data to be transmitted for the uplink transmission path (Uplink Direction) on the basis of a transport format selection method, that is to say to select a suitable transport format for the E-DCH transport channel at predetermined defined times as a function of the instantaneously permissible transmission rate, the priority of the data to be transmitted and the available transmission power for the E-DCH transport channel.
The transport format selection method described in 3GPP TS 25.321, Technical Specification, Third Generation Partnership Project, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network, Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol Specification, and 3GPP TS 25.133, Technical Specification, Third Generation Partnership Project, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network, Requirements for Support of Radio Resource Management (FDD), will be explained in more detail in the following text.
A defined number of dedicated transport channels (Dedicated Channels, DCH) are configured on setting up a communication link by the mobile radio network control unit for the mobile radio terminal as a function of the number and the nature of communication services which a mobile radio terminal, or in other words subscriber appliance, is using in the course of transmission of data in the uplink direction. A Transport Format Set (TFS), also referred to as a set of transport formats in the following text, is configured for each transport channel and includes a defined number of transport formats. The permissible combination of transport formats of all DCH transport channels is defined by the so-called Uplink Transport Format Combination Set (TFCS). The MAC-d unit in the mobile radio terminal carries out the scheduling on the basis of the Uplink Transport Format Combination Sets using the transport format combination selection method, that is to say a suitable transport format for each configured transport channel is selected at defined times as a function of the instantaneous transmission rate and the data priority of the logical channels which are mapped onto the respective transport channel, and as a function of the available transmission power in the mobile radio terminal. Details relating to this procedure are described in 3GPP TS 25.321, Technical Specification, Third Generation Partnership Project, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network, Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol Specification, and 3GPP TS 25.133, Technical Specification, Third Generation Partnership Project, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network, Requirements for Support of Radio Resource Management (FDD).
The scheduling method ensures that the data for a communication service is transmitted via the air interface in accordance with its quality of service profile (QoS profile). It also ensures that the transport format combination selection is matched to the respective transmission situation in the mobile radio cell, that is to say only a limited number of transport format combinations are available when the transmission situation is poor, so that the interference produced by the mobile radio terminal itself in the uplink transmission direction remains within limits. In contrast, when the signal transmission situation in the mobile radio cell is good, all of the transport format combinations are normally available, so that the interference which is produced by a mobile radio terminal itself in the uplink transmission direction varies within the allocated quality of service range.
The major characteristics of the transport format combination selection method are:                A status check of the individual transport format combinations within the given transport format combination set is carried out at defined times. On the basis of this status check, one transport format combination may be located in or associated with one of the following states, as is illustrated in the state diagram 700 in FIG. 7:                    a first state 701, which is referred to as a "Supported State",            a second state 702, which is referred to as an "Excess Power State", and            a third state 703, which is referred to as a "Blocked State".                        The status check of the transport format combinations is carried out by means of a power estimate based on the current transmission power and the maximum permissible transmission power of the mobile radio terminal.                    All the transport format combinations which do not satisfy the so-called "Elimination Criterion", that is to say, in other words, those which require a transmission power which is less than the maximum permissible transmission power, are allocated to the first state 701, that is to say to the "Supported State". The state changes from the second state 702 or from the third state 703 to the first state 701 are in each case annotated with the reference symbol 704 "Recovery Criterion is met".            All of the transport format combinations which require a transmission power which is greater than the maximum permissible transmission power are allocated to the second state 702 "Excess Power State", with the state change from the first state 701 to the second state 702 in FIG. 7 be annotated in FIG. 7 with the reference symbol 705 "Elimination Criterion is met".            All of the transport format combinations which satisfy the so-called "Blocking Criterion", that is to say which are in the second state 702 for a defined time period, are allocated to the third state 703 "Blocked State", with the state change from the second state 702 to the third state 703 being annotated with the reference symbol 706 "Blocking Criterion is met".                        The only transport format combinations which are taken into account in the transport format combination selection method are those in the first state 701 "Supported State", in other words the MAC-d unit selects those transport format combinations from the transport format combinations which are in the first state 701 "Supported State", as a function of the instantaneous transmission rate and of the data priority of the logical channels, and these are mapped onto the individual DCH transport channels. In this case, the logical channels are assigned different priorities from 1 to 8, with a priority of 1 representing the highest priority, and a priority of 8 representing the lowest priority. Those data packets from the logical channels which have a higher priority are given preference in the transport format combination selection method, on the basis of these priorities.        For transport format combinations which are in the second state 702 "Excess Power State" or in the third state 703 "Blocked State", the status of these transport format combinations is checked continuously. Those transport format combinations which satisfy the so-called "Recovery Criterion", are then changed once again for the first state 701 "Supported State", that is to say they can be considered once again in the transport format combination selection method. The state changes are annotated in FIG. 7 with the reference symbol 704 "Recovery Criterion is met".        Those transport format combinations which are in the second state 702 "Excess Power State" are normally ignored in the transport format combination selection method. One exception to this is the transport format combinations in the so-called "Transport Format Combination Minimum Set" (TFC Minimum Set). The transport format combinations in the TFC Minimum Set, that is to say the transport format combinations in the minimum set, are specified by the mobile radio network control unit RNC and are intended to ensure a minimum guaranteed data transmission rate for the mobile radio terminal. These transport format combinations are thus in any case always taken into account in the transport format combination selection method even if they require a transmission power which is greater than the maximum permissible transmission power in the mobile radio terminal.
As has been described above, the mobile radio network control unit RNC is responsible for carrying out the mobile radio resource management of all of the mobile radio cells and mobile radio terminals within a mobile radio network subsystem (Radio Network Subsystem, RNS). It is known for the mobile radio network control unit to be able to configure a mobile radio terminal to carry out appropriate measurements in order to allow this to be done.
On the basis of the UMTS mobile radio communication system, the individual measurements which can be carried out by the mobile radio terminal are subdivided into six different types:                intrafrequency measurements,        interfrequency measurements,        intersystem measurements,        quality measurements,        internal measurements, and        measurements for finding the position of the mobile radio terminal.
Details of the measurements are described in 3GPP TS 25.331, Technical Specification, Third Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; RRC Protocol Specification.
As is illustrated in the message flow diagram 800 in FIG. 8, the mobile radio network control unit 801 initiates a specific measurement by sending a so-called measurement control message 802 in the downlink direction to the mobile radio terminal 803, at the RRC protocol plane, via the so-called Signaling Radio Bearers (SRB). This monitoring message 802 informs the mobile radio terminal 803 of when, how and which measurements it should carry out. Once a measurement has been carried out, the mobile radio terminal 803 produces and sends an appropriate so-called measurement report message 804 with the results of the measurement in the uplink direction to the mobile radio network monitoring unit 801.
The mobile radio network monitoring unit 801 can use the information from the measurement report message 804 to implement appropriate configurations for the mobile radio terminal 803, for example to reconfigure the set of transport formats or the dedicated physical channels for the mobile radio terminal 803, or to carry out a handover to another mobile radio cell.
The procedure described on the basis of the prior art for selection of the respectively used transport formats and transport format combinations is highly computation intensive since all the checks and classifications as well as state transitions are carried out in the mobile radio terminal itself, and since the status checks in the mobile radio terminal must always be carried out for all of the transport formats stored in it and transport format combinations stored in it.
Furthermore, the respective status of all of the transport format combinations must be checked, and changed if appropriate, at the respectively predetermined times. This also means a considerable computation time requirement in the mobile radio terminal.
EP 1 341 318 A2 describes a method for controlling the transmission power in an HS-DPCCH (High Speed-Dedicated Physical Control Channel) in a mobile radio terminal. The mobile radio terminal is informed about any transmission power offset, and any transmission power increase in the uplink HS-DPCCH is determined. The transmission power offset is signaled to the NodeB.
WO 2001/47146 A1 describes a method for controlling a mobile radio link between a mobile radio network and a mobile radio terminal. The current transmission power of the mobile radio terminal is taken into account in the course of the allocation of mobile radio resources, and in other mobile radio network operations.
WO 2002/23936 A1 describes a method for optimization of downlink capacities, taking into account the transmission power between a plurality of mobile radio cells. An overload situation in an overloaded mobile radio cell is determined by means of the mobile radio network. An adjacent mobile radio cell in which no overload situation has occurred is identified. Furthermore, a user node which has set up a communication link to the mobile radio network is determined, the downlink data transmission from the overloaded mobile radio cell to the user node is prevented and a downlink data transmission is permitted using a communication link from the mobile radio cell which is not overloaded.
WO 99/43178 A1 describes a method in which different measurement report messages are checked by the mobile radio terminal on the basis of different trigger events in the mobile radio network.
WO 2004/059869 A1 describes a method for selection of transport format combinations. In this method, the physical layer sends a notification message to the MAC protocol layer, which is used to signal when the maximum transmission power for a transmission has been reached.
Document U.S. 2003/0193913 A1 discloses a method for selection of a transport format combination, with classes of transport format combinations being formed, and one class being selected on the basis of a transmission power level.
The document U.S. 2003/0092382 A1 discloses a method for determination of permissible transport format combinations, with a state for each transport format combination being determined on the basis of the transmission power required for that transport format combination, and a selection being made on the basis of the states.
2003/0153313 A1 describes a method for controlling an intersystem handover, in which a mobile radio subscriber is signaled a reduced set of transport format combinations.
The document 2004/0028078 A1 discloses a method for transmission of data packets by means of a radio interface, in which a control unit sends a configuration message and a transport format is selected on the basis of information contained in the configuration message.
WO 03/001681 A1 describes a method for modulation of a radio link, in which a number of channelization codes and a modulation and coding scheme are selected adaptively, and information relating to the selected modulation and coding scheme and the selected number of channelization codes is transmitted to a receiver by means of the radio link.


The present invention relates to a remote meter reading method and system of the type that may be poled by wireless communication. Other remote reading systems require a periodic change of batteries used to supply the power to the communication and other systems used in the remote meters. The present invention mitigates this need by using the water and gas flow into homes or other buildings to generate power used to recharge those batteries.

The present invention relates to a remote meter reading method and system of the type that may be polled by wireless communication. Contemporary remote reading systems require a periodic change of batteries used to supply the power to the communication and other systems used in the remote meters. The present invention mitigates this need by using the water and gas flow into homes or other buildings to generate power used to recharge those batteries.
Meter reading techniques have evolved substantially from days when the meter readers ventured into yards and alleys to visually record meter readings. In some cases, meters may have been inaccessible for many months. Whether accessible or not, such techniques were labor intensive and slow. Moreover, such techniques typically required procurement of various types of vehicles to support the meter reading process, each vehicle having requirements for gasoline, maintenance and insurance costs. The number of employees required to implement those services was substantial, with each employee again having requirements for salaries, insurance, health benefits, etc. Moreover, the availability of meter reading services was weather dependent.
More recently some utility meters have been provided with radio communication circuits that allow the utility to poll the usage information from a meter using a local communication system in a roaming utility vehicle.
However, where communication circuits and other electronic circuits, e.g. for data acquisitions, storage transfer, are introduced, they introduce associated power requirements which must be accounted for. Commonly, this is done by providing a battery in the meter, or associated equipment, which powers the communication and any other data processing circuitry, to enable their function, i.e., to communicate usage information from a meter addressed by the inquiry.
Consequently, while the use of wireless data collection and communication circuits associated with utility meters has served to avoid the need for service personnel to make periodic on-premises meter readings, it has introduced a requirement for periodic battery servicing, and replacement, albeit less often than prior meter reading requirements.
The present invention is directed a meter reading method and system that substantially further mitigates the need for servicing the utility meters by providing a battery recharging system that can be powered by a fluid flow being measured, e.g. water flow, or gas flow.
The present invention has application for monitoring individual meters, monitoring a plurality of meters associated with a common customer, and/or monitoring networks of many meters associated with different customers and/or accounts.
The present invention is particularly well suited for networks of multiple meters where the meters are disposed in relatively close relation, e.g. within two hundred feet or less.
The present invention also has substantially use in promoting consolidated billing services for multiple utilities, where the utilities are interconnected and polled in accordance with the present invention.

Method and system for reading utility meters


Various features are provided for assisting users in efficiently locating and viewing network content of interest, including but not limited to particular portions of web pages. The features are particularly useful for users of mobile computing devices having a limited display size, but may be used with any type of client device. Some features identify popular content items by collectively analyzing the interactive behaviors of a population of users, such as zooming interactions. The results of such analyzes can be used in various ways to improve users' browsing experiences. For example, popular content items can be highlighted on a web page, an option to zoom in automatically on popular content items can be provided, popular content items may be rendered at relatively high resolution, and caching of content items may be based partly on a measure of their popularity.

Generally described, computing devices and communication networks can be utilized to exchange information. In a common application, a computing device can request content from another computing device via the communication network. For example, a user at a personal computing device can utilize a software browser application, typically referred to as a browser software application, to request a web page from a server computing device via the Internet. The user computing device can be referred to as a client computing device and the server computing device can be referred to as a content provider.
From the perspective of a user utilizing a client computing device, the text of a displayed web page may not be large enough to read, or an image may not be large enough to see an adequate amount of detail. Such display issues may be especially apparent on mobile computing devices with limited display areas, such as netbooks, tablets, smartphones, e-readers, media players, and the like. Users can zoom the display on a portion of the web page to provide a more satisfactory view. For example, if the client computing device is configured with a touch screen, a user may perform a zoom touch gesture to zoom-in on a portion of interest. Because the task of zooming in and out tends to be burdensome, users are sometimes reluctant to use their mobile devices to browse web pages and other network content.