A process for the preparation of 4-hydroxyalkylamino-2-nitro-anisoles of the general formula (I)

German Patent Application No. 38 06 237 describes a process for the preparation of N4-substituted 1-methoxy-2,4-diaminobenzenes by the reaction of 4-amino-2-nitro-anisole with chloroalkyl-chloroformates in different aqueous solvent mixtures containing a buffer. Reactions are carried out in a temperature range from about 70° C. to the reflux temperature of the solvents or solvent mixtures used; reaction times between about 4 and about 12 hours are required. The open chain carbamates are isolated by addition of water. Further steps are carried out in strong basic aqueous media, which is completely unfavorable in terms of the presence of 4-amino-2-nitro-anisole.
German Patent Application No. 35 36 066 describes a multi-step process for the preparation of N,N′-disubstituted p-phenylenediamines by reacting a 4-halogen-3-nitro-aniline with a β-chloroethyl-chloroformate and forming an oxazolidone by addition of an alkali metal hydroxide in an organic solvent, then condensing the oxazolidone with a primary amine and at the end alkaline hydrolysis of the reaction product.
Problems concerning 4-amino-2-nitro-anisole residues have also been described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,467, which relates to a process for the preparation of hydroxyalkylamino-nitro-benzenes. Although U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,467 teaches that highly pure products can be provided by this process, the amount on residual 4-amino-2-nitro-anisole, which is 480 ppm, is still unsatisfactory. The 4-amino-2-nitro-anisole cannot entirely be removed by multiple recrystallization without considerable loss in yield. If the target nitro compounds would be reduced into the corresponding amines, it would therefore be impossible to separate the resulting 2,4-diaminoanisole by-product from the target compounds.
So it is essential to find a process for the synthesis of 4-hydroxyalkylamino-2-nitro-anisoles which gives extremely low amounts of residual 4-amino-2-nitro-anisole, because to be used as intermediate for the synthesis of hair dye precursors 4-hydroxyalkylamino-2-nitro-anisoles must contain significantly lower amounts of 4-amino-2-nitro-anisole than feasible by the methods known in the state of the art.

Process for the preparation of 4-hydroxalkylamino-2-nitro-anisoles

Abstract: wherein m is 2 or 3;by reaction of a 4-halogeno-3-nitro-aniline of formula (II) with a chloroalkyl-chloroformate of formula (III), alkaline ring closure of the resulting carbamate and nucleophilic replacement of the halogeno atom by a methoxy group to form a derivative of formula (IV), and finally ring opening of the resulting cyclic carbamate by treatment with methanolic alkali metal hydroxide, followed by neutralization with inorganic or organic acids, wherein the complete reaction is executed in a non-aqueous medium; as well as process for the preparation of 2-amino-4-hydroxyalkylamino-anisoles of formula (V)


A method and apparatus are disclosed for providing motion estimation (ME) for large-size blocks of image data during image processing using small-size block processing logic. An embodiment method includes obtaining a large-size block for ME processing and dividing the large-size block into a plurality of small-size blocks. The large-size block comprises an integer multiple of the small-size blocks. The small-size blocks are then processed in parallel using a small-size block ME processing algorithm. An embodiment apparatus includes a processor configured to implement the method for large-size block ME processing using small-size block ME processing logic, and a shared memory register for storing at different times the 16×16 blocks.

Video coding deals with representation of video data, for storage and/or transmission, for example for digital video. Video coding can be implemented with captured video as well as computer generated video and graphics. Goals of video coding are to accurately and compactly represent the video data, provide navigation of the video (i.e., search forwards and backwards, random access, etc.) and other additional author and content benefits, such as text (subtitles), meta information for searching/browsing and digital rights management. Video data is typically processed in blocks of data bytes or bits, where multiple blocks form an image frame. Video coding can be performed by a processor on the transmitting end (also referred to as an encoder) to compress original video into a format suitable for transmission. Video coding can also be performed by a trans-coder that converts digital-to-digital data from one encoding format to another. The encoder and trans-coder may include software components implemented via a processor or firmware. Video coding functions include motion estimation, which is a process of determining motion vectors that describe the transformation from one two-dimensional (2D) image to another.
High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is a recent video coding standard that is being developed by the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) of ITU-T and ISO/IEC. The HEVC standard is incorporated herein by reference. In HEVC, the size of processed blocks (for an image frame) is relatively large, such as 64×64 blocks of data units. The processing of large-size blocks for ME is a computational-intensive operation, which can substantially reduce computation performance and/or increase hardware or chip cost and complexity.

System and method for motion estimation for large-size block


First, an R—Fe—B based rare-earth sintered magnet body including, as a main phase, crystal grains of an R2Fe14B type compound that includes a light rare-earth element RL, which is at least one of Nd and Pr, as a major rare-earth element R is provided. Next, an M layer, including a metallic element M that is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Al, Ga, In, Sn, Pb, Bi, Zn and Ag, is deposited on the surface of the sintered magnet body and then an RH layer, including a heavy rare-earth element RH that is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Dy, Ho and Tb, is deposited on the M layer. Thereafter, the sintered magnet body is heated, thereby diffusing the metallic element M and the heavy rare-earth element RH from the surface of the magnet body deeper inside the magnet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an R—Fe—B based rare-earth sintered magnet including crystal grains of an R2Fe14B type compound (where R is a rare-earth element) as a main phase and a method for producing such a magnet. More particularly, the present invention relates to an R—Fe—B based rare-earth sintered magnet, which includes a light rare-earth element RL (which is at least one of Nd and Pr) as a major rare-earth element R and in which a portion of the light rare-earth element RL is replaced with a heavy rare-earth element RH (which is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Dy, Ho and Tb).
2. Description of the Related Art
An R—Fe—B based rare-earth sintered magnet, including an Nd2Fe14B type compound phase as a main phase, is known as a permanent magnet with the highest performance, and has been used in various types of motors such as a voice coil motor (VCM) for a hard disk drive and a motor for a hybrid car and in numerous types of consumer electronic appliances. When used in motors and various other devices, the R—Fe—B based rare-earth sintered magnet should exhibit thermal resistance and coercivity that are high enough to withstand an operating environment at an elevated temperature.
As a means for increasing the coercivity of an R—Fe—B based rare-earth sintered magnet, a molten alloy, including a heavy rare-earth element RH as an additional element, may be used. According to this method, the light rare-earth element RL, which is included as a rare-earth element R in an R2Fe14B phase, is replaced with a heavy rare-earth element RH, and therefore, the magnetocrystalline anisotropy (which is a physical quantity that determines the coercivity) of the R2Fe14B phase improves. However, although the magnetic moment of the light rare-earth element RL in the R2Fe14B phase has the same direction as that of Fe, the magnetic moments of the heavy rare-earth element RH and Fe have mutually opposite directions. That is why the greater the percentage of the light rare-earth element RL replaced with the heavy rare-earth element RH, the lower the remanence Br would be.
Meanwhile, as the heavy rare-earth element RH is one of rare natural resources, its use is preferably cut down as much as possible. For these reasons, the method in which the light rare-earth element RL is entirely replaced with the heavy rare-earth element RH is not preferred.
To get the coercivity increased effectively with the addition of a relatively small amount of the heavy rare-earth element RH, it was proposed that an alloy or compound powder, including a lot of the heavy rare-earth element RH, be added to a main phase material alloy powder including a lot of the light rare-earth element RL and then the mixture be compacted and sintered. According to this method, the heavy rare-earth element RH is distributed a lot in the vicinity of the grain boundary of the R2Fe14B phase, and therefore, the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of the R2Fe14B phase can be improved efficiency on the outer periphery of the main phase. The R—Fe—B based rare-earth sintered magnet has a nucleation-type coercivity generating mechanism. That is why if a lot of the heavy rare-earth element RH is distributed on the outer periphery of the main phase (i.e., near the grain boundary thereof), the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of all crystal grains is improved, the nucleation of reverse magnetic domains can be minimized, and the coercivity increases as a result. At the core of the crystal grains that does not contribute to increasing the coercivity, no light rare-earth element RL is replaced with the heavy rare-earth element RH. Consequently, the decrease in remanence Br can be minimized there, too.
If this method is actually adopted, however, the heavy rare-earth element RH has an increased diffusion rate during the sintering process (which is carried out at a temperature of 1,000° C. to 1,200° C. on an industrial scale) and may diffuse to reach the core of the crystal grains, too. For that reason, it is not easy to obtain the expected crystal structure.
As another method for increasing the coercivity of an R—Fe—B based rare-earth sintered magnet, a metal, an alloy or a compound including a heavy rare-earth element RH is deposited on the surface of the sintered magnet and then thermally treated and diffused. Then, the coercivity could be recovered or increased without decreasing the remanence so much (see Patent Documents Nos. 1, 2 and 3).
Patent Document No. 1 teaches forming a thin-film alloy layer, including 1.0 at % to 50.0 at % of at least one element that is selected from the group consisting of Ti, W, Pt, Au, Cr, Ni, Cu, Co, Al, Ta and Ag and R′ as the balance (which is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ce, La, Nd, Pr, Dy, Ho and Tb), on the surface of a sintered magnet body to be ground.
Patent Document No. 2 discloses that a metallic element R (which is at least one rare-earth element selected from the group consisting of Y, Nd, Dy, Pr, Ho and Tb) is diffused to a depth that is at least equal to the radius of crystal grains exposed on the uppermost surface of a small-sized magnet, thereby repairing the damage done on the machined surface and increasing (BH) max.
Patent Document No. 3 discloses that the magnetic properties could be recovered by depositing a CVD film consisting mostly of a rare-earth element on the surface of a magnet with a thickness of 2 mm or less.    Patent Document No. 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 62-192566    Patent Document No. 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-304038    Patent Document No. 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-285859
All of the techniques disclosed in Patent Documents Nos. 1, 2 and 3 were developed to repair the damage done on the machined surface of a sintered magnet. That is why the metallic element, diffused inward from the surface, can reach no farther than a surface region of the sintered magnet. For that reason, if the magnet had a thickness of 3 mm or more, the coercivity could hardly be increased effectively.
Magnets for EPS and HEV motors, which are expected to expand their markets in the near future, need to be rare-earth sintered magnets with a thickness of at least 3 mm and preferably 5 mm or more. To increase the coercivity of a sintered magnet with such a thickness, a technique for diffusing the heavy rare-earth element RH efficiently throughout the inside of the R—Fe—B based rare-earth sintered magnet with a thickness of 3 mm or more needs to be developed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

R-Fe-B rare-earth sintered magnet and process for producing the same


A method of performing transistor simulation with improved sensitivity to parasitic by model order reduction in transistor-level timing is disclosed. The method includes reducing a number of derivative calculations during transistor simulation by representing parasitics as a reduced-order model, wherein the reducing includes: compressing the parasitics to a reduced-order model; simulating with load which is replaced with the reduced-order model; differentiating results of the simulation with respect to reduced-order model parameters; differentiating parameters of the reduced-order model with respect to parasitic values; differentiating the parasitic values with respect to statistical parameters; and computing the differential results of the simulation with respect to the statistical parameters via chain ruling.

Excessive run times are required to determine the derivatives of delay, slew and crossing time with respect to transistor circuits. These derivatives are used during statistical timing analysis. Current methods include asserting sensitivities based on sample circuits, direct and adjoint methods for sensitivity calculations, finite difference methods, and exhaustive simulations. All of these methods have tradeoffs between accuracy and runtimes.

Model order reduction in transistor level timing

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


An information processing apparatus capable of performing wireless communication, includes a processor configured to execute one or more processes including receiving a beacon transmitted from a device, extracting, from the received beacon, called condition information indicating a condition by which a first program is called, and calling the first program in response to determining that a process, which the information processing apparatus is caused to execute by a second program, satisfies the condition indicated by the extracted called condition information.

In recent years, terminals capable of wireless communication (for example, smart terminals, etc.) are rapidly becoming widespread. With the popularization of such terminals, access points of wireless communication (hereinafter referred to as "wireless AP") are installed at various places. Examples of the wireless AP are a carrier base station (3G/4G), a spot wireless AP (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), etc. Furthermore, in some devices such as a printer, a projector, a storage, an electronic bulletin board, a bathroom scale, etc., a wireless AP is installed. Furthermore, there are devices that are compatible with local radio (Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy: BLE). Beacons transmitted by such various wireless APs and devices inundate towns, etc., throughout.
In the beacons, identification information is included as defined by BSID for base stations; SSID (Service Set Identifier), BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier), or ESSID (Extended Service Set Identifier) for Wi-Fi (registered trademark); and UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) for BLE. These pieces of identification information are used for individual identification of devices that transmit beacons, identification of provided services, etc.
For example, a system has been devised in which content corresponding to identification information included in a beacon, is distributed to a terminal that has received the beacon (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 8,260,320
Patent Document 2: Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2015-527757
Patent Document 3: Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2015-508582

Information processing apparatus, information processing system, and information processing method


Disclosed are various embodiments for anonymously validating the identities of multiple parties participating a transaction. In one embodiment, a system is configured to determine a location of the system is within a proximity threshold of a location and transmit an arrival indication to a remote computing device. The system is also configured to receive an encryption key from the remote computing device and detect a client device located at the location. The encryption key can be transmitted to the client device for validation that the location of the computing device is the location.

In a product fulfillment context, delivery confirmation involves ensuring that ordered products are delivered to the appropriate recipients at their specified delivery location. Delivery agents can use global positioning system (GPS) devices to provide a route to a delivery address provided by the intended recipient. Even with GPS systems, delivery agents can have difficulty identifying the appropriate physical location of the delivery address.


A sports bag for housing and transporting the equipment of a baseball/softball team. The sports bag comprises a flexible container with side walls and a top cover, a plurality of inserts for housing bats, one or more inserts for housing balls, a plurality of compartments for storing gloves, helmets, catcher's equipment, scorebooks, and the like, a strap for carrying purposes, one or more openings for the easy dispensing of balls, and hooks for attaching the sports bag to a fence to allow the sports bag to serve as a bat rack.

A baseball/softball team will generally carry to games substantial equipment such as bats, balls, gloves, helmets, catcher's equipment and the like. Numerous bats are required due to differing preferences of the players. Numerous balls are needed for warm-up purposes. Each player needs a glove or mitt to catch the balls. The catcher requires special equipment such as a mask, shin guards, chest protector and the like for safety purposes. The team also requires other items such as scorebooks, first aid items, etc. Typically, this equipment is loosely carried and stored in one or more duffle bags having a single compartment which allows the equipment to be commingled, become disorganized, and difficult to readily locate. During the game, the bats are allowed to lean against the fence, lay on the ground, or remain in the duffel bag(s). The bats and balls are often difficult to locate and sometimes misplaced in this way.
Numerous United States patents have been granted for carrying and storing baseball/softball equipment. The United States patents includes: Pat. No. Des. 370,560 to Doerbaum; Pat. No. 2,889,863 to Arnold, Jr.; Pat. No. 4,693,402 to Comeau; Pat. No. 4,793,532 to Cash; Pat. No. 4,890,731 to Mroz; Pat. No. 4,968,048 to Lortie; Pat. No. 5,224,602 to Bettles et al; Pat. No. 5,273,298 to Brown, Sr.; Pat. No. 5,356,002 to Brown; and Pat. No. 5,588,529 to Speck.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 370,560 to Doerbaum discloses an ornamental design for a baseball equipment bag having several compartments. U.S. Pat. No. 2,889,863 to Arnold, Jr. discloses an elongated flexible canvas sheet having a plurality of pockets for holding baseball bats in neatly arranged positions and which facilitates the carrying of the bats. U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,402 to Comeau discloses a backpack for carrying sports equipment such as baseball bats, balls and gloves for a single player. U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,532 to Cash discloses a carrier for baseball bats and balls and which has hooks for attaching the carrier to a fence. U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,731 to Mroz discloses a personal sports carrier for baseball/softball bats and baseballs/softballs. U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,048 to Lortie discloses a cart for carrying baseball bats and which incorporates a cylinder which defines a space for holding other sports equipment such as gloves, baseballs, helmets and the like. U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,602 to Bettles et al. discloses a rigid case for carrying baseball bats and balls and which also serves as a bat rack and ball dispenser when opened at the playing field. U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,298 to Brown, Sr. discloses a compartmentalized cart for baseball/softball equipment for its easy transport and use. U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,002 to Brown discloses a personal baseball/softball utility bag having separate accessible compartments for storing a glove, clipboard, bats, and baseball shoes and which enables the player to prevent debris from his baseball shoes contacting the rest of the equipment stored in the bag. U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,529 to Speck discloses a baseball/softball equipment bag having an elongated bag portion for housing bats, interior shelves for storing items such as gloves, balls, caps and playing shoes, and an adjustable strap for carrying the bag.
While the prior art patents disclose some of the features of the present invention, none of them incorporate all of the features of the sports bag of the present invention which allows a baseball/softball team to house its equipment in an orderly fashion and carry it to games. The sports bag of the present invention is particularly useful for teams of young players who play in Little Leagues or the like.


A watercraft hull and gunwale mooring guard for attachment to a mooring structure to prevent abrasion damage to the contact surfaces of a moored watercraft. The mooring guard includes a stationary vertical guide rod that is attached at one end to a mooring structure at an spaced horizontal distance therefrom and extends vertically upward above the mooring structure. A traveler member is slidable attached to the guide rod which when movement of the water causes the watercraft to move up and down, the traveler in contact with the watercraft will correspondingly move up and down and thus prevent hull and gunwale abrasion, scuffing and damage to the watercraft.

Watercraft typically have a gunwale molding around the upper edge of the hull to provide a contact surface against which a mooring structure can rub without damaging the watercraft. However, other surfaces of the watercraft, such as the hull also typically rub against the mooring structure which results in damage to the gel-coat and costly graphic designs placed on the hull. In an attempt to minimize damage to the hull boaters typically use portable bumpers which are either suspended from the mooring structure or the watercraft in an effort to keep the bumper between the watercraft and the mooring structure. While the bumpers are effective in protecting the hull and mooring structure from impact between the watercraft and mooring structure, the bumpers rub against the hull and gunwale and wear down the gel-coat and expensive graphics placed on the hull as a result of the watercraft rising and lowering due to wave action and tidal changes. As such there exists and need for a gunwale and hull guard for attachment to a mooring structure, which substantially departs from the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of protecting a watercraft hull and gunwale from rubbing damage as a result of the watercraft rising and lowering due to wave action and tidal changes.

Watercraft hull and gunwale mooring guard


Methods, apparatus, and processor-readable storage media for device component management using deep learning techniques are provided herein. An example computer-implemented method includes obtaining telemetry data from one or more enterprise devices; determining, for each of the one or more enterprise devices, values for multiple device attributes by processing the obtained telemetry data; generating, for each of the one or more enterprise devices, at least one prediction related to lifecycle information of at least one device component by processing the determined attribute values using one or more deep learning techniques; and performing one or more automated actions based at least in part on the at least one generated prediction.

Device components fail, and can often do so without preceding indications. Some existing device management approaches generate failure alerts, though such approaches typically utilize alerts that are reactive in nature. Additionally, such existing approaches generally do not take into account cross-correlations between various device components and device attributes.
Further, in connection with such challenges associated with failure prediction, implementing and/or updating device component replacement policies face related challenges as well. For example, application of inaccurate and/or outdated replacement policies can result in decreases in productivity and efficiency, as well as increases in cost and labor resources.

Device component management using deep learning techniques


To solve the problem, when the inside of an exposure apparatus is placed under vacuum, of a gas being emitted from a resin tube provided in the exposure apparatus, and a component of the gas adhering to and being deposited on the surface of an optical element, so that the optical performances of the optical element and the exposure apparatus are deteriorated, the exposure apparatus is provided with means for controlling the surface temperature of the resin tube in the exposure apparatus up to a predetermined temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus with which, in general, a fine circuit pattern is transferred and, more particularly, to an exposure apparatus having piping made of a high polymer material (i.e., piping made of resin) and arranged inside the exposure apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, as a printing method (e.g., photolithography) for forming fine semiconductor elements such as semiconductor memories, logic circuits or the like, reduction projection exposure has been employed. The minimum size of an object which can be transferred by the reduction projection exposure is proportional to the wavelength of light used for the transfer, and is inversely proportional to the numerical aperture of the projection optical system. Therefore, light beams having shorter wavelengths have been applied to transfer finer circuit patterns. In particular, ultra-violet (UV) rays having shorter wavelengths have been employed. That is, mercury lamp i rays (365 nm in wavelength), KrF excimer laser beams (248 nm), and ArF excimer laser beams (193 nm) have been used. At present, an exposure apparatus using UV rays having a still shorter wavelength, i.e., F2 laser beams (157 mm) is under development. In the wavelength range of the F2 laser, the absorption of the beams into oxygen is not negligible. Thus, an exposure apparatus using the F2 laser has a structure in which an inert gas such as nitrogen, helium, or the like can be filled in the spaces through which the light beams travel.
For efficient printing of very fine circuit patterns with a size of less than 0.1 μm, a reduction projection exposure apparatus using extreme UV (EUV) rays having a still shorter wavelength than UV rays, i.e., having a wavelength of about 10 to 15 nm, has been developed. Moreover, an exposure apparatus using an electron beam (EB) has been developed. Referring to exposure apparatuses using electron beams, different types of exposure apparatuses, e.g., a direct-writing system, a multiple-electron-source system, a stencil mask system, and the like, have been developed. For the above-described exposure apparatuses using EUV rays and EB, it is necessary to set the light-path space in a high vacuum state or in a reduced pressure environment.
However, when light beams having short wavelength are used for exposure, the light energy is increased, so that the light beams decompose slight amounts of carbon compounds which have been gasified and are present in the light paths. In some cases, due to the light energy, substances produced by the decomposition are deposited on and adhere to optical elements such as lenses, mirrors, stops and the like which constitute the exposure apparatus. Thus, in the case in which the optical elements are lenses, the transmittance is reduced. In the case in which the optical elements are mirrors, the reflectivity becomes low. In the case in which the optical elements are stops, the sizes and shapes are changed. Hence, the performances of the optical elements are deteriorated when substances produced by the decomposition adhere to the optical elements. When the respective optical elements are deteriorated, the radiation intensity (i.e., optical strength) or imaging-performance of the exposure apparatus is changed. Thus, the optical performance required of the exposure apparatus is deteriorated. In order to overcome the problem of deteriorated optical performance, a significant amount of labor and time is required to disassemble and clean the optical system. Therefore, countermeasures against the above described problems have been investigated. For example, it has been considered to fill the optical path space (i.e., exposure space) with a high-purity inert gas that does not decompose with light, or to keep the optical path space in a high vacuum state.
Present-day exposure apparatuses are provided with parts made of resins containing carbon compounds which may be deposited on and adhere to optical elements, deteriorating the performance of the exposure apparatuses. It is not practical to form exposure apparatuses which exclude resin parts. For example, when a wafer and a reticle are scanned and exposed, stages for moving the wafer and reticle are driven in the X-, Y-, and Z-axial directions and, moreover, the stages are driven rotationally. If the temperature of the wafer or reticle placed on the stage cannot be kept constant and uniform, deterioration of the transfer accuracy will occur. When the stage is driven, heat is generated in the driving members. Thus, waste-heat from the driving members must be taken into account. Ordinarily, in such cases, constant temperature water is circulated to eliminate the heat. To circulate constant temperature water through a stage which is repeatedly moved, a flexible resin-tube must be used.
It has been proposed to use a flexible metallic tube. However, with repeated movement, the metal may become fatigued. Thus, it would become necessary to frequently replace the metallic tubes. On the other hand, resin tubes are sufficiently durable for the repeated movement, and thus, are superior in safety and economy. However, the resin tubes are made of high polymer compounds, so that components of the high polymer compounds may be decomposed and gasified, although the amounts are slight, resulting in the above described problems.
At present, the development of a material for the tubes, such as fluorine-containing resins, from which a smaller amount of organic substance is released compared to known polyurethane tubes or the like has been investigated. However, in contrast to the emission of gas from an inorganic material, the emission of gas from an organic component is not negligible.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-297967 (corresponding U.S. Patent Publication Number 2002000029) discloses an exposure apparatus with which the amount of a gas component emitted from a resin tube can be reduced, even if the resin tube is arranged in a vacuum environment, as described with respect to the above-described exposure apparatuses using EUV rays and electron beams. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-297967 discloses an exposure apparatus provided with a double piping composed of an inside piping made of resin and an outside piping also made of resin, that covers the outside periphery of the inside piping. A gas-exhausting mechanism for exhausting gas present in the space defined by the inside and outside pipings is also provided.
However, the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-297967 does not address the cases where it is necessary to further enhance the purity of an inert gas filled in the exposure space and the optical path space, to further enhance the vacuum (i.e., to decrease the atmospheric pressure), and to further reduce the concentration of gas which becomes a material deposited on and adhering to the optical elements (i.e., causing the contamination).

Exposure apparatus and method of producing device


An internal combustion engine with a dual turbocharger system includes an air bypass conduit connecting a downstream portion of a first turbocharger compressor with an upstream portion of a second turbocharger compressor so that the length of the air bypass conduit is relatively long. When a throttle is rapidly closed, an air bypass valve installed in the air bypass conduit is opened and the compressed air downstream of the throttle valve is returned to the upstream of the turbocharger compressor to suppress occurrence of a surging at the turbocharger compressor. Since the air bypass conduit is relatively long, the compressed and circulated air is effectively cooled when flowing through the air bypass conduit and melting of an impeller of the turbocharger compressor is prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an internal combustion engine with a dual turbocharger system which can effectively suppress a surging which may occur when a throttle valve is rapidly closed without causing melting of a compressor impeller.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a turbocharged engine, when a throttle valve is rapidly closed, the pressure upstream of the throttle valve rises due to the inertia of the intake air and the rotational inertia of the compressor. The pressurized air sometimes generates pressure reflection at the throttle valve and flows upstream toward the compressor to generate a surging and a sound at the compressor.
Japanese Utility Model Publication SHO 63-983 proposes to provide an air bypass conduit bypassing the turbocharger compressor and an air bypass valve installed in the air bypass conduit. The air bypass conduit and the air bypass valve return the pressurized air between the throttle valve and the turbocharger compressor back upstream of the compressor by momentarily opening the air bypass valve during a rapid deceleration to suppress the occurrence of a surging. The air bypass valve includes a diaphragm, a first chamber on one side of the diaphragm connected directly downstream of the throttle valve, and a second chamber on another side of the diaphragm connected downstream of the the throttle valve via a pressure transmittance delay valve. Accordingly, the air bypass valve operates due to the pressure difference generated between the first and second diaphragm chambers.
However, circulation of the intake air through the air bypass conduit and repeated compression of the intake air by the compressor will increase the temperature of the circulated air, which in turn may melt the compressor impeller. In addition, because of the time delay necessary for the intake pressure downstream of the throttle valve to be transmitted to the diaphragm chambers, the air bypass valve responds slowly, further causing the temperature of the compressed air to rise. Furthermore, provision of the air bypass valve alone might be insufficient in some cases for suppressing a surging during a rapid deceleration.

Internal combustion engine with a dual turbocharger system


Systems and methods for constructing a markup language template and corresponding input data structure specification are provided. A plurality of different markup language representations of a user interface can be obtained multiple times for different input data for a web application. The different markup language representations can be aligned and compared to identify both common elements and variable elements. A markup language template can be constructed that includes the common elements. The variable elements can represent the input data associated with markup language representations. From a detected variable element, three things can be generated: (1) a data field associated with the variable element in an input data structure corresponding to the markup language template; (2) a template processing instruction that maps the data field of the input data structure to the newly constructed markup language template; and (3) an instance of the input data structure.

In typical web applications, data are presented to a user by formatting the data as HTML documents using template processing. In template processing, a document, such as a web page, can be generated using structured input data and a template. The structured input data contain the data to be presented in the document and the template specifies the layout of the document and how to bind the input data to the document.
There are a great variety of different template processing systems in use. These different template processing systems can include different types of layout instructions that specify the layout of a document and/or template-processing instructions that specify how to bind input data to the template. Template-processing instructions can be very diverse ranging from simple variable substitution or can be relatively complex and can be as powerful as general purpose programming instructions.
In some cases, it can be desirable to migrate a web application from one type of template processing system to another type of template processing system. For instance, an improved template processing system for a web application can be developed and it can be desirable to migrate a web application from the old template processing system to the new template processing system. In general, this migration from one template processing system to another involves the manual rewrite of the templates from the old template syntax to the new template syntax. It can be difficult to automate rewriting of templates from one template syntax to another because many template processing systems have no notion of syntactic correctness of the output of the template.

System and method for constructing markup language templates and input data structure specifications


An optimized microwave barrier assembly suitable for use with a vacuum microwave heater. The barrier assembly is configured to allow microwaves to pass therethrough in a TMab mode, wherein a is 0 and b is an integer in the range of 1 to 5. The barrier assembly is also configured to maintain a pressure differential across a window of the barrier assembly. Such a configuration can reduce or eliminate arcing in the barrier assembly, even at low pressures.

Electromagnetic radiation, such as microwave radiation, is a known mechanism for delivering energy to an object. The ability of electromagnetic radiation to penetrate and heat an object both rapidly and effectively has proven advantageous in many chemical and industrial processes. Further, because the use of microwave energy as a heat source is generally non-invasive, microwave heating is particularly useful in processing 'sensitive' dielectric materials, such as food and pharmaceuticals, and can even be useful for heating materials having a relatively poor thermal conductivity. However, the complexities and nuances of safely and effectively applying microwave energy, especially on a commercial scale, have severely limited its application in several types of industrial processes.
Thus, a need exists for an efficient and cost effective industrial-scale microwave heating system suitable for use in a wide variety of processes and applications.

Microwave barrier system for use in heating articles under vacuum


A pellet fueled apparatus having a continuous spark ignition system and swing-away warming rack is disclosed. The apparatus may include a power supply controller configured to cause a spark generator to create a continuous spark in a gap space between two electrodes for a duration greater than 2 seconds and up to 20 minutes uninterrupted. The apparatus, when embodied as a grill may include a warming rack that swings away from an underlying cooking surface when the grill lid is opened.

Outdoor cooking, and particularly the use of outdoor barbecue grills, smokers, and griddles, remains very popular. A number of different appliances are currently available to cook food outdoors. Such appliances require some form of power and/or fuel to generate the heat required for cooking, or in some instances to power systems used to ignite and control the combustion of a given fuel. Over the years, the most popular power/fuel source has varied. Historically, popular heat/fuel sources have included electrical heating elements, wood logs and chips, charcoal briquettes, propane gas, natural gas, and more recently biomass pellets. References herein to a "pellet grill" are intended to include all barbecue grills, smokers, ovens, heaters, and griddles that use some form of pelletized (i.e., solid) fuel, whether or not such fuel is technically considered biomass fuel.
Biomass pellets have several advantages over other fuel sources for outdoor cooking. For one, biomass pellets are relatively easy and safe to transport and store. As compared with charcoal or wood, biomass pellets are also capable of providing a controlled burn rate and level of heat. Still further, biomass pellets may be manufactured to provide a particular "flavor" to the food as a result of combusting a pellet including a particular wood type. For example, a consumer may select hickory, maple, or cherry pellets, or a combination of pellet flavors, to impart a desired flavor to the cooked food.
Existing pellet grills, however, do have some disadvantages as currently designed. For example, existing pellet grills typically require a continuous supply of alternating current (AC) power limiting the use of the grill to locations with such power supplies. Thus, there is a need for a pellet grill that is untethered to a continuous supply of AC electrical power, such as a battery powered pellet grill.
In order to provide a truly portable and convenient pellet grill untethered to an AC power source, it may be advantageous to incorporate a direct current (DC) power source into the body of the grill. Accordingly, there is a need also for a pellet grill with an onboard battery system to supply electrical power.
It is also appreciated that a cooking session, or sessions, may exceed the capabilities of a single battery charge for a portable pellet grill. Accordingly, there is a need also for a pellet grill with an onboard battery system that permits easy exchange of a spent battery pack with a fully charged battery pack.
Traditional pellet grills employ a resistive heating element to ignite the biomass pellets. Such resistive heating elements require a nearly constant, or constant, supply of electrical power and may have power needs that exceed the capabilities of an economically priced battery system. Accordingly, there is a need also for a pellet grill that reduces the power required to ignite biomass pellets for a full cooking session, and to power a pellet grill in general.
Traditional pellet grills have been too heavy to truly be considered portable. Accordingly, there is a need also for a light weight pellet grill that can easily be transported between different grilling locations.
Traditional pellet grills also have been too large to truly be considered portable. Thus, there is a need also for a compact pellet grill that can readily be used on a table top surface.
A pellet grill sized to make it truly portable, necessarily may have a reduced cooking area. In order to supplement such a reduce cooking area, there is a need also for a compact pellet grill that includes a swing-away warming rack suited for use in a compact grill housing.


An apparatus for correcting wave distortion. An input signal is supplied to a delay circuit, the input signal being so modulated that an accumulated value of a time interval from its leading edge to its trailing edge equals another accumulated value of another time interval from a trailing edge to a leading edge. The delay circuit generates plural successively delayed outputs, each of which has a certain time delay shorter than the time interval. A selector selects a plurality of delayed signals among the plural delayed outputs. A synthesizer synthesizes a plurality of delayed signals so that a synthesized signal can be obtained by correcting at least one of the time interval and the another time interval through the certain time delay. A detector detects a difference between a time interval from a leading edge to a trailing edge and another time interval from a trailing edge to a leading edge of the synthesized signal out of the synthesizer. A generator generates a control signal which controls, based on a detected output by the detector, the selecting operation and the synthesizing operation so as to accumulate a value of a time interval from a leading edge to a trailing edge of the synthesized signal equal to another accumulated value of another time interval from a trailing edge to a leading edge of the synthesized signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for correcting waveform distortion. In particular, the invention relates to an apparatus for correcting time distortion in a received signal which is modulated (for example by Bi-Phase-Mark modulation) and thereafter transmitted.
2. Background of the Invention
The Electronic Industries Association of Japan, EIAJ CP-340, has published an interface for Serial Data Transmission and Self Synchronizing Transmission for mutual communication among digital audio equipment. In the format for this digital audio interface, the method of Bi-Phase-Mark is an adopted channel coding method for modulation.
The coding under this Bi-Phase-Modulation is shown in FIG. 5. Clock pulses for modulation (at two times the bit rate) are illustrated in FIG. 5A. Source data represented by Non Return Zero (NRZ) coding are illustrated in FIG. 5B. The source data modulated by the B-Phase-Mark coding is illustrated in FIG. 5C.
When we define one interval of the modulation clock as T (which equals one half of a bit clock period), the Bi-Phase-Mark coding is a modulation method in which `1` and `0,` of the source data are respectively represented by a signal with an interval (1T) of inversion time from "1" to "0" and another interval (2T) of inversion time from "1" to "0" as illustrated in FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 5C, a `1` in the source data is represented by a signal which turns from "1" to "0" with an inversion time (the time between state inversions) being equal to an interval (1T) and `0` in the source data is represented by another signal which turns from "1" to "0" with an inversion time of (2T).
This Bi-Phase-Mark method is a method of modulation in which an accumulated value of time interval represented by a signal "1" becomes equal to another accumulated value of time interval represented by another signal "0". Therefore, the Direct Current (DC) component in the transmitting line can be minimized. In addition, it is a method of modulation in which clock can be easily retrieved from the transmitted data signals.
The signal format of this standard for a digital audio interface is shown in FIG. 7. In this example, the digital audio data are divided into two stereo channels, and blocks of 192 frames from a frame #0 to #191. Each frame includes two subframes. In this two channel case, a channel #1 (for example as a left channel) is assigned as a subframe at the first half of one frame and a channel #2 (for example as a right channel) is assigned as a subframe at the second half of the frame. A subframe includes 32 bits (which corresponds to 64 modulation clocks). A four bit preamble of added data is inserted at a header of each subframe. This preamble can be utilized for synchronizing and identifying a subframe and a block. A special pattern is adopted as this preamble which does not appear in the previously mentioned data of Bi-Phase-Mark codings.
To distinguish a subframe at the first half of a frame from another at the second half, each preamble is different with respect to each other. Also, a special preamble of the first subframe at the beginning of a block is adopted to distinguish it from those for other subframes. Therefore, three different kind of synchronizing patterns, referred to as B, M and W, are provided. A typical example of these three patterns for the preamble B, M or W is illustrated in FIG. 6. As shown, two different patterns are prepared for each preamble B, M or W so that one of them can be selected depending on whether the previous symbol data as the Bi-Phase-Mark coding is "0" or "1". The polarity of signal is the only difference between these two patterns, therefore, they are basically the same signal.
As shown in FIG. 7, the preamble B is inserted at a header portion of the first subframe at the beginning of a block so that the block can be identified and synchronized. The preamble M is inserted at every header of subframes at the first half of each frame, except for the first subframe at the beginning of a block. The preamble W is inserted at every header of subframes at the second half of each frame. These preambles M and W can be utilized for identifying and synchronizing subframes. As understood by FIG. 6, considering a time interval needed for polarity conversion in these preambles B, M and W, the time interval for the first polarity of three of them is 3T, which doesn't appear as any of the Bi-Phase-Mark data.
In a conventional operation of receiving signals modulated by the above mentioned Bi-Phase-Mark, a modulated clock component and a word synchronizing component of data (3T component of preamble) is retrieved from the receiving modulated signal. Using these components as references with a Phase Lock Looped (PLL) circuit, modulation clocks and bit clocks can be generated for data. By these clock, extraction of modulated signals and demodulation of data can be performed.
FIG. 8 shows a block diagram as a example of the conventional data receiving circuit. A modulated signal under the Bi-Phase-Mark from a transmitter 1, is transmitted through a transmission line such as an optical cable 2 and then received by a receiver 3. The process of passing through the transmission line smoothes the waveform of the received data at the receiver 3 to approximate a sine wave. Therefore, the wave should be shaped to a square wave. One of the method of this wave shaping is performed by considering a DC level of the retrieved signal as a threshold value and comparing this threshold value of the received data.
The output signal from the receiver 3 is supplied to a clock component extractor 6 where the clock component can be extracted from the signal. The extracted clock component is then supplied to a Phase Lock Looped (PLL) circuit 10. The PLL circuit 10 includes a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) 11. An output from the VCO 11 is supplied to a counter circuit 12 working as a variable frequency divider. Plural signals with different frequencies can be obtained as output of the counter circuit 12. Among them, a signal having the frequency corresponding to the modulated clock is provided back to the phase comparator 13 to be compared with the clock component derived from the clock component extractor 6. An error output by the comparison output of the phase comparator 13, which represents a phase difference, is then supplied to the VCO 11 through a Low Pass Filter (LPF) 14. The oscillating output signal of this VCO 11 is therefore controlled so as to synchronize with the output signal of the cock component extractor 6. As the result, signals with different frequencies but synchronized with the clock component of the received signal can be obtained out of the counter 12. The signal out of the receiver 3 is also supplied to a signal extractor 4. The signal extractor 4 extracts signals "1" and "0" at timings synchronized with a clock received from the counter circuit 12 of the PLL circuit. An output signal from the signal extractor 4 is supplied to a decoder 5. The decoder 5 makes the Bi-Phase-Mark codings demodulated to the original NRZ data, based on a clock for decoding received also from the counter circuit 12.
As the DC level of the Bi-Phase Mark codings approaches zero, a threshold value for wave shaping at the receiver 3 is also set to zero. However, the output of receiver 3 sometimes includes time distortion. For example, once a DC offset occurs at a transmitting line or a receiving element, or the threshold value includes DC offset, the relative levels between the threshold value and the received signal vary. Therefore, the interval of signal to be "1" or "0" cannot be properly modulated. When this occurs, distortion may be generated.
As shown in FIG. 9A, when a threshold value is kept at th1, the time interval (time period needed for polarity inversion) of signals "1" or "0" can properly appear as show in FIG. 9B. However, if the threshold value deviates to th2, the interval of signals "1" and "0" may include time distortion as shown in FIG. 9C. If we still use the bit clock out of the PLL circuit 10 in FIG. 8 to extract signals "1" and "0" at the signal extractor 4 and the above mentioned time distortion, the timing between the clock and the signals of "1" and "0" would become different from each other. The erroneous extraction of signal can occur as mentioned above. To avoid this erroneous operation, it is better to remove the time distortion from the signal from the receiver 3 and then provide the signal extractor 4 with a received output signal. For that purpose, a method has been developed in which the square wave obtained through a wave shaping is converted to a triangle wave. The triangle wave is then supplied to a low pass filter so as to detect its DC level by which the threshold value of wave shaping may be controlled. However, in this method, since this is an analog control, adjustment is troublesome and signal to noise (S/N) ratio becomes worse resulting in a limited correction. Furthermore, as the whole signal out of the receiver may vary, the phase of the synchronizing pattern in the preamble may also deviate, further degrading the correction.

Apparatus for correcting waveform distortion


A recording/reproducing apparatus equipped with an optical pickup device movably disposed in opposed relation to a recording medium for applying a light beam to the recording medium to receive light reflected from the recording medium, and further equipped with a magnetic-field generating device also movably disposed in opposed relation to the recording medium for generating a magnetic field with respect to the recording medium. The optical pickup device and the magnetic-field generating device are coupled to each other through a power transmission device whereby the magnetic-field generating device is driven in connection with a movement of the optical pickup device. The magnetic-field generating device is supported by a rotatable supporting member, and the power transmission device comprises a projection attached to the supporting member and a lever having a configuration engageable with the projection. The projection is arranged to come into contact with a portion of the optical pickup device when the optical pickup device is moved in a first predetermined direction whereby the supporting member is rotatable in a second predetermined direction. The rotating movement of the supporting member is controlled in accordance with the engaging state of the projection with the lever.

The present invention relates to a photo-magnetic type recording/reproducing apparatus which is applicable to an external storage of a computer or the like, and more particularly to a power transmission mechanism for driving a magnetic field generating means in such a photo-magnetic type recording/reproducing apparatus.
Recently, of recording/reproducing systems for recording, reproducing and erasing information by using laser light, a so-called photo-magnetic disc apparatus is known which records and erases information with a magnetic field being applied to a recording medium (photo-magnetic disc), the photo-magnetic disc being detachable from the photo-magnetic disc apparatus and encased in a case to constitute a cartridge for protection of its recording surface. For applying the magnetic field to the photo-magnetic disc, a magnetic field generating means comprising an electro-magnet is provided at the vicinity of the recording surface. However, a drive source such as an electric motor is required to be exclusively provided for moving the magnetic field generating means, thus making difficult the size-reduction of the apparatus.

Transmission mechanism for magnetic-field generating device in photo-magnetic type recording/reproducing apparatus

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


There is provided an automobile door handle comprising: a handle grip including a rotating shaft portion formed at one end of the handle grip, and a handle sliding portion formed at another end of the handle grip and having an engaged portion; a handle case including a rotating shaft mounting portion in which the rotating shaft portion is rotatably mounted, and a slide hole in which the handle sliding portion is inserted; and a lever including a wire connecting portion to which a wire connected to a door lock releasing mechanism is connected, and an engaging portion engaged with the engaged portion, the lever being rotatably supported by the handle case, in which a reinforcing portion is provided within the slide hole and a recessed portion is provided in the handle sliding portion to prevent the handle sliding portion and the reinforcing portion from interfering with each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automobile door handle, and particularly to an automobile door handle having a handle grip and a handle case.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as an automobile door handle having a handle grip and a handle case, the structure disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (JP-U) No. 63-125669 has been known.
Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (JP-U) No. 63-23448 discloses a grip-type handle in which a handle and a door lock releasing mechanism are connected by a rod. Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (JP-U) No. 63-152868 discloses a grip-type handle having a lever which is rotatably supported by a base. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 7-331931 discloses a grip-type handle in which an engaging hole, with which a lever is engaged, is formed in a sliding portion of the handle.
The structure disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (JP-U) No. 63-125669 will be described hereinafter.
As shown in FIG. 5, in an automobile door handle 70, one end portion 74A of a handle grip 74 is connected to one end portion 72A of a handle case 72 fixed to a side door 71 and the handle grip 74 is provided to be swingable, with respect to the handle case 72, around a portion at which the end portion 74A is connected to the end portion 72A in upward and downward directions on the paper of FIG. 5 (i.e., the directions indicated by double-headed arrow S). A lever 80 is rotatably supported by a pin 78 on a protruding arm 76 provided at another end 72B of the handle case 72. The lever 80 is engaged with a concave portion 84 which is formed at a vicinity of a tip end portion of a circular arc-shaped projecting member 82 provided in another end portion 74B of the handle grip 74. The circular arc-shaped projecting member 82 is provided to pass through a through hole 86 formed in the handle case 72. Accordingly, when the handle grip 74 swings and moves from the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 5 to that indicated by the two-dot chain line, the lever 80 engaged with the concave portion 84 of the circular arc-shaped projecting member 82 rotates so that locking of the side door 71 is released.
However, in this automobile door handle 70, when the handle grip 74 swings and moves to the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 5, the lever 80 abuts against an outer peripheral edge of the through hole 86 of the handle case 72 to prevent the handle grip 74 to slip out of the through hole 86. For this reason, a great load is applied to the outer peripheral edge of the through hole 86. Accordingly, it is considered that the outer peripheral edge of the through hole 86 is reinforced by increasing the thickness M thereof. However, in this case, since the door handle 70 becomes larger, this method is not preferable.


The present invention provides an infusion vessel, which is capable of separately containing a drug and a infusion liquid in a sterile manner and mixing the drug with the infusion liquid in a sterile manner by a simple operation for use, while ensuring the sterility of a connector thereof. The infusion vessel according to the present invention comprises a bag (2) for containing a infusion liquid, a two-mouth vial (3) for containing a drug, and a joint (4) connecting the bag and the vial. A lower mouth portion (33) of the vial (3) is sealed with a rubber plug (7). The joint (4) is air-tightly connected to a liquid outlet port (21) provided in a bottom portion of the bag (2), and extends downward. The joint (4) has an opening (46) for communication between the inside and the outside thereof. An O-ring (6) and an intermediate rubber plug (5) are respectively attached to the joint (4) above and below the opening (46), and fitted in the upper mouth portion (32) of the vial (3) in an axially movable manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an infusion vessel which is capable of separately containing a drug and a infusion liquid in a sterile manner, and mixing the drug with the infusion liquid in a sterile manner by a simple operation for use.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional infusion vessels of on-demand dissolution type are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 5-103820 (1993), No. 2-1277 (1990) and No. 60-132561 (1985).
In an infusion vessel disclosed in Japanese Unexamined patent Publication No. 5-103820 (1993), a drug container and a diluent container (liquid container) are independently provided and, as required, are connected in communication with each other. The drug container has a diluent communication port and a drug solution outlet port provided on opposite sides thereof, and seal members are respectively attached to these ports. The diluent container has a connector attachable to the diluent communication port of the drug container. When the infusion vessel is used, caps of the drug container and the diluent container independently provided as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 in this patent publication are removed, and the drug container and the diluent container are connected to each other. The diluent container is sterilized by means of an autoclave and a drug is filled in the drug container in a sterile room, whereby the insides of the diluent container and the drug container are kept sterile. However, when the drug container and the diluent container are connected to each other for use, the connector and communication means such as a needle are exposed to the atmosphere, so that the connector is liable to be contaminated with bacteria and viruses in the atmosphere. As a result, it is impossible to ensure the sterility of the infusion liquid.
An infusion vessel disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-1277 (1990) includes a infusion liquid bag (flexible container), a resin capsule connected to an upper portion of the infusion liquid bag via a liquid channel, and a glass vial retained in the capsule. A fracturable rubber plug seals the liquid channel, and a rubber plug also seals a mouth of the vial. A two-tip needle is provided in the liquid channel. For use, the rubber plugs of the vial and the liquid channel are pierced with the needle by pressing down the vial, so that the inside of the vial communicates with the inside of the bag. In order to ensure the sterility of the infusion vessel having such a construction even after the communication is established between the vial and the bag, the two-tip needle and a space between the vial and the capsule should also be kept sterile. After the assembling of the infusion vessel, the space between the vial and the capsule can be sterilized by steam penetrating through the capsule in an autoclave sterilization process. However, the steam is condensed on an interior surface of the capsule after the autoclave process, so that water droplets remain in the capsule. This impairs the product value. Further, it is impossible to employ EO sterilization and electron beam sterilization from the viewpoint of the stability of the drug. Therefore, the entire production process from the filling of a infusion liquid to the assembling should be performed in a sterile atmosphere.
An infusion vessel disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 60-132561 (1985) includes a infusion liquid bag having a cylindrical top opening, a plastic sleeve fixed to the cylindrical top opening of the bag by heat-sealing, and a glass sleeve fitted in the plastic sleeve, and is adapted to contain a drug in the glass sleeve. Two rubber plugs are fitted in the glass sleeve, and the drug is contained in a space defined between the rubber plugs. In order to ensure the sterility of the inside of the bag of the infusion vessel having such a construction, it is essential to thoroughly inspect a circumferential portion of the top opening of the bag heat-sealed to the plastic sleeve to check the integrity of the heat seal. This increases quality control costs.


An absorbent article comprises a liquid permeable topsheet; a liquid impermeable backsheet joined to the topsheet; an absorbent core positioned between the topsheet and the backsheet; and a soft resilient member attached to the absorbent core or outside of the core which will preferentially deform, bend or lift in a predictable manner when lateral pressure is applied to the pad, wherein the resilient member consists of at least two distinct pieces of foam.

The present invention relates to a disposable absorbent article which allows better shape retention and body contact during the wearing thereof. More particularly, this invention relates to a catamenial pad having a soft resilient foam member to reduce bunching, densification and collapse. This invention is intended to also cover incontinent articles, sanitary napkins and the like wherein reduced bunching and/or body contact, in addition to comfort, are important to their performance.
It is known that conventional catamenial pads or sanitary napkins comprise a liquid pervious topsheet, a liquid impervious backsheet joined with the topsheet, and an absorbent core for storing fluid positioned between the topsheet and the backsheet. Conventional pads however, have several disadvantages in that when in use, they become bunched through lateral forces from the legs. In addition, conventional cellulosic core matrices may collapse and densify due to fluid load and body pressure. The pads thereby become deformed and do not provide a reliable fit or coverage to the undergarments.
Prior known pads have included various structures to try to hold the shape of the pad when in use so that it continues to conform to the shape of the user. Patents which include such structures are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,195,634 to DiSalvo; 4,886,513 to Mason, Jr.; and 5,197,959 to Buell. Although these devices provided structures that could resist certain types of deformation, the search for improved absorbent articles which continue to hold their shape has persisted.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a disposable absorbent article which is soft, has a resilient structure, is resistant to wet collapse, and resists densification by body pressures, thereby retaining the shape and reducing bunching. Furthermore, the resilient structure is designed to further reduce bunching and insure sustained body contact of the pad through preferential bending or lift of the pad when lateral forces are applied by the wearer's legs.

Disposable absorbent article having a resilient member


Disclosed herein is a receiving apparatus including a correlation value computer configured, for a digital signal, transmitted on a frame basis, having a correlation between a first section and a second section occupying predetermined intervals at a start part of each frame, to extract signals in two sections separated by time intervals of the first section and the second section and compute correlation values; a maximum value detector configured to detect a maximum value of the correlation values; a digital signal processor configured to execute processing on the digital signal on the basis of a timing with which a maximum value has been detected by the maximum value detector; and a reset processor configured to reset the processing executed in the digital signal processor every time the maximum value is detected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receiving apparatus, a receiving method and program, and receiving systems and, more particularly, a receiving apparatus, a receiving method and program, and receiving systems that are configured to detect and encode such signals of which incoming intervals are unclear as a P1 signal based on the DVB-T2 (Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial 2) standard.
2. Description of the Related Art
For a terrestrial digital broadcasting standard, the establishment of the DVB-T2 standard for example has been carried on (refer to, for example, Frame structure channel coding and modulation for a second generation digital terrestrial television broadcasting system (DVB-T2), Jun. 30, 2008, at the DVB home page.
Now, referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an exemplary configuration of a digital signal based on the DVB-T2 standard.
As shown in FIG. 1, the types of the frames of a digital signal (hereafter referred to as a DVB-T2 signal) based on the DVB-T2 standard are a frame (hereafter referred to as a T2 frame) based on the DVB-T2 standard and a frame (hereafter referred to as an FEF (Future Extension Frame) part that will be standardized in the future.
At the beginning of each frame, a P1 signal is arranged. A P1 signal is indicative of frame FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) size, communication method information indicative of MISO (Multiple Input Single Output) or SISO (Single Input Single Output), and type information indicative of whether a frame is an FEF part or not. With a T2 frame, P2 signals and data signals are arranged after the P1 signal. To be more specific, each T2 frame is arranged with a start part with P1 signal and P2 signal arranged as a preamble and a data part in which data signals are arranged.
As described above, because the P1 signal is representative of frame information, an apparatus configured to decode a DVB-T2 signal is desired to detect a P1 signal and instantly decode the detected P1 signal.

Receiving apparatus, receiving method and program, and receiving system


A rotor shaft for a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft having a rotor system includes a body having a first end connectable to the rotor system, a second end, and an intermediate portion defining an outer surface and an inner surface extending between the first end and the second end. The body is formed from a first material. A stiffness enhancing layer is applied to one of the outer surface and the inner surface. The stiffness enhancing layer includes a second material other than the first material. The second material has a modulus of elasticity that is about 16E6 psi (116 GPa) or greater.

The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to the art of air vehicles and, more particularly, to a hybrid rotor shaft for a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft.
Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, such as rotary wing aircraft, a rotating wing in the form of rotary blades. The rotary blades may be connected to a rotor shaft through a rotor hub. The rotor shaft is connected to a prime mover, which may take on a variety of forms, through a gearbox. In operation, the rotor shaft is subjected to a number of forces including bending moments, and other strength-based structural criteria.
If increased bending stiffness is desired, the shaft may be formed from a higher modulus metal. Other methods of enhancing bending stiffness include increasing a cross sectional thickness of the rotor shaft. Both methods lead to an overall increase in rotor shaft weight which, in many systems, is undesirable. Accordingly, the industry would be open to a rotor shaft that meets strength based structural criterial along with having a desired bending moment capability without an appreciable increase in weight.

Hybrid rotor shaft for a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft


A method for finishing a part having excess material includes generating one or more surfaces on a model of the part to be machined, creating a machining tool path drive geometry, using the machine tool path drive geometry and one or more surfaces on the model to be machined to generate machining tool paths on the surfaces; and running tool paths on the part in a fixture.

This invention relates generally to machining of surfaces and to part having machined surfaces, and more particularly, to methods and computer-aided machining of surfaces without the requirement of adaptive probing and to parts produced thereby.
Forging processes used to create some surfaces, for example, airfoil and platform surfaces, can leave excess material at intersections of edges. For example the forging process used to create airfoil and platform surfaces leaves extra material at an intersection between the airfoil lead edge (LE, or thick edge), trail edge (TE, or thin edge) and the platform. In at least one known production operation, a manual process is used to remove this excess material. In this process, referred to as "benching" or "bench blend," a highly skilled operator grinds away material using a rotating abrasive wheel. The operator must be dedicated to the task and cannot complete any other tasks while conducting the benching operation. The operator must be highly skilled because of the proximity of the operator's hands to the grinding wheel and the high volume of parts handled in production operations. Furthermore, the blending operation must produce a smooth transition between the root fillet, airfoil and platform surfaces. No undercuts of the airfoil or platform surface are permitted since this will create stress concentrations.
Besides manual bench blending, another known technique for removing the excess material utilizes a milling machine. The region around the root fillet is probed with a Renishaw-type probe and the geometric data thus obtained is used to adjust a computer numerical control (CNC) program to adapt to the airfoil and platform surfaces. Such probes are available from Renishaw PLC, New Mills, Wooton-Under-Edge, Gloucestershire, U.K. This technique usually requires a second control unit to make essential calculations and to modify the CNC program. For high volume, short cycle time parts, the extra time required has an adverse effect on productivity.
Another known technique for removing the excess material is profile milling. Profile milling uses a ball nose end mill of the same radius as the desired fillet to generate the correct geometry. A single curve is described as the drive geometry, and the CNC program drives the end mill along this path. However, a drawback of this technique is that the end mill can be fully engaged (i.e., the entire radius of the ball is cutting), which usually increases the chance of machining chatter.

Fillet machining method without adaptive probing


A maximum error region determining unit determines a region having a maximum likelihood of error from a channel signal y(t). An optimal path searching unit uses only an error signal at the region having a maximum likelihood of error to find a minimum error generation path and to correct the error signal. A signal recovery unit applies a predetermined algorithm to the channel signal y(t) in which a part of the signal has been corrected by the optimal path searching unit in order to recover an original recorded signal ak. The signal processing apparatus and method search for an optimal path of a channel signal only in the maximum error generation region, thereby reducing complexity and simplifying implementing hardware while allowing for signal processing without change in hardware where changes in a channel model or conditions of an input signal occur.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to signal processing, and more particularly, to a signal processing apparatus for and a method of reproducing a signal read from a predetermined channel by detecting a part of the signal in which an error occurs most frequently and correcting the errors in the signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are several well known methods of reproducing a signal read from a communication channel or a channel on a recording medium including: slicer threshold detection, partial response maximum likelihood (PRML), and decision feedback equalization (DFE). In the slicer threshold detection method, a waveform of a signal read from a channel is shaped by an analog equalizer, and then the signal value is compared with a reference level. That is, if the signal value is above a reference level, it is determined to be a one "1", and if the signal value is below a reference level, it is determined to be a zero "0".
FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a typical PRML system. Referring to FIG. 1, the PRML system includes an equalizer having a feed-forward filter and a least mean square (LMS) algorithm block 100 for adjusting the coefficient of the equalizer according to a feedback signal ek, an error detector 110, and a Viterbi decoder 120. The equalizer and LMS algorithm block 100 equalizes a signal yk from a channel ("channel signal") to a desired form of channel response. Then, the error detector 110 detects errors from the equalized channel signal to output a corrected signal ak. The Viterbi decoder 120 takes into account all possible error paths to determine an optimal signal path, thereby estimating an original signal before the original signal passed through the channel.
FIG. 2 shows a configuration of a typical DFE system. Referring to FIG. 2, the DFE system includes first and second finite impulse response (FIR) filters 200 and 210 and a threshold determiner 220. The first FIR filter 200 is a feed-forward filter, and the second FIR filter 210 is a feed-back filter. A signal yk output from a channel is input into the first FIR filter 200. The threshold determiner 220 makes a temporary decision from the input signal and outputs the temporary decision value ak to the second FIR filter 210. The output values of the first and second FIR filters 200 and 210 are combined to change the temporary decision to a more reliable decision through a feedback signal ek.
Among the conventional signal detection methods described above, slicer threshold detection uses a simple slicer circuit but has low performance. Both the PRML and the DFE systems exhibit excellent performance but each has a large hardware complexity where the systems are realized with hardware. For example, the PRML system and the DFE system require a number of multipliers corresponding to the number of taps if the systems are implemented as a filter and a number of multipliers corresponding to about 2 times the number of filter taps times the number of filters in order to implement an adaptive algorithm. Thus, use of the PRML system or the DFE increases hardware complexity and decreases signal processing speed.

Apparatus and method for signal processing


An optical switching device has a plurality of input ports, and a plurality of output ports, that uses only circulators and reflectors to perform optical switching. A plurality of circulators each having a plurality of ports while operating to output an optical signal are input to a higher-order port thereof, to a lower-order port thereof arranged adjacent to the higher-order port. Each of the circulators being connected at a highest-order port thereof to an associated one of the input ports, at a lowest-order port thereof to an associated one of the output ports, and at each intermediate port thereof to a corresponding intermediate port of another one of the circulators. A plurality of reflectors each of which is adapted to reflect an optical signal, inputted thereto, or to allow the optical signal to pass there through. Each of the reflectors being connected between two intermediate ports of every two of the circulators connected to each other at the two intermediate ports. An optical signal input to an associated one of the input ports is output to an associated one of the output ports via at least one of the circulators.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an optical switching device provided at the optical communication system to variably set the travel path of optical signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there has been shown the practical use of a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technique adapted to transmit a plurality of channels having different wavelengths through a single-core optical fiber. This technique has made it possible to transmit large quantities of data at high speed. Also, optical switching for optically setting travel paths of optical signals has been possible in accordance with development of optical element manufacturing techniques. As a result, construction of a WDM type optical communication network has become possible.
For such a WDM type optical communication network, it would be best to use a mesh type communication network. The mesh type communication network uses an optical switching device, such as an optical cross-connect device, for operation. The optical switching device serves to transmit an optical signal, received through an input port, to a one predetermined output port selected from a plurality of output ports. In the case where the optical switching device receives an optical signal multiplexed with a plurality of channels, there should be control such that each channel is independently switched without being influenced by other channels.
Typically, conventional optical switching devices include a plurality of switches, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In the cases of FIGS. 1 and 2, the switches 111 to 123 are illustrated as being arranged in a matrix array, for explanatory purposes. Also, each switch is designated by its row number and its column number. For example, the switch 111, which is arranged on the first row and the first column, is referred to as "SW11 switch", and the switch 122, which is arranged on the second row and the second column is referred to as "SW22 switch". Each of the switches 111 to 123 has a plurality of ports. Where it is assumed that one switch is designated by a reference numeral "###", its N-th port is designated by "N" in the drawings while being designated, in the following description, by a reference numeral "###N".
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a conventional 4×4 optical switching device. This optical switching device has first through fourth input ports IN1 to IN4, and first through fourth output ports OUT1 to OUT4. The optical switching device includes 6 switches 111 to 123 arranged to have a 2×3 matrix array. Each of the switches 111 to 123 is connected to another switch arranged on the same row in the matrix array while being connected to another switch arranged on a row adjacent thereto in the matrix array. Each of the switches 111 to 123 has first and second ports at an input side thereof, and third and fourth ports at an output side thereof. Each switch is switched between a "cross" state and a "bar" state in accordance with a control signal from a control unit (not shown).
For example, when the SW11 switch 111 is in a bar state, it outputs an optical signal, inputted thereto at its first port 1111 (designating switch 111, port 1 or 1111), at its third port 1113 (switch 111, port 3, referred to as 1113), while outputting an optical signal, inputted thereto at its second port 1112, at its fourth port 1114. On the other hand, when the SW11 switch 111 is in a cross state, it outputs an optical signal, inputted thereto at its first port 1111, at its fourth port 1114, while outputting an optical signal, inputted thereto at its second port 1112, at its third port 1113. The control unit controls the switches 111 to 123 in order to output an optical signal, inputted to an optional input port of the optical switching device, to an associated output port.
For example, the case in which an optical signal is input to the first input port IN1 is required to be output to the second output port OUT2 as will be described hereinafter. In this case, the control unit maintains the SW11 switch 111 in its cross state, while maintaining the SW22 switch 122 and SW13 switch 113 in their bar state.
Accordingly, it can be seen that the optical signal inputted to the first input port IN1, that is, the first port 1111 of the SW11 switch 111, is outputted to the fourth port 1114 of the SW11 switch 111 which, in turn, applies the optical signal to the first port 1221 of the SW22 switch 122. The optical signal inputted to the first port 1221 of the SW22 switch 122 is outputted to the third port 1223 of the SW22 switch 122 which, in turn, applies the optical signal to the second port 1132 of the SW13 switch 113. The optical signal inputted to the second port 1132 of the SW13 switch 113 is outputted to the third port 1133 of the SW13 switch 113. Thus, the optical signal is outputted to the second output port OUT2.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a conventional 8×8 optical switching device. This optical switching device has first through eighth input ports IN1 to IN8, and first through eighth output ports OUT1 to OUT8. The optical switching device includes 16 switches 211 to 244 arranged to have a 4×4 matrix array. Each of the switches 211 to 244 is connected to another switch arranged on the same row in the matrix array while being connected to another switch arranged on a row adjacent thereto or a row adjacent to the adjacent row in the matrix array. Each of the switches 211 to 244 has first and second ports at an input side thereof, and third and fourth ports at an output side thereof. Each switch is switched between a "cross" state and a "bar" state in accordance with a control signal from a control unit (not shown). The control unit controls the switches 211 to 244 in order to output an optical signal, inputted to an optional input port of the optical switching device, to an associated output port.
For example, for the case in which an optical signal is input to the first input port IN1 has to be outputted to the fifth output port OUT5 will be described hereinafter. In this case, the control unit maintains the SW12 switch 212 and SW33 switch 233 in their cross state, while maintaining the SW11 switch 211 and SW34 switch 234 in their bar state.
Accordingly, the optical signal input to the first input port IN1, that is, the first port 2111 of the SW11 switch 211, is output to the third port 2113 of the SW11 switch 211 which, in turn, applies the optical signal to the first port 2121 of the SW12 switch 212. The optical signal input to the first port 2121 of the SW12 switch 212 is output to the fourth port 2124 of the SW12 switch 212 which, in turn, applies the optical signal to the second port 2332 of the SW33 switch 233. The optical signal input to the second port 2332 of the SW33 switch 233 is output to the third port 2333 of the SW33 switch 233. In turn, the switch 233 applies the optical signal to the first port 2341 of the SW34 switch 234. The optical signal input to the first port 2341 of the SW34 switch 234 is output to the third port 2343 of the SW34 switch 234. Thus, the optical signal is output to the fifth output port OUT5.
As described above, the conventional optical switching devices implement an N×N optical switching device having N input ports and N output ports by using 2×2 switches as basic constitutive elements. However, where such an N×N optical switching device having the above mentioned arrangement is implemented, it is necessary to use a number of 2×2 optical switching elements. For example, where the 4×4 optical switching device shown in FIG. 1 is implemented, six 2×2 switches should be used. In other words, the conventional optical switching devices have a problem in that they have a complex configuration because a uniform connection method is used for connection of 2×2 switches, without taking into consideration the characteristics of those 2×2 switches, so that a number of 2×2 switches should be used to implement a desired N×N optical switching device.
Furthermore, the conventional optical switching devices involve high manufacturing costs because each 2×2 switch is implemented by a plurality of optical elements or an expensive integrated element.


A torsion spring positioning device of a cylindrical lock includes a spindle outer casing through which a spindle extends and the spindle outer casing has two protrusions extending radially inward from an inner periphery thereof. The spindle has two slots defined in a periphery thereof and two stops extending radially outward from the periphery thereof so that two legs of the torsion spring respectively abut an end of the corresponding stop and an end of the corresponding protrusion. A washer is mounted to the spindle and has two notches defined in an outer periphery thereof so as to respectively receive the protrusions. A C-shaped clamping member is mounted to the spindle and has two stubs extending radially inward from an inner periphery thereof so as to be received in the slots.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a torsion spring positioning means and, more particularly, to a torsion spring positioning means of a cylindrical lock. The positioning means allows the torsion spring to be replaced easily and quickly.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a conventional cylindrical lock including a retractor 43 received between two spindle outer casings 45, 46 in a door, a latch bolt assembly 44 laterally connected to the retractor 43, two spindles 41, 42 respectively extending from two opposite directions of the retractor 43 and located in the spindle outer casings 45, 46 so as to be connected to respective handles 50, 51 so that when rotating either one of the handles, the latch bolt assembly 44 is operated. In order to keep the handles 50, 51 always in a horizontal position when no rotational action is applied thereto, two torsion springs 412, 422 are respectively mounted to the two spindles 41, 42. Each of the spindles 41, 42 has a hook member 411/421 extending radially outward therefrom so that one of two ends of the torsion spring 412/422 contacts against one of two sides of the hook member 411/421 corresponding thereto, and the other end of the torsion spring 412/422 contacts against the spindle outer casing 45/46 and the other side of the hook member 411/421 corresponding thereto. Therefore, the biasing force of each of the two torsion springs 412, 422 will return the respective handle 50/51 to the horizontal position. In order to position the torsion springs 412, 422, each of the spindle outer casings 45, 46 is formed to have a convergent distal end 451/461 within which a respective washer 413/423 is received so that the washer 413/423 is retained in the respective convergent distal end 451/461 and limits the torsion spring 412/422 from withdrawing from the spindle outer casing 45/46. Although the two torsion springs 412, 422 are well positioned, once any one of the two torsion springs 412, 422 needs to be replaced, a special tool is required to deform the convergent distal end 451/461 of each of the spindle outer casings 45, 46, or the lock has to be discarded. Another conventional cylindrical lever type lock is disclosed in applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,289, "Cylindrical Lever Type Lock Structure For Handicapped People". In this type of cylindrical lever type lock, the torsion spring also cannot be replaced and faces the same problems described above.
The present invention intends to provide a torsion spring positioning means of a cylindrical lock so as to mitigate and/or obviate the above-mentioned problems.

Torsion spring positioning means of a cylindrical lock