This invention pertains to an electromagnetic induction fluid heating apparatus equipped with a heating element constructed from a conductive material installed in a fluid flow passage, a coil installed around this heating element, and a high frequency electrical current generator for this coil. In particular, this heating element is a layered component that allows electrical conduction between metallic plates. This heating element is formed so that electrical current vortices occur throughout this layered component. By forming a fluid flow passage that allows mixing within this layered component, the electrical power efficiency becomes 100%. Moreover, this high frequency electrical current generator is an invertor that uses semiconductor power devices such as SIT, B-SIT, MOSFET, IGRT, and MCT, etc. When the preferred PWM system (Pulse Width Modulation) is used, the heating efficiency (affected by the efficiency of the invertor, etc. matched with this layered component) exceeds 90%.

Although electromagnetic induction heating is widely utilized in fields such as heat treatment, surface treatment, and melting, etc. metal processing, this type of heating has also been used in recent years for the continuous heating of fluids such as gases, liquids, etc.
A method has been proposed for electromagnetic induction heating of a fluid by heating a round metallic rod using an electromagnetic induction heating coil. The circular rod is mainly heated by the surface wave effect so that the outer periphery of the circular rod is heated. A fluid is made to flow at the periphery of the circular rod along the rod length axis. The fluid flows within this apparatus through a flow passage (circular rod) that is heated by electromagnetic induction heating, thereby indirectly heating the fluid. This method is deficient in that the overall heating efficiency is largely determined by the efficiency of heat transfer between the flow passage and the fluid.
It is therefore proposed that a metallic heating element be inserted into a flow passage that is constructed from a non-electrically conductive material, and that this metallic heating element be heated by electromagnetic induction. This proposed apparatus utilizes the direct heating method to raise the heating efficiency. For example, it has been proposed that a star-shaped heating element be placed within the fluid flow passage, and that a heating coil surround the perimeter of the fluid flow passage. A starshaped heating element is used since the heat transfer surface area is increased, and since the surface greatly increases that is heated by the surface wave effect. However, starshaped heating element surface area heating is limited, thereby resulting in a limitation upon the degree of improvement of heating efficiency.
Therefore the same inventors have proposed a great increase in the heat transfer surface area, the area that is both heated by electromagnetic induction and that serves as the heat exchange surface. Specifically, a heating element is contained within a fluid flow passage. This heating element is a layered component, consisting of many metallic plates, constructed so as to be electrically conductive. Electrical current vortices occur throughout the metallic plates that comprise the layered component. Since the metallic plates are electrically in contact with one another, the central region is more readily heated than the layered component peripheral region. This results in a method to enhance the electromagnetic heating surface wave effect. Per this heating method, the surface area of the layered component is greatly increased, and the efficiency of heat transfer from the heating element to the fluid in raised by nearly 100%. It becomes possible to create conditions for ready control of temperature.
Moreover, turbulent flow and mixing of the fluid are made to occur within the fluid flow passage within the layered component (the above-mentioned heating element). This therefore assures that the fluid within the layered component is uniformly heated. In contrast, a heating element is also proposed that causes a controlled flow through a fluid flow passage other than through this layered component.
However, by the use (as a heating element) of a layered component that has a fluid flow passage that causes mixing and turbulent flow within the fluid, heat transfer efficiency was greatly improved between the heating element and the fluid. It then becomes necessary to improve the efficiency of electrical power transfer to this heating element. In other words, the advantages of a layered component heating element began to appear upon combination of this type of heating element with an efficient high frequency electrical current generator. The electromagnetic induction fluid heating apparatus was realized.
Therefore the goal of this invention is to provide an advantageous combination of a high frequency electrical current generator and a layered component heating element.

Electromagnetic induction-heated fluid energy conversion processing appliance


An OFDM detection apparatus and method for networking devices. First, a sample sequence is taken from the beginning of a newly arrived network packet. Next, a first correlation sequence between the complex conjugate of the sample sequence and the sample sequence with a lag of N samples is formed. In the meantime, a second correlation sequence between the complex conjugate of the sample sequence and the sample sequence with a lag of M samples is also formed. The first and the second correlation sequence are then normalized. Depending on a comparison between the first normalized correlation sequence and a first predetermined threshold as well as another comparison between the second normalized correlation sequence and a second predetermined threshold, the newly arrived network packet is determined accordingly whether it is an OFDM modulated packet.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to wireless networking, and more particularly to a detection scheme of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) signals for an IEEE 802.11g receiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the emergence of a converged standard for wireless local area networks (WLANs), the stage is set for a multimode marketplace. Much like its wired predecessor, wireless Ethernet (802.11) will flourish in an environment characterized by multimode operation. Convergence of the separate 10- and 100-megabit per second technologies of wired Ethernet into the now familiar 10/100 networks accelerated the market's acceptance of wired Ethernet. The same should be expected of WLAN technology and the merging of the 802.11b and 802.11a versions of the standard into 802.11g.
In 1997, the first wireless Ethernet standard, known simply as 802.11, was adopted and published by the IEEE. This unified standard provided several modes of operation and data rates up to two megabits per second (Mbps). Work soon began on improving the performance of 802.11. The eventual results were two new but incompatible versions of the standard, 802.11b and 802.11a. The "b" version operated in the same frequency range as the original 802.11, the 2.4 GHz Industrial-Scientific-Medical (ISM) band, but the "a" version ventured into the 5 GHz Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band. 802.11b mandated complementary code keying (CCK) for rates of 5.5 and 11 Mbps, and included as an option Packet Binary Convolutional Coding (PBCC) for throughput rates of 5.5 and 11 Mbps, and additional range performance. It also supported fallback date rates of 2 Mbps and 1 Mbps, using the same Barker coding used in the original 802.11 standard. 802.11a turned to another multi-carrier coding scheme, orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and achieves data rates up to 54 Mbps. Because 802.11b equipment was simpler to develop and build, it arrived in the marketplace first. 802.11b technology soon established a foothold in the market and is proved the viability of WLAN technology in general.
In March of 2000, the IEEE 802.11 Working Group formed a study group to explore the feasibility of extending the 802.11b standard to data rates greater than 20 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz spectrum. For a year and a half, this group, which came to be known as the Task Group G, studied several technical alternatives until it finally adopted a hybrid solution that included the same OFDM coding and provided the same physical data rates of 802.11a. But this version of the draft standard, 802.11g, occupied the 2.4 GHz band of the original 802.11 standard. Several optional coding schemes were incorporated into 802.11g, including CCK-OFDM and PBCC, the latter of which provides alternative data rates of 22 and 33 Mbps. Briefly, the IEEE 802.11g draft standard requires the use of OFDM for data rates up to 54 Mbps and requires the support for CCK to ensure backward compatibility with existing 802.11b radios as mandatory parts. Because it integrates two technical solutions that had been totally separate and quite incompatible, the 802.11g standard thereby provides for true multimode operations.
Therefore, an 802.11g receiver must have the capability to detect both OFDM and CCK signals. In essence, the detection probability of a valid OFDM packet is required to exceed 90% within 4 μs when a receive level is equal to or greater than −82 dBm. The false-alarm probability, which means the probability of mistakenly detecting an OFDM packet as transmitting CCK packets, must be kept low enough to ensure a good packet error rate (PER) for the receiver's CCK module. Because Bluetooth devices and microwave ovens both operate in the same 2.4 GHz band, the 802.11g receiver also requires a low probability of false alarm with respect to Bluetooth and microwave oven radios in order to achieve high data throughput. In view of the above, what is needed is an efficient scheme of OFDM detection and CCK/Bluetooth rejection to meet the requirements.


A wear resistant sub assembly with a sleeve with a sleeve outer diameter larger than the body outer diameter, a plurality of offset indentations formed on the outer side of the sleeve formed in rows of four to eight offset indentations along a diagonal orientation to a sleeve axis; a plurality of a metal carbide inserts providing an interference fit into each offset indentation thereby forming a wear resistant sleeve; a sealing means disposed between the sleeve and the body and at least two spring locking apparatus engaging locking indentations on the body.

A need exists for a wear resistant sub assembly with an easily replaceable sleeve that saves wear and tear on drilling tubulars.
A need exists for a wear resistant sub assembly that is easy to repair in the field, easy to remove and install wear resistant portions, and is highly reliable during use.
The present embodiments meet these needs.
The present embodiments are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A furniture model system is provided including at least one model furniture piece having a three dimensional rectilinear configuration and a picture on each of the faces thereof which simulate an associated view of a related furniture piece.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to model structures and more particularly pertains to a new model furniture system for simulating an inhabited home.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of model structures is known in the prior art. More specifically, model structures heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art model structures include U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,652; U.S. Pat. No. 1,881,356; U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,627; U.S. Pat. No. 3,498,587; U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,848; and Foreign Patents WO 96/11604 & WO 97/00039.
In these respects, the model furniture system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of simulating an inhabited home.


A rack mountable cable distribution enclosure. The cable distribution enclosure includes a tray that slides forwards and backwards out of the cable distribution enclosure. The tray includes an adapter plate bracket which receives a plurality of adapter plates. The adapter plate bracket holds up to 12 adapter plates, each of which holds a variety of adapters. In fiber optic cable applications, each adapter plate can hold 6 duplex adapters, or 12 fibers, providing a density of 144 fibers.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to cable distribution enclosures and in particular to a cable distribution center that has a high cable density and provides easy access to cable adapters.
2. Prior Art
After cable is brought into a building for use in transmitting signals for telephone (voice), cable (video), or computers (data), those signals must be distributed throughout the building to typically each desk that requires access to the information being transmitted. To facilitate that distribution, an enclosure is typically utilized to house and manage the dispersal of the fiber. In many cases, as many as 72 fibers are distributed within a single enclosure and several of these enclosures are attached to a rack. In larger systems, a room full of these racks serves as a central hub from which thousands of fibers are distributed. Due to the increasing need for more and more fibers, space has become an issue; hence the need for enclosures with the ability to effectively distribute a higher fiber count within basically the same volume has arisen.

Rack mountable cable distribution enclosure


There is provided a technique that includes: substrate mounting plate where substrates are arranged circumferentially; rotator rotating the substrate mounting plate; gas supply structure disposed above the substrate mounting plate from center to outer periphery thereof; gas supplier including the gas supply structure and controlling supply amount of gas supplied from the gas supply structure; gas exhaust structure installed above the substrate mounting plate at downstream side of the gas supply structure in rotation direction; gas exhauster including the gas exhaust structure and controlling exhaust amount of gas exhausted from the gas exhaust structure; and gas main component amount controller including the gas supplier and the gas exhauster and controlling gas main component amount in the gas supplied from the gas supply structure to the substrates and the gas main component amount in the gas supplied to the substrates from the center to the outer periphery of the mounting plate.

In the related art, there is an apparatus which intends to simultaneously improve a throughput and a processing quality, and is configured to supply a gas while revolving a substrate to perform desired substrate processing.
When processing a substrate, it is desirable to uniformly process a surface of the substrate. However, in a case of an apparatus that revolves a substrate, situation of supplying a gas to the substrate may be different between a center side and an outer peripheral side of the apparatus due to restrictions on a form of the apparatus. In that case, it is difficult to perform a uniform in-plane process of the substrate, which leads to a decrease in yield.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device by supplying gas


A sensor package comprises a sensor chip (3) with a sensitive element (31) exposed to an environment of the sensor package, and contact pads (2) for electrically contacting the sensor package. Electrical connections (5) are applied between the sensor chip (3) and the contact pads (2). A molding compound (1) at least partially encloses the sensor chip (3) and the contact pads (2). A unit (3, 73) consisting of the sensor chip (3) and optionally of a die pad (73) supporting the sensor chip (3) is arranged such that a top surface (ts) of the unit (3, 73) does not protrude from a level defined by a top surface (ts) of the contact pads (2), and a bottom surface (bs) of the unit (3,73) does not protrude from a level defined by a bottom surface (bs) of the contact pads (2).

An increasing number of sensors tend to be integrated into semiconductor chips. Such sensor chips may be packaged. The resulting sensor package may be used as a component of an electronic device, and, for example, be arranged within a housing of such device. It is desired to reduce a volume of sensor packages, in particular in view of a reduced space those sensor packages are allowed to claim within an electronic device.
EP2952886 (A1) is directed to methods for manufacturing a gas sensor package, as well as a gas sensor package manufactured according to such methods. The method comprises the steps of mounting a semiconductor chip on a carrier and applying a molding compound for at least partially enclosing the semiconductor chip thereby generating an opening in the molding compound. The opening provides access to a portion of the semiconductor chip being uncovered by the molding compound. A sensitive material is applied through the opening onto the uncovered portion of the semiconductor chip for building a layer sensitive to a gas. It is preferred that the opening in the molding compound is arranged in a front side of the gas sensor package while contact pads and a die pad are arranged at a back side thereof. For example, the gas sensor package may have the shape of a cuboid which is defined by a molding compound and which has a front side and a back side opposite to the front side. An opening in the molding compound provides access to a sensitive layer of a gas sensor chip. In side walls, front ends of contact pads are exposed from the molding compound as well as front ends of support leads. The back side of the gas sensor package shows six contact pads. The contact pads are arranged in two rows of three contact pads each at two opposite edges of the gas sensor package.


A fan assembly formed of a fan, at least one fan grill comprising a face panel and at least one side panel comprising a spring slot the fan grill coupled to the fan, and a spring coupled to the fan grill the spring comprising a spring driver end extending through the spring slot.

Industry trends toward miniaturization of computer solutions have led development engineers to cram more and more components into limited physical space. Rack mounted servers are especially subject to such space constraints. In such servers, it is not uncommon to configure up to twelve cooling fans in an array of six fans across by two fans deep so as to form a line of cooling fans across the width of the server chassis.
Such cooling fans operate under relatively extreme conditions and, as such, are subject to failure. In the event of one such failure, it is important to quickly replace the inoperable fan. As it is undesirable to stop the functioning of the server when performing such a replacement, replacements of this nature are typically hot swaps. A "hot swap" is a replacement that does not require ceasing the operation of the server in which the fan is to be replaced.
Various forms of fan connectors are employed to secure cooling fans to the chassis or other anchoring element of a server. Typically, these connectors require that an upward force be applied to the cooling fan in order to facilitate separation of the cooling fan. Often times, separation is attempted after engaging a release mechanism to disconnect a fan connector. Once such a release mechanism is engaged, it is necessary to apply an upward force, or unmate force, of approximately 6.2 pounds of force (lbf) to overcome residual friction between the fan connector and the chassis component to which the fan is coupled.
There exists limited space for combination release latching mechanisms/grip points that are easy to activate and grip with enough force to overcome the unmate force required for fan removal. There is therefore a need for a server cooling fan mechanism that facilitates the separation of the fan from a chassis component in a hot swap mode.

Easy release server cooling fan with integrated spring and method for using same

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates to a monitoring device (1) with a transmitter unit (2) and a receiver unit (3) for monitoring an area. Slotted cables serve as antennas. According to the invention, a first slotted cable is arranged as a transmitting an antenna (4) for transmitting a pulsed high-frequency signal and a second slotted cable is arranged as a receiving antenna (9) for receiving the reflected signal. The slotted cables are arranged in association with each other and essentially parallel to each other, and the transmitter unit (2) is connected to the first slotted cable at one end of the antenna arrangement and the receiver unit (3) is connected to the second slotted cable at the other end of the antenna arrangement.

The present invention relates to a device for monitoring an area, which device comprises a transmitter unit for transmitting a signal and a receiver unit for receiving a reflected signal via an antenna.
The installation of a monitoring device in the form of an active sensor for monitoring an area in front of a vehicle is already known. The sensor has a poor range and the radiation from the sensor in the area that is to be monitored can be regarded as originating from a point source. When the sensor is located in the centre of the front of the vehicle, acceptable values can be obtained for the relative speed between the vehicle and a reflecting object that is centrally in front of the vehicle in the direction of movement of the vehicle. However, if the reflecting object is displaced sideways relative to the direction of movement of the vehicle, an unacceptable error in the speed can easily arise. There is also the risk that the object will leave the sensor's field of vision when there is a short distance between the reflecting object and the vehicle. In order to increase the accuracy when determining speed, it would be possible to install several individual sensors along the front of the vehicle. The use of several sensors with associated arrangement for signal processing and installation means that the monitoring device runs the risk of being both complex and expensive.
A monitoring device in the form of a security alarm is already known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,947,834. The alarm is provided with a combined transmitting and receiving antenna in the form of a cable with groups of slots. The antenna is supplied at one end with a radar frequency which, when it is reflected from moving objects, gives rise to a Doppler frequency signal which under certain conditions causes the alarm to be activated. The security alarm detects movement but carries out no direct determination of speed or distance. Due to the not insignificant suppression that is introduced along the length of the antenna, the antenna has different sensitivity along its length, with greater sensitivity close to the supply end. In addition, the length of the signal wave varies in the antenna. Reflections close to the supply end of the antenna have a shorter signal wave in the antenna than reflections close to the end of the antenna that is furthest away from the supply end. Among other things, the circumstances described above make it difficult, if not impossible, to determine the relative speed and distance of an object with any accuracy, if so required.
A device according to the first section of the description is previously known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,612,536. In this case a security alarm is again in question. The intrusion detector of the security alarm here comprises two parallel antenna cables preferably located in the ground in connection to an object to be protected. The antenna cables are in opposite ends connected to a transmitter unit and a receiver unit, respectively and the asymmetry occurring in the transmitter antenna lobe due to attenuation along the cable will be balanced out of a corresponding reversed asymmetry in the antenna lobe of the receiver antenna. The intention is to detect objects if any passing above the antenna cables and if desired to determine the location of the passage. However, there is no determining of the speed of an object approaching the object to be protected.


A protective cover assembly for universal joints which is particularly suited for commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses, as well as off-road vehicles, comprises forward, intermediate and rearward shields that overlie but do not touch respective universal joints. In one embodiment, the shields have outside brackets that attach to either the cover of a transmission or the cover of a differential gear mechanism and are adjustable inward and outward relative to the covers. In another embodiment, the shields have brackets that respectively have straps for connecting to the body underside frame rails of the vehicle and are adjustable forward and rearward to cover the universal joints the shields overlie.

Protective covers for shielding universal joints and drive trains of a vehicle have been previously known and disclosed in several U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 2,906,360 Daley, Jr.! shows a torque tube 10 which may be considered to be a noise shielding or deadening device. U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,329 Quirk! discloses a safety shield for use over the drive shaft to interconnect the power take-off assembly of a tractor to a rotary drive of an agricultural implement. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,308,931 Khanna! and 4,568,313 Diffenderfer, et al.! also show protective coverings for an articulated drive shaft between a tractor and a powered agricultural implement. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,572 Hook! discloses a protective covering assembly for a grease fitting of a universal joint attached to the output shaft of an agricultural or other industrial vehicle, primarily front wheel drive tractors. None of these disclosed devices is particularly well suited for commercial vehicles, such as motor trucks, other "over-the-road" vehicles, such as buses, or "off-road" vehicles.
Motor trucks and buses have extended wheelbases in excess of 16 feet and have drive trains with drive shafts formed of multiple sections that are interconnected by universal joints. Universal joints are flexible joints which couple two drive shaft segments to permit either segment to be positioned out of straight-line alignment with respect to the other and are usually exposed to the environment. Universal joints may be packed with lubricant and sealed for life. Conversely, replacement joints and other universal joints may require lubrication and have grease fittings to accommodate such lubrication.
Universal joints having life time sealing may house high performance bearings and the slightest bit of dirt or other adhering contaminant may deleteriously grind and damage the bearing. Because of their physical location on motor trucks and buses, universal joints are particularly susceptible to being damaged by road grit and water or salt spray created by the motor truck and/or bus moving over wet and dirty road surfaces.
Universal joints not having life time sealing are also susceptible to road grit and water spray and are recommended to always remain fully greased. Further, it is common for universal joints to be lubricated with excessive grease, more particularly, to have grease applied until it oozes out of the universal joint.
Universal joints have separate shielding concerns when located on a vehicle, especially on a motor truck, bus, or off-road truck, that is subject to a high degree of road grit and mud. More particularly, both sealed and unsealed universal joints should be shielded from having dirt, grit and other contaminants finding their way into their high performance bearings so as to preserve mechanical integrity of both the sealed and unsealed universal joints. Conversely, unsealed universal joints should be shielded so that their excessive grease does not find its way onto the body of the vehicle so as to deleteriously affect the physical integrity of the vehicle, that is, have the grease attach to the body of a vehicle so that it allows the accumulation of road salt, or other contaminants that might harm the physical integrity of the vehicle. It is desired that a protective cover assembly be provided to shield and shelter both sealed and unsealed universal joints used on a motor truck, a bus, or an off-road vehicle.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a protective cover assembly that shields both sealed and unsealed universal joints that are used on trucks, buses, and off-road vehicles.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a protective cover assembly for universal joints that interconnect sections of the drive shaft of a vehicle to prevent contamination by materials from the roadway and to catch and retain excessive lubricant from the joints.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide for a protective cover assembly that not only preserves the mechanical integrity of the universal joint, but also helps preserve the physical integrity of the vehicle carrying the universal joints.
Further objects and features of the present invention will become evident hereinafter.

Protective cover assembly for commercial vehicle drive trains


A semiconductor device includes a stacked transistor memory cell. The stacked transistor memory cell includes a bottom tier including a plurality of bottom transistors including at least one non-floating transistor and at least one floating transistor. The at least one floating transistor has at least one terminal being electrically disconnected from other transistors of the stacked transistor memory cell. The stacked transistor memory cell further includes a top tier including a at least one top transistor, and a cross-coupling including epitaxial region (epi) connections and gate to epi connections between the top tier and the bottom tier.

The present invention generally relates to semiconductor devices, and more particularly to stacked vertical transistor memory cells and methods of forming the same.
Vertical transistors, such as vertical field-effect transistors (FETs), have been devised as a way to reduce contact poly pitch (CPP) to decrease unit cell size and increase efficiency by orienting current flow vertically. Further, since the ohmic contacts and the channels are aligned vertically, contact density per unit of surface area of a vertical transistor is higher than in a lateral transistor.

Stacked vertical transistor memory cell with epi connections

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A process for merging and using the Mediation Device Protocol with a network layer protocol. Under the merged protocol, each device joining a network enters into two stages: the Set-Up Stage and the Normal Operational Stage. During the Set-Up Stage, the device identifies its neighbors, builds a neighborhood list, obtains a Logical ID, and picks a parent node in the network. After the Set-Up Stage is complete, the device enters the Normal Operational Stage where it will send/receive control and data messages, invite and help new nodes to join the network, recover from broken links or topology changes, and other normal network operations.

Many applications for wireless communication networks, such as wireless sensors, industrial control and monitoring, intelligent agriculture, asset and inventory tracking, and security, would benefit from a communication protocol that produced an ad-hoc, self-organizing network (i.e. one with a random topology in which the network organization and maintenance occurred without human intervention) that enables each node in the network to be inexpensive and to have low power consumption in all possible connection states. The Cluster Tree Protocol is a protocol for the logical link and network layers for a wireless ad-hoc network designed to meet the above requirements. The Cluster Tree Protocol is described in "Cluster Tree Protocol (ver.0.53)", by Masahiro Meada, April, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference
The protocol uses link-state packets to form either a single cluster network, or a potentially larger cluster tree network. The network is basically self-organizing and supports network redundancy to attain a degree of fault tolerance and self repair. Nodes within the network select a cluster head and form a cluster according to the self-organized manner. In the cluster formation process the cluster head assigns a unique node identifier (ID) to each member node. Self-developed clusters connect to each other using a Designated Device, that is a special node with a high computing ability and large memory space. In many applications the Designated Device is also the gateway between the network and the Internet. The Designated Device assigns a unique cluster ID to each cluster.
Low power consumption is achieved, in part, by each network device having a low duty cycle. For example, a device may be active for only 0.1% of each cycle. However, for asynchronous systems, a low duty cycle makes it difficult for devices to synchronize with one another. For instance, if device A tries to contact device B, there is a high probability that device B is inactive or 'sleeping'. The problem is compounded by the use of low cost crystal oscillators and on-chip Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) resonators for timing. The poor frequency performance of these devices increases the need for regular re-synchronization. The Mediation Device Protocol was introduced to enable low duty cycle devices to communicate with each other without requiring a high accuracy synchronization reference, thus overcoming the issue of poor frequency stability. The Mediation Device Protocol is described in detail in "Mediation Device Operation", Qicai Shi, Ed Callaway, Document IEEE 802.15-01/1880r0, which is hereby incorporated by reference. A mediation device has a relatively long receive period, during which it can record messages in the network. The recorded messages are then played-back to other devices in the network. Hence, the mediation device acts as an "answering machine".
In order to obtain the benefits of both the Mediation Device Protocol and network layer protocols such as the Cluster Tree Protocol, the protocols must be merged. Consequently, there is an unmet need for a process for merging and using the Mediation Device Protocol with a network layer protocol.

Procedures for merging the mediation device protocol with a network layer protocol


Disclosed herein is a front module having a triplexer. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the front module includes: a triplexer receiving and distributing a MoCA receiving signal and a cable broadcasting signal from a coaxial cable and receiving the MoCA transmitting signal and outputting the received MoCA transmitting signal to the coaxial cable; a transceiver for MoCA removing and outputting noise from the MoCA receiving signal input through the triplexer and amplifying the MoCA transmitting signal input from the outside and providing the amplified MoCA transmitting signal to the triplexer; and a receiver for cable removing and outputting noise from the cable broadcasting signal input through the triplexer.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a front module having a triplexer for multimedia over coax alliance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a home network means a network for providing communication between electronic devices included in the home by using predetermined communication types. In this case, the communication types, which include a wired communication type using a coaxial cable, and the like and a wireless communication type using Bluetooth, infrared rays, RF ID, and the like, may be used.
As the representative technology for a home network, there is multimedia over coax alliance (hereinafter, referred to as 'MoCA') which has been standardized recently.
The MoCA is a solution of allowing cable, satellite, and IP-network service providers around the world to convert a whole-home media distribution network on an existing coaxial wiring connection basis of subscribers.
In particular, a network (hereinafter, referred to as 'MoCA network') supporting the MoCA enables subscribers to safely access, store, and share various digital media contents which include HDTV programs, video on demand (VoD), digital video recorder (DVR), Internet contents, video, music, photographs, VoIP, and the like.
That is, when a media center receives desired contents from a content supply server, the MoCA network may store and manage the desired contents and hold a digital right and allow other media applications in the home to share the corresponding contents.
Therefore, the MoCA includes functions of watching and storing digital contents while providing saving of cost and convenience of installation as well as satisfying an increasing demand for a whole-home DVR service.
The MoCA network providing the above-mentioned convenience interconnects subscriber terminals which are installed at different places. Herein, the subscriber terminal includes TVs which are installed at places, such as a living room, a media room, and a bedroom in the home, and set top boxes which are installed at each TV.
In case of the set top box, the related art uses a triplexer installed at the front end thereof so as to receive cable broadcasting and transmit and receive a MoCA signal.
In this case, since the triplexer is separately selected and used regardless of close connection with the set top box, it is difficult to match the triplexer with a low-noise amplifier for a cable and a low-noise amplifier/power amplifier for MoCA at the time of designing the set top box.

Front module having triplexer for multimedia over coax alliance


A system, such as, e.g., a multiplier, for processing digital signals by using digital signals in the Canonic Signed Digit representation, the system including an input element to make the digital signals available in the Binary Canonic Signed Digit representation, a converter to convert the digital signals into Canonic Signed Digit representation for use in processing. The input element may be a memory where the signals are stored in the Binary Canonic Signed Digit representation. Alternatively, the input element is adapted to be fed with digital signals in the two's complement representation, and includes at least one converter to convert the digital signals from the two's complement representation into the Binary Canonic Signed Digit representation. This preferably occurs via the T2I transformation, which leads to generating signals in the Canonic Signed Digit representation, which are then converted to the Binary Canonic Signed Digit representation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital signal processing, including computer arithmetic, low-power and high-speed architectures and, more particularly, to blocks for low-area multipliers, and in general for complex signal processing involving multiplications with variable coefficients, such as scalable FFT, adaptive digital filters, and any kind of application that requires multiplying a N-bit signal with a M-bit dynamic coefficient, and related methodology.
2. Description of the Related Art
Canonic Signed Digit (CSD) encoding/decoding operations are well known, and a significant literature exists on that topic. In A. Peled, "On the hardware implementation of digital signal processors", IEEE Transactions on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, vol. 24(1), pp. 76-78, February 1976, the Canonic Signed Digit encoding properties have been extensively explored.
Binary Canonic Signed Digit (BCSD) encoding has been introduced in R. Hashemian, "A New Method for Conversion of a Two Complement to Canonic Signed Digit Number System and its Representation", IEEE Thirtieth Asilomar Conference on Signals Systems and Computers, vol. 2, pp. 904-906, November 1996, with special emphasis placed on computer programming. This document discloses an algorithm that performs the Binary Canonic Signed Digit encoding of a number in two's complement notation using a procedure written in C language. The procedure proposed is not suitable for hardware implementation.
Moreover, no mention is made of any Binary Canonic Signed Digit decoding process, "decoding" being intended to designate the process aimed at recovering the Canonic Signed Digit notation for subsequent Canonic Signed Digit processing.
A further document of interest in this area is U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,872, which discloses a circuit for CSD-coding of binary numbers represented in two's complement.

Method and system for digital signal processing, program product therefor


A tonneau cover assembly is provided having a rail network, a plurality of clamps, one or more crossbars and a flexible top. The rail network is secured about the bed of a pick-up truck, using clamps. Thus, no holes are made in the vehicle, and the entire tonneau cover assembly can be mounted without the use of tools. After the rail network is secured to the truck, the crossbars are placed over the truck bed, and snap onto the clamps. Insert tips allow the crossbars to adjust to various lengths. A tang on the clamp is received by the insert tip, and provides resistance to torsional forces. A hook assembly is sewn about the periphery of the flexible cover and is secured to the rail network. To disengage the flexible cover from the rail network, a stripping member is used. In the first preferred embodiment, the stripping member rests within the rail network and forcibly ejects a portion of the hook assembly from the rail network. In a second preferred embodiment, the stripping member is a part of the hook assembly. Exerting a force on the stripping member disengages a portion of the hook assembly from the rail network. Once a portion of the hook assembly is disengaged from the rail, the remainder of the flexible cover can be easily peeled away.

The present invention relates generally to tonneau covers for vehicles. More specifically, the present invention relates to a novel system for attaching a tonneau cover to a vehicle, such as a pickup truck or boat.
In recent years, tonneau covers have become very popular, and can be seen in use every day. Generally, a tonneau cover can be any device which is used to cover an opening on a vehicle. Tonneau covers are commonly used to cover seating sections of boats and convertible cars. However, tonneau covers are probably most commonly associated with pickup trucks. Various types of covers can be used to cover and shield the bed of a pickup truck. Tonneau covers are useful accessories to pickup trucks and the like because they can provide good protection from the elements. It is often desired to transport items in a bed of a truck, items which the user would prefer to keep sheltered from the rain and wind. A tonneau cover provides this protection.
For years, tonneau covers which utilized a snap-on fastening means were commonly used. Several snap receptacles would be secured directly to a vehicle. The tonneau cover would be provided with mating snaps which would be snapped onto the snap receptacles. This type of arrangement was undesirable because it required the extensive use of tools to imbed the snap receptacles into the vehicle. Furthermore, once the snap receptacles were in place, they could not be removed without leaving the vehicle permanently disfigured. Today, most tonneau cover units include a rail network which is attached to the top of the vehicle bed side walls. U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,033 to Wheatley, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,184 to Byrd, et al. show tonneau cover assemblies utilizing a rail network. An upper portion is secured to the rail, spanning the vehicle bed. Securing the rail network to the vehicle, or the tonneau top to the rail network, often requires the use of tools. However, tools are not always available, and are not always handy to use. Therefore, a tonneau cover which can be assembled and disassembled without the use of tools is desired.
Tonneau assemblies may be divided into two general categories: those with a flexible cover, and those with a rigid cover. Tonneau assemblies with a rigid cover generally utilize a single, rigid member which is attached to the rails. Those utilizing a flexible cover stretch a flexible material over the vehicle bed, and secure it to the rails.
Those tonneau assemblies with rigid covers generally provide adequate shelter for the contents of the truck bed. However, this type of tonneau cover has limitations. Storage of such tonneau covers when not in use can be difficult. Because the rigid top does not fold, a storage space equal in size to the top is often needed. When a flexible cover is used, the top can often be folded, thus requiring minimal storage space. Rigid tonneau covers are also limited in it that they can be heavy and cumbersome. Due to their size and weight, it can be difficult for a single person to attach and remove this type of cover. A flexible top, being lighter and easier to manipulate, can easily be attached to or removed from a vehicle by one person.
In theory, tonneau assemblies are useful items because once the rail network is attached, the cover can quickly be attached to or removed from the vehicle. However, this theory is not always realized in practice. The speed and ease with which a tonneau top can be removed from the rail network depends in part on the nature of the connection between the top and rail. Tonneau covers are known which use various fastener means. Perhaps most common are those that use snaps, velcro.TM. or some similar means. Another common type of fastener utilizes a hook which is secured to the cover which engages the rail network. All of these types of fasteners, as currently used, have limitations.
Tonneau cover tops using velcro.TM. or some similar adhesive to affix the top to the rail are generally quick and easy to use. However, velcro.TM. does not always provide a tight seal against the flow of water and air. Thus, velcro.TM. fastened tops may not prevent water or other contaminants from entering the truck bed. Tonneau covers using snaps can be effective. However, many tonneau covers of this type require each snap be secured to the truck itself. This arrangement is disfavored because it can be time consuming to push each snap into place. Furthermore, this type of fastener may not prevent the penetration of water into the vehicle bed.
Tonneau covers which use a hook arrangement can avoid many of the limitations noted above. But, hook fasteners currently in the market also have limitations. One known arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,033 issued to Wheatley, et al. This reference discloses the use of J-shaped hooks which snap over a portion of the rail. In practice, it can be quite difficult to disengage this type of fastener from the rail. Flexible covers have a tendency to shrink in response to the elements, making it more difficult to disengage the J-shaped hook from the rail. Furthermore, during periods of cold weather, the J-shaped fastener may become rigid and lose its pliability. As this occurs, it can become exceedingly difficult to remove the fastener from the rail, and thus the cover from the vehicle. It is thus beneficial to provide a means for disengaging at least a portion of the fastener from the rail.
As mentioned earlier, making permanent holes or marks in the vehicle when attaching the rail network is highly undesirable. This permanent disfiguration can greatly decrease the value of the vehicle. Therefore, it is generally desired to attach the rail network to the vehicle without the need of making holes in the truck. One way of attaching the rail network to the vehicle is by using clamps. U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,184 issued to Byrd et al. shows a truck cap with a frame clamped to the vehicle. Clamping arrangements are desired because they can be removed without leaving marks on the vehicle. But, known clamping arrangements can be difficult to align and adjust once they are positioned with respect to the rail and vehicle bed. In addition, clamps are not always effective in combatting the torsional forces which act upon the rail network.
Many forces act upon the flexible tonneau cover and cause the cover to pull the rail network inward towards the center of the vehicle bed. The weight of the cover itself, the tension in the cover and the natural shrinkage all tend to provide a bending moment or torsional effect onto the rail network. This can cause the rail to separate from the vehicle side walls, allowing the passage of water or air therethrough. After time, this bending moment can cause warping of the rail network. Thus, if a clamping arrangement is to be used, it is desirable to provide a clamp which will overcome the torsional forces applied to the rail.
In addition to the torsional effect experienced by the rail network, the crossbars used in conjunction with flexible tonneau covers often experience a twisting or torsional force. The crossbars are used to aid in the support of the tonneau top, and generally span the entire width of the space being covered. The shrinking and pulling of the flexible cover can cause the crossbars to twist. Thus, it is beneficial to provide a tonneau cover with crossbars which resist the torsional forces applied thereto.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a tonneau cover assembly with crossbars that are able to withstand the torsional forces applied thereto.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a tonneau cover assembly which utilizes a flexible tonneau top.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a tonneau cover which, when removed from the vehicle, requires minimal storage space.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a tonneau cover which can easily be attached to and removed from the vehicle by a single person.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a tonneau cover assembly which utilizes a clamp arrangement to secure the rail network to the vehicle which overcomes the torsional forces on the rail.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a tonneau cover assembly which includes a hook means of attaching the flexible cover to the rail network.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a tonneau cover assembly which includes a means for disengaging a portion of the hook assembly from the rail network.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a tonneau cover assembly having crossbars which are braced against the torsional forces applied thereto.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a tonneau cover assembly which can be completely assembled and disassembled without the use of tools.
These and other objects are attained by a tonneau cover assembly generally comprising a rail network, a clamping means, a flexible top and one or more crossbars. A single rail is placed on top of each of the truck's side walls and front wall, and another rail spans the width of the bed adjacent the rear gate. Each rail is secured at opposite ends to the two adjacent rails using a cornerpiece. Being secured to one another, these four rails comprise the rail network. Each rail has a channel and a slot which spans its entire length. Padding may be placed between the rail and the truck bed to prevent scratching of the vehicle, and provide a better seal against the flow of water.
The rails are secured to the truck using clamps. The preferred clamp includes a generally U-shaped brace and a bracket. The bracket includes a head which is slidably received by the slot in the rail. The brace is then placed around the bracket and a portion of the vehicle side wall. By tightening thumb screws, the side wall is secured between the brace and the bracket. The bracket is allowed to pivot slightly, allowing the bracket head to exert a downward force on the rail.
The crossbars can then be positioned. The crossbars are preferably hollow, and include a plastic tip telescopically inserted at each end. The plastic tip effectively allows a crossbar to be of a variable length. This is beneficial as truck bed dimensions may vary slightly from truck to truck. The plastic tip snaps on to the bracket portion of the clamp, securing the crossbar across the truck bed. The underside of the tip is recessed, and accepts a tang which extends upward from the bracket. This limits the torsional motion of the tip and thus of the crossbar.
A flexible tonneau cover is then stretched over the crossbars. Around its periphery, the cover includes a hook assembly. The hook assembly includes a bight which hooks about the channel in the rail. This secures the cover to the truck bed. To disengage the cover, the tonneau cover assembly includes a stripping member. The stripping member includes an outwardly projecting tab and a pin. The pin rests within the channel and contacts the bight. By pressing the tab, the pin forcibly ejects a portion of the hook assembly from the channel. The remainder of the hook assembly can then easily be peeled off of the rail.
A second preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a hook assembly with a stripping means attached thereto. The hook assembly includes a bight, and a finger-pull. The finger-pull extends beyond the periphery of the flexible cover. By pulling the finger-pull, a portion of the hook assembly disengages the rail. The cover can then be peeled off of the rail.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


There is provided a device, which comprises a storage unit configured to store a plurality of items relating to setting of a predetermined device and parameters associated with the plurality of items, a search unit configured to search the storage unit for at least one item that matches a keyword, and a setting screen generation unit configured to generate a setting screen for the setting of the at least one setting item searched by the search unit, using the parameters associated with the at least one item.

1. Technical Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to a device having a function of executing a setting operation using a keyword inputted by a user.
2. Related Art
In general, in order to print out documents generated on a device (e.g., a personal computer), a user operates the device to input printing parameters and to transmit a print instruction containing the printing parameters to a printing device (e.g., a multifunction product). If the user don't know how to set print parameters for printing out documents in a 2-in-1 page layout (where two pages of the document is printed in a sheet), the user opens a help screen and inputs a keyword to a keyword input field of the help screen to search for information on proper printing parameters for the 2-in-1 page layout.
From items displayed on the help screen as a search result, the user is able to select an item relating to the 2-in-1 page layout. When the user selects the item, a box representing instructions for setting of the printing parameter for the 2-in-1 page layout is displayed. By inputting the parameters in accordance with the displayed instructions, the user is able to achieve the printing in the 2-in-1 page layout.
However, names of items to be used as keywords may vary depending on device types. Therefore, there is a possibility that the user is unable to obtain a desirable search result even if the user inputted a keyword, which the user think appropriate, to the help screen.
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2004-145774 (hereafter, referred to as JP 2004-145774A) discloses a device (MFP; Multifunction Product) configured to have a table storing first information representing setting items which a setting screen for printing supports and second information representing words synonymous with the setting items in the first information. In the device disclosed in JP 2004-145774A, when the user inputs a keyword "2-in-1" to a keyword input screen, an item matching the keyword "2-in-1" is searched for from the second information, and "Layout" which is first information relating to the second information "2-in-1" is selected. Then, an item for displaying a setting screen for the "layout" is displayed together with other items for displaying other setting screens. By selecting the item "layout" from the displayed items, onscreen representation jumps to the setting screen including a setting item for the "layout". On this setting screen for the "layout", the user is allowed to set the setting parameter to the 2-in-1 page layout.
However, in the device disclosed in JP 2004-145774A, the keyword input screen is configured to only have links to setting screens (e.g., the setting screen for the "layout") which have been stored in advance in the device so that the onscreen representation can jump to a setting screen including a setting item corresponding to the inputted keyword. It should be noted that each setting screen includes a plurality of setting items corresponding to various types of keywords. Therefore, after the setting screen including the setting item corresponding to the keyword is displayed in response to the input of the keyword, the user needs to find out the setting item, which the user wants to set (i.e., corresponds to the inputted keyword), from the displayed setting screen. Such a user operation is inconvenient to the user.

Device and program for executing setting process


An extrusion line for producing plastics material profiles includes an extruder, a calibration station, and an additional piece of downstream equipment. A mold includes an internal cooling system having a branch for a coolant disposed inside the mold; wherein a coolant flow distribution is controllable.

To produce pipes, plastics material is melted in an extruder and pressed by a corresponding mould. In a subsequent calibration station, the outer diameter produced in this way is frozen and in water spray baths or full baths the heat is removed from the plastics material via the outer surface. In this case, all the heat must be conducted through the plastics material wall towards the outside, where it is then dissipated by cooling water. The cooling length is disproportionally increased as the pipe wall thickness increases, since the plastics material is a poor heat conductor. In addition, the temperature inside the pipe remains high for a long time and the plastics material has sufficient time to flow downwards owing to gravity. As a result, the pipe wall is always thinner in the upper region than in the lower region.
This process thus has two drawbacks as the pipe wall thickness increases. The cooling length is disproportionately increased and the plastics material flows down the inner wall, resulting in a non-uniform wall thickness distribution. To reduce these drawbacks, a plurality of systems for cooling pipe interiors are described in, for example EP 795 389. However, these systems are very limited in terms of their operation. Since the pipe is cooled both outside and inside, both the outer contour and the inner contour are frozen. If the melt in the centre of the pipe wall then solidifies owing to outward and inward heat dissipation, the severe volume reduction at the transition from the molten state to the solid state results in cavities. This risk increases with increasing pipe wall thicknesses.
JP 56-005 750 A describes a device for extruding plastics material profiles, to which device plasticised polymer melt can be fed and which comprises a plurality of annular conduits which are united to form a common melt conduit. Cooling conduits are arranged around these annular conduits.
DE 10 2005 031 747 A1 describes a method for the internal cooling of hollow plastics material profiles and an extruder for producing hollow plastics material profiles. In this case the internal cooling is achieved by conveying a cooling gas into the interior of the hollow profile, the cooling gas being produced in a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube.
DE 10 2007 050 291 describes a mould for additional cooling of the melt, in which mould the melt strand is divided into a plurality of substrands.
In terms of processing, for example owing to the division into a plurality of flow conduits (which may all be cooled), the above-mentioned solutions are difficult to handle and involve very high production costs and a considerably high level of complexity when maintaining and cleaning the flow conduits. In addition, the risk of the melt being able to mix with the coolant is very high, since the two flow chambers must be operated at very high internal pressures during extrusion operation and said chambers are separated from each other only by a simple steel surface seal.

Device and method for cooling plastic profiles


The present disclosure discloses an optical imaging system. The optical imaging system includes, sequentially along an optical axis from an object side to an image side: a first lens to a fourth lens. The first lens, the third lens, and the fourth lens each has a positive refractive power or a negative refractive power. The second lens has a positive refractive power, and an image-side surface of the second lens is a concave surface. An image-side surface of the fourth lens is a concave surface. An effective half-diameter DT11 of an object-side surface of the first lens, an effective half-diameter DT21 of an object-side surface of the second lens, an effective half-diameter DT32 of an image-side surface of the third lens, an effective half-diameter DT42 of the image-side surface of the fourth lens and an entrance pupil diameter EPD of the optical imaging system satisfy: (DT11+DT21+DT32+DT42)/EPD≤2.4.

With the development of chip technologies such as the charge-coupled device (CCD) or the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) element, their applications extend to fields such as infrared imaging, distance detection, and infrared recognition. At the same time, with the continuous development of portable electronic products, corresponding requirements have been put forward for miniaturization of the counterpart optical imaging systems.
Existing miniaturized optical imaging systems typically have large F-numbers, and a small amount of light admitted may result in poor imaging performance. Therefore, there is a need for an optical imaging system that has characteristics such as miniaturization, large aperture, and being capable of imaging based on the infrared band, in order to ensure the application of the optical imaging system in the fields such as detection and recognition.


A recording paper size discriminating structure is provided for discriminating a recording paper size of recording papers which are accommodated in a recording paper cassette which is detachably attached to an imaging apparatus. The recording papers are cut in a predetermined size. The structure is provided with a guide plate for identifying the accommodated recording papers, and sensors for detecting the guide plate. The guide plate is provided on the recording paper cassette and the sensors are disposed at the imaging apparatus.

The present invention relates to a recording paper size discriminating structure callable or discriminating the size of the recording paper contained in the recording paper cassette which is installed at a paper feeding portion or an imaging apparatus so that recording paper can be fed from the recording paper cassette to the image forming portion of the imaging apparatus to Form images on it.
Conventionally, an imaging apparatus such as a copy machine, a printer, a facsimile machine and the like are known which are characterized in that an image formation is carried out by use of plain paper being cut in a predetermined size.
In such an imaging apparatus, recording papers (plain papers) are usually contained or accommodated in a recording paper cassette so as to be piled up or stacked in it. Namely, the recording paper cassette is detachably installed at a paper feeding portion of the imaging apparatus. Recording paper is fed one by one from the recording paper cassette to an image forming portion of the imaging apparatus.
Recording papers are classified into a plurality of predetermined sizes. Therefore, a typical imaging apparatus is constituted in such a manner that a plurality of recording cassettes which are respectively made in the different sizes or recording papers can be simultaneously installed so as to correspond to these various recording paper sizes. Especially, this kind of constitution is essential for recent copy machines.
However, the recording paper cassettes are normally made to have the same outer configuration in order to mate with a common cassette coupling portion formed on the imaging apparatus. On the other hand, their inside spaces are partitioned exclusively for fitting any one of respective recording paper sizes.
For this reason, users need to prepare a significant number of recording paper cassettes equal to the number of recording paper sizes they intend to use. If they further want to use recording paper or a different size which has not been used, a recording paper cassette corresponding to this size needs to be newly prepared or added. As a result many recording paper cassettes suited for respective different recording paper sizes are required even though their outer configurations are the same which is unreasonable.
Moreover, in such an imaging apparatus equipped with a recording paper cassette, especially in the ease where a plurality of recording paper cassettes are simultaneously installed, it is necessary to discriminate currently usable recording paper sizes; i.e. recording paper sizes contained in the recording paper cassettes simultaneously installed in the imaging apparatus at that time, and feed recording paper of a designated size from Lie corresponding recording paper cassette.

Recording paper size discriminating structure


Methods for making cellulosic fiber webs using release aids containing one or more polyethers and one or more hydrophilic polymers. In at least one specific embodiment, a release aid having a first temperature can be applied to a drying surface having a second temperature. The second temperature can be greater than the first temperature. The release aid, in an aqueous solution that includes water and about 3 vol % of the release aid based on the total volume of the release aid and water, can have a cloud point greater than the first temperature and less than the second temperature at a pressure of 100 kPa. The method can also include adhering a cellulosic fiber web to the drying surface by contacting the cellulosic fiber web to the drying surface. The method can also include dislodging the cellulosic fiber web from the drying surface.

1. Field
Embodiments described generally relate to release aids and methods for making and using same. More particularly, the embodiments described relate to release aids containing one or more polyethers and one or more hydrophilic polymers for use in creping cellulosic fiber webs.
2. Description of the Related Art
The manufacture of paper is generally carried out by producing an aqueous slurry of cellulosic fibers and a variety of chemicals and subsequently removing most of the water to form a thin paper web. The structural integrity of the paper arises in large part from mechanical entanglement of the cellulosic fibers in the web and hydrogen bonds that form between the cellulosic fibers. With paper intended for use as tissue and towel products such as facial tissue, bathroom tissue, paper towels, and napkins, the level of structural integrity arising from the paper-making process conflicts somewhat with the degree of perceived softness that is necessary for consumer acceptance of such products.
The most common method for increasing the perceived softness of tissue and towel products is to "crepe" the paper. The creping action can impart a fine, rippled texture to the sheet, increase the bulk of the sheet, improve softness of the sheet, and/or improve absorbency of the sheet. Creping can be accomplished by adhering a moist, cellulosic paper web to a surface of a rotating thermal drum commonly known as a Yankee dryer that has been sprayed with a creping adhesive, generally in the form of an aqueous solution, emulsion, or dispersion. The surface of the Yankee dryer is continuously sprayed with the creping adhesive while the cellulosic web is applied and dried by hot air impinging on the exposed side of the paper and conductive heat is transferred from the drum. As the paper dries, hydrogen bonds form between the fibers creating a flat and dense web morphology. The paper is then scraped backwardly upon itself and off of the Yankee dryer by means of a flexible blade, called a "doctor" blade or a "creping" blade to provide a creped product. This creping process causes a substantial number of inter-fiber bonds to break, altering the physical-chemical characteristics of the web and increasing the perceived softness of the resulting creped product.
The art of obtaining good crepe quality relies on maintaining the proper level of adhesion between the paper web and the surface of the Yankee dryer. Inadequate adhesion can result in poor or non-existing creping or require lower speed operation due to slow drying, while excessive adhesion can lead to poor sheet quality or cause the sheet to break. Cellulosic webs that are insufficiently adhered to the Yankee dryer can impact the control of the web as it travels between the creping blade and the winder upon which a roll of the paper is being formed, causing problems in forming a uniform roll of paper. For example, a loose sheet between the creping blade and the roll can cause wrinkles, foldovers, and weaving of the edges of the sheet in the rolled-up paper, adversely affecting subsequent operations of paper manufacture. Release aids can alter the properties of the adhesive and further provide lubrication to the doctor blade, and influence the release of the paper web from the Yankee dryer, all of which can affect the properties of the creped product. Considerable effort has been spent trying to adjust the balance between the adhesion and the release of the web, while maintaining other conventional parameters that influence the creping process, such as web wetness and creping blade angle.
There is a need, therefore, for improved release aids that can provide more control over the adhesion/release balance of cellulosic fiber webs on the surface of the dryer and methods for making and using same.

Release aids with adjustable cloud points for creping processes


An ML-based method for conforming a target network to control requirements of a host network is provided. The method may include running a first digital scan of the host network and determining the host network's control requirements based on the first digital scan. The method may include identifying, based on the second digital scan, elements of the target network that violate the control requirements. The method may include generating a compliance report and/or an executable file. The compliance report may include a compatibility score of the target network vis-à-vis the host network, and a compatibility plan that includes steps which improve the compatibility score and conform the target network to the control requirements of the host network. The executable file, when executed at the target network, may execute the compatibility plan.

Entities running digital networks often utilize third party networks in conjunction with their own networks. For example, the entity may contract with a third party vendor to perform a service. Performance of the service may involve the third party's network running on, or in connection with, the entity's network.
The entity may have security or other control requirements and standards for its digital environment. When a third party's network is running on, or in connection with, the entity's network, the entity's environment may be jeopardized if the third party network does not comply with the control requirements of the entity network.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide systems and methods for determining the compliance of a target third party network with the control requirements of a host network. It would be further desirable to update the target network to conform to the control requirements.
Moreover, the control requirements and standards for the entity's digital environment are sometimes not known or readily available. It would be further desirable, therefore, for the systems and methods to autonomously determine the control requirements of the entity's digital environment prior to determining the compliance of the target network.

Systems and methods for bi-directional machine-learning (ML)-based network compatibility engine


A stent delivery catheter comprises a catheter body having a proximal end, a distal end, and a guidewire lumen extending from the distal end to at least part way between the proximal end and the distal end. A balloon is disposed over the catheter body near the distal end, and a stent is positioned over the balloon. The stent has a proximal end, a distal end, and a side opening between the proximal end and the distal end. A side sheath is coupled to the catheter body and has a proximal end, a distal end, and a guidewire lumen extending between the proximal end and the distal end. The proximal end of the side sheath is located between the proximal end of the catheter body and the balloon, and the side sheath exits out of the side opening of the stent.

As described in related U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/744,002 filed Nov. 4, 1996 (now abandoned); Ser. No. 09/007,265 filed Jan. 14, 1998, which issued on Apr. 3, 2001 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,429; Ser. No. 08/935,383 filed Sep. 23, 1997 (now abandoned); Ser. No. 60/088,301 filed Jun. 5, 1998, now expired; Ser. No. 09/663,111, filed Sep. 15, 2000, and Ser. No. 09/794,740, filed Feb. 26, 2001; and PCT Patent Application Publication No. WO 99/36002, filed Jan. 13, 1998; systems and methods have been developed for deploying a main stent in a main vessel at the intersection of a main vessel and a branch vessel. Further, a branch stent may optionally be positioned within a branch vessel through a side opening in the main stent. The complete disclosures of all these references are herein incorporated by reference.
When using multiple guidewires to introduce a catheter system through body lumens, one condition that may occur is known as "wire crossing". In such cases, the guidewires over which the catheter system is advanced intertwine within the guide catheter and vasculature. This condition may prevent the successful delivery of the catheter system by impeding its travel and, subsequently, the alignment of the stent's side opening with the ostium of the branch vessel.
This invention relates to other novel techniques and delivery systems for deploying stents at vessel intersections to permit the side opening to be aligned with the ostium of the branch vessel, among other features. Some embodiments are particularly directed toward managing the guidewires used to introduce the catheter systems to the region of interest. Some embodiments are also directed toward facilitating easy introduction and removal of catheter systems.

Short sleeve stent delivery catheter and methods


A process for manufacturing an electrical device, the process comprising the steps: providing a substrate; bringing a stamp into contact with the substrate whereby areas of the substrate contacted by the stamp have decreased wettability; and depositing a liquid comprising an electrically active material over areas of the substrate located between the areas of decreased wettability.

One class of electrical devices is opto-electrical devices that use an organic material for light emission (or detection in the case of photovoltaic cells and the like). The basic structure of these devices is a light emissive organic layer, for instance a film of a poly (p-phenylenevinylene) ("PPV") or polyfluorene, sandwiched between a cathode for injecting negative charge carriers (electrons) and an anode for injecting positive charge carriers (holes) into the organic layer. The electrons and holes combine in the organic layer generating photons. In WO90/13148 the organic light-emissive material is a polymer. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,507 the organic light-emissive material is of the class known as small molecule materials, such as (8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminium ("Alq3"). In a practical device one of the electrodes is transparent, to allow the photons to escape the device.
A typical organic light-emissive device ("OLED") is fabricated on a glass or plastic substrate coated with a transparent anode such as indium-tin-oxide ("ITO"). A layer of a thin film of at least one electroluminescent organic material covers the first electrode. Finally, a cathode covers the layer of electroluminescent organic material. The cathode is typically a metal or alloy and may comprise a single layer, such as aluminium, or a plurality of layers such as calcium and aluminium.
In operation, holes are injected into the device through the anode and electrons are injected into the device through the cathode. The holes and electrons combine in the organic electroluminescent layer to form an exciton which then undergoes radiative decay to give light (in light detecting devices this process essentially runs in reverse).
OLEDs can provide a particularly advantageous form of electro-optic display. They are bright, colourful, fast-switching, provide a wide viewing angle and are easy and cheap to fabricate on a variety of substrates. Organic (which here includes organometallic) LEDs may be fabricated using either polymers or small molecules in a range of colours (or in multi-coloured displays), depending upon the materials used. A typical OLED device comprises two layers of organic material, one of which is a layer of light emitting material such as a light emitting polymer (LEP), oligomer, dendrimer or a light emitting low molecular weight material, and the other of which is a conductive polymer layer, for example a layer of a hole transporting material such as a polythiophene derivative or a polyaniline derivative.
Organic LEDs may be deposited on a substrate in a matrix of pixels to form a single or multi-colour pixellated display. A multicoloured display may be constructed using groups of red, green, and blue emitting pixels. So-called active matrix displays have a memory element, typically a storage capacitor and a transistor, associated with each pixel whilst passive matrix displays have no such memory element and instead are repetitively scanned to give the impression of a steady image.
A number of different methods have been used to deposit the organic materials including vapour deposition and solution processing techniques such as spin-coating and inkjet printing.
FIG. 1 shows a vertical cross section through an example of an OLED device 100. In an active matrix display, part of the area of a pixel is occupied by associated drive circuitry (not shown in FIG. 1). The structure of the device is somewhat simplified for the purposes of illustration.
The OLED 100 comprises a substrate 102, typically 0.7 mm or 1.1 mm glass but optionally clear plastic, on which an anode layer 106 has been deposited. The anode layer typically comprises around 150 nm thickness of ITO (indium tin oxide), over which is provided a metal contact layer, typically around 500 nm of aluminium, sometimes referred to as anode metal. Glass substrates coated with ITO and contact metal may be purchased from Corning, USA. The contact metal (and optionally the ITO) is patterned as desired so that it does not obscure the display, by a conventional process of photolithography followed by etching.
An optional, substantially transparent hole transport layer 108a is provided over the anode metal, followed by an electroluminescent layer 108b. Banks 112 may be formed on the substrate, for example from positive or negative photoresist material, to define wells 114 into which these active organic layers may be selectively deposited, for example by a droplet deposition or inkjet printing technique. The wells thus define light emitting areas or pixels of the display.
A cathode layer 110 is then applied by, say, physical vapour deposition. The cathode layer typically comprises a low work function metal such as calcium or barium covered with a thicker, capping layer of aluminium and optionally including an additional layer immediately adjacent the electroluminescent layer, such as a layer of lithium fluoride, for improved electron energy level matching. In the case of a passive matrix device, mutual electrical isolation of cathode lines may be achieved through the use of cathode separators (element 302 of FIG. 3b). Typically a number of displays are fabricated on a single substrate and at the end of the fabrication process the substrate is scribed, and the displays separated. An encapsulant such as a glass sheet or a metal can is utilized to inhibit oxidation and moisture ingress.
In the case of a polymer-based OLED, layers 108 comprise a hole transport layer 108a and a light emitting polymer (LEP) electroluminescent layer 108b. The electroluminescent layer may comprise, for example, around 70 nm (dry) thickness of PPV (poly(p-phenylenevinylene)) and the hole transport layer, which helps match the hole energy levels of the anode layer and of the electroluminescent layer, may comprise, for example, around 50-200 nm, preferably around 150 nm (dry) thickness of PEDOT:PSS (polystyrene-sulphonate-doped polyethylene-dioxythiophene).
FIG. 2 shows a view from above (that is, not through the substrate) of a portion of a three-colour active matrix pixellated OLED display 200 after deposition of one of the active colour layers. The figure shows an array of banks 112 and wells 114 defining pixels of the display.
FIG. 3a shows a view from above of a substrate 300 for inkjet printing a passive matrix OLED display. FIG. 3b shows a cross-section through the substrate of FIG. 3a along line Y-Y′.
Referring to FIGS. 3a and 3b, in the case of a passive matrix display the substrate is provided with a plurality of cathode undercut separators 302 to separate adjacent cathode lines (which will be deposited in regions 304). A plurality of wells 308 are defined by banks 310, constructed around the perimeter of each well 308 and leaving an anode layer 306 exposed at the base of the well. The banks present a hydrophobic surface in order that they are not wetted by the solution of deposited organic material and thus assist in containing the deposited material within a well. This is achieved by treatment of a bank material such as polyimide with an O2/CF4 plasma as disclosed in EP 0989778. Alternatively, the plasma treatment step may be avoided by use of a fluorinated material such as a fluorinated polyimide as disclosed in WO 03/083960. It will be appreciated that cathode undercut separators are not necessary in the case of an active matrix display, for example, in which case any given pixel is activated by means of a transistor associated with said pixel.
As previously mentioned, the bank and (where present) separator structures may be formed from resist material, for example using a positive (or negative) resist for the banks and a negative (or positive) resist for the separators; both these resists may be based upon polyimide and spin coated onto the substrate, or a fluorinated or fluorinated-like photoresist may be employed. In the example shown the cathode separators are around 5 μm in height and approximately 20 μm wide. Banks are generally between 20 μm and 100 μm in width and in the example shown have a 4 μm taper at each edge (so that the banks are around 1 μm in height). The pixels of FIG. 3a are approximately 300 μm square but the size of a pixel can vary considerably, depending upon the intended application.
The deposition of material for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) using ink jet printing techniques are described in a number of documents including, for example: T. R. Hebner, C. C. Wu, D. Marcy, M. H. Lu and J. C. Sturm, "Ink-jet Printing of doped Polymers for Organic Light Emitting Devices", Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 72, No. 5, pp. 519-521, 1998; Y. Yang, "Review of Recent Progress on Polymer Electroluminescent Devices," SPIE Photonics West: Optoelectronics '98, Conf. 3279, San Jose, January, 1998; EP O 880 303; and "Ink-Jet Printing of Polymer Light-Emitting Devices", Paul C. Duineveld, Margreet M. de Kok, Michael Buechel, Aad H. Sempel, Kees A. H. Mutsaers, Peter van de Weijer, Ivo G. J. Camps, Ton J. M. van den Biggelaar, Jan-Eric J. M. Rubingh and Eliav I. Haskal, Organic Light-Emitting Materials and Devices V, Zakya H. Kafafi, Editor, Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 4464 (2002). Ink jet techniques can be used to deposit materials for both small molecule and polymer LEDs.
Inkjet printing has many advantages for the deposition of materials for molecular electronic devices but there are also some drawbacks associated with the technique. It has been found that dissolved molecular electronic material deposited into a well with shallow edges dries to form a film with a relatively thin edge. FIGS. 4a and 4b illustrate this process.
FIG. 4a shows a simplified cross section 400 through a well 308 filled with dissolved material 402, and FIG. 4b shows the same well after the material has dried to form a solid film 404. In this example the bank angle is approximately 15° and the bank height is approximately 1.5 μm. As can be seen a well is generally filled until it is brimming over. The solution 402 has a contact angle θc with the plasma treated bank material of typically between 30° and 40° for example around 35°; this is the angle the surface of the dissolved material 402 makes with the (bank) material it contacts, for example angle 402a in FIG. 4a. As the solvent evaporates the solution becomes more concentrated and the surface of the solution moves down the tapering face of a bank towards the substrate; pinning of the drying edge can occur at a point between the initially landed wet edge and the foot of the bank (base of the well) on the substrate. The result, shown in FIG. 4b, is that the film of dry material 404 can be very thin, for example of the order of 10 nm or less, in a region 404a where it meets the face of a bank. In practice drying is complicated by other effects such as the coffee ring-effect. With this effect because the thickness of solution is less at the edge of a drop than in the centre, as the edge dries the concentration of dissolved material there increases. Because the edge tends to be pinned solution then flows from the centre of the drop towards the edge to reduce the concentration gradient. This effect can result in dissolved material tending to be deposited in a ring rather than uniformly. The physics of the interactions of a drying solution with a surface are extremely complicated and a complete theory still awaits development.
A further problem with inkjet deposition arises when filling wells which are large compared with the size of an inkjet droplet. A typical droplet from an inkjet print head has a diameter of approximately of 30 μm in flight and the droplet grows to approximately 100 μm in diameter when it lands and wets out. However it is difficult to produce drops of, say 100 μm in diameter (in flight) from a print head.
Filling a well or pixel of a similar size to a drop presents little problem as when the drop lands it spreads out and fills the well. This is illustrated in FIG. 5a which shows a well 500 for a long thin pixel of a type which is typically used in a RGB (red green blue) display. In the example of FIG. 5a the pixel has a width of 50 μm and a length of 150 μm with 20 μm wide banks (giving a 70 μm pixel pitch and a 210 μm full colour pitch). Such a well can be filled by three 50 μm droplets 502a, b, c as shown. Referring now to FIG. 5b this shows a well 510 for a pixel which is approximately four times larger than each dimension giving a pixel width of approximately 200 μm, more suitable for applications such as a colour television. As can be seen from the figure, many droplets 512 are needed to fill such a pixel. In practice, these tend to coalesce to form a larger droplet 514 which tends not to properly fill corners of the pixel (although FIGS. 5a and 5b and idealised and, in practice, the corners are not generally as sharp as they are shown). One way around this problem is to over fill the well to an extent that the dissolved material is pushed into the corners. This can be achieved by using a large number of dilute droplets and a high barrier around the well. Techniques for depositing large volumes of liquid are described in WO03/065474, which describes the use of very high barriers (for examples at page 8 lines 8 to 20) to allow the wells to hold a large volume of liquid without the liquid overflowing to adjacent wells. However such structures cannot easily be formed by photolithography and instead a plastic substrate is embossed or injection moulded. It is also desirable to be able to fill a well using fewer (higher concentration) droplets as this enables, inter alia faster printing.
Another problem associated with ink jet printing of organic opto-electrical devices such as those discussed above is that in the resultant device, the organic hole injecting layer can extend beyond the overlying organic semi-conductive layer providing a shorting path between the cathode and the anode at an edge of the well. By shorting path, we mean a path through which current flows in preference to flowing through the light emissive material. This problem is exacerbated if the contact angle of the conductive organic composition with the bank material is too low. This problem is further exacerbated if the conductivity of the organic hole injecting layer is too high.
One solution to the aforementioned problem is to modify the bank structure by, for example, providing a stepped bank structure which increases the length of the shorting path, thus increasing the resistance of the path resulting in less shorting. Such a solution has been proposed by Seiko Epson. However, providing a more complex bank structure is expensive and increases the complexity of the manufacturing method for the device.
Embodiments of the present invention seek to solve the aforementioned problems. In particular, embodiments of the present invention seek to solve the problems associated with containing solution processed electrically active material within wells defined by banks, ensure that the wells are completely wetted-out by the solution, and solve the problems associated with non-uniform film formation and shorting. Embodiments of the present invention seek to solve these problems while providing a simple and inexpensive manufacturing method.

Electric devices and methods of manufaturing the same


An agitator capable of generating complex mixing motions is described. In some embodiments, an agitator in accordance with the present teachings includes a movable assembly that is suspended, via several resilient supports, from a frame. The movable assembly receives a vessel containing a material(s) to be agitated. The movable assembly advantageously includes spaced upper and lower plates having a rotatably-supported member disposed therebetween. The mass of the rotatably-supported member is asymmetrically distributed about its rotational axis. A drive force, such as a directed air flow, which may be used in conjunction with a belt drive mechanism, causes the rotatably-supported member to rotate. Due to the asymmetric mass distribution of the rotatably-supported member, force is non-uniformly applied to resilient supports such that, at any given time, some of such resilient supports are subjected to a compressive force while other resilient supports are placed under tension. The particular resilient supports that are subjected to the compressive force change as a function of the rotation of the rotatably-supported member, thereby placing the movable assembly in orbital motion and agitating the material(s) within the vessel disposed thereon.

It is often desirable to agitate/stir substances that are contained within a vessel. Such agitation is useful, for example, for increasing mass and heat transfer coefficients to promote chemical reaction, among other purposes.
Many different types of agitators are known. One type of widely-used agitator is an orbital shaker/agitator. Orbital shakers are used, primarily, for generating a vortex of material within a vessel. Such shakers typically comprise a platform moving in orbital fashion. Large-sized orbital shakers (e.g., platform size greater than about 20 centimeters) characteristically suffer from control and reliability problems. In particular, such shakers have a limited ability to withstand significant mechanical stresses that they receive due to the intense agitation of the relatively large platforms supporting massive loads. On the other hand, small-sized orbital shakers, which are used for agitating small vessels and microtiter plates, are difficult to implement as such shakers must generate very rapid movements with a small, controllable amplitude. Due to the aforementioned difficulties or limitations, orbital shakers tend to be rather expensive and unreliable.
Both large- and small-sized orbital shakers are often integrated into automated fluid handling systems. Such integration typically requires that the orbital shaker must include appropriate means for stopping the platform such that it comes to rest in a predefined position. Existing "robotic-friendly" shakers typically include a "home-position" sensor and related control circuitry to accomplish such a task. The sensor and circuitry increase the complexity of orbital shakers, thereby increasing the expense of and reliability problems with such devices.
In view of the foregoing, the art would benefit from an inexpensive and reliable agitation device capable of generating a vortex or other efficient mixing motions within a captive fluid in both large and small containers. It would be particularly desirable for such a device to be capable of returning to a home position when agitation stops.