The hybrid vehicle executes a diagnosis of a component related to exhaust qualities during a fuel-cut operation of the internal combustion engine and generates a fuel-cut request to execute the diagnosis. When the internal combustion engine is operated in an idle state, the hybrid vehicle feedback-controls a throttle valve opening (control parameter) such that an engine rotation speed is maintained at a target idle rotation speed, and learns a value corresponding to the control parameter as a learned value for controlling the idle operation in a state where the vehicle speed is not more than a learning permission vehicle speed and the internal combustion engine is operated in the idle state. The hybrid vehicle continues generation of the fuel-cut request until the learning of the idle operation control learned value is completed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a hybrid vehicle (HV) on which an internal combustion engine and a motor are mounted as drive sources.
2. Description of Related Art
A HV is capable of electric running and hybrid running. The electric running is a running in which the operation of an internal combustion engine is stopped and only the output of a motor is used. The hybrid running is a running in which the outputs of both of the internal combustion engine and the motor are used.
More specifically, the HV starts the engine to thereby start the hybrid running when "vehicle request power that changes according to an accelerator operation amount and a vehicle speed" becomes equal to or more than "an engine start power threshold value". In addition, the HV stops the operation of the engine and performs the electric running when the vehicle request power becomes equal to or less than an engine stop power threshold value during the hybrid running. That is, the HV performs the operation of the engine when the engine can be efficiently operated and/or when a sufficient vehicle driving force cannot be obtained only with the motor. On the other hand, the HV stops the operation of the engine when the engine cannot be efficiently operated and/or when the sufficient vehicle driving force can be obtained only with the motor (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-42561 (JP-2005-42561 A)). Thus, the HV intermittently operates the engine. That is, the HV executes "an intermittent operation of the engine".
The HV has an electric power storage device (e.g., a battery) that can supply electric power to the motor and can be charged. Further, in recent years, a plug-in HV has been developed. In the plug-in HV, the electric power storage device can be charged with electric power supplied from the outside of the vehicle. Hereinbelow, charging of the electric power storage device with the electric power supplied from the outside of the vehicle is referred to as "external charging".
When the external charging is performed, the electric power storage device is almost fully charged in many cases so that the remaining capacity of the electric power storage device is large. Consequently, the HV runs in an EV (Electric Vehicle) mode (CD mode: Charge Depleting mode) until the remaining capacity of the electric power storage device is reduced to a mode switching threshold value after the external charging. The EV mode is a mode in which the electric running has higher priority than the hybrid running. Thereafter, when the remaining capacity of the electric power storage device becomes equal to or smaller than the mode switching threshold value, the HV runs in an HV mode (CS mode: charge sustaining mode).
For example, in the EV mode, the engine start power threshold value and the engine stop power threshold value are set to be higher than those in the HV mode. Further, for example, an intermittent operation permission vehicle speed in the EV mode is set to be higher than that in the HV mode. The intermittent operation permission vehicle speed is a vehicle speed that permits the intermittent operation. Consequently, in the EV mode, there are cases where the operation of the engine is stopped even when the vehicle speed is considerably high.
As can be seen from the foregoing, in the HV, the frequency of non-operation of the engine is high. In addition, for example, in a case where, even when the operation of the engine is started especially in the EV mode, the engine is operated in an idle state (idle operation) because of the small vehicle request power, the operation of the engine is stopped at the time point at which the vehicle speed becomes equal to or lower than the intermittent operation permission vehicle speed. In the HV, there are cases where the idle operation of the engine is performed when a condition for a specific idle operation such as the idle operation for accelerating the warm-up of a catalyst or performing air conditioning of a vehicle compartment is satisfied.
There is available an ISC (idle speed control) system in which, when the engine is operated in the idle state, "a control parameter that adjusts the rotation speed of the engine (e.g., a throttle valve opening)" is feedback-controlled such that the rotation speed of the engine is maintained at a target idle rotation speed. In the ISC system, when the engine is operated in the idle state, a value corresponding to the control parameter is learned as an idle operation control learned value.
In a case where the engine provided with the ISC system is mounted on the HV, when the vehicle speed is higher than a predetermined learning permission vehicle speed, the learning of the idle operation control learned value is prohibited even when the engine is operated in the idle state. The learning of the idle operation control learned value is permitted only when the vehicle speed is not more than the predetermined learning permission vehicle speed. This is for executing the learning of the idle operation control learned value in the more stable idle operation state. The learning permission vehicle speed is lower than the above-described intermittent operation permission vehicle speed.
However, as described above, the frequency of start of the engine is low in the HV. In addition, even if the engine is started, it is rarely the case that the vehicle speed is reduced to the learning permission vehicle speed or lower while the engine maintains the idle operation state. This is because the vehicle request power in a case where the engine is operated in the idle state is less than the engine stop power threshold value, and hence the operation of the engine is stopped at the time point at which the vehicle speed becomes equal to or lower than the intermittent operation permission vehicle speed. As a result, in the HV, opportunity for learning of the idle operation control learned value is limited.


An undersea hydraulic coupling having a ring-shaped metal seal that is held in place between the female member body and a sleeve-shaped seal retainer is disclosed. The annular metal seal includes a lip or leg section which is clamped in place between the female member body and the seal retainer. A hollow portion of the seal extends radially inwardly from the lip portion of the seal and is expansible to form a fluid tight seal against the body of the male member. The hollow portion of the metal seal is preferably cylindrical in cross-section and is sufficiently flexible in response to fluid pressure to form a fluid tight seal between the female member, male member, and seal retainer.

1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates in general to hydraulic couplings, and specifically to hydraulic couplings used in undersea drilling and production applications. More particularly, this invention involves a hydraulic coupling having a hollow metal seal retained in the female member upon separation of the coupling members.
2. Description of the Related Art
Subsea hydraulic couplings are old in the art. The couplings generally consist of a male member and a female member with sealed passageways connected therebetween. The female member generally is a cylindrical body with a relatively large diameter longitudinal bore at one end and relatively small diameter longitudinal bore at the other. The small bore facilitates a connection to hydraulic lines, while the large bore seals and slidingly engages the male member of the coupling. The male member includes a cylindrical portion at one end having an outer diameter approximately equal to the diameter of the large bore of the female member of the coupling. The male member also includes a connection at its other end to facilitate connection to hydraulic lines. When the cylindrical portion of the male member is inserted into the large bore of the female member, according to various embodiments of the device, fluid flow is established between the male and female members. Couplings of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,859 to Robert E. Smith III, and other patents owned by National Coupling Company, Inc. of Stafford, Tex.
In undersea drilling and production applications, the male member of the coupling may be connected to a manifold plate or other securement at a subsea location at the inside or outside of the well bore. In many cases, the male members are positioned so that the end or leading face of each member faces up from the sea floor. The female members, which also may be secured to a manifold plate, are moved into position over the male members and then lowered onto the male members by a diver or subsea vehicle. When the female members are positioned on the male members, hydraulic fluid flow typically is from the female member to the male member of each coupling.
The male and female members typically have poppet valves which are spring biased to the closed position. The poppet valve typically includes a conical valve face which seats, in the closed positioned, against a valve seat in the coupling member. The poppet valve opens to allow fluid flow, and closes against the valve seat within the bore to arrest the flow. The valve may includes a valve actuator which may be a nose or stem extending from the apex of the valve face along the longitudinal axis of the poppet valve.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,859 shows a hollow metal seal in a coupling of the foregoing type. Fluid pressure in the coupling urges the inner circumference of the seal radially inwardly to seal with the male member. The seal is retained in the female member bore by a seal retainer, which may be a sleeve insertable into the female member bore or threaded to the female member to abut the metal seal.

Undersea hydraulic coupling with hollow metal seal


Disclosed is a bridge system and method for prefetching data to return to a read request from an agent. The bridge system includes at least one memory device including a counter indicating a number of prefetch operations to perform to prefetch all the requested data, a first buffer capable of storing prefetch requests, and a second buffer capable of storing read data. Control logic implemented in the bridge system includes means for queuing at least one prefetch operation in the first buffer while the counter is greater than zero. The control logic then executes a queued prefetch operation, subsequently receives the prefetched data, and stores the prefetched data in the second buffer. The stored prefetched data is returned to the requesting agent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for prefetching data within a bridge system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus is a high-performance expansion bus architecture that was designed to replace the traditional ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) bus. A processor bus master communicates with the PCI local bus and devices connected thereto via a PCI Bridge. This bridge provides a low latency path through which the processor may directly access PCI devices mapped anywhere in the memory or I/O address space. The bridge may optionally include such functions as data buffering/posting and PCI central functions such as arbitration. The architecture and operation of the PCI local bus is described in xe2x80x9cPCI Local Bus Specification,xe2x80x9d Revisions 2.0 (April, 1993) and Revision 2.1s, published by the PCI Special Interest Group, 5200 Elam Young Parkway, Hillsboro, Ore., which publication is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
A PCI to PCI bridge provides a connection path between two independent PCI local busses. The primary function of the bridge is to allow transactions between a master on one PCI bus and a target device on another PCI bus. The PCI Special Interest Group has published a specification on the architecture of a PCI to PCI bridge in xe2x80x9cPCI to PCI Bridge Architecture Specification,xe2x80x9d Revision 1.0 (Apr. 10, 1994), which publication is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. This specification defines the following terms and definitions:
initiating busxe2x80x94the master of a transaction that crosses a PCI to PCI bridge is said to reside on the initiating bus.
target busxe2x80x94the target of a transaction that crosses a PCI to PCI bridge is said to reside on the target bus.
primary interfacexe2x80x94the PCI interface of the PCI to PCI bridge that is connected to the PCI bus closest to the CPU is referred to as the primary PCI interface.
secondary interfacexe2x80x94the PCI interface of the PCI to PCI bridge that is connected to the PCI bus farthest from the CPU is referred to as the secondary PCI interface.
downstreamxe2x80x94transactions that are forwarded from the primary interface to the secondary interface of a PCI to PCI bridge are said to be flowing downstream.
upstreamxe2x80x94transactions forwarded from the secondary interface to the primary interface of a PCI to PCI bridge are said to be flowing upstream.
The basic transfer mechanism on a PCI bus is a burst. A burst is comprised of an address phase and one or more data phases. When a master or agent initiates a transaction, each potential bridge xe2x80x9csnoopsxe2x80x9d or reads the address of the requested transaction to determine if the address is within the range of addresses handled by the bridge. If the bridge determines that the requested transaction is within the bridge""s address range, then the bridge asserts a DEVSEL# on the bus to claim access to the transaction.
There are two types of write transactions, posted and non-posted. Posting means that the write transaction is captured by an intermediate agent, such as a PCI bridge, so that the transaction completes at the originating agent before it completes at the intended destination, e.g., the data is written to the target device. This allows the originating agent to proceed with the next transaction while the requested transaction is working its way to the ultimate destination. Thus, the master bus initiating a write operation may proceed to another transaction before the written data reaches the target recipient. Non-posted transactions reach their ultimate destination before completing at the originating device. With non-posted transactions, the master cannot proceed with other work until the transaction has completed at the ultimate destination.
All transactions that must complete on the destination bus, i.e., secondary bus, before completing on the primary bus may be completed as delayed transactions. With a delayed transaction, the master generates a transaction on the primary bus, which the bridge decodes. The bridge then ascertains the information needed to complete the request and terminates the request with a retry command back to the master. After receiving the retry, the master reissues the request until it completes. The bridge then completes the delayed read or write request at the target device, receives a delayed completion status from the target device, and returns the delayed completion status to the master that the request was completed. A PCI to PCI bridge may handle multiple delayed transactions.
With a delayed read request, the read request from the master is posted into a delayed transaction queue in the PCI to PCI bridge. The bridge uses the request to perform a read transaction on the target PCI bus and places the read data in its read data queue. When the master retries the operation, the PCI to PCI bridge satisfies the request for read data with data from its read data queue.
With a delayed write request, the PCI to PCI bridge captures both the address and the first word of data from the bus and terminates the request with a retry. The bridge then uses this information to write the word to the target on the target bus. After the write to the target has been completed when the master retries the write, the bridge will signal that it accepts the data with TRDY# thereby notifying the master that the write has completed.
The PCI specification provides that a certain ordering of operations must be preserved on bridges that handle multiple operations to prevent deadlock. These rules are on a per agent basis. Thus, for a particular agent communicating on a bus and across a PCI bridge, the agent""s reads should not pass their writes and a later posted write should not pass an earlier write. However, with current bridge architecture, only a single agent can communicate through the PCI bridge architecture at a time. If the PCI bridge is handling a delayed request operation and a request from another agent is attempted, then the PCI bridge will terminate the subsequent transaction from another agent with a retry command. Thus, a write operation from one agent that is delayed may delay read and write operations from other agents that communicate on the same bus and PCI bridge. Such delays are referred to as latency problems as one agent can delay the processing of transactions from other agents until the agent currently controlling the bus completes its operations. Further, with a delayed read request, a delayed read request from one agent must be completed before other agents can assert their delayed read requests.
Current systems attempt to achieve a balance between the desire for low latency between agents and high throughput for any given agent. High throughput is achieved by allowing longer burst transfers, i.e., the time an agent or master is on the bus. However, increasing burst transfers to improve throughput also increases latency because other agents must wait for the agent currently using the longer bursting to complete. Current systems employ a latency timer which is a clock that limits the amount of time any one agent can function as a master and control access to the bus. After the latency time expires, the master may be required to terminate its operation on the bus to allow another master agent to assert its transaction on the bus. In other words, the latency timer represents a minimum number of clocks guaranteed to the master. Although such a latency timer places an upper bound on latency, the timer may prematurely terminate a master""s tenure on the bus before the transaction terminates, thereby providing an upper bound on throughput.
One current method for reducing latency is the prefetch operation. Prefetch refers to the situation where a PCI bridge reads data from a target device in anticipation that the master agent will need the data. Prefetching reduces the latency of a burst read transaction because the bridge returns the data before the master actually requests the data, thereby reducing the time the master agent controls access to the bus to complete its requested operation. A prefetchable read transaction may be comprised of multiple prefetchable transactions. A prefetchable transaction will occur if the read request is a memory read within the prefetchable space, a memory read line, and memory read multiple. The amount of data prefetched depends on the type of transaction and the amount of free buffer space to buffer prefetched data.
Disconnect refers to a termination requested with or after data was transferred on the initial data phase when the target is unable to respond within the target subsequent latency requirement and, therefore, is temporarily unable to continue bursting. A disconnect may occur because the burst crosses a resource boundary or a resource conflict occurs. Disconnect differs from retry in that retry is always on the initial data phase, and no data transfers. Disconnect may also occur on the initial data phase because the target is not capable of doing a burst. In current PCI art, if a read is disconnected and another agent issues an intervening read request, then any prefetched data maintained in the PCI buffer for the disconnected agent is discarded. Thus, when the read disconnected agent retries the read request, the PCI bridge will have to again prefetch the data because any prefetched data that was not previously returned to the agent prior to the disconnect would have been discarded as a result of the intervening read request from another agent.
There is thus a need in the art for an improved bridge architecture to handle read/write transactions across a bridge from multiple agents.
Provided is an improved bridge system and method for prefetching data to return to a read request from an agent. The bridge system includes at least one memory device including a counter indicating a number of prefetch operations to perform to prefetch all the requested data, a first buffer capable of storing prefetch requests, and a second buffer capable of storing read data. Control logic implemented in the bridge system includes means for queuing at least one prefetch operation in the first buffer while the counter is greater than zero. The control logic then executes a queued prefetch operation, subsequently receives the prefetched data, and stores the prefetched data in the second buffer. The stored prefetched data is returned to the requesting agent.
In further embodiments, the requested data may be maintained in multiple tracks. In such case, the memory device includes a counter for each of the plurality of tracks including the requested data. Each counter indicates a number of prefetch operations to perform to prefetch all the requested data in the track corresponding to the counter. The control logic prefetches the data for each counter and stores the prefetched data in the second buffer.
In yet further embodiments, the bridge system prefetches data for multiple read requests from multiple agents. A counter is provided for each requesting agent and prefetch operations for the read requests from the multiple requesting agents are queued in separate queues. In this way, prefetch operations may be simultaneously queued for different requesting agents.
In still further embodiments, the bridge system prefetches data for multiple read requests from a single agent. A counter is provided for each of the multiple read requests from the single agent.
Preferred embodiments allow a bridge to prefetch all the data to service a read request in advance of returning the data by providing a counter indicating the number of prefetch operations that need to be performed. Latency times may be reduced because the bridge will return prefetched data from a buffer. In this way, requesting agents do not have to wait for the bridge to retrieve the data from the target device as requested data is returned from the buffer.
Moreover, with preferred embodiments, counters and read request queues may be provided for each requesting agent. With these structures, the bridge system may concurrently queue prefetch operations from different requesting agents to prefetch all the data for the read requests from different agents. The bridge may execute the queued prefetch operations for different agents using time division multiplexing to prefetch data across all requesting agents. This insures that the bridge system will have prefetched data to service agent read requests being time division multiplexed on the bus, thereby reducing latency across multiple requesting agents.

Method and system for perfetching data in a bridge system

International Business Machines Corporation


An aluminum oxide-based sintered object having excellent abrasion resistance includes .alpha.-aluminum oxide, a silicon compound and a tungsten compound, wherein the silicon compound and the tungsten compound are present in amounts based on starting amounts of SiC and W metal of from 5 to 40 mole % and from 0.5 to 25 mole %, respectively, based on the sintered object overall, with a W/SiC molar ratio of 4 or less, and in which particles of at least one of tungsten carbide and tungsten silicide having an average particle diameter of 0.5 .mu.m or less are dispersed as a crystalline phase.

Aluminum oxide is known as a material which is relatively inexpensive and has excellent abrasion resistance. Also known is a technique of further improving mechanical properties such as the abrasion resistance or the strength of aluminum oxide by incorporating second phase such as tungsten carbide, as disclosed in JP-B-43-7719, JP-B-56-24704, JP-B63-17789, JP-B-64-1430, JP-A-52-52910, JP-A-57-205368, JP-A-62-59567, JP-A-62-153159, JP-A-63-69749 and JP-A-3-290355 ("JP-B" and "JP-A" disclosed herein mean examined and unexamined Japanese patent publication, respectively).
However, materials obtained by merely incorporating tungsten carbide into aluminum oxide as in the above technique are defective in that the grain diameters thereof are so large that grains may fall off the materials during abrasion. In addition, the incorporation of tungsten carbide in an amount of 5 wt % or less does not produce a sufficient effect, but the incorporation of tungsten carbide in amounts of 5 wt % or more result only in impaired mechanical strength.
Although the cause of the above has not been elucidated, it is presumed, from investigations conducted by the present inventors, that the insufficient or adverse effect of the incorporation of tungsten carbide is attributable to weak interfacial bonding between the aluminum oxide and tungsten carbide and to insufficient size reduction for aluminum oxide particles.

Aluminum oxide-based sintered object and process for producing the same


A continuous seal type lithographic dampener is fitted with a one-piece metering roller which has a continuous surface coating of flame sprayed (as by plasma arc) chromium oxide particles providing a porous surface which is filled with a pore occluding sealer. The resulting cylindrical surface is than ground to a finish in the order of 20 to 30 micro inches. A finish coat of sealer is applied to the surface of the roller. The resultant metering roller is highly wear resistant and hydrophobic, having a surface energy in the order of 30 to 40 dynes/cm.

The dampener disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,938 has achieved wide acceptance, and has undergone evolvement during the past decade (as demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,935). However, it retains the essence of the direct continuous contact dampening process, in which the dampener form roller runs in continuous contact with the press form cylinder and the form (printing plate) thereon, and in which the metering roller runs in continuous pressure contact with the form roller, defining a downwardly and inwardly moving nip between the rollers.
In these dampeners the surface of the form roller is made of a compressible material while the surface of the standard metering roller is much more rigid. This standard metering roller is somewhat longer than the form roller and has developed to include a steel core, a plastic sleeve pressed onto the core, hard end collars that cap each end of the sleeve and end nuts securing the end collars in place. The sleeve diameter must be cut to within .+-.0.003 inch of the end collar diameters to ensure a relatively smooth transition between the surfaces. A pair of seal members are urged into contacting relationship with the radial end faces of the form roller and the circumference of each standard metering roller end collar. These seals, together with the nip and surface of each roller immediately above the nip, define a reservoir area into which dampening solution is supplied, the resulting pool being kept at a predetermined depth.
No attempt is made to prevent or minimize the transfer of ink from the inked plate onto the surfaces of the dampening form roller and, therethrough, the dampening metering roller. Indeed, having ink on both the form and metering roller is necessary for the dampening system to function properly. This is because the inked rollers facilitate the formation of the ink/fountain-solution emulsion in the reservoir area.
During printing, the emulsion is milled as it passes through the nip of the two rollers and passes, via the lower surface of the form roller, to the plate--the fountain solution portion of the emulsion wetting the hydrophilic non-image areas of the plate, the ink portion of the emulsion adhering the hydrophobic/oliophilic image areas of the plate.
If, for example, the metering roller working surface is to become hydrophilic for any reason--and thereby not carry any ink--the emulsion will not form properly in the reservoir area and the dampening system will tend to carry too much fountain solution to the plate. This condition leads to printing-quality problems such as washed out images and paper-feed problems caused by curled stock.
During operation of the dampening system the seals slowly wear, particularly the surfaces in contact with the ends of the form roller, and tend to move longitudinally inward toward the juncture of the end collars and the plastic sleeve. If this condition is not timely detected, the seals gradually move inward of the end collars and onto the working surface of the plastic sleeve. At this point, heat builds up and causes the plastic material to melt and form a groove. Once formed, the groove passes excessive amounts of fountain solution to the plate, causing poor print quality, paper curl, etc.
Damage to the ends of the plastic portion of the metering roller could be avoided if the full surface of the metering roller were made of a material similar to the wear resistant end collars. But, in order for the dampener to function properly, the roller would have to have surface characteristics similar to that of the plastic sleeve of the standard metering roller--i.e., hydrophobic.
In addition, because of the relatively soft nature of the plastic sleeve, it is susceptible to nicks and gouges when contacted by tools during adjustment of the dampener or when dropped on a hard surface during handling.
Various metering roller forms and finishes have been experimented with, but without success. For example, metering rollers coated entirely with ceramic, similar o that disclosed by Yokoyama et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,501, have been tried. But, because of the hydrophilic nature of finished plain ceramic, the needed ink/fountain-solution emulsion could not properly form, causing excessive amounts of fountain solution to be transferred to the plate. Metering rollers have also been produced from various types of plastic compounds, but, because the wear characteristics were poor, have also fail prematurely.


A method of ex-situ activation and dry passivation of supported noble metal catalysts including the steps of reducing in the presence of hydrogen and dry passivation by cooling in an inert atmosphere and exposing to air or by filling the pores of the catalyst with a low sulfur oil before exposing to air.

The present invention relates to methods for the ex-situ activation and passivation of catalysts. In particular, these methods relate to supported noble metal catalysts on meso-porous or zeolitic materials. These techniques also apply to all catalyst that absorb water and use supported noble metals.
In-situ nitrogen drying and hydrogen reduction of noble metal catalysts is sometimes difficult to implement in commercial plants. Catalysts must first be completely dried under inert gas (N2) and then the water partial pressure must be maintained at extremely low levels during hydrogen reduction to prevent damaging highly dispersed noble metals. Commercial plants have a variety of treat gas compositions and limits on minimum operating pressures and purge gas rates. Therefore, for large catalyst volumes, in-situ activation can last for weeks and the success relies heavily on accurate treat gas dew point measurements, which can be quite unreliable. Also, Nitrogen for drying is not always available and the large volumes needed for adequate drying may be prohibitively expensive to purchase.
Ex-situ reduction and dry passivation eliminate the need for extensive in-situ treatment. This reduces start-up time and eliminates the potential to damage noble metal dispersion during commercial in-situ reduction in the presence of moisture.
Currently, most noble metal catalysts are loaded into the reactor with the metal in the oxide form and then the noble metals are activated/reduced in-situ in the commercial unit. As mentioned above, in-situ activations can last for weeks and the presence of excessive moisture during reduction can significantly damage noble metal dispersion. For limited applications, the noble metals are activated ex-situ and the reduced catalyst is immediately immersed into excess oil, wax or liquids, in an inert atmosphere, to passivate the noble metals. However, catalysts immersed in excess liquid are very difficult to handle and impossible to load into most multi-bed reactors.

Ex-situ reduction and dry passivation of noble metal catalysts

Exxonmobil Research and Engineering Company


Electronic communication methods and systems for rating agents and allowing customers for select agents are provided. Exemplary systems include a communication server for connecting a user to a communication with a contact center, a presence system to determine status of one or more agents, a wait-time determination engine to determine a wait time for one or more agents present for the communication, an agent scoring system for determining a score for one or more agents present for the communication, and a routing engine to connect a selected agent to the communication.

Call or contact centers can be used for a variety of applications, including taking orders, providing technical support, taking surveys, receiving complaints, providing services, and the like. Contact center agents can communicate with others, such as customers, using a variety of communication techniques, including voice calls, video calls, chats, texts, emails, or other electronic communication techniques.
Traditionally, contact centers are located in facilities with specialized spaces and offices, along with the call agents and technical equipment to support the agents. This model has begun to change in recent years with cloud computation, increasing data transmission speed over the Internet, and increased quality of service and improved technologies, such as browser-based calling. With these new technologies, agents are able to perform most or all contact center functions using a single application. Further, such technologies allow for contact centers to be virtual, where agents can work remotely. The use of virtual contact centers can lead to significant cost savings, because the virtual cost centers do not require a separate facility.
Traditional contact centers, whether facility-based or virtual, tend to operate under very rigid guidelines. Agents are typically required to clock-in for certain hours for their shifts and must be available for their entire shift, outside of short breaks or lunch. Agents are paid for their shifts, regardless of how many interactions they handle during that time. Similarly, the customer who is calling into the contact center to get service has no control over which agent they would be connected with for the service. With increasing need for flexibility in working hours and more people desiring to work from home or remotely, agents often want more time flexibility in their jobs to manage work and personal life better.
However, use of virtual contact centers can have challenges associated with a remote workforce. For example, it may be difficult to keep agents that work remotely engaged and motivated. Further, there may be a desire for on-demand services of contact center agents to, for example, provide more power to its users (e.g., agents and customers) in the choices they are making while providing and availing themselves to such services. Accordingly, improved electronic communication systems and methods are desired.
Any discussion, including discussion of problems and solutions, set forth in this section has been included in this disclosure solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present disclosure, and should not be taken as an admission that any or all of the discussion was known at the time the invention was made or otherwise constitutes prior art.
It will be appreciated that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of illustrated embodiments of the present disclosure.

On-demand contact center electronic communication system and method


A system includes a robotic arm, an autosteroscopic display, a user image capture device, an image processor, and a controller. The robotic arm is coupled to a patient image capture device. The autostereoscopic display is configured to display an image of a surgical site obtained from the patient image capture device. The image processor is configured to identify a location of at least part of a user in an image obtained from the user image capture device. The controller is configured to, in a first mode, adjust a three dimensional aspect of the image displayed on autostereoscopic display based on the identified location, and, in a second mode, move the robotic arm or instrument based on a relationship between the identified location and the surgical site image.

Robotic surgical systems are increasingly being used in minimally invasive medical procedures. Typically, robotic surgical systems include a surgeon console located remote from one or more robotic arms to which surgical instruments and/or cameras are coupled. The surgeon console may be located on another side of the operating room from the robotic arms, in another room, or in another building, and includes input handles or other input devices for receiving inputs from a surgeon. The inputs are communicated to a central controller, which translates the inputs into commands for manipulating the robotic arms in the vicinity of a patient, for example, within a surgical site.
The surgeon console may include a stereoscopic display, sometimes referred to as a three-dimensional (3D) display. In this regard, in conjunction with a corresponding pair of stereoscopic eyeglasses worn by the surgeon, such displays facilitate depth perception in an image by presenting the image to the surgeon as a pair of distinct images separately provided to the left and right eyes, respectively. The pairs of images are created to replicate the effect of the offset between the left and right eyes, which results in a difference in what is seen in the display by each eye. The different images seen in the display by each eye are perceived as differences in the depths of the objects in the images. In some configurations, the stereoscopic display includes a film carefully aligned with the pixels of the display that, via the stereoscopic eyeglasses, enables certain pixel rows or columns to be visible by one eye and other pixel rows or columns to be visible by the other eye.
Although the above-described surgeon console and display scheme is adequate, it may be improved. In particular, with regard to viewing the surgical site via the stereoscopic eyeglasses and/or display, in many instances, each of the surgeon's eyes needs to be positioned in a specific location in order for the images to be perceived with minimal degradation. As such, the surgeon may be restricted as to his or her positioning within the console. Further, as some medical procedures may be relatively lengthy in duration, wearing stereoscopic eyeglasses and/or maintaining the restricted positioning within the console may cause discomfort for some surgeons.

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for controlling aspects of a robotic surgical device and viewer adaptive stereoscopic display


An expandable cassette for use with device to support a sheet that is fed into from a communication machinery. The expandable tray may include a first tray and a second tray mounted on the first sheet support so that the second tray can be rotated around a shaft that is attached to tray in the direction that paper is discharged from the image forming device. A third tray may be slidably mounted on the second tray in such a manner that the third tray is moveable back and forth along direction that paper is discharged from the image forming apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cassette for an image forming device used for supporting sheets fed to or sheets received from an electrophotographic apparatus (e.g. a printer, a laser beam printer, a facsimile machine, a complex image forming device, etc). In particular, the present invention relates to an expandable paper cassette.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a contemporary image forming device the sheets fed sequentially, one by one, by finger. A pick up roller loads paper from a sheet feeding tray, and transfers paper to feeding paper. Then, an image forming process occurs as the papers fed toward a sheet discharging roller. Once the sheets have passed through a sheet discharging, roller they are loaded on paper cassette. Thus, an image forming device may be designed to use one of a variety of paper cassette, also known as stackers. The dimensions of the stackers may have a great effect on the size and shape of the machinery.
Nowadays, the image forming machinery may include a folded type stacker of the size corresponding to the sheet size, conforming to a continuing trend toward miniaturized the machinery size. Furthermore, in a case of supporting the sheets fed, the stacker should be sized substantially equal to the sheet size. Thus, the general tendency of the stacker is to embody the stacker even in a smaller space than the sheet size. In a contemporary stacker, when the sheet is discharged using the machinery, the mounting space of the stacker has been minimized by the mounting of a 2 stage or 3 stage structure and forming a guide thereon, thus to "pull" and "push" (a sliding type) it However, this stacker has the problem that until the size of the stacker is equal to with, or lager that of the sheet positioned on the stacker, the stacker will not function properly. As a consequence, since the stacker has an effect on the entire size of the machinery, the substantial mounting space of the machinery should be widened. Examples of this contemporary practice are shown in Petechia (U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,234, Dual Mode Sheet Feeder, Nov. 12, 1996) which discusses a mode of operation in which two sheets are supported side by side. Alteratively, a single sheet feeder mounted movably in the sheet feeding apparatus may be employed to advance successive sheets from each of the stack of sheets. Suda (U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,9709, Image Forming Apparatus, Oct. 15, 1996) discusses a first accommodating cassette for accommodating sheets, and a second accommodating cassette arranged above the first accommodating cassette and adapted to accommodate sheets. A curl correction device causes sheets from different cassettes to bend in the same direction. Kato et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,928, Information Printing System Having Information Processing Apparatuses And Printer Including Printing Medium Cassettes, Apr. 30, 1996) discusses a printing paper cassette detachment inhibition mechanism unit inhibiting the detachment of the printing paper cassette when the printing paper in the printing paper cassette has been selected for use by one the hosts. A selected printing paper cassette display unit is provided on the laser beam printer and displays the selected printing paper cassette. Amman (U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,177, Sheet Stacking Apparatus, May 24, 1994) discusses a sheet stacking apparatus having a shutter mechanism. When these shutter downward and upward movements are repeatedly performed, stacking can be performed stably, and the sheets discharged from the lower bottom of the stacking safe can be collected in the upper portion of the stacking safe. Kitajima et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,386, Original Document Feeder, Oct. 20, 1992) discusses a document feeder with a first sheet path for guiding a document from the stacker, along wit the two other sheet paths. Docry (U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,447, Alternative Feeding Document Recirculation, Apr. 2, 1985) discusses separating the sheet of document sheets into two half-sets of alternate page document sheets, odd and even, and restacking the half-sets respectively in the two document trays. Upon the study of contemporary practice and art, I find that there is a need for an effective and improved stacking apparatus, especially the stacking apparatus with such mountings of sheet supports as in the present invention.

Expandable cassette for an electrophotographic device


A semiconductor integrated circuit such as an LSI circuit for use as a semiconductor static memory is fabricated on one chip and can handle signals on different interface levels. The semiconductor integrated circuit has ECL and CMOS input buffers which can be selected or simultaneously connected by a selector switch and ECL and CMOS output buffers which can be selected or simultaneously connected by a selector switch. The semiconductor integrated circuit with the selectively usable input and output buffers serves as either one of integrated circuits of different interface types. When the ECL input buffer and the CMOS output buffer are selected, an ECL-to-CMOS level converter and a sense amplifier may be implemented by one circuit block.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit, and more particularly to a semiconductor integrated circuit which is composed of an LSI circuit fabricated on one chip and capable of selective interfacing on different interface levels for an increased number of functions and a higher degree of circuit integration.
Description of the Related Art:
Recent semiconductor integrated circuit fabrication technology makes it possible to provide more than one million transistors on one chip due to advanced scaling down of MOS transistor device size. Bi-CMOS integrated circuits which are composed of bipolar devices and CMOS devices put together on one chip for combined characteristics thereof are finding wide use. Bi-CMOS integrated circuits may be combined with a high-speed ECL (Emitter-Coupled Logic) and a low-power CMOS circuit to realize a logic circuit which can operate at high speed and has low power requirements.
Efforts have been made to fabricate a high-speed, low-power semiconductor static memory using a Bi-CMOS integrated circuit. For example, Collected Papers C-699 of Lectures for Spring National Convention, Electronic Information Communications Society, 1990 show a semiconductor static memory comprising a Bi-CMOS integrated circuit as an LSI circuit. The disclosed semiconductor static memory uses, as input/output interface levels, an ECL level having a small logic amplitude of about 0.8 V and capable of transferring signals at high speed. Since the LSI circuit is a low-power CMOS integrated circuit, it is necessary to convert an input signal with ECL levels to a signal with CMOS levels whose logic amplitude is approximately equal to a power supply voltage.
Conventional semiconductor static memories, constructed as semiconductor integrated circuits, with ECL and CMOS interfaces are substantially identical in circuit arrangement except for those interfaces. However, since the semiconductor static memories are designed and manufactured as different integrated circuits, they cannot be designed and manufactured with efficiency.
Some high-performance computer systems require cache memories for an exchange of information between a CPU which operates at high speed with ECL levels and a main memory which comprises an inexpensive, large-capacity DRAM operating with CMOS levels or TTL levels. Therefore, the cache memories should transfer signals between different interface levels.

Semiconductor integrated circuit with selective interfacing on different interface levels


The present invention relates to use of an aluminosilicate particle for deodorization, wherein the aluminosilicate particle has the composition of: s M(1)xOy t M(2)2O.Al2O3 u SiO2 v RmQn w H2O, wherein M(1) is one or more members selected from the group consisting of Ag, Cu, Zn and Fe, M(2) is one or more members selected from the group consisting of Na, K and H, R is one or more members selected from the group consisting of Na, K, Ca and Mg, Q is one or more members selected from the group consisting of CO3, SO4, NO3, and Cl, s satisfies 0<s≦3, and t satisfies 0≦t≦3, with proviso that s+t is from 0.5 to 3, and u satisfies 0.5≦u≦6, v satisfies 0<v≦2, w satisfies w≧0, x satisfies 1≦x≦2, y satisfies 1≦y≦3, m satisfies 1≦m≦2, and n satisfies 1≦n≦3, and wherein the aluminosilicate particle has a specific surface area of 1 m2/g or more and less than 70 m2/g.

With the improvement of the living environment of recent years, there is an increasing desire of the removal of odor. Such odor includes, for example, an. alkaline odor from ammonia, amine or the like, an acidic odor from a lower fatty acid or the like, a sulfur-containing compound odor from a mercaptan or the like, and a neutral odor from an ester, a ketone, or an aldehyde or the like. It is important to remove a wide variety of these odors having different physical properties. As methods of removing foul odor, there have been known a masking method, an ozone oxidation method, a drug neutralization method, a microbial degradation method, an adsorption method and the like (see, for example, "Atarashii Shoshu/dasshuzai to Gijutsu no Tenbo—Amenithi Shakai heno Apurouchi—(New Deodorant and Prospect for Technology—Approach to Amenity Society," authored by ICS Co., Ltd., TORAY RESEARCH CENTER, Inc., published in September, 1994, p. 12-24).
However, each of the above-mentioned methods has some disadvantages. For example, the masking method cannot be said as a method of essentially removing an odor; ozone is handled in the ozone oxidation method, thereby necessitating that facilities be large-scaled; in the drug neutralization method, a substance to be treated is limited to a neutralizable substance, thereby making an odor to be treated by the method limited; and the microbial degradation method does not give an immediate effect. Further, these methods have a disadvantage in safety when applied to a human body.
On the other hand, the adsorption method is a convenient method of deodorization having an immediate effect and being highly safe. An activated carbon is widely used as an adsorbent. However, the method has some disadvantages that the activated carbon has low deodorizing ability against ammonia, and that cleanliness might be lost when applied to a human body because of its black color. White deodorants include zeolite and activated clay, but the deodorants fall shorter in their deodorizing ability than the activated carbon.
In addition, among the household foul odors, a sulfur-containing foul odor itself from a mercaptan or hydrogen sulfide has a very low threshold value, so that it is recognized as a strong foul odor even when contained in a very small amount. Especially, a foul odor component generated from excretions, kitchen garbage and the like is mostly occupied by the sulfur-containing foul odor. Therefore, one having a strong deodorizing power has been desired for these foul odors.


Phase locked loop circuits capable of increasing an equivalent capacitance thereof to improve stability are provided, in which an integral part comprises a first phase frequency detector providing a phase error signal, a first charge pump circuit generating a control signal according to the phase error signal, a controllable oscillator providing an output clock according to the control signal, and a sampling adjustment unit decreasing the number of times the control signal is updated according to the phase error signal. A proportional part is coupled between the controllable oscillator and a reference clock and operated in a fraction mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to phase locked loops (PLLs), and more particularly, to a phase locked loop capable of improving stability without greatly increasing chip area thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many different types of integrated circuits (IC) and non-integrated circuits employ clock generating circuits such as phase locked loops (PLL). Some examples of integrated circuits that employ clock generators include, but are not limited to, graphics processors, central processing units, microprocessors, and communication ICs or any other suitable IC that employs clock generators. In order to design a PLL having required characteristics (e.g. low phase noise), a loop filter in the PLL typically requires more than 10 nF of capacitance for stability of the PLL. However, a larger capacitance requires a larger chip area. Hence, there is a need to improve stability of PLLs without greatly increasing chip area.


A method for the active adjustment of the profile of a film produced with blown extrusion technology, a film obtained with such method and a reel resulting from the winding of the film.

The production of plastic film (commonly referred to as "film") suitable for flexible packaging, whether domestic or industrial, has been growing almost constantly for several decades, and together with an increase in the quantitative demand, the quality of the product is also in continuous evolution and specialization.
In particular, the vast majority of the most widespread and used films, especially in the industrial field (which naturally represent the majority consumption compared to domestic use), is currently produced with so-called "blown" extrusion lines, which exploit the well-known blown extrusion technology. This technology uses appropriately directed and thermoregulated air flows to cool and form the molten plastic ("melt") coming out of the extrusion die in the desired way.
The diffusion of this technology is a completely established and well-known fact all over the world, representing without any doubt the type of plant and technology with the greatest global diffusion.
There are also other technologies that lead to the production of plastic films for packaging, such as for example the so-called "cast" technology, in which the melt is cooled by contact with a rotating cylinder, cooled by a cooling fluid; apart from some specific well-defined markets, however, the blown technology is undoubtedly the most widely-used and common.
This widespread diffusion is certainly linked to the relative ease of use of the production lines, in addition to the considerable flexibility that they show from the point of view of the variety of products that can be extruded; last but not least, also the possibility of characterizing the film from the point of view of physical and mechanical properties, appropriately modulating the cooling process and film formation.
Above all this last feature represents the real strength of the blown technology, together with the intrinsic advantage of being a process subject to a very low percentage of waste (virtually zero under certain conditions, but also in the worst cases in the order of a few percent) and having a reduced energy consumption, and therefore a particularly high efficiency, when compared with alternative production technologies.
One of the very few, if not the only, difficulty or rather disadvantage of the blown technology relates to the adjustment precision of the transversal profile of the film produced which is relatively lower than the precision that can be obtained with other alternative technologies.
The cast technology, for example, thanks to the fact that it has a substantially direct relationship between the transverse dimension of the extruded melt and that of the final film (unless there is a shrinking effect at the exit of the die, commonly called "neck-in"), allows a precise and above all univocal regulation of the local thickness, which can be achieved by means of different systems. A mechanical adjustment of the profile of the same die is generally effected; this is made possible by the fact that the two "walls" of the extrusion die are basically independent of each other and therefore their relative position can be easily modified.
In the case of the blown technology, on the other hand, the only possible regulation is the so-called "centering" of the die, essentially consisting of a solid inner disk (so-called "male") and an external concentric ring (so-called "female"); the melt is passed into the meatus that is created between these two elements and therefore acquires the characteristic cylindrical or funnel-shaped form.
From what has been described, it is clear that the adjustment of the profile of the film produced with the blown technology can only correct "macro-defects" on a general level, in that, as already indicated, there is only the possibility of reaching (theoretically) the perfect concentricity between male and female. It is not possible, on the other hand, to locally correct any defect generated by possible problems of sliding or viscosity of the materials inside the die, a situation that is unfortunately common and frequent, especially in the case of "multipurpose" lines (i.e. in almost all cases).
The impossibility of correcting local profile defects leads, as an immediate and logical consequence, to the production of film reels characterized by the presence of so-called "cords", i.e. areas in which the thickness of the film is not homogeneous with the rest of the film, areas that can be either concave or convex, i.e. having both a greater and lesser thickness with respect to the average thickness of the film. In both cases, the presence of this localized inhomogeneity involves serious problems in the subsequent processings to which the vast majority of plastic films is generally subjected (coupling, printing, metallization, etc.).
Consequently, as the very concept of the blown technology does not allow the root of the problem to be solved, attempts have been made in the past to "bypass" the obstacle by intervening upstream of the same, i.e. trying to distribute the thickness defects over the whole width of the reel produced, so as to avoid the formation of the above-mentioned cords.
Rotating dies were therefore produced, which, by rotating around their own axis, provided a continuous distribution of local thickness defects over the whole width of the reel.
The arrival and subsequent rapid diffusion of the coextrusion technology, i.e. the simultaneous use of different extruders (typically from 3 to 11) for the production of multilayer films, having incomparably better characteristics with respect to single-layer films, led to the consequent excessive complication and lack of reliability of this solution, which was soon abandoned.
The application of so-called "oscillating drives" was subsequently adopted, i.e. systems in which the film, once formed, is rotated by means of a pair of "diagonal" bars which distribute systematic defects of the film thickness in the reel.
This solution is still universally used, but does not completely solve the problem: it has, in fact, great limits of applicability in the case of particularly sticky or particularly rigid films, as, in these cases, the rotation of said diagonal bars can very easily create wrinkles or folds that irreparably damage the quality of the reel.
More recently, the film profile was therefore adjusted by acting on the same in an active and non-passive manner, that is, by effectively adjusting its thickness; this solution, which is absolutely common today, is generally but not exclusively performed by means of a so-called "segmented disk" positioned below the outer cooling ring, which provides for cooling the outer part of the film.
Circumferentially to this disk, "n" segments are obtained, physically divided by metal sectors or any other material compatible with the boundary conditions. These segments regulate the quantity or temperature (or both parameters) of an air flow which therefore regulates the film thickness according to the values of the above-mentioned parameters.
Basically, taking as reference the possibility of adjusting the amount of air flow passing through the relative segment, the greater the air flow, the greater the cooling of the film locally will be guaranteed; consequently, the local thickness of the film will be greater than the rest of the film which, as it is warmer, will however have the possibility of being "stretched" in the machine direction and/or transversely, with the result that the final thickness decreases in the rest of the film.
This technology, together with the above-mentioned possibility of exploiting an oscillating drive for the distribution of errors in the reel, has led to obtaining a quality of the profile of the reel itself, if not yet comparable to that obtainable with the cast technology, at least adequate for the needs of the subsequent converting operations (coupling, printing, metallization, etc.).
As previously mentioned, however, the rotation of the oscillating drive is not always profitably applicable; the active adjustment of the profile consequently remains the only possibility for correcting thickness defects.
Even this solution, however, has known and evident limits, as the active adjustment of the profile acts on a cross-section of melt, variable according to the inflation ratio (so-called BUR or blow-up ratio); in particular, for blow-up ratios falling within the "normal" use of this kind of line, i.e. ranging from 2:1 to 4:1, the segment of the adjustment ring, typically but not necessarily having a size of around 25 mm, "expands" its working section, in fact, 2-4 times, with a consequent relative decrease in the resolution.
In other words, the segment necessarily acts on a portion of melt exiting from the extrusion die having a constant size, as already indicated, generally around 25 mm in width, but in the blown technology, it is absolutely normal, and in some cases necessary to improve the characteristics of the film, to effect a kind of orientation in a direction transverse to the motion of the film ("TD"), inflating the bubble until it acquires a diameter equal to 2-4 times the diameter of the starting die. It is therefore as if the single segment on which the adjustment of the profile acts were "stretched" transversely, physically increasing its size by a quantity equal to the BUR.
Consequently, even when applying all the expedients described above, the profile defects of films produced with the blown technology can in no case be completely eliminated, as they are intrinsic defects of the extrusion process itself, which, using polymer resins characterized by a "statistical distribution" of their physical-chemical characteristics, is in turn subject to this variability, which can in no way be determined and certainly not controlled.
Some examples of the above indicated methods for the active adjustment of the profile of monolayer or multilayer film, in an extrusion line with the blown technology, are disclosed in the following documents: EP 2 514 580 A2, DE 100 29 175 A1, DE 42 18 996 A1, GB 2 243 573 A, JP 2004 122435 A, JP 2005 254647 A.

Method for adjusting the profile of a film in blown extrusion lines, adjusted film and reel


The present invention provides an interchangeable clock and clock kits for making an interchangeable wall clock that has the appearance of being a free-standing floor clock. The interchangeable wall clock includes a mounting member, an interchangeable main body portion extending from the mounting member, a clock unit, and a base member. The main body portion is connected to the mounting member and the base member with a quick-release connection mechanism to facilitate easy interchangeability. Interchangeable façades are provided for the mounting member, the base member and the clock-face substrate of the clock unit. The clock kit contains various combinations of the above-described components of the interchangeable wall clock.

Long-case clocks and tall-case clocks are historically known as floor clocks, and are commonly referred to as grandfather clocks by general consumers and horologists alike. "Grandmother clocks" are also floor clocks, but are typically shorter than 77″ and are often made in a cherry finish. "Granddaughter clocks" are an even shorter member of the grandfather clock family.
Long-case clocks were first produced circa 1660 in England, driven by the 1657 invention of the long pendulum that required a long case. Thus, the pendulum that created a breakthrough in time keeping accuracy also introduced a new and unique form of furniture. The earliest long-case clocks were made in London for royalty or nobility, and these early clocks were both esthetically pleasing and horologically desirable. Each long-case clock component typically holds reliable indicia of the era in which the clock was originally designed to be as appealing as possible to its initial owner, in accord with the trends for the furniture, fabrics, porcelains and silver of that time. Fine clocks crafted by the most noted makers from 1660–1730 are now around 300 years old, and clocks made by early pioneers such as Tompion and Knibb commonly sell today for well over $500,000.
Over time, the production of long-case clocks expanded, and such clocks became more widely available as manufacturers found ways to reduce the cost of long-case clocks to meet a wider market. Today, younger clocks typically have lower prices than their older counterparts. Still, grandfather clocks are expensive furnishings and are often referred to as an "investment piece" or an "heirloom" piece.
Grandfather clock cabinets are crafted from fine hardwoods with a variety of finishes and veneers including oak (Yorkshire and Golden), cherry (heirloom, Merlot, Shaker, Windsor, Americana, Hampton), mahogany, walnut, carved shell overlays, glossy lacquers, antiqued, satin and metallic finishes. The clock faces can be metal-cast, pressed, carved or otherwise formed from a variety of materials and decorated with embellishments, while clock hardware, pendulums, and other essential components are made from brass, nickel and other suitable metals. Despite the fact that the costs of grandfather clocks have fallen such that they are no longer reserved solely for an elite noble class, long-case clocks typically cost between $700 and $10,000, with an average cost of about $3000.
One available option is to purchase a grandfather clock kit that includes all the parts from which the owner can assemble a long-case clock. The kits are designed for all levels of skill, from sets of plans that merely contain detailed descriptions of how to make a clock from scratch to kits that include all of the pieces required for complete assembly, including pre-cut moldings and glass, and that usually only require a screwdriver or wood glue to complete. Even the kits designed for the less skilled hobbyist include an extensive number of parts, however, and the kits can be contained in as many as five or six separate cartons. Further, while some grandfather clock kits offer a more affordable alternative to pre-assembled long-case clocks, many kits can cost as much as, or even more than, pre-assembled long-case clocks themselves. For example, while some grandfather clock kits cost as little as $500, others can cost as much as $2500.
Grandfather clocks typically measure between 78 and 95 inches tall, 15–40 inches wide and 10–15 inches deep. The size, substantial weight, and relative delicacy of the horological components (i.e., working clock parts) limit the ability to rearrange grandfather clocks. Once the clock is positioned in a room, it is difficult to reposition. Moreover, most people find it desirable for the design elements of the clock to harmonize with the style and design elements of the room in which it is featured. If an owner intends to refurbish a room while retaining the presence and position of the clock, the design elements of the clock may play a greater role in, or even dictate, the room redesign scheme.
That is, while the style and classic beauty of grandfather clocks are indeed timeless, today's decorating and interior design trends demand more flexibility, even from the design elements themselves. While sofas or chairs can be reupholstered and tables refinished, however, an heirloom piece like a long-case grandfather clock is designed to remain unchanged by the trends of time. Yet a long-case clock can still be a stunning design element even among the trendiest of contemporary styles.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an adaptable, affordable horological design element that could be featured in a room in the same manner as a traditional long-case clock, but which could also be easily moved to a different location within a room or to another room. It would be desirable to provide a wall clock having the appearance of a free-standing long-case clock, that has adaptable features that allow owners to change the overall appearance of the clock based on their personal design needs, and that offers the interchangeable design flexibility of providing timeless elegance or trendy style. It would also be desirable to provide a clock that could be assembled or disassembled from few pieces in a few quick and easy steps for storage, transport, sales presentation or shipping purposes. Further, it would be desirable to provide an interchangeable clock having the appearance of a free-standing floor clock that is available as a kit including one, two or more different design element options. It would also be desirable to provide other accessory kits to offer extended design options beyond the basic kit selections.

Interchangeable clock having the appearance of a floor clock and kits for providing same


There is provided a method of generating a control strategy based on at least three switching states of a matrix converter. The at least three switching states are selected based on at least a predicted output current, associated with each switching state, and a desired output current. In particular, mathematical transformations of a desired output current as well as output currents associated with each of a plurality of switching states are used to identify appropriate switching states.

A matrix converter is typically a single stage AC-AC converter that uses an array of switches to convert a first AC signal (of any number of phases) to a second AC signal (of any number of phases) with arbitrary magnitude and frequency. One advantage of a matrix converter is that it does not need any large energy storage elements.
Typical matrix converters require each switch in the array of switches to be a bidirectional switch capable of blocking voltage and conducting current in both directions. A two-diode two-transistor bidirectional switch is a known method of independently controlling the direction of the current within a matrix converter.
One known modulation technique for a matrix converter uses Space Vector Modulation (SVM) to perform modulation of the first AC signal. Several SVM techniques are known to those skilled in the art, such as three-zero, two-zero and one-zero methods.
An example of a matrix converter and an SVM technique may be understood with reference to EP 1311057 A1.

Matrix converter control using predicted output current


A portable electronic device having an enclosure having a top wall, a bottom wall, at least one sidewall connecting the top wall to the bottom wall, an acoustic output opening and a back volume defined by the top wall, the bottom wall and the at least one sidewall. A speaker driver is positioned within the enclosure, the speaker driver including a sound radiating surface having a top face and a bottom face for emitting sound waves therefrom. A frame member is attached to the speaker driver, the frame member forming a front volume chamber acoustically coupling the top face of the sound radiating surface to the acoustic output opening and a back volume chamber that overlaps a side of the speaker drive and acoustically couples the bottom face of the sound radiating surface to the back volume.

In modern consumer electronics, audio capability is playing an increasingly larger role as improvements in digital audio signal processing and audio content delivery continue to happen. There is a range of consumer electronics devices that are not dedicated or specialized audio playback devices, yet can benefit from improved audio performance. For instance, smart phones are ubiquitous. These devices, however, do not have sufficient space to house high fidelity speakers. This is also true for portable personal computers such as laptop, notebook, and tablet computers, and, to a lesser extent, desktop personal computers and low profile television sets with built-in speakers. Such devices may require speaker enclosures or boxes that have a significant front volume, the space through a duct or channel in which sound from the front face of the driver diaphragm travels to an acoustic output port of the device. This may allow the driver to be set further rearward from the exit port of the enclosure. The speaker box also defines a back volume, the space within the enclosure that is open to the rear face of the diaphragm. The back volume in such a device is relatively small compared to, for instance, stand alone high fidelity speakers and dedicated digital music systems for handheld media players. In small back volume speaker boxes, improvements in low frequency performance are difficult to achieve since the air inside the box is confined to a small space which in turn may reduce the compliance of the driver. In addition, a large front volume tends to reduce the quality of sound output from the device.

Speaker with a large volume chamber and a smaller volume chamber


A service station for a pen that incldues a treadmill belt that has an outer surface and an inner surface and a pen cap positioned on the outer surface of the treadmill belt, wherein the pen cap is positioend between the treadmill belt and the pen. THe service statin further including two rollers upon which the treadmill belt is mounted, wherein the two rollers contact the inner surface of the treatmill belt for driving the treadmill belt. In addition, there is no device positioned between the two rolelrs that engages the inner surface of the treadmill belt so as to move the outer surface toward the pen. THe service statino further includes a drive axle coupled to one of the rollers and a mechanism for switching a direction of travel of the treadmill belt.

Thermal inkjet (TIJ) printers are now commonly found in homes and offices. TIJ printers offer good print quality at a very affordable price. TIJ printers employ pens to apply ink to paper or other printing medium. For example, a black pen is provided for printing black ink. Similarly, a multi-color pen is utilized to apply color inks to a paper. Each pen typically includes a cavity for holding the ink and a nib for delivering the ink. The nib holds a print head, which is typically made of a silicon material that controls the delivery of the ink. The print head includes hundreds of orifices through which ink is delivered.
Some orifices are fired very frequently. Other orifices are fired very infrequently. In any case, inkjet pens require frequent wiping to remove excess ink from the orifices and to prevent ink depositions from hardening in or around the orifices. As can be appreciated, hardened ink deposits can cause the orifices to clog or jam, thereby adversely affecting print quality.
Currently, some thermal inkjet (TIJ) printers include a sub-assembly that is often referred to as a "service station" for maintaining the TIJ pens. The service station maintains the pens by wiping excess ink from the orifice, thereby increasing the life of the pens and enhancing the performance of the pens.
Multi-Pass Printer with Stationary Service Station
FIG. 1 illustrates a first type of prior art multi-pass TIJ printer where the service station is stationary, and the carriage moves with respect to the stationary service station. The multi-pass printer has nozzles that are positioned in a first orientation 110. The first orientation 110 is generally parallel to the direction of carriage motion. The black ink firing nozzles 114 are arranged generally in a single horizontal band. Similarly, the color ink firing nozzles 118 are arranged generally in horizontal bands stack upon each other with each band having nozzles for a particular color (e.g., cyan, magenta and yellow). This type of printer requires multiple passes to complete a printing job.
A piece of paper is fed through a paper path in the printer. A feed roller and other rollers are driven by a plurality of gear trains that are driven by a paper path DC motor. A carriage moves generally in the directions shown and is driven by a carriage DC motor. A linear encoder is also provided for controlling the movement of the carriage. The carriage includes a plurality of pens that deposit ink onto the paper. A stationary service station is provided for maintaining the pens. Maintenance of the pens involves periodically wiping the pens and capping the pens when the pens are not in use.
For these printers, the motion required for wiping and capping the pens is parallel to the direction of the pen movement on the carriage. These TIJ printers (e.g., Lexmark brand TIJ printers) use the motion of the pens across the paper, which is driven by the carriage DC motor, and a stationary service station to service the pens.
At the end of a print job, the pens move to the far right side of the printer, where the pens hit a lever that moves the caps into place. When a new print job starts, the pens are moved to the extreme left of the printer. The start of this movement releases the capping switch and lowers the caps halfway, thereby bringing the wipers into position. As the pens continue their motion, the orifices are wiped. After the final wiping motion is completed, the pen motion pulls the wipers into a "rest" position that does not interfere with the normal operation of the carriage.
One disadvantage of these types of printers is the speed at which pages are printed, which is typically measured by the number of pages per minute. As can be appreciated, multi-pass type printers typically take a longer time to print pages than a single-pass printer that is described in greater detail hereinafter. Consequently, as the demand for printers that have faster printing speeds increases, the demand for single-pass printers increases proportionately.
One benefit of a stationary service station is that the arrangement is relatively cost-effective. Unfortunately, this type of arrangement for pen servicing and maintenance is not suitable for single-pass printers for the reasons set forth hereinafter.
Single-Pass Printer with Moving Service Station
FIG. 2 illustrates a second type of prior art single-pass TIJ printer where a dedicated motor controls the movement of the service station. The single-pass printer (also referred to as a complete swath printer) has nozzles that are positioned in an second orientation 120 that is generally perpendicular to the direction of carriage motion, thereby enabling all the different color nozzles to fire simultaneously. The black ink firing nozzles 124 are arranged generally in a single vertical band. Similarly, the color ink firing nozzles 128 are arranged generally in vertical bands that are arranged adjacent to with each other with each vertical band having nozzles for a particular color (e.g., cyan, magenta and yellow). Examples of this type of TIJ printer include the Hewlett-Packard 800 and 900 series.
For these printers, motion of a service station (e.g., the service station pallet) is required to perform the pen-servicing operations. This motion is achieved by using a stepper motor to maneuver the entire service station assembly.
For multiple colors, the wiping function performed by the service station has an additional complication. This complication is that the service station needs to be moved in a particular manner with respect to the firing nozzles in order to prevent cross-contamination of the ink.
In color printers, if the wiper crosses from cyan to magenta to yellow, the color inks contaminate each other. In other words, when one wiper blade services multiple colors, and a particular portion of the wiper (e.g., a particular wiper surface) is passed over firing nozzles of different colors, the ink supplies are contaminated.
When the wiping motion runs along a single color without crossing different color boundaries (i.e., a particular portion of the wiper passes over firing nozzles of a single color), then the inks do not contaminate each other. Consequently, it is important in the design of the service station that the direction of the wipe is ensured to be along the same direction as the placement of the firing nozzles of the print head.
Additionally, perpendicular TIJ printers provide an isolated space for the spittoon and move that spittoon into position. The isolation keeps the excess ink away from the other contents of the printer.
It is noted that the Hewlett-Packard type of single-pass printers utilize a platform, a separate dedicated motor to drive the platform, and one or more gear trains for transferring the motion of the motor to the platform. These components are needed to cause the wiper blades that are mounted on the platform to perform the maintenance functions of the service station. As can be appreciated, these components increase the weight, cost, and complexity of the printer.
As the costs of printers decreases and the competition in the thermal inkjet printer market increases, there is a constant demand for designs for the various sub-assemblies that can reduce the number of parts needed for a particular sub-assembly and hence reduce the costs associated with manufacturing the printer.
Consequently, it is desirable for there to be a service station that performs the wiping and cleaning functions of prior art service station while at the same time reducing the part count and costs associated with the manufacture of the service station.
Based on the foregoing, there remains a need for pen maintenance method and system for thermal inkjet printers that overcomes the disadvantages set forth previously.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system of capping that employs a treadmill belt


In this process for the production of gaseous oxygen under pressure by air distillation in a double column, pumping liquid oxygen withdrawn at the bottom of the low pressure column, and vaporization of compressed liquid oxygen by heat exchange with air at high pressure, all the air to be distilled is compressed at the high air pressure, followed by expanding, at the pressure of the mean pressure column, the excess fraction of this air in a turbine which is decelerated by means of an air booster, and at least one liquid product is withdrawn from the apparatus.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process and an apparatus for the production of gaseous oxygen at high pressure by distillation or air in a double column apparatus comprising a low pressure column and a mean pressure column. The process includes pumping of liquid oxygen withdrawn at the bottom of the low pressure column, and vaporization of the liquid oxygen which is compressed by heat exchange, in a heat exchange line, with air brought to high pressure which is substantially higher than the pressure of the mean pressure column.
The pressures which are maintained below are absolute pressures. The pressures of the mean pressure column and of the low pressure column will hereinafter be called "mean pressure" and "low pressure" respectively.
Processes of this type, known as "pump" processes, render gaseous oxygen compressors unnecessary. To reduce energy expenditure, it is necessary to vaporize a considerable amount of oxygen, of the order of 1.5 times the flow of oxygen to be vaporized, until the pressure achieved is sufficient to liquefy compressed air in counter-current heat exchange.
It is known that the energy expenditure of apparatuses of this type is only lower or equal to that of the apparatuses provided with an oxygen compressor for oxygen vaporization pressures lower than about 10 bars. This energy expenditure progressively increases with pressure. Moreover, in applications where the energy expenditure is acceptable, the usual technology utilizes two compressors mounted in series, the second one treating only the fraction of air intended to vaporize liquid oxygen, which considerably increases the cost of the apparatus.

Process and apparatus for the production of gaseous oxygen under pressure

L'Air Liquide, Societe Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude


A composite cathode active material for a lithium battery including: a lithium composite oxide; and a coating layer including a metal oxide and a lithium fluoride, (LiF) wherein the coating layer is disposed on at least a portion of a surface of the lithium composite oxide.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a composite cathode active material for a lithium battery, a cathode for a lithium battery including the composite cathode active material, and a lithium battery including the cathode.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lithium batteries have been used as a power supply for operating vehicles as well as portable electronic devices, and thus efforts have been made to improve the capacity of the lithium battery. Also, as various devices have become more complex and perform multiple functions, the demand for increasing a voltage of a lithium battery which is used as an energy source of a device has increased. The demand to reduce the size and weight of the lithium battery has also increased.
In order to manufacture a lithium battery having increased voltage, as well as decreased size and weight, it would be desirable to have a cathode active material having improved cycle characteristics and rate capability.

Composite cathode active material for lithium battery, cathode for lithium battery including the same, and lithium battery including the cathode


Provided is a tunable external cavity laser diode using a variable optical deflector wherein the variable optical deflector, in which a refractive index varies according to an electrical signal, is arranged in a triangular shape between a concave diffraction grating and a reflective mirror. Since a resonant frequency is changed using the electrical signal rather than the mechanical movement, the stable operation and continuous high-speed tenability may be enabled. In addition, when the tunable external cavity laser diode according to the present invention is implemented in an InP/InGaAsP/InP slab waveguide, a variable time determined by the carrier lifetime may be reduced to several nanoseconds or less, the miniaturization is enabled, and the manufacturing costs are significantly reduced due to the process simplification. Moreover, when the concave diffraction grating is designed based on a silica (or polymer) based slab waveguide, the fabrication may be performed even by a lithography process having low resolution, thereby enhancing reproducibility and uniformity of the diffraction grating, and accordingly reducing the manufacturing costs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tunable external cavity laser diode and, more specifically, to a tunable external cavity laser diode using a variable optical deflector in which a refractive index varies according to an electrical signal.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In general, an external cavity is used to convert light of a single wavelength emitted from a light source such as a laser diode having a predetermined bandwidth to light of a specific wavelength. A Littman-Metcalf configuration and a Littrow configuration are typical external cavity configurations, and the method of converting into the light of a specific wavelength is applied to dye laser technology or optical characteristic measuring technology widely used in researches of spectroscopy.
FIG. 1 is a structure diagram illustrating a conventional Littman-Metcalf external cavity.
The Littman-Metcalf external cavity is composed of a lens 11 parallelizing a beam generated from a laser diode 10 having a wide wavelength range, a diffraction grating 12 for diffracting the parallel beam, and a reflective mirror 13 for reflecting the diffracted beam.
When the beam is generated from the laser diode 10, the beam is gathered in parallel through the lens 11, and the parallel beam is diffracted toward the reflective mirror 13 by the diffraction grating 12. An angle of the reflective mirror 13 facing the diffraction grating 12 is adjusted by an apparatus (not shown), so that only the light of a specific wavelength, which is incident perpendicular to the reflective mirror 13, among the incident light may be reflected to the diffracted grating 12 by the reflective mirror 13. The beam returned to the diffraction grating 12 is diffracted again by the diffraction grating 12 and goes back to the laser diode 10 through the lens 11.
While the beam having a predetermined wavelength 15a is incident perpendicular to the reflective mirror 13 to be reflected to the diffraction grating 12, When the reflective mirror 13 is rotated to be located at a reflective mirror 13′, the beam having another wavelength 15b is incident perpendicular to the reflective mirror 13′ to be reflected to the diffraction grating 12. Therefore, the wavelength of the beam returning to the laser diode 10 varies according to an arrangement angle of the reflective mirror 13. With this principle, the wavelength varies according to an angle of the reflective mirror 13.
As illustrated above, the Littman-Metcalf external cavity laser diode varies a wavelength by adjusting the angle of the reflective mirror, while the Littrow external cavity laser diode varies a wavelength by adjusting an angle of the diffraction grating.
FIG. 2 is a structure diagram illustrating a conventional Littrow external cavity.
The Littrow external cavity has a similar configuration to the Littman-Metcalf external cavity, but changes a wavelength not by adjusting an angle of a reflective mirror but by adjusting an angle of a diffraction grating 22.
When a beam is generated from a laser diode 20, the beam is gathered in parallel through a lens 21, and a beam having a specific wavelength among the beams gathered in parallel is diffracted according to an angle of the diffraction angle 22 and goes back to the laser diode 20 through the lens 21. In other words, since the wavelength of the beam returning to the laser diode varies according to an arrangement angle of the diffraction grating 22, the wavelength may be varied.
As described above, in order to select the beam having a specific wavelength, the conventional Littman-Metcalf or Littrow external cavity tunable laser rotates the reflective mirror or the diffraction grating mechanically to adjust an angle. Therefore, since the reflective mirror or the diffraction grating should be finely rotated in a mechanical sense, a high-precision rotating apparatus is required to select the specific wavelength. This may result in degraded laser stability, a larger size, a slow variable speed and the increased manufacturing cost.
While the afore-mentioned conventional technologies have advantages in terms of the arrangement and performance, they also have problems. In other words, the conventional technologies require a mechanical movement, have a narrow wavelength tunable range, and are difficult to reduce the module size. Therefore, there is a need of a new method of fabricating a light source, which may be applied to spectroscopy that requires a tunable wavelength and a WDM optical communication system that requires a wide range of the tunable wavelength, has no movement of a structure, facilitates miniaturization, and has a fast variable speed.

Tunable external cavity laser diode using variable optical deflector

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A trace information queueing system receives a plurality of trace information signals and transmits them through a common connector. The multiple trace information signals may be multiplexed. Each edge of a clock signal may be used to enable transmission of different trace information signals. Alternatively, separate clocks signals may be provided for each trace information signal. A programmable logic device may be used to both multiplex the trace information signals and produce the clock signals necessary to enable their transmission.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related in general to the field of information handling systems. In particular, the invention consists of a method of transmitting status information from a multitude of electronic devices over a common connector.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electronic systems, such as printed circuit boards with numerous electronic components, can generate trace information that may be transmitted to other circuit boards, other electronic systems, other locations, or even a central monitoring station. This trace information may include an indication of the condition of the electronic components, their arrangement within the electronic system, their current activity, the contents of memory registers within the electronic components, or whether electric faults such as open or shorted circuits exists.
One example of this type of system is a printed circuit board containing multiple electronic components that include programmable input/output pins. Using a technique known as boundary scan, instructions may be loaded into the programmable components that instruct the programmable pins to transmit logic high, logic low, and high impedance signals. Other programmable pins may be instructed to simultaneously accept these transmitted signals as inputs. The result of this transmission and concurrent reception may be passed to an external connector on the printed circuit board. This external connector may be monitored to determine the status of the programmable electronic components or the connections between them.
Tracing of electronic equipment becomes more difficult as electronic system bus widths and clock speeds increase, and as the number of electric traces and number of component conditions increase. The major bottleneck for obtaining more information is the amount of information that may be transmitted through the external connector. Due to the limited bandwidth of a traditional connector, tracing is generally limited to a subset of the information of interest. This results in potentially useful information being inaccessible. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to increase the amount of trace information that may be transmitted through a connector.

International Business Machines Corporation