A data storage subsystem having a plurality of data compression engines configured to compress data, each having a different compression algorithm. A data handling system is configured to determine a present rate of access to data; select at least one sample of data; determine the greatest degree of compression of said data compression engines; determine the compression ratios of the operated data compression engines with respect to the selected sample(s); compressing said selected at least one sample with a plurality of said data compression engines at said selected tier; operate a selected data compression engines with respect to the selected sample and determine the greatest degree of compression of the data compression engines; compress the data from which the sample was selected with one of the operated data compression engines determined to have the greatest degree of compression; and store the compressed data in data storage repositories.

Data processing systems employ and generate extensive amounts of data, much of which is stored by data storage systems. A way of reducing the physical amount of storage is to compress at least some of the data. Many data compression engines employing various data compression algorithms exist to accomplish the data compression, some providing greater degrees of compression of some types of data, others greater degrees of compression of other types of data, and some with all types of data. Some data compression engines can recompress data that has already been compressed. A prevalent means of measuring the degree of data compression is the compression ratio, meaning the ratio of the amount of original data to the amount of compressed data, such as 10:1. Another aspect of data compression is the latency of the compression of data and of the uncompression or decompression of compressed data. Typically, the greater the compression ratio, the more complex the data compression, and the greater the latency. Of course, the shortest latency is to data that is uncompressed.
As the result, the user manually selects the data compression engines based on expected needs, and the amount of data storage expected to be available, which is often cost driven. Also, the data compression engines may vary widely in cost, effecting the decision. The user may then establish a policy regarding what data and how much data is to be compressed versus what data and how much data is left uncompressed, as discussed in the incorporated '388 Application. The policies may remain fixed and may or may not result in data storage space efficiency or in rapid access over time.

Data compression algorithm selection and tiering

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A method for saving energy for a wireless sensor network is provided, comprising: introducing a high energy device; defining a sensor node within a coverage of the high energy device as a source node or a forwarding node by the high energy device based on a routing relationship; sending sensed data to the high energy device by the source node at any time; and selecting a forwarding node at a working time to forward the data by the high energy device while making the other forwarding nodes at a dormancy time.

A wireless sensor network, which is composed of numerous sensor nodes distributed within a specific region, is a current research hotspot. The sensor nodes are capable of sensing circumstance, monitoring a specific event and performing wireless communication. After collecting data, the sensor node sends the data in a single-hop or multi-hop manner to a data sink where the data is stored for local use or uploaded for other network (such as the Internet) use. Ever since it was proposed at an end of last century, the wireless sensor network is developed rapidly and widely applied in fields of military affairs, transportation, environmental monitoring, etc.
However, the wireless sensor network also faces plenty of practical problems. One of severest challenges is that energy of sensor nodes is extremely restricted, which is mainly caused by following factors. Firstly, in most cases, sensor nodes rely on batteries, which cannot provide enough energy, as power supplies. Secondly, sensors are usually deployed in a region that is quite hard for humans to reach, which leads to difficulties in battery changing. Thirdly, as there are a lot of nodes in the wireless sensor network, a battery changing requires a large amount of manpower.
In recent years, an energy restriction challenge of the wireless sensor network changes. As application scenarios of the wireless sensor network change gradually from the specialized fields like military affairs and scientific research to people's daily life, such as healthcare, smart home, movement identification and the like. Moreover, the deployment of the sensor nodes gets closer and closer to people's living and working place, where various wireless devices coexist. Thus, how to save energy for the sensor nodes in these new application scenarios is of great significance.

Method for saving energy for wireless sensor network


A transmitter for transferring a data stream to multiple receivers, the transmitter being configured to sample a first portion of the data stream to form a first sample dataset, encode the first sample set to form a first encoded dataset and transmit the first encoded dataset to a first one of the receivers; sample a second portion of the data stream to form a second sample dataset, encode the second sample set to form a second encoded dataset and transmit the second encoded dataset to a second one of the receivers; and to perform at least part of the step of sampling the second portion of the datastream while the first sample dataset is being encoded or the first encoded dataset is being transmitted.

On a communication network, data that needs to be sent to multiple receiver devices may be sent via broadcast, multicast or unicast mechanisms. In a broadcast transmission, data is directed to all devices on the network. A potential problem with broadcasting is that the data is delivered (or attempted to be delivered) to all devices on the network, regardless of the number of intended recipient devices. This can lead to difficulties in that, for example, devices for which the transmission was not intended may still consume power decoding the broadcast transmission.
A second possibility for transmitting data is unicasting. In unicasting, data is sent to the receiver devices individually, that is, each device is individually addressed. This means that if the same data is to be sent to multiple devices, the data must be copied and sent to each device in turn. The requirement of copying the data for each device means that unicasting can become very inefficient and bandwidth intensive when the number of receiver devices is large.
A multicast transmission is one in which data is directed to a sub-group of devices within a communication network. The devices belonging to a particular sub-group may be identified by an address unique to that group. Unlike in broadcasting, multicasting does not require that data be directed to every device on the network. This leads to a reduction in redundant transmissions. Multicasting has the advantage over unicasting in that only a single copy of the data is sent from the transmitting device, regardless of the number of receiver devices.
In a network in which data is sent via routers, multicasting is more efficient than broadcasting because the routers will only direct the data to areas in which the intended recipients lie. Multicasting thus includes the advantages of both unicast and broadcast, and is often employed in multimedia applications such as video conferencing and internet radio.
FIG. 1 illustrates the stages of a unicast transmission. A source data stream 101 is sampled for a time TS. The sampled portion is then encoded by an encoding operation 102 to produce an encoded portion. The encoded portion is a discrete packet of data. The size of the packet determines the duration of the portion of the source data stream that can be encoded. The maximum size of the data packet that can be transmitted will depend on the protocol being used by the communication network. The encoding operation takes time TE. The encoded portion is then transmitted to a receiver device by a transmitting operation 103 to produce a transmitted portion. The transmitting operation takes time TT. Once the transmitted portion is received by the receiver device, it is decoded by a decoding operation 104 to produce a decoded portion. The decoding operation takes time TD. The latency for this transmission is the time taken from the beginning of the sampling of the source data stream portion through to the end of the decoding operation 104.
Bluetooth is a technology standard that allows wireless communication between devices. It allows several devices to be connected on a network known as a piconet. A communication network using Bluetooth will normally consist of a "master" device and one or more "slave" devices. A master device can only transmit data packets to a slave device in designated "master-to-slave" time slots, and similarly, a slave can only transmit data packets to the master in designated "slave-to-master" time slots. An advantage of Bluetooth is that data packets from the master to the slave can be re-transmitted until an acknowledgement of receipt from the slave is received by the master device. This leads to a reliable transmission of data between devices. A potential problem with Bluetooth is that multicast transmission is not supported. A master can either communicate with a slave device via a unicast transmission or via a broadcast transmission. In a broadcast transmission, data is transmitted from the master device to every slave device on the network. This can be efficient in that data can be sent to all the slave devices with a single transmission, however, slave devices cannot acknowledge receipt of a broadcast transmission, so the master does not know if an individual slave device has received the broadcast message correctly. If it is desirable to transmit a data packet reliably to a sub-group of slave devices on a network, it is necessary to send a unicast transmission to each of the slave devices in turn. This advantageously allows for an acknowledgement of receipt to be sent from each slave device.
In an example of a unicast transmission on a Bluetooth network, and referring to the time interval in FIG. 1, the transmission time TT represents the time required for the relevant master-to-slave and slave-to-master time slots. The latency time TL for the data packet transmission involving sampled data is given by:TL=TS+TE+TT+TD where TS is the time required to sample the data, TE is the time required to encode the data, TT is the time required to transmit the data and TD is the time required to decode the data.
FIG. 1 illustrates a packet representing just one portion of a source data stream being transmitted. In practice, it is likely that multiple packets representing multiple portions of the source data stream will need to be transmitted.
FIG. 2a shows the stages of a unicast transmission of packets representing succeeding portions of a data stream 201. A first portion 202 of the data stream is sampled for a time TS1. The portion 202 is encoded by a first encoding operation 203 to produce a first encoded portion, or packet. The encoding operation 203 takes time TE1. The first encoded portion is transmitted by a first transmitting operation 204 to produce a first transmitted portion. The transmitting operation 204 takes time TT1. A second portion 205 of the data stream is sampled after the sampling of the first portion is complete. The second portion is sampled for time TS2. Once the second portion has been sampled it is encoded by a second encoding operation 206 to produce a second encoded portion, or packet. The encoding operation 206 takes time TE2. The second encoded portion is transmitted by a second transmitting operation 207 to produce a second transmitted portion. The transmitting operation 207 takes time TT2.
It will often be desirable for the data rate of the source data stream itself to be less than or equal to the average rate at which the source data is received at the receiver device. This is particularly true when the data stream is an audio or video stream. FIG. 2a illustrates a unicast transmission that satisfies this condition. FIG. 2b shows the stages of a unicast transmission where the data rate of the source data stream is greater than the average rate at which data is received at the receiver device.
In FIG. 2b, a first portion 210 of the source data stream 201 is sampled for a time TS. The portion 210 is encoded by a first encoding operation 211 to produce a first encoded portion, or packet. The encoding operation 211 takes time TE. The first encoded portion is transmitted by a first transmitting operation 212 to produce a first transmitted portion. The transmitting operation 212 takes time TT. Once the transmitted portion is received by the receiver device, it is decoded by a first decoding operation 216 to produce a first decoded portion. A second portion 213 of the data stream is sampled after the sampling of the first portion is complete. The second portion is sampled for time TS. Once the second portion has been sampled it is encoded by a second encoding operation 214 to produce a second encoded portion, or packet. The encoding operation 214 takes time TE. The second encoded portion is transmitted by a second transmitting operation 215 to produce a second transmitted portion. The transmitting operation 207 takes time TT. Once the transmitted portion is received by the receiver device, it is decoded by a second decoding operation 217 to produce a second decoded portion.
Referring to FIG. 2b, the time between the completion of successive decoding operations is given by TSD=TE+TT. If, for example, the source data stream were an audio or video stream, once the decoding operation 216 was complete the receiver device could play the first portion 210 of the audio or video stream. The duration of the audio/video stream that the receiver could play would be equal to the sampling time TS. The receiver cannot begin to play the succeeding portion 213 of the audio/video stream until the decoding operation 217 has been completed. Hence if TS<TSD the receiver device would have finished playing the first portion of the audio/video stream before it could begin playing the succeeding portion 213. This would introduce unwanted time delays into the audio/video stream when being played by the receiver device.
In some transmitting devices it may be possible for the encoding and transmitting operations to overlap in time. The degree of overlap is constrained by the requirement that the second transmission operation cannot begin until the first transmission operation has been completed. This is a requirement of unicast transmissions over a shared link. If the encoding and transmitting operations are to overlap, and it is desired for the data rate of the source data stream to be less than the average rate at which the source data is received at the receiver device then the sampling time TS should satisfy both of the following conditions:TS>TE TS>TT
Conversely if the encoding and transmitting operations are not to overlap and it is desired for the data rate of the source data stream to be less than the average rate at which the source data is received at the receiver device then the sampling time TS should satisfy the following condition:TS>TE+TT
In some receiving devices it may be possible for the receiver to begin to decode the transmitted portion before the entirety of the transmitted portion is received. If the decoding and transmission operations are to overlap, and it is desired for the data rate of the source data stream to be less than the average rate at which the source data is received at the receiver device then the sampling time TS should satisfy both of the following conditions:TS>TT TS>TD
Conversely if the decoding and transmitting operations are not to overlap and it is desired for the data rate of the source data stream to be less than the average rate at which the source data is received at the receiver device then the sampling time TS should satisfy the following condition:TS>TT+TD
FIG. 3 shows the stages of multiple unicast transmissions used to transmit source data to multiple receiver devices. For clarity FIG. 3 illustrates unicast transmission of only one portion of a source data stream 301. A portion 302 of the source data stream is sampled for a time TS. The sampled portion is then encoded by an encoding operation 303 to produce an encoded portion, or packet. The encoding operation takes time TE. The encoded portion is then transmitted to each receiver device in turn by respective transmitting operations 304, 305, 306. The first transmission operation 304 transmits the encoded portion to a first receiver device and takes time I′m. The second transmission operation 305 transmits the encoded portion to a second receiver device and takes time TT2. The third transmission operation 306 transmits the encoded portion to a third receiver device and takes time TT3. The first transmitted portion is decoded at the first receiver device by a first decoding operation 307. The operation 307 takes time TD1. The second transmitted portion is decoded at the second receiver device by a second decoding operation 308. The operation 308 takes time TD2. The third transmitted portion is decoded at the third receiver device by a third decoding operation 309. The operation 309 takes time TD3.
In the example of FIG. 3 the source data is transmitted to three receiver devices. In a practice a multiple unicast transmission could be to any number of receiver devices. In an example of a transmitter device carrying out multiple unicast transmissions the encoding operation may overlap with the transmitting operations. If the operations do overlap and it is desirable for the data rate of the source data stream to be less than the average rate at which the source data is received at the receiver device, the duration of the sampled portion must be longer than the sum of the transmission times and the encoding time. Expressed mathematically, it is preferable that both the following conditions are satisfied:TS>TT1+Tr2+TT3 TS>TE
If instead there is no overlap between the encoding and transmitting operations and it is desirable for the data rate of the source data stream to be less than the average rate at which the source data is received at the receiver device, it is required that:TS>TT1+TT2+TT3+TE
If the receiver device can begin decoding the transmitted portion before the entirety of the transmitted portion is received, that is, the decoding and transmission operations are to overlap, and it is desired that the data rate of the source data stream is less than the average rate at which the source data is received at the receiver device, the following conditions should be satisfied:TS>TT1+TT2+TT3 TS>TD
Conversely if the decoding and transmitting operations are not to overlap and it is desired that the data rate of the source data stream is less than the average rate at which the source data is received at the receiver device, the sampling time TS should satisfy the following condition:TS>TT1+TT2+TT3+TD
Transmitting the encoded portion to each of the receiver devices in turn means that the latency associated with each receiver device will be different. For example, the latency associated with transmitting data to the third receiver device, TL3 includes the time taken to transmit the encoded data to the first and second receiver devices, given by TT1 and TT2 respectively. It is given by the expression:TL3=TS+TE+TT1+TT2+TT3+TD3
It is apparent that increasing the number of receiver devices causes the worst case latency to increase. The latencies associated with each receiver device will also be different, and so each receiver device will be operating at a different level of performance. Furthermore as the number of receiver devices increases the time taken to transmit the encoded portion to all of the receiver devices will increase. This means that if it is desirable for the data rate of the source data stream to be less than the average rate that the source data is received at the receiver devices the duration of the sampled portion of the source data must also be increased. This could lead to the situation where very large data packets have to be transmitted or to a situation where the required size of the data packet is larger than that available with the technology implemented on the communication network.
There is thus a need for an improved method of multiple unicast transmissions that reduces the worst case latency.

Reducing latency in multiple unicast transmissions

Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd.


An image protecting film useful for protecting an image recorded on a porous recording medium by an ink jet recording system, which film comprises a light transmitting non-porous support and a layer composed mainly of a polyester resin formed on the support, said polyester resin being a copolymer comprising aliphatic dicarboxylic acid units, aromatic dicarboxylic acid units and aliphatic polyol units. Also disclosed is an image protecting method which comprises overlaying the above image protecting film on a porous recording medium having an image recorded thereon, so that the layer composed mainly of the polyester resin is in contact with the recording medium, followed by hot press bonding. The image protected by the image protecting film and the image protecting method of the present invention is excellent in the light resistance, the water resistance and the color development.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image protecting film useful for imparting gloss to a printed image formed by printing or various recording methods, or for protecting such a printed image from water and light. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image protecting film suitable for protecting a printed image formed by an ink jet recording method.
2. Discussion of the Background
An ink jet recording system has found a rapid spread in recent years because of its merits such that it produces little noise, makes multi-coloring possible, and simplifies formation of a large image, and the running cost is small.
The recording medium to be used for the ink jet recording includes, in addition to ordinary paper and coated paper, a plastic film having a porous surface layer, and a non-porous hydrophobic plastic film having an ink accepting layer comprising organic or inorganic fine particles and a binder resin coated thereon.
As the recording liquid for such ink jet recording, an aqueous type is mainly used from the viewpoint of safety and printing properties. Accordingly, it is preferred for the recording medium to have an ink accepting layer on the non-porous film, made of a hydrophilic substance. On the other hand, high water resistance and light resistance are required for the printed matters obtained by such recording, particularly for printed matters for display or exhibition inside or outside the buildings or automobiles. To satisfy such requirements, methods of laminating plastic films on such printed matters, have been proposed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 56184/1987, No. 59076/1987, No. 60683/1987, No. 202794/1987, No. 273889/1987, No. 273890/1987, No. 280085/1987 and No. 280086/1987.
However, such conventional laminating methods had difficulties such that the color development was inadequate, and when the laminated film and the printed matter were of the same size, or when a necessary portion was cut after the lamination, sealing along the edge was difficult, and it was difficult to prevent a problem such that water penetrated from the edge tends to blot the printed image.
Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 161583/1987 and No. 280086/1987 disclose a method in which an acrylic resin or paraffin wax is coated on a printed image. However, this method can hardly be said to be practically acceptable.

Image protecting film and image protecting method


There is provided an application development system capable of easily developing an application which is capable of flexibly coping with the variation in system environment, such as a platform, and which has excellent maintainability. In the application development system, a design tool 1 supports the designing of an application, which is based on the combination of a plurality of logical components, on the basis of a logical component information 4, to output a logical design information 5 obtained by the designing of the application. A source generating part 2 and a compiler 3 produce an application (an executable file 9), which is executable on a specific platform, on the basis of the logical design information 5, which is outputted from the design tool 1, and a physical installation information (a physical component information 6 and a component library 8) for software components.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an application development system for combining a plurality of software components to develop an application.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an application development system for combining a plurality of software components to develop an application has been known. As shown in FIG. 19, in such a conventional application development system, an application 40 is developed by combining physical components 42 (see reference number 43), which are software components installed for a specific platform 41, at a physical level.
However, since the combination of the software components is described at the physical level in the above described conventional application development system, the description depending on the platform (system environment such as OS, middleware, language and communication), on which the software components are installed, is required, so that there is a problem in that it is difficult to transfer the developed application 40 to another platform.
In addition, in the above described conventional application development system, the description of the original processing (e.g., business processing) of the application 40 and the description of the inherent processing of the platform are mixed in the application 40 to be developed, so that there is a problem in that the maintainability of the application 40 is bad.

Application development system and method


There is provided a suspension frame construction capable of increasing rigidity when a braking load, a lateral load, or an engine mounting load is applied to a suspension frame. In the suspension frame construction comprising an upper plate and a lower plate joined to each other to form the suspension frame; and front- and rear-side suspension lower arm support portions provided at both ends, right and left, of the suspension frame, the rear-side suspension lower arm support portion is formed by opposing the upper plate 8 and the lower plate 9 to each other at a fixed distance and a rear-side arm portion 10b of a suspension lower arm 101, 102 is pivotally supported between the opposed portion of the upper plate 8 and the lower plate 9, and a reinforcing wall portion 9f for connecting the upper plate 8 and the lower plate 9 to each other is provided on the proximal end side of the pivotally supporting portion.

The present invention relates to a suspension frame construction for supporting a suspension lower arm, an engine mounting member, and the like.
Generally, the vehicle body constructions of motor vehicles are broadly divided into a framed construction used for motor trucks and the like and a frameless construction used for passenger cars and the like. The frameless construction incorporates side members and cross members as a part of body in place of a frame to increase the torsional rigidity. A chassis part is usually attached directly to the body, but, on some vehicles, it is attached to a partial frame, what is called a subframe, and then is assembled to the body.
The subframe is also referred to as a suspension frame because suspension lower arms are usually attached to both sides of the subframe. Hereafter, the subframe and the like are given a general name of a suspension frame.
The suspension frame is assembled to the vehicle body as an assembled part after a suspension lower frame, a stabilizer, and the like are attached thereto. The suspension frame is generally composed of an upper plate, a lower plate, and lower arm mounting brackets as a basic construction.
FIGS. 9 to 11 show a construction of a conventional suspension frame (Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 7-179180).
A suspension frame 100 is supported on a pair of side members 101, 101 at both sides thereof, and suspension lower arms 102, 102 are attached to both sides of the suspension frame 100. Between the suspension frame 100 and a cross member 103 installed on the front is provided a center member 104, to which an engine 105 is assembled.
The suspension frame 100 is usually disposed at the lower part of an engine room isolated by a dash panel 106, and is fitted with various fittings. The dash panel 106 is fitted with a steering knuckle 107 via brackets 108.
As shown in FIGS. 12 to 14, the suspension frame 100 is formed by joining an upper plate 109 and a lower plate 110, which are formed by pressing a steel plate etc., by welding or other means, and at both sides, right and left, of the suspension frame 100 are provided vehicle body mounting portions h, i and j, and in the central portion thereof are provided engine mounting member mounting portions k. At both sides in the vehicle width direction of the suspension frame 100, a pair of suspension lower arm mounting portions 100a and 100d are provided. In the suspension lower arm mounting portion 100a on the front side of the vehicle body is provided a lower arm mounting bracket 111 in a cantilever state.
The lower arm mounting bracket 111 is formed substantially into a square box shape with one side being open by pressing or other means, and the opposed wall faces 111a and 111b thereof are provided with pivotally supporting portions 112, 112 for the suspension lower arms 102, 102. This lower arm mounting bracket 111, which is supported on the outside of the vehicle body mounting portions h, i and j in a cantilever manner, has a construction that provides low rigidity and is disadvantageous in terms of driving stability and vibration noise.
To mount the lower arm mounting bracket 111, as shown in FIG. 14, a distal end portion 109a of the upper plate 109 is lapped partially on and joined to the upper face of the lower arm mounting bracket 111. Also, the distal end of the lower plate 110 is butt-welded to the wall face of the lower arm mounting bracket 111. Therefore, a reinforcement 113 is installed between the upper plate 109 and the lower plate 110 to reinforce the mounting portion of the lower arm mounting bracket 111. Further, a flange portion 114 is provided along the open end portion of the lower arm mounting bracket 111 to increase the rigidity of the bracket 111.
The suspension frame 100 is subjected to the severest condition when a longitudinal load is applied thereto (for an actual vehicle, for example, when the brake is applied or when a wheel falls into a pothole).
When a braking load is applied to the suspension frame 100, as shown in FIG. 15, the mounting portion 100a of the lower arm mounting bracket 111 is put into a deformation mode of being opened to the outside while being twisted as indicated by the arrow {circle around (1)}, and a central portion 100b of the suspension frame 100 is put into a deformation mode of being sunk as indicated by the broken line {circle around (2)}.
The central portion 100b of the suspension frame 100 is also sunk in the same manner by a load applied by the engine mounting member at the time of sudden start.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 16, when a load is applied in the lateral direction, the mounting portion 100a of the lower arm mounting bracket 111 is twisted to the inside as indicated by the arrow {circle around (3)}. As a result, one of the lower arm mounting portions 100d on the vehicle body rear side of the suspension frame 100 is deformed upward as indicated by the arrow {circle around (4)}and the other thereof is deformed downward as indicated by the arrow {circle around (5)}. Also, on both sides of the central portion 100b of the suspension frame 100, one side is deformed upward as indicated by the arrow {circle around (4)}and the other side is deformed downward as indicated by the arrow {circle around (5)}. Thus, the suspension frame 100 is put into a deformation mode of being wavy.
As is apparent from the above-described deformation modes, the rigidity around the opening portion of the lower arm mounting bracket 111 is low in the case where the suspension frame 100 is formed merely by two upper and lower plates joined to each other. Near the opening portion, the vehicle body mounting portions lie. If the rigidity of this portion of the suspension frame 100 is low, therefore, there is a possibility that the first-order natural frequency of the suspension frame 100 resonates with the vehicle body.
The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and accordingly an object thereof is to provide a suspension frame construction capable of increasing rigidity when a braking load, a lateral load, or an engine mounting load is applied to a suspension frame.
To solve the above problems, the present invention provides a suspension frame construction comprising an upper plate and a lower plate joined to each other to form a suspension frame; and front- and rear-side suspension lower arm support portions provided at both ends, right and left, of the suspension frame, wherein the rear-side suspension lower arm support portion is formed by opposing the upper plate and lower plate to each other at a fixed distance and a rear-side arm portion of a suspension lower arm is pivotally supported between the opposed portion of the upper plate and lower plate, and a reinforcing wall portion for connecting the upper plate and lower plate to each other is provided on the proximal end side of the pivotally supporting portion.
Also, the present invention provides a suspension frame construction comprising an upper plate and a lower plate joined to each other to form a suspension frame; and suspension lower arm support portions extending to substantially front and lateral sides, which is provided at both ends, right and left, of the suspension frame, wherein an outer wall portion is formed in the suspension lower arm support portion extending to substantially front side, and a reinforcing wall portion continuous with the outer wall portion is provided at the proximal end of the lateral-side extending portion provided on the rear end side of the outer wall portion.
Further, the present invention provides a suspension frame construction comprising an upper plate and a lower plate joined to each other to form a suspension frame; and front- and rear-side suspension lower arm support portions provided at both ends, right and left, of the suspension frame, wherein the rear-side suspension lower arm support portion is formed by opposing the upper plate and lower plate to each other at a fixed distance and a rear-side arm portion of a suspension lower arm is pivotally supported by a vertical shaft between the opposed portion of the upper plate and lower plate, and a reinforcing wall portion for connecting the upper plate and lower plate to each other is provided on the proximal end side of the pivotally supporting portion.


Methods of treating patients having varicose veins, methods of identifying subjects having an increased risk of developing varicose veins, and methods of diagnosing varicose veins in a human subject, comprising detecting the presence of Piezo Type Mechanosensitive Ion Channel Component 1 (PIEZO1) predicted loss-of-function variant nucleic acid molecules and polypeptides in a biological sample from the patient or subject, are provided herein.

Varicose veins is a common multifactorial disease with largely unknown genetic drivers that is often seen in patients with chronic venous insufficiency, together classified as chronic venous disease. Dysfunction of venous valves is associated with varicose veins, venous hypertension, and thrombosis. Several processes, such as changes in hemodynamic forces, endothelial activation, inflammation, hypoxia, and dysregulation of matrix metalloproteinases and their tissue inhibitors have been associated with varicose vein development. Varicose vein risk factors include increased age, female sex, number of pregnancies, obesity, history of deep venous thrombosis, and standing occupation. Varicose veins has also been linked to insufficient lymph drainage and chronic venous insufficiency. In addition, several genome-wide association studies (GWAS) displayed about 18.5% varicose vein heritability.
PIEZO1 is encoded by a 70 kb gene located at 16q24.3 and is present in five potential isoforms. PIEZO1 protein is 2,521 amino acids long, and is a 286 kDa transmembrane protein that contains 38 transmembrane domains and functions as a homo-tetramer. PIEZO1 encodes an evolutionarily conserved endothelial mechanosensitive cation channel, which generates currents characterized by a linear current-voltage relationship that are sensitive to ruthenium red and gadolinium. PIEZO1 is ubiquitously expressed and plays a role in epithelial cell adhesion by maintaining integrin activation through R-Ras recruitment to the endoplasmic reticulum, most probably in its activated state, and subsequent stimulation of calpain signaling. In vasculature, PIEZO1 is involved in endothelial cell migration and sprouting angiogenesis. Specifically, PIEZO1 acts as a sensor for bloodflow-associated shear stress and promotes endothelial cell organization and alignment in the direction of blood flow ensuring proper vessel formation, remodeling, and maturation. PIEZO1 also appears to be required for lymphatic valve formation. Other reported functions include blood pressure regulation, urine osmolarity, erythrocyte integrity, pressure sensing, and collecting duct osmoregulation.

Piezo type mechanosensitive ion channel component 1 (PIEZO1) variants and uses thereof


The present application is directed to a manual or automatic flush threshold door seal system used on folding exterior doors along with an alternate embodiment for conventional exterior entryway doors that will not impede the passage of a wheelchair. A flexible weather seal can be put in a retracted or down position within an aluminum extrusion imbedded within the threshold providing a flush access surface and may be raised up into the upright position providing an adequate weather seal.

The thresholds on doors along with the added height of an adequate weather seal have long been an impediment to the movement of wheelchairs through doorways. There is a growing need for adequately weather sealing of doorways while providing a flush surface to walk through or operate a wheel chair. Conventional thresholds of varying heights with weather strips are a problem for the elderly being a trip hazard when going through. Additionally the weather sealing of doorways is only necessary during inclement weather and the rest of the time the passage of cool air under the door can be a benefit. This unique flush threshold door seal system provides a new and unique sealing method for a wide variety of doorways.
The initial purpose of the design is to provide a weather seal on a flush threshold surface for a variety of folding doors, but it is not limited to folding doors and may be adapted to a variety of door thresholds including hinged entry doorways, garage and warehouse doors or open-air malls along with varying in size for different applications while remaining within the scope of this patent.
The addition of large exterior wall openings incorporating multiple folding doors has become desirable on many elaborate homes, office buildings or open-air malls. With large openings, the conventional thresholds with weather seals or doors with weather seals attached are not desirable and the need for a flush surface is necessary for wheelchair travel.
Numerous innovations for weather sealing doors have been provided in the prior art that are described as follows. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, they differ from the present design as hereinafter contrasted. The following is a summary of those prior art patents most relevant to this application at hand, as well as a description outlining the difference between the features of the flush threshold door seal system and the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,654,730 of Alton L. Fraleigh describes a flexible barrier to be extended across the bottom portion of an opening, for example the door opening in a garage, to intercept foreign matter, such as leaves, snow or dirt. The barrier is preferably formed of elastomeric material and has a broad base to be secured to the floor of the garage and has a flexible wall projecting upwardly from the base in position to engage and prevent said foreign matter from entering the garage, said wall being deflectable to permit a heavy object, such as an automobile, lawn mower, work cart or the like, to pass there over on entering or leaving the garage without interference and will then return to normal position. The wall can be provided with vertical slits to increase the flexibility thereof and can have a laterally disposed lip or deflector portion extending from the upper edge thereof to intercept the foreign material and deflect it back out through said opening.
This patent describes a fixed up-right flexible barrier for door openings in a garage. The folding doors described fold horizontally and are used primarily in garage door applications. It would not be practical to be used as a means of sealing an exterior opening to a residence, office building or open-air mall and it would be a definite impediment to the operation of a wheelchair.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,979 of John D. Marontate tells of a skirted, hinged panel for an accordion folding door. A base member is attached to the end of each panel. Each base member mounts a plurality of guides. A flexible seal strip extends continuously along the ends of the panels. It includes an engaging bead configured to engage with the guides, and a flexible band attached to the bead and extending substantially to the adjacent structural surface to seal against the transmission of air, heat, light and sound.
This patent describes a skirted, hinged panel for an accordion folding door. Although this type of sealing means will work over a flush floor surface, it is permanently attached to the lower surface of the doors and drags on the floor every time the doors are opened and closed. It does not incorporate a desirable appearance for high-end homes, office buildings or open-air malls.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,949 of Jerome C. Procton et al. describes a building entryway system with a high degree of modularity to accommodate active in swing doors or inactive sidelight panels for use with conventional jambs. Specifically, an extruded aluminum sill is mated with an extruded polymeric receiving unit. The receiving unit defines a U-shaped channel, which accepts a weather strip or panel cap. Either the weather strip or panel cap is slidably positioned within the channel under the door. Additionally a door sweep attached to the active doors sealingly engages the weather strip to prevent water from entering the building.
This patent describes a door seal incorporated into a conventional residential doorway. This invention would not be readily adaptable to a folding door system and exemplifies a trip hazard along with an impediment to wheelchairs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,477 of Steven P. Kepler et al. tells of a door sill assembly that is provided with an adjustable threshold. A sill assembly is made up of an elongated metal frame for installation on the floor of the doorway. The metal frame is provided with a tongue and sloping sill portion, a vertically extending rib and a shelf located below and integrally oriented relative to the rib. The threshold rail is supported on the frame member shelf portion upon two adjustable feet for varying the relative height level of the rail. A plastic threshold cap is sized to fit over the threshold rail and includes a pair of downwardly spaced ribs sized to securely fit over the vertical rib of the frame member to locate the threshold cap and rail relative to the frame member while providing limited vertical adjustment. Preferably, the interior trim molding is provided which is fixed relative to the frame member and oriented inboard of the threshold cap
This patent describes another type of door seal incorporated into a conventional residential doorway. This invention would not be readily adaptable to a folding door system and again exemplifies a trip hazard along with an impediment to wheelchairs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,301 of Walenty Kalempa et al. A door seal for use with a bi-parting door in which the door panels of the door have supplementary angled leading edges. One leading edge has a triangular cross-section, while the other has a cross-section similar to a parallelogram. To further the reliability of the door seal, a plurality of magnets with corresponding magnet attracting plates may be attached along the leading edges. Alternatively, both leading edges may have at least one magnet aligned with a magnet on the other edge. With the double magnet configuration, the use of multi-pole magnets is necessary. The magnets also help reduce the bounce between the door panels, which may be closed roughly, and increase the force required to separate the door panels when closed.
Although this patent addresses a door seal for use with bi-parting doors, either sliding or folding doors, it addresses the vertical surfaces and does not take into account the lower surface adjacent to the threshold area. These doors will most likely be used for warehouses, cold storage, freezers and the like.
None of these previous efforts, however, provides the benefits attendant with the flush threshold door seal system. The present design achieves its intended purposes, objects and advantages over the prior art devices through a new, useful and unobvious combination of method steps and component elements, with the use of a minimum number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to manufacture and deals with the necessity of convenient handicap access to a wide number of facilities.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the in detail it is to be understood that the design is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement, of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The flush threshold door seal system is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. In addition, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present design. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present application.

Zero step sill extruded flush threshold door seal system


A system is disclosed for measuring fluid flow. The system may include a plurality of sensors and a computing device. The plurality of sensors may be positionable at different angles in a container of an offshore drilling rig to sense data about drilling fluid flow in the container. The computing device may be communicatively couplable to the plurality of sensors for receiving the data about the drilling fluid flow in the container and using the data to determine a calculated fluid flow rate compensating for movement of the offshore drilling rig.

Offshore drilling rigs may be used to extract hydrocarbon product from a subsea environment. An offshore drilling rig may use risers, such as conduits used for fluid transportation, to transport produced hydrocarbon product from the subsea environment to the rig or to transport production fluid downhole. It may be desirable for operators of the rig to know how much fluid is flowing for various reasons, such as tracking production, monitoring downhole concerns, etc. Sensors may be implemented within the risers to measure fluid flow. Available sensing technology for measuring fluid flow in offshore drilling applications may fall short in accuracy and cost-effectiveness.


There is disclosed a method and computer program product for estimating a measure of the quality of the received signal in a computer simulation of an optical transmission system, wherein the simulation includes additive optical noise generated by components within the transmission system. The method and product are able to account for non-Gaussian statistics of noise fluctuations observed in the receivers of optical communications systems, in order to provide for the more accurate simulation of system performance than may be the case using prior art methods based on Gaussian approximation.

Recently, there has been an explosion in the use of optical fibre telecommunications as the main backbone for the carriage of data in telecommunications networks.
The installation or maintenance of large complex optical networks is often a major and expensive undertaking. Obviously, in planning, certain capacity requirements may have to be met. Optical systems operate in the real world and are subject to error rates due to inherent noise in the equipment utilized in the system and in nature generally.
In the planning of large scale optical systems, it is desirable to be able to simulate the performance of a system before installation or change so as to determine whether operational requirements will be met. Ideally, such simulation systems also provide for the simulation of bit error rates when applied to the system.
Unfortunately, the methods previously utilized in the simulation of bit error rates often lead to inaccurate simulation results. This is often a result of utilizing perhaps inappropriate Gaussian noise statistics when simulating bit error rates of an optical system.


A hanger taken from a strip of hangers is positioned on a fastening and cutting anvil (6) displaceable between a bottom position, in which it retracts below the level of the support plate (1) and a top position, in which it projects above the plate. A blade (17), the central part of which forms a bridge beneath which the strip of hangers passes, is fixed to the plate, in contact with the anvil.

The invention relates to an automatic machine for fastening frame hangers taken from a strip bearing hangers joined together.
For individually mounting hangers for frame backs, there are known pneumatic fastening machines, the fastening head of which, displaced by a piston, or a jack, enables a pressure to be applied to the hanger positioned blindly on said head, to apply it to the back of the frame, which, itself, bears on a support plate.
There is also known another form of pneumatic fastening machine such as the one described in French patent No. 99 16717 in the name of the Applicant, in which machine the hanger is positioned, not on the fastening head but on a specially shaped anvil located on a support plate. The fastening head is then mounted so as to be able to be disengaged from the area of positioning of the hanger on the support plate, through the action of an operating mechanism, the object being to gain easy access to the specially shaped anvil. Of course, a protective cover drops down around the anvil, at the time of the stapling operation, in order to avoid any risk of accident.
This machine thus operates on a step by step basis and requires the operator to perform an operation to position each hanger and to remove each board stapled.
To increase the speed at which these hangers are mounted, the Applicant has developed an automatic fastening machine operating from a strip of hangers joined to one another side by side, with the strip traveling step by step towards the work station, at which the hangers are detached, each neighbouring hanger in turn, and then fastened by the fastening head.

Automatic unit for inserting hangers from a strip of attached staples


In a batch process for repetitive molding of fiberballs into cushions that are required in the same specific shape in large numbers, the molds are filled continuously by means such as a chute.

Thermally-bonded polyester fiber structures were described in my U.S. Pat. No. 4 794 038 (and in many other documents, including, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,668,562 and 4,753,693, and WO 88/00258, corresponding to Ser. No. 880,276, filed Jun. 30, 1986). Binder fibers can be intimately blended into the load-bearing polyester fiber to achieve true "through bonding" of the polyester fiber when they are suitably activated. "Through bonding" has provided higher support and better durability than resin-bonding of polyester fiber (which used to be the conventional method of bonding), and can also provide reduced flammability than conventional resin-bonding. Binder fiber blends had already been used to make batts in furnishing, mattresses and similar uses where high support and good durability were required. They had seldom been used as the only filling material in these end uses, but the common practice was to use the polyester fiber batts as a "wrapping" around a foam core. It is believed that the main reason was that it had been difficult to achieve the desired properties without using such foam core. To achieve the desired resilience and durability, bonded fiber batts would have had to reach high densities, in the 35 to 50 kg/m.sup.3 range. Such high densities could not be achieved commercially until more recently. Even then, such condensed (i.e. high density) batts as had appeared on the commercial market in Europe and the U.S. (e.g., in 1987) were nonuniform in density, lower layers being denser than upper layers, which resulted in increased loss of height during use. These high density "block batts" or "fibercores" (as they have sometimes been referred to) were also characterized by relatively poor conformation to a user's body. I believe that this resulted from their structure, since the batts were made from a series of superposed parallel layers; when these parallelized structures are deformed under pressure, they tend to pull in the sides of the whole structure rather than to deform more locally, i.e., to conform to the shape and weight of the user's body, as would latex or good quality polyurethane foam.
Thus, the performance of existing "block batts.revreaction. made wholly from bonded polyester fiber had not been entirely satisfactory. The difficulty had been how to combine in one structure both durability and conformability to a human body. To obtain durability, with existing "block batts" from superposed carded webs, one had to increase the density until one obtained a structure that did not conform as comfortably as other structures, i.e. not wholly from bonded polyester fiber. I solved this problem according to the invention of my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,502 (the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference) by providing a continuous process and an apparatus for making molded blocks of bonded polyester fiber from a blend of polyester fiber and binder fiber.
An essential element of the solution to the problem was to use a binder fiber blend in a 3-dimensional form, as fiberballs, rather than a flat web or as a formless mass of fibers. Preferred fiberballs (and their preparation and bonding) are the subject of my U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,038, referred to above, the disclosure of which is also hereby incorporated herein by reference, it being understood, however, that other fiberballs may be used, if desired, e.g., as in our U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,684.
A continuous process such as I disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,502 is excellent for producing mattress cores, or similar furnishing products that are flat and rectangular, or whose width varies only slightly within a limited range, so such furniture styles may be continuously produced on a large scale with little variation in cross-section.
A batch process such as I disclosed in my parent application (DP-4391-A), soon to issue as U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,590, is excellent for producing furniture cushions that are in shapes which are not flat and/or not of rectangular cross-section, such as may be required infrequently, and/or on a relatively small scale.
There is, however, a need to provide cushions that are not flat nor rectangular (so not ideally suited for production by the continuous process of U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,502), but are required in the same specific shape in large numbers, for instance cushions for automobiles or other mass-produced items. So it has been desirable to improve on the batch process disclosed in my parent application, U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,580. The disclosure of said patent is hereby incorporated herein by reference, as many aspects of said batch process are, however, suitable for incorporation into a process for mass-production of cushions of a specifically-designed shape (i.e., not flat nor rectangular).
Mass production of cushions of the same size, such as in the automotive car seat industry, has specific requirements which are not easily or economically satisfied. In automotive applications, production runs are very long and processes have to be very cost effective and involve as little labor as possible. I believe that a key problem is the filling of the mold (or a non-woven bag) which has required a lot of handling and has not been cost effective. So, I believe that a process aimed at mass production of cushions should be based on automatic filling of the molds directly, desirably without bag-filling, and preferably coupled with automatic loading and unloading of the molds into the ovens. Filling of fiberballs uniformly into a mold has been quite difficult. It cannot easily be done by sucking or blowing because the air stream is deflected by the walls of the shaped mold, resulting in a non-uniform deposit, generally a lower density in the corners and in angles on the shaped cushion. The present invention is addressed to solving such problems.
In principle, most car seat cushions today are made of three sections; a central one, on which the driver or the passenger sits, and two raised parts (wings), one on each side of the central part. The purpose of the two "wings" is to limit the shifting of the user sideways during turns, accelerations or breaking.
Back cushions are made similarly, but are shaped convexly, for ergonomic considerations, to adapt to the curvature of the human back. Most of today's car seats are made of foam cushions but it would be desirable to produce car seats with additional comfort and that are easier to recycle. I believe that molded polyester cushions produced from a blend of load-bearing fibers and binder fibers offer such feature. The polyester is recyclable by known methods such as methanolysis. So use of polyester fiber would respond to public interest and satisfy government pressure and possible future legislation. Such cushions, would preferably be produced from specific fiber blends, whereby the load-bearing fibers are coated with a hydrophilic slickener and binder fiber, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,818,599, or the fiberballs in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,794,038, and 5,112,684. Attempts to produce cushions from fibers have been disclosed in several prior patents, including : GB 2085498-A, GB 4085498-B, J62102709-A (8725), J61279277-A (8704), DE 3132022 C2, GB 2010347, GB 2003204, GB 1530383, U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,174, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,051. These prior patents did not, however, achieve my objective of low cost production of car seat cushions made of polyester fibers without additional materials, so as to facilitate recycling, and having other desired features as disclosed below.

Method of making bonded non-woven polyester fiber structures using fiberballs


The present invention relates to an optical system including at least one objective lens (2) for receiving light from an object (1), an array of image forming elements (4) for generating multiple images of the object on an image sensor plane (SP) and a filter (F). The optical system is configured to form a real image of the filter on the array of image forming elements to filter the multiple images of the object, the filter being arranged with respect to the at least one objective lens so that a real image of the filter is formed on the array of image forming elements, and wherein the optical system is configured to be telecentric in the image plane of the filter.

A snapshot hyper/multi-spectral camera takes an image at multiple wavelengths. There are many ways of organising the spatial and wavelength information on the detector or image sensor. One of the most common configurations is to group the spatial information together as multiple images on the detector where each image has a different wavelength.
However, such a system configuration is cumbersome and difficult to make compact.

CSEM CENTRE SUISSE D'ELECTRONIQUE ET DE MICROTECHNIQUE SA—RECHERCHE ET DÉVELOPPEMENT


An integrated circuit driver includes an output stage having source drain paths of a PFET and NFET connected in series with each other across DC power supply terminals. A pair of inverters simultaneously responsive to a bilevel signal drive gate electrodes of the PFET and NFET. Each inverter includes a pair of switches and a resistor for connecting opposite polarity voltage sources to a separate capacitor connected in shunt with gate electrodes of the PFET and NFET. The inverters, resistors and capacitors prevent the PFET and NFET from being on simultaneously.

One type of driver circuit that is frequently employed, particularly on integrated circuit chips, includes first and second opposite conductivity type transistors, each including a control electrode and a path which is switched on and off between a pair of further electrodes. Each path is switched on and off in response to a voltage applied to the control electrode of the particular transistor being on opposite sides of a threshold. The paths of the first and second transistors are connected in series across terminals of a DC power supply. An output terminal between the series connected paths drives a load.
In a typical integrated circuit chip, the transistors are opposite conductivity type metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), wherein the control electrodes are gate electrodes and the further electrodes are source and drain electrodes. Such a driver includes a positive channel field effect transistor (PFET) and a negative channel field effect transistor (NFET). The switched path between the source and drain electrodes of each field effect transistor (FET) is frequently referred to as a source drain path and the source drain paths of the PFET and NFET are connected in series across opposite polarity terminals of the power supply.
The typical integrated circuit chip includes many such drivers that are responsive to bilevel sources having positive and negative going transitions between first and second voltage levels that are usually approximately equal to the voltages at the power supply terminals. The bilevel sources can be either data or clock sources. In response to the bilevel source being at the first (low) voltage level, the PFET and NFET are respectively on and off, while the NFET and PFET are respectively on and off in response to the bilevel source being at the second (high) voltage level. A relatively high impedance is provided by the source drain path of the NFET or PFET which is off so that substantial current does not flow through both the PFET and NFET of the driver while the bilevel source is at the first and second voltage levels. To minimize power consumption, the PFET and NFET should not be on at the same time during the transitions.
Many of the drivers of the foregoing type on a typical integrated circuit chip are simultaneously responsive to the transitions. If many of the drivers of the foregoing type are simultaneously responsive to the transitions and if the PFET and NFET of each of these drivers were on at the same time during the transitions, a substantial amount of current, frequently referred to as crow bar current, would be drawn from the power supply. The current could be so great as to cause overheating of the integrated circuit chip and result in a substantial decrease in the voltage between the power supply terminals. Similar problems can also exist with bipolar drivers including PNP and NPN transistors having series connected emitter collector paths.
In the past, one approach to resolving the problem has involved complicated circuitry which takes into account processing variables in making the integrated circuits, as well as changes that occur to the circuit elements as a result of power supply voltage and temperature variations of the integrated circuit chip carrying the circuitry. Another complicated approach has involved staging a number of field effect transistors. These complicated circuits occupy a significant amount of space on the integrated circuit chip and consume additional power, resulting in possible unnecessary heating of the chip.
There is a prior art circuit wherein conventional capacitors are connected in negative feedback paths to the gates of opposite conductivity type field effect transistors having series connected source drain paths. One electrode of each capacitor is connected to an output terminal between the source drain paths, while the other electrode of each capacitor is connected to the gate electrode of one of the field effect transistors. A problem with this approach is that the voltage across each of the capacitors varies as a function of load variations. Hence, switching of the field effect transistors is a function of the load variations which can result in poor control. In this prior art circuit, both field effect transistors appear to be turned on simultaneously during a transition, resulting in substantial current flow. Another problem with this prior art circuit is that the capacitors are charged and discharged through source drain paths of additional field effect transistors, rather than through resistors.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Driver circuit connected to pulse shaping circuitry

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A cantilever brake arm apparatus includes a brake link having a basal end structured for rotatably supporting the brake link on a bicycle, an intermediate section structured for supporting a brake shoe, and a distal end. A coil spring has a first end retained to the basal end of the brake link, and the second end of the coil spring is retained in a spring position adjusting member that is rotatably supported relative to the basal end of the brake link. The second end of the coil spring extends beyond the spring position adjusting member so that the second end of the coil spring may be inserted into a selected opening in the mounting pedestal.

The present invention is directed to cantilever bicycle brake devices.
Bicycles capable of off-road travel, such as MTBs (mountain bikes) are equipped with cantilever brake devices in order to provide strong braking force. Cantilever brake devices straddle both sides of the bicycle rim to provide braking action, and are generally equipped with a pair of left and right brake links, brake shoes attached to the brake links, and coil springs which energize the brake links towards the brake release position. The brake links are rotatably supported in cantilever fashion by mounting pins that project from pedestals provided to the front fork or rear fork (seat stay) of the bicycle. Each coil spring is disposed within the rotatably supported member of a brake link, with one end of the spring protruding the rotatably supported member and engaged by any one of three engagement holes provided to the pedestal. These three engagement holes are disposed at positions located an equal radius from the center of the mounting pin. By changing the position at which the coil spring is engaged by the pedestal, the spring power (force towards the brake release position) can be varied between three levels.
With the conventional cantilever brake device described above, inserting the coil spring into an engagement hole presents no particular problem when it is possible to rotate the brake link in order to place the one end of the coil spring at a position such that it can be engaged by the engagement hole. However, when changing the spring force or mounting the brakes, where the wheel interferes with the brake shoes so that the brake links cannot be rotated inward very far, where the fork interferes with the brake shoes so that the brake links cannot be rotated outward very far, and in similar cases where rotation by the brake links is restricted, it is sometimes not possible to readily position the end of the coil spring within the coil spring with needle-nose pliers or a similar tool, or to perform some similar complicated procedure in order to position the spring end within the desired engagement hole. Thus, the end of the coil spring can not be easily positioned within the engagement hole.


Gas turbine systems having flexible chordal hinge seals are provided. According to an embodiment, a turbine system comprises: a nozzle segment comprising a stator vane extending between an inner band segment and an outer band segment; an inner support ring adjacent to the inner band segment; and an inner chordal hinge seal in operable communication with the nozzle segment, the inner chordal hinge seal comprising a flexible inner rail extending inwardly from the inner band segment, the inner rail having a projection for sealingly engaging the inner support ring.

This disclosure relates generally to gas turbines and, more specifically, to flexible chordal hinge seals for sealing turbine nozzles within a gas turbine.
In a gas turbine, hot gases of combustion flow from combustors through first-stage nozzles and buckets and through the nozzles and buckets of follow-on turbine stages. The first-stage nozzles include an annular array or assemblage of cast nozzle segments, each including one or more nozzle stator vanes per segment. Each first-stage nozzle segment also includes inner and outer band portions spaced radially from one another. Upon assembly of the nozzle segments, the stator vanes are circumferentially spaced from one another to form an annular array between annular inner and outer bands. An outer shroud or retaining ring coupled to the outer band of the first-stage nozzles supports the first-stage nozzles in the gas flow path of the turbine. An annular inner support ring is engaged by the inner band and supports the first-stage nozzles against axial movement.
In an exemplary arrangement, forty-eight cast nozzle segments are provided with one vane per segment. The annular array of segments are sealed one to the other along adjoining circumferential edges by side seals. The side seals form a seal between high and low pressure regions by extending radially inwardly of the inner band and radially outwardly of the outer band. The high pressure region is found in the compressor discharge air, and the low pressure region is found in the hot gases of combustion of the hot gas flow path.
The nozzle segments also include inner and outer chordal hinge seals. The inner chordal hinge seals are used to seal between the inner band of the first-stage nozzles and an axially facing surface of the inner support ring. Each inner chordal hinge seal includes an inner rail extending radially inwardly from the inner band portion and a projection extending along the inner rail that runs linearly along a chord line of the inner band portion of each nozzle segment. This projection lies in sealing engagement with the axially opposite facing sealing surface of the inner support ring. The inner chordal hinge seals also act as hinges to allow the first-stage nozzles to move forward and aft as the inner support ring and the compressor discharge case undergo thermal expansion.
In addition, the outer sidewall chordal hinge seals are used to seal between the outer band of the first-stage nozzles and an axially facing surface of the outer shroud. Each outer chordal hinge seal includes an outer rail extending radially outwardly from the outer band portion and a projection extending along the outer rail that runs linearly along a chord line of the outer band portion of each nozzle segment. This projection lies in sealing engagement with the axially opposite facing sealing surface of the outer shroud. The outer chordal hinge seals also act as hinges to allow the first-stage nozzles to move forward and aft as the outer support ring or shroud and the compressor discharge case undergo thermal expansion.
During operation and/or repair of the first-stage nozzle, it has been found that both the outer and inner chordal hinge seals tend to experience warpage due to temperature differences across their rails. In particular, the seals tend to bow aft in the center and bow forward on the intersegment ends of the rails. Such warpage can cause gaps to form between the inner and outer chordal hinge seals and the respective sealing surfaces of the inner support ring and the outer shroud. These gaps can enable leakage of the compressor discharge cooling air into the hot gas flow path. This leakage can lead to problems such as increased production of NOx pollutants, hot gas ingestion past the chordal seals, and higher flowpath aero losses, which result in a lower heat rate.
Currently, supplemental seals are employed at the interface of the first-stage nozzles and the inner support ring/outer shroud to reduce the leakage flow past the chordal hinge seals. However, the use of such supplemental seals significantly adds to the complexity and cost of manufacturing gas turbines. A need therefore exists to develop a way of minimizing the leakage of fluid past the inner and outer sidewall chordal hinge seals without significantly increasing the cost and complexity of manufacturing gas turbines including such seals.

Gas turbines having flexible chordal hinge seals


An air brush includes a brush member with a head portion at an end and a nozzle on the head portion. A nozzle cover is detachably bonded to the nozzle. The nozzle cover has a first attracting portion, and the nozzle has a second attracting portion associated with the first attracting portion. The first attracting portion and the second attracting portion are attracted together by a magnetic force to bond the nozzle cover to the nozzle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an air brush, and more particularly to an air brush having a nozzle cover, which is fitted to the nozzle by magnet.
2. Description of the Related Art
The air brush is used for painting on a predetermined object, such as canvas. The conventional air brush has a nozzle cover fitted to the nozzle to prevent the nozzle from damage. After painting, the nozzle has paint left thereon. After a time of use, the nozzle is contaminated by paints of various colors, so that the nozzle has to be washed frequently to prevent it from jam. The painter usually has to disassemble the nozzle to check the spray angle of paint for adjustment of paint flow. Therefore, the nozzle cover is assembled and disassembled frequently. If there is a poor design for the nozzle cover, it troubles the painter very much.
FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 show a conventional air brush including a brush member 7, a paint container 8, a gas injection member 84 and a control assembly 9. The brush member 7 has a chamber 71 therein and defines a head portion 82 and a rear portion 83 at opposite ends thereof. A nozzle 721 having an opening 722 is provided at the head portion 72 of the brush member 7. A nozzle cover 723 is screwed onto the nozzle 721. The paint container 8 has a cup 81 to receive paint therein. The cup 81 has an opening 82 at a top thereof and a bore 83 at a bottom thereof. The bore 83 communicates the cup 81 with the chamber 71 in the brush member 7. The gas injection member 84 is connected to the brush member 8 to issue high pressure gas to the nozzle 722, which has a valve 91 to open or close the gas injection member 84. The control assembly 9 is received in the brush member 7 to control the paint flow.
To wash the nozzle 721, the nozzle cover 723 has to be loosed and taken out. After wash, the nozzle cover 723 has to be screwed onto the nozzle 721. The nozzle cover 723 has to be screwed for loosing and tightening by fingers. It is an inconvenient operation. Because the nozzle cover 723 is tiny, user is easy to lose the nozzle cover 723 in wash process. The user has to pay a lot attention to the nozzle cover 723 in the wash process.
In the operation of adjustment of paint flow, it has to disassemble the nozzle cover 723. It raises the risk to lose the nozzle cover 723.
In conclusion, the nozzle cover 723 has to be disassembled and assembled frequently. The convention of assembling and disassembling the nozzle cover 723 is screwing that is an inconvenient way. If one screws the nozzle cover 723 too tight, it will be hard to loose. The main drawback is that it has very high risk to lose the nozzle cover 723.


There are provided an abnormality reporting device that can generate vibration which can be easily perceived by a driver even when the driver is in a vibrating vehicle during running, and a control program therefore. The abnormality reporting device is equipped with a detector 2 for detecting the state of a driver 10 or the state of a vehicle 20 as a prescribed state when the vehicle 20 is moving, a judging unit 4 for judging on the basis of the detection result of the detector 2 whether it is under an abnormal state, and a vibrating unit 8 for applying vibration of a predetermined vibration pattern to the driver 10 when the abnormality state is judged, and the vibrating unit 8 can apply the vibration while varying the vibration pattern when the abnormality state is continued.

There is known a vehicle abnormality reporting device in which a vibrating device (vibrating portion) is embedded in a driver's seat of a vehicle to report abnormality to a driver. As this type of device has been proposed in which, when it is detected that a driver falls into a drive dozing state, a vibrating device is actuated to generate vibration and this vibration shakes up the driver (for example, see Patent Document 1).    Patent Document 1: JP-A-5-330360

Abnormality reporting device for vehicle and control program


A voice interaction method is provided. The method is applied to a wearable set and includes: collecting voice information through at least two microphones; processing the voice information and determining that the voice information comprises an effective voice instruction; wherein the effective voice instruction is issued by a user for a mobile terminal; and transmitting the effective voice instruction to the mobile terminal. In an embodiment, the processing of the voice information is assigned to an external device, which reduces the power consumption of a mobile terminal; and voice information is collected by at least two microphones to improve an efficiency and quality of a voice collection.

At present, due to development of voice recognition technology, a mobile terminal (MT), such as a mobile phone, a tablet personal computer, etc., is usually controlled by voice recognition, such as making a call, etc.
However, for a mobile terminal, in particular for a mobile phone, power consumption of the mobile phone will be increased if a voice recognition function is enabled. Moreover, an application with a built-in voice recognition function is required to be running for a long time for the voice recognition, which will consume a large amount of power.
In addition, when controlling the mobile phone with voice, voice information as collected usually contains useless voice information. For example, in a noisy environment, the voice information as collected usually includes other voices from persons other than the user of the mobile phone, as well as some environmental noises. In this case, the mobile phone will perform voice recognition even though the user does not issue a voice instruction, thereby increasing a calculation amount and further increasing the power consumption. Moreover, due to less than two sockets for the microphone possibly being provided in the mobile phone, the efficiency for collecting voice information is low, and it is usually required for the user to put a microphone on his lips and increasing his voice volume to enable a voice instruction to be collected and recognized.

Voice interaction method, device, apparatus and server

BEIJING BAIDU NETCOM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A radio-controlled car convertible from a two-wheel drive configuration to a four-wheel drive configuration is described. The radio-controlled car includes a chassis, a first drive assembly positioned in a first portion of the chassis, and a modular second drive assembly adapted to be inserted into a second portion of the chassis to modify the radio-controlled car to a four-wheel drive configuration.

This disclosure relates generally to radio-controlled mobile toys and, more specifically, to modifying radio-controlled mobile toys to convert the toy from a two-wheel drive configuration to a four-wheel drive configuration.
Radio-controlled toy cars generally include a fixed drive train such that the car is preconfigured for either rear two-wheel drive, front two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive operation. However, as can be appreciated, different scenarios of operation of radio-controlled cars can lead to one mode of operation being desired over another. For instance, when operating a radio-controlled car over rough terrain, a four-wheel drive mode may be preferred, whereas, in racing situations, a two-wheel drive mode may be preferred.
Moreover, radio-controlled car enthusiasts often prefer to customize and enhance their radio-controlled cars, thereby modifying the radio-controlled cars for use in different situations. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a radio-controlled toy car, which can be disassembled, modified and reassembled to enhance, or otherwise alter, the performance of the radio-controlled toy car.
Therefore, what is needed is a radio-controlled toy car that includes a drive train that can be modified for different modes of operation.

Convertible drive train for radio-controlled toy


A pellicle correction factor is determined by comparing a first measurement of a reference photomask alone with a second measurement of that reference photomask through a reference pellicle protecting the mask layers of the photomask. A number of pellicle correction factors may be determined for different type pellicles and made accessible in pellicle correction factor lookup table of the system or supplied on a separate data storage medium. Raw Reflectance and/or Transmittance measurement data of a generic photomask through a generic pellicle is consecutively corrected for the measurement distorting effects of that pellicle by applying a matching one of the previously determined pellicle correction factors. The pellicle correction factor is preferably an attenuation signature across a predetermined measurement irradiation spectrum.

Referring to Prior Art FIGS. 1A, 1B, suppliers of photomasks 1 commonly apply a thin pellicle 6 over the mask 8 to protect it, after the final fabrication process has been completed. A pellicle 6 may also protect the bottom side 5 of the photomask 1. Such pellicles 6 may stay on the photomask 1 during its operational use to avoid dust particles that may otherwise contaminate the top layer of the mask 8. Spacing between the thin pellicle 6 and the top layer and/or the bottom 5 of the mask 8 as well as sealing is provided by a surrounding frame(s) 4. The spacing provides on one hand for sufficient clearance such that the thin pellicle 6 does not come into contact with the top layer irrespective eventual sagging of the pellicle 6. This may be particularly an issue with thin pellicles 6 commonly made of organic plastic material with thickness of about less than 10 micron, which are commonly employed with photomasks 1 operated during semiconductor fabrication in conjunction with light sources in the visual spectrum. Such thin pellicles 6 are highly homogeneous and introduce little and type consistent optical distortion. On the other hand, the spacing keeps dust articles that eventually deposit on top of the pellicle sufficiently far above the focal plane at the top layer such that beam distorting effects of eventual dust particles are kept to a minimum.
At the time of this invention and to the inventors knowledge, another form of pellicles 6 are emerging in conjunction with semiconductor fabrication techniques that employ ever shorter wave lengths in the ultraviolet light spectrum. Since organic plastic materials have significantly limited translucency for ultraviolet light and degrade relatively fast in such light, inorganic materials may increasingly need to be used for the pellicle 6. Such materials are commonly very brittle and are made with thickness of 100 microns up to about to 200 microns. With such thickness, the pellicle 6 may introduce optical distortions such as spherical aberrations to the light propagating through. Moreover and due to fabrication cost limitations, the inorganic pellicle 6 may be of limited optical quality with fabrication inconsistencies across its surface area that may introduce localized distortion characteristics. Another potential source of pellicle related optical distortions of the measurement is a well known localized thinning and thinning transitions of organic thin pellicles 6 exposed to radiation near 190 nm and below.
The photomask 1 needs to be inspected preferably through the pellicle 6, once fabrication is finished and prior to the operational use of it. Common photomask inspection devices have the optics very close to the photomask making unimpeded photomask inspection through the pellicle 6 difficult if not impossible to accomplish. In particular, thin film pellicles 6 may bulge in case of a thermal rise of the sealed volume. Hence, there exists a need for a photomask inspection device and method that provides for optical inspection of the photomask 1 with sufficient clearance to the pellicle. The present invention addresses this need.
Because of the emerging thick pellicles 6 for UV photomasks 1 that are visually hard to discern from thin pellicles 6, there exists a need for automatically identifying thin and thick pellicles 6 as well as type of thin and thick pellicles 6. The present invention addresses also this need. Further more and in cases of identified thick pellicles 6, there exists a need for identifying pellicle 6 in homogeneities and automated mapping of eventual localized optical distortion properties of the thick pellicle 6. The present invention addresses also this need.
During photomask inspection, a report of a number of well known properties of the photomask 1 itself is generated to document the quality of the fabricated photomask 1. In cases of thin and thick pellicles 6 used in the near and full UV spectrum, there exists also a need for documenting mapped local optical distortion properties of the pellicle 6, which may be also attributed to well known localized pellicle 6 thinning in cases of organic thin pellicle materials. The present invention addresses also this need.

System and method for optical photomask inspection through pellicle


The present invention relates to the field of capacitor layout schemes for integrated circuits. A method comprising nine specific layout criteria is disclosed that eliminates or greatly suppresses problems of prior art capacitance matching. The nine layout criteria for providing precise capacitance ratios are: 1) fixed horizontal and vertical spacings are maintained for unit capacitors; 2) grounded dummy unit capacitors are placed around the periphery of each capacitor group; 3) two interconnects are used per unit capacitor; 4) equal numbers of top and bottom external interconnects per capacitance are maintained; 5) the external interconnect capacitance is made equal to the internal interconnect capacitance; 6) nonunit capacitors are used in the largest capacitance in a ratio; 7) the top plate interconnect of a capacitance is isolated from the bottom plate interconnect of the same capacitance; 8) interconnects are shielded from opposite capacitor plates; and, 9) rows of unit capacitors of the same capacitance are isolated from each other. This layout scheme provides improved accuracy and reproducibility for capacitance matching in silicon integrated circuits. Another advantage of this method is that, by limiting the options available for laying out matched capacitor structures, the layout process is streamlined in a manner that reduces time and, in particular, lends itself to automation. Still another advantage of it is that less space is required for the same circuit in most cases.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of capacitor layout schemes for integrated circuits.
2. Background Art
In analog and mixed signal integrated circuit applications, capacitance ratios are used to precisely determine a specified output quantity or value. Examples of such applications include the chord ratio in a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) as well as the filter frequency for a switched capacitor circuit. Capacitors are typically formed of two polysilicon layers where POLY1 and POLY2 denote the bottom and top layers, respectively. The two polysilicon layers, or plates, sandwich a thin layer (typically 250 .ANG.-500 .ANG.) of thermally grown silicon dioxide, thereby forming a MOS capacitor structure.
Capacitor ratios are used instead of an absolute capacitance value, so that the effects of small variations in photolithography masks and wafer processing are suppressed. In practice, unit capacitors are used as building blocks. A unit capacitor, or unit cell, is a capacitor having a standard, predetermined size and shape, typically a square. All capacitors on an integrated circuit that are to be related to each other by predetermined capacitor ratios are made of groups or arrays of electrically interconnected unit cells. The unit capacitors are connected together to form larger capacitances that are the numerator or denominator of a capacitance ratio. Since the unit capacitors are identical and are processed simultaneously, mask and processing variations should not vary across the relevant portion of a die. In theory, these variations affect each unit capacitor equally and, therefore, have no effect on the capacitance ratios.
The accuracy of capacitance ratios has a significant effect on integrated circuit performance. For example, the chord ratio of an 8-bit DAC requires 0.4% accuracy and a 10-bit chord ratio requires 0.1% accuracy. A high Q notch filter centered at 1786 Hz that has a 0.4% accuracy has a possible error shift of 7 Hz. Such an error shift can significantly affect the attenuation at the design frequency. Circuit designers can efficiently convert 0.1% capacitor ratio accuracy into higher performance; one tenth of a percent (0.1%) of a 20 .mu.m unit capacitor is only 0.02 .mu.m or 200 .ANG..
In practice, however, there are several nonideal characteristics, both known and predicted, that undermine the accuracy of the capacitance ratios.
A disadvantage of the prior art are proximity effects in the photolithography and etching steps that produce variations in individual capacitor sizes. For example, the distance between a unit capacitor and its nearest neighbor has an effect upon the exposure, photoresist development, and etching of a unit capacitor edge. This occurs as result of chemical loading or optical interference. Limited improvement has been made by placing guard-rings around each group of unit capacitors. However, the amount of etched area within an area perimeter of an edge can also affect chemical loading. This area has been shown to extend as far as 50 .mu.m from the edge.
Another disadvantage of the prior art is that the POLY1 capacitor plate is normally common to all of the unit capacitors that form one capacitance. Therefore, depending on the location of a unit capacitor within a group of unit capacitors, the fringe capacitance between the top of the POLY2 unit capacitor plate and the common POLY1 plate varies. Models indicate that the variation can be as much as 0.4% among 27 .mu.m unit capacitors. This problem is worsened by the fact that the fringe capacitance varies according to the dielectric constant of the material many microns above the POLY2 layer. The material above the POLY2 layer is primarily air which has a dielectric constant .epsilon. of .epsilon..sub.o (8.86.times.10.sup.-14 F/cm) at wafer probe and plastic filler (.epsilon.=3.8.epsilon..sub.o) at package test.
A further disadvantage of the prior art is that unit capacitors in a capacitance are connected together with metal interconnect lines, and these lines run over the POLY1 plate between the POLY2 plates. This produces parasitic capacitance that is about 1.3 Fl or about 0.25% of the unit capacitance in a typical 27 .mu.m design. Therefore, the number of interconnects per unit capacitor must be kept constant to prevent any mismatch. This is complicated by the fact that some of the interconnects are between unit capacitors in a group and others connect the group to external circuitry. These latter interconnects cross the edge of the POLY1 plate where the exposed POLY1 length is different than the length between unit capacitors. The exposed POLY1 length at the edge is subject to misalignment between the POLY1 and POLY2 layers; also, there is additional fringe capacitance at the edge. Thus, the interconnects are usually not apportioned exactly into ratios.
Yet another disadvantage of the prior art is that there must be two interconnects from unit capacitor groups (called capacitances here) to external circuitry where one is for the series of POLY2 upper plates and one is for the POLY1 lower plate. When these two interconnects run close to each other or the upper plate POLY2 interconnect runs next to the lower plate POLY1, significant parasitic capacitance results.
Another disadvantage of the prior art is that, in order for the capacitance ratio to remain constant despite small but uniform variations in unit capacitor line-width, the capacitance perimeter ratio must be the same as the capacitance area ratio. In this way, a small overetch or underetch produces the same proportional change in the numerator and denominator capacitance. If the desired ratio is an integer as in a DAC, the use of unit capacitors accomplishes this automatically. However, in a filter, the ratio is typically a non-integral number, and one non-unit capacitor must be used to produce the proper perimeter ratio.

Layout scheme for precise capacitance ratios