A lid device for use with a container includes a lid, a frame, and a two-axis pivot coupling connecting the lid to the frame. The frame is mounted to or otherwise connected to the container rim. The lid has a substantially flat and rigid work surface on which a workpiece can be placed. A user can pivot the lid about a first axis to laterally offset the lid from the central opening by a desired amount. With the lid in such an offset position, the user can access the container to, for example, discard waste materials, without having to remove a workpiece resting on the work surface. The greater the amount by which the user offsets the lid, the greater the amount of the container opening that is accessible. A user can also pivot the lid about a second axis to swing the lid open and closed if, for example, the user desires greater access to the container and no workpiece is resting on the work surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to portable work surfaces and to lids for refuse receptacles and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mechanics, machinists, manufacturers, hobbyists and others often keep a refuse receptacle near their workbench or other work surface while they work on mechanical parts or similar articles. For example, a mechanic working on an assembly undergoing maintenance or repair may need to dispose of dirt particles cleaned from it or small worn parts being replaced in it. Similarly, in some instances, the work may involve removing material from a workpiece using hand or power tools. Having a refuse receptacle close at hand is important because waste material can be spilled on the floor or on articles while carrying it to the receptacle. Such spills take time and effort to clean up. They can also be hazardous to the environment and damaging to flooring or other articles.
It is known for mechanics to use a device commonly referred to as a parts cleaner to clean dirt particles from a part or assembly. A parts cleaner has a draining surface upon which the part can be placed while a cleaning solution is pumped through a nozzle directed at the part. Dirty solution drains into a tank or receptacle. Parts cleaners are intended only for cleaning parts, as their surfaces are not conveniently configured for doing anything else to the part. Also, parts cleaners are not refuse containers and cannot accept larger pieces of waste. Therefore, any large particles or pieces removed from the part must be taken to a separate refuse receptacle for disposal.
Trash cans have been used as makeshift supports for various articles. For example, it is known that common plastic or galvanized steel trash cans having a capacity typically in the range of 25-50 gallons and commonly used to dispose of household and garden waste, can be used as makeshift sawhorses to facilitate cutting a piece of lumber, tree branch, etc. The wood can be laid across one or two such trash cans (without lids), and the waste tossed in the can. Although this method works in a pinch, an open trash can is far from a stable, convenient work surface.
It would be desirable to provide a convenient and efficient means for a person to dispose of waste while working on a part or other object. The present invention addresses these problems and deficiencies and others in the manner described below.

Receptacle lid with integral work surface


A method for analyzing performance of an airfoil includes determining: an estimated laminar separation location; a freestream turbulence intensity; a momentum thickness; and a turbulence length scale. Based upon the freestream turbulence intensity, momentum thickness, and turbulence length scale, a first momentum thickness Reynolds number associated with a first estimated laminar/turbulent boundary transition location along the airfoil is determined. If the estimated laminar separation location is downstream of the first estimated transition, the first estimated transition is used to determine a spatial domain for running a turbulent flow model. If the estimated laminar separation location is upstream of the first estimated transition, a second estimated transition location is used to determine a spatial domain for running the turbulent flow model. The second estimated transition location is determined as a function of a momentum thickness Reynolds number associated with the estimated laminar separation location.

The invention relates to computational fluid dynamics (CFD). More particularly, the invention relates to the design of airfoils for turbomachinery.
Many turbomachines feature sections characterized by alternating circular arrays (often referred to as "rows") of airfoils. Alternating, oppositely-oriented, rows of rotating blade and fixed vane airfoils may be present in any given section. Performance of the turbomachine is influenced by the size, positioning, and shape of these airfoils. CFD means are commonly used to optimize parameters for desired performance (e.g., efficiency) in desired operating conditions. The behavior of boundary layers, especially on the suction sides of the airfoils, strongly influences airfoil performance. The boundary layer will start as a laminar flow and then typically transition to a turbulent flow. The boundary layer may also separate from the airfoil. The separated boundary layer may then reattach.
Standard practice in the industry is to perform CFD simulations solving the Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes equations with a two-equation turbulence model. The turbulence model is disabled in the laminar portion of the boundary layer. Thus one must know: (a) the location of the boundary between the boundary layer and freestream; and (b) the location on the airfoil at which the boundary layer transitions from laminar to turbulent flow. The former is straightforward and may be done by analyzing the flowfield resulting from a converged CFD solution, which used either fully laminar or fully turbulent models. The latter is more difficult.
It has long been known that freestream turbulence plays a key role in determining the location of the boundary layer transition. A relationship between a critical momentum thickness-based Reynolds number on the one hand and the freestream turbulence intensity and a pressure gradient parameter on the other hand is disclosed in Abu-Ghannam B. J., Shaw R., Natural Transition of Boundary Layers—the Effects of Turbulence, Pressure Gradients and Flow History", J. Mech. Eng Sci., Vol. 22, pp. 213-228, 1980. A relationship between that critical Reynolds number and the freestream turbulence intensity is disclosed in Mayle, R. E., "The Role of Laminar-Turbulent Transition in Gas Turbine Engines", ASME Journal of Turbomachinery, Vol. 113, pp. 509-537, 1991.
In addition to modeling transition in attached flow situations, it is advantageous to model transition in separated flow situations. One model for this is disclosed in Roberts, W. B., "Calculation of Laminar Separation Bubbles and Their Effect on Airfoil Performance," AIAA Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1. pp. 25-31, 1980. The Roberts model relates a momentum thickness-based Reynolds number to the turbulence intensity multiplied by an exponent of the quotient of the chord of the airfoil divided by the turbulence length scale. Nevertheless there is room for further improvement in transition modeling.


A process for the separation of amino acids from aqueous solutions by adsorption on zeolites of different types. It is unnecessary to separate the biomass prior to the treatment.

Individual amino acids are produced commercially in four ways:
(a) Separation of the amino acids from naturally occurring and renewable raw materials (e.g. chicken feathers, pig bristles); PA0 (b) Chemical synthesis (e.g. DL-methionine); PA0 (c) Enzymatic production from chemical precursors (e.g. L-methionine); PA0 (d) Microbiological production, fermentation (e.g. L-lysine, L-threonine, L-tryptophan).
In all these processes and methods the separation and isolation of the amino acids is one of the essential process steps.
For this purpose organic ion-exchange resins are frequently used.
L-lysine is e.g. adsorbed on strongly acidic ion exchanger resins of the NH4.sup.+ type, at a pH value of 0.5 to 3, the loaded exchanger is then eluted with ammonia water and the desired L-lysine hydrochloride formed by addition of hydrochloric acid (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,565,951).

Process for the separation of amino acids from aqueous solutions


An apparatus for controlling a duration of burn of a stick of incense includes a base and a ferric rod extending away from and over the base. A hole is provided in the base for placement of a bottom end of the incense. A cylindrical portion is adapted to fit over and slide along a longitudinal length of the incense. A magnet is attached to the cylindrical portion and is adapted to secure the cylindrical portion, where desired, along a longitudinal length of the rod. Accordingly, the incense is supported in two locations and is disposed under and generally parallel to the rod. The incense is able to burn until the area of combustion reaches the cylindrical portion, at which time it is extinguished. Two alternate embodiments are described that allow use of modified forms of the cylindrical portion with prior art types of incense burners.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, in general relates to burning incense sticks and, more particularly, to a timer for controlling the duration of burn.
Incense sticks are well-known devices that are used in religious ceremonies, general gatherings, and for private use to imbue an area with a particular scent via smoke.
The incense stick is typically placed in a holder that cooperates with a bottom end of the incense stick. The top of the incense stick is then ignited by a match or other type of lighter.
If a flame appears, it is extinguished and a dull red glow remains at the tip of the incense stick to continue the combustion process. As combustion of the stick occurs, a thin stream of smoke rises from the incense stick to mingle with and disappear from view into the ambient air.
An incense stick burns itself by smoldering at the tip. A residue of ash remains as the tip continues to smolder in what is usually a generally downward direction toward a base of the incense stick. When the ash residue becomes sufficiently large, it falls from the incense stick.
It is both the combustion process and the smoke that impart the greatest concentration of odor into the environment. While the incense stick, if held to one's nose, may have an odor of its own, it is the combustion process that maximally emits the fragrance of that particular type of incense stick.
Different types of incense sticks have a different odor. While they do vary somewhat in size, incense sticks tend to be similarly sized.
When a person enters an area (i.e., a room) where incense has been burning for a short period of time, the person is likely to notice a pleasant scent to the air. It is for this reason, primarily, that people burn incense sticks.
There are other reasons for burning incense, to be sure. For example, it is not uncommon for a person to place a burning stick of incense on an altar or in front of an image of a holy being or saint as an offering in veneration that accords with their spiritual practices.
While the burning of incense sticks affords certain benefits, their use is also problematical. When an incense stick is ignited it tends to burn from a tip toward a base until all of a combustible coating that also contains the primary fragrance, has been consumed.
Accordingly, there is no effective way to regulate the duration of burn of an incense stick.
When all of an incense stick is burned in a confined space or where there is little movement of air, the fragrance can overpower the area. When that happens, the scent becomes overbearing and instead of adding to the ambiance of the area, can actually detract from the ambiance.
Therefore, a person may want to burn only a portion of a stick of incense. The person may want to burn the stick for, perhaps, twenty minutes at a time in order to provide the perfect olfactory room aesthetics.
Also, when prayers or supplications are complete, the person may want to terminate the burning of incense as a natural conclusion of the ritual itself.
To extinguish a burning (i.e., smoldering) stick of incense, the person may try to do so by grasping a burning tip of the incense stick and pinching the tip between a thumb and a finger. However, this action can easily burn the person.
Also, if it is not done sufficiently well, the incense stick can appear to be extinguished while a small portion of the tip still smolders faintly. The faintly smoldering tip may not emit enough smoke to be visible or have any visible glow. Accordingly, the person believes the incense stick is extinguished.
A few minutes later, the entire tip can begin to fully smolder unbeknownst to the person who thought he or she had extinguished it. Eventually, the entire incense stick will burn itself out and a far too strong of a fragrance will permeate the area.
There is also a fire danger associated with incense burning. Certain prior art types of incense stick holders do not well-secure the incense stick above the holder. Sometimes, when the ash residue falls from the incense stick, it brings a small smoldering ember along with it. If the smoldering ember falls on the holder it usually soon extinguishes itself and no harm is done.
By apparent reason of market demand, most incense holders are narrow devices that suspend the stick of incense at an angle over the holder. If a longitudinal axis of the incense stick does not align with a longitudinal axis of the holder, a portion of the incense stick can extend beyond the holder.
If the incense stick is offset off of the holder, the smoldering ember can fall on a combustible surface and ignite it. Clearly, this can cause considerable property damage and even death.
Additionally, it is preferred that all ash fall onto the holder so that the holder can later be held over a trash receptacle and tilted to deposit all of the ash into the receptacle and maintain the general area of the holder as clean as possible.
A person who has just completed a stay in an area that includes a burning stick of incense will want to extinguish that stick so as to prevent a risk of fire prior to leaving.
If, as mentioned above, the person pinches the incense stick, believes it to be extinguished, and then leaves the area, there remains a possibility that a small smoldering remnant of the incense stick can bring it back into full smolder. If the stick is also offset off of the holder, there remains the possibility that a fire could occur as a result of falling ash and ember.
Another prior way of extinguishing a stick of incense is to remove the burning stick from its holder and dip the tip into a glass of water. While this is effective at extinguishing the incense stick, it also damages the remainder of the stick.
When the person tries to reignite the tip, it may no longer combust. This wastes incense sticks. Many people presently accept this waste as a necessary financial burden.
If an incense stick if capable of burning for several hours duration, the person may burn it for only a few minutes and then extinguish it by dipping it in water. The person may then discard the remainder, which is substantially unused, and use a new incense stick for the next few minute duration burn.
If the person extinguishes by dipping (i.e., soaking) the incense stick in water, and then decides a few minutes after extinguishing it that he or she would like to continue to burn it for an additional period of time, it is virtually impossible to reignite a soaked incense stick.
The person will be forced to use a new stick and will likely discard the prior stick of incense, even though the greater portion of it was unused.
Accordingly, there exists today a need for an incense timer that helps ameliorate the above-mentioned problems and difficulties.
Clearly, such an apparatus would be a useful and desirable device.
2. Description of Prior Art
Incense holders are, in general, known. For example, the following patent describes a somewhat related type of device:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,739 to Borut, et al., that issued on May 21, 2002.
While the structural arrangements of the above described devices may, at first appearance, have similarities with the present invention, they differ in material respects. These differences, which will be described in more detail hereinafter, are essential for the effective use of the invention and which admit of the advantages that are not available with the prior devices.


The different advantageous embodiments comprise an apparatus comprising an airbag. The airbag is configured to inflate into a configuration that covers a region around a seat in which a top of a head, a front of a head, upper body region, knees, and shins of a passenger in the seat is expected to be located when an event occurs in which the airbag is deployed.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to transportation and more particularly to a method and system for transportation safety equipment. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to an airbag for protection of multiple body regions.
2. Background
Personal vehicles, such as a car or truck, typically include an airbag system designed to slow the forward motion of a front seat driver or passenger during a vehicle impact event. These airbag systems generally protect the upper body of the driver or passenger, such as the face and chest, from coming into contact with a vehicle dashboard or steering mechanism. Some personal vehicles may also include additional airbags for side impact that deploy from a door or a seat of the vehicle.
Passenger transportation vehicles, such as aircraft, trains, and sea vessels, are not currently required to use airbags. Even without these requirements, some airlines have started to provide airbags in their aircraft.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that addresses one or more of the issues discussed above.

Airbag for protection of multiple body regions


A system and method for the manufacture of flipchip microelectromechanical system devices. A method comprises forming a cavity from a first surface of a rigid back through to a second surface of the rigid back, depositing an anisotropic conductive film over the first surface of the multilayer rigid back to conform to a contour of a microelectromechanical system device, positioning the a microelectromechanical system device over the cavity formed in the multilayered rigid back, and causing contact of the microelectromechanical system device with the anisotropic conductive film deposited over the first surface of the multilayer rigid back.

Currently, the manufacture of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices, such as flipchip devices, have employed rigid bonding (e.g., gold stud-bump) to provide mechanical and/or electrical connection between the MEMS device and a substrate (e.g., silicon substrate). Thereafter, a separate sealing material has typically been applied to achieve an acoustic seal between the MEMS device and substrate.


A protective case for a foldable electronic device having a first member configured for slidably receiving a first portion of the foldable electronic device. The first member has a first ball extending from the first member. The protective case also has a second member configured for slidably receiving a second portion of the foldable electronic device. The second member has a second ball extending from the second member. The protective case also includes sockets for receiving the ball members, wherein each of the balls rotates within a respective one of the sockets in multiple axes such that the hinge member pivots inward when the protective case is transitioned from the opened position to the closed position to prevent the foldable electronic device from sliding out of the protective case.

Mobile telephones, portable computers, and tablet computers are convenient tools that allow people to work, communicate with one another, conduct business, and play games while on the go and away from hardwired Internet connections. These types of electronic devices allow people to communicate via voice, text message, short message service (SMS), instant messaging (IM), and the like. Other such portable devices include computers, personal digital assistants, smartphones, electronic digital readers, electronic game devices, video recorders, cameras, and the like. These types of portable electronic devices are often expensive and contain fragile components that make them susceptible to damage due to dropping, shock, or impact. Protective cases are often used to protect these types of devices. Some newer variations of these devices are foldable and may contain displays on more than one surface. Improved protective cases for foldable electronic devices are desired.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Protective case for folding electronic device


A communication system in accordance with the invention employs a broadcast signal for synchronization of the transmitters and receivers in the system without use of a special base transmitter for synchronizing signal transmissions. Each transmitter having a pre-assigned time slot counts from a synchronizing index which is inherent in or added to the broadcast signal to determine when to transmit. The receiver of receivers similarly count from the synchronizing index to determine when to look for specific time slice transmissions.

The present invention relates generally to the field of communications systems and more specifically to asymmetrical communication systems using a high data rate (wide data bandwidth) in one direction and a low data rate (narrow data bandwidth) for the return direction. The asymmetry lies in the relative data rates or amount of information flowing between two individual stations rather than a reference to the actual spectrum (bandwidth) of the transmissions. The principles of the present invention may however be extended to other communication environments including single direction and symmetrical two direction communication channels and to other fields requiring synchronization of remote communication equipment.
Systems in which relatively broadband information is transmitted to numerous users from a base and narrowband information from each user back to the base are known. For example, data is transmitted in an otherwise unused portion of a broadcast FM or TV signal and the users respond via dedicated telephone lines.
In the embodiments described below, time division (TD), particularly time division multiple access (TDMA), and spread spectrum (SS) transmission techniques are employed. Time division communication systems and spread spectrum transmission are known in the art, particularly in military and other secure communications systems. In a typical TDMA system, each user transmitter is provided with a spread spectrum receiver that monitors a synchronizing transmission from a base station. The synchronizing signal informs the user transmitter when to transmit so as not to interfere with the other transmitters in the system. Reception of such synchronizing transmissions adds considerable cost and complexity to conventional TDMA systems. Further background concerning time division communication systems can be found in Chapters 15 and 16 of Taub & Schilling, Principles of Communication Systems (2nd Ed., 1986).
The introductory paragraphs on spread spectrum modulation in Chapter 17 of Taub & Schilling describes the technique and some of its characteristics as follows:
"Spread spectrum is a technique whereby an already modulated signal is modulated a second time in such a way as to produce a waveform which interferes in a barely noticeable way with any other signal operating in the same frequency band. Thus, a receiver [A] tuned to receive a specific AM or FM broadcast would probably not notice the presence of a spread spectrum signal operating over the same frequency band. Similarly, the receiver [B] of the spread spectrum signal would not notice the presence of the AM or FM signal. Thus, we say that interfering signals are transparent to spread spectrum signals and spread spectrum signals are transparent to interfering signals. PA0 To provide the `transparency` described above the spread spectrum technique is to modulate an already modulated waveform, either using amplitude modulation or wideband frequency modulation, so as to produce a very wideband signal. For example, an ordinary AM signal utilizes a bandwidth of 10 kHz. Consider that a spread spectrum signal is operating at the same carrier frequency as the AM signal and has the same power P.sub.s as the AM signal but a bandwidth of 1 MHz. Then, in the 10 kHz bandwidth of the AM signal, the power of the second signal is P.sub.s .times.(10.sup.4 /10.sup.6)=P.sub.s /100. Since the AM signal has a power P.sub.s, the interfering spread spectrum signal provides noise which is 20 dB below the AM signal."
Further background concerning spread spectrum techniques can be found in Chapter 17 of Taub & Schilling.

Broadcast synchronized communication system


A disk drive control system comprising a micro-controller, a micro-controller cache system adapted to store micro-controller data for access by the micro-controller, a buffer manager adapted to provide the micro-controller cache system with micro-controller requested data stored in a remote memory, and a cache demand circuit adapted to: a) receive a memory address and a memory access signal, and b) cause the micro-controller cache system to fetch data from the remote memory via the buffer manager based on the received memory address and memory access signal prior to a micro-controller request.

Disk Drives commonly employ one or more microprocessors or micro-controllers (the terms are used interchangeably) in an embedded control system to control operations of the drive. In order to maximize the performance of the microprocessor, a cache control system is frequently included which minimizes the access time for fetching instructions and data from memory.
As is well known in the art, a cache system depends on locality of reference to provide the expected performance improvement. This means that the memory address range for a particular segment of program code being executed tends to be co-extensive with the range of memory data being stored in the cache. Therefore, most accesses after the cache is initially loaded will be in the cache—i.e. a cache "hit". When a memory access address falls outside the cached segment, i.e. a "cache miss" occurs, the cache control system directs the access to main memory, such as via a buffer manager circuit, and stores the new data in the cache. Generally, when a cache miss occurs, the cache control system fetches a string or burst of data sequential to the miss address, anticipating that subsequent requests will be sequential.
Unfortunately, in many instances this fetching of a string or burst of data may be delayed, thus resulting in the stalling of the microprocessor while the data request is being received. Typically, this delay or latency is introduced by the buffer manager circuit which is tasked with arbitrating access to the main memory between its various clients, such as the microprocessor, the error correction code subsystem, etc. If a client with a higher priority task is arbitrated to access the memory, then the microprocessor request for access to the memory will be delayed unit the higher priority task has accessed the memory. This delay is commonly referred to as the arbitration latency of the buffer manager. A latency-sensitive microprocessor routine, such as an interrupt service routine, can typically not tolerate the arbitration latency of the buffer manager, therefore rendering microprocessor requests to access data in main memory impractical. As a result, the latency-sensitive data will typically have to be stored in a dedicated memory, such as in a static random access memory (SRAM). The SRAM, however, is expensive to implement and is typically of a much smaller size than the main memory so that only a subset of latency-sensitive data can be stored therein.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved disk drive cache control system which minimizes delays in providing the microprocessor with data stored in the main memory via the buffer manager, to thus offer beneficial cache performance without incurring cost penalties.

Instruction prefetch caching for remote memory


A microphone circuit assembly for an external application processor, such as a programmable Digital Signal Processor, may include a microphone preamplifier and analog-to-digital converter to generate microphone signal samples at a first predetermined sample rate. A speech feature extractor is configured for receipt and processing of predetermined blocks of the microphone signal samples to extract speech feature vectors representing speech features of the microphone signal samples. The microphone circuit assembly may include a speech vocabulary comprising a target word or target phrase of human speech encoded as a set of target feature vectors and a decision circuit is configured to compare the speech feature vectors generated by the speech feature extractor with the target feature vectors to detect the target speech word or phrase.

In speech recognition system, the first filter bank applied to an incoming speech signal, typically generated by a microphone mounted in a piece of portable communication equipment like in a phone, a toy, a TV set or PC etc., is normally a variant of a Mel Factor Cepstral/Cepstrum Coefficient (MFCC) filter bank, disregarding whether an underlying speech recognition system is based on neural nets (NN), Hidden Markov Models (HMM), or factor graphs (FG). The purpose of the complete speech recognition system is to provide voice activated control over device functions such as device wake-up or power-on from a sleep-mode. However, MFCC filter banks of known speech recognition devices and systems are computationally complex and for this reason often executed on a programmable application processor such as a programmable fixed or floating point DSP core or engine. These types of DSP cores often use 24 or 32 bit word lengths for representation for incoming speech/audio signal samples leading to datapath circuits, data registers and logic with correspondingly large word lengths to accommodate the word format of the incoming audio samples. This feature leads to high power consumption in the MFCC filter bank during processing of the incoming speech or audio signal which is a significant problem or obstacle for the application of MFCC based speech recognition in portable/battery powered equipment.
Furthermore, since the speech recognition application or program traditionally executes on the programmable external application processor, e.g. a DSP core, it has to continuously reside in an active mode of operation to detect the presence of the target word, phrase or command in the incoming microphone signal. This requirement for continuous operation of the programmable external application processor presents an obstacle for providing voice activated system power up due to high power consumption of the continuously operating programmable application processor. The high power consumption is a significant problem for the speech recognition application in both battery powered portable equipment and mains connected electrical equipment in view of battery life-time and the on-going world-wide efforts to reduce energy consumption of electrical equipment throughout the industrialized world. Hence, it would be of considerable benefit to provide a separate microphone circuit assembly comprising a speech recognition unit with low power consumption and capable of operating independently of the external application processor. The microphone circuit assembly could comprise a speech recognition unit capable of recognizing one or more predetermined target word(s) or phrase(s) and indicating the recognition of such target word(s) or phrase(s) to the external application processor by transmission of a suitable recognition signal. Hence, such a microphone circuit assembly will allow the external application processor to reside in sleep-mode without processing of the microphone signal by delegating the recognition task of the target word or phrase in the incoming microphone signal to the microphone circuit assembly. The microphone circuit assembly may indicate the recognition of the target word or phrase to the external application processor by a suitable recognition signal allowing the application processor to switch from the sleep-mode to an active mode and take appropriate action in response.
EP 0 871 157 A2 discloses a speech recognition method and apparatus. The speech recognition device receives its input speech signal s(n) from a microphone. The speech signal is transformed into a digital form by means of an ND converter using a sampling frequency of 8 kHz and 12 bits of resolution per sample. The speech recognition device comprises a front-end where the speech signal is analyzed and a feature vector is modeled. The feature vector may be modeled by defining Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC).
U.S. 2003/110033 A1 discloses a method and system for real-time speech recognition. The speech recognition is based on the MFCC algorithm and Hidden Markov Models (HMM). The speech recognition system may be implemented on a DSP suitable for a low resource environment. A WOLA filter bank is working as co-processor to a DSP core and applies a 256 point FFT to consecutive or running segments of the digitized input speech signal.
The paper 'A Real Time Noise-Robust Speech Recognition System', Wada et al., ECTI November 2005 discloses a speech recognition method and apparatus based on custom hardware such as a full-custom ASIC design or a FPGA design. A speech recognition device is based on a FPGA board. Speech input signals to the speech recognition device on the FPGA board are generated by sampling a microphone signal by an ND converter with a sampling rate of 11.025 kHz quantizing speech samples to 12-bits word length.

Microphone circuit assembly and system with speech recognition


In an arbitration circuit in which a shared circuit such as a memory is used exclusively by one of a plurality of functional blocks at a time, an access reservation request is issued from one of the functional blocks, and the access request associated with the access reservation request is reserved. Thereafter, when an access request is issued from another functional block, it is determined which one of the access reservation request and the access request from these functional blocks takes precedence. For example, if the access request from the latter functional block has a low priority level, the access reservation request is selected and the circuit waits for an access request from the functional block which has issued this access reservation request. In this manner, it is possible to avoid cancellation of a once-accepted access request and waiting for a high-priority access request.

The present invention relates to an arbitration circuit for arbitration, in using a shared circuit such as a memory, between functional blocks in a circuit such as a digital circuit in which the shared circuit is used exclusively by one of the functional blocks at a time.
Digital circuits that process various data often use memories so as to temporally store data. If a large number of circuits requiring memories (hereinafter, referred to as functional blocks) are provided, the memories are prepared for the respective functional blocks in some cases. However, to implement the same capacity, in both cases of implementation in LSI and on a board, provision of a smaller number of large-capacity memories is more advantageous than provision of a large number of small-capacity memories in terms of, for example, cost, implementation area and the number of mounting steps. In view of this, a minimum number of memories corresponding to the total capacity necessary for the functional blocks are generally provided to be shared among the functional blocks.
However, only a small number (one or two) of inputs/outputs are generally provided to read/write (hereinafter, collectively referred to as access) data stored in memories. To access different data sets in the memories from functional blocks at respective timings independently, operation of permitting access to the memories without contradiction and interruption by adjusting requests for access from the functional blocks is needed. Hereinafter, this operation will be referred to as arbitration. A circuit for implementing the arbitration will be hereinafter referred to as an arbitration circuit.
In recent years, semiconductors have been advanced remarkably, and the speed of internal circuits has increased to the order of several hundreds of MHz to several hundreds of GHz. In addition, the semiconductors come to be used in system LSI (i.e., are integrated), so that a memory is shared among a larger number of circuits. The amount of data has also rapidly increased accordingly.
On the other hand, memories have also been advanced, but the operation frequencies thereof are still in the range of 200 to 400 MHz. That is, the memories have not been advanced as rapidly as semiconductors. A large number of semiconductors include function cores which require memories, so that the memories and their peripheral components tend to degrade the performance of a system. Therefore, effective use of memories is necessary to enhance the performance of the system, and an arbitration circuit such as the above-described digital circuit plays an importance role.
To estimate the performance of a memory, two points of views are considered. One is the bandwidth and the other is the latency. The former is the upper limit of the average amount of data in access in normal operation. In theory, this upper limit is determined by the data width in a memory, the clock frequency and overhead of memory access. The total access amount necessary for the functional blocks needs to be determined not to exceed the bandwidth. The latter is the time during which when a plurality of access requests are issued at the same time, an unselected request is kept waiting before being actually accepted. The latency occurs when the amount of data used in access is smaller than the bandwidth in average but a plurality of access requests are issued at a time with low-priority access requests kept waiting. In a system performing real-time processing, the latency might cause serious troubles, and thus careful consideration is needed to prevent the latency from causing serious troubles.
In view of this, an arbitration circuit satisfying the foregoing requirements is needed. For arbitration, allocation of priority levels and a round-robin scheme are generally adopted. The priority levels are used to indicate which access request is to take precedence when a plurality of access requests are issued at the same time. These access requests are accepted in order of descending priority. However, if the processing is always performed in this manner, access requests with relatively low priority levels might be left unexecuted for a long time. Therefore, a scheme with which if an access request, even a high-priority access request, is once accepted, the priority level thereof is temporally lowered based on a criterion so that a lower-priority access request is accepted during a given period of time, is often adopted. This scheme is called a round-robin scheme.
In this way, in a conventional technique (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-124051), when a plurality of access requests are issued at the same time, arbitration is performed in accordance with priority levels based on a history of accepted accesses.
Functional blocks configured to use a shared memory generally operate independently of each other, so that access requests to the shared memory from these functional blocks might coincide with each other. Even if this possibility of the coincidence is extremely low, failure of the system should be prevented as long as the possibility exists.
In the above-mentioned conventional technique, access requests are issued with no advance notice, and thus an arbitration circuit needs to perform arbitration at every issue. If an access request which does not have such a high priority level but is for access in a long period is issued and, immediately after the request is accepted, a high-priority request is issued, the request immediately before the acceptance is forced to be canceled or interrupted, or subsequent high-priority requests are forced to be kept waiting, for example. The former might cause overhead or degradation in performance, and the latter might cause failure of a system.
To avoid these problems by using the conventional technique, cancellation or latency is estimated with a margin and a circuit for the margin is additionally prepared. This increases costs for LSI and memories.

Arbitration circuit and function processing circuit provided therein


An interconnect assembly electrically connecting two circuit members, which include respective arrays of electrical contacts for engagement with the interconnect assembly. The interconnect assembly comprises a plurality of electrical conductors, the plurality of conductors arranged in a spaced arrangement, the spaced arrangement of the conductors substantially corresponding to a spaced arrangement for the respective arrays of electrical contacts to provide contact between the conductors and the contact arrays and a carrier, including a socket and a retainer. The socket includes a plurality of apertures each receiving an upper portion of one of the plurality of conductors and the retainer includes a plurality of apertures each receiving a lower portion of one of the plurality of conductors; and the respective apertures are aligned axially with each other.

A pogo pin is a device used in electronics to establish a (usually temporary) connection between two circuit members (e.g., printed circuit boards). The pogo pin usually takes the form of a slender cylinder containing two sharp, spring-loaded pins. Pressed between two electronic circuits, the sharp points at each end of the pogo pin make secure contacts with the two circuits and thereby connect them together.
Pogo pins are usually arranged in a dense array, connecting together many individual nodes of the two circuit boards. They are very commonly found in automatic test equipment in the form of a bed of nails, where they facilitate the rapid, reliable connection of the devices under test (DUTs).
When used in the high-performance applications, pogo pins must be very carefully designed to allow not only high reliability across many mating/unmating cycles but also high-fidelity transmission of the electrical signals. The pins themselves must be hard, yet plated with a substance (such as gold) that provides for reliable contact. Within the body of the pogo pin, the pins must make good electrical contact with the body. The design of pogo pins to be used in matched-impedance circuits is especially challenging; to maintain the correct characteristic impedance.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a low force and low contact resistance pogo pin device for semiconductor testing.

Compressive conductors for semiconductor testing


A method for manufacturing a split link assembly having a split link (800C) that includes a first half link (801), a second half link (803) and a threaded aperture (805) formed in both the first half link (801) and second half link (803) for use in joining the first half link and second half link with a fastening device (807). The split link assembly is machined to include a head portion (811), shoulder portion (813), barrel portion (815) and base portion (817) for use in providing a highly flexible tube bending mandrel.

A "link" is a mechanical device that is used for connecting the ball segments of a flexible mandrel that is used in the rotary-draw tube-bending process. As seen in FIG. 1, a typical mandrel assembly 100 includes a mandrel body 101, a nose 103, and a plurality of balls 105 and links 107, 108, 109. The assembly is inserted inside a tube in order to support its circumference or perimeter as the tube is bent using a rotary-draw tube-bending machine. Those skilled in the art will recognize that FIG. 1 illustrates a mandrel for a round tube; however, the present invention is not limited to that shape.
Further, a ball 105 fits over each link 107, 108, 109 and acts as a joint for allowing the ball to move and flex along with the tube as it is drawn over the mandrel and bent into an arc around a rotating die. Although many types of links are known in the art, the universally flexible link is best known for allowing the mandrel balls to flex in any plane during the tube bending process. As with most links, over time each ball will wear at a different rate and must be replaced to prevent the balls from developing an undesired play or slop. If not replaced, this slop will prevent tubes from maintaining a consistent circumference or perimeter throughout the arc of the bend.
Universally flexible links come in two main configurations or styles, namely the "poppet" style and the "split link" style. The poppet style link is a single piece construction where the socketed end of one link is pressed over the head of another. The socketed end, known as the barrel, is longitudinally slotted so that it opens and closes as it is pressed over the head of the other link. The poppet style link is generally less expensive to manufacture than the split link style, but it can be more difficult to assemble into a mandrel.
In contrast, a split link includes a system where the link is formed in two or more pieces that are joined together. As seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,190,106 to Spates, which is herein incorporated by reference, Spates FIGS. 1-2 illustrate a tube bending mandrel using balls connected with links. Each link member is formed in longitudinal halves that are connected along a common line of division. In order to prevent each of the link halves from sliding against one another, the head of each half is keyed to the other into a fixed position for preventing such longitudinal movement. Other types of multi-piece designs provide a serpentine or zigzag type of joint along the common line of division for preventing movement. Still others are configured so that the head of the link is segmented into various pieces for joining the link halves to one another.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

Method for manufacturing a split link for use in a flexible tube bending mandrel


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for recommending content based on context such as location. In one aspect, a method includes receiving data that references a location of a mobile device, selecting, from among multiple, different applications that are available in an online application marketplace, one or more of the applications that are relevant to the location, and providing, by a recommendation server, a recommendation to the mobile device, where the recommendation identifies the one or more applications as applications that the user is likely to be interested in purchasing or downloading.

The present disclosure relates to mobile device applications and, in one particular implementation, to recommending software applications to a user of a mobile device based on context such as the location of the mobile device.
Mobile computing devices (or simply "mobile devices") may run a variety of software applications that extend existing device capabilities and that add new capabilities. Many types of applications are generally available, such as applications for information retrieval, communications, and entertainment. Applications may be created by mobile device manufacturers and/or third parties (e.g., application developers), and may be pre-installed, or may be acquired later by device users.
Users may discover new applications through an interface associated with an on-line application marketplace, by browsing a catalog of available applications. Additionally, information about new applications is generally available through advertising, industry reviews, "top 10" and "best" lists, and through word-of-mouth referrals. Upon learning of a new application, users may obtain, install, and use full versions of the applications, or user may access demonstration versions of the application that allow the user to try the application out with or without purchasing. Over time, users may keep applications, upgrade applications (e.g., from a demonstration version to a full version), and may delete applications that are no longer wanted.


Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to providing an augmented reality experience. Embodiments include receiving, from an augmented reality or virtual reality (AR/VR) device, first input that identifies application content and a location of an artifact in an AR/VR environment. Embodiments include identifying a region in the environment based on the location, the region corresponding to the artifact. Embodiments include receiving the application content from an application. Embodiments include composing a first scene, the application content being overlaid onto the region. Embodiments include transporting the first scene to the AR/VR device for display. Embodiments include receiving, from the client device, second input in the region in the environment. Embodiments include composing a second scene wherein the application content is modified based on the second input. Embodiments include transporting the second scene to the AR/VR device for display.

Users typically interact with applications running on computing devices (e.g., desktop and laptop computers, mobile phones, tablets, and the like) using input devices such as keyboards, mice, and touch-screens, and output is usually provided to users through display devices such as monitors. Due to the inherent limitations in these forms of input and output, emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) involve the expansion of input and output methods.
Virtual reality (VR) technologies generally involve the computer-implemented simulation of up to a 360-degree experience which a user views using, for example, a wearable display (e.g., VR goggles). Augmented reality (AR) technologies generally involve the real-time addition of simulated content into a real-life scene being captured by a user device (e.g., a camera), which the user views through a display device, such that the simulated content appears through the display device to be present in the real-life scene. In both VR and AR technologies, users may provide input through traditional input methods (e.g., keyboards, mice, touchscreens, audio, and the like) as well as through movements and gestures (e.g., captured by motion sensors, cameras, and the like).
While the potential uses for VR and AR technologies are many and varied, there is currently only a limited number of computing applications which support these technologies, and these applications. Furthermore, existing VR and AR applications often make limited use of the unique capabilities of VR and AR technologies, such as expanded display areas. As such, there is a need in the art for VR and AR applications that provide improved integration with VR and AR environments.

Snapping, virtual inking, and accessibility in augmented reality


A method for automatically programming a receiver adapted to receive radio-television signals belonging to a plurality of radio-television networks in at least two different formats includes the steps of: storing into a first table a first plurality of programs of the plurality of radio-television networks receivable by the receiver in a first signal format, associable with a first sorting criterion of the first programs; storing into a second table a second plurality of programs of the plurality of radio-television networks receivable by the receiver in a second signal format, associable with a second sorting criterion of the second programs, including a step of storing into a third table programs stored in the first and second tables based on existing matches between the first and the second sorting criteria.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of methods for automatically programming radio-television signal receivers; more in particular, it relates to a device and a method for automatically programming a receiver adapted to receive radio-television signals in at least two different formats.
2. Present State of the Art
During the transition, or switchover, from analog to digital television, analog television will be gradually suppressed. During this transition phase, which according to the European Union's plans will end in 2012 in Europe, all television stations will cease broadcasting in analog format and will have to broadcast exclusively in digital format. The transition of a given program from analog to digital occurs in a rather abrupt manner. A television station will suddenly stop broadcasting in analog format in a certain channel and will start broadcasting in digital format in the same channel previously occupied by the analog station or in another channel.
During said switchover phase, the territorial coverage of the digital signal may undergo some discontinuity. In fact, it may happen that in a certain area a program is only received in analog format, while in another area it is only received in digital format, and in yet another area it is received in both the analog and digital formats.
In the technical terminology used in digital radio-television broadcasting, the term "service" is generally employed to indicate what in the analog world is called "program". In this context, the term "program" is used to indicate both an analog program and a digital service.
Some television receivers currently available on the market are equipped with a dual tuner capable of receiving both radio-television signals in a first format, in particular analog television signals, and radio-television signals in a second format, in particular digital television signals.
On the other hand, radio-television receivers are also becoming widespread which are capable of receiving both cable radio-television programs transported by using the TCP/IP protocol and radio-television programs receivable through electromagnetic signals irradiated by suitable terrestrial or satellite broadcasting stations.
The term "signal format" refers herein to a signal having particular structural characteristics in terms of encoding (e.g. MPEG2, MPEG4), typology (analog or digital) and distribution (cable, satellite, terrestrial, mobile, Internet).
For the purposes of the present description, the following different radio-television signal formats will be taken into account: PAL signals, SECAM signals, NTSC signals, DVB-T signals, DVB-T2 signals, DVB-C signals, DVB-S signals, DVB-H signals, encapsulated radio-television signals broadcast on packet-switching networks, e.g. by using the IP protocol (Internet Protocol), and other types of signals, whether present or future, which differ in their encoding, typology and distribution mode.
As known, many radio-television signal receivers available on the market are fitted with systems for automatically programming the radio-television programs: analog radio-television signal receivers utilise, for example, the so-called ATSS system (Automatic Tuning and Sorting System) described in European patent no. EP 0486988, whereas digital radio-television signal receivers employ a system based on the logic channel number (LCN).
Said logic channel number, hereafter referred to as "LCN code", is a number assigned by consortia of radio-television broadcasters to a certain program receivable in a certain geographical or catchment area.
The ATSS system allows to create an automatic procedure for searching the programs receivable in the television frequency bands of the analog signal, as well as to sort them afterwards in a predefined order independent of their transmission frequency and set at the factory on the basis of criteria common to the users in a certain catchment area, typically consisting of a national state.
Instead, the LCN is a numerical code which identifies the programs broadcast in digital terrestrial format by the various broadcasters, and is used by most digital terrestrial television receivers for the purpose of automatically assigning to each received program a predefined position in the program list.
The term "program list or table" is used in this context to indicate a sorted sequence of radio-television programs which the radio-television signal receiver can tune to, regardless of the broadcasting source and of the transmission means in use, wherein each program is associated with a particular numerical key of a keypad or remote control that can be selected by the user.
During the switchover from analog to digital, i.e. from a radio-television signal in a first format to a radio-television signal in a second format, the systems for automatically programming radio-television programs implemented in a radio-television signal receiver generate program lists subject to different destinies. In fact, as the switchover phase goes on, the analog program list will have more and more empty positions, while the digital program list will have less and less empty positions until, when the switchover is completed, the analog program list will be totally empty and therefore only the digital program list will be used.
In the future there will be a similar transition when radio-television program broadcasting gradually switches from the DVB-T system, i.e. a digital signal in a first format, to the DVB-T2 system, i.e. a digital signal in a second format.
Again, there will be a switchover phase in which it may happen that in a certain geographical area radio-television signals can be received simultaneously in a first and a second digital formats, which may or may not belong to the same radio-television stations (e.g. RAIUNO, RETE 4), so that there may be similar situations of programs existing in two different radio-television signal formats.
United States patent application US 2007/0099654 describes a television signal receiver which comprises both an analog tuner and a digital tuner, so that it can receive both analog and digital television signals. Said receiver further comprises control means which generate a table based on the logic channel number (LCN) of the digital television signal broadcast by the television station.
The table based on the logic channel number is stored by the television signal receiver into a memory, so that it can be retrieved by the receiver control means to select the program chosen by the user, e.g. BBC or MTV.
The method described in said US patent application is implemented during a scan of the frequency spectrum of the television signals receivable by the television receiver, and includes the following steps:                if a digital television signal with a logic channel number is found, then the associated program will be assigned, in the program table, the position corresponding to the logic channel number;        if a digital television signal without a logic channel number is found, then the associated program will be assigned, in the program table, the first available position or the first position available after a predetermined position;        if a digital television signal with a logic channel number is found, but the position where it should be placed is already taken by an analog program, then the associated digital program will be assigned, in the program table, the position corresponding to the logic channel number, while the analog program will be assigned the first subsequent position available in the table;        if an analog television signal is found, then the associated program will be assigned the first position available in the program table.
However, the result of this program sorting made in accordance with said US patent application may not be liked by the user, since said result will depend on the order in which analog television signals are transmitted. Therefore, it may happen than a user accustomed to associating a certain program with one specific remote control key cannot figure out the sorting generated by the television signal receiver using the method of said US patent application.
For example, Italian users are used to associating key 1 with RAIUNO, key 2 with RAIDUE, key 3 with RAITRE, key 4 with RETE 4, key 5 with CANALE 5, key 6 with ITALIA 1, and key 7 with LA7. In those Italian regions where RAI2 and RETE 4 are only broadcast in digital format, the television signal receiver according to said US patent application will correctly place RAI2 in position 2 and RETE 4 in position 4, but it may, for example, place LA7 in the first position if that program's transmission frequency is the first one which is encountered during the automatic procedure that scans the frequency channels assigned to radio-television stations. This will confuse the user, who is accustomed to seeing at least some of the receivable programs in a certain order, thus forcing him/her to carry out a time-consuming manual procedure to put the channels back into the desired sequence.
As known, the user can also be allowed to create a list or table of favourite programs according to his/her own preferences, by combining the radio-television stations included in the program tables generated by the radio-television signal receiver according to specific sorting criteria. However, such a favourite program table must be built manually by picking the programs stored in the various radio-television program tables one by one, thus requiring a long, annoying and repetitive series of operations. Moreover, current dual-tuner receivers include two program tables associated with the two tuners, so that the user must remember not only the number, but also in which one of the two program tables the desired program has been stored. Modern receivers are typically equipped with a key for switching between the two tables, which must be pressed in order to switch from one tuner to the other, resulting in a longer switching time and more keys to be pressed to watch the desired program.
The teaching of the present invention is also applicable to this kind of receivers, thus bringing a considerable advantage to the user when selecting radio-television programs.

Method for automatically programming a receiver able to receive radio television signals in at least two different formats and related receiver


The present invention relates generally to a below grade, blind side, dual waterproofing membrane assembly incorporating a sheet membrane with adhesive to fully bond to concrete/shotcrete, and a method of making and using same. More particularly, the invention encompasses a dual membrane system that acts as a barrier, and prevents, and blocks water and moisture, from passing from one side of the structure to the other side. The innovative barrier layer system can be used along a wall, a floor, a ceiling, or along any structure which requires water or moisture proofing. The invention can be most effectively used between a concrete or shotcrete layer and the surrounding earth, such as, along an area that has a high water table or ground moisture or hydrostatic pressure that may creep into a foundation or a wall.

Water or moisture penetration into a structure has have been known in the water proofing industry for many years, and the water proofing industry has addressed this well-known problem in a variety of ways.
However, this invention improves on the deficiencies of the prior art and provides an inventive below grade, blind side, dual waterproofing membrane assembly incorporating a sheet membrane with adhesive to fully bond to concrete/shotcrete, having at least one primary membrane, and at least one secondary membrane, and a method of making, and using same.

Below grade, blind side, dual waterproofing membrane assembly incorporating a sheet membrane with adhesive to fully bond to concrete/shotcrete, and a method of making, and using same


The present invention provides a rack for securely mounting a removable vehicular seat thereto. The rack includes at least one support comprising a support portion and a mounting portion. The support portion includes a plurality of apertures separated by a distance substantially equal to the distance separating mounting latches on the vehicle seat such that each of the latches may engage one of the apertures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to automotive accessories. More particularly, the present invention relates to mounting racks for automotive accessories. Even more particularly the present invention discloses a mounting rack for retaining a removable vehicular seat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Currently, there are produced many vehicles that include removable and configurable seats. These seats are generally found in minivans and sport utility vehicles. Seating arrangements in such vehicles may be configured depending upon how the vehicle is to be utilized.
For example, if one has to transport many people, then all the seats may be included in the vehicle. However, if one has to move furniture or other bulky items, then all or some of the seats may be removed to provide the cargo space necessary to transport such items.
Removable vehicular seats include at least two and generally four hooks or brackets that interlock with floor mounted rods when the seat is mounted interiorly the vehicle. If one removes a seat from a vehicle it is unadvisable to place the seat upon the ground because the hooks may become damaged if the seat is sat upon while on the ground.
Currently, if one removes a seat from such a vehicle, the seat should be preferably stored in some dry, clean environment. Generally, though, such an environment is not readily available. As such, many seats are left on the floor of garages or outside while the vehicle is used. This, of course, presents several problems. First, the seat may be damaged by inclement weather. Second, the seat may become dirtied. Additionally, such seats are heavy and can injure small children.
Therefore, what is needed in the art is a device that allows easy and safe storage of removable vehicular seats when they are removed from the vehicle in which they are used. Additionally, what is needed is a device that provides seat storage such that a child cannot hurt themselves while playing around the seat after it has been removed from the vehicle. It is to the solution of the above mentioned problems to which the present invention is directed.


A road vehicle drive system using a crankless, unthrottled internal combustion engine directly powering its wheels hydrostatically to eliminate wasteful idling and part-throttle operation so that fuel use and harmful emissions are much reduced in a lighter, less costly vehicle retaining the operational convenience of conventional systems.

This invention relates to drive systems and especially to automotive drive systems. A system is presented which converts internal combustion power to stored fluid power without the use of crank mechanisms or piston bounce chambers and uses that stored power to drive road or other vehicles.
Automotive drive systems currently used are major contributors to air pollution and fossil fuel reserve depletion. Stored energy drive systems in which an internal combustion engine is run primarily at its high efficiency conditions, its energy stored and used as needed can drastically reduce those drawbacks.
No practical system of this type is in use today. Among the factors contributing to that apparent impracticality are these, in random order:
1. Overly complex and bulky hydro-mechanical arrangements. PA0 2. Lack of accommodation for ambient atmospheric condition variation. PA0 3. Excessive fluid flow-losses in valves and passages. PA0 4. Inadequate leakage compensation and control. PA0 5. Unacceptable vibration. PA0 6. Overly complex power piston synchronization means. PA0 7. Lack of simple starting arrangements. PA0 8. Lack of adequate controls. PA0 1. Means for adjusting the accumulator pressures to the variations in atmospheric conditions. This permits the effective operation of the drive system over the wide range of atmospheric conditions to which road vehicles are subjected. PA0 2. The utilization of a stepped-diameter piston in the simplified main fluid flow passages to synchronize the power pistons. This eliminates the cumbersome external mechanisms used here-to-fore. PA0 3. The utilization of a compression initiating valve release system controlled for both pressure and time. This permits release of this valve at the maximum pressure level appropriate to the ambient atmospheric conditions with sufficient time delay to insure optimum charging of the cylinder with fresh mixture. PA0 4. The utilization of synchronized opposed pistons in cylinders at a broad "Vee". This insures that the pistons and the piston/fluid flow masses will have minimum vibrational effects. PA0 5. The utilization of a piston start-up cycling system isolated from the normal running of the engine. This insures a start-up system free from the wear, tear, noise and friction involved in engine running. PA0 6. Means for monitoring the positional relationship of the three main pistons and methods of adjusting the same to a normal relationship if out of position. This permits establishment of a normal positional relationship among the three main pistons at start-up and the continued correction for any errors brought about by leakage or other factors. PA0 7. The utilization of an hydraulic processing unit for sequencing in conjunction with the computing unit the various operations involved in pre-start-up system conditioning, engine start-up, engine running, and system shut-down. This provides the auxiliary hydraulic functions required in the system's operation. PA0 8. The utilization of computer means which is programmed to process the inputs from the atmospheric sensors, pressure, temperature and humidity, the piston synchronization pick-ups, the start-up system switches, the delay time element and other inputs essential to proper road vehicle use and control. PA0 9. The utilization of shut-off valves between the high and low pressure fluid storage chambers and the system's drive motor to be closed whenever no drive power is needed. Such shut-off valves substantially eliminate a major source of fluid power loss through leakage. PA0 10. The providing of means of shutting off fluid flow from high pressure accumulator when motor over-speeding occurs.

Vehicular drive system using stored fluid power for improved efficiency


A novelty drinking mug having handle and incorporating a display simulating that of an artificial horizon instrument disposed within the floor of the mug. The floor is transparent, and encloses a fluid chamber partially filled with a colored liquid. The transparent floor of the mug has indicia simulating the scale of an actual artificial horizon instrument. A disc bearing indicia simulating that representing an aircraft in an actual artificial horizon instrument is disposed in visual alignment with the transparent floor. This disc may, in alternative embodiments, be contained within the fluid chamber or within its own chamber. The disc has an eccentrically located ballast weight, and is rotatably fixed to a pivot pin. The disc rotates relative to the mug responsive to gravity when the mug is rotated about its longitudinal axis. Indicia disposed upon the disc simulates banking. When the mug is tipped or inclined from the vertical, the upper surface of the colored liquid responds in a manner simulating the artificial horizon of the actual instrument as the indicia disposed upon the floor of the mug changes orientation relative to the upper surface of the colored liquid. Varying level of the liquid with respect to the indicia disposed upon the disc simulates climbing and diving.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novelty items, and more particularly to a utilitarian article modified to incorporate a simulated artificial horizon. The article is a drinking mug, and employs a dynamic simulation of an artificial horizon for amusing effect.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Members of the aviation fraternity are usually familiar with an artificial horizon instrument, which is an instrument advising a pilot of the attitude of an aircraft he or she is flying. The actual instrument is important because the actual horizon may be obscured for any of various reasons. The pilot of the aircraft cannot necessarily depend on his or her senses to discern the actual attitude of the aircraft, since the senses may lose effectiveness should the pilot become disoriented for any reason.
An artificial horizon instrument is therefore well known, and exists in a number of forms. These forms may include an actual instrument incorporating a gyroscope, or may be a simulated device providing a realistic display but lacking the apparatus provided in an actual instrument. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,419,928, issued to Rinaldo E. Wiggins et al. on Apr. 29, 1947, and 2,470,143, issued to John K. Christie on May 17, 1949, represent various forms of artificial horizon instruments.
The applicant is unaware of any utilitarian device incorporating a changeable or dynamic display simulating that of an artificial horizon instrument, whether for humorous effect or for other purposes. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

Mug incorporating a simulated artificial horizon


A method of manufacturing a film antenna includes: preparing a carrier film formed of an insulation polymer material; forming an antenna radiator on at least one side of the carrier film by one of sputtering and deposition; inserting the carrier film with the antenna radiator formed thereon into a mold having a shape of a mobile communication terminal case; and forming a mobile communication terminal case integrally formed with the carrier film by injecting a molding material into the mold.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a film antenna, and more particularly, to a film antenna integrally formed with a mobile communication terminal case.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile communication terminals including global positioning systems, personal digital assistants, cellular phones, wireless notebook computers and the like are required to be further miniaturized recently as they are widely used more than ever before. In order to meet such a demand, the focus has been placed on reducing the volume of the terminals while retaining diverse functions of the terminals. This applies also to antennas, which is an essential part of the mobile communication terminals.
In general, among different kinds of antennas of the mobile communication terminals, external antennas such as rod antennas and helical antennas extend in a certain length from exteriors of terminals, limiting miniaturization and portability of the terminals. In addition, they are likely to be damaged when the mobile communication terminals are dropped.
On the other hand, internal antennas mounted inside mobile communication terminals, such as surface-mounted chip antennas, have a reduced risk of damage but limit miniaturization of the terminals due to their physical size.
Therefore, there has been introduced a method of forming a radiator of the antenna directly in a terminal case or on an antenna base, effectively utilizing a space.
FIG. 1A is a perspective view illustrating a conventional internal antenna for a mobile communication terminal, and FIG. 1B is a sectional view illustrating the conventional internal antenna mounted in a mobile communication terminal.
Referring to FIG. 1A, a base 11 of plastic material and a radiator 13 in a form of a metal plate with a pattern formed thereon are manufactured by injection molding and pressing, respectively, and integrated afterwards by fusion bonding.
However, in such a method, a basic space is required inside a terminal for mounting the antenna, limiting miniaturization of the terminal.
In this case, the radiator 13 may be formed on the base 11 by printing a conductive ink. However, since the antenna base is formed of a plastic material, the work of forming the radiator 13 on the base 11 should be conducted at a certain temperature or lower, which does not bring about deformation of the plastic material. Therefore, the antenna pattern formed on the base may be printed by using a low-temperature paste, which is limited in selection with factors to be considered, such as printability and adhesion property.
In addition, the conductive ink includes conductive and organic substances for printability and adhesion property. In this case, the organic substances may be eliminated from the conductive ink when the conductive ink is treated at high temperatures but may remain in the conductive ink when the conductive ink is treated at low temperatures. With the antenna base formed of a polymer-based material, it is not suitable to treat the conductive ink at high temperatures, and thus, the organic substances tend to remain in the conductive ink even after the radiator of the antenna is completed. This may lead to degradation of electric conductivity, which is the most important property of the radiator of the antenna, eventually causing deterioration of radiation characteristics of the antenna.
Furthermore, printing the conductive ink on a three-dimensional antenna base is a difficult operation.

Method of manufacturing film antenna using sputtering process


The present invention provides for a system and method of assigning attribute scores, including those for abstract and diverse concepts such as sentiment (e.g., happiness, anger, sadness) to documents containing unstructured content (natural language content). Such content may include, but is not limited to, Web pages, e-mails, word processing documents, computer logs, chat logs, audio files, graphical images, text files, books, magazines, articles, etc. The attributes that are scored are specialized views of the unstructured content. Accordingly, attribute scoring denotes the processes of assigning one or more new measures to a document containing unstructured content. The attribute score or measure indicates the degree of the attributes found within the document.

As companies increasingly create and store large amounts of information in electronic form, access to and the understanding of that information plays an important role in everyday business operations. However, much of the information that is generated and stored by companies is in unstructured form that is not suitable for either conventional relational database operations or for on-line analytical processing ("OLAP"). The unstructured content (e.g., e-mails, word processing documents, images, faxes, text files, Web pages, etc.) do not have any meaningful measure by which they can be compared with each other or combined to automatically communicate trends and/or abstract and diverse concepts ("attributes") that may be present across a number of types and/or categories of content.
While some previous systems have attempted to classify and/or categorize unstructured content, such systems are generally rigid in nature and are not effective at measuring abstract and diverse concepts that span classifications and/or categories. Accordingly, there is a need for a measurement system or method for gleaning abstract and diverse concepts from unstructured content.

Attribute scoring for unstructured content


In a vertical cavity surface emitting laser diode manufactured on a non-off-angle substrate with a (100)-oriented plane or the like, anisotropic stress is applied to a central portion of an active layer by forming a asymmetrical oxidation structure in an Al high concentration portion in the mesa, so that polarization controllability of a device can be improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) diode and a method for manufacturing the same, and in particular to a vertical cavity surface emitting laser diode which can control a polarization mode stably and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Related Art
A semiconductor light emitting device such as a semiconductor laser or a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) is widely used as a light source for such an optical disc system as a CD (a compact disc) or a DVD (a digital versatile disc), or a barcode reader, including an optical communication field. When the semiconductor light emitting device is used in various application fields including these optical communications, it is important to obtain single-mode operation for three modes of "longitudinal mode", "transverse mode" and "polarization mode" present in a semiconductor laser. Nowadays, a semiconductor laser diode with an edge emission type mainly used in the optical communication field operates stably in the polarization mode. This is because a resonant cavity in the edge emission laser diode is constituted of a waveguide, a reflectance on an end face of the waveguide is larger in linear TM (Transverse Magnetic) polarization than in TE (Transverse Electric) polarization, and electric field vector oscillates due to TE wave in a direction parallel to a semiconductor substrate. Single-mode operation for the longitudinal mode can also be realized by a distributed feedback (DFB) structure and one for the transverse mode can be achieved with a narrow stripe structure.
On the other hand, in the surface emitting laser such as VCSEL, since a resonant cavity is extremely short, the longitudinal mode operates in a single mode, and the transverse mode can operate in a single mode with a narrow current confinement structure obtained by selective oxidation of a layer with aluminum (Al) high concentration or proton implantation.
As to the polarization mode, VCSEL inherently lacks strong polarization anisotropy due to the symmetry of the devices. The linear TE polarization is free to be randomly oriented in the plane of the active region since there is no gain difference between two orthogonal polarized waves in the active layer itself of VCSEL devices. Polarization instability of VCSEL results from difficulty in application of such means that a reflectance of a reflecting mirror for the polarized waves in a specific orientation or direction is increased due to no gain difference between orthogonal polarized waves. For this reason, switching between polarized modes of VCSEL occurs easily due to small fluctuation in external conditions such as a temperature or a driving current, which largely influences optical magnetic recording or coherent optical communication system which directly utilizes polarization states of laser beam. Even when ordinary data communication is performed, polarization instability causes excessive noises or modal competition such a problem as increase in error or restriction to a transmission band arises. Therefore, control (stabilization) for the polarization mode is one of important problems to be solved in order to achieve an actual application of the VCSEL.
Since the importance of polarization control was indicated, conventional approaches for solving the problem about the polarization control have been proposed as follows:    (1) Structure where metal dielectric diffraction grating is assembled in a Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) mirror constituted of a semiconductor multi-layered.    (2) Structure where asymmetry has been taken in a mesa shape in a device    (3) Structure where production is made on an off angle substrate
The approach (1) of the three approaches is a method where metal fine wires are arranged on a DBR mirror in a specific orientation so that a reflectance of the DBR mirror to a polarized light in a specific orientation is made high. Since the reflectance of the mirror to a polarized light parallel to the metal wires becomes high, the method is effective to a certain extent for the polarization stability, but it is difficult to manufacture a device having such a structure because it is necessary to form each metal wire with a width equal to or less than light wavelength of laser.
The approach (2) of taking asymmetry in a mesa shape of a device is disclosed in Japanese patent Application Laid-open No. 11-54838 (herein, also called Patent Literature 1), for example. As shown in FIGS. 21A and 21B, stress is unequally (anisotropically) applied to an active layer at the center of a mesa M by forming stress adding regions 24 around the mesa M, so that stress is generated anisotropically. Incidentally, FIGS. 21C and 21D are diagrams of a stress distribution corresponding to the structure shown in FIGS. 21A and 21B, respectively. A gain difference between orthogonal polarized waves occurs due to such stress, and only polarized waves in a specific direction become preferential so that polarization controllability can be increased.
Similarly, as shown in FIG. 22, IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., Vol. 14, No. 8, 1034 (2002) (hereinafter, also called Non-Patent Literature 1) also discloses that T-shaped projection shapes 24 are respectively added to both side of a cylindrical mesa M. With such a structure, the layers with Al high concentration (Al0.9Ga0.1As layer) of the T-shaped fine wire portion of a DBR mirror are all oxidized by a selective oxidization process, and anisotropic strain is applied on an active layer positioned at the center of the mesa M by strong stress occurring due to volume shrinkage, which results in increase in polarization controllability.
IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., Vol. 6, No. 1, 40 (1994) (hereinafter, also called Non-Patent Literature 2) describes that current injection to an active layer is made symmetric to achieve polarization control by employing a dumbbell-shaped mesa structure as shown within a circle 25 in FIG. 23. The stress adding region 24 or the asymmetrical mesa structure 25 causes such a problem as insufficiency in device productivity or reproduction easiness due to complication in device working step, or insufficient polarization controllability like the above-described approach (1).
On the other hand, the approach (3) using an off-angle substrate utilizes such a fact that an active layer is formed on a crystal plane with a big off-angled orientation such as (311) A plane or (311) B plane in order to increase a gain to polarization state in a certain orientation and the gain depends on a crystal orientation. In this approach, a strong extinction ratio between orthogonal polarized waves is obtained and controllability in a polarization mode is excellent. However, it is difficult to achieve high quality crystal for the growth on off-angle substrate, as compared with the case of a non-off-angle (100)-oriented substrate, which causes such a problem that it becomes difficult to obtain a high power output. Further, in a oxidized-confined VCSEL diode with an off-angle substrate, the shape of oxide-aperture to confine the current is distorted according to a difference in oxidation rate (anisotropic oxidation) due to a crystal orientation, which results in difficulty in control on a beam shape.
The VCSEL diode includes the problem about the polarization mode control, but it has various advantages including a low threshold operation, a lower power consumption, a high slope efficiency, possibility of fast modulation, small beam divergences and easiness of coupling with an optical fiber, excellent mass productivity due to no-need for an end face cleavage, as compared with the edge emission type semiconductor laser. Further, since it is possible to integrate many laser devices on a substrate in a 2-dimensional array, much attention has been paid to the VCSEL device as a key device in an optical electronics field including a fast optical LAN (Local Area Network), an optical interconnect or the like. Accordingly, it is strongly desired to provide a surface emitting type semiconductor laser device such as VCSEL which solves the above-described problems and has an improved polarization controllability and an excellent mass productivity.
As described above, in the VCSEL device fabricated on a non-off-angle substrate with a (100)-oriented plane or the like, since a gain difference between orthogonal polarized waves does not occur in an active layer due to symmetry of a crystal structure, switching between polarization states is caused easily, which results in such a problem that it is difficult to control the polarization mode.

Vertical cavity surface emitting laser diode and method for manufacturing the same


A pressure-locked coupling including a coupler and nipple, said coupler having a locking means which locks the nipple to said coupler in response to pressure applied to said coupler. A locking sleeve is employed having various locking diametrical surfaces and locking shoulders to secure said nipple to said coupler.

It has become necessary in certain areas of the United States to switch from gasoline powered vehicles to either propane or natural gas powered vehicles. For instance, some portions of Southern California are so heavily plagued by smog that alternative fuels are being strongly pursued to reduce the problem.
Therefore, equipment is necessary to handle propane and natural gas. A need for securely coupling the source of the gas to the vehicle is necessary. The present invention satisfies that need. The present invention meets the Consolidated Natural Gas standards set for couplings used to transfer natural gas or propane.


Apparatus 10 discloses a multipurpose trailer 12 having a lift system 24 with a plurality of organizer and fasteners uniquely designed for Pro Angler equipment and maintenance. The trailer 12 comprises a frame having a vehicle storage compartment 14 located above a boat storage compartment 16 and a work shop compartment 18 located in the forward area. The trailer 12 is towed by a motor coach 20, making the system self supporting for anglers on road tournaments.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to motor coaches and, more specifically, to a multipurpose trailer having a lift system with a plurality of organizer and fasteners uniquely designed for Pro Angler equipment and maintenance. The trailer comprises a frame having a vehicle storage compartment located above a boat storage compartment and a work shop compartment located in the forward area. The trailer is towed by a motor coach, making the system self supporting for anglers on road tournaments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other trailers designed for hauling. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,496 issued to Drygas, III on Aug. 9, 1983.
Another patent was issued to McDonald on Sep. 27, 1983 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,477. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,814 was issued to Cates on May 20, 1986 and still yet another was issued on Jan. 12, 1990 to Woodburn as U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,830.
Another patent was issued to Knott on Jul. 16, 1996 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,132. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,578 was issued to Smidler on Mar. 24, 1998. Another was issued to Rahe et al. on May 4, 1999 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,656. Another was issued to Rahe et al. on May 4, 1999 as U.K. Patent No. 5,899,656 and still yet another was issued on Feb. 4, 1981 to Velasco as U.K. Patent No. GB2053152.


Methods for the production of functionally graded material (FGM) are provided. FGM is processed by powder cold spraying ceramic-metal layers, the final shape is pre-pressed by cold isostatic pressing and is then sintered using field activated sintering technique (FAST). The FGM materials can be used for medical applications.

A functionally gradient material (FGM) is an anisotropic composite material and can be a metal-ceramic material. A gradient in composition and/or microstructure is deliberately introduced into the material which results in a gradient in composite properties. Depending upon the application of the FGM, the gradient can be created in a continuous or stepwise fashion. FGMs find use in aerospace applications, in microelectronics, and in medical applications.
FGMs can be prepared by chemical or physical vapor deposition (CVD/PVD), conventional powder metallurgy processing, plasma spraying or Self Propagating High Temperature Synthesis (SHS). However, these methods are not ideal. For example, conventional powder metallurgy processing involves consolidation processes that typically require binders, such as organic binders, which must be removed during some point of the process, usually by heating of the green composite before sintering. Thermolysis of the binders generates volatile byproducts, removal of which can be costly and must be accomplished in a carefully controlled manner if cracking, deformation or bloating of the part is to be avoided. Also, shrinkage of individual layers can occur, especially when top and bottom layers have large differences in density.
FGMs can also be prepared by the gelcasting method. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,877 to Lauf et al. discloses suspending two different phases into a mold, thereby creating a compositional gradation within the object, and the slurries are then gelled. The individual slurries are selected such that they have comparable sinterability so that uniform shrinkage occurs during sintering. Thus, the method is not widely applicable. In another method, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,776,860 to Arai et al., two ceramic composites are bonded together by dispersing a bonding ceramic between them and then sintering to the desired porosity.
Thus, there exists a need for methods for the production of functionally gradient material which avoids the use of those types of binders, which, when removed by thermolysis, generate volatile byproducts whose removal is relatively costly and often results in degradation of the properties of the material being formed. This method should also provide a means for controlling shrinkage of functionally gradient material during processing.
Recently, Cold Spray Process (CSP) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,414 to Alkhimov et al. (1994), McCune et al. "An Exploration of the Cold Gas-Dynamic Spray Method for Several Materials Systems," J. Thermal Spray Science and Technology, C. C. Berndt and S. Sampath, Ed., ASM International, 1995, pp. 1-5, and Dykhuizen et al. "Gas Dynamic Principles of Cold Spray", J. Thermal Spray Tech., 7:205 (1998)) has been used for the deposition of coatings and for the production of FGMs. CSP uses a supersonic gas jet (velocity of 5000 km/h) to accelerate solid fine powders (micron size) of various materials above a critical velocity at which particles impact, deform plastically and bond to the substrate to form the coating. CSP does not use plasma, combustion processes or any other thermal source, therefore, the spray environment is very clean and the material is not exposed to high temperatures. The present invention discloses the use of CSP for forming the shaped bodies and the use of Field Assisted Sintering Technique (FAST) for sintering the body.

Methods for production of FGM net shaped body for various applications

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