A semi-complete secure data container is associated with a unique identifier by a requesting entity. The data container link/portal address, and a request to add data to the container, are combined into a message that is sent to a client. Upon receipt of the request, the client need not do anything to create a secure environment by which to protect the data. The secure environment, or data container, is already created and is merely awaiting data; data supplied by the client. Once the client places the requested data into the data container, the container closes. The data when added is a unidirectional one-way flow and cannot be accessed once added by the sending party. The container, now closed and containing the sending party's data, returns to the original requesting entity per the unique identifier.

Embodiments of the present invention relate, in general, to secure data transfer and more particularly to securely sending and receiving documents via the Internet using single point of custody
Security has its costs. Security makes it difficult for consumers, especially those who are not technology savvy, to conduct business. Consumers find themselves fumbling and getting frustrated with businesses that require them to navigate through portal software or where a consumer has to create a pin or a password or set up an account or download an app to send or receive sensitive information.
Secure communication solutions for sensitive documentation from a consumer to a business include: 1) Deliver it in person, 2) Mail, 3) Fax/eFax, 4) Secure email and 5) Secure login/pw to a business portal, FTP transfer tools and several others.
Personal courier of sensitive documents and information is a time-tested means by which to exchange data but it is not without its risk. The data is not secure while in transit and the solution comes with significant delays. And if the wrong information/data is delivered the requesting person has to review and have the other party print new information and travel again to deliver the documentation in an unsecure fashion. While there are instances in which secure physical delivery of data makes sense, they are typically reserved for extreme situations.
Securing data transfer by mail relies on the ubiquitous nature of the mail system. Once delivered the odds of intercepting an envelope that conceals sensitive data is low. But it can and has happened making mail an unsecure means by which to exchange data.
A facsimile machine or fax encrypts document in transit between one machine to another. The sender must have a machine that direct dials to the other party. In this situation, the documentation in paper format is transmitted through a machine through an internet or phone connection. This option requires a machine or similar software that the sender must possess. There is a single point of custody but the sender must initiate the send, the receiver cannot initiate a request. This solution also travels over unsecured communication lines. The message is encrypted but the means by which it travels though is not encrypted. Many consumers and companies today do not have fax Machines anymore so the sender must use a third-party company like FedEx-Kinkos and the like to print the documents, hand them to a clerk behind a counter to fax to another fax machine. Again, there is no single point of custody.
One of the most convenient means of communicating and sharing information today is through electronic mail, but is it safe? Unfortunately, the answer is also no. Recent studies show that many financial industries and HR industries use unsecure email to acquire consumer data to obtain new hire applications, health benefits applications and bank routing information for employee pay, etc.
When an email leaves an emails providers server, it bounces around the internet passing through an undetermined number of servers before landing at its intended destination. It is impossible to know who has access to each of those servers. What about encrypted email? This is no doubt encrypted email offers a higher level of security but with such security comes problems . . . the email must be encrypted before it leaves the senders computer and it must remain encrypted all the way to its recipient. Most encryption techniques require the recipient to authenticate themselves, download software, and then create a password to access an email. While seemingly simple, these tasks are enough to dissuade consumers from either protecting their data or participating in a data exchange entirely.
FTP transfer sites are equally confusing and time consuming. These sites are portal access and login access websites that allows two parties to share large files. This requires the receiver to set up account access for the sender and the sender accessing the portal and subsequently setting up an account that they must log into and upload and or receive data and documents. This solution is very challenging because over time you must purge documents and accounts because over time they become a risk to sitting data. These sites and services also are not always secure or encrypted but just allow two parties to exchange large amounts of data.
Document exchange though a cloud storage tool (like Dropbox, Google Drive, box etc.) is yet another way to transfer documents. These tools are typically used long term storage of documents, where one person or entity can store documents and data in a folder that is backed up to the cloud, and anyone that has shared access to that folder can access it. This solution is great for backups and ensuring survivability of documents in case a computer is destroyed or lost. This solution has the ability to transport documents by sending a request for a document but cannot be initiated by a requester. Rather it has to be initiated by the sender, and both parties must have an account to the same storage service/company. These solutions also create residual copies of documents depending on how many times the folder is shared with other people and devices.
Online portals are unique custom websites that have login access to a back end where a consumer can log in access their account and upload documents. They require the receiver of the documents to initiate an account and or have the sender set up or complete an account, and have a login with a pin, password and or other to access the account. These tools require the sender and receiver to both be authenticated because there is a two-way exchange of sensitive data. Some companies provide apps that can be downloaded and installed where the sender can access the software, but they must set up an account, login and learn to use some piece of software they have never used before or previously did not have on their phone or computer.
There are tools that create widgets and links to collect data (web forms) where a sender can fill out an online application via entering data into fields and even attaching documents and hitting "complete" and data and documents are sent to a system or even sometimes emailed to another person. These solutions are not always secure and do not always encrypt documents. These solutions are always initiated by the sender and are not unique to the specific sender so anyone that comes across the URL/website where this link and or web form is can access the same page and upload any documents they want. The link is not unique to the specific user or request. These are multiuse pages and links. Since these are ALWAYS open and the receiver does not know the purpose for the request as it was not initiated by the receiver; when the data and documents are received the recipient may not know for what purpose the sender was sending for. These solutions are typically the victim of 'spam' since any sender (multiple senders over time) can find and access the exact same URL/website link. The links are not unique to the sender. Moreover, these links are just for documents and even if they stay open they do not create the ability for the documents to be encrypted in transit and/or at rest when they are saved.
Cyber security threats are increasing and so are Cyber security budgets to combat these threats. Companies continue to build large, strong impenetrable fortresses around their data and secure portals to protect access to their data. However, this protection comes at a cost, the true cost is the loss of convenience and this increase in security is making business harder with customers and clients. As security measures have increased over time convenience has decreased. Many businesses have realized this and have decreased security requirements, giving into risk, but increasing convenience factors. There exists a need for a means by which to send and receive data that is both secure and convenient and one which consumers, at the thought of exchanging secure data, embrace rather than cringe. A solution must encrypt data while traveling in an encrypted tunnel (secure transit), Encrypt data while at rest or when it is saved in another location, it must have a single touch point or single chain of custody between sender and receiver, a receiver must be able to initiate a request for data, the requestor must have the ability to send the request to a phone number via a text and/or an email or other means of communication etc., the request must assist the sender in creating a new document or create data using a phone camera of similar device, the process must not impose a new cost or new tool on the sender, new device, new account or cause a new application to be used by the sender, to send a file to the requestor no pin or password should be required, the communication portal must have a one-time use specific to a specific user and specific request so it cannot be hacked or accessed by a third party or the sender after the request is fulfilled, and the sender of the data does not have to be authenticated in the traditional sense because the requester is initiating a 'disposable' one way request to which there is no residual trail or creation of additional copies of the data that is being sent.
These and other improvements to the prior art are addressed by one or more embodiments of the present invention.
Additional advantages and novel features of this invention shall be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following specification or may be learned by the practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities, combinations, compositions, and methods particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Single point of custody secure data exchange


A method of producing a seamless, composite tubular product includes centrifugally casting a metal or alloy into a tubular workpiece having an inner diameter. The method then centrifugally casts a corrosion resistant alloy in the inner diameter of the tubular workpiece to form a composite tubular workpiece having an inner diameter and an outer diameter. The inner diameter of the composite tubular workpiece is formed of the corrosion resistant alloy, and the outer diameter is formed of the metal or alloy. The method then subjects the composite tubular workpiece to at least about a 25% wall reduction at a temperature below a recrystallization temperature of the workpiece using a metal forming process. The metal forming process includes radial forging, rolling, pilgering, and/or flowforming.

High strength, corrosion resistant, seamless tubular components have many commercial applications. For example, durable tubular components having high strength and resistance to failure under stress, corrosive, and erosive environments are used in oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and other types of tubular components used in the production of oil, gas or other fluids from a well. These durable components are needed due to the severe downhole conditions in the wells and/or the hostile environments surrounding the wells. However, as wells become deeper, the downhole conditions in the well may limit the choice of tubular components capable of withstanding these environment. Typically, deeper wells contain higher temperatures and pressures and may have corrosive atmospheres, e.g., hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, chlorides, associated hydrocarbons, and/or acidic environments. Weight considerations may also be a concern since more tubular components must be used and joined together in the deeper wells.
As such, the material selection criteria for these tubular components has become increasingly important since they may fail in a relatively short time due to such factors as stress corrosion cracking, corrosive pitting, erosive wear and general wall loss, e.g., by lowering the component's burst and collapse pressures. Currently, high strength, corrosion resistant alloys have been used, rather than the traditional carbon steels, for the downhole tubular components in these kinds of severe conditions. These tubular components are typically made out of stainless alloys, duplex (austenitic-ferritic) stainless alloys, and nickel-based alloys, e.g., alloys such as alloy 28, 625, 718, 825, 925, G-3, 050, C-276, 22Cr, 25Cr, Nickel 200, Monel 400 and Inconel 600. A component's resistance to failure may be influenced by a number of factors that include the component material's chemistry, the nature and amount of alloying elements, the component's dimensions, such as thicker wall thickness to withstand higher burst and collapse pressures, and the material's microstructure which is influenced by the manufacturing process of the component, e.g., mechanical processing and the nature of any heat treatments of the component.
Tubular components may be formed by a number of different manufacturing processes. One type of manufacturing process is casting, by which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold and then allowed to solidify. The mold contains a hollow cavity having the desired shape of the component. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is then removed from the mold usually once it has sufficiently cooled. Metals and alloys may be formed by this process. However, the as-cast component typically includes large grain sizes and may contain casting defects, such as porosity and nonmetallic inclusions.
A slight variation to this manufacturing process is centrifugal casting. In centrifugal casting, a mold is rotated about its axis at various speeds (e.g., 300 to 3000 rpm) as molten material is poured into the mold. The speed of the rotation and material pouring rate vary with the material used, as well as the size and shape of the component being cast. When the molten material is poured into the rotating mold, the molten material is thrown towards the outer mold wall, which is typically held at a much lower temperature than the molten material, where it begins to solidify upon cooling. Near the outer mold wall, heterogeneous nucleation occurs relatively rapidly, and a fine, equiaxed grain structure is usually obtained in the outer diameter of the component adjacent to the mold, in an exterior zone. This rapid cooling effect of the mold induces directional solidification across the component's wall. A columnar zone begins to form with a dendritic growth direction in each columnar grain parallel to the heat flow direction. The growth of these crystals stops when they meet the grains growing from the inner diameter of the component in an interior zone. As the component's inner diameter is in contact with air, the solidification rate in the interior zone is much lower than in the exterior zone, resulting in coarser grains in the inner diameter than are in the middle area or the outer diameter of the component. Consequently, centrifugal casting usually results in a finer grain structure than regular casting with a fine-grained outer diameter, but with an inner diameter usually having more impurities and inclusions.
The resulting centrifugally cast component, however, presents many challenges for subsequent metal forming processes due to its different grain sizes in the various zones, along with its radially-oriented columnar grain structure. Due to these difficulties, cast and centrifugally cast components are frequently subjected to subsequent warm or hot forming manufacturing processes, that are conducted above the recrystallization temperature of the material, or are subjected to numerous annealing steps in between the metal forming processes. However, warm and hot forming processes affect the mechanical properties and the dimensional accuracies of a component, making it difficult to meet requirements with tight tolerances. In addition, centrifugal cast components have not been acceptable for applications with high internal pressure or where corrosive and/or erosive products are present, such as in environments where OCTG components are used. The centrifugal casting process tends to produce a microstructure with undesirable porosity causing crack initiation sites. Centrifugally cast components also may exhibit segregation of the solute alloying elements to Laves and carbide phases, depending upon the mold speed used during casting. Microstructural results show that the predominant crack or fracture path in centrifugal castings is frequently associated with the carbide or Laves phases in the interdendritic regions. It is well known that alloy inhomogeneities are responsible for the reduction of the tensile and creep-rupture performance of materials at room temperature and elevated temperatures. One of the main problems of centrifugal cast components is the non-uniform microstructure through the cross section of the wall thickness. The banded structure downgrades the physical and mechanical properties of the material and results in stratification.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for producing cold-worked centrifugal cast composite tubular products


An RFID system includes an RFID tag having a first magnetic field antenna, an article housing the RFID tag in a random direction, a conveying path conveying the article, and a reader/writer having a second magnetic field antenna communicating with the first magnetic field antenna through a magnetic field coupling and disposed along the conveying path. While the conveying path conveys the RFID tag such that an opening plane of the second magnetic field antenna and the RFID tag face each other, the second magnetic field antenna emits a magnetic flux. Moreover, a distance between the RFID tag and the second magnetic field antenna in a normal direction of the second magnetic field antenna is smaller than an opening diameter of the second magnetic field antenna.

Conventionally, in a system performing article information management, tag information is communicated between an RFID tag attached to an article and a reader/writer connected to an information management processing system using an electromagnetic field in a non-contact method so as to manage information related to the article.
Antennas formed on RFID tags include two types of antennas: electric field antennas and magnetic field antennas. When an electric field antenna is used, a communication distance can be longer than when a magnetic field antenna is used. However, for the electric field antenna such as a dipole antenna, for example, an antenna pattern having a length of ½ wavelength of a communication frequency is planarly formed.
On the other hand, the magnetic field antenna is more easily reduced in size than the electric field antenna since only a coil-shaped antenna is needed. An example of the magnetic field antenna is described in Patent Document 1.
Patent Document 1: WO 2011/118379.
For the magnetic field antenna, unlike the electric field antenna, communication cannot be performed unless a magnetic flux (i.e., line of magnetic force) of an antenna of a reader/writer passes through the magnetic field antenna. Therefore, an RFID tag attached to an article and the antenna of the reader/writer desirably have a predetermined positional relationship, and the RFID tag needs to be accurately attached. Particularly, when a small-sized magnetic field antenna is attached to an article, a burden of attachment is large.


Spent nuclear reactor coolant system decontamination solutions are first processed to remove the radioactive burden and to separate metallic impurities using cation exchange resins. The cation-processed waste solution is then flowed through an anion exchange resin held between anion-permeable membranes within an electrochemical cell. The application of electric current to the electrochemical cell causes hydroxide ions to replace captured anions held on the ion exchange resin, thereby regenerating the anion exchange resin for subsequent processing. The displaced anions migrate into the anode compartment where they can be oxidized to carbon dioxide for simple disposal.

Decontamination of sub-systems of LWR plants has now become relatively common in the United States, and is widely recognized as a useful contributor to the reduction of radiation exposure of workers at these plants. Sub-system decontamination involves exposing a part of the reactor circuit to chemical solutions which dissolve the radioactive deposits which have accumulated on the process equipment, including piping. The spent decontamination solutions are then treated by ion exchange to retain all of the chemical and radioactive burden of the decontamination solution on the resin, while clean water is returned to the system. LOMI is but one example of a sub-system decontamination process having these characteristics.
In prior art decontamination solution recovery systems, the ion exchange resin normally consists of cation resin which carries the majority of the radioactive burden, and anion resin which carries the anionic components of the decontamination process chemicals. Fully loaded ion exchange resins are normally managed by dewatering or solidification in cement-based matrices, for shipment off site to an appropriate burial location. Since ion exchange resins have a relatively limited retention capacity for radioactive cations and organic anions, a relatively high mass of the material sent for disposal and burial is the ion exchange resin itself and its binding matrix as opposed to the captured chemical burden. It would therefore be desirable to have a waste treatment process for decontamination solutions which will isolate the radioactive burden in a more concentrated solid matrix than is presently achieved with routine ion exchange resin. Furthermore the anionic components of decontamination process solutions are normally non-radioactive organic acids which could in principle be converted to harmless gaseous products not requiring treatment as radioactive waste. This approach to the management of the anions present in the decontamination solutions would serve to reduce the amount of ion exchange resin requiring burial.
Presently, decontamination process reagents are normally used in a "once-through" manner, that is the manufactured chemical is added to the decontamination process circuit. Subsequently, the process reagents are removed for disposal along with the radioactive species captured on the ion exchange resins. Since these decontamination reagents are used nondestructively in the decontamination process and are not substantially altered or consumed to any significant extent during decontamination, it is therefore desirable to use, recover, recycle and reuse these decontamination reagents for several decontamination cycles.

Electrochemical exchange anions in decontamination solutions


A system which enables a film, e.g. a photosensitive material film, to be continuously laminated on and delaminated from a surface of a substrate, e.g. a hologram original plate, and allows duplication to be continuously effected. The system includes a film supply part (32) for supplying a film (1), a film laminating part (37) for continuously laminating the supplied film (1) on a film laminating substrate (35), a film delaminating part (37') for continuously delaminating the film from the substrate (35), and a film take-up part (43) for taking up the delaminated film. In the system, no air bubbles are trapped when the film (1) is laminated on the substrate (35), and no peel unevenness, e.g. undesired line, occurs when the film (1) is delaminated from the substrate (35). The system is suitable for use in a hologram duplicating apparatus, a dimple relief pattern duplicating apparatus, a microscopic test sample preparing apparatus, etc.

The present invention relates to a continuous film laminating and delaminating system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system in which a film, e.g. a molding film, a photosensitive material film, a pressure-sensitive adhesive film, etc. is continuously laminated on and delaminated from a surface of a substrate, e.g. a duplicate plate, a hologram original plate, etc.
Conventional techniques will be explained below by taking the case of a hologram duplicating method in particular.
Duplication of a hologram original plate has heretofore been performed by applying laser light to the hologram original plate placed in close contact with a photosensitive material so that diffracted light from the original plate and the incident light interfere with each other in the photosensitive material, thereby recording a hologram image of the original plate in the photosensitive material. In this process, in order to prevent the disorder of the image due to the back reflection component produced by reflection at the reverse surface of the photosensitive material, an index matching liquid that is substantially equal to the original plate in refractive index is interposed between the original plate and the photosensitive material, thereby enhancing the adhesion and thus preventing back reflection during the duplication of the hologram image.
Incidentally, the index matching liquid, which is interposed between the hologram original plate and the photosensitive material, is a thick liquid and difficult to apply with a uniform thickness because of fluidity, thickness unevenness, vibration, etc. In particular, when a large amount of index matching liquid is applied, it is impossible to effect favorable duplication of a hologram due to the flow of the index matching liquid. Even if duplication of a hologram is carried out in a clean room, dust particles of 10 .mu.m or less in diameter may get mixed in the contact layer structure. If duplication is carried out with dust particles mixed in the contact layer structure, the dust particles undesirably lift the film of photosensitive material and cause duplicating defects due to the flow of the index matching liquid around the dust particles.
To solve such problems, Japanese Patent Application No. 4-327918 proposes a duplicating method and apparatus wherein a cushioning layer is used to bury dust particles to thereby reduce the incidence of duplicating defects. However, the proposed duplicating method and apparatus still suffer from problems in terms of durability and so forth.
In view of the above-described problems of the conventional technique, Japanese Patent Application No. 5-212954 discloses a system in which a film, e.g. a photosensitive material film, is continuously and surely brought into contact with a surface of a substrate, e.g. a hologram original plate, and it is continuously delaminated from the substrate surface.
The invention in the above-mentioned application will be explained below by way of an example in which it is applied to duplication of a hologram. It will, however, be clear from the following explanation that the use application of the system according to the invention is not necessarily limited to duplication of a hologram, but the system may also be applied to duplication of a relief pattern, preparation of a sample of a microscopic specimen, etc.
Duplication of a hologram is carried out as shown in FIG. 1(a). That is, a photosensitive material film 1 is brought into close contact with a surface of a hologram original plate 5 through an index matching liquid 6 having a refractive index substantially equal to that of the original plate 5. Then, laser light 7 is applied from the photosensitive material film side (or from the hologram original plate side, as described later) so that the light 7 and diffracted light 8 from the original plate 5 interfere with each other in the photosensitive material film 1, thereby recording a hologram image in the photosensitive material film 1. The photosensitive material film 1 for hologram recording, which is made of a photopolymer or the like, is usually composed of 3 layers, that is, a base film 3, a photosensitive material 2, and a base film 4. If minute dust particles 9 are mixed in the contact layer structure when the photosensitive material film 1 is brought into close contact with the hologram original plate 5, the dust particles 9 undesirably lift the film 1 and cause duplicating defects due to the flow of the index matching liquid 6 around the dust particles 9.
Therefore, the base film 3 that is closer to the original plate 5 is peeled off to expose the photosensitive material layer 2, which is a viscoelastic material, and the photosensitive material layer 2 is laminated directly on the original plate 5, as shown in FIG. 1(b), thereby burying the dust particles 9 in the layer 2, and thus making it possible to reduce the incidence of duplicating defects.
In this process, it is preferable to remove dust particles from the base films 3 and 4 by using gum rollers, as a matter of course. It is also preferable to use a static eliminator (ionized air spray, corona discharge, etc.) in order to suppress adsorption of dust particles due to static electricity generated when the base film 3 is peeled off.
In Japanese Patent Application No. 5-212954, however, the duplication is carried out by intermittently feeding the film 1 onto the original plate 5 in theory because the original plate 5 is in planar form.

Continuous film laminating and delaminating system


A light-emitting apparatus, for enabling a beam of light to be projected on a desired target located a distance away to project the beam on the desired target without any or substantially any undesired movement. The apparatus may include a housing, a light generating device located within the housing and operable to generate a beam of light, a sensing device or devices for sensing an undesired action of the housing, a control circuit operable to provide a control signal corresponding to the sensed undesired action, and a drive device operable to counter act all or at least some of the undesired action of said housing in accordance with said control signal. The sensing device or devices may be one or more gyroscopes, accelerometers or other such devices.

The present invention relates to light-emitting devices and particularly to those devices intended to produce a beam in a selected direction such as toward a target of interest. The invention provides motion-compensation technology suitable for use with such light-emitting devices, which may dampen and/or substantially eliminate the effect of unintentional motion, vibration, or movements, such as angular and/or translational movements, caused by mechanical vibrations, hand tremors, and so forth.
Light-emitting devices, such as laser diode devices, are used in a variety of consumer, computer, business, medical, scientific, military, outdoor, telecommunication and industrial products, including but not limited to compact disk (CD) players and computer CD-ROM drives, digital video disk (DVD) players and DVD-ROM drives, laser printers, laser pointers, barcode scanners, measurement devices, rangefinders, scopes, industrial material processing devices, marking and cutting systems, medical equipment, fiber optic transmission systems, satellite communications, and digital printing presses. Many of these applications require precision accuracy for successful implementation. However, conventional light-emitting devices may be affected by unintentional angular and/or translational movements (e.g., fine vibrations from the machine in which a laser is encased, fine tremors from a shaking hand holding a laser, etc.) and, as a result, generate an unsteady column of light—producing an effect that may cause inferior performance.
An example of the above mentioned effect will now be described with reference to a laser pointer. Fine tremors of the human hand, when holding even a lightweight laser pointer (or other pointing device), have been measured at a frequency range of 1 to 5 Hz. These unwanted vibrations are often amplified when the person maneuvering the device is nervous. The resulting deviation of the projected spot from the intended target point to the actual point is proportional to the distance from the pointing device to the target object (e.g., a point on a screen). This deviation may be approximately equal to the product of the sine or the tangent of the angle and the distance to the projected spot. In other words, for small angular movements (such as less than 10 degrees), the movement of the projected spot is approximately equal to the product of the distance to the target and the angle of the movement (in radians). For instance, small angular movements of +/−1 degree of a laser pointing device may result in movements of approximately +/−2 cm of the projected spot on a target 1 meter away; and, these angular movements will result in a 10-fold larger projected spot movement (approximately +/−20 cm) for a target 10 meters away (which may be typical of large lecture halls). In contrast to angular movements, translational movements (sideways movements of the hand) are not amplified by the distance from the light-emitting device to the target object. That is, if the hand holding a laser pointer is moved sideways by 1 cm, the spot on the target is also moved sideways by 1 cm irrespective of how far the target is from the hand.

Motion compensated light-emitting apparatus


The present invention relates to a director mount arrangement for automatic alignment of a subsystem relative to a platform, wherein said director mount arrangement is arranged to pivotably support the subsystem. The director mount arrangement comprises a pivot frame arrangement and a control system. The control system comprises a control unit arranged to generate control signals so as to control the orientation of and stabilize the subsystem. The control signals are generated based on angular rate of subsystem and orientation operating commands provided from an operator. The control unit further generates estimated control signals based on platform orientation information and determine a difference between the control signals and the estimated control signals, wherein the difference is indicative of mechanical misalignments between the subsystem and the platform. The control unit further generates alignment corrections based on the determined difference so as to automatically align the subsystem relative to the platform.

Today there exist numerous examples of subsystems having the need for being controllably oriented and stabilized. Typically these subsystems having are intended for mounting to a moving platform such as land/sea/air/space based vehicles or crafts. The reason behind the need for stabilization is the need to be able to accurately control the orientation of a pointing direction/line-of-sight of the subsystem, such as the line-of-sight of a sensor system, independently from movements of the platform to which the subsystem is mounted. In order to enable facilitated control of the subsystem it also needs to be aligned with the platform so that the platform and the subsystem, its associated systems, share a common view about orientation/direction so as to be able to command the subsystem, i.e. pointing direction of the subsystem, to assume a certain orientation.
Examples of the above mentioned subsystems comprises: weapon systems; fire control systems, target tracking systems, surveillance systems, communications systems, such as satellite communication links and sensor systems, such as electro-optical sensor systems or radar systems.
For some of these types of subsystems and depending on application the need for accuracy in terms of being able to control/maintain/know the exact line-of-sight for the subsystem is extremely high. An aspect that affects the above mentioned accuracy of the subsystem is for example mechanical misalignments, i.e. small angular offsets between the subsystem and a reference frame of the platform. These mechanical misalignments typically inevitably arise during mounting of the subsystem to the platform or due to operational factors/external factors related to the platform and/or the subsystem. Such factors may for example relate to solar radiation or mechanical wear.
Today in order to compensate for these mechanical misalignments costly external measurement/calibration equipment is required in order to measure the mechanical misalignments so as to allow for compensating/calibrating for the mechanical misalignments. Applied to platforms such as naval ships, having subsystems, such as fire control systems and weapon systems, this translate into that the ship need to spend up to a day or more in the harbour in order to perform the measurement/calibration procedure. This also results in that the ship needs to return to harbour following the appearance of mechanical misalignments introduced by operational factors/external factors.
Thus, there exists a need to present improvement within alignment of subsystems.

Arrangement and method for autoalignment of a stabilized subsystem


A method is described by which it is possible to obtain modules comprising a body of synthetic material, including an electronic circuit, having two main faces absolutely smooth and without swellings at the place where the circuit is enclosed in the body. The body includes two sheets having either an impregnating resin or a certain quantity of gas or air, the electronic circuit being disposed between the two sheets and these being pressed together at a predetermined temperature. A module is thus obtained having at least one electronic circuit which can include a coil serving as an antenna, the module being able to be cut in credit card format and being able to serve as an identification badge. The same method and the same substances can be used to make a module having an electronic circuit with a housing, contact tracks being flush on one of the main faces of the module. Composite modules having the two types of circuits can also be made using the same method.

The contents of Application No. EP 94810312.2, filed on May 27, 1994, in Europe, is hereby incorporated by reference.
This invention relates, first of all, to a method for making an electronic module comprising an electronic circuit encapsulated or inset in a body of synthetic material, said body having two essentially flat and parallel main faces, and said module cut according to a predetermined format, in particular in the format of a credit card.
For some years now there have been numerous applications of electronic modules in credit card format having two main faces, i.e. two faces whose dimensions are markedly larger than one of the dimensions (thickness of the card) of the other faces, it being hoped that the two said main faces are preferably flat and parallel, and are equipped with an electronic component including in particular electronic memory means provided with a code, connected to an antenna, such as, for example, the transponder or electronic circuit which can be queried at a distance by inductive means, shown in FIG. 7 of the application EP-A-0 573 469. Such modules can be used, for example, as identification badges.
Other applications require being able to have access to one or more contact tracks disposed generally flush with one of the main faces of the module, said tracks being connected permanently to an electronic circuit disposed inside the module, in order to be able to exchange data with a suitable electronic device equipped also with means permitting contact to be established with the contact track or tracks of the module. Modules of this type are used, for example, as telephone debit cards.
A module equipped with two types of mentioned circuits, either a first access circuit by means of contact tracks and a second access circuit by inductive means allows, in particular, increasing the security of use of the debit or credit card.
Various methods exist for encapsulating an electronic component, with or without coil forming transmitting and receiving antenna such as in the case of the previously mentioned application, inside or on the surface of a body of synthetic material in order to protect it from humidity, from dust and mechanical constraints, said body having in the end a credit card format or any other convenient format so that the device can be easily handled.
A first possibility consists in injecting a thermoformable material around the electronic component; this method requires a costly injection tool and involves difficulties in placing the electronic component correctly inside the body. Moreover, in cases where the electronic component is connected to another component or to a coil, the great pressure exercised by the injected substance can break the very fine wires connecting these elements.
According to another method, the component is disposed between two thermoplastic sheets which are then laminated; even though said component has a sufficiently small thickness, generally less than 0.5 mm, it is difficult to obtain a card having two absolutely flat and parallel faces, a slight swelling always remaining at the location where the component is disposed. To overcome this drawback, it is proposed that, first of all, the component be disposed on the inside of a cutting made in one thermoplastic sheet of a thickness approximately equal to that of the component, then this assembly be laminated between two other thermoplastic sheets. Because of its complexity, this last method is ultimately costly, and moreover, owing to the required dimensional tolerances between the cutting and the dimensions of the component, an empty region or line between these elements can be obtained, resulting ultimately in hollow regions or lines on the main faces of the body.
The application EP-A-0 128 822 presents a method by which an encapsulated electronic circuit, having at least one flat face provided with electrical contacts for subsequent access to a data read/write device is inset in a plate of plastic material, said plate being softened locally to permit insertion of the circuit inside the plate. A major drawback of this method is that the material making up the plate is not compressible and that a swelling is created on the plate's opposite face after the circuit has been inserted, a swelling which requires at least one subsequent operation for its elimination. In another embodiment of the method, a hollow accommodation is provided in the plate for introducing the circuit, the hollow space remaining in the plate after introduction of the circuit being then filled with a filling material. This method is ultimately rather complex, requiring a number of operations, the presence of several materials and creating several transition surfaces between materials.
The application EP-A-0 570 784 describes a manufacturing process where an accommodation is first made in a plate which will then be used as a positioning structure for the electronic circuit. The bonding material in liquid form is then introduced in order to impregnate the plate before pressing. The use of a volatile liquid is a drawback in a manufacturing process since it generally requires large ventilating means. The use of a bonding material in solid form, as is proposed as a variant, requires disposing more layers before pressing. Therefore this metho d also requires supplementary operations, preparation of the accommodation, introduction of the bonding material, and as with all the methods foreseeing an accommodation for the electronic circuit, it can be difficult to ensure a perfect surface evenness of the main faces of the module. Moreover this method is less versatile since it does not allow modules to be manufactured having a circuit whose contact surfaces are flush with one of the faces of the module.
Another drawback of prior art methods is that they call for rather flexible materials, the body remaining flexible when the module is completed. This can be a drawback when the electronic circuit carries a component, in particular a coil of relatively large dimensions; by bending the module it is easily possible to break the coil.
A first object of the invention is thus to propose a method of encapsulating an electronic circuit including at least one electronic component in or on the surface of a body of synthetic material having the shape of a plate, and preferably the dimensions of a credit card, and not having the mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, but permitting a module to be obtained whose two main faces are absolutely flat and parallel, this by inexpensive, easy-to-use means and without it being necessary to precut the sheet or sheets forming the body.
Another object of the invention is to propose an electronic module such as is described above, which does not have the mentioned drawbacks of known modules since it has been made by means of the method according to the invention.
The different objects are attained through different variant embodiments of the method calling for different starting materials all having similar thermal and mechanical characteristics, allowing modules to be obtained according to several configurations of electronic circuits and answering to the features of claims 1 to 20, as well as an electronic module such as is described in claims 21 to 24.

Method for making an electronic module and electronic module obtained according to the method


The invention relates to an optoelectronic arrangement which has a transmission component which emits electromagnetic radiation, a receiving component which detects a portion of the radiation emitted from the transmission component, and a transparent material which at least partially surrounds the transmission component and the receiving component and provides a boundary surface between the arrangement and the environment. In this case, a portion of the light which is emitted from the transmission component is reflected in the transparent material and/or on the boundary surface of the transparent material, and is detected by the receiving component. The invention also relates to a method for controlling the output power of a transmission component by means of a receiving component which detects a portion of the radiation which is emitted from the transmission component.

It is known that the output power of optical transmission components such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) or laser diodes can be changed by environmental influences such as temperature and aging effects. However, it is generally desirable to keep the output power of a transmission component as constant as possible, in order to make it possible to comply with predetermined specification limits.
For this purpose, it is known for the driver current through a transmission component to be influenced by variation of an external resistance which is arranged outside the transmission component. The driver current is in this case adjusted by means of the resistance such that the output power of a transmission component is kept as constant as possible. However, a design such as this allows stabilization of the light power only for tightly specified transmission components with a narrow light power distribution, stable aging and a very stable temperature response.
DE 198 38 350 A1 discloses an optical transmission device in which an optical transmitter emits radiation vertically. A reflection surface reflects a portion of the emitted radiation onto an optically sensitive receiving area of a monitor receiver, which is arranged on one side of the transmitter. An intermediate body with a reflective circumferential surface is in this case arranged between the reflection surface and the receiving zone. This design has the disadvantage that it is relatively complex, since a separate intermediate body is required.
WO 03/027743 A1 discloses a transmission and/or receiving arrangement for optical signal transmission, in which a baseplate, a transmission and/or receiving element and a beamforming element are arranged one above the other in such a way that an intermediate space is created between the baseplate and the beamforming element, in which the transmission and/or receiving element is located. One refinement provides for a monitor diode to be arranged under or alongside the transmission and/or receiving element. A portion of the light is reflected back onto the monitor diode via an inclined boundary surface in the beam path.
There is a requirement for optoelectronic arrangements having a transmission component and a receiving component, which allow the receiving component to detect a portion of the light emitted from the transmission component, in a simple manner.

Optoelectronic arrangement and a method for controlling the output power of a transmission component


A system and method for the prevention of bacterial growth in portions of a water treatment system which contain water from which bactericide has been removed includes a cross connect between the water containing the bactericide and the water from which the bactericide has been removed. The cross connect includes a check valve which closes to block communication between the respective waters when water is flowing through the system, and opens to permit diffusion of the bactericide from the water containing the bactericide to the water from which the bactericide has been removed when the flow of water through the system ceases.

Systems and methods are known for the treatment of potable water to substantially reduce, if not remove all together bactericides, such as chlorine, which have previously been added to the water by the provider of the water to eliminate the undesirable taste, odor and the like which result from the bactericides. Such treatment has included connection of the water service conduit which carries the water containing the bactericides to a housing or cartridge near the water tap. The housing contains any one or a combination of filtering and treating materials which remove the bactericide. These materials may include charcoal metal particles such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,192, or various other treating materials either singularly or in combination with each other. When the water tap is opened, the service water containing the bactericide passes through the housing and the material where the bactericide is removed, and the bactericide-free water is discharged therefrom through one or more conduits connected to the tap for ultimate usage.
The bactericides, such as chlorine, are typically added by the provider of the water, such as a municipality, to insure that the water which is delivered to the consumer is essentially bacteria free and meets standards for bacteria levels which have been established by various governmental agencies. In order to achieve this, levels of bactericides, such as chlorine, are added to the water by the provider of the water to insure that a sufficient amount of bactericide is present in the water transmission system right up to the point of final consumer use to prevent the growth of bacteria throughout the transmission system including the consumer's water service lines.
Where bactericide removal materials have been installed by the user upstream of the final point of use, the possibility exists that the portion of the system between the bactericide removal material and the ultimate point of use of the water, e.g. the water tap, may experience the growth of bacteria during periods of system shutdown due to the removal of the bactericide which was otherwise intended to prevent the growth of such bacteria. Such shutdown may occur for example when the user is away on extended vacation. If such growth occurs during shutdown, a potentially hazardous condition might exist upon resumption of use.

Prevention of bacterial growth in water treatment systems


A method for lubricating a metal workpiece during a metalworking process includes delivering supercritical carbon dioxide to the workpiece during the metalworking process. The supercritical carbon dioxide acts as a lubricant, coolant, chip evacuator, and/or carrier for another lubricant or corrosion inhibitor.

The present disclosure relates to metalworking, and more particularly to lubricants for metalworking.
Metalworking Fluids (MWFs) lubricate and cool metal during various metalworking processes (some non-limitative examples of which include cutting processes, forming processes, etc.) and are useful for proper process function. Specifically, MWFs increase tool life, substantially ensure proper surface finish, permit faster manufacturing rates, and reduce energy consumption during machining. They are typically oil in water emulsions, where the oil lubricates and the water cools the cutting zone. However, the mixture of oil and water has the potential to make MWFs an environmental and occupational health concern. This may be due, at least in part, to the metals, organic constituents, and microorganisms that may accumulate in these fluids and to the aerosols that may form when they are sprayed in large excess onto machining processes. The aerosols that may form from these oily solutions reduce the air quality in the workplace and may, in some cases, potentially have acute and/or chronic skin and lung impacts on workers. The oil in water emulsions tend to degrade over time as a result of microbial attack and hard water ion accumulation, which may pose a waste treatment problem, particularly if the mixture contains toxic additives. Thus, the MWFs may become a hazardous waste problem when they reach the end of their useful life. Many environmental and health concerns potentially associated with MWFs may be substantially eliminated if the lubrication could be provided in minimal quantity using a solvent other than water.
As such, it would be desirable to provide metalworking lubrication in the minimal necessary quantity using a non-water solvent. Such an alternative solvent may advantageously reduce or eliminate the problems associated with water-based MWFs and, subsequently, the need for traditional MWF maintenance or treatment systems such as pumps and separation systems. Further, delivery of minimal quantity lubrication may conserve resources, maintain more consistent high quality process operation, and reduce life cycle emissions, while substantially aiding in removal of health risks and spoilage concerns potentially associated with traditional water-based MWFs.

Metal working lubricant formulations based on supercritical carbon dioxide

The Regents of The University of Michigan


A wind turbine power generating system and method includes a tower, a hub, a plurality of blades connected to the hub, and a rotor connected to the hub. A superconducting generator is coupled to the rotor and includes a plurality of superconductive coils. A nacelle is mounted atop the tower, with the superconducting generator housed within the nacelle. An automatic ramp-down system is configured with the superconducting coils and includes an automatically activated energy dump circuit for current withdrawn from the superconductive coils in a ramp-down process prior to a quench. The energy dump circuit includes one or more heat dissipating loads, wherein each of the heat dissipating loads is mounted in thermal communication with one of the tower or the nacelle that act a thermal heat sink for dispersing heat from the loads.

Generally, superconducting generators are made by constructing the generator field coils (which typically carry a substantially direct current) of a superconducting material ("superconductor") instead of the usual copper material. Superconductors are typically lighter in weight and smaller in size (e.g., relative to current carrying capacity) than traditional conductors such as copper, and are also more efficient at conducting current (particularly at lower frequencies). Thus, the use of superconductors in power applications, such as wind turbine generators, provides benefits such as more efficient performance, lower generator weight, non-gearbox direct-drive operation, and lower manufacturing and installation costs. Such benefits are particularly for offshore wind turbine applications.
Protection circuits are configured with the superconducting generators to protect the superconducting magnet from damage that could otherwise occur during a quench. A quench occurs when a superconductor reverts to a resistive state as the result of localized heating in one part of the superconductor. When this part ceases to be superconductive, and enters a resistive state, any current flowing through the resistive part will cause local (Joule) heating. This, in turn, causes the adjacent parts of the superconductor to quench, resulting in a larger resistive volume, in turn causing further heating. Thus, in a rapid cascading fashion, the superconductor enters a resistive state, with a potentially very large current still flowing.
For large superconducting wind turbine generators (e.g., in excess of 10 MW), the field coils can retain about 30MJ-50MJ of stored energy. If a quench occurs and the energy is converted into heat in the coils, it can take a significant amount of time to cool the coils with the cryocooler system, in some cases up to 3-4 weeks, before the generator can be restarted. This is a significant down-time period that affects the economics of the wind turbine generator.
The desirability to de-energize the superconducting magnet (field coils) of a superconducting generator or other machine before a quench occurs, for example for maintenance or prior to an outage or other condition that could cause a quench, is known. A "ramping-down" process is implemented wherein current is withdrawn from the coils in a controlled manner and dumped as heat outside of the magnet vacuum vessel and cryocooler system. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 9,874,618 describes a control system for a superconducting magnet in an MRI machine that automatically controls the main power supply, a shimming power supply, and a discharge module to ramp-down the superconducting magnet prior to a quench upon detection of a magnet parameter value that exceeds a threshold value. The discharge module includes a diode stack and resistor that act as loads to draw current from the magnet.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 9,985,426 also describes a control system for an MRI machine wherein a sensor detects an operating parameter of the apparatus and outputs a sensor signal to a magnet controller, which determines if an operating fault (e.g. a power loss to the compressor of a cryocooler) exists in the apparatus. If a fault is detected, the controller connects an energy dump unit across the superconductive coils, which disperses the energy from the coils outside of the cryostat.
The industry would welcome an automatic ramp-down system particularly suited for superconducting wind turbine generators, that can dump the large amount of stored energy in the field coils prior to a quench and reduce the down-time of the generator from weeks to a few days.

System and method for auto-ramping and energy dump for a superconducting wind turbine generator


The invention relates to the use of a food additive comprising at least one phytonutrient in order to stimulate vaccine immunity against apicomplexa in non-human monogastric animals, such as poultry or pigs, or in ruminants, such as a cattle, sheep or goats.

Apicomplexa or sporozoa are single-cell organisms which are parasites of vertebrates or of invertebrates. These parasites can cause various pathological conditions.
For example, coccidiosis, which is an intestinal disease caused by several distinct species of the Eimeria protozoan, is a parasitic infection which is economically significant for the poultry industry throughout the world.
They are generally treated with drugs which are antibiotics of the sulfamide category. However, the use of this chemoprophylaxis is not without drawbacks, owing in particular to the emergence of drug-resistant Eimeria strains and to the complicated interaction between coccidiosis parasites and clostridial infections. Furthermore, the regulations regarding drugs are ever increasing in animal production.
Because of the complexity of the host's immunity and of the lifecycle of the parasites, it proves to be particularly difficult to develop new strategies for intervention or new vaccines against apicomplexa.
There is at the time no totally effective vaccine against these infections. The current tendency is therefore to use vaccines based on live parasites to control coccidiosis. At least ten vaccines of this type are commercially available worldwide. All these vaccines have recourse to infected live oocysts in order to produce a real infection which is intended to trigger a natural immunization that protects poultry.
This vaccination technique has the major drawback that live oocysts can be produced only by chickens, which requires a lot of work and involves numerous manipulations.
An alternative to vaccines of this type consists in using recombinant-protein vaccines against coccidiosis, said recombinant protein being for instance profilin which is an immunogenic protein of Eimeria. Recombinant vaccinations using profilin by subcutaneous immunization in young chickens or by immunization of embryos have induced a certain protection against avian coccidiosis. However, protein vaccines have a limited immunogenicity and their efficacy as a vaccine for reducing production losses due to coccidiosis is lower than that of the conventional coccidiostats and than the live oocyst-based vaccine. In any event, in order to improve the efficacy of the vaccines, various strategies have been examined, including adjuvants and cytokines.
Recent scientific publications show the direct effects of phytonutrients derived from plants on the genes involved in innate host immunity in poultry. However, numerous phytonutrients exist naturally and, for those which have been studied, they can have completely different properties from one another. For example, among the phytonutrients used in the present invention, the following are found:                carvacrol is one of the most common components of essential oils, it has a wide antimicrobial activity, and it has been approved as a safe feed additive in the United States of America and in Europe;        cinnamaldehyde has shown antifungal, antipyretic, antioxidant, antimicrobial and larvicidal activity, in addition to modulating T cell differentiation;        pepper (Capsicum spp) reduces intestinal pro-inflammatory cytokine levels, it increases weight gain and reduces parasitic fertility in poultry infected with E. acervulina;         plants of the Curcuma genus, including C. longa, exhibit antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and chicken macrophages treated with curcuma extracts have shown increased levels of mRNA encoding IL-6 and IFN-γ.
One of the new drug-free approaches which has not been tested up until now is the combined strategy of using a vaccine with a nutrition-mediated dietary immunomodulation, in particular mediated by phytonutrients as nutritional supplements.

Use of a food additive based on at least one phytonutrient for stimulating vaccine immunity against apicomplexa in animals

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE


Methods and apparatus of classifying received email are provided. At least one initial desirability scan is performed on a received email. When the received email passes the at least one initial desirability scan, it is determined if the received email comprises one or more browser-interpretable scripts. When the received email comprises one or more browser-interpretable scripts, a secondary desirability scan is performed on the received email as a function of the one or more browser-interpretable scripts. The received email is identified as undesirable email when the received email fails the at least one initial desirability scan, or the received email fails the secondary desirability scan. The received e-mail is identified as desirable email when the received email does not comprise one or more browser-interpretable scripts or the received email passes the secondary desirability scan.

Internet spam typically includes one or more unsolicited messages sent, or posted, as part of a larger collection of messages, all having substantially identical content. Spam, as used herein, refers to email spam. Perpetrators that generate and send such spam may harvest email addresses of prospective recipients from Usenet postings or web pages, obtain them from databases, or simply guess them by using common names and domains. By popular definition, spam occurs without the permission of the recipients.
Spam is a significant burden for recipients as well as those who support the networking infrastructures that provide email services. Spam is chiefly utilized to deliver unwanted advertisements. Spammers, or those sending spam, also send spam for other agendas, such as denial of service, for example through the clogging of an email inbox using excessive bandwidth or disk space. Additional agendas may also include politics or malicious pornography. While other spamming motives exist, the common characteristic despite motive is that unwanted email circumvents devised email defenses, causing much productivity loss and great annoyance.
Presently there is a plurality of spam identifying and filtering techniques. Such means and apparatus may be provided at the client (end-user) end, or imbedded in various other stages of email handling, such as a central server. A system or algorithm has not yet emerged that is capable of identifying all spam due to the multitude of factors spammers use to camouflage the email content. Generally, the camouflage consists of random content to thwart identification of a pattern of consistency from one spam email to the next. The subject, the body of text, and even the normally invisible hypertext content may differ slightly in each spam email. Mass mailings containing legitimate and repetitious content are conversely known as non-spam, and may include, for example, proxy notices, billings, and customer services notifications. Invariably, the spam contains an active link implemented as hypertext or a script-activated button for the purpose of user response.
Presently, common signatures of email spam are identified and continually manually added for handling new patterns of spam content, resulting in a vicious circle of spam and defender warfare, with screening provided at mail server and client levels in the hierarchy. However, conventional screenings are failing to identify root spammers, thus allowing the spam to continually clog a user's inbox.

Methods and apparatus for identifying spam email

International Business Machines Corporation


In general, embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatuses for securing otherwise unsecured computer audio and video subsystems. Embodiments of the invention perform watermarking of video and/or audio data streams output by a computer system. Additional security features that are included in embodiments of the invention include fingerprinting, snooping, capturing streams for local or remote analytics or archiving, and mixing of secure system content with local audio and video content.

Conventional computing devices typically include one to many conventional types of input/output (I/O) ports for communicating with connectable external devices such as mice, keyboards, wireless modems, thumb drives, hard drives, etc., as well as internal devices such as hard drives and SSD drives. Conventional computing devices typically further include subsystems for inputting and outputting audio and video streams such as music, videos, video chat and conferences, presentations, etc.
However, the specifications for these I/O and multimedia interfaces and subsystems typically do not provide for security functions such as authentication and verification. Meanwhile, there are a number of applications such as corporate video conferencing that would greatly benefit from efficient provision and management of security over such multimedia interfaces and subsystems.

Method and apparatus for securing computer video and audio subsystems


An apparatus includes an interface and a processor. The interface may be configured to receive video frames comprising at least one of a vehicle or an outdoor environment near the vehicle and a correction signal. The processor may be configured to perform video operations on the video frames to detect objects, predict a state of the vehicle based on the objects detected in the video frames and generate the correction signal. The correction signal may be configured to apply a corrective measure based on the predicted state of the vehicle. The state of the vehicle may be predicted when the vehicle is parked in the outdoor environment. The state of the vehicle may comprise factors that prevent driving the vehicle.

When a vehicle is parked outside in cold climates, the vehicle may not be drivable due to a number of factors. Snow build-up on top of the hood can obstruct the windshield, a frozen windshield can impair visibility, windows or outside mirrors, door handles/locks can be frozen, etc. Drivers often spend a lot of time getting the car into a drivable condition (i.e., scraping windows, chipping away ice, turning on the heat, brushing snow away, etc.).
Some people park the car in a garage or under some type of cover to avoid exposing the vehicle to the elements. However, finding cover is not always possible. If the weather is known in advance, the extra preparation time to clear away the cold weather elements causes people to wake up earlier and spend time preparing the vehicle. In cases of unexpected snowfall, the extra preparation time can result in arriving late and missing meetings, etc.
It would be desirable to implement using camera data to manage a vehicle parked outside in cold climates.

Using camera data to manage a vehicle parked outside in cold climates


A high pressure die cylinder and manifold system including a plurality of die cylinders mounted on a manifold. Each die cylinder includes a cylinder body in which a piston rod and a piston is positioned for limited relative movement with respect to the cylinder body. A cup shaped piston sealing ring is mounted on the cylinder body for engagement with the piston rod and a cup shaped sealing ring is mounted on the piston for engagement with the cylinder body. A lubricant metering ring is mounted on the piston intermediate the sealing rings and the piston has a lubricant chamber that communicates with circumferentially spaced openings in the lubricant metering ring for delivering lubricant to the exterior of the sealing ring. The cylinder body is provided with a radial annular flange, a cylindrical pilot surface and a portion below the pilot surface of the cylinder body is threaded by interengaging threads with an opening in the manifold so that the lower end of the gas cylinder communicates with high pressure gas within the manifold. The manifold is provided with an annular seat surrounding the opening into which the gas cylinder extends and a U-shaped cup manifold sealing ring is provided in the seat and held into position by engagement of the radial flange and a pilot surface on the cylinder body with the manifold.

In die stamping and the like wherein a pair of spaced apart die members are mounted for relative movement toward and away from one another to form a workpiece between the dies, it is common to provide a die cylinder and manifold system which includes a plurality of die cylinders having piston rods that function to yieldingly resist movement of the die members.
Such systems are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,947,005, 4,044,859, 4,342,448, 4,529,181, 4,583,722 and 4,628,796.
Such systems have been utilized at relatively high gaseous pressures up to about 1000 p.s.i.
Among the objectives of the present invention are to provide a die cylinder and manifold system which will function higher pressures on the order of 2000 p.s.i.; which at relatively higher pressures on the order of 2000 p.s.i. ; which will be effective for a long periods of time without leakage; which include a novel lubricating system; which does not require any parts that are more expensive than have been used for systems that function at lower pressures; and to provide a lubricating system for die cylinders which are used in a manifold system or are self-contained.
In accordance with the invention, a high pressure die cylinder and manifold system comprising a plurality of die cylinders mounted on manifold. Each die cylinder includes a cylinder body in which a piston rod is positioned for limited relative movement with respect to the cylinder body. A cup shaped piston sealing ring is mounted on the cylinder body for engagement with the piston rod and a cup shaped sealing ring is mounted on the piston for engagement with the cylinder body. A lubricant metering ring is mounted on the piston intermediate the sealing rings and the piston has a lubricant chamber that communicates with circumferentially spaced openings in the lubricant metering ring for delivering lubricant to the exterior of the metering ring. The cylinder body is provided with a radial annular flange, a cylindrical pilot surface and a portion below said pilot surface of the cylinder body is threaded by interengaging threads with an opening in the manifold so that the lower end of the gas cylinder communicates with high pressure gas within the manifold. The manifold is provided with an annular seat surrounding the opening into which the gas cylinder extends and a U-shaped cup manifold sealing ring is provided in the shoulder and held into position by engagement of the radial flange and a pilot surface on the cylinder body with the manifold.
The above described die cylinder includes a novel lubricating system which can also be used in die cylinders that are used in a manifold system or are self-contained.

High pressure die cylinder and manifold system


A decoding device for two-dimensional codes employs a first serial reference line signal which assumes the value "1" only at the change point from black to white, and a second reference line signal which assumes the value "1" only at the change point from white to black, either of which is selected according to the color of the start pixel. The end of a reference line can be identified by the value "1" in both reference line signals. The decoding device can thus achieve high-speed development of two-dimensional codes without a large-scale logic circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a decoding device for two-dimensional codes, for reproducing an original image from two-dimensional codes employed as an image data encoding method for use in a facsimile, an image file or the like.
2. Related Background Art
A Conventional developing method for two-dimensional codes consists of counting the run length from a start pixel to an object pixel of variation in a reference line, determining the run length to be restored by arithmetic calculation on the result of the counting and an offset value designated by the two-dimensional codes, and generating the pixel data corresponding to the run length.
However, the above-explained conventional method also requires a calculation to determine the position of the next start pixel, in addition to the above-explained calculations, and requires very complicated and large-sized circuitry if the method is to be executed solely by logic circuits.
For this reason, this conventional developing method has been executed by a processing unit such as a microprocessor.
However, this conventional method, based on program control utilizing such a processing unit, has been associated with a limitation in the processing speed.

Decoding device for two-dimensional codes by using first or second reference line signals


Methods of producing a dental product are disclosed. Certain methods include the steps of providing a pre-sintered blank made from a green body of ceramic material, performing a machining operation on the blank, and subsequently sintering the blank to its final density in a sintering operation performed at a temperature in the range of 1300° C. to 1650° C. The pre-sintered blank that is provided may have a strength in the range of 53-107 MPa.

Field of the Invention
The present application relates to a method of making a dental product, in particular a dental bridge, in which a blank made of a pre-sintered green body is first machined and subsequently sintered to its final density.
Description of the Related Art
A known method of making dental prostheses includes pressing a ceramic powder into a green body that is subsequently subjected to a pre-sintering operation in which the green body becomes a somewhat more solid blank but does not reach its final density. A machining operation is performed on the blank in order to form a dental prosthesis and the so formed product is then sintered to its final density. United States patent application publication US 2004/01 19180 A1 discloses a method in which a pre-sintered blank is machined by a milling process and dense-sintered in a temperature range of from 1200 to 1650° C. According to US 2004/01 19180, the pre-sintered blank has a "green strength" of from 31 MPa to 50 MPa. It is further indicated that blanks having a strength that lies outside the chosen range of 31 to 50 MPa do not yield useful results. According to the publication in question, blanks having a strength below the indicated range may break during milling while higher strengths result in hard blanks that cannot be machined using customary machining processes. It is an object of the present application to provide an improved method of making dental prostheses as will be explained in the following.


A power supply receives AC power and generates a DC output voltage. The power supply may be divided into a primary section that converts AC power to a relatively high DC voltage. A secondary section converts this relatively high DC voltage into a well-regulated lower DC voltage. In an embodiment, the current and/or power supplied by the primary to the secondary side is used by the secondary side in a closed-loop feedback system to limit the current drawn by the secondary side to a configurable value.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
A power supply unit is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. Indeed, power supply units typically have a power input connection, which receives energy in the form of electric current from a source, and one or more power output connections that deliver current to the load. The primary function of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to a correct voltage, current, and frequency to power a load. Indeed, a power supply unit may perform a variety of functions, such as, but not limited to, power conversion, alternating current to direct current (AC-DC) or DC-DC conversion, adjusting voltage levels, and providing backup power during power grid outages.
A power supply system typically includes multiple power sources (or power supply units) that provide power and an external system (or controller) that provides power management functionality including input current limiting for the multiple power sources. Power limiting is the practice in electrical or electronic circuits of imposing an upper limit on the power (e.g., current) that may be delivered to a load with the general purpose of protecting the circuit generating or transmitting the current from harmful effects due to a short-circuit or similar problem in the load. In the context of data centers, input power limiting is typically utilized to control power distribution and provide load sharing amongst the multiple power sources. For example, an external system (or external controller) typically handles power management by relying on an alert signal asserted by a power supply unit to determine when a load is reaching an over current warning level. Indeed, when a power supply unit reaches a threshold current (e.g., over current warning level), the power supply unit asserts the alert signal to appropriately inform the external system (or controller). The external system (or controller) responsively reduces the processing utilization associated with the power supply unit to lower the load which, in turn, reduces the input the input power (e.g., current) drawn by the power supply unit.
Unfortunately, conventional power supply systems suffer numerous deficiencies with respect to input power limiting. For example, response times for adjusting the input power are often slow and inaccurate because adjustments to the input power must be made by the external system (or controller). Furthermore, the external system (or controller) must utilize extensive processing resources to compute equivalent output power limiting for the power supply units. That is, the external system (or controller) must determine how to modify the load associated with each power supply unit by adjusting the corresponding processing utilization.

Power supply unit with autonomous input power limiting


A method for creating a personality profile based upon an explicit association between icons/objects and attributes describing some of the values with which a person associates with themselves is disclosed. The person may own/acquire one or more icons/objects. The icon/objects in conjunction with labeling technology allow for accessing of object profiles. Using information from the object profiles, attributes for a personality profile are complied about the person. This personality profile projects an explicit, quantified image about the person, that could be used to tailor advertising, marketing, or other services.

Physical items, memento's, nick-knacks and other personal possessions reflect upon the owner's tastes, likes and personality. For example, a person having a tennis racket or an icon of a tennis racket in their office conveys to visitors an affection or appreciation for sports. A woman driving a European car, or keeping a small model of a European car in her office may send a message of a certain status or taste. FIG. 1, shows how people may associate various objects or icons to reflect a certain image to their surroundings. Personality profiles that reflect such traits are very useful for numerous purposes, e.g., in advertising and product marketing. However, it is difficult to create such personality profiles in the virtual world. Without manually compiling this type of information, there is no direct mechanism to convert these associations to a report or an electronic database. In this regard, the inventors have realized that smart labeling technology may be used for solving this problem in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
Smart labeling is the latest Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, combining the advantages of barcode, Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) and traditional RFID solutions. RFID systems allow for non-contact reading in manufacturing and other types of environments where barcode labels may not perform properly or be practical. RFID has applications in a wide range of markets including automated vehicle identification (AVI) systems and livestock identification because of its capability to track moving objects. The technology has become a primary player in identification, automated data collection, and analysis systems worldwide.
For example, Philips Semiconductors' ICODE ICs represent the state-of-the-art in smart label technology, offering a low-cost, reprogrammable and disposable solution for source tagging, automatic data capture, theft protection and data storage on a product or its packaging. ICODE smart labels allow for almost any item to be tagged for efficient handling. ICODE's highly automated item scanning process does not require line-of-sight and can scan multiple labels at the same time.
In airline baggage tagging and parcel services, smart labels offer considerable advantages in sorting and item tracking. In supply chain management systems, smart labels overcome the limitations of barcode technology, providing improved product distribution; and in libraries and rental applications, they provide automated check-in, check-out and inventory control.
As shown in FIG. 2, a conventional RFID system 10 consists of a tag reader 11 which is connected to a personal computer 12 (PC) through a serial port 13. The PC 12 takes action as it reads the trigger of a tag 14. Information can be exchanged via a communication medium 15 (e.g., Internet or Intranet) with a remote server 16.
The tag reader 11 typically consists of three components:
An antenna or coil;
A transceiver (with decoder); and
A transponder (commonly called an RF tag) that is electronically programmed with unique information.
The antenna emits radio signals to activate the tag so that it can read and write data to it. The antenna is the conduit between the tag and the transceiver. It helps control the system's data acquisition and communication. The electromagnetic fields produced by the antenna can be constantly present or activated as needed when tags are detected by a sensor.
There is a need, however, for a method using state of the art technology to solve the shortcomings described above. The inventors have discovered significant advantages in using various labeling technologies in facilitating the creation of personality profiles as discussed below.

Method for creating personality profiles using tagged physical objects


Toner is conserved in printer (1) under operator control by changing the final modulation for each bit in a bit map depending on whether the bit is an edge bit or an internal bit in the character being printed. Since only the final modulation is affected, processing speed and efficiency are not degraded. The operator can select various degrees of internal gray and internal white. Some levels of gray may be satisfactory for some final correspondence.

Conservation of toner in prior xerographic systems takes the form of a draft mode or of overall density control. The assignee of this invention has sold commercially for several years laser printers which permit density control of an entire page among high, medium, and low under operator control. None of these densities is so light as to be perceived as a gray in final printing, and the purpose of selecting one may be both to minimize the use of toner and to produce a black density which is satisfactory, or even preferred, to the operator. The saving of toner is a stated advantage of the selection of less than highest density. The change in density is implemented by changing the light modulation for each bit of the data map, specifically by illuminating fewer of a set of contiguous vertical slices corresponding to a bit in the bit map of the image being formed.
In another commercial xerographic laser printer which is prior to this invention, a draft mode prints a dark outline of characters with a gray fill internal to the outline. It is also known to simply print gray characters in a draft mode. The manners of implementation of such modes could vary. The foregoing known prior laser printer appears to print the gray by printing full bits while not printing other full bits.
In certain non-xerographic implementations a draft mode is associated with faster speed as well as a change in print quality. In wire matrix printers, which employ columns of small wires to impact a marking material to form images, the wires have a limited recovery time, so eliminating dots in images permits higher speeds. Higher speeds, however, are not generally a result of toner conservation in laser printers since the maximum speed of laser printers are not limited by the complexity of the final bit image to be printed.
The speed of laser printers can be limited by the time for their central processing unit to define a final bit image to be printed. Thus, if a toner conservation mode were to require derivation of a new or more complex mapping of bits or definition of the function of bits, this would be a serious defect.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,679 to Ueda et al is for edge smoothing to remove stair steps in which emphasis of edges is avoided.

Toner conservation by PEL modulation with operator control