According to the present invention, an electromagnetic wave measurement device includes an electromagnetic wave output device, an electromagnetic wave detector and a measurement unit. The electromagnetic wave output device outputs an electromagnetic wave having a frequency equal to or more than 0.01 [THz] and equal to or less than 100 [THz] toward a device under test including at least two layers, and the electromagnetic wave detector detects reflected electromagnetic waves which are the electromagnetic waves reflected by the respective at least two layers. The measurement unit measures the device under test based on one or both of extreme values of electric fields of the respective reflected electromagnetic waves and a time difference between timings in which the electric fields of the respective reflected electromagnetic waves take the extreme values.

Among industrial products, there are many products having a layered structure to which coating is applied for a aesthetic reason, surface protection, or added functions. For example, a coating having a polymeric material as a main component for an added function such as appearance, bitterness masking, increased environmental resistance, and solubility control may be applied to a medical tablet.
According to a non-patent document 1, though quality evaluations for various tablet coating have been made, most of them are destructive tests and evaluations only focusing on the coating.

Electromagnetic wave measurement device, measurement method, and recording medium


A gaming device and preferably a bonus round game of a gaming device that enables a player to initiate a randomly generated number, wherein said number determines the number of positions that a position marker will move along an enclosed path. Each time the marker lands upon a previously unmarked position, the game provides an award associated with that position to the player. When the marker lands upon a previously marked position, the game ends. The present invention also contemplates updating or changing the values of unmarked or unselected positions along the enclosed path by preferably adding to each unmarked or unselected position the value of the award of a previously selected position. That is, when the game randomly selects an unmarked position, the game provides the player with an award, wherein the game preferably replaces a previously achieved award with the award of the newly selected position.

Gaming devices currently exist with games and specifically bonus games in which a player has one or more opportunities to select masked bonus awards from a group of masked awards displayed to the player. When the player selects a masked award, the player receives the value of the award, and the game typically displays a message that the player may continue and enables the player to select another masked award. The player then selects another masked award, and the process continues until the player selects a masked terminator. European Patent Application No. EP 0 945 837 A2 filed on Mar. 18, 1999 and assigned on its face to WMS Gaming, Inc. discloses a bonus scheme of this type.
Gaming machines also currently exist in which the game selects or determines the player's award. PCT application number PCT/AU97/00121 entitled, Slot Machine Game with Roaming Wild Card, published on Sep. 4, 1997, discloses this type of game. This application discloses a slot machine having a video display displaying a plurality of rotatable reels with game symbols. When the player receives a triggering symbol or combination, the game produces a bonus symbol. The bonus symbol moves from game symbol to game symbol temporarily changing the game symbol to a bonus symbol. If the change results in a winning combination, the player receives an award.
In the first known game, the player blindly selects masked awards until selecting the bonus terminator, which is immediately displayed. The player knows nothing about the location of any particular award, and there is no logical incentive to select any particular masked award as opposed to any another masked award. Choosing a masked award also poses no risk to a previously accumulated award. That is, there is no incentive to stop selecting. The only course of action is for the player to continue selecting until the player selects a terminator. The player's involvement in the bonus round and the player's level of enjoyment and excitement from the bonus round is thus limited.
The second known game has even less player interaction. The game completely determines the bonus round award, and the player has no effect on the outcome. The player is a mere observer to the bonus round sequence and participates only by receiving an award. In both games, the player is not prompted to calculate, weigh options, or explore any consequences of any action. To increase player excitement and enjoyment, it is desirable to provide a gaming device, and more specifically a bonus round of a gaming device, which prompts a player to calculate, weigh options and explore the consequences of the player's selection.
Another type of game enables players to accept or decline multiple award offers. TOP DOLLAR™, which is manufactured and distributed by the assignee of this application, provides the player with three offers and a final award. When an offer is given, the player may accept or reject it by pushing an accept button or indicator or a reject button or indicator, respectively. If the player accepts an offer, the player receives the accepted bonus amount and the bonus round terminates. If the player declines an offer, the game generates another offer for the player.
In the known offer/acceptance game, when the player rejects an offer, the player attempts to switch a current or guaranteed award for a higher value award. The game may instead provide a lower award. The game thus creates a risk for the player. The player does not have an opportunity to accumulate awards or offers. Enabling a player to accumulate awards or offers provides excitement and enjoyment to a player. A need therefore exists to provide an offer/acceptance game that enables a player to weigh options and explore the consequences of the player's selection and that enables a player to accumulate the awards or offers.

Gaming device having an improved offer/acceptance bonus scheme


An apparatus and method are provided for a plug connector sensing apparatus for determining whether a transmission line is present within a receptacle. A reprographic printing system including this apparatus is disclosed. The method of using this plug sensing apparatus comprises determining, with the plug connector sensor, whether the plug connector is present within the receptacle and determining, with a separate signal detector, whether a signal is being communicated through the transmission line.

The present invention relates generally to a device configured for remote communications through a transmission line and more particularly to printing apparatus configured for remote data transfer and diagnostics.
Many types of home, office and commercial electronic equipment now feature capabilities enabled through connection with remote sending and receiving devices. Among the most connections are computer connections with the Internet, facsimile connection with fiber or telephonic transmission lines, and networked office equipment connected through an Ethernet. For complex equipment such as electronic printers and copiers, an increasingly common feature is remote data transfer and diagnostics through which software can be remotely maintained and updated and, in the event of required machine maintenance, diagnostic communications can increase the likelihood that service personnel arrive on-site with the appropriate replacement parts and, at a minimum, arrive with advanced knowledge of the probable location within the system in need of repair. For instance, the DocuCentre 240/265 family of multifunctional printing systems sold by the Xerox Corporation features remote data transfer capability, including automatic detection on startup. Upon machine start-up, the machine runs a dial tone test to determine if the machine has remote data transfer (RDT) configured. If the test results contradict with the system's RDT settings, an error message is presented to the user stating this "configuration mismatch". The user then needs to specify whether RDT is configured or not.
An undesired effect of the above increased connectedness is an increasing number of fault messages delivered to operators informing them that the communications link is disabled or not available. One reason for this increase in fault messages is the trend toward placement of more and more devices on the same cable or phone line. Since most of these devices require only periodic communication with their remote data transfer host, placement of multiple devices on the same line is more economical than adding new cable or phone lines for each new device. Of course, the more devices that are placed on a single line, the greater the probability that the line will be in use by another device when the subject device seeks to detect a dial tone.
Under current practices, an operator working with a device that receives a fault message indicating the non-availability of its transmission line has limited choices. In devices such as the Xerox DocuCentre 240/265, the user must specify the correct configuration. Until this information is specified, the machine will not complete the power on process. There is no indicator under current practice to inform the operator whether the fault message is due to a disconnected transmission line or whether the fault message is simply because the line is busy sending or receiving messages from another device. In the absence of such indicator, the operator will often want to ensure that the fault is not from a defect in the transmission line itself. Since the presence or absence of a physical connection is one of the few problems that can be visibly diagnosed by an operator, many operators will respond to the fault message by attempting to inspect the connection between the system device and its transmission line. As noted above, this is wasted effort in many cases since the most common cause of the error message is simply that the transmission line is busy. Moreover, the receptacle for receiving the transmission line is usually in or near the rear of the system devices. If the operator moves the system device to inspect the physical connection to the transmission line in its rear, then the movement itself may result in a bad connection between the transmission line and the receptacle. In the case of large system devices such as production size copiers or printers, the very size of the system device makes movement difficult. An operator would greatly benefit from knowing for sure that the physical connection between the line and the receptacle is secure in order to be able to rule out this possibility without needing to attempt to move or awkwardly to peer behind such a large system device. Even for physically manageable devices, it would be beneficial for most operators to know that the connection between the transmission line and the receptacle is secure in order that this possible cause of a fault message be ruled out. With such increased information, an operator can more efficiently focus attention on other possible causes of the fault message or may conclude that the fault message is most likely the result of a line being in use when contacted by the system device.

Method and apparatus for a connection sensing apparatus


The present disclosure relates to nanoporous micro-spherical polyimide aerogels and a method for preparing the same. The use of the method for preparing polyimide aerogels, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, enables the preparation of the polyimide aerogels through a low-temperature process, and thus can save energy and time when compared with existing preparing methods, can reduce production costs, and can prepare spherical polyimide aerogels, which are micro-sized uniform particles, having excellent chemical stability, thermal insulation characteristics, and absorption-desorption characteristics while having nano-sized pores. The spherical polyimide aerogels can be applied to various fields, such as an insulator, a drug delivery medium, and a catalyst supporter, due to excellent physical properties thereof.

Since aerogels were found in the 1930s, many studies have been conducted about aerogels. A silica aerogel, which is the most typical type of aerogels, has excellent physical properties and is an ultralight advanced material having high applicability in a broad range of industries, including energy, environment, electric/electronic, space, medical fields, particularly in the fields of aerospace, heat insulation materials for buildings, medical equipment, such as storage and transport of body organs, drug delivery media, catalytic supports, dielectric films having a low dielectric constant, or the like.
However, it is required to prevent destruction of micropores in order to obtain a silica aerogel having excellent physical properties. To prevent destruction of micropores, a silica aerogel is obtained by a dry process using supercritical carbon dioxide. However, such a supercritical dry process requires high pressure and high temperature, and thus is disadvantageous in that it has a risk of safety accidents, has a difficulty in carrying out a continuous process due to a limited autoclave container size, and requires high production cost.
To solve the above-mentioned problems, many studies have been conducted to prepare aerogels by using various materials. Particularly, various attempts have been made to obtain aerogels by using polymers.
A polyimide resin is an advanced chemical material spotlighted in the fields requiring high heat resistance, low insulation property and high strength, has a chemical structure which is not decomposed even at a high temperature of 400° C. or more, has a small thickness and shows excellent flexibility. Thus, since such polyimide resins were developed by Dupont Co., they haven been used widely as key materials in the field of aerospace, IT, automobiles, semiconductors, displays, or the like. Although NASA, etc. developed an aerogel sheet using a polyimide, the method for manufacturing the aerogel sheet has a limitation in type of polyimide, uses a supercritical carbon dioxide dry process, and requires high production cost. Moreover, it is advantageous to prepare an aerogel in a particle shape, not a sheet-like shape, so that the aerogel may be used as a drug delivery medium, catalytic support or heat insulation material. Thus, there is a need for developing a novel type of polyimide aerogel.
Therefore, it is expected that preparation of a spherical polyimide aerogel, which includes micro-sized uniform particles having nano-sized pores and can substitute for a silica aerogel, through a low-temperature process using a polyimide material having excellent physical properties can solve the above-mentioned disadvantages of a silica aerogel and sheet-type polyimide aerogel.

Nanoporous micro-spherical polyimide aerogels and method for preparing same

INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC COOPERATION FOUNDATION, YONSEI UNIVERSITY


A distributed access control technique assigns permission to a user without permission explosion, thereby facilitating the system administration of user access to a piece of content represented by a Web service. Permissions are granted to pieces of content through expressions rather than explicitly coupled between a piece of content and a user. Each expression defines an access scope for either a user or a piece of content. An expression defining the access scope for a user can be created and maintained independently of an expression defining the access scope to a piece of content, hence simplifying management information system implementation and administration.

Lack of security exposes computer systems to accidental mischief or intentional harm. Accidental mischief may innocently come from a child who somehow gains access to his parents' personal computer to cause physical loss of data, among other examples. Intentional harm is typically instigated by a "cracker," which is a dysphemism for a person who uses computer expertise for illicit ends, such as by gaining access to computer systems without permission and tampering with programs and data. It is easy to eliminate most computer security problems—just unplug computer systems from all external communications. But this is no longer the way of doing business (if it has ever been) for many companies, especially with the quickening pace of pushing commerce to the Internet. Thus, a major focus of computer security, especially on systems that are accessed by many people through communication lines, is the prevention of system access by unauthorized individuals.
A simple security model includes three elements: a user (who must be recognized by a computer system as an authorized user of the computer system); a piece of content that is desired by the user to view or alter, among other things, and a permission to access the piece of content by the user. This model is simple in theory but complicated for a system administrator to put into practice. Consider a situation in which a million users all want access to the piece of content. The model described above would force a system administrator to create and store a million different permissions, each corresponding with the million users, to limit access to the piece of content. Thus, more computing resources must be used—not to store content, but to process and store permissions. Not only is this economically unfeasible but the "permission explosion" itself may cripple the computer system without any undertaking by crackers.
To avoid administrative problems associated with permission explosion, an industry standard security model called role-based access control (RBAC) was developed. In role-based access control, a system administrator programmatically assigns roles to different types of users within an organization, such as a hospital's various staffs, and permissions to secured pieces of content are granted to those assigned roles. Because there are fewer roles than there are users (multiple users may have the same role, such as a nurse role), permission explosion is avoided. A user receives permission through the role he is assigned. A user can have multiple roles, hence indirectly gaining multiple permissions to access content in a computer system. A role can inherit the characteristics of other roles so that a user with an inheriting role also gets all the permissions granted to the inherited role. Although the role-based access control model eliminates administrative problems associated with permission explosion, it creates new administrative problems, namely those associated with "role explosion."
Consider the following explicit role inheritances: the Irish are Europeans (an Irish role inherits from a European role), and ophthalmologists are surgeons (an ophthalmologist role inherits from a surgeon role) who are doctors (a surgeon role inherits from a doctor role). If the system administrator needs to add just one complex role: "Dr. Murphy is an Irish ophthalmologist," this would require the system administrator to create from such a complex role many implied roles: Irish, European, ophthalmologist, surgeon, doctor, Irish ophthalmologist, Irish surgeon, Irish doctor, European ophthalmologist, European surgeon, and European doctor.
Only 11 implied roles are created from the example above, but there are situations that require the system administrator to create and painfully maintain thousands of roles so as to allow users to access pieces of content that are available only for an esoteric role. In practice, the system administrator compromises the security requirements of a company to prevent prohibitive administration costs and errors in the maintenance of roles. Another problem comes whenever a new piece of content is added to the computer system with its unique security requirements. The system administrator not only has to create a new role to represent the unique security requirements of the new piece of content, but he also needs to create a relationship between the new piece of content and the new role as well as create multiple relationships (possibly thousands) with existing roles. In practice, the system administrator avoids unearthing existing roles to understand how the new role fits the existing roles, and instead, likely add the new role in an ad hoc manner without considering the wider security implications of accommodating the new piece of content which allows him to move on with his business.
A system 100 in FIG. 1 illustrates the above-described problem as well as other problems in greater detail. The system 100 is a portion of a management information system at an organization, such as a hospital 120. The system 100, whose security depends on a role-based access model, is designed for processing and organizing information so as to provide various levels of management of the hospital 120, with accurate and timely information needed for supervising activities, tracking progress, making decisions, and isolating and solving problems.
The system 100 includes a user 102, who is Dr. Murphy, the surgeon; a user 104, who is a nurse; and a user 106, who is a CT scan technician. Users 102-106 are all employees of the hospital 120. Employees can gain entry to the hospital 120 via electronic card access (not shown). Using the role-based access control model, users 102-106 can inherit the role of employee (role 108). Role 108 has privileges, which include hospital entrance permission (permission 114). Because users 102-106 have the role of employee (role 108), users 102-106 can gain entry to the hospital 120 by waving their electronic cards near an electronic detector so as to allow the system 100 to verify their roles, hence granting them permission to enter.
Suppose that the hospital 120 procures eye laser equipment 122. Only authorized users, which is associated with permission 116, with the appropriate training may access and use the eye laser equipment 122 (which has a computer system to which a user must log on to operate the eye laser equipment 122). One such user is the user 102 (Dr. Murphy, the surgeon). However, the role-based access model prohibits permitting of a specific user to have access to a specific piece of content (so as to avoid permission explosion). Instead of trying to understand existing roles in the system 100, a system administrator of the hospital 120 fabricates a new role of "Dr. Murphy, the surgeon" (role 110) so as to allow only the user 102 (Dr. Murphy, the surgeon) to use the eye laser equipment. The problem, however, is that role 110 is not a role at all. If there were a thousand doctors, each doctor would require his own role, thereby creating permission explosion again.
Now suppose the hospital 120 were to procure new CT scan equipment 124. The CT scan equipment 124 has a computer to which a user must log on in order to operate the CT scan equipment 124. Only authorized users of the hospital 120 are allowed to access and use the CT scan equipment 124. Instead of trying to understand the existing roles at the hospital 120, the system administrator creates the role of a CT scan machine (role 112), which is associated with permission 118, allowing access to user 104, the nurse, and 106, the CT scan technician. The fabricated role of the CT scan machine (role 112), however, makes no sense at all within the role-based access control model because it does not identify a group of users within an organization, but instead, identifies a machine for the convenience of the system administrator. This non-representative role 102 attenuates the security strength of the system 100 over time because system administrators have increasingly difficult time understanding various role relationships which causes difficulty in managing authorized users and eliminating unauthorized access.
The problems described above are made more severe with the desire of many companies to expose corporate content to business partners and customers over the Internet. For example, the hospital 120 may allow a patient to view his hospital bills on-line from his home. Given the problems encountered maintaining content security within an organization with a relative few number of users, it will come as no surprise that exposing corporate computing assets to the world causes role explosion to an exponential degree, consuming time, introducing error, and sapping performance while rendering information to users both internally and externally. Without a resolution to the problem of role explosion, users may eventually no longer trust the system 100 to provide a secured computing experience that can allow quick access to content by authorized users while preventing access to content by unauthorized individuals. Thus, there is a need for a system, method, and computer-readable medium for securing information while avoiding or reducing the above problems associated with existing systems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Distributed expression-based access control


An airbag apparatus connected with a battery includes activation circuits each of which has a squib and a high-side switching element, a safing switching element connected between the battery and the activation circuits, a safing switch control circuit controlling the safing switching element to provide a target voltage to the activation circuits, a terminal voltage acquiring circuit that acquires a terminal voltage of each squib, and a target voltage setting circuit that sets the target voltage. When a maximum-terminal voltage is lower than a reference voltage, the target voltage setting circuit sets the target voltage to be equal to the reference voltage. When the maximum-terminal voltage is higher than the reference voltage, the target voltage setting circuit sets the target voltage to correspond to the maximum-terminal voltage so that a reverse current is avoided in the high-side switching element.

As disclosed in US 2005/0269879 A1, recently, vehicles have been equipped with an airbag apparatus to protect a vehicle occupant. The airbag apparatus inflates an airbag when a vehicle crashes. The airbag apparatus disclosed in US 2005/0269879 A1 includes a safing switching element (safing switch). The safing switch regulates a voltage supplied from a power source, such as a battery, to a target voltage, and supplies the regulated voltage to a circuit (activation circuit) that provides a current to fire a squib. Hereinafter, the voltage supplied from the power source is also referred to as a supply voltage. The activation circuit includes the squib, and a high side switching element (high side switch) that regulates a current flowing through the squib. The high side switch has an input terminal connected with an output terminal of the safing switch, and an output terminal connected with the squib. Usually, the airbag apparatus includes multiple above-described activation circuits, and the output terminal of the safing switch is connected with the input terminal of the high side switch of each activation circuit.
In the above-described airbag apparatus, a short circuit may occur in a wire connecting the high side switch with the squib (squib line), causing the supply voltage from the battery to be directly applied to the squib line. When the short circuit occurs, the target voltage becomes lower than the supply voltage supplied by the battery. The target voltage, which is lower than the supply voltage, may cause the following problems. In one of the activation circuits, when the short circuit occurs, the output terminal of the high side switch has a voltage higher than the input terminal of the high side switch. Thus, the current may flow from the input terminal of the high side switch to another activation circuit, and a reverse current is generated and flows through the high side switch. In this state, when the high side switch of another activation circuit is turned on, the current flows from the battery to another activation circuit via the high side switch of the short-circuited activation circuit. This reverse current may concentrate on the high side switch of the short-circuited activation circuit, causing it to break. If the high side switch of the short-circuited activation circuit breaks, an integrated circuit including the high side switch may also break, and proper operation of the other activation circuits may be affected.
In order to prevent breakage of the high side switch of the short-circuited activation circuit due to the reverse current, the target voltage is set higher than a maximum supply voltage of the battery.
When the target voltage is set higher than the maximum supply voltage of the battery, the high side switch used in the activation circuit is required to allow the target voltage to be higher than the maximum supply voltage of the battery. As is well known, a size of the high side switch increases with an increase in an allowable voltage of the high side switch. Thus, when target voltage is set higher than the maximum supply voltage of the battery, the size of the high side switch of the activation circuit increases. Accordingly, a size of the activation circuit increases.


The present invention relates to an aerosol injection and spout for massages and a container including the same. In more detail, the present invention relates to a container including an aerosol injection and spout for massages that are applied to head skin by directly injecting the aerosol including effective elements and has massage effects by tapping head skin with the spout. The container of the present invention comprises a number of soft projecting parts, a medicine passage connecting to a valve of the container including aerosol with effective elements, and at least one orifice connecting to the medicine passage.

Conventional products of aerosol for an injection have been administered only through processes by injecting aerosol onto the very site for an application directly and then rubbing with hands or by injecting on a palm in some amount and then rubbing onto the site for an application. Especially, in case that sorts of hair tonic are tried to be applied to hair skin, they are concentrated to be injected on certain site of the head skin directly and then, arranged by using tools such as comb, brush or the like, or utilized by beating head skin and so on. At this moment, the hair tonics are comprised of effective components that have an effect upon a prevention of hair loss and so on by promoting blood circulation in head skin. As illustrated above, the aerosol products of hair tonic including a typical spout have some disadvantages that they cause pains on head skin while beating head skin directly and injure the head skin, since the spout for spraying aerosol including hair tonic is composed of hard plastic. In addition, there are other problems that on account of these pains and injuries, users are inclined to escape a direct use for head skin with rubbing, which makes a massage effect upon head skin not expected. However, especially like a case that a hair tonic is applied, the loss of hair is prevented effectively by exploiting its effective components through a massage effect and the massage effect can improve the blood circulation of head skin directly. Unfortunately, the aerosol products of hair tonic including conventional spouts are not expected to have such a massage effect upon head skin, since hard spouts are applied.

Spout for spraying aerosol and massaging and container comprising the spout


An air filter medium consisting of a non-woven is provided, which is produced using a melting and spinning method and has a depth filter constituent and a surface filter constituent, wherein the air filter medium is configured such that it has long-lasting functionality owing to the depth filter constituent and can be substantially regenerated with a reverse pulse owing to the surface filter constituent.

The invention relates to an air filter medium in the form of a layer-like non-woven material. Such filter media are used in filters, for example in indoor air filters and air conditioning systems, in particular however in air filters for the motor vehicle interior or for engines.
The filter media are produced in a melting and spinning method such as a spunbond method or a melt-blown method as is described for example in DE 41 23 122 A1.
The intake air of internal combustion engines for example in motor vehicles or in the off-road area is usually filtered to protect the engine combustion chamber from mechanical damage owing to sucked-in particles from the ambient air. An important criterion in the design of the filter elements is to ensure a long service life of the filter while at the same time separating out a high proportion of the sucked-in particles.
Motor vehicles have a precisely calculated energy distribution system. Only limited amounts of energy are available to the heating/ventilation/air-conditioning area. The costs of vehicle components must also vary only within a very narrow range. On the other hand, car buyers are making greater and greater demands in terms of comfort and safety. In consideration of these aspects, particle filters with the smallest possible fall in pressure or differential pressure are of particular significance, as only a low pressure has to be generated by the fan motor and energy consumption is therefore low. Furthermore, the latter operates more quietly owing to the lower power needed, as a result of which the noise is reduced and therefore driving comfort is substantially increased.
The demand for filter systems with low differential pressure competes with the demanded separation performance and service life, that is, the time expressed in mileage that a filter can remain in the vehicle until it must be replaced.
For example, pollen filters which only filter pollen out of the inflowing air in the vehicle are not sufficient for the vehicle interior. The allergens to which the immune system of allergic persons reacts are proteins, the diameter of which is only a fraction of the diameter of pollen. They are in a size range of around 0.1 μm, that is, the range which has the greatest problems for particle filters, what is known as the MPPS (most penetrating particle size). Correspondingly, the separation performance in this size range should be at least 50% and is measured by means of an aerosol, the particles of which have approximately the same density, for example NaCl. At the same time, service lives of at least 30,000 kilometers can be achieved with such filters when installed in motor vehicles.
EP 1 198 279 B1 discloses a melt-blown non-woven fabric which consists of at least two layers, one layer consisting of microfibres while the other layer consists of macrofibres. The layers are layered on top of each other and adhere to each other by means of connections between the fibres. However, if non-woven fabrics of this type in the field of air filtration, they become clogged very quickly owing to the particles present in the air. A fundamental difference is drawn between two types of filter and filter processes.
Surface filters have a relatively smooth, dense filter medium, which results in a filter cake building up on the surface on the inflow side of the filter medium, which filter cake supports the filter effect within a short time. However, the loss in pressure, i.e. the differential pressure, across the filter medium increases rapidly. If a critical value is reached, a reverse pulse is usually output onto the medium in the direction counter to the normal air flow direction, so the filter cake largely falls off the medium (except for a little residue) and the filter medium is virtually regenerated. The pulses are often repeatable, but the efficiency of the regeneration is reduced over time, so the filter must be replaced.
Depth filters have rather open-pored fibre material, which picks up dirt particles over the entire depth of the medium. This is often constructed three-dimensionally, i.e. there are coarse fibre diameters on the inflow side and fine ones on the outflow side. The dirt particles pass into the medium and are arrested and retained upstream of the fine fibre layer. The pressure loss of this filter medium increases only slowly. However, it is not possible to clean it off, as the dirt particles are embedded in the open-pored fibre material.
There is thus a conflict between two effects: Either a filter is chosen which builds up a high differential pressure within a short time and therefore must be cleaned off often (surface filter) or a filter is chosen which can absorb more particles before the differential pressure reaches a critical value but cannot be cleaned off (depth filter).
The object of the present invention is to overcome the stated disadvantages and provide an air filter medium which is easy to produce and cost-effective.

Air filter medium combining two mechanisms of action


A valve actuator control device adapted to control the position of a valve actuator by means of solenoid valves, in which if the actuator position deviates from a desired position, but remains within a predetermined distance from said desired position, the control device is adapted to only return the actuator to the desired position after a delay period, thereby to increase the life span of said solenoid valves.

This invention relates to an actuator control device for use in particular, but not exclusively, with a pneumatic actuator.
Pneumatic actuators are used to activate valves which control the flow of a substance through a pipe or the like. These actuators may be positioned by means of a control device provided with solenoid valves. Many re-adjustments may be required to obtain a desired valve position, in particular if the desired position is not constant.
A typical electrically operated on/off solenoid valve has a life of approximately 50 million operations. In applications where the flow valves need to be constantly moved, the solenoid valves can expire in less than 12 months.
There are alternative mechanical ways of operating an actuator, however these are more expensive to manufacture and to purchase than those provided with the above described solenoid valves.
The present invention is intended to overcome some of the above problems.


To perform a simple and rapid preparation of control program, the control device for a robot manipulator for a sheet metal bending installation is provided with a first key for inputting a command signal for actuating a first actuator that is adapted to move a movable element of the metal sheet bending installation through a constant distance or amount, and a second key for inputting a command signal for actuating a second actuator that is adapted to move another movable element of the metal sheet bending installation through a changeable distance or amount. Further, to increase the working speed of the sequence of control signals for the metal sheet bending installation, the control device is provided with a device for detecting a plurality of command signals for subsequently actuating a plurality of actuator and for subsequently moving an element or elements of the installation, and a device for associating the the plurality of command signals to produce an associated single command signal for actuating subsequently the plurality of the second actuator without any stops between the actions thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for control of a robot manipulator for a metal sheet bending installation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention is advantageously applied to the command and control of a robot manipulator of the type described in Italian Patent application filed Mar. 15, 1988 under application No 67224-A/88 by the same applicant. This manipulator device comprises a pair of motor driven manipulator heads which translate within a manipulation space and are rotatable about a common axis which is parallel to a linear bending zone defined by the dies of a press. The manipulator heads are adapted to grip the opposite edges of a metal sheet and to position this metal sheet between the dies of the press in such a way as to allow a predetermined bending of the metal sheet. This manipulator device further has an arm with a plurality of auxiliary pincers which can grip an edge of the metal sheet to invert it. The manipulator device and the press are controlled by an electronic command and control unit which, on the basis of previously memorised instructions, imparts thereto sequential instructions defining successive bending cycles.
The instructions for the various working phases are normally imparted to the command unit by the so-called "self-learning" procedure on the basis of which an operator physically moves the machine in a sequential manner through the movements which the bending cycle requires, and when each individual movement has been effected inserts into the command unit the parameters relating to this movement.
In this way the various positions assumed by the elements of the machine (for example the successive positions assumed by the manipulator heads) are memorised in a sequential manner within the RAM memory of the command and control unit, and can subsequently be read by this command unit and therefore performed again during the operating bending cycles.
It is clear from what has been explained above that when it is desired to modify a previously memorised bending cycle it is necessary to perform a new self-learning procedure which takes up considerable time to complete and is rather onerous.
Moreover, the staff employed to perform the self-learning procedure must know the machine and the admissible sequence of operating steps very well, and must position the various elements thereof with extreme precision, so as to insert reliable data into the control unit.

Device for control of a robot manipulator for a metal sheet bending installation


A bone-cutting meat recovery unit having a platform tilted off horizontal with an elongated channel formed in its upper surface and a vertically extending powered band saw running through the platform immediately adjacent the channel at an angle thereto of approximately 30.degree., and a powered continuous drive chain revolvably mounted directly above the channel and having teeth to engage racks of bones placed with their spinal columns extending longitudinally within the channel and drive the same past the powered band saw. The channel has sidewalls one of which is adjacent to the band saw and extends upwardly and outwardly from the bottom of the channel and is contoured with vertically spaced steps extending longitudinally of the channel to cause the featherbones carried by such a rack of bones to extend at an angle to the upper surface, and thereby cause the saw to cut the featherbones at an acute angle and undercut the same so as to sever a substantially greater portion of the strip of meat disposed beneath the featherbones immediately adjacent and along the spinal column. A new method of recovering an additional and major portion of the recoverable meat is also disclosed.

Many animals, particularly hogs, have a strip of valuable meat extending along their spinal column where the featherbones extend outwardly therefrom. Substantial manual labor has been required in the past in order to recover that strip of meat. Portions thereof have previously been recovered by placing the split spinal column, with its back rib removed, upon a flat horizontal table having a band saw running vertically therethrough. The spinal column, with the flat side of the featherbones down, is then guided manually across the flat table along a line such that the saw will sever the featherbones along the spinal column. In doing so, however, a very substantial portion of the strip of meat lying alongside the spinal column is missed and is not recovered because it thereafter moves with the spinal column, for processing into fertilizer and the like.
Not all spinal columns have featherbones. Under the prior art practices, such spinal columns were not sawed, because of danger to the employee's hands. As a consequence, the entire strip of meat extending along the spinal column was lost, since it remained attached to the spinal column, which is converted into fertilizer.
The above procedures are not only dangerous, they are costly because of the substantial loss of meat. In addition two (2) men are required, one to present the racks of bones to the platform and the other to feed the rack of bones past the saw, and to move the severed pieces beyond and away from the saw. Thus, there is a need for a better method of recovering the meat so as to increase the yield and to reduce the man-power requirements. I have provided an improved method of recovering such meat, and a simple but effective machine for practicing same.


A communication apparatus enabling a person speaking a native language to communicate with a person who speaks a foreign language or target language. The communication apparatus includes graphic symbols depicting objects which are commonly understood in both the native language and the target language, and text in both the native language and the target language, which is used in conjunction with the graphic symbols. The native language text includes phonetic spellings of the phrases which were translated into the target language. The communication apparatus is applied to any article which is worn, carried or used by persons speaking the native language. The native language text may be inverted so that it is viewable by the wearer of a garment upon which the present invention is applied. Communication is accomplished by selectively pointing to different areas in the grid containing the text and graphic symbols, and by simultaneously pronouncing the phonetic spellings of the phrases.

The need to communicate quickly and easily with others who do not speak the same language is a common problem for tourists, new immigrants, foreign exchange students and the like. Basic communication skills are essential for such visitors in order to interact with others who speak the native language. For instance, a person who speaks a foreign language must be able to ask basic questions such as how much something costs, ask directions or ask for help in the native language in order to function efficiently within the society.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to set forth an apparatus for rapidly forming common questions, answers, and statements in a desired foreign language by referencing certain textual phrases and internationally recognizable symbols printed on a common surface.

Apparatus employing question and answer grid arrangement and method


An horizontal axis wind turbine having a rotor (3) with a frontal projection comprising a stationary spherical head (1) upstream of its multibladed turbine rotor (3) displaces and increases the speed of wind addressed over 70% of the total frontal area. A series of thin airfoils (12) radially and evenly placed on said spherical head (1) to direct wind towards the turbine short blades (4).

The inventor has studied examples of present state of the art wind turbines of the propeller type, in particular, as they are now in common use.
At their apparently low levels of efficiency, another approach had to be made, to better utilize presently well known and commonly applied principles of fluid mechanics and aerodynamics, to improve our ability to extract maximum energy potential from the wind.
Based on principles of physics and aerodynamics known to the inventor, some serious possibilities were apparent, with numerous novel ways and means of embodying what he has seen as the best combinations of those principles to apply toward greater efficiency in the capture of wind energy. At the present time, there is a fast growing demand for electrical energy in particular, to be produced by means which do not damage the environment. This situation now provides adequate incentive toward the invention and development of wind power based generation of electrical energy, where individual unit capacity might range from a low of 20 kilowatts to as much as 5 megawatts per single unit.


A data access system decouples the data processing from the data storage to provide improved accessibility, integrity, scalability and other features. The system comprises: database units arranged in virtual partitions each independently accessible, a plurality of data processing units, and a switching network for switching the data processing units between the virtual partitions, thereby to assign data processing capacity dynamically to respective virtual partitions.

The present invention relates to a method or apparatus for data management and, more particularly, but not exclusively to such a method or apparatus that uses a distributed architecture.
Distributed Data Repository
Most mission critical data repositories are built as distributed systems that run on several computing servers inter-connected by a data network—i.e. Distributed Data Repositories. Examples for distributed data repositories are: File Systems, Directories and Databases. Mission-critical data repositories are built as distributed systems mainly to provide high availability and high scalability.
1. High availability is provided such that, no single computing server failure compromises the availability of the data repository as a whole including each and every data element.
2. High scalability is provided in two different dimensions: (1) amount of data, and (2) read/write transaction rate (throughput). In either case, a distributed data repository is "Highly Scalable" if more computing servers can be added to the system to support more amounts of data and/or higher transaction rate. Scalability of mission critical distributed data repositories will also require "Online Scalability", which means the system can scale while continuing to provide data management services.
Real-Time Event Processing
When distributed data repositories serve data applications that perform real-time event processing, then distributed data repositories are also expected to support high responsiveness.
3. High Responsiveness is provided for real time data repositories such that each read and each write transaction is guaranteed with very high probability to be completed within a pre-defined amount of time. In real-time data repositories, the high availability and the online scalability requirements are also expected to preserve the continuous high responsiveness of the system during failures and during scalability events.
Examples of real-time event processing data applications are: Telecom call-control, Mobile telephony Home Location Registrar (HLR), Internet Multimedia System's (IMS) Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Online Banking and Trading Systems.
Mission critical real-time data repository systems are expected to be highly available, highly scalable and highly responsive. Supporting the combination of these requirements is very challenging. The responsiveness requirement may suggest allocating and devoting a dedicated computing resource for a transaction to make sure it is completed within the required amount of time. This strategy makes typical pipeline and timesharing processing scheduling less effective for accelerating the transaction rate, as responsiveness may be adversely affected.
The high availability requirement, on the other side, would typically suggest storing every mission critical data item on highly available storage device (e.g. RAID—Redundant Array of Independent Disks), which means that every write transaction needs to be written into the disk before it is committed and completed. Otherwise, the data will not be available in case the writing computing element has failed. This strategy reduces the transaction rate achieved even when running on large computing servers with many CPUs (SMPs—Symmetrical Multi-Processing).
In many cases, mission critical data repositories are accessed by several different computing entities ("clients") simultaneously for read/write transactions and therefore distributed data repositories also need to provide system-wide consistency. A data repository is considered to be "consistent" (or "sequential consistent"), if from the point of view of each and every client, the sequence of changes in each data element value is the same.
In most implementations of distributed data repositories supporting many concurrent clients that perform write transactions, the consistency requirement is also a limiting factor for system scalability in terms of transaction rate. This is because write transactions need to be serialized and read transaction typically have to be delayed until pending write transactions have been completed. The serialization of read/write transactions is typically done also when different transactions access different data elements (i.e. independent transactions), due to the way the data is organized within the system (e.g. on the same disk, in the same memory, etc.).
"Shared All" Distributed Cache Coherency Architectures
Traditional distributed data repositories (such as Oracle Real Application Clustering and others) use highly available storage (typically using RAID technology) to store mission critical data while maintaining coherent local caches of in memory copies of data. This "shared all" distributed cache coherency architecture is capable of providing flexible active-active N+M high availability such that all computing nodes can be utilized to share all the data processing load. In case of one or more node failures the surviving nodes can be utilized to take over the data processing handled by the failed nodes.
The "shared all" distributed cache coherency architecture is illustrated in FIG. 1. The architecture is capable of providing scalability of read transaction rate, i.e. adding more nodes to the system can increase the read transaction rate. However, "shared all" distributed cache coherency architectures typically suffer from no or even negative write transaction rate scalability due to the need to coordinate each write between all local caches. Therefore, as more nodes are added to the system, it takes longer to commit and complete each write transaction, such that cache coherency is maintained between all local caches. This growing delay in committing and completing a write transaction makes the "shared all" distributed cache coherency architecture unsuitable for supporting applications that require real-time transaction processing when a big portion of the transactions are write transactions. The responsiveness requirements cannot be met when there is a large write transaction rate, and this becomes problematic because it is common that real-time event processing applications mentioned above have high write transactions rates. Therefore, the "shared all" distributed cache coherency architecture is not suitable for such applications when deployed in large scale.
"Shared Nothing" Data Partitioning Architecture
Other distributed data repositories (such as IBM DB2 UDB and MySQL) use a "shared nothing" data partitioning architecture such as that illustrated in FIG. 2. In the shared nothing architecture, a distributed data repository system is partitioned to several independent distributed data repository sub-systems, and each manages a different part of the data. In the "shared nothing" data partitioning architecture, each partition can be viewed as a "shared all" distributed cache coherency sub-system, each with its own highly available storage.
The "shared nothing" data partitioning architecture overcomes the write rate scalability problem, since the more independent partitions the system has, the more independent writes transactions can be performed concurrently to different partitions in a non-blocking way. Therefore, the write commit responsiveness can also be well addressed by such an architecture.
The key for the "shared nothing" data partitioning architecture is that the computing resource partitioning is tightly coupled to the data partitioning. This means that, computing resources are statically assigned to each data partition. When the system write rate grows, then the only way to scale the system up is to re-partition the system to more partitions and allocate more computing resources to the new partitions. This scaling process would typically require re-distributing data between partitions and cannot be done without harming the system's ability to continue providing highly responsive online database service. Therefore, re-partitioning would typically require planned down-time of the whole system. Therefore, online scalability cannot be achieved in a "shared nothing" data partitioning architecture. Moreover, to fully utilize the potential concurrency of the "shared nothing" architecture, the client application would typically need to be aware of the way data is being partitioned, which means that repartitioning events may also require changes in the client application itself. This makes the "shared nothing" architecture very expensive to manage and maintain.
"In-Memory" Data Repository Architecture
Other data repository architectures have emerged to focus on reducing transaction latency to provide better responsiveness and also to provide overall better transaction rate. This is done by keeping all the data in one sufficiently big memory of a single machine and by performing all database operations directly inside this memory. The latency of accessing the computer working memory may be orders of magnitude shorter than accessing storage devices such as disks. Therefore, by managing all data in memory, the data repository gains much shorter transaction latency and, therefore, also higher transaction rate.
Mission critical in-memory data repositories have typically duplicated the system to two or more identical instances, such that in-memory data is continuously synchronized between the duplicate instances via the local network (as in the cache coherency mechanisms of the "shared all" architecture). Network based data commit increases the latency of completing write transactions and therefore, also decreases the write transaction rate. However, network based data synchronization enables fault tolerance.
As a variation of the above it is possible to provide two or more data repositories for redundancy, with updating between the repositories.
Reference is made to FIG. 3, which illustrates an in-memory repository with fault tolerance.
In-memory data repositories cannot scale beyond the capacity and the write transaction rate provided by a single computing server. The only way to scale the capacity and/or the write transaction rate of an "in-memory" data repository system is to add more memory to the computing system, or in the case that the memory capacity of the computing system is maxed out, move the system to a larger computing system with more memory and more CPUs (i.e. larger SMP server). Both scalability strategies would require planned down-time of the system and therefore not comply with the high-availability and online-scalability requirements. Neither capacity nor write transaction rate can be scaled just by adding more computing server.
In-memory data repositories typically require co-location of the application and the database to achieve maximum performance and low latency. This raises the actual cost of the database, as they are typically priced per CPU, but the CPU is not dedicated only to the database, but also to the application. Therefore, a real application that consumes CPU and memory resources significantly reduces the actual price performance of the database. On the other hand, separating the in-memory database and the application to separate boxes, which allows maximum utilization of the money spent on the database, often reduces the performance gained by using an in-memory database to begin with.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a system that combines the advantages and avoids the disadvantages of the above described systems.

Method and apparatus for data management


Ablation devices and associated methods are provided for use in palliative treatment of a bone tumor on or in a compact bone region. The bone treatment devices include an elongate probe having a distal end. A proximal end of the probe supports placement in a location at or adjacent to the bone tumor. Electrodes are carried within the probe for deployment from the distal end into the bone tumor. The electrodes may be shapable to create, upon deployment, an array of electrodes that defines a geometric area within the bone tumor. Application of energy, for example energy from a radio frequency (RF) source, to the area of the bone tumor via the electrodes destroys at least a portion of the nerve receptors located in or adjacent to the tumor and produces a reduction in pain associated with the bone tumor. Liquid, such as a polymer in liquid form, may be injected through an electrode needle, with electrode heating being employed to allow introduction of the polymer solution through the needle and/or hardening at the site of injection.

A variety of diseases can affect bone tissue resulting in lesions and tumors of the bone. Primary bone tumors, either benign or malignant, may originate in cartilage cells, osteoblastic (osteoid- or bone-forming) cells, fibroblastic cells, primitive mesenchymal cells, and hematopoietic cells, as well as nerve and vascular tissue, notocordal remnants, and other sites. Benign tumors of the bone include enchondroma, osteochondroma, osteoid osteoma and osteoblastoma, giant cell tumor (also malignant), chondroblastoma. Malignant tumors include multiple myeloma, metastatic carcinoma central chondrosarcoma, osteogenic sarcoma, osteogenic sarcoma medullary fibrosarcoma peripheral chondrosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma.
The most common forms of malignant bone tumor are attributable to metastatic disease. In fact, bone is the third most common site of metastatic disease. Treatments for bone metastases are limited in nature and generally only palliative.
Pain is one of the more prevalent and debilitating complications of bone tumors and lesions. Approximately 40% of patients with cancer develop metastatic disease; of these patients, 50% have poorly controlled pain. Unfortunately, achieving adequate pain control is often difficult and as a result, quality of life for these patients is poor. Various therapies may be employed in an attempt to provide palliative pain relief including chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, localized radiation, systemic radioisotope therapy, and surgery. Unfortunately, some patients fail to derive satisfactory pain relief with these therapies and relief, when achieved, may not occur until four to twelve weeks after the initiation of the treatment.
Pain management in terminally ill patients with metastases involving bone can be challenging. The conventional therapies may not be viable options for numerous reasons. For example, the limited efficacy or toxic side-effects of chemotherapeutic agents is problematic. Furthermore, localized radiation may not be possible due to radiation resistance of the neoplasms or limitations of further radiation of normal structures. Moreover, the patient may be either a poor surgical candidate or the patient may refuse surgery. When these methods are not possible, or are not effective, analgesic medications remain as the only current alternative therapy for pain relief. Despite these measures, the quality of life for these patients is often poor because of intolerable pain.
There is thus a need for a treatment method effective to palliate pain in patients suffering from bone-tumor associated pain.


A cleanroom wall panel system is provided for defining the perimeter or interior divisions of a cleanroom. The system includes a plurality of elongate retainer elements, which are mounted to wall studs, and a plurality of wall panels with hook portions configured to engage the elongate retainer elements. The retainer elements and/or wall panels may be oriented at either of two different orientations, and further are designed to accommodate some variations in the positioning of the components relative to one another, which facilitates assembly of the wall panel assembly. Each wall panel's weight is supported, either directly or indirectly, by a floor surface located below the wall panel, so that the hook portions are used primarily to secure the wall panels against the retainer elements.

Cleanrooms are commonly used in the production of products or components that are sensitive to contaminants such as airborne particulates. For example, electronic circuitry and pharmaceuticals are frequently produced in cleanroom environments equipped with air filtration systems, and in which persons located in the cleanroom typically wear protective garments to limit or prevent contaminants from being introduced by the person(s) into the cleanroom. Other uses for cleanrooms include handling and containing hazardous substances. Some cleanrooms are subject to a regular cleaning process in which most or all of the exposed surfaces in the room are washed to remove contaminants that may have been inadvertently introduced into the room.


Damping conduit assembly (4) for a hydraulic system comprising a user (3) and a pipe (2) connected to the user (3) by means of a first connecting element (6) and presenting an end portion (20) having a first axis (B) and a bush (15) carried by the end portion (20) and having a second axis (A) transverse to the first axis (B), the bush (15) also housing the first connecting element (6) for fluidly connecting the user (3) to the pipe (2), the conduit assembly (4) being suited to be fluidly connected to the pipe (2) and comprising a flexible cylindrical wall (27), a closing element (29) axially delimiting an internal volume (30) of the cylindrical wall (27) filled with fluid. The conduit assembly (4) also comprises a connecting unit (5) comprising the first connecting element (6) and a second connecting element (22) carried by the cylindrical wall (27) and coupled to the first connecting element (6).

A power steering system circuit generally comprises an actuator for steering the wheels of a vehicle, a pump that sucks up from a tank, a high pressure branch for connecting the pump delivery to the actuator and a low pressure branch for connecting the drainage of the actuator to the tank.
During operation, the low pressure branch is subject to pressure pulsations which tend to wear the components and to cause undesired noises.
To eliminate these inconveniences in other applications, a known practice is to use a blind damping conduit shunted by means of a connecting unit and having elastically yielding walls with dimensions such as to obtain an effect of destructive interference on the pressure pulsations.

Damping conduit assembly provided with a connecting unit for a hydraulic circuit


A method, an apparatus and a system for gigabit Ethernet (GbE) using only 2 pairs of wires for a single communications link are described. This network communication may be referred to as 2-pair 1000Base-T. GbE using only 2 wire pairs per link may offer increased port density over a conventional 1000Base-T link. As an alternative, 2-pair 1000Base-T may also provide increased link bandwidth over the existing 1000Base-T standard. When a given number of conventional links in a system are replaced by the same number of 2-pair 1000Base-T links, the system bandwidth may also be consequently increased. Transformers and power supplies may be combined with GbE utilizing only two wire pairs to provide power over Ethernet (PoE) solutions.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to high speed network interfaces, and more particularly to gigabit Ethernet using the 1000Base-T standard.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the more recent developments in high speed networking has been gigabit Ethernet (GbE) as defined in the IEEE 802.3ab standard, also known as 1000Base-T. Able to provide 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) bandwidth in addition to the simplicity of an Ethernet connection, GbE offers a smooth, seamless upgrade path for current 10Base-T or 100Base-T Ethernet installations running at 10 megabits per second (Mbps) and 100 Mbps, respectively.
In order to obtain the requisite gigabit performance levels, GbE transceivers are interconnected using four separate pairs of twisted Category 5 (Cat 5) copper wires for a single link. In reality, gigabit Ethernet requires Category 5 Enhanced (Cat 5e) cables, but since virtually all cables sold as Cat 5 meet the Cat 5e standard, this specification will simply refer to Cat 5 cable from now on. Getting back to the four twisted wire pairs, gigabit communication, in practice, involves the simultaneous, parallel transmission of these four information signals, with each signal conveying information at a bit rate of 250 Mbps, followed by their simultaneous, parallel reception and concatenation. The present 1000Base-T standard also requires that the digital information being processed for transmission be symbolically represented in accordance with a five-level pulse amplitude modulation scheme (PAM5) and encoded with an 8-state Trellis coding methodology. The 2-bit PAM5 scheme actually limits the transmission across the Cat 5 cable to 125 Mbaud, using approximately 80 MHz of the cable bandwidth.
Despite the increased bandwidth of gigabit Ethernet, the need for four twisted pair wires for a single 1000Base-T link causes problems, especially when compared to only two pairs of twisted wires needed for the previous 10Base-T and 100Base-T standards. Furthermore, network switching integrated circuits (ICs) have grown in capacity faster than physical link elements (e.g. network cables and connectors), and thus, the switching capacity of linecards has outpaced faceplate densities. Because of this, the data switch on the linecard will be undersubscribed, and the unused bandwidth of the network IC will be wasted whenever the faceplate jacks on such a limited density linecard run out.
Accordingly, what is needed is a gigabit Ethernet system that achieves greater connection density, preferably while still working within the boundaries of existing GbE standards and cabling, while maintaining backwards compatibility.


This detection system (40) comprises a detection assembly (50) for detecting a rotation parameter of one of the two parts with respect to the other, electrical connecting means (150, 160) adapted to connect the detection assembly (50) to a control unit. The electrical connecting means comprise at least one electric cable (150) extending outside the detection assembly (50) and outside a pin, between the detection assembly and the control unit. The detection system (40) also comprises a bracket (200) adapted to connect the detection assembly (50) to the second part when the detection assembly is mounted within a housing of the pin (30). The electric cable has a first portion (154) which extends parallel to the central axis (X90) of the pin when the detection assembly (50) is mounted on the pin. The detection system (40) also includes means (212) to arrange a second portion (156) of the electric cable (150) and/or a connector (160) provided at the end of this second portion along a first arm (202) of the bracket, on a first side (2022) of the arm oriented towards the detection assembly (50).

Instrumented joint systems are used, for example on the articulated arms of an earth moving machine, in order to control the angular movement of one part with respect to another. Such joint systems may include a pin fixed with respect to one part and mounted with a possibility of rotation with respect to another part of the joint. It is known from FR-A-2 904 671 to incorporate, within such a pin, an assembly for detecting some parameters of the rotation of one of the articulated parts with respect to the other. This detection assembly includes two magnetically cooperating components, one of them being fastened with the pin, wherein the other one is rotating with respect to the pin. A ball bearing is used to allow the rotation of one of these components with respect to the pin. This detection assembly is made of several parts which must be installed one after the other within the housing. This requires high technical skills and is time consuming. Moreover, the diameter of this assembly is quite important with respect to the diameter of the pin, which can generate weak zones in the pin, with a risk of breakage in use of the joint.
The detection assembly is connected to a non-represented control unit via a connector installed within a lateral bore provided on the pin, which induces that the pin must protrude on a relatively long distance from the corresponding housing of one of the articulated parts. The lateral bore weakens the pin and the part of the pin protruding out of its housing is not protected against shocks. Moreover, a cable plugged onto the connector might be easily broken or otherwise damaged by an obstacle in the vicinity of the joint system.

Detection system, joint system provided with such a detection system and automotive vehicle equipped with such a joint system


An adaptive cache coherent purging protocol includes recognizing system performance, especially latency, is affected by when cache is purged. The occurrence of performance enhancing and degrading events regarding a cache are counted and compared to a threshold. When the threshold is triggered the cache becomes a candidate for purging. In an embodiment, a time out delay is implemented before actual purging occurs. When the threshold is not triggered but a cache event occurs, a fake time out delay is triggered and the count is adaptively either raised, lowered or set to zero in response to performance enhancing and/or degrading events. The effect is to make the actual purging more likely if the history of cache events indicates that the performance would be enhanced thereby or less likely if the history indicates that the performance would be degraded thereby.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to modular multiprocessor computing systems and, in particular to coherent cache control in such systems, and even more particularly to controlling the purging of cache memories to enhance the system""s performance.
2. Background Information
Modular multiprocessor computing systems typically have a number of multiprocessor nodes interconnected via switching fabric. Each node includes multiple processors, memory arrays, and input/output access hardware, and the interconnecting switching mechanisms. Cache memory, also referred to as xe2x80x9ccache,xe2x80x9d is routinely found in these system.
These modular multiprocessor systems share many resources including memory. However, in such large systems, cache is usually associated with a particular processor and holds the data that that processor is likely to access in the near future. However, input/output ports may also have such private caches. In these large systems the processor and/or the input/output ports may update the contents of their private caches without updating shared memory, and a cache coherent protocol is often utilized to maintain data consistency and accuracy of the data. In such systems the control of the cache becomes more complex, and more particularly the decisions of when to purge or not to purge cached data to memory can significantly affect the efficiency and/or speed of the entire processing system.
In some systems the organization of the cache is in blocks, lines or clusters of lines. The data stored in a cache is exclusive to one owner, where that owner has direct control of the data. In operation a data segment ownership may be claimed by a processor with an up-to-date copy of the data by executing a change-to-dirty (XTD or CTD) operation which grants ownership of the data cache block to the processor. In this context a xe2x80x9cdirtyxe2x80x9d state of data denotes the unique most up-to-date copy of the data in the system. Upon obtaining ownership, invalidations are sent to all other copies in the system. That owner may then change the contents of the data. This occurrence presents a performance issue for multiprocessor systems that is being addressed by this invention. The issue may be stated in question form as when, from improving the system""s performance point of view, should the modified data be purged from the cache to shared memory from which any processor can access that up-to-date data. In particular latency (the time it takes to access data or information) is the system performance parameter being improved by the present invention but other such performance parameters may be improved by advantageous use of the present invention.
If a processor needs to access data it is most efficient to have the data stored in its local cache, but if a remote processor needs to access that same data, it would be efficient to have the local processor purge the up-to-date data to shared memory from which the remote processor can access it. If not purged the remote processor must find in which cache the data resides before obtaining it.
Some shared memory multiprocessor systems send updates to memory as changes occur (commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cwrite-throughxe2x80x9d cache). Clearly this is an inefficient slowing of the entire processing system due to the large number of messages sent.
Cache purging control has evolved to the point that the data remains in the owned cache until the owner needs the space for another data segment. At that time the cache contents are xe2x80x9cvictimizedxe2x80x9d to shared memory. This has the undesirable effect of leaving the data in the cache so that it takes a long time (latency) for a remote processor to read the data. This is called a read-dirty (rddirty) event or operation. This is inefficient because the read operation must go to the memory to find the data segment is not there, then to another processor, and then return to the original requesting processorxe2x80x94three hop process. If the data segment had been purged to. shared memory, the read operation would entail a miss in a remote cache followed by a load directly from the shared memoryxe2x80x94a two hop process. However, if the data segment were needed to be subsequently updated by the local owner processor, purging the data segment would cause the processor to regain ownership (called a change-to-dirty) and therefore slow down the system. If the owner processor had no need to subsequently update the data segment, then it is clear that replacing a three hop with a two hop process would increase the speed and thus the efficiency of such a system. The present invention is directed to resolving this dilemma in an adaptive manner that preserves a balance between. purging and not purging cache segments that enhances system performance.
The limitations of the prior art and objects and advantages of the present invention are employed in a self adapting system and method for determining and purging cache candidates.
The present invention tracks and counts events on local cache data by a local processor and by remote processors. In preferred embodiments the cache data may be characterized as the entire data segment, a line of bytes or a cluster of lines or a blockxe2x80x94any amount of data may be purged or not purged advantageously using the present invention. The present invention recognizes that the system performance is enhanced when the local processor accesses its local cache (by write or read hits) memory, and that system performance is degraded if the local cache data was purged to memory whereupon the local processor must regain ownership of the local cache data from that same memory using a change-to-dirty operation. Similarly, if the local cache data is purged, system performance is enhanced when a remote miss allows the remote processor to load the data directly from memory without having to access the local processor; but the system performance is degraded when the remote processor must execute a read-dirty from the local processor cache. The local cache data adaptively becomes a candidate for purging or is purged or not purged depending upon the history, tracking and comparing of these performance enhancing and degrading events as described in the present invention.
In some systems the present invention uses the eviction of cache data from one cache level or another as a trigger to cause the block to be purged. Such cache levels are known to practitioners in the art.
In a further aspect of the invention a threshold may be formed against which the comparing of the enhancing and degrading events are counted. A count total that meets or exceeds the threshold, herein defined as triggering the threshold, causes the cache segment to become a candidate for purging. However, if a degrading event occurs after the purging actually occurs but before an enhancing events occurs or a write-hit occurs after a fake time out occurs, the count may be reset to zero and the cache data ceases to be a candidate for purging and the counting begins anew. A fake time out is triggered when a degrading event occurs but the threshold is not triggered.
Read dirty means that a remote processor must access a local processor""s cache. Change to dirty means that a local processor which has a copy of the data, but not ownership of the data, wants to write the data and needs to obtain ownership of the data. Remote miss means that the remote processor loads from memory. Victim means that the local processor stores cache data to memory. Purge means that the local processor stores cached data to memory, but keeps a read-only copy in its cache.
In another example, the threshold count value may be determined heuristically or calculated from the known characteristics of the system. Of course the threshold may be changed in an adaptive manner as described herein for the counter and/or to suit particular conditions.
In yet another example, a time out delay may be employed after the threshold is triggered. Here the local cache is purged after the time out expires. In one instance the delay may embody counting read-dirties or misses on the local cache, or counting clock cycles or virtually any other timing standard.
Also, the present invention encompasses cases where the local cache includes blocks, individually addressed cache lines, preferably of sixty-four bytes, and/or clusters of cache lines.


A method of analyzing the characteristics of a power source includes receiving a power source having at least one phase and sensing voltage signals of each phase of the at least one phase. The method includes detecting a zero crossing event of a selected phase of the at least one phase based on the sensed voltage signals of the selected phase. The method also includes determining, using a processor, voltage information for each phase of the at least one phase based on the corresponding sensed voltage signals. The method further includes outputting a series of pulses via a galvanic isolator in response to the zero crossing event. Respective lengths of some or all of the pulses in the series are based on the corresponding voltage information for each of the at least one phase.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure and is not necessarily prior art.
Various applications require a nearly constant supply of reliable electrical power to operate effectively. For example, hospitals require a constant and reliable supply of electricity to ensure medical equipment in operating rooms and the like function when needed. Further, food retailers such as supermarkets and grocery stores require a constant and reliable supply of electricity to properly operate refrigeration systems associated with display cases and freezers to prevent food spoilage.
While utility companies are generally the primary source of consistent and reliable electrical power, such power is sometimes interrupted due to inclement weather, unforeseen accidents, or maintenance. Interruptions in power, while irritating and unpleasant, are often tolerable by the general public. Institutions such as hospitals and businesses such as food retailers, on the other hand, cannot afford even minor interruptions in their power supply.
Consequently, electrical power consumers that cannot afford even minor interruptions in their power supply often rely on generators and other backup systems to supply electrical power during periods when electrical service from a utility company is interrupted. Transfer switches enable these consumers to switch between a primary electrical source (i.e., from a utility company) and a secondary electrical source (i.e., a generator or other backup system when one source becomes unreliable or requires maintenance.

Power analysis module for monitoring an electrical power source


An image distortion correction method and an image distortion correction device are provided. The image distortion correction method uses a neural network model to perform a correcting operation on an original image so as to obtain a correction image with plural correction points. Firstly, a position coordinate of the correction point is inputted into the neural network model, so that a first direction coordinate correction amount is outputted from the neural network model. Then, the position coordinate of the correction point is inputted into the neural network model, so that a second direction coordinate correction amount is outputted from the neural network model. Afterwards, a pixel value of the original image corresponding to the first direction coordinate correction amount and the second direction coordinate correction amount is used as a pixel value of the correction point.

With increasing development of science and technology, electronic devices in image applications become more popular. For example, image pickup devices such as web cameras, reversing vehicle cameras, door viewers or cameras are widely used to facilitate various needs of human lives. However, the image captured by the image pickup device is usually suffered from distortion to a certain extent. The distortion image is not pleasing to the user.
Generally, there are three main causes of the distortion image. Firstly, since the camera module comprises a multi-piece lens group, the light beam should be refracted many times along the optical path from the entrance to the image sensor. Under this circumstance, the distortion image is generated. Secondly, if the assembling quality of the image pickup device is deteriorated, the camera module and the image sensor are not in parallel with each other, and the multiple lenses of the camera module are not in parallel with each other. Since the center of the image sensor and the centers of the multiple lenses are not arranged along the same optical axis, the image is suffered from distortion. Thirdly, if the manufacturing error is high, especially for the low prince camera module, the image is readily suffered from distortion.
For solving the above drawbacks, various polynomial correction methods are used to correct the distortion image that is obtained by the image pickup device. In accordance with the concepts of the polynomial correction method, a basic geometric distortion pattern (e.g. a translation pattern, a scaling pattern, a rotation pattern, an affine pattern, a partial twisting pattern or a bending pattern) is mathematically modeled as a distortion polynomial. After the coefficients of the distortion polynomial are estimated, the distortion image can be geometrically corrected. However, if the distortion image is caused by two or more geometric distortion patterns (e.g. a combination of a partial twisting pattern and a scaling pattern), plural geometric distortion patterns should be mathematically modeled, and then the distortion image can be sequentially and geometrically corrected.
However, the use of mathematical modeling approach to compensate and correct the distortion image is only able to correct the ideal curvy distortion surface. In practice, since too many unexpected factors influence the assembling process of the image pickup device, the assembling process of the camera module and the fabricating process of the lens, the distortion image is not usually the ideal curvy distortion surface. In other words, the efficacy of correcting the distortion image is usually unsatisfied.
Recently, an image distortion correction method based on artificial intelligence has been disclosed. This image distortion correction method uses a neural network to describe the relationship between the distortion image and a standard image (i.e. an accurate non-distortion image) and train various parameters of the neural network. After the relationship between the distortion image and the standard image is established, the distortion image is corrected accordingly. In particular, for obtaining the pixel value of any point of the correction image (i.e. the image corrected from the distortion image), after the planar coordinate of this point is inputted into the neural network, the neural network may correspondingly output another planar coordinate. According to the outputted planar coordinate, the pixel value of this point may be obtained from the distortion image. The above technology of using the neural network to correct the distortion image is well known to those skilled in the art, and is not redundantly described herein.
Especially, the neural network is constructed according to the overall behaviors of various image distortion parameters. Consequently, it is not necessary to search the factors influencing the image distortion from the image pickup device and successively compensate the factors. Of course, it is not necessary to consider how to deal with the problem of resulting in the non-ideal curvy distortion surface. However, there are still some drawbacks. For example, since the neural network needs a very huge computing amount, a great number of neurons are required to construct the neural network. In other words, the fabricating cost is high.
Therefore, there is a need of providing an improved image distortion correction method in order to obviate the above drawbacks.

Image distortion correction method and image distortion correction device using the same