A sawing chain for chain saws, having a plurality of chain links which are linked together so as to be mutually pivotable in a common plane of extent and advance (which plane is in the operating plane of the chain) and which links bear cutting elements. To facilitate replacement of damaged individual links, and to simplify the driving and guiding of the chain, the chain links are linked together in succession in a direct intermeshing fashion i.e. not relying on fasteners to mediate the linkage of the successive chain links, along edge surfaces which extend transversely to the common plane of extent and advance (which plane is in the operating plane of the chain), resulting in a chain structure which is resistant to flexure in the direction perpendicular to the plane.

In sawing chains known heretofore, the individual links have been connected by longitudinal side plates which are riveted together from chain link to chain link. Under this arrangement, if an individual chain link becomes damaged a special tool is required to remove it.
In order to achieve the range of mutual swinging movement of the individual chain links which is required for proper saw operation, a certain play must be allowed between the individual side plates. However this play results in an undesired flexibility of the entire chain in the direction transverse to the common plane of extent and advance (hereinafter, "the operating plane") of the chain. In addition, in the common plane of the individual chain links, said links can flex to form angles in a certain range with respect to each other, with such flexing being in the nature of a kink. Consequently, the links can extend outward to a certain extent, under the action of reaction forces produced by the material being sawed.
Both of the undesired extra movements of the chain links are countered according to prior practice by providing a high chain tension. However, this causes substantially increased running resistance of the entire chain, thereby necessitating a high drive force.
Further, a consequence of the compliance of the chain in the operating plane transverse to the operating plane of the chain is constant contact between parts of the chain and the saw plate which bears them. This necessitates continuous lubrication of the respective contact surfaces, by continuous supply of pressurized oil from a pump, during operation of the saw. Apart from the cost and space requirements of this measure, the continuously supplied oil leads to undesired contamination of the sawdust, which complicates and renders more costly the environmentally benign disposal of said sawdust.
Accordingly, the underlying problem solved by the invention is to devise a saw chain of the type described above, such that excess movement of the chain links is prevented to the maximum extent. At the same time the mobility of the links which is required for proper operation is fully maintained such that individual chain links can be replaced without disturbing the connections of the other links and without the use of special tools.


A headphone set has a pair of headphone assemblies for engagement over the ears, each with a cushion and an active noise reduction circuit for reducing noise. A sound conditioning circuit stores various conditioning sounds for the user and an external sound source amplifier in the set is for connection to an external source of sound for supplying sound from the external source to the user. A power supply powers the set and switches are provided for selecting between modes of operation for supplying no sound to the user with no active noise reduction, for supplying no sound to the user with active noise reduction, for supplying the at least one conditioning sound to the user and for supplying sound from the external sound source to the user.

The present invention relates generally to the field of headphones, and in particular to, to a new and useful headphone arrangement for listing to externally generated sound such a prerecorded or broadcast music from an external device such as an MP3 player or radio, or for listening to a variety of pleasant or soothing sounds such as rainfall, which are stored in the arrangement, and for actively reducing outside noise, with or without the external or soothing sounds.
Sound conditioners are know which camouflage undesirable noise by generating pleasant sounds such as white noise, or natural sounds like ocean sound, summer night sounds, rain or rain forest sounds, waterfall sounds, a heartbeat, or other sounds that are selected to sooth the listener, for example, during bed timer to induce sleep. These devices are stand-alone units that are either battery powered or powered by wall current, and usually sit on a night stand or the like, for use during bed time, or to help calm an infant or child.
Know, non-active mechanisms for noise reduction are ear plugs and ear covers, for example, earmuffs that have noise blocking and absorbing qualities. Earmuffs generally include a resilient band that presses the arrangement against the sides of the users head to physically stop the noise from reaching the ear canal of the user.
Active noise cancellation techniques are also know which use a microphone on a headset for receiving the noise, and circuitry for generating a like signal but with opposing phase. This opposing-phase signal is then supplied to a speaker in the headset and serves to cancel at least some of the noise by the destructive interference. Other active noise reduction, attenuation or abatement techniques are also know.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,074 to Bose discloses headphones have a small cavity between a diaphragm and the ear canal with a microphone in the cavity and a feedback signal that is combined with an input electrical signal to be reproduced by the headphones to provide a combined signal that is power amplified for driving the diaphragm and reduces outside noise.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,581 to Sapiejewski discloses a headphone apparatus which includes a microphone that is off set from a central axis of the headphone cushion, but which extends parallel to this axis for improving the noise reduction capacity of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,922,542 to Sapiejewski discloses a headphone apparatus which includes a driver having a vibratile diaphragm. This diaphragm separates a front cavity from a rear cavity, and a layer of foam bounds the front cavity. The apparatus includes a baffle which supports the driver, a headphone cup and a cushion large enough to encompass the outer ear of a user of the headphone and to form a seal with the front cavity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,252 to Sapiejewski et al. discloses a headset with an ear cup having a front cavity and a rear cavity with a baffle separating the cavities from each other. A high compliance driver has a driver compliance that is greater than the rear cavity compliance. An active noise reducing circuitry is coupled to the driver.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,567,525 to Sapiejewski discloses a supra aural active noise reduction headphones including an earphone with an acoustical driver mounted within the internal cavity to reproduce sound for the user when driven by an audio signal. A cushion of these headphones has a passageway extending therethrough which acoustically connects the internal cavity to a user's ear canal when the cushion is resting on the user's ear while being worn by the user. The internal cavity has a total volume that is larger than about 10 cubic centimeters, and the driver is mounted in such a way as to avoid obstructing the passageway.
A need remains for a headphone arrangement which provides a used with an improved listening or even, silent experience over those available in the prior art.

Noise reducing headphones with sound conditioning


The present invention relates to novel compounds of Formula 1 as sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor agonists which can be effectively used for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, a method for preparing the same, and a pharmaceutical composition comprising the same as an active component. The compounds according to the present invention are effective on extensive autoimmune diseases and chronic inflammatory diseases including relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, and can also be used for treating or preventing immunoregulation disorders.

S1P (sphingosine-1-phosphate) is produced via an intracellular ceramide pathway, in which ceramide is the starting material. Ceramide is produced via two pathways, the first of which is de novo biosynthetic pathway. Ceramide is also produced by the degradation of sphingomyelin, a cell membrane constituent, in a cell. The S1P level in each tissue is controlled by two biosynthetic sphingosine kinases (SphKs) and two biodegradable S1P phosphatases (S1P lyase and lysophospholipid phosphatases). S1P, produced via phosphorylation of sphingosine by sphingosine kinase, is known to mediate various cellular responses, such as cell proliferation, cytoskeletal organization and migration, adherence- and tight junction assembly, and morphogenesis. S1P exists as a combined form with plasma protein including albumin at high level (100˜1000 nM) in plasma, while it is at a low level in tissues.
S1P binds with S1P receptor, a G-protein coupled receptor, to show various biological functions. As S1P receptor sub-types, S1P1˜S1P5 are known up to now and are named endothelial differentiation gene (EDG) receptors 1, 5, 3, 6 and 8, respectively. The S1P receptors are known to be involved in various biological functions such as leukocyte recirculation, neural cell proliferation, morphological changes, migration, endothelial function, vasoregulation and cardiovascular development.
In recent years, many studies have found that the S1P signaling process via these receptors plays an important role in a series of responses related to multiple sclerosis including inflammation response and the repair process, and a non-selective S1P1 agonist was actually approved as a therapeutic agent for multiple sclerosis. S1P receptors are extensively expressed in many cells related to the induction of multiple sclerosis. Especially, S1P1 receptor plays a major role in the immune system. S1P1 receptor is mainly expressed on the surface of lymphocytes such as T cell and B cell, and responds to S1P resulting in involvement in recirculation of lymphocytes. In normal condition, the S1P concentration is higher in body fluid than in lymphoid tissue, and therefore lymphocytes leave lymphoid tissue by the difference of S1P concentration to circulate after efferent lymph circulates. However, if S1P1 receptor in lymphocytes is down-regulated by S1P1 agonist, the egress of lymphocytes from lymphoid tissue does not occur, resulting in reduced infiltration of autoaggressive lymphocytes which cause inflammation and tissue damage in the central nervous system (CNS). As a result, a therapeutic effect on multiple sclerosis is obtained. Fingolimod, a non-selective S1P1 agonist, has been approved as an oral medication for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. When it binds at S1P1 receptor to be activated, the receptor becomes degraded or internalized from the surface of lymphocytes ironically, and thus it acts as a functional S1P1 antagonism.

Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor agonists, methods of preparing the same, and pharmaceutical compositions containing the same as an active agent


A process and apparatus for removing volatile contaminants from contaminated ore through exposure to a low pressure environment, thereby volatilizing the contaminants, after sufficient exposure to the low pressure environment, the decontaminated ore is removed from the low pressure environment, separate from the volatilized contaminants.

The present invention relates to the extraction of metals from ore, and more particularly to a process for extracting metals from ore wherein the ore is exposed to a particular gaseous environment such that the metals react with a reactive gas in the environment, extracting metals from the ore as salts.
The extraction of metals from ore can be performed by a number of mechanical and chemical processes known in the mining industry. These processes included leaching, panning and other methods of gravity separation, centrifugal separation, electro-chemical reduction and similar known methods of process metallurgy. These various processes have generally proven economically successful when used on ore wherein the metal particles are large, and also when the metal values (i.e. concentrations of the metals as a percentage of the ore) are high. These known processes become uneconomical when the metal particles become too small or the metal values in the ore become too small. The present invention is a new process which uses a plasma for extracting metals from ore. The process of the present invention can economically extract smaller particles and smaller metal values than previous known processes.
Plasmas are electrically neutral, highly ionized gasses which can be generated by electrically heating a low-pressure gas. While plasmas exhibit microscopic properties much like ordinary gasses, plasmas also exhibit collective or fluid-like properties which are markedly different from ordinary gasses. Plasmas can conduct electricity, are responsive to magnetic fields, and can propagate various kinds of waves. Plasmas may exist in an uncontrolled, freely changing form, or may be carefully regulated and constrained between electrodes in a constant maintained form. Examples of uncontrolled plasmas include lightning and arc welding, and an example of a controlled plasma is fluorescent lighting.
While plasmas have been used for a variety of purposes, they are particularly useful as a source of high intensity heating, such as in arc welding. However, as the extraction of metals from ore has generally been performed using low temperature processes, the heating and other effects of plasmas have not generally been used in process metallurgy.
Plasmas have been used as a source of high intensity heat to vaporize fine particle products in recovery of valuable metals from slag or low grade concentrate. U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,512 to Sayce discloses use of a column of uncontrolled plasma projected from jets in this manner. A low grade tin concentrate may be fed as a stream of fine particles born in a carrier gas stream into the plasma column. The particulate material is heated to temperatures of 1,600.degree. to 2,000.degree. C., thereby vaporizing tin from the particulate into stannic oxide fume.
The temperatures involved in using the uncontrolled plasma jets described by the Sayce patent create particular problems. The material of the plasma inducing electrode may itself volatilize, stopping the reaction process. The Sayce patent suggests surrounding the electrodes with an inert gaseous environment such as argon or nitrogen to limit volatilization of the electrodes. The electrodes and the surrounding structure of the device used must be made of materials which can withstand the high temperature created by the plasma.


A method of providing permissions to consume content objects within a domain includes creating a domain and a domain membership rights object for each member. The domain facilitates the sharing of content objects amongst the members of the domain. The domain membership rights objects for each member include permissions for each member in the domain to consume content objects in the domain.

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a great concern for digital content owners, such as owners of songs, movies, electronic books, documents and other types of digital media. Content owners try to sell and/or distribute their content in such a way to prevent the illegal copying of their content. For example, content, such as songs, ringtones, video clips and even movies are widely sold or licensed and distributed electronically, such as over the Internet. To prevent illegal copying, content typically includes copy protection mechanisms that prevent users from making illegal copies and otherwise preventing unauthorized use of content.
The Open Mobile Alliance Group (OMA) has established specifications and protocols, e.g., OMA DRM v2, that enable content providers to grant permissions defining how their media objects can be consumed. The OMA DRM is independent of the media object formats and the given operating system or run-time environment. The media objects controlled by the OMA DRM can be a variety of media types, such as games, ring tones, photos, music clips, video clips, streaming media, etc.
According to the OMA DRM, a content provider sends a media object to a user, and the media object is encrypted with a corresponding content encryption key. Also, either the content provider acting as a rights issuer or a separate rights issuer sends a rights object (RO) that includes the content encryption key encrypted with the encryption key of the user's device. The RO also describes the permissions granted to the user for the media object. Then, the device decrypts to recover the content encryption key, and uses the content encryption key to access the media object. An agent running on the device allows the user to consume the media object according to the permissions granted in the RO.
The OMA DRM also allows a user to setup a domain so a media object can be shared among all the user's devices. For example, a user may purchase a song and download the song to the user's desktop. Then, the user desires to load the song on his portable media player. The user registers the portable media player as a member of the domain, so the song can be loaded and played on the portable media player.
The domain allows a user to share content among several devices. However, the domain in the OMA DRM is inefficient or unusable in certain situations. For example, if a user has a movie stored on a portable device and wants to play the movie at a friend's home, the user would have to make the friend's device a member of the domain. However, the content provider may not allow the friend to is become a member of the domain, because the friend is not a family member or because the device is not one of the user's devices. Furthermore, if the friend is made a member of the domain, when the move is done playing, the friend would have to be removed from the domain. According to the OMA DRM, when a device is removed from the domain, all the remaining devices in the domain should get a new domain key so the removed device cannot get access to new content. This is very inefficient.
Furthermore, the OMA DRM does not allow different members of a domain to have different permissions to media objects. This makes it difficult to restrict certain user permissions, such as restricting rights for media objects not suitable for children.


An automatic frequency correction (AFC) apparatus used for CDMA multipath fading channels comprises a frequency-offset evaluator, an automatic frequency correction loop filter and a carrier frequency adjuster. The present invention provides a “multipath energy window” designing method for the non-determinacy of multipath signals in mobile communication environment. Frequency-offset information can be extracted from the multipath energy window by a simple calculation and evaluated by a maximal SNR weight process. This invention also provides a step-variable accumulation adjusting method and greatly improves the response speed of the AFC apparatus as compared with a conventional loop filter, whereby supplies better AFC required for CDMA mobile terminals.

Mobile communication techniques have become a widely used communication manner for their advantages such as flexibility and convenience since 1980s. In a lot of mobile communication standards, CDMA cellular communication techniques show great potential for their features associated with large capacity, simple frequency planning, good communication quality and small electromagnetic interference. IS-95 CDMA cellular communication system proposed by Qualcomm Inc. and rapidly developed all over the world uses this CDMA cellular communication technique. Several candidate schemes of the third generation of digital cellular communication system are established on the basis of CDMA techniques.
In mobile communication systems, the stability of initial frequency in a mobile terminal is limited to about 1 ppm because of the restrict by volume and cast, etc. This results in approximate several hundred Hz to several KHz frequency difference between a base station and a mobile terminal. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce an automatic frequency correction (AFC) function into mobile terminals, thereby to decrease the degradation of the system performance.
Multipath fading which causes serious multipath interference exists in a mobile communication system. In designing an AFC, the adverse effects caused by the multipath fading channel should be considered. In a CDMA mobile cellular communication system employing a spread spectrum scheme, in general, it is necessary to transmit pilot signals with confirmation information. The amplitude and phase information of multipath signals may be evaluated by receiving the pilot signals. With respect to the fixed frequency-offset, which is overlapped on the multipath fading signals, in both transmitting side and receiving side, it is possible to extract the frequency-offset evaluating values of both transmitting side and receiving side by means of simple processing. A desired AFC function may be obtained by suitably adjusting the local frequency reference source of a mobile terminal by using the evaluating values. The method of extracting the frequency-offset information and whereby adjusting the local frequency reference source is referred to as AFC loop design.
The AFC loop design of a CDMA receiver need to meet the requirements of fast response speed, returning to active state at time when a mobile terminal turns on or loses lock, and compensating frequency difference between transmitting side and receiving side in a short time in addition to operate stably in the environment of multipath fading channel.

Frequency auto-correction apparatus for CDMA multipath fading channel

The MITT Research Institute of Telecommunication Transmission


A telephony trainer and exerciser allows a user of the telephony system to practice and train using the telephony system and its various features. The telephony trainer and exerciser system provides at least one automated responder, and more preferably, a plurality of automated responders that can be called by the user, thereby allowing the user to practice different operating features of the telephony system. Using a recognizer agent, the automated responders are able to distinguish between commands given by the user and similar statements given by another automated responder. The trainer and exerciser system optionally includes a correlator agent to provide an audio and/or written transcript of the practice session. A coaching feature is also optionally provided to assist a user in operating the trainer and exerciser and/or the telephony system.

People desiring to use a telephony system, such as a person wanting to make a conference call, may undertake to attempt a practice session prior to actually making the scheduled call to the formal participants. As for example, an individual at a company may occasionally have a need to conduct a conference call where a number of other parties are to be joined on the conference call. If never having made such a call before, the person may, out of ignorance, not understand the complexities involved in making such call until actually attempting the call to the conference call parties. Such an event can result in multiple events of hanging-up on the call participants and potentially aggravating not only the person attempting to set-up the call, but the other participants may grow impatient or weary of being cut-off.
Accordingly, people desiring to make a proper conference call will often either ask somebody else for assistance, or alternatively, they will attempt to practice setting-up a conference call. Such attempts to practice may, for example, entail using a person's own cell phone as a test phone, and/or asking one or more co-workers or friends to act as test subjects while the person attempting the call operates the phone to connect the various test subjects. Such attempts are often time consuming to numerous individuals, and may still leave the person attempting the call with only the most minimum level of confidence in properly connecting the parties.
Furthermore, even slightly more sophisticated calling features may be completely out of the realm of consideration by the person attempting the call. For example, telephony system features that allow the ability to drop and add callers, place a sub-conference call, place a call in whisper mode, and other such features may be all but useless because the user has never had the opportunity to properly practice such features.
The prior art includes voice mail systems wherein a caller is directed to a voice mail box and is able to key entries into the phone for options, such as listening to the system replay the caller's message before sending the message to the receiving party. In addition, the prior art includes interactive voice response systems, wherein the caller is prompted to say a word or phrase, and then the system analyzes the caller's statement and moves forward with providing information to the caller or prompting the caller for further additional voice information. Such systems are commonly used in the airline industry and allow the caller to check departure and arrival times. However, such systems fail to allow a person to interact with the telephony system to practice the various features of the system.
Accordingly, there is a need for a telephony trainer and exerciser system that allows a person desiring to make a call to practice using the telephony system. In addition, there is a need for a telephony trainer and exerciser system that offers interactive responses from the test subjects so that the caller can conduct a meaningful practice session. In addition, there is a need for a telephony trainer and exerciser system that provides a transcript so that the person practicing the call can understand the nature of the practice session from the test subject's perspective and assess whether the practice call was professionally performed. In addition, there is a need for a coaching function that provides instruction to a user of the telephony system.

Interactive telephony trainer and exerciser


A method is disclosed for molding a component with at least one microstructured functional element, which is configured intentionally with a defined structure, in relief, at a defined point on the surface of the component in order to specifically fulfill a function. The element has a characteristic dimension in the micrometer range in at least one spatial direction. The component is shaped from a substantially metallic material using a mould. At least one functional element is formed in a negative impression that is configured on the surface of the mould.

The invention relates to a primary shaping method for a component having at least one microstructured functional element, which is configured intentionally with a defined reliefed structure at a defined point on the surface of the component in order to specifically fulfill a function and which comprises, in at least one spatial direction, a characteristic dimension in the micrometer range, said component being shaped from a substantially metallic material using a molding tool. As compared to a component having a purely macroscopic function, such a component additionally comprises a reliefed, microstructured and, as a result thereof, functionalized surface.
Shaping methods substantially form the three-dimensional shape of a component without changing its mass. Primary shaping methods, which, from the liquid or ductile or from the granular or powdery aggregate state (in the classification in accordance with DIN 8580)—create the first three-dimensional shape, and primary shaping methods, which change a three-dimensional shape in the solid aggregate state through pressure, tensile and compressive loads, bending or pushing loads (in the classification in accordance with DIN 8580) are known.
In this context, the molding tool is the tool by means of which the three-dimensional shape of the component is imposed. In the context of the shaping method, the material deposits in its respective aggregate state on the surface of the molding tool—for example of a mold cavity in a casting method. A negative of a functional element formed on the surface of the molding tool is thus directly formed in the functional element on the surface of the component that fits the mold. From the great number of known primary shaping methods forming the three-dimensional shape of components from a substantially metallic material, using a molding tool, casting, sintering and liquid-phase sintering will be mentioned in particular herein.
A microstructure is a reliefed surface structure comprising, in at least one spatial direction, a characteristic dimension in the micrometer range—meaning substantially of considerably less than 1 mm. Such a characteristic dimension is for example the depth of an edge offset downward with respect to a surface or the width of a rib placed onto a surface.
Microstructures have been found to be advantageous in many respects. Microstructured surfaces are utilized for example in tribological applications, from aero or fluid-dynamic point of views, because of specific visual properties, for controlling the wettability or non-wettability with liquids and for promoting or preventing organic growth.
A functional element is an element that is intended to perform a defined function thanks to a defined shape. More specifically, a functional element is not an element that performs the defined function at a fortuitous location on a component or by having a fortuitous shape.
A microstructured functional element accordingly is an element that is intentionally and selectively configured to have a defined structure at a defined point on the surface of a component and that has a dimension in the micrometer range which is characteristic of the function.
A periodic or almost periodic arrangement of microstructured functional elements is considered to be a microstructured surface texture, a defined detail of a surface having microstructured elements as the functional region or a functional element (itself composed of smaller functional elements).
Thanks to its reliefed structure in the region comprising the functional element, the surface of the component is either functionalized or has its function optimized there. The flow guidance at the surface of a turbine bucket may for example be significantly improved by a microstructured surface texture.
Beside the material and its microstructure, as well as the macroscopic shape, it is the surface that determines the properties of a component. On the one side, perfectly smooth surfaces have come to represent technical perfection, on the other side, minute structures provide a surface with dirt- and water-repelling functions through what is known as the "Lotus effect", spectacle lenses can be provided with an additionally antireflection coating applied to the surface thereof. The functions of light reflection, flow resistance, heat transfer and friction of a component's surface may also be selectively influenced by microscopic surface structures.
The manufacturing of large microstructured surfaces on plastic materials—at least on planar surfaces—is to be considered to be largely known: surface structures in the micrometer range are formed and replicated, using the comparatively simple methods of soft lithography under normal atmosphere. The PDMS (polydimethyl siloxane) stamps used in soft lithography hereby form structures with characteristic dimensions of less than 100 nm (H Schmid, B Michel, Macromolecules 33, 2000, p. 3042). In the field of plastic materials, optical data carriers constitute moreover an impressive example of a product with a microstructured surface: CD-ROM disks, manufactured on a large scale by injection molding, have structures of less than 1 μm, DVD having structures of even less than 500 nm. The production of a plurality of other surface structures, including but not limited to, biomimetic structures such as "shark skin" on polymers is already known.
On ceramic materials, surface structures in the micrometer range are also reproduced neatly, as has been exemplified by a kind of slip casting in structured PDMS stamps (U P Schönholzer et al. "Micropatterned Ceramics by Casting into Polymer Moulds" J. Amer. Soc. 85 7, 2002, p. 1885). Also known is the manufacturing of structures having a size of as little as 10 nm by pressing into the molten surface of a silicon wafer a quartz disk patterned using electron beam lithography (S Y Chou, Ch Keimel, Jian Gu "Ultrafast and Direct Imprint of Nanostructures in Silicon", Nature 417, 2002, p. 835).
Vapor deposited coatings on metallic components having a roughness in the nanometer range are also known; these coatings however do not have a geometrically defined structure. On the other side, the function of a metallic surface can be influenced within narrow limits by selective, geometrically defined patterning on the microscopic scale using chemical etching, micromachining or laser patterning. Structures geometrically defined in the nanometer range can be produced on small surface portions of a metallic component's surface using electron beam lithography.
FDA standardizes in detail indications as to the microstructure of the surface for approving a modified metallic surface of orthopedic implants: the thickness of a coating, the pore diameter, the shape and dimensions of the material between the pores and the volume percent of the voids must be determined in complex test series through their statistical average and limit values as well as through their standard deviation (U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Guidance Document for Testing Orthopedic Implants with Modified Metallic Surfaces Apposing Bone or Bone Cement. February 2000, http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/ode/827.html.
As compared with plastic components with microstructured surfaces, the production of metallic microstructured functional elements on metallic components manufactured using primary shaping methods is interesting from many point of views because they are less prone to wear and exhibit higher hardness and because they may additionally be utilized at higher temperatures. However, the known methods for modifying the surface structure can be utilized for some few special applications only if they are to be economically efficient, this being due on the one side to their complexity and on the other side to the demands placed on testing and documentation because of the statistical distribution of the properties.
The document DE 101 54 756 C1 discloses a primary shaping method, using a molding tool in the surface of which microscopic cavities are formed by anodic oxidation, directly and without a model—meaning so as to be statistically distributed. The document EP 0 838 286 A1 discloses an investment casting method using a wax model on the surface of which molten wax is sprinkled to form a microporous surface structure, which again is statistically distributed. The document DE 38 31 129 A1 discloses a method for manufacturing a casting mold on the basis of a thermally sensitive model such as textiles, plastic material, wood or leather, with the surface structure of the model being reproduced in the casting mold. The methods disclosed in these documents provide for statistically distributed surface structures but not for a defined reliefed microstructured functional element at a defined point on the surface of the component for selectively performing a function.
In the wider context of the invention, there is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,622 B1 to use a wax "filled" with particles for manufacturing a wax model which in turn is used for investment casting in order to minimize the formation of microscopic defects in the surface of the wax model. The document DE 43 07 869 A1 discloses a primary shaping method for manufacturing a microscopic body as it is utilized in precision engineering, micromechanics, microoptics and microelectronics; it does not disclose the formation of a microstructured functional element on a—macroscopic—component, though.

Primary shaping method for a component comprising a microstructured functional element


A chip component is provided with a block including a dielectric, input and output terminals, which are the first and second terminals that are provided on the surface of the block, an adjustment terminal that is a third terminal that includes an internal electrode extended into the block and that is provided on the surface of the block, and at least two inter-terminal circuits that are provided in the block and that are connected between at least two sets of two terminals of the first, second, and third terminals.

Hitherto, a chip component has been appreciated as an electronic component that is directly mounted on the surface of a circuit substrate through surface mounting technology that allows for downsizing an electronic component, increasing the mounting density, etc., in electronic equipment. A solder material is applied to the terminal part of the chip component or a connection part defined on a circuit substrate for mounting in advance, and the circuit substrate is heated in the state where the chip component is mounted on the connection part defined on the circuit substrate. Accordingly, the solder is melted and the chip component is fixed onto the circuit substrate. A known integration technology allows for incorporating a circuit element including a condenser, a resistor, an inductor, and so forth into the above-described chip component.
The constant, impedance, etc. of the above-described chip component is reliably determined for each chip component, and it is difficult to adjust the value once a choice is made.
Further, as one of methods of reducing an area where electric and electronic components are mounted on a circuit substrate, the method of incorporating a chip component included in a circuit into the substrate has been appreciated.
However, since the environment of the surroundings of components that are provided on the surface of the substrate is different from that of the surroundings of components that are provided in the substrate, the property of the chip component is changed, which poses a problem. For solving the problem, a circuit including the chip component needs to be adjusted after the chip component is incorporated into the substrate.
However, once that a chip component is selected, the constant or the like of the chip component itself is difficult to adjust. Accordingly, the circuit needs to be optimized by replacing the chip component and performing prototyping repeatedly, which gives rise to the problem of increased cost and time.
With such a background, the incorporation of components into the substrate is used mainly for a circuit which is highly tolerant of the property change.

Chip component, substrate and electronic apparatus


An optical scanner for writing an electrostatic latent image on an image carrier includes a scanning optical system that forms an optical scanning path, a pair of optical detecting units arranged at two positions on the optical scanning path for detecting a write-start position and a write-end position to measure a time for scanning from the write-start position to the write-end position, and an optical housing that houses at least the scanning optical system and the optical detecting units. The optical detecting units are mounted on the optical housing via an intermediate member having a thermal expansion coefficient smaller than that of the optical housing.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an optical scanner in the image forming apparatus to optically scan and write an image on an image carrier.
2) Description of the Related Art
In an optical scanner employed in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction product, optical parts such as a light source, a polygon mirror, various lenses, and a reflection mirror are provided to form an optical scanning path. A laser beam from the light source is reflected by the polygon mirror to perform deflection scanning. Deflected optical beam passes through a scanning lens, reflected by the reflection mirror, and emitted to outside of the optical housing to perform writing on an image carrier.
One example of such an optical scanner is explained, with reference to FIGS. 12 to 14. The optical scanner 21 includes a laser source 22 that emits a laser beam, a rotating mirror deflector 23 to deflect the laser beam emitted from the laser source 22, a scanning optical system 25 that forms a scanning path for scanning the peripheral surface of a photosensitive member 24, synchronous detecting units 26 and 27 to which a part of the laser beam deflected by the rotating mirror deflector 23 is irradiated as a synchronous detecting beam, and an optical housing 28 that houses and holds the laser source 22, the rotating mirror deflector 23, the scanning optical system 25, and the synchronous detecting units 26 and 27. The scanning optical system 25 includes lenses 25a and 25b, and a reflection mirror 25c.
In this optical scanner 21, the laser beams emitted from the laser source 22 are deflected by the rotating mirror deflector 23 rotated at a high speed, and the scanning path is formed from the deflected laser beams by the scanning optical system 25. This scanning path scans the peripheral surface of the photosensitive member 24, to thereby form an electrostatic latent image on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive member 24. This electrostatic latent image is developed by a toner to become a toner image, and the toner image is transferred onto a recording medium to perform image forming onto the recording medium. A part of the laser beams deflected by the rotating mirror deflector 23 is detected as the synchronous detecting beam by the synchronous detecting units 26 and 27. Based on a result of the detection, a scanning start position and a scanning end position of the scanning path are restricted.
In such an optical scanner, pixel density in the horizontal scanning direction is determined by a write clock frequency and the horizontal scanning speed of the lens optical system. It is important to accurately maintain the write density for obtaining excellent image quality. In the optical scanner having a plurality of optical scanning paths like the color image forming apparatus, if the pixel density is different for each optical scanning path, when images written by using the respective optical scanning paths are superposed, out-of-color registration occurs. Therefore, it is especially important to accurately maintain the write density.
Accordingly, in the conventional optical scanners, there is one in which a pair of optical detecting units is arranged on the write-start position side and the write-end position side outside the image area of the optical scanning path, to measure the horizontal scanning time between the two points by the detection timings, a variation quantity from the aimed horizontal scanning magnification is calculated from the measurement result, and the write clock frequency is changed according to the variation quantity, to thereby correct an error in the horizontal scanning magnification.
In this type of optical scanner, however, since a pair of optical detecting units is directly fixed on the optical housing, the distance between the pair of optical detecting unit changes due to a thermal deforming of the optical housing by a change in the ambient temperature, and hence accurate scanning time cannot be obtained.
The cause of thermal deforming occurring in the optical housing is not only the heat from the rotating mirror deflector, but also the heat from a heat source provided in the image forming apparatus, for example, a fixing unit and a power source unit. In other words, when the optical scanner is fixed in the image forming apparatus, a difference in thermal expansion occurs in the optical housing between the side close to the fixing unit, being the heat source, and the side away from the fixing unit, thereby causing a misalignment of the synchronous detecting unit close to the heat source, and the synchronous detecting unit away from the heat source.
Further, the temperature rise in the optical housing affects not only the misalignment of the scanning path, but also the beam spot diameter of the scanning path exposed on the surface of the photosensitive member. That is, the refractive index of the lenses constituting the scanning optical system changes due to the temperature change in the optical housing, and a predetermined beam spot diameter cannot be obtained, thereby causing image deterioration due to thickening of the beam spot diameter.
On the other hand, the mounting location of the synchronous detecting unit should be fixed at all times, but the position thereof slightly changes periodically, due to vibrations of the optical housing by the rotation of the rotating mirror deflector, or due to propagation of vibration from the driving unit of the image forming apparatus. As a result, the scanning start position and the scanning end position of the respective scanning paths change periodically, thereby causing image deterioration referred to as a so-called image fluctuation of longitudinal line.
Therefore, an invention in which variations in the distance between two optical detecting units due to a temperature change are eliminated as much as possible, to perform correction to a precise write clock frequency, so as to obtain a precise write density in the horizontal scanning direction has been disclosed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H8-76038).
Such an optical scanner will be explained based on FIG. 15. Like reference signs designate like parts as in FIGS. 12 to 14, and explanation thereof is omitted. This optical scanner 21a has the same components as those of the optical scanner 21 explained with reference to FIGS. 12 to 14, and the different point is the arrangement position of the synchronous detecting units 26a and 27a. In the optical scanner 21 explained with reference to FIGS. 12 to 14, the synchronous detecting units 26 and 27 are arranged on the opposite side of the rotating mirror deflector 23, with the scanning optical system 25 put therebetween, and are away from the rotating mirror deflector 23 and the laser source 22. On the other hand, in the optical scanner 21a, the synchronous detecting units 26a and 27a are arranged at a position close to the rotating mirror deflector 23 and the laser source 22.
As described above, the optical scanner in the Patent Literature 1 is an optical scanner in which a pair of optical detecting units is arranged on an optical scanning path, to measure the scanning time from the write-start position to the write-end position, wherein at least one of the optical detecting units is fixed to the optical housing, via an intermediate member having a thermal expansion coefficient larger than that of the optical housing. The thermal deforming quantity of the optical housing and the thermal deforming quantity of the intermediate member are counterbalanced, so that a variation in the distance between the optical detecting units due to the influence of heat is reduced.
Further, an invention in which even when the heat generation state is different between the housing in which a scanning optical system is housed and a drum support in which a photosensitive drum is housed, the scanning start position and the scanning end position of the scanning path with respect to the respective photosensitive drums can be made uniform has been disclosed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-258715).
However, as an actual problem, counterbalancing of the thermal deforming quantity of the optical housing and the thermal deforming quantity of the intermediate member is not so easy. Further, in the optical scanner having a plurality of optical scanning paths, the optical housing and the intermediate member in the optical scanning paths do not always generate the same thermal deforming, and a misalignment occurs between the optical scanning paths due to a difference in the thermal deforming. Particularly, in the case of a color image forming apparatus, there is a problem of causing out-of-color registration.
This problem will be specifically explained, with reference to FIGS. 12 to 15. The rotating mirror deflector 23 and the laser source 22 are members generating heat when being driven, and due to heat generation of the rotating mirror deflector 23 and the laser source 22, the optical housing 28 thermally expands and deforms.
However, the deforming due to the thermal expansion of the optical housing 28, and the arrangement of the synchronous detecting units 26 and 27 (26a and 27a) are not taken into consideration.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 13, the optical housing 28 deforms from the position indicated by the actual line to the position indicated by the broken line due to thermal expansion, and the synchronous detecting units 26 and 27 misalign with the deforming, and the synchronous detecting beams detected by the synchronous detecting units 26 and 27 change from "A" to "A′", due to the misalignment. In other words, the detection timing of the synchronous detecting beam by the synchronous detecting units 26 and 27 changes, and the scanning time of the scanning path for scanning the photosensitive member 24 extends from "t" to "t+Δt". In the image formed on a recording medium, the length in the horizontal scanning direction changes before and after the thermal expansion of the optical housing 28, thereby causing a magnification error. The same thing applies in the optical scanner 21a shown in FIG. 15.
As shown in FIG. 14, since the synchronous detecting beam "A" is made to enter obliquely with respect to the synchronous detecting unit 27, the light amount per unit area of the synchronous detecting beam "A" on the synchronous detecting unit 27 decreases. As a result, the incidence detection timing is likely to be unstable, thereby deteriorating the detection accuracy of synchronous detection, and causing a variation in the scanning time of the scanning path.
As shown in FIG. 15, when the synchronous detecting units 26a and 27a are located close to the rotating mirror deflector 23 and the laser source 22, the positions where the synchronous detecting units 26a and 27a are arranged in the optical housing 28 are likely to deform, due to the influence of heat from the rotating mirror deflector 23 and the laser source 22. Therefore, a misalignment of the synchronous detecting units 26a and 27a due to the deforming of the optical housing 28 due to thermal expansion, and a change in timing of detecting the synchronous detecting beam by the synchronous detecting units 26a and 27a due to the misalignment becomes conspicuous.

Optical scanner and image forming apparatus


A position in runlength compression data corresponding to a desired position in original data can be found fast. Index correspondence information is generated for representing correspondence between indexes representing predetermined positions in data arrangement of the original data having a plurality of values and positions corresponding thereto in the runlength compression data. The index closest to the desired position in the original data and an offset of the desired position from the index are found. Based on the index correspondence information, the corresponding index in the runlength compression data is found. The position corresponding to the desired position is then found in the runlength compression data, based on the corresponding index and the offset.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for identifying a position in runlength compression data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Following improvements in processing performance by computers, data of large size are frequently being dealt with. When such large data are dealt with as they are, the amount of data processing increases, and a large memory space is occupied. Therefore, such data processing is inefficient and not economical. For this reason, data compression has been carried out to decrease a data size while losing as little information as possible.
Various data compression methods have been proposed. As one of such methods, a runlength compression method has been used. In runlength compression, redundancy of data of the same value appearing serially is used for coding the length of the serial data, and runlength compression data comprise length data representing the length. For example, a binary image comprising only black and white pixels can be represented by lengths of serial white pixels and lengths of serial black pixels (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-102937, for example).
In data processing, a value at a desired position in original data is sometimes read or processed. In this case, the desired position in the original data needs to be specified. In the original data before compression, an address is generally related to each value, and specification of the desired position is comparatively easy based on the address. However, in runlength compression data, an address is not related to each value. Therefore, in order to specify a position in the runlength compression data corresponding to the desired position in the original data, the order (the Nth position, in this case) of the position from the first value is found in the original data. Lengths of values (that is, the number of values) included in length data comprising the runlength compression data are then added up from the beginning of the runlength compression data, and compared with N to judge whether or not a result of the addition is larger than N. In this manner, the desired position can be found in the runlength compression data.
However, serial addition of lengths of values included in length data from the beginning may need a large amount of operations.

Method and apparatus for position identification in runlength compression data


A data control apparatus includes a mapping-table managing unit that manages a mapping table that is associated with a corrupted-data recovery function of recording data and error correcting code data as redundant data that is given separately from the data, distributed and stored in units of stripe blocks in the plural nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices, the mapping table containing arrangement information of the data and the error correcting code data; a determining unit that determines whether to differentiate frequencies of writing the data into the semiconductor memory devices; and a changing unit that changes the arrangement information by switching the data stored in units of the stripe blocks managed using the mapping table to differentiate the frequencies of writing the data into the semiconductor memory devices, when the determining unit determines that the frequencies of writing the data into the semiconductor memory devices are to be differentiated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data control apparatus, a storage system, and a computer program product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a NAND (not AND) flash memory is being widely used as a type of storage media. The NAND flash memory is a nonvolatile memory capable of holding information even when power supply is stopped.
Because the NAND flash memory has an increased capacity and a higher integration, influences of secular change of data written in the memory, or read disturbance, which is data corruption resulting from a reading process, become significant. Accordingly, the data stored in the memory can be degraded, which increases the possibility that the stored data cannot be reproduced correctly. The secular change is a phenomenon in which an error occurs in data due to gradual discharge with time from a floating gate having charges accumulated therein. The read disturbance is a phenomenon in which an error occurs in the stored data due to slight charges that are accumulated in a floating gate of a memory cell adjacent to a memory cell from which the data is read.
In the NAND flash memory, to solve the problems of the secular change and the read disturbance, an error correcting code that enables to correct an error occurring in data is applied, thereby restoring correct data.
In addition, in the NAND flash memory, a refresh process of rewriting data in the NAND flash memory after the error correction is performed. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent data stored in the NAND flash memory from being completely damaged, and to increase a data retention period.
In the NAND flash memory, when data are concentrically written or erased only in/from a specific block, only this block reaches the end of its operating life earlier. Therefore, wear leveling is performed to convert address signals from outside into different addresses in a chip, so that the numbers of writings/erasures into/from blocks are averaged.
Recently, a NAND flash memory having the same connection interface standard as that of a hard disk drive (HDD) (AT attachment (ATA) standard) has been developed, and is called "solid state drive (SSD)". The SSD has a data reading performance higher than the HDD, and has a low-power-consumption and impact-resistant property.
Meanwhile, in a storage system such as a disk array applied in a server environment, redundant arrays of independent/inexpensive disks (RAID) in which plural memory devices are connected are usually arranged to improve reliability, as described in "A Case for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID), D. Patterson, G. Gibson, and R. Katz., Proceedings of the 1998 ACM SIGMOD, pp. 109-116, June 1988". For example, in RAID 5, a memory device assigned to store an error correcting code called "parity" and memory devices assigned to store data are arranged with the positions being changed by turns in each stripe. Accordingly, even when a specific memory device fails and then data cannot be read therefrom, the data stored in the faulty memory device can be recovered from data stored in the remaining memory devices. In a disk array device that implements the RAID function, it is possible to enhance fault tolerance, increase the capacity, and speed up the reading process. Further, when read/write requests are distributed over the memory devices in units called "stripe blocks", loads on the memory devices can be distributed. It is expected that such load distribution equalizes accesses to the memory devices.
The RAID can be configured also when a secondary memory is configured by the SSD, instead of the HDD.
However, when the secondary memory is configured by the SSD instead of the HDD and when the RAID is configured, there is a high possibility that the numbers of writings/erasures are smoothed by the wear leveling in the SSDs, and that the numbers of writings into the SSDs can be equalized by the load distribution according to the RAID function. Therefore, the risk that the plural SSDs may fail around the same time is increased. If the SSDs configuring the RAID fail around the same time, a replacement or maintenance operation becomes difficult, and thus the risk of data loss arises.

Apparatus, storage system, and computer program product for prevention of data loss


A bending imaging apparatus provided with an imaging optical system, a bending optical element, an image sensor positioned on a post-bending optical axis of the bending optical element, and a housing, includes an inclination adjusting body having a mounting plate portion, onto which the image sensor is mounted, and an inclination-adjusting bent plate portion extending toward an underside of the bending optical element from the mounting plate portion; a swing pivot portion formed between the inclination-adjusting bent plate portion and the housing to pivotally support the inclination adjusting body; and an inclination adjusting portion positioned between the inclination-adjusting bent plate portion and the housing to overlap the bending optical element with respect to the post-bending optical axis direction and swings the inclination adjusting body about the swing pivot portion to adjust an inclination of the inclination adjusting body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus having at least one bending optical element, and in particular relates to such a type of imaging apparatus which is small in size and equipped with a mechanism for adjusting the inclination of an image sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, mobile electronic devices which are designed mainly for taking still/moving photographic images, such as digital cameras (still-video cameras) and digital camcorders (video cameras), and other mobile electronic devices which are designed to be capable of taking such photographic images as a subsidiary function, such as mobile phones equipped with a camera and smart devices (e.g., smart phones and tablet computers), etc., equipped with a camera, have become widespread, and there has been a demand to miniaturize the imaging unit incorporated in these types of mobile electronic devices. In order to miniaturize an imaging unit, an imaging optical system which is configured from a bending optical system that reflects (bends) an object light bundle using a reflection surface of a reflecting element (bending optical element) such as a prism or a mirror is known in the art. An imaging optical system having at least one bending optical element (hereinafter also referred to as the "bending imaging apparatus") is advantageous in achieving a reduction in thickness of the imaging unit in the travelling direction of the incident light emanating from an object to be photographed (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 2006-267391, 2010-243763 and 2013-105049).
In such a bending imaging apparatus, an image sensor is arranged on the post-bending optical axis of a bending optical element. The image sensor is usually fixed to an image sensor board provided as a separate member from the image sensor, and the image sensor board is fixed to a housing which supports an imaging optical system (a lens group(s) and a prism(s)). Although a mechanism for adjusting the inclination of an image sensor relative to a plane orthogonal to an optical axis is known in the art, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-293187, it is difficult to apply this mechanism to a bending imaging apparatus; if this mechanism is applied to a bending imaging apparatus, the bending imaging apparatus increases in size.

Imaging apparatus having bending optical element


A system includes a processing system and a memory system. The memory system stores instructions for identifying a cloud application in a cloud environment as a non-disposable application and monitoring a plurality of instances of the non-disposable application running in the cloud environment. The instructions when executed by the processing system further result in determining that a number of the instances of the non-disposable application should be modified based on one or more demand predictions by an artificial intelligence scaler, adjusting the number of the instances of the non-disposable application running in the cloud environment based on the one or more demand predictions, and modifying an allocation of one or more resources of the cloud environment associated with adjusting the number of the instances of the non-disposable application.

In a cloud environment, resources are typically provisioned to meet processing, memory, and other demands of applications, which can change over time. Provisioning more resources than are needed can reduce the ability to invoke additional applications. Under-provisioning of resources can be problematic where applications demand more processing or memory resources than have been allocated. Cloud-based management tools can attempt to automatically adjust resource allocation to match demand if applications are structured to meet the interface and formatting requirements of the tools. However, legacy applications may not be able to interface correctly with the tools unless the underlying code is modified to comply with the requirements of the tools.


Methods for using cement compositions in subterranean formations are provided. In some embodiments, the methods comprise introducing a first treatment fluid comprising a first base fluid and a metal oxide into a wellbore penetrating at least a portion of a subterranean formation; introducing a spacer fluid into the wellbore that separates the first treatment fluid from at least a second treatment fluid; introducing the second treatment fluid into the wellbore, wherein the second treatment fluid comprises a second base fluid and a soluble salt; allowing the first treatment fluid to contact the second treatment fluid to form a cement mixture; and allowing the cement mixture to at least partially set.

The present disclosure relates to cement compositions and methods for using the same in subterranean formations. Treatment fluids are used in a variety of operations that may be performed in subterranean formations. As referred to herein, the term "treatment fluid" will be understood to mean any fluid that may be used in a subterranean application in conjunction with a desired function and/or for a desired purpose. The term "treatment fluid" does not imply any particular action by the fluid. Treatment fluids often are used in, e.g., well drilling, completion, and stimulation operations. Examples of such treatment fluids include, inter alia, drilling fluids, well cleanup fluids, workover fluids, conformance fluids, cementing fluids, gravel pack fluids, acidizing fluids, fracturing fluids, spacer fluids, and the like.
Treatment fluids used in servicing a wellbore may be lost to the subterranean formation while circulating the fluids in the wellbore. In particular, the fluids may enter the subterranean formation via depleted zones, zones of relatively low pressure, lost circulation zones having naturally occurring fractures, weak zones having fracture gradients exceeded by the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling fluid, and so forth. As a result, the service provided by such fluid may be more difficult to achieve. For example, a drilling fluid may be lost to the formation, resulting in the circulation of the fluid in the wellbore being too low to allow for further drilling of the wellbore. Also, a secondary cement/sealant composition may be lost to the formation as it is being placed in the wellbore, thereby rendering the secondary operation ineffective in maintaining isolation of the formation.
Treatment techniques may be employed to address fluid loss that occurs during drilling or other downhole operations such as plugging or bridging loss zones. Lost circulation treatments involving various plugging materials such as walnut hulls, mica and cellophane have been used to prevent or lessen the loss of fluids from wellbores. However, such treatments include the potential for damage to subterranean formations as a result of the inability to remove the plugging materials therefrom, and the dislodgement of the plugging materials from highly permeable zones whereby fluid losses subsequently resume. One technique for preventing lost circulation problems has been to temporarily plug voids or permeable zones with Sorel cement compositions.
Sorel cement is a non-hydraulic cement that typically includes a mixture of a metal oxide such as magnesium oxide (burnt magnesia) with a salt such as magnesium chloride. Sorel cements may be removed with minimal damage to subterranean zones or formations by dissolution in acids. Sorel cement generally includes MgCl2 or MgCl2.6H2O. However, there are variants that can be made with phosphates or sulfates. The MgCl2 chemistry has been applied in the petroleum industry for applications to control water injection into zones that are not the targets of the injection prevention and, more recently, for lost circulation mitigation. Another recent application is to distribute the reactive materials of Sorel cement in a non-aqueous fluid that prevents reaction until it is mixed with water or a water precursor. Current techniques involve pumping the reactive pill down one flow path, such as a drill pipe, while the water or water precursor is pumped down the annular space between the drill pipe and the drill hole wall. However, some of these applications do not work for systems using non-aqueous fluids (e.g., a non-aqueous drilling fluid) because water or a water precursor is needed.
While embodiments of this disclosure have been depicted, such embodiments do not imply a limitation on the disclosure, and no such limitation should be inferred. The subject matter disclosed is capable of considerable modification, alteration, and equivalents in form and function, as will occur to those skilled in the pertinent art and having the benefit of this disclosure. The depicted and described embodiments of this disclosure are examples only, and not exhaustive of the scope of the disclosure.

Application of metal oxide-based cements in wellbores


Briefly, a wireless communication device, a wireless communication system and a method of roaming from a first base station to a second base station. The method includes generating first and second contexts, wherein the first context is used with an authentication key of the first base station and wherein the second context is stored at both the first and second base stations. When roaming to the second base station, the method includes using the second context with an authenticating key of the second base station and storing the first context at the first and second base stations.

In wireless broadband systems, for example, a wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN) may be based on IEEE 802.16e, 2005 standard, also know in the art as WiMAX. The WMAN may include a plurality of base stations and plurality of mobile stations. A mobile station may perform a hand-over from one base station to another base station. The mobile station may roam from one wireless communication network to another wireless communication system. Roaming may be done from a first base station of a first wireless communication network to a second base station of a second wireless communication network. In WMAN, when the mobile station performs the hand over, some processes and/or security measures may operate on transmissions between the mobile station and the base stations. The hand over may be seamless to the mobile station. The security measures may include decryption/encryption and authentication of the transmissions.
During hand over from a source base station to a target base station, an authentication key (AK) for the target BS may be derived, prior to the hand over, while the mobile station is connected to the source base station. Thus, the mobile station may perform the hand over without the need to perform full authentication.
The mechanism of deriving AK automatically from a parent key, e.g., a pairwise master key (PMK), may generate a context per derived key. The context may be derived only once per base station and PMK, and may be used until the PMK expires. Thus, the mobile station and/or the base station may need to cache the AKs and context being used to later be re-used when the mobile station is handed over to a previously used base station.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

System, apparatus and method of hand over in wireless communication system


A servo detection system for detecting servo tracks of a longitudinal tape. In a read/write head, two servo read heads are spaced laterally on a first head module, and a servo read head is on a second head module spaced longitudinally from the first module. A method comprises initially sensing a tape servo track with one servo read head of the first module and the servo read head of the second module to determine skew misalignment of the servo track. A zero reference value is stored representing the determined skew misalignment. The detection system switches from the one servo read head of each module, to the two servo read heads of the first module, and employs the stored value to position the read/write head in the zero skew position. The two servo read heads are then employed to read two servo tracks to identify the data band and to control skew.

The function of a servo system for longitudinal tape, such as magnetic tape, is to move a head laterally of the longitudinal tape to accurately follow the lateral movement of the tape, for example, during read/write operations of the head. If done accurately, the data tracks are written and read by a read/write head in straight lines along the longitudinal tape as the tape is driven in the longitudinal direction. With respect to magnetic tape, the data comprises parallel stripes in the longitudinal direction of the magnetic tape. Servo tracks are prerecorded in the magnetic tape parallel to, and laterally offset from, the expected data stripes. The servo tracks are typically provided at separate lateral locations across the magnetic tape so that the magnetic tape may comprise many servo tracks and many sets of data bands. Servo heads, typically at opposite ends of a head module of the read/write head, sense two servo tracks and control the lateral positioning of the read/write head to track follow the servo tracks. The read/write head is shifted laterally across a set of servo tracks to shift between data tracks of a data band, and is shifted from one set of servo tracks to another to shift between data bands.
Embodiments of servo tracks may comprise longitudinal tracks arranged in sequential repeating patterns, one example comprising timing based servo tracks, and the patterns of the respective servo tracks are longitudinally offset from each other to allow a determination of the gross lateral position of the servo heads and the data band at which the magnetic head is positioned by measuring the longitudinal offset between the two servo tracks. Once the longitudinal offset of the servo tracks as sensed by the servo heads at opposite ends of the head module are known and therefore the data band is known, the relative measurement of the timing of the servo tracks as compared with the known longitudinal offset provides a measurement of the skew of the tape with respect to the read/write head, which can be compensated for, for example, by tilting the read/write head.
Typically, the lateral movement of the tape is constrained by flanges present on tape guides at either side of the head, such that the servo system causes the head to follow the data stripes in the presence of disturbances mainly created from limited lateral motion of the tape, called LTM (Lateral Tape Motion).
The flanges of the tape path, such as rollers, limit the lateral motion of the tape, but may tend to flex the tape and to introduce debris accumulation in the flanges that impact the lifetime of the tape and in addition create undesirable dynamic effects.
A flangeless tape path tends to solve the problems of the flanged tape path, but, without being constrained, the longitudinal tape tends to rapidly shift from one side of a tape path to the other, and it may run at one side of the path for only a short period.
The shift at a tape path at one side of a read/write head may be to the opposite side of the path which is at the other side of the read/write head, introducing substantial skew of the longitudinal tape.
Skew may be determined by measuring the longitudinal offset between servo tracks sensed by servo heads at the upper and lower ends of the tape head module. However, the servo tracks may be longitudinally offset at the manufacture of the tape to indicate the data band at which the read/write head is positioned. The skew due to a flangeless tape path may be such that it offsets or enhances the manufactured longitudinal offset of the servo tracks, inhibiting the ability to determine the gross lateral positioning (which servo tracks) of the read/write head. Incorrect or unknown gross lateral positioning, in turn, inhibits the ability to employ the use of the servo heads to measure the skew of the tape with respect to the read/write heads, since the zero skew position of the servo tracks is unknown.
The servo skew actuator may have built in biases that cause the read/write head to be in a non-ideal position relative to the servo tracks as a tape is initially moved with respect to the read/write head, for example, when a magnetic tape cartridge is loaded into a data storage drive and the tape is moved across the read/write head. These biases can be caused by the effects of flex cable bias, from biases caused by gravity on the actuator mechanism, from external forces of shock and vibration, and from tape motion forces on the read-write head.

Skew actuator to servo track zero reference

International Business Machines Corporation


Devices and methods are disclosed to address blood pressure control. More particularly, the present invention relates to correction of transient low blood pressure.

Syncope, commonly known as "passing out," is a common medical condition. While, seizures and strokes can cause actual loss of consciousness a number of less severe conditions or factors may also lead to syncope. However, the potential for serious injury as a result of any temporary loss of consciousness makes syncope a significant medical concern. For example, those individual that are otherwise healthy may face considerable injury as a result of the fall from passing out. Alternatively, a minor fall may have serious consequences if the individual is elderly.
Despite the fact that a number of factors may contribute to syncope, a considerable number of these factors are attributable to the cardiovascular system. For example, a slow heart rate, a long pause between heartbeats, vessel dilation (know also as vasodilatation), dehydration, blood loss, to name a few. These conditions often lead to low blood pressure. Furthermore, many medications cause low blood pressure as a side effect. It is also estimated that as many as 20% of people over the age of 50 have low blood pressure that causes light-headedness or causes the individual to pass out. Such individuals are at risk especially when they stand up or change position more quickly than their bodies respond to the change in position. This condition is known as orthostatic hypotension. The most common cardiovascular causes for the loss of consciousness are heartbeat related and vessel-related. Pacemakers are commonly used to detect and electrically stimulate the heart in the event of a long pause or low heart rate. However, there remains a need to correct low blood pressure caused by other factors, such as orthostatic hypotension,
The invention described herein may alter blood flow as desired and in response to a various number of conditions. For example, and to address the concerns described above, a variations of the present invention addresses low blood pressure caused by orthostatic hypotension. Accordingly, such conditions may include positional changes in the body of the patient, changes in blood flow or pressure within a vessel or vessels, or any other number of conditions.
In both orthostatic hypotension and medication related hypotension there is insufficient blood pressure to adequately supply blood to the brain when the position of the body along with gravity drives blood flow to the lower part of the body. Under normal conditions, to prevent gravity and certain body positions from draining blood to the lower part of the body, blood vessels in the lower part of the body quickly become smaller to redirect flow to the brain. However, the effects of aging or medication impairs the body's ability to respond in this manner. Therefore, the effects of these positional body changes becomes more profoundly noticeable with increasing light-headedness. Syncope occurs with severely reduced blood flow to the brain. Because the physician is unable to do anything for the patient, these patients are frequently told to stand up or change positions more slowly in order to counteract the effects. Obviously, this is only partially effective. It is estimated that more than half of patients presenting for care in emergency departments with syncope have, as a cause, vasodilatation and orthostatic hypotension. However, these patients often require medical attention for bone fractures, head injuries and other injuries as a result of their syncope.


Described are computer-based methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, for non-disruptive data path modification using target mobility. A management server is in communication with a switching fabric. The switching fabric is in communication with a host and a data storage element. The management server creates a takeover target based on a primary target, where the primary target is part of a virtual data path between the host and the data storage. The switching fabric, through the direction of the server, modifies metadata associated with the virtual data path to expose the takeover target so that the takeover target becomes part of the virtual data path. The management server unexposes the primary target so that the primary target is no longer part of the virtual data path. The delay between exposing the takeover target and unexposing the primary target is sufficiently small to prevent an error condition from occurring at the host.

With the increasing importance of electronic data in both the personal and commercial setting, data redundancy is essential. Computer systems may include both local and remote storage devices connected to the computer systems through one or more communication connections (e.g., local area networks, wide area networks, and the like). The connections between systems may be over various mediums, such as coaxial cable, category five ethernet, gigabit ethernet, firewire, fiber cable, and other data connections. The storage devices can be single discs, flash drives, tape drives, redundant arrays of independent discs (RAIDs), data servers, and other mass storage devices. Typically, the system interface to these storage devices is a host processor. A host processor may perform a variety of data processing tasks and operations using the data storage system. For example, a host processor may perform system input and output (I/O) operations in connection with data requests (e.g., data read and write operations), as well as administrative tasks (e.g., data backup and disc mirroring operations).
Regardless of in-home or office use, the data storage software and devices should be non-disruptive to applications and hosts. For example, it is desirable to have limited application down time when making changes to the mechanism used for storage. Many data storage products offer redundancy to prevent application outages during software upgrades and modifications. To facilitate remote access to the data storage devices, servers or hosts can access the data storage devices over a storage data path. However, the risk of application disruption is not solved by redundancy if a portion of a product needs to be taken offline during an upgrade or modification. Taking that portion of the product offline requires that all servers or hosts attached to that data path, change their data path information, either by fail over or by using a new data path, automatically.
Alternately, the host and remote storage devices can use multi-pathing software. For example, when a path to a storage device fails, the system can reroute the I/O operations destined for a particular storage device to the storage system through an available redundant path. This can be extended to allow for merging and upgrading systems when the host-path to the initial computer is switched to the path of an alternate server. While host-pathing software can typically handle the transition from one data path to the other without causing application failure, the burden of application availability falls on the host software rather than the storage product because the host manages the pathing routes. For example, the host multipathing software would fail over I/O from one port to another port. Taking a portion of a storage product offline also decreases the number of functional paths from a host during the course of the upgrade, which can impact performance.
An example, of impact to performance is a decrease in functional paths. This introduces a vulnerability window where high availability may be compromised with only one functional host path instead of two. Further, there is typically a noticeable decrease in performance from the loss of a functional path. Additionally, susceptibility to host-pathing software errors in handling the path transition correctly can result in application failures and, often, costly downtime.

Non-disruptive data path upgrade using target mobility


A common rail is provided which is simple in structure and capable of connecting a piping component to a thick wall pipe thereof in a highly sealed and light weighted manner. In a common rail adapted to connect a pipe component to at least one end of a thick wall pipe having a flow passage 1' therein for accumulating pressure of high pressure fuel so that high pressure fuel is supplied from a high-pressure pump and distribute-supplied to an injection nozzle, the end portion of the thick wall pipe 1 is reduced in diameter by drawing. A thread portion 1a is formed in an outer peripheral surface of the diameter-reduced end portion. A connecting end of the piping component 3 is connected to an end portion of the thick wall pipe 1 by screwing a fastening screw means 5, 5' to the thread portion 1a.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a common rail and a method of manufacturing the same, which is adapted to accumulate pressure of fuel pressurized by a high-pressure pump so that the high-pressure fuel is supplied by controlling an opening and closing valve from an injection nozzle to a combustion chamber, and more specifically to a device for connecting the common rail with a piping component comprised of a branch pipe, a supply pipe, a blank plug, a pressure sensor, a pressure regulating valve, or the like, and a method therefore.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
High pressurization has being practiced in order to reduce particulates and NOx from a diesel engine. However, as the pressure of fuel is raised higher, more difficulty is encountered in control of timing of a fuel injection pump and a fuel injection nozzle of a fuel injection apparatus, particularly the timing of beginning and ending of injection. To cope with this, a method is proposed that fuel is previously pressurized by a high-pressure pump to accumulate the pressure of the pressurized fuel while providing a mechanically or electrically controlled opening and closing valve to an injection nozzle so that high-pressure fuel is supplied to a combustion chamber by controlling the opening and closing valve. A relatively thick walled metal pipe for the pressure accumulating chamber, in this case, is referred to as a common rail.
In the conventional common rail of this kind, as shown in FIG. 4, a thick wall pipe 1 for accumulating the pressure of high-pressure fuel has an inner peripheral surface formed with a thread 1b in which screw-fixed is a joint 2 having a thread provided in an outer peripheral surface at opposite ends of a cylindrical wall thereof. On the other hand, to the joint 2 is connected a piping component 3 comprised of a branch pipe or a supply pipe that has therein a flow passage for communication of high-pressure fuel to a high-pressure pump, a combustion chamber, or the like by means of a fastening nut 5 through a sleeve washer 4. Otherwise, as shown in FIG. 5, a fastening nut 5 is fixed by screwing through a ball 6 onto the thread 1a formed in the outer peripheral surface of the thick wall pipe 1 to form a piping component comprising a blank plug. Otherwise, as shown in FIG. 6, for connecting with a piping component 3 comprised of a pressure sensor, a pressure regulating valve, a flow limiter, or the like, connection is made by screwing a housing 5' integral with the piping component 3 or a separate fastening nut onto the thread 1a formed at the end of the thick wall pipe 1 so that communication is done to the inside of the thick wall pipe 1 by means of a cable 8 through a reinforcing coil 7.
With the conventional common rail, however, the number of parts is increased because of the necessity of a separate joint 2 for connection with a piping component such as a branch pipe or a supply pipe. Furthermore, since the structure is to connect both the thick wall pipe 1 and the piping component 3 to the joint 2, screwing portions increases in number and assembling operation becomes complicate, requiring full attention to leakage at these points. Furthermore, for connecting with a piping component such as a blank plug, a pressure sensor, a pressure regulating valve, a flow limiter, or the like, the fastening nut becomes large in size, and the area of screwing portion increases, thereby requiring sufficient attention to leakage. Furthermore, the requirement of weight-lightening for components has been not met.

Common rail and method of manufacturing same


This invention relates to a superconducting magnet of the type that has a relatively small imaging volume. Such structures of this type, generally, allow the operator to image human limbs without the use of a larger, more costly superconducting magnet.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a superconducting magnet of the type that has a relatively small imaging volume. Such structures of this type, generally, allow the operator to image human limbs without the use of a larger, more costly superconducting magnet.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known, in superconducting magnets, to employ large, whole body magnetic resonance (MR) imaging systems to image human limbs. Exemplary of such prior art MR imaging systems, achieving a modicum of success in this regard, are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,924,198 and 5,153,456, entitled "Superconductive Magnetic Resonance Magnet without Cryogens" and "Open MRI Magnet", respectively, both to E. T. Laskaris and both assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. While these MR imaging systems have met with a high degree of commercial success, they are made up, of necessity, of large, whole body MR imaging systems. Also, these devices are expensive and basically built for imaging heads and spines. A more advantageous superconducting imaging system, then, would be presented if the superconducting system were dedicated only to the imaging of human limbs while providing a compact and inexpensive superconducting imaging system.
It is apparent from the above that there exists a need in the art for a superconducting imaging system which is light weight and compact through simplicity of parts and uniqueness of structure, and which at least equals the superconducting imaging characteristics of the known MR imaging systems, particularly those of the highly advantageous type disclosed in the above-referenced Laskaris patents, but which at the same time is specifically designed for the imaging of human limbs. It is a purpose of this invention to fulfill this and other needs in the art in a manner more apparent to the skilled artisan once given the following disclosure.

Superconducting magnet for imaging human limbs


A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, by a computing device, an input phrase from a text generator; determining, by the computing device, a complexity level for an audience; generating, by the computing device, a plurality of target phrases including a modification of the input phrase; generating, by the computing device, respective readability scores for each of the plurality of target phrases; mapping, by the computing device, the plurality of the target phrases to the target audience complexity level to select a particular target phrase of the plurality of the target phrases; and outputting, by the computing device, the selected particular target phrase to a text-to-speech (T2S) component to cause the T2S component to output the selected particular target phrase as audible speech.

The present invention generally relates to text-to-speech modification and, more particularly, to cognitive text-to-speech modification based on target audience complexity level.
Dialog systems may include a text-to-speech (T2S) component whereby the text generated by the system is spoken back to the user (e.g. in some cases a digital assistant application performs this function). The component that performs T2S may be functionally different from the rest of the system. For example, the T2S component and/or algorithm may be designed by a completely different team, company or other entity and made available as a library for use. In this manner, the T2S component takes text as an input and returns audible speech as an output. As an example, the T2S component may receive text from a digital assistant application for reading the text aloud to the user.

Cognitive modification of speech for text-to-speech

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A liquid crystal display device includes first and second substrates, a seal pattern disposed between outer peripheral portions of the first and second substrates, and a plurality of venting portions formed in the seal pattern at corner portions of the first and second substrates for venting air confined between the first and second substrates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device and a method of manufacturing a display device, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal display device and a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device displays images by controlling light intensity through a liquid crystal material injected between two thin substrates. The light intensity is controlled by changing orientation of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal material by inducing an electric field to the liquid crystal molecules. The electric field is created by supplying a voltage to a pixel electrode formed on one of the two thin substrates and supplying a voltage to a common electrode formed on another one of the two thin substrates. Presently, LCD devices are commonly used for electronic instruments, such electronic watches, liquid crystal TVs, and notebook computers, and in transportation devices, such automobiles and airplanes.
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a liquid crystal cell according to the related art. In FIG. 1, a liquid crystal cell includes an array substrate 110 having a TFT and a pixel electrode aligned thereon, a color filter substrate 120 having a color filter and a common electrode aligned thereon, and a liquid crystal material between the array and color filter substrates 110 and 120. The liquid crystal cell is manufactured by forming an alignment layer for aligning liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal material layer, bonding the array and color filter substrates 110 and 120 together to maintain a uniform gap, cutting the bonded substrates into a plurality of unit cells, and injecting the liquid crystal material into the gap between the bonded substrates.
However, failure of the picture quality may occur depending on the locations on the LCD device when the cell gap is not uniform since the transmittance of the light passing through the region is varied spatially, which turns out to be a more serious problem with a large-sized liquid crystal panel. Accordingly, the cell gap formation process includes depositing a seal line 130 on the array substrate 110 before being bonded with the color filter substrate 120, which has spacers scattered thereon. Then, the liquid crystal material is injected into the cell gap and the seal line 130 is sealed.
FIGS. 2A to 2C are plan views of a seal pattern according to the related art. In FIG. 2A, when an upper substrate is not yet bonded to a lower substrate, a seal line is configured to comprise a single line of sealant with a liquid crystal injection hole.
In FIG. 2B, when the upper and lower substrates are bonded together, any air surrounded by the seal line must be vented and made to flow through the liquid crystal injection hole. Accordingly, air pressure through the liquid crystal injection hole significantly increases. Thus, any spacers scattered between the bonded substrates will be dislodged. As a result, the gap between the bonded substrates will not remain uniform. Moreover, in order to compensate for the increase of air pressure through the liquid crystal injection hole, pressure applied to the two substrates must be increased, thereby possibly damaging the substrates. In addition, the damaged substrates problem becomes more serious when the substrates are enlarged.
In FIG. 2C, when the substrates have been bonded, a width of the seal line increases and a width of the liquid crystal injection hole decreases.

Liquid crystal display device having venting portions in seal pattern and method of manufacturing the same