A communications interface circuit includes data signal transformers for transmitting and receiving interface data signals. Each data signal transformer has a split interface-side winding that faces the cable connecting the interface with other equipment. Imbalance detection transformers each have a tapped interface-side winding (e.g., center-tapped) connected in series between split portions of the split interface-side winding of a respective data signal transformer. A DC circuit (source or load) has positive and negative supply terminals each connected to a tap connection of the tapped winding of an imbalance detection transformer. Imbalance detection and correction circuitry detects imbalance by (a) applying a relatively low-frequency imbalance detection signal to the local-side winding of the imbalance detection transformers, and (b) applying a detection function to a resulting imbalance detection signal obtained from the respective imbalance detection transformer, and then applies a compensation current to the local-side windings of the data signal transformers based on the detected imbalance.

The invention pertains to the field of communications interfaces via which DC power is provided to operating circuitry.
Powered communications interfaces are utilized in data communications systems to provide operating power to devices over the same wires used to carry data communications signals, in a manner analogous to the traditional telephone system in which DC operating power is provided to subscriber equipment over the twisted-pair telephone wires. Today, there is widespread use of so-called "power over Ethernet" or POE technology, in which DC operating power is provided to digital telephones and other data equipment over unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cables connecting the data equipment with centralized data switches. In POE parlance, a device receiving power in this fashion is termed a "powered device" or PD, while a device that provides power for use by PDs is termed a "power sourcing equipment" or PSE.
An Ethernet communications interface utilizes transformer coupling of transmitted and received data signals in order to maintain electrical isolation between devices that are connected together by an Ethernet cable. DC circuitry (such as power source or load) is connected between respective center-taps of interface-side windings of transmit and receive transformers. Current flowing from the DC circuitry to an interface-side winding of one transformer is split into two components that flow through respective conductors of a twisted pair of the Ethernet cable, and likewise current flowing into the DC circuitry from the interface-side winding of the other transformer is the result of the adding together within the interface-side winding of two current components received from respective conductors of another twisted pair. Ideally, the respective paths of the current components are substantially matched so that the current splits into two substantially equal portions.
It is possible, however, that in any given system there is a mismatch or imbalance between the two current components of a powered communications interface, and if the imbalance is severe enough then problems may occur in the operation of the data communications interface. Such imbalance generally occurs due to a mismatch between the overall electrical resistances of the respective paths traveled by the current components. Such differences in resistance can occur in transformers, cables, connectors, and patch panels for example. One effect of this type of imbalance is the possibility of distortion on the data signals passing through the transformers, which if severe enough can cause data errors or even render the communications link unusable. The distortion, which is referred to as "droop", arises because of the magnetizing effect of the mismatched currents flowing through the transformer. The interface-side winding of the transformers is wound such that when equal DC current flows through them, the net magnetizing effect is zero. When the currents are unequal, the operating point of the transformer is shifted away from a desired zero-magnetization operating point, and pulse droop may result.
US Published Patent Applications 2006/0115007 A1 and 2006/0119478 A1 show a circuit delivering common mode inline power over a pair of conductors, in which any imbalance in the current carried by the conductors is detected and compensated with a bias current applied to counter the imbalance. The droop may be measured by coupling a receiver to the transmitter output at the physical-layer circuitry (PHY). The transmitter transmits a differential AC signal into the primary of the transformer. A receiver is coupled to receive and monitor the signal transmitted by the transmitter. A processor (or other suitable circuit) determines if there is droop by comparing the (possibly) distorted pulse (or characteristics thereof) to an expected or ideal pulse (or characteristics thereof). This may be done, for example, by measuring the peak amplitude or the amplitude at some point in the pulse, for example, near the end of the pulse where the droop usually tends to be more pronounced. This amplitude is compared to the expected or desired amplitude and a difference error signal related to the magnitude of the droop is generated. This is applied to a feedback loop which applies a correcting DC current to an appropriate node of the circuit in order to counter the unbalanced current flow on the wire side of the transformer and thereby bring the difference error signal to zero or nearly zero and so reduce the droop and correct the shape of the pulse.

Powered communications interface with DC current imbalance compensation


An industrial gun which has an autofire mechanism which automatically pulls its own trigger in response to continued movement of a breech closing handle in the closing direction and the method of use of such a gun.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to industrial guns. More particularly, the invention relates to manual firing mechanisms for industrial guns of the type having a rotary handle operated pivoting combination loading ramp and breech block.
2. Description of the Related Art
Industrial 8 gauge shotguns have been used for many years to shoot 8 gauge shotgun slugs into rotary kilns to knock off slag rings which form on the interior of the kilns. Such kilns are large and hot and the use of such guns avoids the previous practice of allowing the kiln to cool and having men enter the kiln and beat the rings off with hammers and picks. With the industrial 8 gauge kiln gun, the kiln need not be cooled and no men have to enter the kiln. The Industrial 8 gauge kiln gun pays for itself by greatly reducing down time. One leading 8 gauge kiln gun is the WINCHESTER RINGBLASTER brand gun made and sold by the Winchester Division of Olin Corporation, East Alton, Ill. The current version of that gun is the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,088 to Olson dated April 1984, and an alternative version proposed to use a pistol type hand grip is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,019 to Dennis dated Jan. 22, 1991.
The WINCHESTER RINGBLASTER brand gun is the world's best selling 8 gauge kiln gun and is an excellent and reliable product. This invention seeks to improve the firing mechanism of that type of gun to allow it to be loaded with one hand and fired with the other to speed up the firing rate yet retain safety and control. The faster rate further reduces kiln down time.
A new technical approach is needed which can allow such one handed operation.


An enclosed re-programmable non-volatile memory card includes a cover that is hinged to the card to normally cover a set of external contacts to which the memory is connected but which can be rotated out of the way by hand to expose that set of contacts for connection with a mating receptacle of a host device. A second set of electrical contacts having a different pattern than the covered set may also be provided on the card. The covered set of contacts may be in accordance with the universal serial bus (USB) plug standards. A latching mechanism built into the hinged cover holds it firmly in a closed position but allows its manual release to expose the covered set of contacts. One exemplary release mechanism utilizes a resiliently held element that is moveable by hand against the resilience, and another employs a hand slideable latch.

This invention relates generally to the use and structure of removable electronic circuit cards, particularly those including mass re-programmable non-volatile integrated circuit memory.
Electronic circuit cards, including non-volatile memory cards, have been commercially implemented according to a number of well-known standards. Memory cards are used with personal computers, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital still cameras, digital movie cameras, portable audio players and other host electronic devices for the storage of large amounts of data. Such cards usually contain a re-programmable non-volatile semiconductor memory cell array along with a controller that controls operation of the memory cell array and interfaces with a host to which the card connected. Several of the same type of card may be interchanged in a host card slot designed to accept that type of card. However, the development of the many electronic card standards has created different types of cards that are incompatible with each other in various degrees. A card made according to one standard is usually not useable with a host designed to operate with a card of another standard.
One such standard, the PC Card Standard, provides specifications for three types of PC Cards. Originally released in 1990, the PC Card Standard now contemplates three forms of a rectangular card measuring 85.6 mm. by 54.0 mm., having thicknesses of 3.3 mm. (Type I), 5.0 mm. (Type II) and 10.5 mm. (Type III). An electrical connector, which engages pins of a slot in which the card is removably inserted, is provided along a narrow edge of the card. PC Card slots are included in current notebook personal computers, as well as in other host equipment, particularly portable devices. The PC Card Standard is a product of the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA). The current PC Card specifications, "PC Card Standard Release 8.0," dated April 2001, is available from the PCMCIA.
In 1994, SanDisk Corporation, assignee of the present application, introduced the CompactFlash™ card (CF™ card) that is functionally compatible with the PC Card but is much smaller. The CF™ card is rectangularly shaped with dimensions of 42.8 mm. by 36.4 mm. and a thickness of 3.3 mm., and has a female pin connector along one edge. The CF™ card is widely used with cameras for the storage of still video data. A passive adapter card is available, in which the CF card fits, that then can be inserted into a PC Card slot of a host computer or other device. The controller within the CF card operates with the card's flash memory to provide an ATA interface at its connector. That is, a host with which a CF card is connected interfaces with the card as if it is a disk drive. Specifications for the CompactFlash card have been established by the CompactFlash Association, "CF+ and CompactFlash Specification Revision 2.0," dated May 2003. An implementation of these specifications is described by SanDisk Corporation in a product manual "CompactFlash Memory Card Product Manual," revision 10.1, dated September 2003.
The SmartMedia™ card is about one-third the size of a PC Card, having dimensions of 45.0 mm. by 37.0 mm. and is very thin at only 0.76 mm. thick. Contacts are provided in a defined pattern as areas on a surface of the card. Its specifications have been defined by the Solid State Floppy Disk Card (SSFDC) Forum, which began in 1996. It contains flash memory, particularly of the NAND type. The SmartMedia™ card is intended for use with portable electronic devices, particularly cameras and audio devices, for storing large amounts of data. A memory controller is included either in the host device or in an adapter card in another format such as one according to the PC Card standard. Physical and electrical specifications for the SmartMedia™ card have been issued by the SSFDC Forum.
Another non-volatile memory card is the MultiMediaCard (MMC™). The physical and electrical specifications for the MMC™ are given in "The MultiMediaCard System Specification" that is updated and published from time-to-time by the MultiMediaCard Association (MMCA), including version 3.1, dated June 2001. MMC products having varying storage capacity are currently available from SanDisk Corporation. The MMC card is rectangularly shaped with a size similar to that of a postage stamp. The card's dimensions are 32.0 mm. by 24.0 mm. and 1.4 mm. thick, with a row of electrical contacts on a surface of the card along a narrow edge that also contains a cut-off corner. These products are described in a "MultiMediaCard Product Manual," Revision 5.2, dated March 2003, published by SanDisk Corporation. Certain aspects of the electrical operation of the MMC products are also described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,279,114 and 6,901,457, both by applicants Thomas N. Toombs and Micky Holtzman, and assigned to SanDisk Corporation. The physical card structure and a method of manufacturing it are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,040,622, assigned to SanDisk Corporation.
A modified version of the MMC™ card is the later Secure Digital (SD) card. The SD Card has the same rectangular size as the MMC™ card but with an increased thickness (2.1 mm.) in order to accommodate an additional memory chip when that is desired. A primary difference between these two cards is the inclusion in the SD card of security features for its use to store proprietary data such as that of music. Another difference between them is that the SD Card includes additional data contacts in order to enable faster data transfer between the card and a host. The other contacts of the SD Card are the same as those of the MMC™ card in order that sockets designed to accept the SD Card can also be made to accept the MMC™ card. A total of nine contacts are positioned along a short edge of the card that contains a cutoff corner. This is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,820,148. The electrical interface with the SD card is further made to be, for the most part, backward compatible with the MMC™ card, in order that few changes to the operation of the host need be made in order to accommodate both types of cards. Complete specifications for the SD card are available to member companies from the SD Association (SDA). A public document describing the physical and some electrical characteristics of the SD Card is available from the SDA: "Simplified Version of: Part 1 Physical Layer Specification Version 1.01," dated Apr. 15, 2001.
More recently, a miniSD card has been specified by the SDA and is commercially available. This card is smaller than the SD card but provides much of the same functionality. It has a modified rectangular shape with dimensions of 21.5 mm. long, 20.0 mm. wide and 1.4 mm. thick. A total of eleven electrical contacts are positioned in a row on a surface of the card along one edge. The miniSD memory card is available from SanDisk Corporation and described in the "SanDisk miniSD Card Product Manual," version 1.0, April 2003.
Another type of memory card is the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), the specifications of which are published by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). A portion of these specifications appear as GSM 11.11, a recent version being technical specification ETSI TS 100 977 V8.3.0 (2000-08), entitled "Digital Cellular Telecommunications System (Phase 2+); Specification of the Subscriber Identity Module—Mobile Equipment (SIM-ME) Interface," (GSM 11.11 Version 8.3.0 Release 1999). Two types of SIM cards are specified: ID-1 SIM and Plug-in SIM.
The ID-1 SIM card has a format and layout according to the ISO/IEC 7810 and 7816 standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The ISO/IEC 7810 standard is entitled "Identification cards—Physical characteristics," second edition, August 1995. The ISO/IEC 7816 standard has the general title of "Identification cards—Integrated Circuit(s) Cards with Contacts," and consists of parts 1-10 that carry individual dates from 1994 through 2000. Copies of these standards are available from the ISO/IEC in Geneva, Switzerland. The ID-1 SIM card is generally the size of a credit card, having dimensions of 85.60 mm. by 53.98 mm., with rounder corners, and a thickness of 0.76 mm. Such a card may have only memory or may also include a microprocessor, the latter often being referred to as a "Smart Card." One application of a Smart Card is as a debit card where an initial credit balance is decreased every time it is used to purchase a product or a service.
The Plug-in SIM is a very small card, smaller than the MMC™ and SD cards. The GSM 11.11 specification referenced above calls for this card to be a rectangle 25 mm. by 15 mm., with one corner cut off for orientation, and with the same thickness as the ID-1 SIM card. A primary use of the Plug-in SIM card is in mobile telephones and other devices for security against the theft and/or unauthorized use of the devices, in which case the card stores a security code personal to the device's owner or user. In both types of SIM cards, eight electrical contacts (but with as few as five being used) are specified in the ISO/IEC 7816 standard to be arranged on a surface of the card for contact by a host receptacle.
Sony Corporation has developed and commercialized a non-volatile memory card, sold as the Memory Stick™, that has yet another set of specifications. Its shape is that of an elongated rectangle having 10 electrical contacts in a row and individually recessed into a surface adjacent one of its short sides that also contains a cut out corner for orientation. The card's size is 50.0mm. long by 21.5 mm. wide by 2.8 mm. thick.
A more recent Memory Stick Duo card is smaller, having dimensions of 31.0 mm. long by 20.0 mm. wide by 1.6 mm. thick. Ten contacts are provided in a common recess in a surface and along a short side of the card, which also contains an orienting notch. This smaller card is often used by insertion into a passive adapter having the shape of a Memory Stick card.
SanDisk Corporation has introduced an even smaller transportable non-volatile TransFlash memory module in a modified rectangular shape, having dimensions of 15.0 mm. long by 11.0 mm. wide by 1.0 mm. thick. Eight electrical contact pads are provided in a row on a surface adjacent a short edge of the card. This card is useful for a variety of applications, particularly with portable devices, and is being incorporated into multimedia camera cell telephones.
As is apparent from the foregoing summary of certain electronic card standards, there are many differences in their physical characteristics including size and shape, in the number, arrangement and structure of electrical contacts and in the electrical interface with a host system through those contacts when the card is connected with a host. Electronic devices that use electronic cards are usually made to work with only one type of card. Adaptors, both active and passive types, have been provided or proposed to allow some degree of interchangeability of electronic cards among such host devices. U.S. Pat. No. 6,266,724 of Harari et al. describes use of combinations of mother and daughter memory cards.
Small, hand-held re-programmable non-volatile memories have also been made to interface with a computer or other type of host through a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector. These are especially convenient for users who have one or more USB connectors available on the front of their personal computers, particularly if a receptacle slot for one of the above identified memory cards is not present. Such devices are also very useful for transferring data between various host systems that have USB receptacles, including portable devices. Mechanical and electrical details of the USB interface are provided by the "Universal Serial Bus Specification," revision 2.0, dated Apr. 27, 2000. There are several USB flash drive products commercially available from SanDisk Corporation under its trademark Cruzer. USB flash drives are typically larger and shaped differently than the memory cards described above.
Another, higher transfer rate interface that has become commonplace on personal computers and other host devices is specified by the following standard of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE): "IEEE Standard for a High Performance Serial Bus," document no. IEEE 1394-1995, as amended by document nos. IEEE 1394a-2000 and IEEE 1394b-2002. A common commercial form of this bus interface is known as FireWire. Because of its higher speed, this interface is particularly useful for the transfer of large amounts of data to and from a computing device.
An electronic circuit card herein, such as one containing re-programmable non-volatile memory, includes at least one set of external contacts and a cover that is rotatable by hand about an axis extending across the width of the card to expose the contacts for insertion of that portion of the card into a mating host receptacle. In a specific example, the contacts and portion of the card carrying the card conform to the USB plug standard. The internal memory of a memory card, most commonly flash memory, is operable with the host through the set of contacts with an appropriate signal protocol. The cover is hinged to the card at the axis in a manner that allows the cover to be rotated with respect to the card approximately one-hundred eighty degrees between closed and opened positions that cover and expose, respectively, the at least one set of contacts. In a particular example structure, the cover is hinged with the card in a manner that provides positive detents that hold the card in at least an opened position, and optionally also in a closed position. The hinge may also be made to positively hold the lid partially opened, such as at ninety degrees to the memory card. The lid is rotated between these positions by finger manipulation to overcome the slight retaining force provided of the detents.
The cover may include a hand manipulated positive latch that engages a mating structure on an end of the card adjacent the set of contacts in order hold the cover positively closed over the set of contacts. Such a latch may be included along with the hinge detents or alternatively provided in a card structure that utilizes a cover hinge without the detents. The latching mechanism preferably automatically latches the cover to the card when the cover is closed. In order to open the cover, an element within the cover is manipulated by hand to release the latch. In one specific embodiment, this element is moved away from the end of the card containing the electrical contacts against the force of a spring within the cover that tends to hold the latch closed. In another specific embodiment, this element is slid along an end of the cover to disengage it from a mating latching surface at the end of the card.
Additional aspects, advantages, features and details of various aspects of the present invention are included in the following description of exemplary embodiments thereof, which description should be taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
All patents, patent applications, articles, manuals, standards, specifications, other publications and things referenced herein are hereby incorporated herein by those references in their entirety for all purposes.
To the extent of any inconsistency or conflict in the definition or use of terms between any of the incorporated publications, documents or things and the present application, those of the present application shall prevail.

Memory card with latching mechanism for hinged cover


An electrically-powered service rig utilizes an engine-driven generator to power a propulsion system, a drawworks system and a sandline system, all mounted on a single mobile platform. The rig utilizes lightweight permanent magnet motors to enable integration of the systems onto a single mobile platform which meets transport regulations. The rig's power plant is capable of powering other onsite equipment such as mud pump motors through use of umbilicals connected to the engine-driven generator.

Oil wells typically require some servicing during the lifetime of the wellbore whether it be to increase production, such as by acidizing or fracturing the formation and the like, perform testing on the formation or the wellbore integrity, replace components such as sucker rods or production tubing or casing or to perform a variety of other operations as necessary.
Service rigs are typically designed to at least have the capacity to trip out or run in the production tubing and to run in and trip out a variety of downhole tools. Conventionally, the service rig generally comprises at least a drawworks for raising and lowering tubulars and the like and typically a sandline for raising and lowering downhole tools such as during swabbing operations. Each of the drawworks and sandline are typically powered by diesel motors to which they are mechanically connected. The conventional powering systems typically do not provide as fine a motor control of the drawworks and the sandline as is desired for servicing operations. AC motors are used in the drilling industry where weight is less of a limitation on design.
Production tubing typically cannot handle as much torque as a drill stem and therefore more control is required for tripping out and running in of production tubing as compared to drill pipe. Conventional positioning of components into or out of the wellbore for servicing therefore has required careful and continuous monitoring and management of at least the drawworks and sandline systems by the onsite driller to ensure safe operations.
Conventionally power has been provided for braking systems on the drawworks and the sandline drums through diesel motors and mechanical connections associated therewith. Similarly in conventional rigs, hydraulic motor systems are also provided to operate tongs and slips required to break or make sections of tubing from the tubing string as it removed from or inserted into the wellbore.
In many cases, where the formation is to be treated by chemicals, pumping units are brought onsite to provide specialized treatment fluids which are pumped into the wellbore. The pumping unit is typically provided with a separate power source onsite.
Service rigs are generally portable rigs which comprise a transportable platform mounted on an undercarriage and which are powered by a propulsion system for moving the rig from wellsite to wellsite. Conventionally propulsion systems for service rigs are separately powered and typically comprise at least a large diesel engine carried on the platform and mechanically connected to the transmission through a gear box. A plurality of axle/wheel configurations are typically available for the undercarriage so as to conform to Department of Transport regulations. Service rigs must be capable of carrying a significant amount of weight given the diverse equipment mounted thereon and must also be able to meet regulations governed by road bans to permit servicing of wellbores throughout the year and under a variety of environmental condition. This becomes a challenge for rig manufacturers who must balance the competing requirement of the industry for greater functionality of the rig while trying to reduce the weight to meet the road ban conditions.
Additionally, there are electrical requirements onsite to support servicing operations such as hotel loads, onsite lighting and other such requirements which are conventionally provided by one or more small generators separately provided.
There is a need to provide improved power systems for service rigs that are efficient, supply the needs of the operations at the wellsite and which do not add significantly to the problems associated with the weight of the rig so as to maintain maximum transportability.


A mask is produced for converting multi-level image data into a halftone image through comparison with a threshold for each pixel. For this purpose, a dot pattern is determined on each of predetermined gray scale levels, and, the mask is created by the dot patterns obtained at the step, where the respective dot patterns are determined independently for every gray scale level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mask producing method, an image outputting device and computer readable recording medium, in particular, to a mask producing method for producing a mask of a threshold matrix by which a halftone-dot image is created with an image quality improved, the threshold matrix being used for generation of halftone image in digital image processing, and, to a so-called FM mask, a type of the threshold matrix, attracting attention in terms both of processing speed and image quality, an image outputting device, and a computer readable recording medium storing a software program, and mask data, thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a method of producing a halftone image in digital image processing, i.e., a method of expressing a shade or gray scale of an image by a combination of on-dot (for example, black dot) and off-dot (for example, white dot), there are "dithering" and "error dispersion method", and they have the following characteristics, respectively.
First, dithering will be described now.
Dithering is a method of converting original multi-level image data into a corresponding dot pattern using a threshold matrix (referred to as a "dither matrix", or, simply, "mask", hereinafter) produced based on a specific rule, by comparing with the original multi-level image data every pixel.
FIG. 1 shows a type of dithering. As shown in the figure, dithering expresses a gray scale by changing the density of on-dots, and includes a frequency modulation scheme (FM mask) dithering and an area modulation scheme (AM mask) dithering. According to the FM mask dithering, the density of uniformly dispersed on-dots is controlled.
There, in order to reproduce 8-bit-per-pixel multi-level information by an outputting unit/device having a lower expressing capability, on-dot density should express information in depth direction (8 bits) of the original image data has, on plane coordinates. In this case, in order to keep one-to-one correspondence between the characteristics, such as on-dot (for example, black dot) density and gray scale of the output image, the number of on-dots present within a predetermined area should be determined for every gray scale level, necessarily, as shown in FIG. 2A, for example.
The above-mentioned dither matrix is produced as a result of on-dot arrangements being summarized in a table on a predetermined area for respective gray scale levels, while matching is held with regard to the order of on-dot occurrence along gray scale before and after a relevant gray scale level, as shown in FIG. 2B. FIG. 2A shows on-dot arrangement determined for each gray scale level, while FIG. 2B shows a process of producing a dither matrix according to the on-dot arrangements shown in FIG. 2A.
The control of the order of on-dot occurrence along the gray scale is made for preventing that a difference in dot pattern in the meantime may be recognized in an output image as a stepwise manner, at a time a dither matrix to be applied is switched on an image in which gray scale changes gradually.
Although it is possible as a dither matrix to apply a matrix having a size the same as that of an input original image theoretically, since a memory capacity needed would become huge, it is common to apply a dither matrix of size much smaller than an original image, while repeatedly shifting it a position, area by area, in a manner of tile placement, on an original image, as shown in FIG. 3, so as to perform conversion to a halftone dot pattern.
Since this dithering is comparatively simple for operation processing, the processing speed can be secured, and, this scheme may be applied to an image requiring a medium (not very high) image quality. In this scheme, generally, it is noted that a measure should be taken against Moiré.
On the other hand, although processing speed is slow due to complex processing required, the error dispersion method may be applied to an image requiring a high or very high image quality. Of course, this scheme requires relatively high cost on the other hand.
Thus, since any schemes have particular merits and demerits, as for dithering and error dispersion schemes, it is common to properly select one of them according to a nature of an image output uniting applied or a type of image to be processed.
At late in the 1900s, a halftone processing scheme having features including merits of these two types of schemes was proposed. Generally, this scheme is called "FM mask method", "FM screen method" or "blue noise mask method", and is similar to a Bayer-type method which is a type of "dithering", and employs a way of the same frequency modulation type (FM) mask comparing method.
According to this. FM mask method, a threshold matrix is applied which is determined in consideration of frequency characteristic (blue noise characteristic, or BN characteristic) only concerning high frequency component except low frequency component in case of threshold determination. Though it is a mask comparing method, it is possible to prevent periodicity in low frequency from being conspicuous as in case of Bayer-type method or dot-collection type dithering, and, also, to prevent generation of Moire, as a result, the resolution characteristic as superior as that in case of application of the error diffusion method can be acquired. Therefore, this method attracts attentions from various fields, i.e., a printing field, and so forth, and various approaches are tried thereon.
For example, as an initial trial, after carrying out Fourier transform on a completely random (white noise) dot pattern, then filtering with a filter with BN characteristic is performed, and, then, inverse Fourier transform is performed, so that an ideal FM mask may be produced, according to "Method and Device for converting Gray Scale Image into Halftone Image by using Blue Noise Mask" disclosed in Japanese patent No. 2622429.
Moreover, according to "The Void-and-Cluster Method for Dither Array Generation" (Robert Ulchney, Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, Mass., 01754-2571), SPIE, vol. 1913, the contents thereof being incorporated therein by reference, a method (referred to as a 'void and cluster method or scheme', hereinafter) is disclosed of comparing a void (image region having coarse on-dots) and a cluster (image region having dense on-dots), and exchanging on-dots therebetween, thereby, performing mask optimization.
However, according to any of these schemes, as a calculation result finally obtained depends on a random pattern as a starting point, it should be different each time. Furthermore, since it is necessary to reconstruct a uniform distribution state from an uneven distribution state, huge calculation time is required if the size of a mask becomes large.
Then, according to "Improved method and device of generating halftone image while reducing worms in gray scale image" disclosed by Japanese laid-open patent application No. 8-80641, a starting mask (initial dot pattern) made according to the error diffusion scheme is applied.
According to this scheme, a random element can be eliminated as a result of a dot pattern used as a starting point being arbitrarily controllable, and thereby, recursion of a calculation result can be secured. Furthermore, calculation time can be shortened while the quality of the mask finally produced can be improved as a result of a uniform distribution being able to be applied at an initial stage. However, as this method is a so-called 'sequential method' in which, from such a starting dot pattern, optimization is performed step by step along gray scale, a dot arrangement is thus necessarily restricted by an immediately precedingly determined dot pattern.
Accordingly, even when the starting dot pattern is ideal in terms of avoiding graininess and/or texture characteristic, it is a feature being held only at a starting point, and, after adding on-dots thereto so as to produce a dot pattern in a subsequent gray scale level, this feature may be degraded. Then, after repeating this process for producing dot patterns for the subsequent gray scale levels, so as to build a final FM mask, difference from the starting point is accumulated gradually, and, accordingly, the final FM mask may be far different from the ideal one.
Although various optimization functions and search methods for ideal dot arrangement have been tried in order to prevent such quality degradation in dot arrangement as described above, any schemes may not completely solve this problem as long as the method is the above-mentioned sequential method by which, as mentioned above, restriction due to immediately preceding gray scale level should be accumulated.

Mask producing method, image outputting device and computer readable recording medium


A stress-strain test for conductors. A test assembly receives first and second conductive layers and a dielectric layer adjacent each of the conductive layers. The layers are generally ring-shaped and concentric when received by the test assembly and the dielectric layer separates the conductive layers from each other. A magnetic field source provides a magnetic field to the test assembly and a variable current source provides current to the second conductive layer. A circuit measures a change in capacitance between the conductive layers when the current in the second conductive layer is varied whereby the stress and strain characteristics of the second conductive layer are determined as a function of the capacitance change.

The present invention relates generally to tensile test and fatigue measuring devices and particularly to a test system for measuring Lorentz force tensile stress5 strain and critical current density fatigue characteristics of conductors in situ.
The stress, strain, and fatigue characteristics of conductive materials determine the applications of such materials. For example, in conductors such as Bi.sub.2 Sr.sub.2 CaCu.sub.2 O.sub.x /Ag (BSCCO/Ag) and Ag-alloy composite superconductors that have a relatively high critical current density, J.sub.c, large strains can cause irreversible damage to the conductors. Likewise, crack propagation from fatigue at low strains can limit the uses of the conductors. These forces can also affect the superconducting properties of the conductors. For example, the local peak strain within the superconductor filaments of a composite ceramic superconductor can limit its coil properties during high field operation in a superconducting magnet. Further, cycling at low strain may degrade the critical current density and, thus, the superconducting properties, of superconducting tapes. Such fatigue behavior may relate to the fundamental J.sub.c limit and limit other applications of these superconductors as well.
The conventional tensile test system determines the stress-strain relationship of a conductor by mechanically pulling the conductor and comparing the applied force to the amount that the conductor is deformed. Due to the small size of a typical BSCCO/AgX superconducting tape, standard testing machines (i.e., hydraulic and pneumatic MTS type apparatus) are unusable for determining the stress, strain and fatigue characteristics of such tapes. Further, the loads required to fail such tapes usually do not exceed 200 N (45 lbf) which is less than the typical minimum load of conventional test apparatus. Also, these superconducting tapes are often very thin (e.g., having a width to thickness ratio on the order of 20 or more) which necessitates special gripping techniques by the conventional test apparatus. Thus, smaller and more sensitive instrumentation is desired to perform mechanical stress testing.
One such test apparatus is a table-top mechanical testing device operating at room temperature and employing a linear stepper motor capable of delivering 330 N (75 lbf) to a sample. This device uses relatively small 50 and 150 lbf load cells and linear variable displacement transducers (LVDT) for measurement of applied load and displacement. The typical load cell has a resolution of 6.0 mN and the typical LVDT has a resolution of 0.6 .mu.m. In operation, the sample to be tested is placed between a set of grips and pulled. The device accommodates samples of 30 to 50 mm, for example, and runs the samples through a tensile test until failure or a fatigue test using either a strain limit or a test limit.
Disadvantageously, conventional test apparatus fail to provide an indication of stress and fatigue behavior at normal operating temperatures and subject to the actual forces which may eventually cause failure (i.e., magnetic stresses due to Lorentz forces in a magnet). For this reason, an in situ test system which approximates normal operating conditions is desired.

System and method for performing tensile stress-strain and fatigue tests


Described are an apparatus and method for blind mating electrical connectors. A connector-alignment collar includes a frame with a multi-sided base portion. The sides of the base portion define an area within which to receive a connector closely. A guide cantilever extends substantially perpendicularly from the base portion at a first side of the frame, and an alignment cantilever extends substantially perpendicularly from the base portion at a second side of the frame opposite the first side. The connector-alignment collar is placed around a first electrical connector on a first circuit board. The alignment cantilever is inserted into an alignment hole in the second circuit board while a guide notch in an edge of the second circuit board is urged against the guide cantilever. After the alignment cantilever is inserted into the alignment hole in the second circuit board, the first electrical connector on the first circuit board mates with the second electrical connector on the second circuit board.

A common approach used in the development of electronic equipment assemblies incorporates a modular design, in which multiple modules, subassemblies, or printed circuit cards are interconnected. Such an approach may simplify initial designs by allowing for the incorporation of other commercially available modules. With replaceable modules or printed circuit cards, provisioning of spares can be accomplished for each module independently, as required. An interconnected modular approach also simplifies maintainability by reducing repair tasks to board removal and replacement.
A recent trend in electronic equipment assemblies is toward higher data rates (hundreds of MHZ or higher) and smaller connector footprints. Such high data rates impose limitations on the length and manner of some electrical interconnections. Preferably, the length of interconnections should be kept to a minimum distance to avoid unwanted effects to the electrical signals. To keep interconnection length short, some designs directly interconnect overlapping or stacked circuit cards using board-to-board connectors.
Board-to-board connectors are relatively inexpensive and readily available. Some connectors have a high number of contacts distributed in a rectangular array (e.g., MEG-ARRAY® connectors) that may couple to a circuit board using a ball-grid array. Advantageously, these connectors keep interconnect lengths to a minimum. However, because of the small size and high density of contacts, damage to the connector's contacts can occur unless care is exercised during the mating and un-mating of the connector. Compounding this risk, many applications employ these delicate, high-density connectors in a blind mate configuration in which the connectors sit between overlapping circuit boards. Without an unobstructed view to the connector surfaces, the connectors are vulnerable to damage during the mating process. This can be particularly true for field replacements, where board removal and replacement occur in less-than-ideal conditions. Thus, there remains a need for improving the reliability of blind mate interconnections without unnecessarily increasing cost or complexity.

Connector-alignment collar for blind mating electrical connectors


A product obtained by reacting a sulfonated amino resin and an amino group-containing substance in a weight ratio of from 1:0.05 to 1:3.

A zeta potential regulator for papermaking which contains a sulfonic acid group-containing melamine-formaldehyde condensate as an active ingredient is proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 259699/1985. The publication discloses that the sulfonic acid group-containing melamine-formaldehyde condensate is obtained by condensing 1 part by mol of melamine or a mixture of melamine and another condensable compound, 2 to 4 parts by mol of formaldehyde or an equivalent mols of a formaldehyde donor, and from 0.5 to 2 parts by mol of a bisulfite and a sulfite or an equivalent mols of a bisulfite or sulfite donor in a molar ratio of formaldehyde to the bisulfite or the sulfite of from 4.5:1 to 2:1.
Many sulfonated amino resins have been proposed as water reducing agents for concrete. Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 13991/1977 proposes an aqueous solution of a sulfonic acid group-containing melamine-formaldehyde condensate obtained by reacting a melamine-urea mixture, formaldehyde and an alkali sulfite in an aqueous solution in a molar ratio of 1:2.7 to 3.2:0.9 to 1.1. Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 43699/1989 proposes a sulfonic acid group-containing melamine-formaldehyde condensate obtained by condensing melamine, formaldehyde and a sulfite in an aqueous medium in a molar ratio of 1:2.2 to 3.2:0.3 to 1.0.
The above-mentioned sulfonic acid group-containing melamine-formaldehyde condensates are not so effective as a retention aid during sheeting, and have a drawback that it is inferior in slump retention, though they are very effective as a water reducing agent for concrete. The sulfonic acid group-containing melamine-formaldehyde condensates has another drawback that their application and amount are limited because of the remaining free formaldehyde. In addition, it is difficult to obtain a sulfonic acid group-containing melamine-formaldehyde condensate having a high viscosity by the methods disclosed in the above publications.
No report has been made about a product obtained by reacting a sulfonated amino resin and an amino group-containing substance.
The first aspect of the present invention provides a product obtained by reacting a sulfonated amino resin and an amino group-containing substance which solves the above-mentioned drawbacks of prior art and is a novel material useful in many ways, and a process for its production.
The present inventors have found that an amino group-containing substance such as melamine can be easily dissolved in an aqueous solution of a sulfonated amino resin, and accomplished the first aspect of the present invention as a result of extensive researches. Namely, the first aspect of the present invention provides a product obtained by reacting a sulfonated amino resin and an amino group-containing substance which is useful in a wide variety of industries, e.g., as a retention aid in production of paper made mainly of cellulose fibers, or cellulose fibers and inorganic filler materials, as a flocculant in waste water treatment, as a water reducing agent in preparation of hydraulic inorganic materials such as cement and gypsum, as an admixture for the earth pressure shield tunneling method, and as a dispersant for coating, its sol and a process for its production.
Paper made mainly of cellulose fibers or of cellulose fibers and inorganic filler materials is generally manufactured by supplying an aqueous papermaking stock prepared by dispersing and separating a cellulose pulp in water, adjusting the concentration and, if desired, adding filler materials and other additives, to a papermaking machine, followed by removal of water and drying processes. To improve retention of cellulose fibers and fillers, strength and quality of a paper sheet and productivity, papermaking machines, various additives such as cationic starch and papermaking processes have been improved.
It has been conventional to employ the acid papermaking process wherein aluminum sulfate is used as a flocculant and as a fixer for sizing agents, and an anionic organic polymer is used as a strength agent and as a retention aid. In recent years, inorganic filler materials are added in increasing amounts for the purposes of cost-cutting and improved quality of a paper sheet, and more low-quality pulp is used due to shortage of high quality pulp and for the purpose of cost-cutting. Further, the sheeting rate is increasing for improved productivity. The acid papermaking process, which requires much aluminum sulfate, is displaced by a modified acid papermaking process and by the neutral papermaking process in many cases because of inadequate durability of the resulting paper, insufficient reuse of white water, corrosion of facilities and unusability of calcium carbonate as an inorganic filler material. Techniques and additives developed for the conventional acid papermaking process are not sufficiently effective in the alternative processes. Therefore, retention aid and methods for improving retention are especially desired to be developed, and many proposals for the acid papermaking process and the neutral papermaking methods have been made.
It has been long known to use a cationic starch in order to cause flocculation, which is advantageous to papermaking and to improve strength of a paper sheet. Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6587/1980 proposes a method employing a combination of a cationic component such as a cationic starch or an acrylamide copolymer with an anionic component such as natural starch or a carboxymethylated starch, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 12824/1980 proposes a method using a cationic resin emulsion and an anionic water-soluble polymer in combination. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 259699/1985 discloses a method wherein a zeta potential regulator containing a sulfonic acid group-containing melamine-formaldehyde condensate as the active ingredient is added before sheeting an aqueous papermaking stock containing an amphoteric polyacrylamide as a strength agent. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 14096/1990 proposes a method wherein a cationic starch is used in combination with a converted cationic starch obtained by cooking cationic starch together with from 0.2 to 15 wt %, based on the cationic starch, of an anionic polymer. As the anionic polymer, a sulfonic acid group-containing melamine-formaldehyde condensate is proposed.
The methods proposed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 6587/1980 and No. 12824/1980 characterized by combined use of a cationic organic polymer with an anionic organic polymer, improve retention of cellulose fibers and inorganic filler materials and strength of a paper sheet, but has a low productivity due to poor drainage, and lower quality of a paper sheet such as formation.
The combination of an amphoteric polyacrylamide with a zeta potential regulator containing a sulfonic acid group-containing melamine-formaldehyde condensate as the active ingredient, as proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 259699/1985, can improve strength of a paper sheet. However, in this method, retention of cellulose fibers and inorganic filler materials is poor due to weak flocculation, and the drainage is also poor. The combination of a converted cationic starch with a sulfonic acid group-containing melamine-formaldehyde condensate as an anionic polymer, as proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 14096/1990, achieves good retention and drainage but can not achieve sufficient retention under certain conditions due to insufficient flocculation and has a drawback that control of the performance of a converted cationic starch is difficult.
The second aspect of the present invention provides a papermaking process which can achieve sufficient retention and good drainage in sheeting under acidic and neutral conditions by the use of a product obtained by reacting a sulfonated amino resin and an amino group-containing substance.

Reaction product of sulfonated amino resin and amino group-containing substance and papermaking process


A device and method for receiving and reconstructing signals with improved perceived signal quality in a digital communications system is disclosed. The device and method utilize side information defining the quality or accuracy of recovered digital symbols representing an information signal and also utilizing past frame erasure information to determine whether to erase or use a frame to reconstruct the original information signal even though an error detection mechanism indicates that no error exists in the recovered digital symbols of the frame.

The present invention relates to the reconstruction of an information signal from a recovered digital signal in a digital communications system, and more particularly, to a novel device and method for improving the perceived signal quality using an adaptive frame erasure mechanism in which a frame may be erased even though an error detection mechanism indicates that no errors are present in the recovered digital signal.
Digital communication techniques have provided economic, robust ways of transferring or storing information signals. These techniques involve converting an information signal to a digital form, as a set of digital symbols, which are then transferred or stored in some representation or form that facilitates transmission over some medium or storage. Typically, the digital symbols are binary-valued, which are referred to as bits. The original information signal may be reconstructed by recovering the digital symbols or bits from the representation; the recovered digital symbols are then used by a processing unit to reconstruct the information signal.
This approach or process has been applied to a variety of audio and/or visual information signals. In speech communications systems, speech signals are converted to digital form using speech encoders, such as VSELP, LPC-RPE or the like. Recordings on compact discs, for example, store audio signals in a digital format. In video teleconferencing and video compression, video signals are compressed into digital forms using compression algorithms, such as those developed by JPEG and MPEG, for efficient transmission. Additionally, text may be converted into digital form for message service systems, such as e-mail and CD-ROM applications. All of these applications may be viewed as digital communications.
Referring to FIG. 1, in a typical digital communications system, the information signal, represented by Block 100, is divided into a series of short segments, referred to as frames 102. The portions of the information signal within each of these frames 102 are then converted into respective sets of digital symbols. These symbols are conveyed or transmitted for each frame using a certain representation, which depends upon the medium being used to transmit or store the digital symbols. For example, a frame 102 may represent twenty milliseconds of speech or a single image in a video signal. This twenty millisecond frame may be converted to a digital representation or form containing about two hundred sixty bits or digital symbols. These bits may be represented as or converted to radio waves by a communications transmitter, such as a digital cellular telephone or the like, and transmitted from an antenna of the transmitter.
When the digital symbols are communicated over some medium or written into or read from a storage device, errors may occur in recovering the digital symbol values. These errors may cause a degradation in the signal quality perceived by a listener or user of the communications system. To address this problem, error detection encoding may be applied to the digital symbols before the representation process. Typically, error detection encoding is applied to each frame 102 separately. When the signal is reconstructed, a decoding operation or error checking procedure is used to determine if there are any errors in the digital information symbols of a frame 102. If an error is detected, then the digital symbols in that frame 102 are not used to reconstruct the original information signal 100. This is commonly referred to as "frame erasure." When a frame erasure occurs, frame replacement procedures may be used to determine the disposition of the information represented by the digital symbols within the erased frame with regard to the reconstruction of the original information signal 100.
Accordingly, error detection decoding is used to determine if a frame 102 is erased. If the code in an error detection decoder detects that an error has occurred in the recovery of the digital representation of a signal, the frame 102 is erased; however, if the code within the error detection decoder does not detect that any errors occurred in the recovery of the signal, the frame 102 will be used to reconstruct the original information signal 100. When a frame 102 is erased, there may be a degradation in the reconstructed signal.
In conventional communications systems, the symbol or bit recovery process is designed to maximize the probability that the recovered digital symbols are the correct ones or substantially the same as the digital symbols before representation and transmission or storage. Accordingly, the number of symbol errors is minimized which minimizes the number of frame erasures. Techniques which improve the quality of the recovered error detection encoded symbols are often added to the symbol recovery process as a means of improving the quality of the reconstructed signal.
There are two problems associated with the signal recovery and reconstruction process. First, it is possible for the error detection decoding to indicate that no errors are present in the recovered digital symbols, when in fact, there are errors present. This is because error detection decoders are fundamentally limited in their ability to detect all possible error patterns. Additionally, in many applications, error detection encoding is only applied to a subset of the digital symbols within each frame. The error detection encoded symbols are usually those symbols that have the most impact on the reconstruction process because they are the most perceptible symbols or bits and are often referred to as such. While the error detecting code within the error detection decoder may correctly indicate that the subset of symbols are without error, there may be errors in the symbols not encoded by the error detection encoder. When symbols or bits that are in error are used to reconstruct the information signal, the quality of the reconstructed signal is perceived to be degraded by the user.
Secondly, the design approach of minimizing frame erasure rate assumes that erasing a frame causes a degradation in quality as perceived by a listener and/or viewer. If the frame erasure rate, however, is fairly low, the frame erasures are not perceived by the user, but significant bit errors on unerased frames may be perceived by the user.
It is, accordingly, a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel device and method for improving perceived signal quality in a communications system which is not subject to the foregoing disadvantages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel device and method for improving perceived signal quality wherein a decision whether to erase a recovered frame of digital symbols in the reconstruction of an information signal is a function of the side information from the recovery process and previous frame erasure information, even though the error detection decoding indicates no errors are present in the recovered symbols or bits.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel device and method for improving perceived signal quality wherein the decision to erase the frame is adaptively determined in response to previous frame erasure information.
These and other objects of the invention together with the features and advantages thereof, will become apparent from the following detailed specification when read with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals refer to like elements.

Device and method for receiving and reconstructing signals with improved perceived signal quality


An encoder device includes a first array that includes first through fourth photodiodes adjacent to each other in an X direction, each having a length of X1; a second array that includes fifth through eighth photodiodes adjacent to each other in the X direction, each having a length of X1, and is adjacent to the first array in a Y direction but displaced by X1/2 in the X direction relative to the first array; a slit member that includes light transmitting sections and light shielding section arranged alternately, each having a length 2×X1, and is movable in the X direction; and a logic circuit that generates first and second detection signals from output signals of the first through fourth photodiodes and output signals of the fifth through eighth photodiodes, respectively, a phase of the second detection signal being shifted by a ¼ period of the first detection signal relative to the first detection signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an encoder device, and particularly relates to an encoder device that detects movement of an object to be measured and generates pulses corresponding to the movement of the object.
2. Description of the Related Art
Encoder devices for generating pulses corresponding to movements of objects to be measured have long been used as devices for detecting linear motions, rotary motion, etc. of objects to be measured and inputting the detection results into digital devices such as computers.
FIGS. 7A and 7B are a plan view and a side view, respectively, each schematically showing a configuration of a related art encoder device. With reference to FIGS. 7A and 7B, the encoder device comprises a light source 10, a slit member 11, and an integrated circuit 12.
The light source 10 is disposed spaced apart from and the integrated circuit 12. The slit member 11 is interposed between the light source 10 and the integrated circuit 12, and is movable with respect to the light source 10 and the integrated circuit 12 in an X direction (leftward and rightward). The slit member 11 is fixed to an object to be measured, and moves in the X direction along with motion of the object.
Referring to a plan view of FIG. 8, the integrated circuit 12 includes photodiodes 12a, 12b, 12c, and 12d which are adjacent to each other in the X direction. Each of the photodiodes 12a, 12b, 12c, and 12d has a length of X1 in the X direction and a width of Y1 in a Y direction. Light receiving areas of the photodiodes 12a, 12b, 12c, and 12d are equal to each other.
Referring to a plan view of FIG. 9, the slit member 11 includes light transmitting sections 11a and light shielding sections 11b which are alternately adjacent to each other in the X direction. Each of the light transmitting sections 11a and the light shielding sections 11b has a length of 2×X1 in the X direction and a width of Y1+α (>Y1) in the Y direction.
Referring back to FIG. 7A, output signals of the photodiodes 12a and 12c are compared by a comparator 13, and the comparison result is output as a detection signal from a terminal 14. Output signals of the photodiodes 12b and 12d are compared by a comparator 15, and the comparison result is output as a detection signal from a terminal 16.
When the slit member 11 moves rightward in the X direction with respect to the integrated circuit 12, the incident light intensities on the photodiodes 12a, 12b, 12c, and 12d change as shown in (A), (B), (C), and (D), respectively, of FIG. 10.
Thus, the output signal of the comparator 13 and the output signal of the comparator 15 change as shown in (E) and (F), respectively, of FIG. 10, wherein the waveform of the output signal of the comparator 15 is delayed by a ¼ period relative to the waveform of the output signal of the comparator 13. On the other hand, when the slit member 11 moves leftward in the X direction with respect to the integrated circuit 12, the waveform of the output signal of the comparator 15 is advanced by a ¼ period relative to the waveform of the output signal of the comparator 13.
Incidentally, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 6-18290 discloses an encoder device comprising a member that moves in a direction of an array of openings, a light receiving element that detects lights passing through the openings, and a signal processor that generates output pulses corresponding to detection outputs from light receivers of the light receiving element.
The resolution of the related art encoder device shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B corresponds to the number of slits per unit distance in the X direction, which depends on the length 2×X1 in the X direction of each of the light transmitting sections 11a and the light shielding sections 11b of the slit member 11 and the length X1 in the X direction of each of the photodiodes 12a–12d.
Due to this configuration, the resolution of the encoder device cannot have a higher resolution than when the length 2×X1 in the X direction of each of the light transmitting sections 11a and the light shielding sections 11b of the slit member 11 is reduced as far as possible with manufacturing technology.


The present invention discloses compositions and methods for treating neuromuscular dysfunction of the lower urinary tract in mammals, including humans, using serotonin 5-HT.sub.1A receptor antagonist compounds that exert their inhibitory effects via pre-synaptic (somatodendritic) and post-synaptic antagonism.

In mammals, micturition (urination) is a complex process that requires the integrated actions of the bladder, its internal and external sphincters, the musculature of the pelvic floor, and neurological control over these muscles at three levels (in the bladder wall or sphincter itself, in the autonomic centers of the spinal cord, and in the central nervous system at the level of the pontine micturition center (PMC) in the brainstem (pons) under the control of cerebral cortex) (De Groat, Neurobiology of Incontinence, (Ciba Foundation Symposium 151:27, 1990). Micturition results from contraction of the detrusor muscle, which consists of interlacing smooth muscle fibers under parasympathetic autonomic control from the sacral spinal cord. A simple voiding reflex is formed by sensory nerves for pain, temperature, and distension that run from the bladder to the sacral cord. However, sensory tracts from the bladder also reach the PMC, resulting in the generation of nerve impulses that normally suppress the sacral spinal reflex arc controlling bladder emptying. Thus, normal micturition is initiated by voluntary suppression of cortical inhibition of the reflex arc and by relaxation of the muscles of the pelvic floor and the external sphincter. Finally, the detrusor muscle contracts and voiding occurs.
Abnormalities of lower urinary tract function, e.g., dysuria, incontinence, and enuresis, are common in the general population. Dysuria includes urinary frequency, nocturia, and urgency, and may be caused by cystitis, prostatitis or benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) (which affects about 70% of elderly males), or by neurological disorders. Incontinence syndromes include stress incontinence, urgency incontinence, and overflow incontinence. Enuresis refers to the involuntary passage of urine at night or during sleep.
Prior to the present invention, treatment of neuromuscular dysfunction of the lower urinary tract has involved administration of compounds that act directly on the bladder muscles, such as flavoxate, a spasmolytic drug (Ruffman, J. Int.Med.Res. 16:317, 1988) also active on the PMC (Guarneri et al., Drugs of Today 30:91, 1994), or anticholinergic compounds such as oxybutynin (Andersson, Drugs 35:477, 1988). The use of .alpha.1-adrenergic receptor antagonists for the treatment of BPH is also common but is based on a different mechanism of action. (Lepor, Urology, 42:483, 1993).
However, treatments that involve direct inhibition of the pelvic musculature (including the detrusor muscle) may have unwanted side effects such as incomplete voiding or accommodation paralysis, tachycardia and dry mouth (Andersson, Drugs 35:477, 1988). Thus, it would be preferable to utilize compounds that act via the peripheral or central nervous system to, for example, affect the sacral spinal reflex arc and/or the PMC inhibition pathways in a manner that restores normal functioning of the micturition mechanism.
Lecci et al. (J. Pharmacol.Exp. Therapeutics 262:181, 1992) describe the effects of the 5-HT.sub.1A receptor ligands 8-hydroxy-2-(di-N-propylamino)tetralin (8-OH-DPAT) and 1-(2-methoxyphenyl)-4-[4-(2-phthalimido)butyl]piperazine (NAN-190, reference Compound Q) on micturition reflexes in the anesthetized rat. 8-OH-DPAT (an agonist) stimulated the supra-spinal micturition reflex (SMR) originating from the PMC, while NAN-190 inhibited the SMR. The authors concluded that spinal and supraspinal 5-HT.sub.1A receptors modulate the SMR in this system. The present inventors and their coworkers, however, have found that the efficacy of NAN-190 and other 5-HT.sub.1A receptor ligands in inhibiting SMR is directly correlated to their relative binding affinities for the .alpha.1 adrenergic receptor, rather than to their affinities, if any, for the 5-HT.sub.1A receptor (Guarneri et al., XXVII Congresso Nazionale Della Societa Italiana Di Farmacologia, 1994, page 310), which called into question the relevance of 5-HT.sub.1A antagonistic activity for treatment of neuromuscular dysfunction of the lower urinary tract. Furthermore, since NAN-190 is considered a partial 5-HT.sub.1A receptor agonist rather than a complete or "true" antagonist, there was no basis for concluding that "true" 5-HT.sub.1A receptor antagonism would be important for treating neuromuscular dysfunction of the lower urinary tract. The present inventors postulated that coordinated pre-synaptic and post-synaptic 5-HT.sub.1A receptor antagonism (see below) is an effective means to treat urinary tract disorders.
Many classes of 5-HT receptors have been identified, including 5-HT.sub.1, 5-HT.sub.2, 5-HT.sub.3, and 5-HT.sub.4. 5-HT.sub.1 receptors further comprise 5-HT.sub.1A, 5-HT.sub.1B, 5-HT.sub.1D, 5-HT.sub.1E, and 5-HT.sub.1F subtypes, and 5-HT.sub.2 receptors comprise 5-HT.sub.2A, 5-HT.sub.2B, and 5-HT.sub.2C subtypes (The RBI Handbook of Receptor Classification, Kebabian and Nemeyer, Eds., page 58-61 (1994), RBI). Additional related receptor families include 5-HT.sub.5A, 5-HT.sub.5B, 5-HT.sub.6 and 5-HT.sub.7 (Saxena, Pharmac. Ther. 66:339, (1995)).
With respect to the 5-HT.sub.1A receptor, at least two functionally distinct types of this receptor subtype have been identified, which are designated "pre-synaptic" (or somatodendritic) and "post-synaptic". Pre-synaptic receptors are present on 5-HT-producing neurons and are involved in autoregulation of 5-HT release; their activation causes physiological changes including hyperphagia, hypothermia (in the mouse), bradycardia and hypotension. Post-synaptic receptors are widely distributed throughout the mammalian brain and are coupled to potassium channels and adenylate cyclase; their activation leads to "5-HT behavioral syndrome", hypothermia (in the rat), and elevation of plasma corticotropin levels. Beyond the differences in their anatomical distribution and functioning, pre-synaptic and post-synaptic receptors can be distinguished by the differential activity profiles of different 5-HT.sub.1A receptor ligands. For example, full agonists such as 8-OH-DPAT and 5-carboxytryptamine have agonist activity on both pre-synaptic and post-synaptic receptors. By contrast, partial agonists such as buspirone, ipsapirone, spiroxantine, urapidil, NAN-190, and BMY 7378 have agonist activity on pre-synaptic receptors and antagonist activity on post-synaptic receptors. Finally, compounds such as those encompassed by the present invention, referred to as "true" 5-HT.sub.1A receptor antagonists, exhibit antagonistic activity on both pre-synaptic and post-synaptic receptors.

Use of 5-HT.sub.1A receptor antagonists for the treatment of urinary incontinence

Recordati, S.A., Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company


A checking head (T) includes a casing (1), an arm (2) with a feeler, movable with respect to the casing, and a sensor, such as an inductive position transducer (5). An electronic identifier (27) is fixed to a frame coupled to the head (T), for storing identifying data relevant to the head, information relating e.g. to the configuration and calibration features of the head, and/or compensation values obtained in the 41 course of the calibration phase carried out on a suitable testing equipment.

The present invention relates to a head for the linear dimension checking of a mechanical piece, including a support structure, an arm-set, movable with respect to the support structure, with an arm and a feeler, coupled to the arm, for touching a surface of the mechanical piece to be checked, and a sensor, coupled to the arm and the support structure, for generating signals depending on the position of said arm with respect to said support structure. The invention also relates to a system for the linear dimension checking of a mechanical piece, including a head as the one formerly mentioned and a processing unit. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for the linear dimension checking of a mechanical piece, by means of a checking system including said head and a processing unit.
Gauging or measuring heads of the known type are described, for example, in International patent application WO-A-98/20297.
In the known heads, the serial number that identifies each head is generally indicated on the casing of the head or on a plate fixed to the casing.
Other information, relating to the specific features of the individual head, is fundamental for determining the type of application that the head is intended for. In the case of heads as those described in the previously referred to International patent application, it is necessary to know, for example, among other things, values relating to the arm-ratio (in other terms the relationship existing between the entity of the feeler displacement and the entity of the consequent displacement of movable elements of the sensor), the force of the thrust spring, the pre-stroke and the retraction. Some of these values may have been set during calibration.
The information relating to these and other values is generally reported on a technical sheet that accompanies the head. Furthermore, this information may also be coded in an alfanumeric sequence and indicated on the plate together with the serial number, for the purpose of matching in an indissoluble and unequivocal way all the information that belongs to the individual head, and for enabling anyone who is involved with the specific application of the head, or has to carry out operations for the technical assistance on the head, to identify in a rapid and safe manner the characteristics of the head. The provision of the alfanumeric sequence (or xe2x80x9ccodexe2x80x9d) and the matching of the code to the serial number of the individual head, if, on the one hand, simplifies some handling aspects, by overcoming problems that the possible loss of the technical sheet or the mismatch of technical sheets among different heads may cause, on the other hand does not allow to modifyxe2x80x94in the course of the lifetime of the headxe2x80x94the characteristics identified by the coded values, unless giving up the possibility of having the correct information recorded on the head, or undertaking particular and complex procedures for modifying the code. With regard to performance, the heads as those described in patent application WO-A-98/20297 guarantee a high standard of measurement repeatability for relatively broad measuring ranges (and that obviously depend on the dimensions and on the structure of the head and on the type of sensor or transducer utilized). Some factors that do not enable to obtain extremely high standards of performancexe2x80x94at times requested in particular applicationsxe2x80x94regard the errors and the limits in the linearity of the transducer output signal, and entity variations, however small they may be, of said signal as a consequence of temperature variations.
An object of the present invention is to provide a gauging head that overcomes the disadvantages of the known heads, in particular insofar as the handling of the information relating to the identification and the usage specifications of the head are concerned.
A head according to the invention achieves this object and provides other advantages. One of these advantages consists in the possibility of retaining and handling in a simple, rapid and safe manner a great amount of information relating to the head, in addition to that regarding the formerly mentioned usage specifications, as, for example, information relating to the technical assistance and/or the repair that the head undergoes in the course of its lifetime. In this way there is no need to manage separate documents, generally in the paper form, that, in the case of the known heads are added to the documents that identify and certify special characteristics of each individual head.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system and a checking method with at least a head that overcome the drawbacks caused by variations in the output signal of the sensor due to linearity errors and/or thermal variation.
These and other objects and advantages are achieved by a system and a checking method according to the invention.

Head, system and method for the linear dimension checking of a mechanical piece


An instruction fetch unit includes a program buffer for sequential instructions being decoded and a target buffer for an instruction sequence including the target of the next branch instruction. Scan logic coupled to the program buffer scans the program buffer for branch instructions. A target for the first branch instruction is determined and a request to external memory fills the target buffer with a sequence of instructions including a target instruction before sequential decoding reaches the branch instruction. If the branch is subsequently taken, the instructions from the branch target buffer are transferred to the program buffer. The program buffer may be divided into a main and a secondary buffer that have the same size as the target buffer, and an instruction bus between the instruction fetch unit and external memory is sufficiently wide to fill the main, secondary, or target buffer in a single write operation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to processors and to circuits and methods for fetching instructions in order for execution.
2. Description of Related Art
An instruction fetch unit in a processor fetches instructions from memory for execution by an execution unit in the processor. Ideally, an instruction fetch unit obtains the instructions in program order, at a rate that avoids any idle time for the execution unit and therefore maximize processor performance. However, a high instruction fetch rate may be difficult to achieve because memory that stores instructions is often much slower than the execution unit.
Instruction caches provide a fast but small memory for instructions and can increase the speed of instruction fetches. However, with an instruction cache, a delay still occurs if there is a cache miss when fetching a desired instruction, for example, when sequential instruction execution or taking a branch in a program requires an instruction that is not currently in the instruction cache. When a cache miss occurs, the instruction cache accesses external memory. If there is a delay while the instruction cache accesses the external memory, the execution unit may be idle which degrades processor performance. Accordingly, instruction fetch units are sought which minimize delays that might otherwise occur as a result of a cache miss.

Instruction fetch unit including instruction buffer and secondary or branch target buffer that transfers prefetched instructions to the instruction buffer


Systems and devices of the present disclosure provide automated detection and tracking of carbon monoxide inhalation through non-invasive optical spectroscopy. A wearable device includes a light source coupled to the base and directing light towards a subject and a photodetector coupled to the base to receive light emitted by the light source through or reflected the subject. The light source emits light at a wavelength spectrum corresponding to a carboxyhemoglobin absorption spectrum and an oxyhemoglobin absorption spectrum. Biometric circuitry is coupled to the photodetector to receive a signal from the photodetector and process the signal to determine an intensity of the wavelengths present in the light received at the photodetector. The intensity of the wavelengths is indicative of a level of carbon monoxide inhalation associated with the subject.

Recent advances in technology, including those available through consumer devices, have provided for corresponding advances in health detection and monitoring. For example, devices such as fitness bands and smart watches are able to determine information relating to the pulse or motion of a person wearing the device. Due to capabilities of conventional devices, however, the amount and types of health information able to be determined using such devices has been limited. Accordingly, much tracking or health monitoring done using these devices relies primarily upon user input. For example, individuals and healthcare providers may be interested in tracking the individual's smoking behavior or objectively tracking their progress while attempting to quit or reduce smoking. However, self-reporting of smoking behavior may be an unreliable metric, as well as being tedious and cumbersome for the individual.

Wearable non-invasive carbon monoxide inhalation tracking


A method for seamless access control according to one embodiment includes determining whether a user is authorized to access a passageway controlled by an access control device based on credential data received from a mobile device of the user, determining, by a RADAR system, a location of the user relative to the passageway, determining whether the user intends to access the passageway based on the determined location of the user relative to the passageway, and controlling, by the access control device, a lock mechanism to allow the user access to the passageway in response to determining that the user is authorized to access the passageway and the user intends to access the passageway.

Access control systems typically involve the use of credentials to manage the operation of an access control device (e.g., a lock device). Such credentials may be assigned to a particular user or device and are often physical in nature, forming at least a portion of, for example, a smartcard, proximity card, key fob, token device, or mobile device. Thus, current credential systems generally require an interaction between the credential and a reader device (e.g., on or secured to the access control device) such that the reader device may read the credential and determine whether access should be granted. In particular, a user may be required to swipe, tap, or otherwise present the credential to the reader device. As such, access control systems typically require an active physical action on behalf of the user in order to grant the user access via the access control device.


Systems and methods for allocating storage based on aggregate performance of duplicate data are described. A number of duplicates of a host data unit in a storage medium may be determined, such as by a storage device and/or host device. Operation parameters for the duplicate host data may be aggregated into aggregate operation parameters. The aggregate operation parameters may be used to allocate storage in the storage medium, such as by determining target duplicate numbers and performance thresholds for deduplication and tiering decisions. Duplicate host data units may be stored, moved, or deleted based on the aggregate operation parameters.

Storage devices, such as disk drives (solid-state drives, hard disk drives, hybrid drives, tape drives, etc.), universal serial bus (USB) flash drives, secure digital (SD) cards and SD extended capacity (SDXC) cards, and other form factors, may be used for storing data on behalf of a host, host system, or host device. These storage devices may include integrated storage devices built into the enclosure of the host device, removable storage devices mating with the host device through a physical interface connector (directly or through an interface cable), and network storage devices communicating with the host device using network protocols over a wired or wireless network connection. Some removable storage devices and/or network storage devices may use short range wireless communication, such as Bluetooth, ultra-wideband (UWB), Wi-Fi, Zigbee, etc., for communication with a host device or network. Storage devices may be integrated into storage systems that vary from single storage devices directly supporting a host device through a peripheral storage interface to multi-device storage systems (often supporting multiple host systems) that include multiple storage devices arranged in an array of drives interconnected by a common communication fabric and, in many cases, controlled by a storage controller, redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller, or general controller, for coordinating storage and system activities across the array of drives.
Host data stored to one or more storage devices may result in duplicate copies. In some systems, duplicate copies may be desirable, up to a point. For example, duplicate copies may be stored for data protection and redundancy policies to prevent data loss in the event that a copy is lost or corrupted and/or duplicate copies may be stored to support multiple users and/or instances of applications using the data. Storage systems may be configured to intentionally store and maintain multiple copies of image data, audio files, video files, databases, and other data units, files, or objects, but may still result in the creation and storage of unwanted duplicates that unnecessarily use storage resources. Storage systems may include a deduplication function for identifying duplicate data and reducing the number of copies to a desirable level, whether one or more. In addition, storage systems may support data caching and/or tiered storage policies in systems maintaining multiple copies.
In some storage systems, deduplication, replication, data caching, and data tiering may be managed based on a duplicate policy that sets a fixed number of copies to be maintained by the system. For example, a host device or storage controller may maintain a count of duplicate data and attempt to keep the count at a fixed number, regardless of the runtime usage of the copies. Deduplication and/or replication decisions may be based on achieving this fixed target number. Similarly, data caching and/or data tiering may be based on hot data definitions that treat each copy separately and determine whether that copy should be cached or stored in fast or slow storage, based solely on the access frequency of that copy.
A more responsive duplicate copy management process for storage devices that dynamically determines and maintains the number and location of copies may be advantageous. Efficient systems and methods of allocating copies of host data to balance performance and storage space utilization may be needed.

Allocating data storage based on aggregate duplicate performance


A self supporting header has a horizontally extending header pipe of fiberglass reinforced plastic with a horizontal axis and a flange of fiberglass reinforced plastic connected to an outer surface of the header pipe by at least one web and extending along at least part of the horizontal extent of the header pipe. The at least one web extends vertically from at least one of the top and bottom of the header pipe and is connected to the flange. A reinforcing member or material is embedded in at least one of the flange and the at least one web and that has a greater modulus of elasticity than a modulus of elasticity of the fiberglass reinforced plastic of the header pipe reinforces a cross-section of the header for increasing the self supporting strength of the header. The reinforcing member may be made of metal or a carbon composite material.

Fiberglass reinforced plastic or FRP pipe is brittle and alone is limited to small unsupported spans due to its low allowable stress and large deflections compared to steel pipe. Significantly more piping supports are typically needed when FRP piping is used internally or externally for vessel components. In wet flue gas desulfurization or WFGD scrubber applications FRP spray headers are supported along their length by hanging them from multi-levels of large support beams with hanger brackets.

Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group, Inc.


The present invention relates to methods and systems for cyber-monitoring and visually depicting cyber-activities. In certain embodiments, there is provided a method for visually depicting cyber-activities, entities, and/or entity-relations, said method comprising: displaying on a graphical user interface multiple visual representations comprising graphical components of one or more elements in a chronological order, using a time based tracking model, wherein each of said one or more elements is selected from a cyber-activity, entity, and entity-relation; wherein each of said visual representations represents a different level of a granularity and/or hierarchy; b) optionally displaying, optionally in response to a user action, a link to a selected element in each of said multiple visual representations.

Computers and computer networks have become an integral part of modern society. As reliance on computers and computer networks has grown the impact of failure of computer and computer networks has also grown. Moreover, anomalous cyber-activities, such as the execution of unauthorised and/or malicious software, are a major concern for both organizations and individuals, which can result in significant damages. Anomalous cyber-activities can be indicative of not only malicious cyber-activities but also human error, equipment failures, software malfunction, accidents, among others. Immediate damages may include but are not limited to data deletion and/or corruption, data theft, release of confidential information to the public, and/or system/network downtime. Subsequent damages may include but are not limited to financial losses, social and/or political repercussion, business interruption, loss of competitive advantage and/or loss of intellectual property. Accordingly, monitoring of computers and computer networks is of great importance.
The complexity and volume of raw data generated from monitoring events streams in a computer and computer network can render the identification of anomalous cyber-activities from normal cyber-activities challenging.

Methods and systems for cyber-monitoring and visually depicting cyber-activities


An air guiding system for a vehicle, particularly for a passenger car, is arranged in a rear area of the vehicle and has at least one central main air guiding element that can be displaced between a moved-in inoperative position into a moved-out operative position. Lateral auxiliary air guiding elements are displaceable together with the at least one central main air guiding element. The lateral auxiliary air guiding elements can be displaced while enlarging the transverse dimension and while simultaneously enlarging the longitudinal dimension of the main air guiding element or the air guiding system from an also moved-in inoperative position into an also moved-out operative position.

The present invention relates to an air guiding system for a vehicle particularly for a passenger car, which is arranged in a rear area of the vehicle and comprises at least one central main air guiding element which can be displaced from a moved-in inoperative position into a moved-out operative position, lateral auxiliary air guiding elements being displaceable together with the or each central main air guiding element.
DE 30 19 150 A1 shows a vehicle air guiding system arranged in an upper rear area of the vehicle and having an air guiding element that can be displaced from an inoperative position, in which it is integrated in the shaping of the rear area flush with the surface, into a moved-out operative position. The air guiding element is constructed as an aerofoil which, by way of an operating device, can be displaced or changed from the inoperative position into the operative position and vice-versa.
DE 43 05 090 A1also discloses a vehicle air guiding system arranged in a rear area of the vehicle and has an air guiding element which can be displaced from an inoperative position into a moved-out operative position. The air guiding element is formed by a rear spoiler arranged in a recessed receiving device of the vehicle body and can be displaced by an operating device between the inoperative position and the operative position.
The air guiding systems known from DE 30 19 150 A1 and DE 43 05 090 A1, increase the rear axle output coefficient (cah-value) of the motor vehicle while maintaining the drag coefficient (cw-value) at the same level or improving same. Each of these known air guiding elements have the same transverse dimension in the inoperative position and in the operative position.
DE 10 2005 030 203 discloses a vehicle air guiding system that has a central main air guiding element as well as two lateral auxiliary air guiding elements. The auxiliary air guiding elements allow the transverse dimension of the air guiding system can be enlarged in the operative position. The effective aerodynamic flow face area of the air guiding system can thereby be enlarged in the operative position, whereby particularly the rear axle output coefficient can be further increased. The lateral auxiliary air guiding elements are used only for enlarging the transverse dimension of the main air guiding elements or of the air guiding system.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved vehicle air guiding system in which the lateral auxiliary air guiding elements, while enlarging the transverse dimension and simultaneously enlarging the longitudinal dimension of the main air guiding element or of the air guiding system, can be displaced from an also moved-in inoperative position into an also moved-out operative position. The simultaneous enlarging of the transverse dimension and of the longitudinal dimension of the main air guiding element or of the air guiding system is aerodynamically particularly advantageous.
Preferably, each of the lateral auxiliary air guiding elements can be changed by way of one operating device respectively transversely to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle as well as simultaneously in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and thereby diagonally toward the rear from the inoperative position into the operative position, isochronously or simultaneously with the displacement of the lateral auxiliary air guiding elements diagonally toward the rear. Each of the lateral auxiliary air guiding elements is swivelable upward by way of an erecting device, and the central main air guiding element is coupled to the lateral auxiliary air guiding elements by way of a coupling device such that isochronously or simultaneously with the displacement of the lateral auxiliary air guiding elements, the central main air guiding element can be swiveled upward during the change from the inoperative position into the operative position.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Dr. Ing. h.c.F. Porsche Aktiengesellschaft