A data writing control device enables quickly writing data to optical discs. A reading process unit 62a, 62b reads data in predetermined read units from a storage device (hard disk drive 14) that has a head and stores the data. A storage unit (buffers 63a and 63b) has a storage area for storing the read units of data read by the reading process unit 62a, 62b. A writing process unit 64a, 64b acquires data stored in the storage area of the storage unit in write units, which are smaller than the read units, and supplies the acquired write units of data to an optical disc drive which is connected as a peripheral device.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a data writing control device, a data writing control method, and a data writing control program.
2. Description of Related Art
When writing data to an optical disc such as a CD or DVD, the host computer first converts and stores the data to be recorded to the optical disc to disc image data on a hard disk drive. Then in response to requests from the optical disc drive, the host computer reads and supplies the disc image data from the hard disk to the optical disc drive. This process repeats until all of the data is written.
Disc publishers that have a plurality of optical disc drives and print prescribed information on the printing side of the optical discs (the label side) to which data is written by the plural optical disc drives are also known from the literature. See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-2007-188548.
When writing the data to the optical disc, the host computer must repeat a process of reading and storing the data from the hard disk drive into a buffer, and then once the data is buffered reading and supplying the data from the buffer to the optical disc drive, but data cannot be supplied to the optical disc drive while data is being read from the hard disk drive. The host computer also cannot read data from the hard disk drive while supplying data to the optical disc drive. The actual data writing speed is therefore slower than the theoretical writing speed of the optical disc drive.
A further problem with a disc publisher is that because the process reading data from the hard disk drive and the process supplying the data to the optical disc drive must be repeatedly executed for each of the optical disc drives, the optical disc writing speed drops even more.

Data writing control device, data writing control method, and data writing control program for writing to an optical disc


When an in-link type of in-link attribute data is a tunnel, a system controller specifies the positions of both ends of a tunnel on the basis of a annotation true position shape of the in-link attribute data, and generates annotation data for displaying a tunnel symbol for each of the specified both ends.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the technical field of an information generating apparatus, a recording medium where an information generating program is recorded, and an information generating method for generating, at the time of displaying a map image including a road, symbol data for displaying a symbol indicative of a start point or end point of a facility provided along a road, in a position where the start point or end point of the facility exists.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, a navigation system is known, navigating a vehicle by displaying, on a screen, a road map of a peripheral area including the present position of the vehicle, a route to the destination of the vehicle, and the like.
In such a navigation system, at the time of displaying a road map on the screen, generally, information such as map symbols, the name and related information of a feature, the name of a road, and the like is displayed together with images of the background and roads.
As such information, for example, the symbol of a facility provided along a road, such as tunnel, bridge, railroad crossing, or the like is also displayed. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H8-292054 discloses an in-vehicle path searching apparatus displaying a flag indicative of an entrance or exit in the position of the entrance or exit of a tunnel existing on a path to a destination.
Such a symbol or character information is called a annotation or the like. Information is displayed as described above on the basis of annotation data specifying data of the annotation, display position, and the like.
Map data used for displaying a road map on a screen and navigating a vehicle include not only the annotation data but also various data such as node data specifying information of a branch point or the like, link data specifying the position, shape, connection, and the like of a road, and background data specifying the position, shape, and the like of a feature, and the amount of the data is enormous.
Consequently, map data are often maintained by a group (of people) which is assigned to each of the data. For example, the road link data, the node data, and the like are maintained by a road data creation group, and the annotation data, the background data, and the like are maintained by a map creation group.
Facilities above provided along roads such as tunnels, bridges, and railroad crossings are information which can be also referred to as attributes indicative of the features in one aspect of the roads. Facility data that define information of the facilities are often defined, for example, in link data itself or defined in correspondence with the link data. Consequently, in many cases, the facility data are maintained by the road data creation group. Therefore, after addition, change, erasure, or the like of the information of a facility is performed by the road data creation group, the map creation group has to match annotation data to the corrected data.
However, for example, to maintain the annotation data of a tunnel, a bridge, or the like, the map creation group manually refers to the facility data, recognizes the position of the entrance and exit of the tunnel or the like, and adjusts the position of the annotation to the position. Consequently, the cost required for maintaining the annotation data is excessively high.
In the case of displaying a road map on a plurality of scales, considering viewability of the road map and the like, in some cases, a specification of whether a annotation is displayed or not is preliminarily determined on each of the scales in accordance with the length, kind, and the like of a tunnel or the like. However, when annotation data are manually maintained, whether the annotation data are displayed or not is determined from a personal viewpoint of each of persons in charge, so that annotation data may not be generated to the specifications.
The present invention has been achieved from the above points and an object of the invention is to provide an information generating apparatus, a recording medium where an information generating program is recorded, and an information generating method for efficiently and properly generating symbol data such as annotation data for displaying a symbol such as a annotation in a position where the start point or end point of a facility such as a tunnel provided along a road exists.

Information generating apparatus, recording medium where information generating program is recorded, and information generating method


A batch mixer, which includes a floating weight that is freely elevatable by hydraulic cylinders in a hopper which is provided for a mixer main body in a communicated state and into which mixing materials are charged, includes: a linear scale capable of continuously detecting the elevating/lowering position of a floating weight; a position setting device that sets the elevated position of the floating weight; and a control device that controls the elevating/lowering position of the floating weight based on the positional detection signal of the linear scale and the set value of the position setting device. The control device sends a stop signal to a direction switching solenoid valve to stop the action of the hydraulic cylinders when the positional detection signal matches the positional set value. With such a constitution, the stop position of the floating weight can be changed without requiring a complicated work.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a batch mixer that mixes mixing materials, particularly to a batch mixer having a constitution where a floating weight for pressing the mixing materials into a mixing chamber is elevated and lowered.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A batch mixer of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,783,983, for example. Herein, the mixer is constituted that a hydraulic cylinder for lowering the floating weight to be pressed to the mixing chamber side is provided, a pneumatic/hydraulic pressure converter that converts pressure between a hydraulic pressure side and a pneumatic pressure side is provided separately from a mixer main body, and the hydraulic pressure side of the hydraulic cylinder is connected to the hydraulic pressure side of the pneumatic/hydraulic pressure converter. In this batch mixer, the mixing materials are gradually led into the mixing chamber by lowering the floating weight while a cushioning function is properly exerted on the weight by the air pressure of the pneumatic/hydraulic pressure converter, and the mixing materials can be mixed smoothly.
Further, the above-described batch mixer is provided with a direction switching solenoid valve for switching the advance/withdrawal of the hydraulic cylinder and an ON/OFF-type limit switch for monitoring the movement of the floating weight to be elevated and lowered, and is constituted that the direction switching solenoid valve is switched in response to a signal from the limit switch when the weight reaches a lower limit position to stop the lowering of the weight.
In such a batch mixer, demands for new mixing methods such that mixing is performed while a weight position is fixed on various positions and pressing pressure of the weight is arbitrarily controlled in pressing or mixing materials are increasing due to circumstances such as diversified mixing materials in recent years.
However, since the batch mixer of U.S. Pat. No. 5,783,983 detects the position of the floating weight by an ON/OFF signal from the limit switch, the position of the floating weight must be changed in order to change the weight position, and its labor was complicated.
Further, in the above-described batch mixer, the pneumatic/hydraulic pressure converter must be installed around the batch mixer, and a large installing space was required. Additionally, in the above-described batch mixer, it is theoretically possible to change the pressing pressure of the weight by changing air supply to the air pressure side of the pneumatic/hydraulic pressure converter, but a large volume of air supply/discharge is necessary if the control of changing the weight pressing pressure by a large amount, and a long time is taken in changing pressure as well, so that it was virtually impossible to perform pressure control within a predetermined mixing time.
Furthermore, although a type of mixer for lowering the floating weight by a pneumatic cylinder is conventionally known as the batch mixer, it required a large pneumatic cylinder and there was a room for improvement from the viewpoint of equipment cost and space. In addition, a large volume of air was required for elevating/lowering the weight, running cost was increased, and it was not preferable from the viewpoint of energy saving too. Moreover, because it is a positional control using air being compressed fluid, it was difficult to control the position of the weight at various positions with good accuracy, and the control of changing the weight pressing pressure by a large amount within a predetermined mixing time was also difficult similar to the above-described U.S. Pat. No. 5,783,983.


An optical system for a view finder reduced in the overall length without aggravation of the optical performance has a negative power object lens and a positive power eyepiece lens each of which has an asphrical surface at at least one side respectively. The negative power object lens having a concave object side lens surface is comprised of a rectangular-shaped solid lens base with its four corners cut away along periphery of the concave lens surface.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an optical system for a view finder and a lens element suitable for the view finder.
2. Description of Related Art
Inverted Galilean type of finder is well known as a view finder for cameras. It has a simple optical structure comprising two lens elements, namely an object lens having a negative refracting power and an eyepiece lens having a positive refracting power, and has a feature to be able to provide a large finder magnification by magnifying function of eyepiece lens and a wide field of view in spite of its simple optical structure. Therefore an inverted Galilean type of view finder is one of the most popular finders used for cameras, in particular, such as a low-cost 35 mm size lens shutter camera and a lens-fitted film unit, well known as a single-use or disposable camera, one of typical products of this kind having a taking lens with a focal length of about 32 mm and an angle of view of about 68 degrees.
Inverted Galilean type finder used in such a camera is usually 25.5 to 27.5 mm long in overall axial length of the optical system which refers a distance between an object side surface of the object lens and an image side surface of the eyepiece lens.
As plastic molding technology is developed, it has became possible to produce accurate light weight lenses with low costs on a large size. As known from, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patents Publications Nos. 50-87027 and 55-93116, and Japanese Patent Publications Nos. 61-40087 and 3-20732, inverted Galilean type finders have a distortion corrected up to about -4% by using an object lens with an aspherical surface formed on one of its sides.
Recently, an APS (Advanced Photo System) type cartridge has been introduced on the market. The cartridge has a function that a filmstrip entirely accommodated inside the cartridge before being loaded in the camera can be thrust out of the cartridge at need by rotating a spool of the cartridge in an unwinding direction. The APS filmstrip has a width of 24 mm and consequently a size of available image area for one shot is smaller than that of the conventional 35 mm size film. Moreover the size of an APS cartridge is lower in height and smaller in depth, which is always desirable to provide a camera with a depth much smaller as compared with using 35 mm type film because a shorter focal length taking lens can be employed.
In order to reduce the depth of camera, it is needed to incorporate not only a taking lens having a shorter focal length but a view finder having a shorter length. As is known from, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 3-230276, an inverted Galilean type finder has a length between 20.43 and 20.63 mm. This fairly short length finder is realized by adopting an eyepiece lens of which one side is formed aspherical. However, the prior art finder is accompanied by aggravation of distortion increased up to -9%.
In the case where a concave lens having a strong curvature is formed on a rectangular plastic block, another problem arises as described below. In the inverted Galilean type finder, a finder magnification .beta. is given by the following expression (I), where f1 and f2 are focal lengths of an object lens and an eyepiece lens, respectively. EQU .beta.=-f1/f2 (I)
The overall length of the finder optical system D is given by the following expression (II), EQU D=f1+f2 (II)
Derived from the above expressions (I) and (II), the overall length of the finder optical system D is expressed as follows: EQU D=f1.times.(1-1/.beta.) (III)
It is found from the equation (III) that the smaller the focal length of the object lens f1 is, the shorter the overall length of the finder optical system becomes as long as the finder magnification .beta. remains constant.
A prior art rectangular block lens 5 as an object lens of a Galilean type view finder which is injection-molded, such as shown in FIGS. 25 and 26 by way of example, has a concave spherical lens surface 7 on the image side 6a of a rectangular-shaped solid lens base 6 having a plane face similar to an image area of the filmstrip. In order to make the focal length of the object lens 5 shorter, the concave spherical lens surface 7 must have a curvature sufficiently strong to provide a strong refracting power.
However, it brings, as shown in FIG. 26, the lens surface 7 is unavoidably increased in thickness Dp at the periphery in order to have a stronger curvature with the same effective radius Re while it has a strong curvature. As a result, the ratio of the peripheral thickness Dp to the central thickness Dc increases. In the plastic object lens 5 with the rectangular-shaped solid lens base 6, the volume of both side portions becomes much larger than that of the central portion of the lens. This will cause a substantial difference of a shrinkage of the injection-molded plastic resin between the side portions and the central portion and make the rectangular-shaped solid lens base 6 easy to produce a bend in the longitudinal direction, which makes it difficult to keep the lens surface 7 remain accurate.
There seems to be two ways to solve the problem that, while the ratio of the peripheral thickness Dp to the central thickness Dc is made closer to 1 (one), the aspect ratio of the rectangular-shaped solid lens base 6 is made closer to 1 (one). However to increase the central thickness Dc leads to a longer molding time which is always undesirable. In order for the rectangular-shaped solid lens base 6 to have an aspect ratio as close to 1 (one) as possible, it is necessary either to increase its height or to reduce its width. The former needs extra thick portions to upper and lower parts of the rectangular-shaped solid lens base 6 and results in having a larger size finder. The latter causes light reflection from the periphery of the lens to enter into a view which makes it hard for a user to see a subject clearly through the finder.

Optical system and lens element for view finder


An address input buffer of a semiconductor memory device comprises an address input terminal, a column address switch, a row address switch, a column address latch connected to the column address switch, a row address latch connected to the row address switch, and an input buffer connected to the address input terminal, and the common node of the column address switch and the row address switch and controlled by an input buffer control signal. Thus, layout area can be reduced by buffering the row and column address input signals with one input buffer without separating the column and row address buffers.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, and particularly to an address input buffer of a semiconductor memory device.
Generally, in a semiconductor memory device, an address input buffer is used for converting an address input data of a transistor-transistor logic (TTL) level into an address input data of a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) level, and increasing the noise margin. However, in a semiconductor memory device, as the capacity of the memory device increases, the number of addresses increases and twice as many address input buffers as addresses are necessary. Thus, the address input buffer ordinarily numbers twice that of the addresses; half are used as column address buffers and the rest as row address buffers. Therefore, the number of addresses is increased according to the increase in the capacity of the semiconductor memory device, and with more addresses comes more address input buffers, which brings about increased layout area.


An elevator system includes an elevator car within an elevator hoistway; a camera; a network; and an image analysis system in communication with the camera over the network; the camera providing a reference image to the image analysis system; the camera providing a current image to the image analysis system; the image analysis system comparing the current image to the reference image to detect a difference between the current image to the reference image; the image analysis system initiating a maintenance notification to a user device in response to the comparing.

The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to elevator systems and, more particularly, to the use of image analytics to facilitate elevator maintenance.
Existing elevator systems may include a camera installed at the top or bottom of the elevator car. The image from the camera may be accessed by a user (e.g., a mechanic or service person) so that the user can perform an inspection of the elevator hoistway remotely, without needing to physically enter the hoistway.

Image analytics for elevator maintenance


An access device (1) for providing access between a lower level and an upper level. The device (1) includes a platform member (2), a ladder member (3) and a rotating actuator (4). The platform (2) and the ladder (3) are movable between an access position (FIG. 1) wherein the ladder (3) is positioned downwardly and the platform (2) is horizontal, and, a storage position (FIG. 3), in which the ladder (3) is positioned upwards and the platform (2) is vertical. In a first step, the actuator (4) rotates the ladder through about a 90.degree. angle to an intermediate position (FIG. 2) at which time the ladder (3) engages with the platform (2). Then, in a second step, the ladder (3) and platform (2) cooperatively rotate between the intermediate position (FIG. 2) and the stored position (FIG. 3).

A variety of different access device configurations for removably or retractably providing an access member between operable and storage positions, are currently known. Some such devices are disclosed in the Applicant's Australian Patent No. 672706 and Australian Application No. 48282/97. Each of these devices described provides for access between a lower level and an upper level, whereby the device is pivotably moveable from a stable lower position to a stable upper position.
Each of these devices also provides for hand rails, predetermined angles of inclination of the ladder, etc., as may be desired for ease of use, or as may be required by various safety regulations, whilst still providing a totally retractable device, which is not likely to interfere with normal operation of the vehicle.


The hybrid dynamic-static encoder described herein may combine dynamic and static structural and logical design features that strategically partition dynamic nets and logic to substantially eliminate redundancy and thereby provide area, power, and leakage savings relative to a fully dynamic encoder with an equivalent logic delay. For example, the hybrid dynamic-static encoder may include identical top and bottom halves, which may be combined to produce final encoded index, hit, and multi-hit outputs. Each encoder half may use a dynamic net for each index bit with rows that match a search key dotted. If a row has been dotted to indicate that the row matches the search key, the dynamic nets associated therewith may be evaluated to reflect the index associated with the row. Accordingly, the hybrid dynamic-static encoder may have a reduced set of smaller dynamic nets that leverage redundant pull-down structures across the index, hit, and multi-hit dynamic nets.

Processors typically perform computational tasks in various applications, which may include embedded applications associated with portable or mobile electronic devices. The ever-expanding feature set and enhanced functionality associated with these electronic devices generally demands ever-more computationally powerful processors. For example, most modern processors store recently executed instructions and recently used data in one or more cache memories that an instruction execution pipeline can readily access to capitalize on spatial and temporal locality properties associated with most programs or applications. In particular, a cache generally refers to a high-speed (usually on-chip) memory structure comprising a random access memory (RAM) that stores data and/or a corresponding content addressable memory (CAM) that stores addresses corresponding to the data stored in the RAM.
In general, a CAM refers to an array of memory cells and associated comparison circuitry that enables a search operation to be completed relatively rapidly. This ability allows search hardware implementation of search algorithms, which may provide greater speed relative to software implemented search algorithms. As such, a CAM may be used in various applications (e.g. cache memory) that require faster access to data more likely to be accessed by a processor. For example, to determine whether a cache memory stores a particular data word, all rows in the CAM array may be searched or otherwise evaluated in parallel to determine whether the address of the word matches any addresses stored in the CAM. More generally, in any suitable CAM application, all rows in the CAM array may be searched or otherwise evaluated to determine whether or not an input value matches the value stored in any rows in the CAM. Accordingly, each row in the CAM may be associated with a respective match line that indicates the search result associated with that row, wherein the match line associated with each row may be asserted to indicate that the row matches the input value or unasserted to indicate that the row mismatches the input value.
When reading out the index that corresponds to an entry in a searchable array structure (e.g., a CAM) that matches a search key, the address associated with the matching entry may generally be encoded prior to being read from the searchable array structure. Furthermore, a multi-hit detection similarly requires encoding the addresses associated with the matching entries prior to reading the matching addresses from the searchable array structure to ensure efficiency. However, existing dynamic encoder implementations tend to require a separate dynamic net for each index bit in the array structure, which can cause the encoder to occupy a very large physical area, consume substantial power, and suffer from significant leakage due to the many pull-downs required across the various dynamic nets. Although encoder circuitry can alternatively be implemented using static logic, static implementations tend to require extra logic depth to encode large numbers of rows, which may result in a delay penalty.
Accordingly, an improved encoder design may be desirable to address these and other problems associated with existing encoder designs that employ fully dynamic or fully static solutions.

Hybrid dynamic-static encoder with optional hit and/or multi-hit detection


The method of manufacturing a flexible wall covering that replicates a finish selected from a traditional encaustic finish, a traditional stone finish and a traditional plaster finish comprises the steps of adding a flexible resin to a KOLCAUSTICO solution to provide a flexible resin-KOLCAUSTICO compound; applying at least one layer of the flexible resin-KOLCAUSTICO compound to a flexible carrier sheet in a predetermined pattern; letting the one layer of the flexible resin-KOLCAUSTICO compound dry; and burnishing the one layer of the flexible resin-KOLCAUSTICO compound after drying to produce a desired sheen that replicates a finish selected from a traditional encaustic finish, a traditional stone finish and a traditional plaster finish.

The present invention relates to a flexible wall covering and more particularly to a flexible wall covering and the method of manufacturing the same that replicates a selected one of a traditional encaustic finish, a traditional stone finish and a traditional plaster finish.
Encaustic art has been known for thousands of years and is art work that is rendered with a wax paint that has been processed with heat to fuse the wax paint to itself and the support for the paint. Traditionally, these encaustic finishes have been applied in thicker coats and uses a more brittle material that would certainly be unsuitable for a "flexible wall covering. One known and preferred synthetic encaustic plaster for the present invention is identified by the trademark KOLCAUSTICO and has been used to provide a variation"; of the encaustic technique directly on walls. This commercially available material is capable of producing a stone-like appearance which may be polished to a high sheen that is characteristic of encaustic art, or with the addition of a flattening agent, will replicate a traditional plaster finish. This material and similar encaustic plaster materials have been designed to be applied directly to walls. However, these products are hard and brittle and, therefore, unsuitable for a flexible wall covering. Furthermore, it is difficult to achieve a completely even application in regard of a well balanced color or design due to preexisting imperfections in the wall. The process of repairing a wall only adds several labor hours.
Using a multi-color technique presents further complications because, in the application of several coats, it is difficult to achieve a smooth look.
The available products, such as KOLCAUSTICO, have been available and were developed to be directly applied to the wall surface. Some disadvantages of this process include the extreme difficulty in repairing a decorative plaster surface that has been damaged or cracked, the high cost of employing a specially trained artisan to perform the time-consuming custom application, and the difficulty of removing such a finish from the wall surface. In addition, one is limited to the design capabilities when using direct wall application as it is a laborious process to administer a variety of techniques to the vertical structure of a wall. However, other products used to generate a plaster or stone finish lack the ability to create the gloss or sheen appearance that is characteristic of encaustic finishes. Thus, the wall appears flat and dull, and further limits the accessibility of several design possibilities.
Other problems related to the use of traditional encaustic materials include the ingredients of wax, solvents and other volatile elements that are highly flammable and, therefore, not conducive to either residential or commercial use. Most paints with the intended use of wall applications that are commercially available are premixed with substances that are designed to achieve a desired degree of sheen when dry. For example, a flat sheen reflects little or no light, while on the other side of the broad spectrum, a high sheen reflects multiple light rays in the selected painted object, thereby producing a glossy or shiny finish. These products are, however, narrowed by the fact that the amount of sheen in the final product will be uniform throughout the selected painted object, such as a wall, and not conducive to achieving a desired design by varying the sheen.


The automatic restart and resume of computing systems upon reapplication of external power, especially in the context of grid computing, is disclosed. A method receives a signal, such as an ACPI S4 signal, indicating that a power source of a computing system has discharged below a predetermined threshold level. The method sets a flag corresponding to signal receipt. The system enters hibernation or another state. Upon learning that external power has been reapplied, the method determines that the flag is set, and resets it. The system is caused to enter an unattended operation mode in which, for instance, grid-computing tasks may be resumed.

Traditional servers are usually relegated to centralized locations, such as server rooms having tens, hundreds, or thousands of computers maintained by grid computing providers. Such centralized resources enable their maintenance to be easily accomplished. For instance, network and other administrators are able to ensure that these resources are located in an environmentally suitable environment, with respect to temperature, humidity, and so on. Furthermore, power back-up facilities can easily be provided to centralized resources, in case the primary electrical power to the resources is temporarily disrupted. Should problems develop, technicians are usually located on-site, or a short distance away, to fix the problems in a timely manner. Even if a lengthy power outage occurs, technicians can usually maintain the servers for long periods of time, due to back-up power facilities.
However, the popularity of the Internet, as well as the availability of powerful computers and high-speed network technologies as low-cost commodity components is changing the way computers are used. These technology opportunities have led to the possibility of using distributed computers as a single, unified computing resource, leading to what is commonly referred to as grid computing. The term grid has been chosen as an analogy to a power grid that provides consistent, pervasive, dependable, and transparent access to electricity irrespective of its source.
A computational grid enables the sharing, selection, and aggregation of a wide variety of computational resources, including supercomputers, storage systems, data sources, and specialized devices that are geographically distributed and potentially owned by different organizations, for solving large-scale computation and data-intensive problems in science, engineering, and commerce, among other problem domains. A computational grid may be viewed as a seamless, integrated computational and collaborative environment. Users and client devices interact with the grid resource broker to solve problems, which in turn performs resource discovery, scheduling, and the processing of application jobs on the distributed grid resources. From the end-user point of view, computational grids can be used to provide services such as computational services, data services, and application services.
Organizations have looked to leveraging all of their resources to deploy within computational grids. For example, large corporations typically have thousands of computers deployed worldwide for their employees. These computers can include desktop computers as well as laptop, or notebook, computers. Except when running the most intensive computational applications, which is infrequent, most of these computers sit mostly idle during the workday. Common tasks such as word processing, Internet access, and email require only a small amount of the computational power that the computers are capable of providing. Furthermore, when employees go home for the day or for the week, their computers usually sit completely idle, their computational power wasted.
Organizations have thus attempted to harness these distributed resources into computational grids, to leverage all of their computing assets for computationally intensive tasks. However, including desktop and laptop computers primarily intended for end-user usage into computational grids can be problematic. Unlike computing resources located in a centralized location, end-user computing devices are more likely not to be located in an environmentally controlled environment. Should a computer be accidentally turned off, or if a computer loses its external power connection, its connection to the computational grid may be severed. While such complications can be easily handled within a data center having thousands of server computers and on-site technicians dedicated to ensure their uptime, when these problems occur for end-user computers a technician may not be able to be immediately dispatched to solve them.
As a result, harnessing desktop and laptop computers primarily intended for end-user usage into computational grids may result in decreased reliability of the computational grids. For example, if external power that enables these computers to run is lost for an extended period of time, the computational grid encompassing the computers loses their computational power. Furthermore, even when external power is re-supplied to the computers, there is no facility for restarting them and for the computers to resume their grid computing tasks. For organizations that have thousands of computers, this may require technicians to be dispatched to individually turn each computer back on and ensure that it has resumed its grid computing tasks. However, such a solution is time-consuming and costly.
That is, within grid computing, even a client computing device, like a laptop, notebook, or desktop computer, can become a component of the computational grid. However, the grid is presumed to be available at any time, which means that the client computing devices need to be available at any time to run or continue a computational grid task sent by a broker of the grid, even if a power outage occurs. Notebook or laptop computers, due to their inclusion of internal power sources like batteries, and desktop computers to which uninterruptible power supplies (UPS's) are attached, are thus able to function within a grid, since their batteries provide back-up power should a power outage occur. However, if the batteries become exhausted during a long power outage, these computers will not be able to continue a grid task.

Automatic restart and resume of computing system upon reapplication of external power

International Business Machines Corporation


A system for removably mounting an accessory on a pottery wheel. The system includes a locating pin which is attached to the pottery wheel at a nominal location. The location of the locating pin may be adjusted. The system also includes a hole fabricated in an accessory at a location corresponding to the nominal location. The location of the locating pin is adjusted to align with the location of the hole and the hole is slid onto the locating pin, thereby mounting the accessory on the pottery wheel.

Potters often use pottery wheels to make the pottery. Wheel made pottery requires the clay to be centered on the rotating wheel before the pottery can be formed into a particular shape. After the piece of pottery is made, the piece must be recentered for trimming, final shaping, and decorating. To facilitate productivity, attachments are often used. The attachments include bats, trimming apparatuses, and fixtures to hold the pottery during fabrication, trimming, shaping and decorating.
Currently, there are a variety of mechanical methods used to mount these attachments on a pottery wheel, also called a wheel head. Two of the most common are ¼-20 hex-head screws that are mounted into ¼ inch holes drilled nominally at standard locations in the pottery wheel, and ears that clamp to the sides of the pottery wheels. Unfortunately wheel manufacturers do not precisely locate the holes in the same location, nor do they machine the wheel heads to precisely the same diameter. Also, there are multiple wheel manufacturers with varying tolerances and multiple methods for mounting the wheel head to the axle around which it rotates. Each accessory must, therefore, be adjusted by a potter to fit each wheel in a pottery studio on which it is used. This essentially limits the use of bats and trimming accessories to exclusive use on one wheel. Thus, for both methods, the attachments are only applicable to a one wheel head due to the variation in the hole location, the wheel head diameter from wheel head to wheel head, and manufacturing variations.
Because the holes in the wheel head may not be located precisely and the edge of the wheel head may not be concentric with the rotating axis, accessories cannot recenter the work piece without some method to adjust the location of the accessory to compensate for the variations in the location of the holes or the edge of the wheel head. Attachment manufacturers initially used holes drilled into the accessories at the approximate location of the holes in the wheel head. The holes were then aligned with the heads of the bolts mounted on the pottery wheel. One hole was made substantially oval-shaped to accommodate the variation in the hole location.
Often the work takes longer than one session and/or when completed needs to remain undisturbed until it dries. In such a situation, it is advantageous to be able to remove the completed or partially completed work from the wheel so that wheel may be used for other work. In such situations accessories called bats may be used. Bats are flat round trays, usually the size of the pottery wheel, which may be removed from, and remounted on, the pottery wheel. To use such a bat, the pottery wheel may have holes drilled nominally at predetermined locations. Locating pins are mounted in the holes. The bat has holes at locations corresponding to those of the locating pins on the pottery wheel. Before beginning work which will require several sessions, the potter mounts the bat on the pottery wheel. The locating pins hold the bat on the pottery wheel. The work is then performed on top of the bat. When the session is over, the bat, with the completed or partially completed work-piece on it, is lifted off the wheel. The wheel, thus, becomes available for different work.
Bats made from non-porous material, e.g. plastic or masonite bats, are currently available. To use these bats, the pottery wheel has holes drilled at points nominally along a diameter at a radius of, for example, 5 inches. Bolts having a specified head size, e.g. ¼-20 hex-head bolts, are commonly mounted in the holes. The non-porous bat has holes in it, at nominal locations corresponding to the locations of the bolts: i.e. also along a diameter and at a radius of 5 inches. The size of these holes is slightly larger than the size of the bolt heads. In a specific non-porous bat, one hole is round while the other is oval-shaped. The bat, thus, may be mounted on and removed from the pottery wheel as work on the work-piece progresses. Because the holes in the pottery wheel are not precisely at the nominal locations, the remounted non-porous bat may not be at precisely the same location on the pottery wheel and, thus, may not be centered. This is especially true if the non-porous bat is mounted on a different pottery wheel.
Porous bats, such as those made from plaster, provide advantages that non-porous bats do not. For example, a work-piece on a non-porous bat will begin to dry from the outside surfaces, except the surface on the non-porous bat. This leads to uneven drying. A porous bat, on the other hand, absorbs water so all surfaces of the work-piece, including that against the bat, will dry allowing the work-piece to dry more evenly. Also, because the porous bat absorbs the moisture, the potter will be able to release the work-piece from the bat without having to cut it off with a wire.
Plaster bats, more specifically, are easy and economical to fabricate, and a potter may make as many plaster bats as needed by constructing a dam around the edge of the pottery wheel, e.g. by using wide tape or clay. The resulting volume is filled with plaster. When the plaster sets, the dam is removed and the bat may be used. The bat may be attached to the pottery wheel using clay as an adhesive between the top of the pottery wheel and the bottom of the bat. This requires that the bat be recentered manually whenever it is remounted on the pottery wheel.
Some attempts have been made to allow a plaster bat to use the same attachment mechanism as described above with respect to the non-porous bats. For example, as described above, bolts may be mounted in holes drilled in the pottery wheel, then the plaster for the bat poured. When the plaster has set, it will fit atop the bolts and not require clay as an adhesive or manual recentering. Bats are also made commercially in this manner, sometimes using rubber grommets. However, because the holes in the pottery wheel are not located precisely, a commercially produced bat may not fit onto the bolts in the pottery wheel.
This solution also may not work if there is more than one pottery wheel on which the bat may be placed. Although manufacturers of pottery wheels may drill the holes in the pottery wheel, it is often the case that potters drill the holes in their own wheels. Further, even when the manufacturer drills the holes, they are not drilled with precision. In either case, the locations of the holes may vary relatively widely from one pottery wheel to another. This is not a problem with non-porous bats because, as described above, they are manufactured with one round hole and one oval-shaped hole.
However, as described above, plaster bats may be fabricated directly on the pottery wheel, or commercially with rubber grommets. If the locating pins on a pottery wheel do not align precisely with the corresponding holes in the bat, the bat does not fit on that pottery wheel. Even if the bat fits on the pottery wheel, the holes in this pottery wheel may not be in the same relative locations with respect to the center of the original pottery wheel, thus, the bat may not be centered on the new pottery wheel. In addition, plaster is soft and brittle. Repeatedly removing and remounting a plaster bat made as described above on a pottery wheel, even the pottery wheel on which is was originally fabricated, eventually leads to the bolt heads scraping the holes in the bat, making them larger and allowing the bat to slip on the pottery wheel.

Apparatus and method for mounting accessories to pottery wheels


A method of data recovery in systems employing error-correction coding techniques is described. The technique may be used, for example, in conjunction with a data storage device or a data communications network. Several trials of accessing or transmitting the ECC-protected data are performed. The data from each trial is decoded, and is also saved. If none of the trials results in the successful decoding of the data, then a reconstruction function is employed to create a reconstructed version of the data from the sequence of data created by the trials. One method of reconstruction involves majority voting on a symbol-by-symbol basis. The reconstructed data created that way is then decoded in the same fashion as for each trial. A more powerful reconstruction function employs a threshold to determine whether each voted-on symbol is sufficiently "reliable". If not, it is marked as an erasure. The reconstructed data created by this reconstruction function is decoded according to an error-and-erasure algorithm, which increases the error-correcting power of the ECC.

In digital data systems, it is a common problem for important data to become corrupted by data errors. Data stored on a data storage device, for example, is subject to errors as a result of surface defects or of imperfect tracking between the recording head and a "track" containing the data. Similarly, data that is transmitted from a sender to a receiver on a network may become corrupted by noise. While digital data systems are designed to eliminate sources of errors and to reduce their effects, nevertheless data errors still occur. It is desirable to be able to recover data despite the presence of data errors.
In order to enhance data integrity in digital data systems, such systems commonly employ error correction coding techniques. The use of such techniques enables digital data systems to recover data correctly despite the presence of errors. Using error correction coding, a data system encodes a piece of data into a codeword which typically consists of the original piece of data and some check data. The check data is generated from the original data according to an error-correcting code (ECC). The decoder for the ECC is capable of decoding the codeword to obtain the original data even if some of the data or check symbols are in error. The decoder can distinguish codewords despite errors because the codewords generated by the ECC are sufficiently different from each other. Such a decoding process is similar to a human's ability to correct spelling errors as he or she reads, because words are sufficiently different from each other that he or she "knows" which word is meant.
There are several considerations that determine the error-control strategy to be used in a system. The ECC should be as simple as possible, so that the cost and complexity of the decoder is minimized. The ECC must also have enough correction power so that data integrity is maintained in the system. For a code of given complexity, the number of errors the code can correct is approximately proportional to the number of check symbols in its codewords. High data integrity therefore implies large codewords. However, the ECC should not require an excessive amount of precious storage space or network bandwidth for the necessary check symbols.
In order to maintain high data integrity, a system would employ an ECC that can correct the maximum number of errors that may be encountered on a piece of data. However, this maximum number is typically far greater than the average number of such errors, and therefore the average codeword used in such a system wastes a substantial number of its check symbols. It is highly desirable to employ an error correction technique that obtains high data integrity while minimizing the size of the codewords employed, or, alternatively, maximizes data integrity for a given-size codeword.

Data recovery after error correction failure


A double-stitch sewing machine is provided which, in a preferred embodiment, includes a throat plate and feed dog with a needle opening for supporting a material to be sewn, a reciprocating needle to penetrate the material, the needle having an eyelet for insertion of a needle thread, the needle being able to penetrate through the sewn material and carry the needle thread through the needle opening, a rotating hook for pulling on the needle thread after insertion of the needle thread through the needle opening, forming a loop in the needle thread with a first leg of the loop being joined with the sewn material and the needle and a second leg of the loop being joined only with the sewn material, a bobbin carrier mounted within the rotating hook having an adjacent clearance with the rotating hook, allowing the rotating hook to cause the needle thread to be brought underneath the bobbin carrier, the bobbin carrier dispensing bobbin thread in cooperation with the rotating hook pulling of the needle thread, a first cutter for cutting the needle thread, separating the needle thread first and second legs and cutting the bobbin thread, forming a first leg of the bobbin thread connecting with the bobbin and a second leg of the bobbin thread connecting with the sewn material, the first cutter insuring a predetermined length of the needle thread first leg, a thread wiper for pulling on the first leg of the needle thread, insuring a minimum length of the first leg of the needle thread on a side of the throat plate adjacent the sewn material, and a second cutter generally adjacent the needle opening on a side of the throat plate opposite the sewn material to sever the second leg of the needle thread and the second leg of the bobbin thread more adjacent to the sewn material.

Most cross-stitch sewing machines have a bed plate for supporting the material and a needle with a cross aperture or eyelet which penetrates the material and then enters a needle opening in the bed plate. The needle opening (where the needle penetrates the plane of the bed plate) in one configuration is through a hole in a feed dog (supported underneath the bed plate) or in a throat plate (supported on a slot on the bed plate), depending on the material feed system utilized. Under the bed plate is a rotating hook sometimes referred to as a looper. The hook may rotate on a vertical or horizontal axis. The hook has mounted in its top a nonrotative bobbin carrier. Between the bobbin carrier and the hook, there is a clearance underneath the bobbin carrier.
When the needle penetrates the material to be sewn, it carries the needle thread to a position underneath the bed plate and then slightly rises. This action causes the needle thread to slightly buckle, allowing it to be engaged by the hook. The hook causes the loop, which is now formed in the needle thread, to be enlarged and for a portion of the loop in the needle thread to come underneath the bobbin carrier. The bobbin carrier contains a spool of bobbin thread which becomes entrapped by the loop of the needle thread. The bobbin thread is carried up to a position adjacent the bottom of the sewn material, forming a pattern of a cross stitch. A more detailed understanding of the workings of cross-stitch sewing machines can be gained from a reading of Landwehr U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,177, Thiel U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,436 and Kessler et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,088, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein. At the end of the sewing process, either by manual actuation or by some type of control logic which is monitoring the sewing operation, a rotary or arcuate knife cutter is engaged to cut the bobbin and needle threads.
Most cutters work on the principle of a scissors-type mechanism with movement by a pivotal or rotational arm grabbing the threads and making the threads engage with a stationary knife. To allow the threads which are still connected with the material to be as short as possible and therefore delete or minimize a requirement for a secondary thread cutting operation (after the sewn material has been removed from the sewing machine), it is desirable that the threads at the end of the sewing operation be cut adjacent to the needle opening in the bed plate (which will be a feed dog hole in many industrial, nongarment sewing machines) as much as possible. However, there are two constraints which prevent cutting of the needle thread and bobbin thread adjacent to the needle opening. The first constraint is that the stationary knife typically is located away from the needle opening due to required clearances of moving parts of the sewing machines, including but not limited to the feed dog and hook. Secondly, the portion of the needle thread from the eyelet of the needle to its cut end must be of a minimum length to insure proper operation on the next sewing cycle. Unfortunately, the above two constraints leave a length of the needle thread and the bobbin thread, which are still connected with the sewn material, of the approximate same length as the needle thread which is threaded through the needle eyelet. Therefore, there exists a challenge of providing a sewing machine which can allow an appropriate length of needle thread which is threaded through the needle eyelet after the cutter has cut the needle and bobbin threads and still minimize the length of the needle and bobbin threads which are now connected with the material workpiece which has been sewn.

Sewing machine with thread wiper and auxiliary cutter


An electrical connector and a method for producing the same are described. The electrical connector has an insulative housing and a plurality of metallic wires. The insulative housing has a plurality of slots formed therein, and the slots are defined with a width less than that of the metallic wire. The metallic wires are set into the slots and further are folded. Each of the metallic wires has a contact portion protruding out of a surface of the insulative housing for electrically connecting the electrical component.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector and a method for producing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
The conventional electrical connector generally includes an insulative housing and a plurality of contacts received in respective channels, which are formed in lateral walls of the insulative housing. The insulative housing further includes a plurality of engaging slots formed in a bottom thereof and communicating with the channels. Pluralities of engaging portions disposed on the contacts are pressed into the engaging slots to mate with the insulative housing. Such a connector is not cheap and is difficult to manufacture and assemble.

Method for producing electrical connector


The present invention generally relates to a novel catalytic subunit of a lipid kinase designated p110.delta.. Polynucleotides encoding p110.delta. and recombinant p110.delta. polypeptides are provided along with antibodies to p110.delta., assays for identifying inhibitors of p110.delta., and the like.

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) was originally identified as an activity associated with viral oncoproteins and growth factor receptor tyrosine kinases which phosphorylates phosphatidylinositol (PI) and phosphorylated derivatives of PI at the 3'-hydroxyl of the inositol ring [Panayotou et al., Trends in Cell Biol., 2:358-360 (1992)]. The initial purification and molecular cloning of PI 3-kinase revealed that it was a heterodimer consisting of p85 and p110 subunits [Otsu et al., Cell, 65:91-104 (1992); Hiles et al., Cell, 70:419-429 (1992)].
The p85 subunit acts to localize PI 3-kinase to the plasma membrane by the interaction of its SH2 domain with phosphorylated tyrosine residues (present in an appropriate sequence context) in target proteins [Rameh et al. Cell, 83:821-830 (1995)]. Two isoforms of p85 have been identified, p85.alpha. which is ubiquitously expressed, and p85.beta., which is primarily found in brain and lymphoid tissues [Volinia et al., Oncogene, 7:789-793 (1992)].
The p110 subunit contains the catalytic domain of PI 3-kinase and three isofoniis (.alpha., .beta. and .gamma.) of p110 have thus far been identified. p110.alpha. and .beta. associate with p85 whereas p110.gamma. which is activated by G protein .beta..gamma. subunits, does not [Stoyanov et al., Science, 269:690-693 (1995)]. The cloning of p110.gamma. revealed additional complexity within this family of enzymes. p110.gamma. is closely related to p110.alpha. and .beta. (45-48% identity in the catalytic domain), but does not make use of p85 as a targeting subunit, instead p110.gamma. contains an additional domain termed a pleckstrin homology domain near its amino terminus. This domain allows interaction with the .beta..gamma. subunits of heterotrimeric G proteins and it appears that it is this interaction that regulates its activity [Stoyanov et al., 1995]. Thus PI 3-kinases are defined by their amino acid identity or their activity. Additional members of this growing gene family include more distantly related lipid and protein kinases including Vps34, TOR1 and TOR2 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (and their mammalian homologous such as FRAP and mTOR), the ataxia telangiectasia gene product, and the catalytic subunit of DNA dependent protein kinase. [See, generally, the review of Hunter, Cell, 83:1-4 (1995).]
The levels of phospliatidylinositol (3, 4, 5) triphosphate (PIP.sub.3), the primary product of PI 3-kinase activation, increase upon treatment of cells with a wide variety of agonists. PI 3-kinase activation is therefore believed to be involved in a range of cellular responses including cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis [Parker et al., Current Biology, 5:577-579 (1995); Yao et al., Science, 267:2003-2005 (1995)]. The downstream targets of the phosphorylated lipids generated following PI 3-kinase activation have not been well characterized. In vitro, some isoforms of protein kinase C (PKC) are directly activated by PIP.sub.3 and the PKC related protein kinase PKB has been shown to be activated by PI 3-kinase through an as-yet-undetermined mechanism [Burgering and Coffer, Nature, 376:599-602 (1995)].
PI 3-kinase also appears to be involved in a number of aspects of leukocyte activation. A p85 associated PI 3-kinase activity has been shown to physically associate with the cytoplasmic domain of CD28, an important co-stimulatory molecule for the activation of T cells in response to antigen [Pages et al., Nature, 369:327-329 (1994); Rudd, Immunity, 4:527-534 (1996)]. Activation of T cells through CD28 lowers the threshold for activation by antigen and increases the magnitude and duration of the proliferative response. These effects are linked to increases in the transcription of a number of genes including the T cell growth factor interleukin 2 (IL-2) [Fraser et al., Science, 251:313-316 (1992)]. Mutation of CD28 such that it can no longer interact with PI 3-kinase leads to a failure to initiate IL-2 production, suggesting a critical role for PI 3-kinase in T cell activation [Pages et al. 1994]. Based on studies using the PI 3-kinase inhibitor, wortmannin, there is evidence that PI 3-kinase(s) are also required for some aspects of leukocyte signalling through G protein-coupled receptors [Thelen et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., 91:4960-4964 (1994)].
There thus continues to exist a need in the art for further insights into the nature, function and distribution of PI 3-kinase providing means for effecting beneficial modulation of PI 3-kinase effects.


A filter cartridge that is designed to accommodate differences in lengths between an outer filter media and an inner filter media by providing a flexible connection between the inner filter media and the outer filter media. In addition, the endplates of the inner filter and the outer filter together define a gasket groove that receives a gasket. Using the endplates of the inner and outer filter media to define the gasket groove eliminates a mold parting line that can lead to fluid leakage.

The use of filter cartridges to filter fluids such as air, fuel, oil and other fluids is well known. A filter cartridge can include, among other features, one or more filter media and plates secured to the filter media at opposite ends. In the case of a filter cartridge configured as a filter-in-filter construction, the inner and outer filter media can have different lengths. The different lengths can create difficulties during assembly of the filter cartridge.
In addition, in certain filter cartridge constructions, a gasket groove is formed in a bottom endplate that receives a gasket for sealing with a standpipe around which the filter cartridge is disposed when the cartridge is installed in a filter housing. During molding of the gasket groove, one or more parting lines are formed on the groove by the mold components that are used to form the bottom endplate. The parting line(s) creates a risk of fluid leakage between the gasket and the endplate.


Disclosed is a device including a lead frame having a body with a top surface and a bottom surface and lead fingers. Each lead finger has a first end and a second end. A semiconductor die is coupled to the body. A first flag is a first exposed portion of the body and integral with the first end of a first lead finger. The first flag and the first lead finger are a continuous material. A second flag is a second exposed portion of the body and integral with the first end of a second lead finger. The second flag and the second lead finger are a continuous material. An encapsulant covers the die, the bottom surface of the body, the first end of the lead fingers and a portion of the top surface of the body. The flags are separated and electrically isolated from one another by the encapsulant.

Semiconductor dies with integrated circuits are typically encapsulated in a package to prevent physical damage and corrosion. The package supports electrical contacts such as lead fingers that connect the package to components such as a circuit board. In applications, the size and capability of the package is a consideration because space is limited for the placement of packages and other devices on the same circuit board.

Lead frame package having conductive surface with integral lead finger


Extension apparatus for locating a battery remotely from an appliance, and accessibly. An extension cord has male and female terminals at each end. Each end has one female terminal and one male terminal. The terminals connected to the appliance are either snap fit terminals or coaxial terminals. At one end, the terminals correspond to those of the battery. At the other end, they manually connect to wiring terminals compatible with the battery terminals. The extension cord may terminate in a "dummy" battery, so that it occupies and is stably retained in the battery compartment of the appliance when connected to the appliance wiring. A battery enclosure stores a battery for powering the appliance and accepts penetration of the extension cord for internal connection to the battery. Terminals of the extension cord at the battery enclosure are snap fit terminals. The battery enclosure preferably has internal spool structure for winding and storing excess length of the extension cord. Optionally, the battery enclosure has a push-to-test momentary contact pushbutton.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mounting of power cells or batteries remotely from an appliance powered by these cells or batteries. More particularly, the invention comprises apparatus enabling ready connection between a battery and its associated appliance. The apparatus includes an extension configured at both ends to cooperate with a battery cell, so that a conventional appliance and a battery cell may be readily connected.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Commercial, residential, and industrial buildings are frequently modified to offer functions related to safety, security and convenience. These functions may be those of convenience, providing illumination or information by appropriate lights. For example, emergency exits may be indicated by lights of characteristic, identifiable size, design, and color scheme. Clocks may be provided periodically throughout buildings for convenience of occupants. Safety and security devices may include, for example, detectors and annunciators of heat, motion, sound, products of combustion (hereinafter referred to as "smoke detectors"), carbon monoxide, specific chemical, and still others.
Increasingly, such devices are provided in forms independent of connection to the building electrical system. In many cases, they must be operable in the event of failure of electrical power, and thus are powered by batteries. This may be a matter of practicality enabling retrofitting to buildings wherein ready connection to the electrical system, is not feasible. In other cases, it is imperative that the device remain operable independently of the building electrical system Smoke detectors, for example, must be capable of operation even in the event of electrical failure. Security devices must remain operable despite attempts at disablement by intentional severance of electrical supply conductors or by similar actions.
Many protective detecting and annunciation devices must be located at the highest point of the spaces they monitor. Such locations may easily be beyond ready reach of occupants of the building. For example, in residences, high or so called "cathedral" ceilings may be present. In storage, service, and fabrication facilities, concert halls and other auditoriums, other high ceilings may be present.
When safety, security, and convenience appliances are mounted in somewhat inaccessible locations, there is a tendency to ignore requirements that the batteries be periodically monitored for power level and renewed as necessary. A great many house fires, many resulting in fatalities, have been allowed to propagate unnoticed due to ineffective smoke alarms. There remains a need for more accessible location of battery cells for such appliances, and for apparatus for testing the condition of the battery cells and their associated appliances.
One answer to this need is a suitable extension cord. Extension cords having unlike or dissimilar terminals at each end have been proposed in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,894, issued to Edward J. Kotski on Apr. 1, 1980, and 4,599,483, issued to Volker Khhn et al. on Jul. 8, 1986, and West German Patent Application Number 3,522,710, dated Jan. 8, 1987, all illustrate electrical extension cords having dissimilar terminals at each one end. Kotski and the German invention each illustrate a cord wherein each individual conductor has a first type of terminal at one end and an opposite or mating type of terminal at the other end, thereby enabling serial insertion into the circuit being extended. However, unlike these prior art devices, the present invention has a self-contained battery enclosure for mounting remotely from the appliance. The battery enclosure has a spool for storing excess cord length and, optionally, a press-to-test feature enabling remote testing of the appliance. In an additional option, the present invention includes an enlarged block supporting conductive terminals at one end, for physically replacing a battery in an appliance.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.


When an operation causing a decrease of the engine load is requested, for example, by switching off an air conditioner switch, an idle speed control system calculates a fuel decrease quantity from an engine load decrease quantity, and further calculates an air decrease quantity in accordance with a desired air fuel ratio after the engine load decrease, and the fuel decrease quantity. The control system decreases the air supply quantity to the engine by the air decrease quantity. Then, after the elapse of a preset time interval, the system controls the external load such as the air conditioner so as to reduce the engine load (for example, by turning off the air conditioner), and decrease the fuel injection quantity by the fuel decrease quantity. When the air conditioner is switched on, for example, the control system calculates a fuel increase quantity from the engine load increase, and further calculates an air increase quantity in accordance with the fuel increase quantity and a desired air fuel ratio after the engine load increase. Then, the control system controls the external load to increase the engine load, increases the fuel injection quantity and increases the air supply quantity.

The present invention relates to system or process for controlling an idle speed of an internal combustion engine substantially constant.
A conventional idle speed control system is arranged to sense an engine speed directly and controls an air quantity (the opening degree of an auxiliary air valve) in a feedback control mode so as to reduce a deviation from a desired idle speed.
When, however, an external load is added, for example, by turning on an air conditioner or shifting an automatic transmission from the neutral position to the D range, the engine speed falls instantaneously. The above-mentioned feedback system is slow in response and ineffectual in preventing an abrupt decrease of the idle speed due to the addition of the external load.
An idle speed control system as disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 60(1985)-240843 is arranged to detect an addition of an external load and to increase the fuel injection quantity upon detection of the addition of the external load. When the external load is removed, this system decreases the fuel injection quantity.
However, in the system in which the decrease of the fuel injection quantity and the removal of the load are performed simultaneously, the air fuel mixture tends to become too lean. Specifically, in a lean burn engine designed to run on a significantly low air/fuel ratio to improve the fuel consumption, the air/fuel ratio might reach the lean limit by the decrease of the fuel injection quantity, quantity, resulting in poor combustion and unpleasant drive feeling.
On the other hand, the simultaneous operation of increasing the fuel injection quantity and adding the external load makes the air fuel mixture richer, and deteriorates the fuel consumption and exhaust performance.

Idle speed control system for internal combustion engine


A system for determining high accuracy relative position solutions between two moving platforms is disclosed. This system is particularly suited for aircraft carrier approach and landing operations. More specifically, a system is disclosed that modifies existing Kinematic Carrier Phase Tracking (KCPT) solutions, which are useful for solutions between a moving platform and a fixed ground based platform, to provide an acceptable relative solution vector in aircraft carrier approach and landing operations, or other environments involving multiple moving platforms. The system disclosed provides a relative KCPT (RKCPT) process that achieves significant advantages over old KCPT process technology. To do so, the system utilizes multiple independent Kalman filters linked to multiple independent numerical ambiguity estimators to provide multiple sets of floating and fixed ambiguities for an accurate solution vector determination. In particular, three independent Kalman filters are disclosed, which are directed to the three highest elevation positioning space vehicles and which are linked respectively to three independent numerical ambiguity estimators. More particularly, the numerical ambiguity estimators may be Teunissen ambiguity estimators. The positioning space vehicles may be the current Global Positioning System satellites, and the system may focus on wide lane GPS data to limit the calculations conducted. An associated method for determining a relative solution vector between multiple moving platforms is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to aircraft approach and landing systems for moving platforms. The present invention also relates to systems based on the Global Positioning System Kinematic Carrier Phase Tracking technology, and to systems that determine relative position solutions between two moving platforms.
2. Related Art
Landing an aircraft on a moving platform or landing area creates significant problems for approach and landing systems. For example, in naval applications such as landing an aircraft on an aircraft carrier, aircraft landing operations require a robust and precise navigation system for auto-coupled approaches and landings. A radar based system called the SPN-46 system has been previously developed to provide the required sensor accuracy for auto-coupled approaches for approach and landing control for an aircraft landing on an aircraft carrier. The SPN-46 system, however, tends not to be reliable during limited visibility conditions, such as those caused by precipitation, and it is in such limited visibility conditions that a system, such as the SPN-46, is most required.
Approach and landing systems, based upon the Global Positioning System, do not suffer from this disadvantage and are operable in bad weather. The Global Positioning System ("GPS") presently consists of a constellation of 24 satellites that continuously broadcasts time and frequency data on two frequencies, L1 and L2. GPS receivers have been developed to correlate these time and frequency measurements to develop range measurements. Using these range measurements and triangulating, a determination of the GPS receiver's position relative to a point on the earth may be determined. The most common method utilized is to determine a position relative to a known surveyed reference point that is fixed on the earth's surface. In the context of approach and landing of aircraft, this reference point is typically some stationary point on the ground near the landing area, such as a touchdown point for the aircraft. To implement a GPS landing system, algorithms have been developed that use GPS data to produce an accurate known position relative to a surveyed aircraft touchdown point. One such algorithm is known as a Kinematic Carrier Phase Tracking (KCPT) solution.
For aircraft carrier landing systems, however, the landing area is not stationary, and there is no surveyed touchdown point. In addition, Navy requirements specify that the aircraft position must be known relative to the touchdown point on the aircraft carrier to an accuracy of one foot. Because the touchdown point on an aircraft carrier is constantly changing, along with other environmental aspects of the aircraft carrier that are hostile to the KCPT solution, existing KCPT solutions do not provide adequate results in an aircraft carrier application. In addition, to operate a KCPT solution on an aircraft carrier, the process must be able to accommodate multiple maskings and cycle slips on a moving platform.
In other applications involving the tracking of one moving object with respect to another moving object, similar problems are encountered with traditional systems relying upon GPS technology. Because there is no surveyed point to use as a reference, the range and direction solutions are difficult to determine.
What is needed is a system for determining an accurate relative solution vector for environments between two moving platforms, such as in aircraft carrier approach and landing operations.

System and method for determining high accuracy relative position solutions between two moving platforms


An electronic camera records files of photographed images in such a manner that files of images photographed under different photographing circumstances (e.g., different exposure modes, compression rates, or photographing dates/times) can readily be distinguished. In certain preferred embodiments, a data management index corresponding to a first photographing circumstance is recorded at a first hierarchy level and a file name assigned to an image photographed under the first photographing circumstance is recorded in association with the file management index at a hierarchy level different from the first hierarchy level. A second data management index corresponding to a second photographing circumstance or a file name assigned to an image photographed under a second photographing circumstance is also recorded at the first hierarchy level.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image data recording method in a digital still video camera.
2. Related Background Art
In digital still video cameras, it has heretofore been practiced to utilize the file format of a versatile operating system to record photographed digital image data on a recording medium such as a memory card. In the prior-art apparatus of this kind, photographed digital image data are successively recorded with file names given to the interior of a root directory. In FIG. 6 of the accompanying drawings, there is shown an example of the image data recording method according to the prior art.
In FIG. 6, the reference numeral 601 designates a root directory, and the reference numeral 602 denotes examples of file names.
The prior-art apparatus has been such that all image data are stored in one and the same directory. Also, a technique of including a character for distinguishing between a single shot and a sequential shot in some of file names is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 4-335784.
In the above-described prior art, however, the file of all image data is stored in the root directory, and this has led to a problem that it is difficult to look for a particular file.
Also, the prior art has been such that the file name is used to only distinguish between a single shot and a sequential shot. However, a digital still video camera is also provided with a plurality of photographing modes, and it is desired not only to distinguish between a single shot and a sequential shot, but also to distinguish between the other photographing modes similarly. For that purpose, it is possible to include characters or the like representing the information of those photographing modes in some of file names. This would give rise to a problem that the number of the characters of the file names will become very great and exceed the limit of the number of the characters of the file names or even if one sees the file name, one could not judge in a moment in what photographing mode the image data have been photographed.

Photographing-mode-dependent image data recording method in a digital camera using hiearchical storage to record still images at a different level than sequential images


In a disk array device for cooling respective sections including a HDD by a fan, drop of cooling efficiency by the difference of conditions of HDD mounted and unmounted sections is prevented and the use of a dummy HDD is deleted/eliminated. A housing contains a HDA mounted on the HDD, a power controller board for performing control to the HDD, a power unit for supplying power to each section, a fan for cooling the housing therein, and a backboard for connecting all the sections. On one backboard surface, the HDA is mounted, which has a cooling function for making cooling air flowing in the housing and exhausting air from the housing via a region on which the HDA are mounted and via a vent hole on the backboard. For the vent hole, a shutter is mounted, which has a mechanism for adjusting an open area rate of the vent hole by opening when the HDA is mounted and closing when removed.

The present invention relates to a disk array device (also called a storage system), and in particular, to a technique for cooling HDD (hard disk drive) and others to be installed in a housing.
As processing in a disk array device increases, it is essential to efficiently carry out cooling against the heat generated from each section inside the device including HDD. For the cooling means, a fan is installed in the disk array device, and the wind for air cooling (cooling air) is circulated to each component including HDDs inside the equipment by the fan operation.
In addition, in a disk array device in which a plurality of HDDs can be mounted, there occur an HDD mounted section (hereinafter, "HDD mounted section") and an HDD unmounted section (hereinafter, "HDD unmounted section"), and they cause variation of the flow rate (volume) or a flow velocity of the cooling air between the airflow routes that correspond to each section. With respect to air cooling by the fan, in the currently mainstream system, by mounting a dummy HDD which is a part of the shape same as HDA into the HDD unmounted section, the volume of cooling air in the vent passage of the HDD unmounted section is limited and the volume of cooling air in the vent passage of the HDD mounted section is secured. By this, drop of the cooling efficiency is prevented.
Japanese patent Laid-open No. 11-145658 discloses a technique for using dummy HDD.


A scale mounting apparatus is provided for coupling a fixed support frame to a movable weigh frame. The apparatus includes a load cell having a first end rigidly coupled to the support frame and a second, movable end, a mounting bracket coupled to the weigh frame, an elastomeric mounting block, and a fastener for coupling the mounting block and the mounting bracket to the second movable end of the load cell.

The present invention relates to a hospital bed having the capability of weighing a patient located on the bed. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved scale mounting apparatus for a hospital bed or other piece of equipment.
In certain instances, such as in intensive care or critical care units of a hospital, it is necessary to monitor a patient's weight on a regular basis. Therefore, various scale devices have been designed to accomplish weighing of the patient. In certain scale devices, a patient must be transferred to a separate scale or to a sling scale device for weighing the patient. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,882. In other instances, thin weighing scales are adapted to be placed under the patient. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,217,818 and 3,463,368. Other scales require the entire bed to be located on the scale. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,730.
The present invention relates to an improved scale mounting system for mounting a scale apparatus directly onto the bed to obtain a weight of the patient without moving the patient or the bed. In other words, the scale of the present invention is integrated with the frame system of the bed. Other such integrated scale devices are known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,953,244; 4,793,428; and 5,269,388. These known scales typically include load cells or linear variable differential transformers for measuring the weight of a patient on the bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,244 discloses a weigh frame coupled to a patient support surface. The weigh frame is mounted at its four corners by load cells to a bed support frame. The weight detected by the four load cells is summed and processed to provide a weight of the patient. The present invention provides an improved scale mounting apparatus for securing a weigh frame to a support frame with load cells to each corner of the weigh frame.
Typically, the load cells used to measure the weight of the patient are sensitive to side loading. Such side loading can create weight errors. The mounting apparatus of the present invention provides a more stable mounting system which improves the linearity of the output from the load cells.
The mounting apparatus of the present invention is easier to install, provides improved frame stability, increases accuracy and repeatability of the measurements from the load cells, and reduces costs of production and installation.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a scale mounting apparatus is provided for coupling a fixed support frame to a movable weigh frame. The apparatus includes a load cell having a first end rigidly coupled to the support frame and a second, movable end, a mounting bracket coupled to the weigh frame, an elastomeric mounting block, and a fastener for coupling the mounting block and the mounting bracket to the second movable end of the load cell.
In the illustrated embodiment, the mounting block has a cylindrical shape. The mounting block has a hardness of about 70 to about 80 durometer.
The illustrated embodiment also includes a washer located between the fastener and the mounting block. The washer includes an outer flange configured to extend over a lower portion of an outer surface of the mounting block. The illustrated mounting bracket is formed to include a recessed section for surrounding an upper portion of the outer surface of the mounting block.
Also in the illustrated embodiment, the fastener extends through a central aperture formed in each of the washer, the mounting block, the mounting bracket and into the second end of the load cell. The first end of the load cell is coupled to a bottom surface of the support frame, and the second, movable end of the load cell includes a mounting surface aligned generally parallel to the bottom surface of the support frame. The mounting surface includes a threaded aperture aligned with an opening formed in the bottom surface of the support frame. The threaded aperture is configured to receive a threaded end of the fastener to secure the mounting block and the mounting bracket to the load cell. A head of the fastener is located outside the support frame to facilitate installation of the scale mounting apparatus.
Additional objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.


An online system receives a content item including an image from a content-providing user and/or receives an interaction with the content item from a viewing user. The online system accesses a machine-learning model that is trained based on a set of images of items associated with an entity and attributes of each image. The online system applies the model to predict a probability that the content item includes an image of an item associated with the entity based on attributes of the image included in the content item. Based on the predicted probability, the online system updates a profile of the user (i.e., the content-providing user and/or the viewing user) to include an affinity for the item. Upon determining an opportunity to present content to the user, the online system selects content for presentation to the user based on the profile and sends the content for presentation to the user.

An online system allows its users to connect and communicate with other online system users. Users create profiles in the online system that are tied to their identities and include information about the users, such as interests and demographic information. The users may be individuals or entities such as corporations or charities. Because of the popularity of online systems and the significant amount of user-specific information maintained in online systems, an online system provides an ideal forum for allowing users to share content by creating content items for presentation to additional online system users. For example, users may share photos or videos they have uploaded by creating content items that include the photos or videos that are presented to additional users to whom they are connected in the online system.
Conventionally, online systems select content for presentation to their users based on the users' affinity for various items (e.g., products) or topics (e.g., specific or general categories of products or services, geographic locations, hobbies, sports, music, movies, etc.) that may be associated with the content. A user's affinity for an item or a topic may be explicitly shared by the user with an online system (e.g., when building the user's profile to be maintained in the online system). A user's affinity for an item or a topic also may be inferred by an online system if information describing the item or topic is included in content received from the user and/or if the information is included in content with which the user has interacted (e.g., in a tag, in a caption, etc.). For example, suppose that a content item received from an online system user includes an image of a jacket, in which the content item also includes a tag that describes the jacket (e.g., a style and a brand of the jacket). In this example, additional users of the online system to whom the content item is presented may interact with the content item (e.g., by expressing a preference for the content item, commenting on the content item, saving the content item, sharing the content item, etc.). In the above example, based on the tag, the online system may infer that the user from whom the content item was received and the users who interacted with the content item have an affinity for the style and/or the brand of jacket and subsequently may select content items that are associated with the style and/or the brand of jacket for presentation to the users.
However, online systems may fail to infer items or topics for which their users are likely to have affinities if content received from the users and/or content with which the users have interacted does not include information describing items or topics associated with the content. In the above example, if the content item does not include the tag or any other information that describes the jacket, the online system may be unable to infer the users' affinities for the style and/or the brand of jacket and thus will be unable to identify content items associated with the style and/or the brand of jacket for presentation to the users. Hence, online systems may fail to present relevant content to online system users, which may degrade user experience.

Updating a profile of an online system user to include an affinity for an item based on an image of the item included in content received from the user and/or content with which the user interacted


A geothermal flexible conduit loop single pass installation system for dense soil or rock. A conduit loop attachment is secured behind the soil penetrating head and has an engageable element adapted to hook a loop end portion of a flexible conduit loop and draw the conduit loop in a bore hole as it is being formed by the soil penetrating head as it descends in a soil under the influence of a downward force applied to a hollow force transmission shaft. A pressurized medium is released in the bore hole as it is formed. At least the force transmission is withdrawn with the flexible conduit loop retained in the bore hole by surrounding soil or a cement released through the shaft as it is withdrawn.

In the parent patent application, I describe the construction of a soil penetrating head of various configurations which is driven into the soil and simultaneously draws a geothermal conduit loop. The soil penetrating head and conduit loop remain in the soil after it is driven thereinto by a force transmitting shaft, such as driven by a drill or a percussion apparatus. This method of disposing conduit loops into the ground greatly facilitates the installation of the loop in soft soil and reduces costs considerably.
In my U.S. application Ser. No. 12/497,560, filed on Jul. 3, 2009, and entitled "Soil Penetrating Plate Assembly To Position Geothermal Conduit Loops In Soil", I disclose other embodiments of soil penetrating plate assemblies to draw the flexible geothermal conduit loops into the soft soil and to release them therein. With many of these installation procedures, the boring head and the soil penetrating plates to which the conduit loops are attached are simply left buried into the soft soil by detaching the force transmission shaft assembly therefrom. This has proven to be a good procedure for soft soil conditions but not feasible for hard soils where a drill head is required to bore into the soil.
When boring in dense soil and rock, the procedure to install geothermal conduits is to firstly bore a hole and retract the drill head and install a conduit loop hook to draw a conduit loop in the bore hole and again retract the shaft and head attachment. A filler material, such as cement, is then introduced in the bore hole. This is a time consuming task as these bore holes may be up to 500 feet deep and the shaft may be in five foot sections requiring at least two assemblies and disassemblies. Such installations are therefore very costly. Also, if the cement is injected from the bottom, another conduit needs to be positioned in the bore hole and retracted slowly as cement is injected in the bore hole.

Geothermal flexible conduit loop single pass installation system for dense soils and rock