A variable encoding puncturer, for encoding data in response to a variable encoding rate, in a digital broadcasting communication encoder, including a control unit for controlling an alignment of input data and a selection of a compression matrix, and an alignment of output data according to a variable encoding rate inputted from an external circuit; an input data aligning control unit for outputting the aligned data in parallel in response to an input clock signal after aligning data with a variable encoding rate in response to a control of the control unit; an input buffer for storing, in order, the aligned data from the input data aligning control unit; an output data aligning control unit for selecting the aligned data from the input buffer according to the variable encoding rate under the control of the control unit and for outputting the selected data; and an output buffer outputting the selected data encoded data from the output data as aligning control unit in response to an output clock signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a variable encoding rate puncturer, which encodes data in response to a variable encoding rate, in a digital broadcasting encoder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The development of a digital communication system has been gradually replacing an analog method with a digital method in a broadcasting communication transmitting and receiving technology. In particular, with the development of the digital signal process, picture and audio signals, which have been difficult to transmit and receive in a limited bandwidth due to a large quantity of transmission data, can now be transmitted. This digital data transmitting method is becoming the world standard.
As stated above, much more transmission data can be transmitted in a limited bandwidth by minimizing the transmission errors according to a property of an encoder/decoder and by reducing the quantity of the transmission data. At this time, its quantity can be varied in accordance with a selected standard of a compression matrix.
Accordingly, a variable encoding rate puncturer, which generates output data in accordance with an encoding rate determined by a transmission system, is required for data compression.

Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.


A mixing apparatus having a blade mixer affixed to the end of a mixer shaft which is rotatably or non-rotatably, but slidably mounted thru a mixer seal member which is adapted to be brought into sealing engagement with the open filler end of a retail tube of viscous caulking compound, wherein the shaft and mixer are adapted to be reciprocated thru the viscous compound contained in the tube substantially the entire length of the tube to rapidly and intimately mix the compound with colorant injected thereinto directly in the retail tube.

1. Field
This invention concerns a method and apparatus for mixing any of a wide variety of liquid or particulate materials such as colorant, e.g., a small amount, e.g., 1-10 cc. of the paint the color of which is to be imparted to caulking material contained in a conventional tube, pigment or organic dye, sand, grout; catalyst for two part caulking, or adhesive, or the like preferably in solution or suspension form, into viscous work material, particularly any of a variety of chemically composed base materials of caulking or sealing compound which may already be colored, or clear or white, and which may be used for caulking any structures, wherein the structural components of the apparatus are of unique but simple design and are adapted to accomplish the mixing very rapidly and directly within the work material retail container, i.e., in-situ in an off-the-shelf caulking tube, if so desired.
The word "caulk" as used herein encompasses air drying as well as catalyst curing sealant, adhesive beading and bordering, or insulating caulk or grout, or the like material, including polyurethane construction adhesive, acrylic/silicone the same color as the room. Where the paint is of a light shade in particular, it may be difficult to cover the material completely without multiple paint coats. Also, it is often necessary to do some additional caulking after the final coat of paint has been applied. In that event, the white caulking has to be painted over as the final step. Consequently, some paint dealers have undertaken to mix colorant into the caulking material by hand for certain customers, but considerable time and effort is involved and often results in inferior mixing and considerable clean up time.
The present invention provides a quick, effective, convenient and cleaner method and apparatus for substantially automatically performing the mixing operation.
2. Prior Art
Applicant is unaware of any prior apparatus or method of the type disclosed and claimed herein which is designed to mix colorant directly into caulking compound or the like contained in its retail tube.

Method for mixing colorant with a viscous material


A packet is pre-dropped if its Time-To-Live (TTL) value is not large enough to reach a destination, such as, but not limited to, its destination if it is a unicast packet, or at least one more destination for a multicast packet. A packet switching device maintains associations between (a) nearest receiving node distances and (b) prefixes or complete addresses. If a packet does not have enough TTL to reach an intended recipient identified by a corresponding nearest receiving node distance, then the packet is dropped even though the TTL has not expired. In this manner, some bandwidth and other network resources are not wasted on traffic that will timeout via the TTL mechanism before reaching a subsequent intended recipient.

Internet Protocol (IP) packets are aged in a network in order to cause the dropping of those packets that do not reach its destination within a specified duration. Time-to-live (TTL) is a value in a header of an Internet Protocol (IP) packet that tells a network device whether or not the packet has been in the network too long and should be discarded. Typically, the TTL reflects a number of hop counts that the packet is allowed to traverse in a network before being discarded. For each received IP packet, a networked node typically decrements the TTL field. When the count reaches zero, the networked device detecting it discards the packet and typically sends an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) message back to the originating host notifying that the packet was dropped due to a TTL expiration.

Pre-dropping of a packet if its time-to-live (TTL) value is not large enough to reach a destination


Writing of a second field is started at a time point when writing of a first field has been completed, while information written in the first field is held. Writing of a first field of the next frame is started at a time point when the writing of the second field has been completed, while information written in the second field is held. This driving method can attain high vertical resolution.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to active matrix display apparatuses typified by an active matrix liquid crystal display apparatus, and to a related display method.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional active matrix display apparatus, switching thin-film transistors or nonlinear elements, which are provided for respective pixel that are arranged in matrix form, control charges entering or exiting from pixel electrodes.
The active matrix liquid crystal display apparatus generally employs a display method in which one frame is divided into a first field and a second field. FIG. 1A shows a timing chart of this method. First, information is written to rows of pixels that are arranged in the form of an m-row/n-column matrix as shown in FIG. 7, and the written information is displayed as a first field. Then, next information is written again to same rows of the pixels and the written information is displayed as a second field. This first and second fields thus formed constitute one frame.
More specifically, in the matrix region of FIG. 7, information is sequentially written to first-row pixels (1, 1), (2, 1), (3, 1), . . . , then to second-row pixels (1, 2), (2, 2), (3, 2), . . . , and so forth to form a first field. Next, following information is sequentially written again to first-row pixels (1, 1), (2, 1), (3, 1), . . . , then to second-row pixels (1, 2), (2, 2), (3, 2), . . . , and so forth to form a second field. One frame is formed when information writing to all pixels two times has been completed. Display continues as frames are formed 30 times per second.
One reason for employing the above display method is to make a flicker, which is likely to occur with a bright picture, less recognizable. A flicker is more easily recognized when the vertical scanning period is longer. Therefore, a flicker can be made less recognizable by halving the apparent vertical scanning period by constituting one frame of two fields.
Another reason for employing the above display method is to reduce the amount of information necessary for one frame.
However, the above display method has a problem of decrease in vertical resolution because the number of scanning lines is substantially reduced to n/2.
In particular, in a large-screen projection type display method as employed in a projector, non-display fields are recognized by a viewer. This is a major factor of decreasing the vertical resolution.


A fusing apparatus and method for an image forming apparatus comprise a housing, a first roller mounted in the housing, a second roller rotated in contact with the first roller, a heater movably mounted in at least one of the first and the second rollers and comprising a first heater and a second heater, a first power supplying terminal and a second power supplying terminal movably supported in the housing, and a pair of connection units movably supported in the housing to connect the respective heater terminals to the corresponding power supplying terminals. The power supplying terminals and the connection units have a predetermined gap with an outer surface of the housing, such that when the housing expands in a lengthwise or horizontal direction of the heater, the outer surface of the housing tightly contacts with at least one of the heater terminals, the power supplying terminals and the connection units, thereby fixing or securing the heater in the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fusing apparatus for an image forming apparatus and a method thereof, which affix a toner image onto paper using a predetermined temperature and pressure. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fusing apparatus and method for securing rollers to corresponding housings when the housings expand due to the heat from the rollers.
2. Description of the Related Art
In electrophotographing image forming apparatuses such as a photocopier and a laser printer, a photoconductive medium such as a photoconductive drum is electrified by a charging unit which is adjacent to the photoconductive drum. An electrified surface of the photoconductive drum is exposed to a laser beam scanned by a laser scanning unit, in a pattern corresponding to a desired image, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image. A developing device supplies a toner to the photoconductive drum to develop the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductive drum into a toner image, that is, a visible image.
The visible image formed on the photoconductive drum is transferred to paper, after passing through a transfer medium. Alternatively, the visible image may be directly transferred to the printing paper without passing through the transfer medium.
The paper, to which the toner image is transferred, passes through a fusing apparatus, and accordingly, the toner image is affixed onto the paper. Paper passing through the fusing apparatus is discharged out of the image forming apparatus.
The fusing apparatus generally comprises a pressing roller and a heating roller which rotate in contact with each other. Referring to FIG. 1, the fusing apparatus comprises upper and lower housings 10 and 11 which include therein a pressing roller 13 and a heating roller 14 rotating in contact with each other. A heater 15 is mounted in the heating roller 14. One end of the heater 15 is arranged in such a manner that a first heater terminal 16 and a conductor member 17 are fastened by a first bolt 18 to the lower housing 11 altogether. The other end of the heater 15 is arranged in such a manner that a second heater terminal 21 and a connection piece 22 (see FIG. 2) are fastened by a second bolt 23 and supported by a sidewall 11a of the lower housing 11. The second bolt 23 is engaged with a nut 24 of which height 'b' is greater than thickness 'a' of the sidewall 11a. According to the above structure, although the thickness 'a' of the sidewall 11a decreases due to thermal expansion of the lower housing 11, fastening of the second heater terminal 21 and the connection piece 22 by the second bolt 23 can be maintained.
However, the conventional fusing apparatus as described above may lose stability when the lower housing 11 expands by heat as a whole, especially, in a horizontal direction. This is because, if the lower housing 11 horizontally expands, the heater 15 may be damaged or the heater terminals 16 and 21 are disconnected since the heater 15 and the heater terminals 16 and 21 are connected by welding.

Fusing apparatus for an image photographing apparatus and method thereof


Data architectures provide for managing Quality of Service (QoS) and/or bandwidth allocation in a Regional/Access Network (RAN) that provides end-to-end transport between a Network Service Provider (NSP) and/or an Application Service Provider (ASP), and a Customer Premises Network (CPN) that includes a Routing Gateway (RG). The data architecture includes a NSP access session record maintained at the RAN that defines QoS and/or bandwidth allocation for an access session, such as a Point-to-Point (PPP) access session, associated with the RG and the NSP. A corresponding NSP access session record is maintained at the NSP associated with the access session. The NSP access session record at the RAN and the corresponding NSP access session record at the NSP both define a QoS and/or bandwidth allocation specified by the NSP associated with the session or both define a QoS and/or bandwidth allocation specified by the RAN. An application flow record maintained at the RAN defines QoS and/or bandwidth allocation for an application flow associated with the RG and the ASP. A corresponding application flow record is maintained at the ASP associated with the application flow. Both the application flow record at the RAN and the corresponding application flow record at the ASP define a QoS and/or bandwidth allocation specified by the ASP.

The present invention relates to data architectures for communication networks, and, more particularly, to data architectures for managing Quality of Service (QoS) in communication networks.
The Internet is a decentralized network of computers that can communicate with one another via the internet protocol (IP). Although the Internet has its origins in a network created by the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) in the 1960's, it has only recently become a worldwide communication medium. To a large extent, the explosive growth in use and traffic over the Internet is due to the development in the early 1990's of the worldwide Web (WWW), which is one of several service facilities provided on the Internet. Other facilities include a variety of communication services such as electronic mail, telnet, usenet newsgroups, internet relay chat (IRC), a variety of information search services such as WAIS and Archie, and a variety of information retrieval services such as FTP (file transfer protocol) and Gopher.
The WWW is a client-server based facility that includes a number of servers (computers connected to the Internet) on which Web pages or files reside, as well as clients (Web browsers), which interface the users with the Web pages. Specifically, Web browsers and software applications send a request over the WWW to a server requesting a Web page identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) which notes both the server where the Web page resides and the file or files on that server which make up the Web page. The server then sends a copy of the requested file(s) to the Web browser, which in turn displays the Web page to the user.
The topology of the WWW can be described as a network of networks, with providers of network service called Network Service Providers, or NSPs. Servers that provide application-layer services as previously described may be described as Application Service Providers (ASPs). Sometimes a single service provider does both functions within a single business
In recent years, broadband access technologies, such as digital subscriber line (DSL), cable modems, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), and frame relay have facilitated the communication of voice, video, and data over the Internet and other public and private networks. Because broadband technologies are typically deployed by a single transport service provider, like a Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC), their Regional and Access Networks (RAN) are often shared by many NSPs and ASPs offering services that range from Internet access and VPN access to Voice over IP, Video on Demand, and Gaming. Up until recently, a given Customer Premises Network (CPN) would have been connected to a single service provider in a generic way, however a new standard for RAN service (DSL Forum TR-059) provides a RAN architecture that allows simultaneous access to multiple NSPs and ASPs and for differentiating the data transport service provided by a RAN to these service providers.
Moreover, broadband access technology has allowed service providers to expand their content and service offerings to both business and home users. For example, a user may subscribe to multiple services or applications, such as voice service, Internet access service, a video service, a gaming service, etc. from one or more service providers. These services and/or applications may be delivered over a single network connection, such as a DSL line. Unfortunately, with multiple new connectivity options and applications that require specific characteristics from the network, there is also a need to establish priorities in bandwidth allocation among multiple services and/or applications so as to customize the content delivery according to the users' and/or providers' preferences.

Data architectures for managing quality of service and/or bandwidth allocation in a regional/access network (RAN)


A slide surface construction is formed of an aggregate of Fe crystals on a surface of a slide member such as a piston, cylinder, piston ring of the like. The area rate A of hexagonal pyramid-shaped Fe crystals in the slide surface is in the range of 40%.ltoreq.A.ltoreq.100%, and the content of Ni in the aggregate is in a range of 1% by weight.ltoreq.Ni.ltoreq.40% by weight. The slide surface takes on an intricate aspect due to the presence of a large number of hexagonal pyramid-shaped Fe crystals and hence, has a good oil retention. The slide surface construction exhibits an excellent corrosion resistance, because it contains nickel (Ni) or chromium (Cr) or both. Thus, the corrosion of the pyramid-shaped Fe crystals is inhibited in a corrosive sliding environment and hence, the oil retention is maintained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slide surface construction, and particularly, to a slide surface construction comprised of an aggregate of Fe crystals and having a corrosion resistance.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to improve the frictional resistance, such conventionally known slide surface constructions include an Fe-plated layer, for example, which is provided on outer peripheral surfaces of a land portion and a skirt portion of a piston body made of an aluminum alloy in a piston for an internal combustion engine.
However, the known slide surface construction suffers from a problem that under existing circumstances where speed and output of the internal combustion engine have tended to increase, the known slide surface construction is not sufficient in oil retaining property, namely, oil retention and seizure resistance are poor due to a relatively smooth slide surface thereof.
Therefore, the assignee of the present invention has developed a slide surface construction having a large number of pyramid-shaped Fe crystals in a slide surface thereof (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 174089/94).
If the slide surface construction is formed in this manner, adjacent pyramid-shaped Fe crystals assume mutually biting states and hence, the slide surface takes on an intricate aspect comprising a large number of fine crests, a large number of fine valleys formed between the crests, and a large number of fine swamps formed due to mutual biting of the crests. Therefore, the slide surface construction has a good oil retention. Thus, the seizure resistance of the slide surface construction is enhanced.
However, as a result of various reviews of that slide surface construction, it has been made clear that the slide surface construction has a relatively low corrosion resistance, and hence, in order to permit the slide surface construction of the piston to maintain a good oil retention, for example, in a sliding environment in which salt as a road anti-freezing agent is drawn into the engine along with air, it is necessary for the slide surface construction to have an excellent corrosion resistance.
There is also a conventionally known cylinder sleeve formed of a cast iron, for example, in a diesel engine or a methanol engine for a vehicle. In the diesel engine, sulfuric acid is produced during burning of fuel, and in the methanol engine, formic acid is produced during burning of fuel. For this reason, it is required that the cylinder sleeve has a high corrosion resistance and thus a high acid resistance. However, in the present situation, a means for meeting such a requirement has not been developed.


A router device has a plurality of ingress line interface cards (LICs), a plurality of egress LIC's, a backplane and a controller. Transmission of signals from the ingress LICs to the controller, and from the controller to each of the ingress and egress LICs takes place across the backplane. Each ingress LIC is provided with a dedicated timeslot in which it can send information to the controller via connection. Information is sent in a slice within the dedicated timeslot and each egress LIC ignores data sent by a given ingress LIC within the timeslot assigned to said ingress LIC. A similar system is used for transmission of communications from the controller to the LICs. It is thus possible to avoid provision of additional, dedicated communications paths between the LICs (ingress and egress) and the controller.

The present invention relates to improvements in or relating to switching devices and is more particularly concerned with a technique for transmitting control information across a switching device.
Data is transferred over the Internet by means of a plurality of packet switches in accordance with a standard protocol known as Internet Protocol (IP). IP is a protocol based on the transfer of variable sized portions of data known as packets. All network traffic involves the transportation of packets of data. Packet switches are devices for accepting incoming packets; temporarily storing each packet; and then forwarding the packets to another part of the network. A packet switch receives packets of data on a plurality of input ports and transfers each packet to a specific one of a plurality of output ports. The packets of data can be of variable length or of fixed length. A packet switch may include a router, or routing device, or a circuit switch.
Traffic volume in the Internet is growing exponentially, almost doubling every 3 months, and the capacity of conventional IP routers is insufficient to meet this demand. There is thus an urgent requirement for products that can route IP traffic at extremely large aggregate bandwidths in the order of several terabits per second. Such routing devices are termed "terabit routers".
Terabit routers require a scalable high capacity communications path between the point at which packets arrive at the router (the "ingress") and the point at which the packets leave the router (the "egress").
The packets transferred in accordance with IP can (and do) vary in size. Within routers it has been found useful to pass data in fixed sized units. In routers then data packets are partitioned into small fixed sized units, known as cells.
One suitable technique for implementing a scalable communications path is a backplane device, known as a cell based cross-bar. Data packets are partitioned into cells by a plurality of ingress means for passage across the cross-bar.
The plurality of ingress means provide respective interfaces between incoming communications channels carrying incoming data and the cross-bar. Similarly a plurality of egress means provide respective interfaces between the cross-bar and outgoing communications channels carrying outgoing data.
A general terabit router architecture bears some similarity to conventional router architecture. Packets of data arrive at input port(s) of ingress means and are routed as cells across the cross-bar to a predetermined egress means which reassembles the packets and transmits them across its output port(s). Each ingress means maintains a separate packet queue for each egress means.
The ingress and egress means may be implemented as line interface cards (LICs). Since one of the line functions regularly undertaken by the ingress and egress means is forwarding, LICs may also be known as 'forwarders'. Further functions include congestion control and maintenance of external interfaces, input ports and output ports.
In a conventional cell based cross-bar, each ingress means is connected to one or more of the egress means. However, each ingress means is only capable of connecting to one egress means at any one time. Likewise, each egress means is only capable of connecting to one ingress means at a time.
All ingress means transmit in parallel and independently across the cross-bar. Furthermore, cell transmission is synchronized with a cell cycle, having a period of, for example, 108.8 ns.
The ingress means simultaneously each transmit a new cell with each new cell cycle. The pattern of transmissions from the ingress means across the cross-bar to the egress means changes at the end of every cell cycle.
A cross-bar controller is provided for efficient allocation of the bandwidth across the cross-bar. It calculates the rates that each ingress means must transmit to each egress means. This is the same as the rate at which data must be transmitted from each packet queue. The calculation makes use of real-time information, including traffic measurements and indications from the ingress means. The indications from the ingress means include monitoring the current rates, queue lengths and buffer full flags. The details of the calculation are discussed more rigorously in the copending British Patent Application Number 9907313.2 (docket number F21558/98P4863).
The cross-bar controller performs a further task; it serves to schedule the transfer of data efficiently across the cross-bar while maintaining the calculated rates. At the end of each cell cycle, the cross-bar controller communicates with the ingress and egress means as follows. First, the cross-bar controller calculates and transmits to each ingress means the identity of the next package queue from which to transmit. Secondly, the cross-bar controller calculates and transmits to each egress means the identity of the ingress from which it must receive.
The architecture described above gives rise to two requirements:
(i) the need for a means for each ingress means to transmit traffic measurements and indications to the cross-bar controller; and
(ii) the need for a means for the cross-bar controller to send configuration information to each ingress and each egress means.
It is possible to provide dedicated communications paths to meet these requirements. However such a solution requires additional hardware, which is expensive in terms of increased power consumption, installation and materials.


A diet system for promoting comprehensive weight management in companion animals. The diet system includes a stage I pet food product for promoting weight loss and building lean body mass and a stage II pet food product for maintaining the weight loss and the lean body mass.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a pet food for use in a comprehensive weight management system for companion animals. More particularly, the weight management system includes two stages: a weight loss stage (stage I) and a weight maintenance stage (stage II). Stage I involves a pet food comprising a high protein, low calorie daily diet that includes a functional ingredient, which further modulates metabolism and builds lean body mass in companion animals. Stage II involves a pet food comprising a low calorie daily diet that maintains the leaner weight of the animal and improves health for the life of the animal.
2. Related Art
In westernized societies the most prevalent form of malnutrition in humans is over-consumption of calories resulting in excess body fat. Studies have shown that greater than 20-30% of dog and cat populations are overweight or obese (over-fat). Obesity in domesticated dogs and cats has been linked to the development of numerous diseases including renal failure, diabetes, and arthritis. Overweight dogs have an increased risk of developing transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. Further, it is well established that obesity is a predisposing factor to idiopathic hepatic lipidosis in cats, however, their inability to convert dietary C18 essential fatty acids into long chain fatty acids creates a need for dietary consumption of 20 carbon long chain fatty acids. Such a dietary requirement leaves cats extremely vulnerable to weight disorders and weight-associated diseases such as diabetes (Appleton et al., 2000).
Obesity generally is considered present when body weight of the companion pet is 15% or more greater than optimum, which is the point at which health problems begin increasing with increasing weight. Generally speaking, the incidence of obesity in domestic animals increases with age. Similar to humans, as a dog ages, body fat increases, and lean body mass decreases. However, obesity commonly goes unnoticed by the animal's owner and, thus, poses a life-threatening problem to domesticated animals.
Some pet food compositions formulated to prevent or treat obesity in animals have been described. U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,544 teaches that a specific combination of long chain conjugated fatty acids (0.2 to 1.5 weight % of dry matter) together with up to 50% protein promotes weight loss in cats. A diet greater than about 16% by weight of animal-based protein is taught to reduce body fat in geriatric dogs (WO 00/51443). However, U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,755 teaches that non-meat based animal fats in a high protein, high farinaceous diet provides an ovo or lacto-ovo nutritionally balanced pet food product. U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,748 describes a low calorie dog treat that is comprised primarily of cellulose, a β-1,4-glucan that affords no nutritional value to the animal.
Further, a pet food composition that improves several clinical indications (i.e., BUN, creatinine, phosphorous, CO2 and triglyceride levels) in animals with renal disease is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,952 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,442. This pet food includes from about 10 to about 32% crude protein, from about 8 to about 20% fat, from about 3 to about 25% total dietary fiber, and fermentable fibers which have an organic matter disappearance of 15 to 60% when fermented by fecal bacteria for a 24 hour period, the fibers being present in amounts from about 1 to 11 weight percent of supplemental total dietary fiber. The composition is taught to provide adequate protein, has low phosphorus levels, improves metabolic buffering, and lowers blood triglyceride levels in the animal.
Similarly, diets disclosed for the treatment of human obesity have included compositions such as a concentrate that consists entirely of non-animal natural components, a lack of simple sugars and a flour comprising of at least 50% protein, of less than 15% carbohydrates and of 35 to 50% plant fiber for use in the preparation of foods such as bakery products (U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,364; EP 965278 A1). Such diets are not completely without credence because hypertension, and, thus, risk of developing cardiovascular disease, in obese patients has been linked to disturbances in carbohydrate metabolism (Nobels et al., 1989).
However, low calorie diets comprising increased ratios of amino acids to carbohydrates, such as the diet taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,265, cause increased blood urea nitrogen (BUN) concentrations. Urea is a by-product of protein or amino acid catabolism and thus is directly related to the amount of protein in a diet. The kidneys function to remove urea from the plasma, and in this regard high protein diets place an unusual burden on the kidneys which can lead to severe consequences over time including the development of azotemia or uremia.
Also symptomatic of high protein diets is the potential to induce ketosis, a condition that is shared in humans and dogs. Ketosis is a pathological condition in which the brain consumes ketone bodies as its major fuel source and is a diagnostic for diabetes mellitus. For example, urine abnormally high in ketone bodies is expected after a prolonged fast. However, this metabolic shift is undesirable and also leads to severe renal damage if experienced over long periods of time.
Natural products derived from plants and food are frequently employed as effective drugs, and in recent years there has been an increased interest in the analysis of these natural products, especially where a clinical benefit is claimed. For this reason, functional ingredients which include secondary metabolites of plant and animal origin, are often added to foods in order to effect a desired metabolic response. For example, EP 646325A1 describes a pet food comprised of at least 30% by weight of indigestible dextrin that demonstrates obese-improving effects by controlling blood-sugar levels and insulin secretion in dogs and cats.
Several patents to the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation describe the use of certain prepared conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) isomers, namely 9-cis, 11-trans CLA and 10-trans, 12-cis CLA, to alter body fat levels and lean body masses without a effect on body weight (U.S. Pat. No. 6,020,378; U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,082; U.S. Pat. No. 5,554,646; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,917). In fact, U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,072 describes that incorporation of CLA into animal feed increased efficiency of feed conversion leading to a greater weight gain in the CLA supplemented animals. Further, these same CLA isomers, denoted therein as c9,t11 and t10,c12, are taught in several patents owned by Conlinco Inc., as the biologically active isomers of CLA and synthetic preparation methods that allow for the enrichment of the t10,c12 linoleic acid isomer and uses thereof are described (U.S. Pat. No. 6,410,761; U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,353; U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,833; U.S. Pat. No. 6,380,409; U.S. Pat. No. 6,214,372; U.S. Pat. No. 6,060,514; U.S. Pat. No. 6,242,621; U.S. Pat. No. 6,225,486).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,043 teaches jojoba seed meal as a nutritional supplement in animal feed, particularly for companion dogs, to promote weight loss. Simmondsin served as the active or functional ingredient in the feed that, based on previous research, results in an associated reduction in food intake and retardation of growth. These formulations include high fat and high caloric density to ensure palatability.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,204,291 teaches dietary supplementation with L-carnitine, a naturally occurring acid also known as β-Hydroxy-γ-trimethylaminobutyrate, in dog food to promote weight loss. Carnitine is found in the body and is enzymatically combined with fatty acids to facilitate their transportation through mitochondrial membranes, thus aiding in fatty acid metabolism (Yalkowsky, S. H., 1970). Oral administration of L-carnitine for obesity in mammals has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,994. It also has been implicated in improvements in myocardial contractility and systolic rhythm in congestive heart failure, it has been administered in cases of cardiac arrythmia (U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,931 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,241), and for increasing high density lipoproteins levels (U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,449).
Prior to the present invention, diet solutions have not provided a comprehensive approach in addressing the issues of weight management. Most diets simply lower caloric density, increase total carbohydrates by increasing fiber, which leads to reduced palatability, thereby creating a diet that leaves the animal hungry and, sometimes, induces lean body (i.e., muscle) loss.
The present invention provides a long-sought after comprehensive weight management system for companion animals, particularly obese animals, for treating and preventing obesity through dietary intervention. The present invention also increases and maintains the lean body mass of companion animals as well as enhances satiety, decreases voluntary food intake, decreases BUN levels and reduces the risk of ketosis in the animal.

Weight management system for obese animals


The present invention features a slab laser apparatus having a stable/unstable resonator. The slab laser comprises a slab-shaped medium for producing a beam of coherent light. The slab-shaped medium is physically defined by an entrance end face; a rear, exiting end face; and two oppositely disposed and substantially parallel side faces. The respective end faces of the medium are disposed along an axis defining a "p" plane; the side faces are disposed along an axis defining an plane. A light beam entering at the entrance end face of the slab-shaped medium along the "p" plane axis reflects back and forth within the slab-shaped medium via total internal reflection, exiting at the rear end face. A stable optical cavity is defined for the "p" plane, comprising a hemispherical, high reflector curvature having an finite radius of curvature, and a flat, partially reflecting, outcoupler. An unstable optical resonator is defined for the plane, which operates in a low order transverse mode. The resonator in the plane consists of a high reflector mirror, and a negative radius of curvature, partially reflective mirror. The partially-reflecting outcoupler is a substantially cylindrical optical component onto which has been coated a variable reflectivity mirror (VRM) profile. The transmission of this mirror surface varies in the transverse direction. The optical component is flat in the "p" plane and cylindrical in the "s" plane. The VRM coating is disposed on the cylindrical face. The outside surface may be coated with an anti-reflective coating.

Slab laser design and usage are well known in the art. One such slab laser device is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,627, issued to Myung K. Chun on Dec. 17, 1985, entitled FACE-PUMPED RECTANGULAR SLAB LASER APPARATUS HAVING AN IMPROVED OPTICAL RESONATOR. Another such slab laser device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,216, issued to William B. Jones, Jr., on Jul. 22, 1980, entitled FACE-PUMPED LASER WITH DIFFRACTION-LIMITED OUTPUT BEAM.
Despite the flurry of activity in this field, the current slab laser systems have not attained a performance level that is sufficient to produce a commercially viable apparatus.
A typical slab laser device is characterized as a laser medium having a configuration in the shape of a trapezoid or a parallelogram, which has engendered the "slab" colloquialism. The slab-configured medium is disposed in an optical resonator having two orthogonal planes: (a) a "s" plane (transverse); and (b) a "p" plane (total internal reflection, TIR). Coherent light that is usually introduced to the laser medium about its longitudinal axis is totally internally reflected back and forth between the upper and lower surfaces of the parallelogram, exiting from the rear face of the slab. The slab laser medium internally self-compensates for thermal effects in the "p" plane. In the "s" plane, however, thermal effects can severely limit the laser performance. Optical effects are usually controlled by the selection of mirror and lens shapes, the adjustment of the mirror locations to varying focal points of the resonator, and the control of thermal effects and resonant conditions with respect to "p" and "s" planes.
The slab laser system of the present invention has achieved superior results heretofore unavailable with the prior art devices illustrated by the aforementioned patents.
The laser system of the current invention provides extremely high beam brightness, as well as reliability. The laser beam of 500 watts of average power is capable of drilling untapered holes and cutting straight edges in hardened alloys, such as Inconel and Hastalloy, to depths exceeding two inches. Beam quality is but a few times the theoretical diffraction limit. In contrast, the current rod shaped high-power Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG) lasers can drill and cut the same materials only to a maximum depth of 0.75 inches.


Embodiments of an information management system and related methods are disclosed. In some embodiments, the system collects social media contents and metadata from social media networks or other sources. The system then enhances the received social media data with location and other information. Furthermore, the system receives business data and information regarding business goals from a business intelligence platform owned or operated by a business entity. To satisfy the business goals, the system sorts, filters, or otherwise processes the enhanced social media data to extract business intelligence that reflect the sentiment and behavior patterns of social media users in connection to the operations, products, or services of the business entity.

Communication is shifting from traditional platforms—such as phone and paper—to digital media. Among the notable digital media are email, blogs, and social media networks. Social media networks are operated by companies including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google Plus, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, Foursquare, Nextdoor, Pinterest, Yelp, 500px, Photobucket, Panaromio, Meetup, Eventbrite, Dailymotion, Viddy, Soundcloud, YikYak, Snapchat, Whisper, Secret, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Travelocity, etc. Social media data generally contain public descriptions of the views or activities of social media users. Therefore, analysis of social media data can uncover sentiment or behavior patterns and other useful information regarding social media users.
Businesses depend on their customers, and greater knowledge about their clientele helps businesses address consumer needs more thoroughly. Therefore, information regarding current and prospective customers that can be derived from social media data can be helpful to businesses. Today, business entities large and small often employ business intelligence tools to analyze business data, including customer-related data obtained from traditional data sources, such as customer profiles, satisfaction surveys, etc. The business intelligence tools include business intelligence dashboards, enterprise resource planning systems, and customer relationship managers. Businesses can benefit from strengthened business intelligence processes that can be achieved by integrating location-based social media data with other business data and performing broader and more comprehensive customer-oriented analysis.

Integrating location-based social media data with enterprise business intelligence applications


The present invention provides a bandwidth efficient system and method of measuring the range between nodes (102, 106, 107) in a wireless communications network (100) with one-way data transfer, where each node (102, 106, 107) periodically transmits a message that contains information regarding neighboring nodes (102, 106, 107) from which any prior messages have been received by the transmitting node (102, 106, 107). A node (102, 106, 107) receives the messages transmitted from neighboring nodes (102, 106, 107) in the network (100), and records the times of arrival of the received messages. The node (102, 106, 107) receiving those messages can thus determine the respective distances between itself and the neighboring nodes (102, 106, 107) based on the respective time of arrivals of the received messages and the respective information included in the respective messages.

In recent years, a type of mobile communications network known as an "ad-hoc multi-hopping" network has been developed. In this type of network, each mobile node is capable of operating as a base station or router for the other mobile nodes, thus eliminating the need for a fixed infrastructure of base stations. As can be appreciated by one skilled in the art, network nodes transmit and receive data packet communications in a multiplexed format, such as time-division multiple access (TDMA) format, code-division multiple access (CDMA) format, or frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) format.
More sophisticated ad-hoc networks are also being developed which, in addition to enabling mobile nodes to communicate with each other as in a conventional ad-hoc network, further enable the mobile nodes to access fixed networks and thus communicate with fixed nodes, such as those on the public switched telephone network (PSTN), and on other networks such as the Internet. Details of these advanced types of ad-hoc networks are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,072,650 entitled "Ad Hoc Peer-to-Peer Mobile Radio Access System Interfaced to the PSTN and Cellular Networks", granted on Jul. 4, 2006, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,807,165 entitled "Time Division Protocol for an Ad-Hoc, Peer-to-Peer Radio Network Having Coordinating Channel Access to Shared Parallel Data Channels with Separate Reservation Channel", and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,873,839 entitled "Prioritized-Routing for an Ad-Hoc, Peer-to-Peer, Mobile Radio Access System", the entire content of each being incorporated herein by reference.
As can be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the time of flight (TOF) is the time interval during which a radio signal travels from one wireless terminal to another wireless terminal. Multiplying the TOF with the speed of radio wave propagation provides the distance or "range" between the two terminals. The range itself is used in several applications. Since the range provides only a measurement of proximity, one range alone is very seldom used in applications. For computing the position of a mobile node, most of the applications use either a set of ranges between several terminals, or one range and additional information about the direction.
As known in the art, the TOF is computed using two-way or one-way ranging. In two-way ranging, the station that needs the range transmits a request for range evaluation to a reference station. The reference station answers the request instantly or after a known delay. The time between transmitting the request and receiving the response at the first station is two times the TOF since in two-way ranging, the station seeking the range initiates the dialog.
In one-way ranging, clock synchronization of all references (i.e., terminals or nodes) is required all the time. If the clock of a mobile terminal involved in the ranging also is synchronized with the references, the measured ranges are true, otherwise they are all affected by the same unknown error and are called pseudo-ranges. Although one-way ranging is a more bandwidth efficient method than two-way ranging, the process of synchronizing references does require two-way exchange of messages, thereby consuming bandwidth.
For computing the position of a wireless mobile terminal in a wireless network of n fixed references with the two-way ranging method, 2n ranging messages are transmitted, while with one-way ranging, only n+1 messages are transmitted, and from time to time, another 2n messages are transmitted for maintaining the synchronization between the clocks of the terminals.
A common example of one-way ranging is the operations performed by a global positioning system (GPS). That is, GPS is based on a method that uses a one-way ranging method. All GPS satellites have high precision synchronized clocks and geocentric ephemeredes. The mobile receives simultaneously signals from several satellites located above the horizon and computes its geocentric position. Although it is very simple and direct, the method can be used only in places where several satellites can be seen simultaneously. Very accurate precision of location can be achieved only with very sophisticated GPS equipment that remains immobile for some long time and can receive signals from a large number satellites. On narrow streets with tall buildings, inside buildings or underground, the method cannot be used because the number of received signals from satellites is not satisfactory.
Also, to comply with E911 requirements, several methods for locating wireless telephones have been developed. Because all Base Stations providing connectivity to mobile telephones can have clocks synchronized to GPS satellites with 10−11 second precision, the time difference of arrival (TDOA) became the most preferred method. According to the TDOA method, when the mobile transmits a signal, at least three synchronized base stations receive the signal and record the time of arrival (TOA) of the signal. Then these base stations transmit the TOA of the mobile signal to a central computing unit usually through a wired connection. The computing unit, which knows the geocentric position of each base station, computes the geocentric position of the mobile using the TDOA of signals by solving the intersection of hyperbolas. The main advantage of the method is that no change has to be made to the mobile telephone for enabling the operation. The drawback of the method consists in potentially limited propagation of the signal between the mobile phone to at least three base stations when the mobile is located on narrow streets with tall buildings, inside large buildings or underground.
The following documents, which are incorporated by reference herein, describe different types of one-way and two-way ranging system: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,728,545, 6,453,168, 6,266,014, 6,208,297, 5,321,668, 4,357,609, 4,161,734, 4,161,730, 3,943,509 and 3,934,251. However, none of the techniques described in these patent employ unsynchronized terminal clocks for performing one-way ranging of terminals.
Accordingly, a need exists for an efficient system and method for performing one-way ranging of terminals in a wireless communications network, to avoid the use of high quality oscillators to achieve clock synchronization between terminals.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

Bandwidth efficient system and method for ranging nodes in a wireless communication network


A leg rest for a walker contains: (a) a vertical post having a top; (b) a bifurcated semi-cylindrical hook having a horizontal axis attached to the top of the vertical post, the hook adapted for placement over a handle of a walker; and (c) a leg rest platform attached to one or more of the attachment receptacles of the vertical post.

A crutch is a mobility device commonly used by persons who cannot use one leg due to injury or disability. The most common type is the underarm crutch, also known as the axilla crutch. An underarm crutch contains a pad that is placed under the armpit. Crutches are undesirable for many reasons. They are uncomfortable, they require both hands, and they require the user to lift a leg off the ground.
A walkers is another type of mobility device. Walkers are commonly used by persons who cannot support all their weight or who cannot balance. Walkers are three-sided frames (front and two sides) with horizontal handles on the sides and with four main legs. The bottoms of the legs contain wheels, balls, or pads to facilitate movement. Walkers are not suitable for persons who can use only one leg because considerable upper body strength is required to support the body while suspending one leg.
Leg rests for walkers have been disclosed. Walker leg rests allow the user to better support the body weight by bending one leg and resting the knee on the leg rest. The body weight is thus supported by both legs (although only one foot is on the ground) and by both arms. It is believed that walker leg rests have not achieved commercial success for many reasons. Some fit only the left or the right leg, some fit only one type of walker, some are cumbersome and difficult to attach to the walker, and some require many parts and fasteners that are easily lost when not in use.
Tosto, U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,668, Aug. 3, 1971, discloses a walker leg rest that fits only the left or right leg and fits only walkers having a three-sided horizontal bar at the desired height. Rehder, U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,356, Feb. 2, 1988, discloses a walker leg rest that is interchangeable for the left or right leg, but fits only walkers having a specific width and having an adequate space in the front of the frame. Skorman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,909, Mar. 8, 1994, discloses a walker leg rest that fits only the left or right leg. It attaches to the walker with cumbersome brackets and may fit only walkers having a specific depth. Jih, U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,657, Jun. 11, 1996, discloses a walker leg rest that is interchangeable for the left or right leg. It attaches to the walker with cumbersome brackets and fits only walkers having two horizontal bars on the sides below the handles with an adequate space between them.
Accordingly, there is a demand for a walker leg rest that is interchangeable for the left or right leg, is easily and quickly attached and removed, and universally fits all walkers.


An image forming apparatus includes an acquiring unit, a determining unit, and a notifying unit. The acquiring unit acquires print data from an external apparatus via a network. The print data is generated by the external apparatus from document data received from a client apparatus. The determining unit determines whether or not the acquired print data is a dummy job or an actual job. The notifying unit notifies failure information when print data of the actual job is not acquired within a period after print data which is determined to be the dummy job is acquired. The failure information indicates a failure occurring in the process in which the external apparatus receives the document data from the client apparatus, or in the process in which the print data is generated from the document data in the external apparatus. The period satisfies a predetermined condition.

(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image processing system, and a method.
(ii) Related Art
A system, such as Google Cloud Print™, in which a print server function is provided from a server (which may be a cloud computing system) on a network such as the Internet has become widespread. An exemplary known system of this type is a system in which, when a user uploads document data to a server on a network, the server converts the document data into a print data format and provides the print data for a printer which is specified as an output destination and on which the print data is printed. In the case where the printer which is an output destination is located far from a client apparatus used by the user when the user gives a print instruction to the server, the user gives a print instruction, then goes to the printer specified as an output destination, and obtains printed material which is output by the printer.

Image forming apparatus, image processing system, and method


A portable clothes dryer for drying clothing while on vacation or camping. The portable clothes dryer includes a dryer housing with first and second ends, a sidewall extending horizontally between the ends, and an interior that is defined by the sidewall and ends. The first end of the dryer housing has a door for inserting clothing into the interior of the dryer housing. The dryer housing has an inlet aperture extending through it for receiving a blower that has a heating element and a fan coupled to a fan motor. A basket drum is rotatably disposed in the interior of the dryer housing for tumbling clothing. A basket motor is mounted to the dryer housing for rotating the basket drum.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to clothes dryers and more particularly pertains to a new portable clothes dryer for drying clothing while on vacation or camping.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of clothes dryers is known in the prior art. More specifically, clothes dryers heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,388,344; 4,406,071; 3,157,475; 4,035,927; 1,544,884; and 5,361,516.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new portable clothes dryer. The inventive device includes a dryer housing with first and second ends, a sidewall extending horizontally between the ends, and an interior that is defined by the sidewall and ends. The first end of the dryer housing has a door for inserting clothing into the interior of the dryer housing. The dryer housing has an inlet aperture extending through it for receiving a blower that has a heating element and a fan coupled to a fan motor. A basket drum is rotatably disposed in the interior of the dryer housing for tumbling clothing. A basket motor is mounted to the dryer housing for rotating the basket drum.
In these respects, the portable clothes dryer according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of drying clothing while on vacation or camping.


The present invention provides a system and method for developing a Portal Application by creating a Portal Application Archive, and automatically deploying the Portal Application Archive into a Portal Server Application by using a Portal Application Archive specific deployment mechanism. The Portal Application Archive represents an entity which includes an assembly of all required application components forming a coherent Portal Application, and an application component assembly descriptor which specifies how the single application components need to be assembled to provide the complete Portal Application on the Portal Server Application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present patent application relates to a system and method for developing Portal Applications and for automatically deploying Portal Applications into a Portal Server Application.
2. Background of the Invention
A Portal Server Application provides a flexible framework to produce very complex web sites with very little effort. The basic functional units of a Portal Server Application are Portlets. Portlets can be considered as building bricks to create complex web sites with sophisticated features. The Portal Server Application aggregates the output of the individual Portlets to an output which can be rendered in a browser. This aggregation of content is a key feature of Portal Server Applications, since it integrates the user interface (UI) of independent Portlets nicely without the need to write any integration code.
Each Portlet is a standalone unit of code, which gets compiled, packaged and installed independently. This is very advantageous when integrating Portlets/Content from very different Providers into a homogeneous web site. There is virtually no integration effort. The administrator of the Web Server installation will install each desired Portlet individually and arrange the layout of the Portlet when designing the web site.
A disadvantage of this concept arises when a complex Portal Application comprises more than one Portlet. For instance an Online Banking Application could have many multiple Portlets, for example an Account Portlet, a Stock Price Portlet, a Stock Purchase Portlet, Email Portlet, a Loan Portlet, and a Mortgage Portlet (see FIG. 1A).
Typically these Portlets can be developed and provided by the application developer as part of a consistent Portal Application. Unfortunately the Portal Application developer cannot ship the Portal Application as a single coherent unit to his customers. Instead he needs to ship his Portal Application as individual pieces or so called Portlets. At the customer's site (Portal Server Application), each of the required Portlets of the Portal Application needs to be installed and assembled individually one after each other. The administrator must perform all these installation steps for each Portlet and also finally define how the Portlets should be arranged in the web site layout. The installation of complex Portal Applications becomes a very challenging and difficult task.
This problem becomes more significant as the features of Portals increase: Portal Applications, which are developed for that platform, take advantage of new capabilities and their complexity is growing as well. Modern Portal Applications comprise more than just a couple of Portlets. Further components can be added to produce even more sophisticated J2EE applications. A complex vertical J2EE application comprises manifold base J2EE component types as well as many Portal specific components types, which are all sewed together to a coherent Portal Application produced by a large application development team.

System and method for developing portal applications and for automatically deploying portal applications into a portal server application

International Business Machines Corporation


Mobile terminals in a high data rate CDMA system may be placed in a control hold mode wherein reverse link control channels are gated, or transmitted at a reduced duty cycle. Mode decisions are based on the activity of the mobile terminal in both the forward and reverse links. A forward link inactivity timer is maintained at the base station that schedules forward link communications to a mobile terminal. The reverse link inactivity timer may be maintained at the same base station, at a different base station in the mobile terminal's active set, or at the base station controller. The forward link inactivity timer may follow the mobile terminal's selection of best forward link serving base station in handoff. When both the forward and reverse link inactivity timers have expired, and no forward link data is pending, the mobile terminal may be commanded to a control hold mode.

The present invention relates generally to the field of wireless communications and specifically to methods for controlling the operational mode of mobile terminals in a wireless communication system.
Numerous access schemes exist to allow multiple users to share a communication medium. One such access scheme is known as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). In CDMA systems, multiple users share the same carrier frequency and may transmit simultaneously. Each user has its own pseudo-noise (PN) sequence, which is approximately orthogonal to the PN sequences of other users. Transmissions to or from individual users are imprinted with that user's PN sequence. The receiver selects the desired signal, which combines in the communication with unwanted signals, by correlating the received signal with the PN sequence of the desired signal. All other signals are spread by the PN sequence and appear as noise to the receiver.
CDMA systems are interference-limited systems. Since all mobile terminals operate at the same frequency, internal interference generated within the system plays a critical role in determining system capacity and voice quality. The transmit power from each mobile terminal must be controlled to limit interference while maintaining desired performance objectives, e.g., bit error rate (BER), frame error rate (FER), capacity, dropped-call rate, coverage, etc. Normally a mobile terminal transmits a pilot signal continuously on a reverse pilot channel (R-PICH) to enable closed loop power control by the network.
In some implementation of cdma2000, such as 1xEV-DV and 1xEV-DO systems, the forward link is time-multiplexed and transmitted at the full power available to the base station, but with data rates and slot times that vary depending on forward link channel conditions. The data rate that can be supported by the forward link is proportional to the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), which changes continuously. The mobile terminal measures the instantaneous SNR of the pilot signal received from each base station in its active set and requests service from the base station providing the strongest signal. The mobile terminal transmits the SNR value, or equivalently the supportable data rate, for the base station providing the strongest signal on a reverse control channel referred to generically herein as the rate control channel.
It has been proposed to reduce interference and hence increase system capacity by introducing a control hold state for mobile terminals with low transmit activity factors. In the control hold state, the mobile terminal suspends or reduces transmissions on many of the reverse link channels, such as a reverse rate control channel or reverse pilot channel. Gating or suspending transmission on the reverse link channels reduces interference, thus increasing the reverse link throughput and capacity. It also results in lower power consumption at the mobile terminal and thus increased battery life.
One method for identifying which mobile terminals should be placed in a control hold state exploits the phenomenon known as temporal locality. Communications to and from a particular user tend to be grouped in time. A mobile terminal that has very recently sent or received a transmission is more likely to receive or send another transmission in the near term, than is a mobile terminal that has not sent or received a transmission for some time. Following this principle, mobile terminals that have recently successfully received or sent transmissions are maintained in an active mode, and those to and from whom no transmissions have been directed for a predetermined time are commanded to enter a control hold state. A straightforward manner of implementing this approach is to maintain countdown timers for each transmission direction, which are loaded with a predetermined value and started upon each successful transmission. Such timers are referred to herein as the forward link inactivity timer and the reverse link inactivity timer. If an inactivity timer counts down to zero before another transmission in its respective direction, it is said to have expired, or timed-out. If both the forward link and the reverse link inactivity timers for a particular mobile terminal have expired, and if there is no data queued awaiting transmission to that mobile terminal, the network may command the mobile terminal to transition to the control hold state. Traditionally, a base station controller (BSC) in the network maintains and manages both inactivity timers, and controls the operational modes of the mobile terminals.
In some cdma2000 networks, such as 1xEV-DV and 1xEV-DO systems, the forward link is a time-shared channel and the base station transmits to only one mobile terminal at any given time. In systems of this type, a scheduler is usually maintained at each base station to schedule forward link transmissions for all mobile terminals served by that base station. When the serving base station schedules data packets for transmission to a mobile terminal, however, the forward link inactivity timer maintained at the BSC may not be started or reset at the proper time due to scheduling delays at the serving base station, or signaling delays between the base station and the BSC, and thus may not accurately reflect the timing of the last forward link transmission to the mobile terminal. This problem may be further complicated by the fact that, in soft handoff, the mobile terminal may select a different base station in its active set as its forward link serving base station, based on received signal quality. This further complicates the synchronization of message scheduling to the mobile terminal at the base station and the state of the forward link inactivity timer at the base station controller.

Mobile terminal mode control in high data rate CDMA system


A large-caliber weapon includes a barrel having a longitudinal barrel axis; a cradle supporting the barrel; a breech ring mounted on an end of the barrel; a breech wedge disposed in the breech ring for linear displacements transversely to the barrel axis; a control lug affixed to the breech wedge; and an opening lever pivotally mounted on the cradle for angular displacements about a lever axis oriented perpendicularly to the barrel axis. The opening lever is disposed externally of the breech ring and has an initial position and an actuated end position. The opening lever is engaged by the control lug of the breech wedge in a position of rest of the barrel such that upon motion of the opening lever from its initial position to its actuated end position, the breech wedge is moved from a closed position into an open position. Further, an external drive is provided which is mounted on the cradle and a mechanical coupling mechanism connects the external drive to the opening lever for effecting pivotal motion of the opening lever.

This invention relates to an externally driven transverse wedge-type breechblock for a large-caliber weapon having a weapon barrel. The breechblock includes a breech ring as well as a breech wedge which is displaceable in the breech ring transversely to the barrel axis.
German Offenlegungsschrift (application published without examination) 39 14 538 describes a wedge-type breechblock which permits an automatic opening of the breech wedge by means of an external drive mounted on the weapon cradle. For this purpose, the breech wedge is arranged in an opening approximately in the middle of the breech ring and is shiftable by means of an opening shaft disposed perpendicularly to the barrel axis. The opening shaft is connected with the external drive by means of a toothed rack oriented parallel to the barrel axis.
The externally driven transverse wedge-type breechblock of the above-outlined kind has, among others, the disadvantage that the control arrangement for opening the breechblock is relatively complex. Further, the breech ring must be of very robust construction for safety reasons because it has a relatively large aperture for the breech wedge and additional apertures for the opening shaft and the toothed rack.

Externally driven transverse wedge-type breechblock for a large-caliber weapon


An inexpensive hand press for attaching fasteners to a fabric or web comprises a pair of A-shaped legs made of molded plastic and joined by a living hinge at their wider ends. The narrower ends are adapted to carry the fastener parts which are to be secured together by folding the legs toward each other on opposite sides of the fabric and then striking one of the ends with a hammer while supporting the corresponding end of the other leg on a suitable support.

The assignee of this invention is the owner of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,282,303; 5,285,557; and others. These patents show a snap fastener for application to fabrics or other web-type materials, as well as tooling for applying the fasteners to the fabric or web. These two patents are incorporated in this application by reference.
While the fastener and tooling shown in these patents is enjoying commercial success, the tooling for applying the fasteners is designed for commercial use and, accordingly, more expensive than desirable where a persona intends to attach but a few fasteners. No tooling is available for applying fasteners of the type shown in the aforesaid patents by the do-it-yourselfers for small jobs, such as anywhere from one or two to a dozen fasteners. Because of this, the general public has not been able to easily install this type of fastener.


A guide pin is set in common in first and second voids defined in the peripheries of first and second flexible printed wiring boards. The second void has the shape identical to the shape of the first void. When the guide pin rotates around a rotation axis so as to bring the guide pin in contact with the peripheries of the first and second flexible printed wiring boards inside the first and second voids, the first and second flexible printed wiring boards can be arranged. This leads to arrangement of the first and second flexible printed wiring boards at a time in a facilitated manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of arranging flexible printed wiring boards.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A head suspension assembly having the structure of a so-called long-tail is conventionally known, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-342270. The head suspension assembly includes intermediary flexible printed wiring boards extending backward from the head suspension. The intermediary flexible printed wiring boards are coupled to a main flexible printed wiring board attached to the supported end of a carriage. The head slider can thus be supplied with a writing current and a sensing current.
Image recognition is employed to position the intermediary flexible printed wiring boards on the main flexible printed wiring board when the intermediary flexible printed wiring boards are coupled to the main flexible printed wiring board. The terminals on the intermediary flexible printed wiring boards is aligned with the terminals on the main flexible printed wiring board through the image recognition. Even though the main flexible printed wiring board is designed to receive a plurality of the intermediary flexible printed wiring boards, the image recognition allows the positioning of only one of the intermediary flexible printed wiring boards at a time. There is no means for simultaneously positioning a plurality of the intermediary flexible printed wiring boards.

Head suspension assembly having flexible printed wiring board with alignment void arrangement


An MRAM memory array includes a set of memory cell strings wherein each memory cell string has a voltage divider input, a bit-sense output, a voltage divider ground, and a bit-sense output control, a shared switched voltage line that is capable of applying a voltage to the voltage divider inputs of the memory cell strings in the set, a common bit-sense line operatively coupled to the bit-sense outputs of the memory cell strings, a bit-sense output control line that is capable of selectively connecting the bit-sense output of a memory cell string to the common bit-sense line, and a ground operatively coupled to the voltage divider grounds of the voltage divider grounds.

The present invention relates to magnetic random access memories (MRAMs). Electronic appliances such as personal computers use electronic memory for data and program storage. Information is represented as bit patterns in the memory. Each bit can have two states, often referred to as a logical 0 and a logical 1 or just simply as 0 and 1.
Electronic memory often takes the physical form of a small silicon die contained within a plastic or ceramic package for physical protection. The silicon die contains the electronic circuitry of the memory and is a small piece of a larger silicon wafer, which allows a large number of memory "chips" to be manufactured together. Desirable characteristics for computer memory chips are random access, low cost, low power, high density, high speed, and writability. Often one characteristic is obtained at the expense of another. For example, extremely high-speed memory might not be low-cost, high-density, or low-power. Two types of electronic memory are frequently used in personal computers. One is dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and the other is static random access memory (SRAM).
DRAM has the characteristics of random access, low cost, moderate power, high density, moderate speed, and writability. The high density and low cost of DRAM are achieved by using tiny capacitors to store electrical charges representing the states of the bits in the memory. Unfortunately, this technique requires complex control circuitry to continually refresh the stored charges on the capacitors. If the charges are not refreshed, they leak away and the data they represent are lost. Continual refreshing of the stored charges results in increased power dissipation even when the memory is not being used, which is problematic for portable computing devices like laptop computers.
SRAM on the other hand, uses latching circuitry to store the states of the bits in the memory. Latching circuitry eliminates the need for complex refresh circuitry and allows SRAM to have very high speed. Unfortunately, the high speed is obtained at the expense of high density due to the increased amount of chip area required by the latching circuitry to store each bit. The lower density also leads to higher cost for SRAM. The extra circuitry used to store each bit also dissipates a large amount of power.
Another shortcoming of DRAM and SRAM is that they are both volatile memory technologies and so lose their stored data when power is removed. Volatile memory is problematic for portable electronic devices like laptop computers. To overcome the problem of volatility, a laptop computer writes the state of its memory to a magnetic storage disk before turning off the power. When the power is turned back on, the operating system and the programs that were previously in use must be restored to the electronic memory. This "boot up" delay is frustrating to many users and could be essentially eliminated if the electronic memory were non-volatile.
Flash memory mitigates the volatility problem for some portable electronic devices like cell phones and digital cameras. Flash memory is a type of EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read only memory) where a bit of information is stored as a charge on an electrically isolate gate of a field effect transistor. The electrical isolation of the gate prevents the charge from leaking away and effectively makes the memory non-volatile. However, there are characteristics of flash memory that are problematic for its use as the memory of a personal computer. The first characteristic is that the memory has a limited number write/erase cycles. Secondly, to erase bits, a large section of memory is erased in a "flash," which leads to its name.
MRAM is a non-volatile memory technology that relies on the relative magnetic orientations of two magnetic layers sandwiched on either side of a magnetoresistive layer to store data. When the magnetic orientations are parallel, the magnetoresistive layer has a low resistance and when they opposite (often termed anti-parallel), the magnetoresistive layer has a higher resistance. Circuitry on the chip can sense the resistance of a single bit cell and interpret the high or low resistance as either a binary 1 or 0. Since power is not required to maintain the magnetizations, data are retained in the bit cells when power is removed. This yields the non-volatile characteristic of MRAM technology as well reducing its power consumption.
MRAM technology also has other desirable characteristics. It has potential for high density due to the simplicity of the bit cell. Unlike DRAM, which also has a simple bit cell, MRAM does not require complex refresh circuitry. This leads to simpler memory system design and lower system cost. MRAM is also inherently high-speed due to the simplicity of the bit cell.
It is desirable to decrease the cost/performance ratio by making MRAM chips as small as possible. Making smaller MRAM chips smaller increases the number of chips manufactured on a single wafer, thereby generally lowering the unit cost of the chip. Smaller chips generally result is higher performance due less stray capacity associated with smaller feature sizes and shorter line lengths.
Accordingly, there is a need for MRAM chip designs that lend themselves to smaller physical implementations, thereby reducing the size of an individual MRAM chip.
Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The present damper device includes a large hysteresis mechanism, generating a large hysteresis torque, and a hysteresis inhibiting mechanism. In a positive-side torsional region, when relative rotation is performed until reaching a maximum torsion angle from a neutral position, the hysteresis inhibiting mechanism deactivates the large hysteresis mechanism until the relative rotation reaches a first torsion angle from the neutral position, but activates the large hysteresis mechanism until the relative rotation reaches the maximum torsion angle from the first torsion angle; and when the relative rotation is performed until reaching the neutral position from the maximum torsion angle, the hysteresis inhibiting mechanism deactivates the large hysteresis mechanism until the relative rotation reaches a second torsion angle less than the first torsion angle from the maximum torsion angle, but activates the large hysteresis mechanism until the relative rotation reaches the neutral position from the second torsion angle.

A damper device described in Japan Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. 2014-70713 has been proposed as a damper device used for a hybrid vehicle. The damper device is disposed between an engine and a drive unit in which an electric motor is installed, and includes a small hysteresis mechanism and a large hysteresis mechanism.
Additionally, in the damper device, a small hysteresis torque is constantly generated in a positive-side torsional region in which a torque is transmitted from the engine side. Because of this, during idling of the engine, for instance, the small hysteresis torque is not switched to a large hysteresis torque, whereby small-amplitude torsional vibration, produced during idling of the engine, can be effectively attenuated by the small hysteresis torque.
A hybrid vehicle, using the engine and the electric motor in combination, is configured to start the engine after increasing the rotational speed of the drive unit by the electric motor. In this engine starting, a torque greatly fluctuates, whereby relative rotation (displacement) occurs between an input-side rotor and an output-side rotor in an angular range between the positive-side maximum torsion angle and the negative-side maximum torsion angle.
In such a situation, in the damper device described in Japan Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. 2014-70713, only the small hysteresis torque is constantly generated in the positive-side torsional region, whereby a stopper mechanism is frequently activated, and besides, a large shock is applied thereto. Because of this, the stopper mechanism becomes likely to be damaged or broken. Additionally, drivability could be impaired depending on the magnitude of the small hysteresis torque.
Moreover, when relative rotation is performed between the input-side rotor and the output-side rotor across a neutral position from the positive-side torsional region to the negative-side torsional region or vice versa, the relative rotation between the both rotors is changed in direction. At this time, in the relative rotation from the positive-side torsional region to the negative-side torsional region or vice versa, a portion contacted by a portion of a given component (e.g., relevant either of end surfaces of a torsion spring) is configured to be switched between a portion (a window portion) of one rotor and that of the other rotor. In such a situation, when only the small hysteresis torque is generated in the positive-side torsional region as described in Japan Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. 2014-70713, large shocks are applied to the contacted portions.


Inspection of over the top (OTT) content to facilitate offering non-OTT content or other content and/or services as an alternative to the OTT content is contemplated. The OTT content may be inspected at an access point configured to provide a broadband or other connection between a device consuming the OTT content and a device sourcing the content. Data packets or other signaling may be added to the OTT content at the access point in order to announce the offer.

Cable television service providers, Internet service providers, cellular service providers and other primary providers of services may provide an infrastructure through which electronic data may be communicated between a source device and a destination device. These service providers may also provide supplemental services in addition to their data services, such as but not necessary limited to television programming, media streaming, video-on-demand (VOD), gaming, etc. As more and more content, media and other information becomes available from different sources, some devices may rely upon the data service provider to provide the data transmissions while simultaneously relying upon a secondary source to provide supplemental services. One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplates a desirability of announcing to those subscribers the ability of the primary service provider to facilitate access to the same or related supplemental services, such as to draw the subscribers usage away from the secondary source and/or to offer improved performance or other benefits in exchange for the subscribers patronage of the primary service.

Offer inclusion for over the top (OTT) content


Maraging steel alloys are disclosed. The alloys are produced by microalloying of the maraging steel alloy to form carbides at prior austenite grain boundaries to increase Zener drag. A particular example alloy consists essentially of, by weight, 7.4 to 8.4 percent nickel, 7.6 to 8.6 percent chromium, 8.4 to 9.4 percent cobalt, 1.8 to 2.2 percent molybdenum, 2 to 2.6 percent tungsten, 1.6 to 2 percent aluminium, 0.05 to 0.08 percent carbon, a carbide former selected from the group consisting of: niobium at a concentration of 0.25 to 0.28 percent; titanium, at a concentration of 0.2 to 0.28 percent; and vanadium, at a concentration of 0.21 to 0.4 percent; the balance being iron and incidental impurities.

Maraging steels are ultrahigh-strength steels whose microstructure is, unlike other steels, not hardened by carbide precipitates. Instead, hardening is achieved by the precipitation of intermetallic compounds. Thus attempts are normally made to reduce the amount of carbon to zero or trace quantities, since toughness and strength in the absence of carbon is optimal.
Production of maraging steels involves, broadly, an initial martensite transformation followed by an ageing process which hardens and strengthens the steel. Austenite reversion has been observed during this aging process, caused by local nickel enrichment which results in a depressed local martensite start temperature. The presence of reverted austenite in the maraged condition is generally undesirable as it reduces the overall strength of the alloy, particularly at higher service temperatures.
Further processing, such as forging to produce a final component, may also be carried out. However, during forging it is possible for the prior austenite grain size to grow significantly, particularly in length. Grains of around 100 micrometres in width and around 1 millimetre in length have been observed. Such large grain sizes may lead to anisotropic properties and an associated reduction in strength and toughness. Whilst grain refining processes exist, they are impractical for use on most machine components, such as crankshafts for piston engines, and interconnecting shafts for gas turbine engines.


A stylus assembly (10) adapted to align a surgical tool with a bone, the stylus assembly (10) comprising: a mounting element (12,18); a tool guide (50) adjustably mounted relative to the mounting element (12,18); a stylus (16) adjustably mounted relative to the mounting element (12,18) and having a curved portion for engagement with a predetermined part of the bone; and a lockable retaining member (14) for simultaneously locking the surgical tool guide (50) and the stylus (16) to the mounting element (12,18).

It is known to provide a surgical tool guide having a resection guide, which assists a surgeon in making accurate and repeatable cuts during surgery. The accuracy of a cut made using a resection guide is mainly determined by the successful positioning and fastening of the guide in the operative area. Typically, a stylus is attached to the guide, which references from a reference point or marker on the body, for example, a bone. The stylus is either free to translate and/or rotate relative to the guide, so that it may be adjusted, or is rigidly fixed to the guide. An attachment mechanism mounts the stylus to the guide, and a locking mechanism locks the stylus in a desired position relative to the attachment mechanism and hence the guide. Once in the operating position, the guide can be attached to, for example, a bone using pins and/or bone screws.
It is also known to use a stylus to position a guide in joint replacement surgery. For example, during a total or partial knee replacement operation, it is necessary to resect the proximal tibia to a specific level. Existing tibial styli reference from the tibial plateau. This area of the joint is subject to considerable wear and, in a knee requiring joint replacement is likely to be damaged. Therefore, the tibial plateau does not provide a reliable reference position.
Once a stylus has been used to position a guide, it is usually removed, in order to increase the working space available to the surgeon. A problem of existing arrangements is that the removal of the stylus can cause unintentional and unnoticed movement of the cutting guide. This leads to inaccurate positioning of the cutting guide, with the result that the surgeons' incisions are misdirected.
GB 2426198 discloses a stylus assembly which has a stylus that references from the posterior femoral condyle which provides a relatively unworn reference surface. The stylus assembly is easily removed from a guide in order to prevent unwanted movement of the guide.
Whilst the stylus used in the assembly of GB 2426198 provides a reference point for performing a repeatable resection of the tibial plateau, it does not provide any feedback regarding the condition of the joint surfaces and that of the ligaments in the knee. The present invention seeks to address this issue.


An electrostatic pen is disclosed wherein the pen's tablet engaging tip is both electrically conductive and flexible, thus providing an increasing tip contact area to a digitizing tablet as the tip of the manually held pen is pressed downward onto the tablet's top insulating layer. A signal source and signal detector are connected in series between the pen tip and the tablet's lower conductive layer. The increased contact area of the tip increases the capacitance between the tip and the tablet's lower conductive layer, thus improving the signal to noise ratio of the detected signal.

As is well known in the art of tablet type electrostatic digitizers, the signal that is generated by a signal source is coupled to the tablet by way of a capacitor whose components comprise the conductive pen tip, the tablet's upper insulator coating, and the tablet's lower conductive coating. Most of this capacitance effect is produced by a relatively small area of physical contact of the pen tip to the insulator coating. Generally speaking, the larger this contact area the larger will be the signal that is coupled to the tablet from the pen. With a rigid pen tip this capacitance is determined largely by the geometry of the pen tip, the geometry of the tablet, and the materials used in the pen tip and the tablet.
The art has provided graphics pens and the like whose tip or stylus is electrically conductive. U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,096 incorporated herein by reference is representative of this known feature of the art.
The general idea of providing a resilient contact pressure to a tablet is known. Reissue U.S. Pat. No. Re. 34,095 teaches a digitizer stylus having a tablet engaging pen refill of conventional pen refill construction. A pressure responsive transducer includes a movable plunger that is made of resilient material having a rounded surface that is deformed to increase the area of contact to a board as the stylus pressure increases.
While prior devices such as exemplified above are generally useful for their limited intended purposes, the need remains in the art for an electrostatic pen wherein the pen's tablet engaging tip is both electrically conductive and flexible, thus providing an increased capacitor-electrode contact area to a digitizing tablet as the tip is pressed down unto the tablet.

Electrostatic pen apparatus and method having an electrically conductive and flexible tip


A connector securing device in accordance with one embodiment includes a panel (50) and a housing (10). The panel defines an opening (54). The housing perpendicularly extends from the panel at the opening. The housing includes a bottom wall (12), a top wall (14), and an end wall (16). The bottom wall, top wall and end wall cooperatively define a cavity (17) for receiving a connector (80) therein. The end wall defines a through hole (162), for extension of a cable (82) of the connector therethrough. A connector securing device in accordance with another embodiment further includes a plurality of locking tabs (40) integrally extend outwardly from middle portions of a plurality of end walls (322, 342, 382). A plurality of connectors received in the housing (30) cannot be released from the cavity (37) when the locking tabs are locked together by a padlock (46).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a securing device, and particularly to a connector securing device which can protect a connector from accidental detachment from a complementary mating connector.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a first connector for transmitting communication signals is directly plugged into a complementary mating connector without any securing or protection device to protect the first connector from accidental detachment from the mating connector. When a cable of the first connector is inadvertently pulled or dragged, the first connector can easily detach from the mating connector and cause interruption of signals.
To solve the above problem, various forms of latching or retention devices are adopted to secure a first connector to its complementary mating connector. Retention devices vary widely. They range from integral latches on the first connector itself to separate threaded or screw members that secure the first connector to the mating connector and/or a panel. Taiwan Patent Application No. 379864 discloses a conventional connector securing device. The connector comprises two sleeves. A pair of jackscrews are rotatably mounted in the sleeves respectively. A complementary mating connector comprises two jackscrew nuts corresponding to the jack screws. Threaded distal ends of the jackscrews are threadedly received in the corresponding jackscrew nuts. Thus the first connector is fixedly secured to the mating connector.
However, this connector securing device adds extra components and structures to the connectors. Manufacturing of the connectors is more complicated. All these factors increase the cost of the connectors.
Therefore, a connector securing device which overcomes the above-mentioned problems is strongly desired. A copending application with an unknown serial number filed on Jun. 14, 2002, titled xe2x80x9cCONNECTOR SECURING DEVICExe2x80x9d with the same applicant and the same assignee as the instant invention, discloses an approach.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a low-cost connector securing device having a simple structure which can effectively protect a connector from accidental detachment from its mating connector.
In order to achieve the above object, a connector securing device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a panel and a housing. The panel defines an opening. The housing perpendicularly extends from the panel at the opening. The housing comprises a bottom wall, a top wall, and an end wall. The bottom wall, top wall and end wall cooperatively define a cavity for receiving a connector therein. The end wall defines a through hole, for extension of a cable of the connector therethrough. A connector securing device in accordance with a further alternative embodiment of the present invention further comprises a plurality of locking tabs integrally extending outwardly from middle portions of a plurality of end walls. A plurality of connectors received in the housing cannot be released from the cavity when the locking tabs are locked together by a padlock.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: