In a method for measuring the speed of an electrical machine having a stator, a rotor and a winding, in particular of an electronically commutated motor, a speed-measurement signal ω is sampled, in that a measured speed value ω(k) for the rotor is determined for each of a series of sampling instants. Moreover, a moment of inertia value for the mass moment of inertia of the rotor is determined. In addition, a current signal I is sampled, in that a current value I(k) for the electrical current in the winding is determined for each of the sampling instants. An estimated value ωs(k) for each of the measured speed values ω(k) is determined from a measured speed value ωk(k−1) assigned to an earlier sampling instant, from the current signal I and from the moment of inertia value. A tolerance band containing the estimated value ωs(k) is assigned to this estimated value ωs(k). If the measured speed value ω(k) lies outside of the tolerance band, the measured speed value ω(k) is replaced by a speed value ωk(k) that is within the tolerance band.

The present invention is directed to a method for measuring the speed of an electrical machine having a stator, a rotor and a winding, in particular of an electronically commutated motor, a speed-measurement signal ω being sampled, in that a measured speed value ω(k) for the rotor is determined for each of a series of sampling instants.
A method of this kind for measuring the speed of an electronically commutated motor having a permanent magnet rotor, on whose periphery magnetic segments are arranged, which cooperate with an electronically commutated winding disposed on the stator, is known in the field. In this context, Hall-effect sensors mounted on the stator of the electronically commutated motor are used to record the position of the magnetic segments. Depending on the magnetic field, the output signal of the Hall-effect sensors is 0 or 1. Measured speed values are calculated from the time interval between two consecutive changes in the measurement signals of the Hall-effect sensors and from an angular offset between mutually adjacent magnetic segments in the circumferential direction of the rotor that is calculated from the number of pole pairs of the rotor. Since, with respect to their positioning on the periphery of the rotor and their dimensions in the circumferential direction, the magnetic segments exhibit manufacturing tolerances which are not known more precisely, deviations arise, however, between the actual angular offset and the calculated angular offset used in determining the measured speed values. Manufacturing tolerances of 20% are quite common. Given a constant rotor speed, such manufacturing tolerances result in the speed-measurement signal assuming, in rapid succession, arbitrary values in intervals from −20% to +20% of the actual speed value.
Another speed error can occur in response to a direction reversal of the rotor. During rotation in one direction, initially a first magnetic section and then a second magnetic section pull past a Hall-effect sensor. The resulting change in the magnetic field causes the output signal of the Hall-effect sensor to change. If the rotor comes to a stop and then moves in the opposite direction, the first magnetic section is then moved past the Hall-effect sensor again, thereby changing the output signal anew. The time interval between the two signal changes can be very short, which results in a very high speed being erroneously determined.
The speed signal could, in fact, be smoothed in that, for example, the mean value is generated in each case from the next-to-last, last and momentary measured speed value. However, the averaged measured speed value would then not reflect the speed at the current instant, but rather at the instant of the last change in the Hall-effect sensor signal. This time delay between the calculated speed signal and the actual speed signal is disadvantageous, above all when the speed signal is fed as an actual value signal to a speed control circuit. At low speeds, in particular, the delay time assumes relatively large values, so that the quality of the speed control decreases correspondingly.

Method for measuring the speed of an electrical machine

Luk Lamellen und Kupplungsbau Beteiligungs KG


A gearbox system for a dual coaxial counter rotating rotor assembly includes an input shaft to input a first torque into the gearbox system and a transfer shaft operably connected to the input shaft to transfer the first torque therethrough. Two gear sets are operably connected to the transfer shaft. Each gear set includes a first output gear to transfer a second torque acting in a first direction to a first rotor of a rotor assembly and a second output gear to transfer the second torque acting in a second direction opposite the first direction to a second rotor of the rotor assembly. The second torque transferred by each gear set of the two gear sets is substantially equal.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to the art of rotary wing aircraft and, more specifically, to gearbox systems for rotary wing aircraft.
A gearbox system of a rotary wing aircraft transfers power from an engine, or multiple engines, for example, a turbine engine, to the rotor system. A typical system directs power from the engine to a single rotor system including a plurality of rotor blades. Since rotational velocity of the rotor is typically lower than the rotational velocity of the engine, the gearbox is used to reduce the rotational velocity of the turbine engine. Torque is subsequently increased through a series of intermediate gear stages and shafts, with an output velocity provided to the rotor system.
In other rotary wing aircraft with more complex rotor systems, the complexity of the gearbox typically also increases. For example, some rotary wing aircraft, such as the X2® helicopter produced by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, have two coaxial counter rotating main rotor assemblies. As such, the gearbox must be configured to transfer engine power to both rotor assemblies at the required directions of rotation, requiring two large final reduction stages. Further in X2®-type aircraft, the gearbox is further utilized to transfer power to a propeller assembly, typically located at a tail of the aircraft, to provide additional forward thrust. Consequently, the typical gearbox for such an aircraft is large and heavy.

Torque split gearbox for rotary wing aircraft


A microphone assembly comprising a microphone unit secured to a mounting element. The microphone unit has a first side comprising an audio port, and the mounting element comprises a rigid body having a mounting side. The first side of the microphone unit is arranged at a right angle to the mounting side of the mounting element. The microphone unit may comprise a micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) microphone package holding a MEMS microphone die, and the mounting side of the mounting element may be configured for being mounted or soldered to a printed circuit board. The microphone assembly may be mounted to a device printed circuit board.

A typical microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microphone package includes a substrate, such as a base printed circuit board (PCB), a MEMS microphone die attached to the substrate and a cup-shaped lid or cover that is attached to the substrate to create a chamber, within which the microphone die is protected from environmental influences. An aperture or audio port is defined in the lid, through which aperture sound enters the chamber. The microphone die detects the sound and generates corresponding electrical signals. The package typically includes electrical contact pads on the bottom surface of the substrate, by which the package can be mechanically and electrically connected to a circuit board, such as by solder or electrically conductive adhesive.
MEMS microphones are commonly used in mobile telephones and other electronic devices. These devices are typically made by placing printed circuit boards inside plastic housings. The housings usually define ports (holes) adjacent the MEMS microphone packages, so the users' speech may enter the housing and be detected by the microphones.
Ergonomic considerations typically lead to microphone ports being located on thin sides, rather than on broad flat surfaces, of the electronic devices. For example, on a mobile telephone, the microphone port is typically located on the thin lower side of the telephone. The main circuit board of the mobile telephone is co-planar with the front of the telephone, and the MEMS microphone package may be soldered to the main circuit board with the lid holding the audio port being co-planar or parallel to the main circuit board and the front of the telephone. A V- or L-shaped audio channel may be formed in order to conduct a user's speech from the microphone port of the lower side of the telephone to the audio port of the MEMS microphone package. However, the use of a V- or L-shaped audio channel will reduce the audio performance due to loss of the audio signal in the curved or angled audio channel.
Another solution is to use a flexible printed circuit board, flex PCB, to provide electronic connections between the main circuit board and the MEMS microphone package. With the flex PCB, it is possible to use a straight audio channel, and to arrange the MEMS microphone package with the lid and the audio port facing the straight audio channel, thereby improving the audio performance. However, the assembly of the flex PCB to the MEMS microphone package and the main printed circuit board is expensive as it requires manual assembly.
Thus, there is a need for a compact microphone assembly, which is well suited for automatic placing and soldering processes, while providing a high audio performance when being arranged within a compact electronic device, such as e.g. a mobile telephone.

Microphone assembly and electronic device comprising a microphone assembly


An image forming apparatus and a controlling method thereof are provided. The image forming apparatus includes a communication interface unit which is connected to a server where on-line output quota information set for each user is stored, a storage unit which stores off-line output quota information received from the server, a controller which, when a job command is input in an on-line state where communication with the server is available, determines whether to perform a job based on on-line output quota information stored in the server, and when the job command is input in an off-line state where communication with the server is cut off, determines whether to perform a job based on the off-line output quota information stored in the storage unit, and an image forming unit which, when job performance is determined by the controller, performs an image forming job corresponding to the job command.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an image forming apparatus and a controlling method thereof, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus capable of controlling an image forming job using off-line output quota information when a job command is input in an offline state where connection to a server is cut off, and a controlling method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus refers to an apparatus which prints print data generated by a terminal apparatus such as a computer on a recording paper, and examples of an image forming apparatus include copy machine, printer, fax machine, and a Multi-Function Peripheral (MFP) which performs the above functions in a single device.
An image forming apparatus may be connected to a server which manages output quota in order to limit output quota for each user. Such a system is referred to as a Managed Printing Service of Solution (MPS) system which manages a printer of a network, an image forming apparatus like an MFP, and operation logs therein (for example, printing, copying, faxing, scanning, and so on) and processes business logic such as the amount of usage of each individual and group, charging thereof, and so on by using a quota management function.
In the conventional MPS system environment, if the connection between the server which manages output quota and the image forming apparatus is cut off, a user may be allowed to perform an output operation without limit, regardless of output quota allocated to each user, or an output operation is prohibited, causing inconvenience to the corresponding user.

Image forming apparatus for controlling an image forming job input in an offline state and controlling method thereof


A wireless communication system and process for transmission of data communications, may be practiced with a microprocessor, a memory, a controller, a selector and a communication block, and the effect of the wireless communication system for selecting a communication transmission method lies in the fact that a user can select a wireless communication device according to user's needs in a wireless communication device having at least one communication transmission method or a plurality of wireless communication devices having different communication transmission methods, using only one controller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to communication systems enabling selection of alternative processes for transmission of communications and, more particularly, to communication systems for selecting a process for transmission of communications according to each users needs in a wireless communication device providing one or more modes for transmission of communications, or a plurality of wireless communication devices providing different modes for transmission of communication, using a single controller.
2. Description of Related Art
Earlier wireless communication systems using several communication devices tended to rely upon microprocessors generating communication signals to provide wireless communication. Two or more controllers responded to communication signals received from the microprocessor by generating control signals, while corresponding wireless communication devices, operated by control signals generated by corresponding controllers, transmitted data. An operation using a second one of the wireless communication devices in this type of earlier wireless communication system using several communication devices is explained as follows. The microprocessor generates a signal for designating the mode of wireless communication to be used, to the second controller. The second controller provides a control signal that drives the second wireless communication device, and the second wireless communication device transmits the data. We have found that these earlier wireless communication systems using several wireless communication devices are hindered by their need for a separate controller for driving a corresponding wireless communication device whenever the user seeks to use a wireless communication device that provides a mode for transmission of communications that is different from that provided by the other wireless communication devices.
In other fields such as data processing, exemplary efforts found in Zelley, U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,963 for a Method And Apparatus For Adapting A Remote Communications Controller To A Variety Of Types Of Communications Modems, Brown et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,637 for a Data Processor Input/Output Controller, and Kennedy et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,031, entitled Data Communication System, each endeavored to provide communication systems utilizing a central controller in conjunction with a plurality of input/output communication devices. We have observed however, that these efforts are not able to be readily implemented in a system that depends upon a plurality of wireless communication devices.
The Stafford et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,325 for a Universal Interface System Using A Controller To Adapt To Any Connecting Peripheral Device; Klashka et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,623 for a Universal Peripheral Controller Self-configuring Bootloadable Ramware; Yeh, U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,758 for the Method And Apparatus For Providing A Portable Computer With Integrated Circuit (IC) Memory Card Storage In Custom And Standard Formats, and Lentz et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,384, entitled Input Output Control Unit Having Dedicated Paths For Controlling The Input And Output Of Data Between Host Processor And External Device, each seek to implement data processing systems utilizing a single controller accommodating a plurality of peripheral devices. We have noticed that these systems seem to be integrally woven into the data processing notebook and can not be reliably altered to control wireless communication devices.

Communication system for selecting a communication transmission method


A rotary valve unit which reduces the torque required to turn the valve disc, and the amount of wear dust that is blown into the cold head, using differential gas forces to keep the valve disc in contact with the valve seat, and which enables larger diameter valve discs to be utilized for multi-ported pulse tubes that have less force on the face of the valve disc, resulting in reduced torque and reduced wear rate.

The present invention relates to cryogenic refrigerators, in particular, Gifford McMahon (GM) refrigerators, GM type pulse tube refrigerators, and Solvay refrigerators. Coldheads of such cryogenic refrigerators include a valve mechanism, which commonly consists of a rotary valve disc and a valve seat. There are discrete ports, which, by periodic alignment of the different ports, allow the passage of a working fluid, supplied by a compressor, to and from the regenerators and working volumes of the coldhead.
GM and Solvay type refrigerators use compressors that supply gas at a nearly constant high pressure and receive gas at a nearly constant low pressure. The gas is supplied to a reciprocating expander that runs at a low speed relative to the compressor by virtue of a valve mechanism that alternately lets gas in and out of the expander. U.S. Pat. No. 3,119,237 to Gifford shows an early pneumatically driven GM expander and a multi-ported rotary spool valve to control gas flow to the regenerator out of phase with gas flow to the drive piston. In a subsequent U.S. Pat. No. 3,205,668, Gifford discloses a multi-ported rotary disc valve that uses the high to low pressure difference to maintain a tight seal across the face of the valve. He states that this type of valve is superior to the spool type valve because the leak rate is lower, even after it has run a long time and has experienced some wear. This type of valve has been widely used in different types of GM refrigerators as shown for example in Longsworth U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,029, and Chellis U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,015.
This type of valve has the disadvantage of requiring an increased amount of torque as the diameter is increased to accommodate larger ports. Lobb, U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,743 describes a means of reducing the force on the face of the valve disc by having a plug in the back of the valve disc that is attached to the motor shaft. High pressure gas on the back side of the plug and low pressure gas in the cavity between the face of the plug and the central part of the back of the valve disc puts an axial load on the motor bearings, but reduces the force on the face of the valve disc. This results in a lower torque being required to turn the valve disc. The direction of force on the motor shaft is towards the valve seat.
Gifford also conceived of an expander that replaced the solid displacer with a gas displacer and called it a "pulse tube" refrigerator. This was first described in Gifford U.S. Pat. No. 3,237,421 which shows a pulse tube connected to valves like the earlier GM refrigerators. It also shows a pulse tube expander connected directly to a compressor so it pulses at the same speed as the compressor. This is equivalent to a Stirling cycle refrigerator.
Early pulse tube refrigerators were not efficient enough to compete with GM type refrigerators. A significant improvement was made by Mikulin et al., as reported in 1984, (E. I. Mikulin, A. A. Tarasow and M. P. Shkrebyonock, 'Low temperature expansion (orifice type) pulse tube', Advances in Cryogenic Engineering, Vol. 29, 1984, p. 629) and significant interest ensued in looking for further improvements. Descriptions of major improvements since 1984 can be found in S. Zhu and P. Wu, 'Double inlet pulse tube refrigerators: an important improvement', Cryogenics, vol. 30, 1990, p. 514; Y. Matsubara, J. L. Gao, K. Tanida, Y. hiresaki and M. Kaneko, 'An experimental and analytical investigation of 4K (four valve) pulse tube refrigerator', Proc. 7th Intl Cryocooler Conf., Air Force Report PL-(P-93-101), 1993, p 166-186; S. W. Zhu, Y. Kakami, K. Fujioka and Y. Matsubara, 'Active-buffer pulse tube refrigerator', Proceedings of the 16th Cryogenic Engineering Conference, 1997, p. 291-294; and J. Yuan and J. M. Pfotenhauer, 'A single stage five valve pulse tube refrigerator reaching 32K', Advances in Cryogenic Engineering, Vol. 43, 1998, p. 1983-1989.
All of these pulse tubes can run as GM type expanders that use valves to cycle gas in and out of the pulse tube, but only the single and double orifice pulse tubes have been run as Stirling type expanders. Stirling type pulse tubes are small because they operate at relatively high speed. The high speed makes it difficult to get to low temperatures so GM type pulse tubes running at low speed are typically used for applications below about 20 K. It has been found that best performance at 4 K has been obtained with the pulse tube shown in FIG. 9 of Gao, U.S. Pat. No. 6,256,998. This design has six valves which open and close in the sequence shown in Gao's FIG. 11.
In order to keep the valve disc in contact with the valve seat, in most of the prior art, the valve disc is located in a chamber, which is filled with high-pressure working fluid. Usually, this chamber is connected to the supply side of a compressor. This is shown in Gifford U.S. Pat. No. 3,205,668, Longsworth U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,029, Chellis U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,015, and Lobb U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,743.
Since the valve disc is in the chamber connected to the supply side of the compressor, the wear dust from the valve disc tends to be blown into the cold head itself, which degrades performance. The pulse tube refrigerator is more sensitive to the dust than a conventional GM refrigerator because this dust tends to stick on the surface of the needles which are used to adjust the opening of the orifices at the warm end of the pulse tube, or to accumulate in the orifices and flow passages. The performance of a pulse tube refrigerator is sensitive to the opening of the orifices, thus it is desirable to keep them free of dust. The tendency to blow dust into the ports on the valve disc is due to high pressure gas being on the outside blowing dust radially inward toward the low pressure regions in the center of the valve disc.
It has been found that less dust from the wear of the valve disc collects in the warm end of the regenerator and pulse tube orifices if the flow through the valve disc is reversed. That is to have high-pressure gas enter through the center of the valve disc face and discharge radially to low pressure on the backside of the valve disc. Asami et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,588 shows an arrangement for a GM refrigerator where the high-pressure gas from the compressor acts against a valve seat to push it into the face of a rotary valve. A bearing is shown to hold the valve disc against the axial force of the valve seat, rather than transferring it as an axial load on the motor shaft. The flow of gas in this arrangement is reversed from the conventional arrangement shown in previous patents. Conceptually the conventional valve disc shown in FIG. 7 of Longsworth U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,029 could have the flow reversed if the spring that is shown would apply enough force to keep the valve disc seated.
It would be desirable to provide a valve unit that reduces the amount of dust blown into the cold heat and at the same time reduces wear on the valve and requires lower torque.

Reduced torque valve for cryogenic refrigerator

Sumitomo (SHI) Cryogenics of America, Inc.


The present invention relates to a guide tool, the said guide tool is capable of assisting one end of a coaxial cable to be coupled to an end connector; it comprises of a body installed with a guide mechanism therein, the said guide mechanism possesses a guide tube for guiding the cable central conductors of different regulations; the said guide tube can move along the direction of the axle line by the elastic element for rapidly and precisely inserting the central conductor and the dielectric into the columnar member of the end connector and further becomes the best auxiliary tool.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a guide tool, more especially, an auxiliary tool provides for guiding the central conductor of a coaxial cable to an end connector thereby rapidly and precisely guiding the central conductor into the end connector to form coupling, the said guide tool can be carried around by the working personnel for continuous and repeated usage.
2) Description of the Prior Art
In cable television systems (CATV), subscription television systems (STV), and master antenna television systems (MATV), terminal, and other systems, the signals are transmitted by means of coaxial cable. Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional coaxial cable connector of such systems is comprised of the coaxial cable 10 itself and an end connector 11; the installation personnel must effectively insert the cable 10 into the end connector 11 such that the center conductor 12 and the dielectric 13 are inserted through the inside of a hollow body 14 of the end connector 11, while the braided conductor 15 and the outer jacket 16 are sleeved around the extended rear section 17 of the hollow body 14 and, finally, a ring 18 is crimped over the coaxial cable 10 to bind it firmly to the extended rear section 17; however, since the inner diameter of the said hollow body 14 is slightly larger that the outer diameter of the dielectric 13, the installation personnel have an extremely difficult time inserting the dielectric 13 into the hollow body 14; furthermore, if the center conductor 12 is in a state of disarray, the installation personnel experience further difficulty while inserting the dielectric 13 through the hollow body 14, which poses tremendous installation problems; as such, the industry is currently awaiting a solution to the said shortcomings to increase competitiveness.
In view of the said situation, the inventor of the inventor herein conducted intensive research based on many years of experience accumulated while engaged in the production and marketing of related products which, following continuous testing and refinements, finally culminated in the development the guide tube of invention herein.
Therefore, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a guide tool, the said guide tool can be inserted into an end connector thereby enabling the central conductor of a coaxial cable guided by the guide tool to precisely and rapidly couple the end connector.
To enable a further understanding of the features and technical contents of the present invention, the brief description of the drawings below is followed by the detailed description of the preferred embodiment; however, the attached illustrations are provided only for reference and elaboration and should not be construed as any limitation whatsoever of the present invention.

Guide tool for coupling an end connector to a coaxial cable

No. 16, Alley 10, Lane 187, Sec. 1, Li-Nung St.


Receive a transaction generated by a user of a non-internet application; identify transaction life cycle steps of previous similar transactions; and generate a transaction risk score for the transaction using machine learning models and a blockchain record of the previous similar transactions. In response to the transaction risk score exceeding a threshold value, authenticate the transaction and the user using two-step authentication. The two-step authentication uses challenge/answer templates derived from the blockchain record of previous transactions.

The present invention relates to the electrical, electronic, and computer arts, and more specifically, to securing electronic communications.
Non-internet applications (e.g., short message service (SMS) or unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) formats) are popular for certain services, particularly in the financial service industry. Such "offline" applications offer low bandwidth, high interactivity, and simple access. As of 2018, offline applications solely for mobile money services reached about 866 million subscribers, while only 39% of users in low resourced regions had internet-enabled smartphones. In order to reach more users with financial services, SMS/USSD based applications are preferred because they can run on any appropriately configured mobile device (e.g., cellular phone or CDMA/GSM modem).

Multi-factor authentication for non-internet applications

International Business Machines Corporation


A thin section fabrication apparatus includes an epi-imaging data acquisition unit that performs imaging by radiating epi-illumination and acquires imaging data, a diffusion imaging data acquisition unit that performs imaging by radiating diffusion illumination and acquires imaging data, an exposed shape extraction unit that extracts an exposed shape of an exposure portion of the biological sample which is exposed to a surface of the embedding block, based on the imaging data acquired by the epi-imaging data acquisition unit, an embedded shape extraction unit that extracts an embedded shape of an embedding portion of the biological sample which is embedded in the embedding block, based on the imaging data acquired by the diffusion imaging data acquisition unit, and a control unit that determines ending of the preliminary cutting by comparing the exposed shape extracted by the exposed shape extraction unit and the embedded shape extracted by the embedded shape extraction unit.

When pathological examinations are performed on tissue or the like of humans or animals suffering from disease, generally, after the tissue is sliced into sections with a thickness of 2 to 5 μm and is subjected to various dyeing methods, a microscopic observation is performed to examine the tissue.
At this time, a diagnosis is performed based on information acquired in the past. Particularly, pathology is composed based on a large amount of information with respect to a disease and a form change of the tissue. Accordingly, in order to effectively use the information acquired in the past, it is necessary to cut a sample, which is a test object, along a specific cross-section, and to slice the sample so that tissue required for the diagnosis appears on the surface of the sample.
In general, in order to slice soft tissue and cells so as not to break forms of the tissue and the cells, the sample is embedded in paraffin in advance, and an embedding block is fabricated. Moreover, the embedding block is thinly sliced (is thinly sectioned) to a thickness of 2 to 5 m, and thus, a thin section is fabricated. Accordingly, even when the test object is soft tissues or the like, the soft tissue can be very thinly sliced without destroying the form of the tissue. The thin section is fixed onto a substrate such as a glass slide, and the thin-section sample is fabricated. Generally, an operator performs the microscopic observation on the thin section sample, and performs the above-described pathological examination.
When the thin section is fabricated, two processes such as a preliminary cutting process (rough cutting process) and a main cutting process are performed, and thus, the thin section is cut out from the embedding block. In the preliminary cutting, the embedding block is gradually sliced so that the surface is flattened, and the surface of the sample embedded in the paraffin is exposed. Moreover, in the main cutting, the thin section is cut out to have a predetermined thickness with respect to the surface of the embedding block in which the sample is securely exposed.
Particularly, from the viewpoint of the above-described pathology, it is preferable that in the fabricated thin section, the sample be maintained in a desired exposure state which is suitable for the observation. Therefore, the preliminary cutting is important, and thus, it is necessary to carefully perform the preliminary cutting.
However, since the paraffin embedded with the sample becomes clouded due to crystallization at the time of solidification, after the embedding block is fabricated, it is impossible to confirm in advance from the external view of the embedding block that what form the sample has when embedded in the paraffin. Therefore, when the preliminary cutting is performed, it is necessary that the operator appropriately adjusts a cutting amount of a cutting blade, an angle of a support frame on which the embedding block is placed, or the like while always observing the surface of the sample exposed from the paraffin, and performs adjustment so that a biological sample has a desired exposure state. Restarting of the operation is not possible, and the cutting should be performed dozens of times or more until a desired surface is exposed.
Therefore, skill and attentiveness for a long period of time are required, and there is a large burden on the operator.
A thin section fabrication apparatus is suggested which effectively performs preliminary cutting on an embedding block so that a biological sample in the embedding block is securely maintained at a desired exposure state (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
In the thin section fabrication apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, an epi-illumination system that radiates epi-illumination light to the embedding block, a diffusion illumination system that radiates diffusion illumination light to the embedding block, and an imaging unit that images the embedding block under the epi-illumination light and the diffusion illumination light are provided, a state in which imaging data of the embedding block imaged under the epi-illumination light and imaging data of the embedding block imaged under the diffusion illumination light overlap each other is displayed on a monitor, and thus, an operator can easily set a cutting amount, an inclination angle, or the like of the embedding block at the time of the preliminary cutting while confirming with the display of the monitor.
When the epi-illumination light is radiated to the embedding block, a luminance difference is generated between a portion of an embedding agent such as the paraffin and the exposed portion of the biological sample. On the other hand, when the diffusion illumination light is radiated to the embedding block, the light enters the inner portion of the embedding block, abuts the biological sample which is not exposed to a cutting surface, and is reflected.
In the thin section fabrication apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, by focusing attention on the above-described characteristics, the imaging data obtained under the epi-illumination light and the imaging data obtained under the diffusion illumination light are overlapped with each other and displayed on the monitor. Accordingly, the operator can accurately understand the state of the surface of the embedding block and the state of the biological sample in the embedding block.

Thin section fabrication apparatus and method of fabricating thin section


The input of a computer executable process, is logically subdivided, without reading, into a plurality of partitions which are distributed to a plurality of processors in which respective subtasks including the reading of those partitions, are carried out. The method allows distribution of processing of a large amount of data to a plurality of processors cooperating in a way that the load imposed on each processor is proportional to its capacity to do the work.

With the constant improvement in telecommunication technology and the increasing tendency to consolidate computing resources, many computer sites contain a plurality of computers.
The load imposed on the various computers in these sites is normally the result of the activities directed specifically to these computers and the fact that one of them is especially loaded while others are relatively idle does not affect the way work is distributed between them. As a result, in contemporary environments, much can be gained by the parallelization of some processes and their distributed execution across all available computing resources in a way that both speeds the execution of the whole process and balances the load the various computers are subjected to.
Recent developments introduced the concepts of Storage Area Networks (SAN) and Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices to enable efficient usage of storage resources. These technologies increase the symmetry of storage access in a multiple computer environment, increasing the benefits that can be expected from such a parallelization.


The system includes a protective sleeve that is lowered over a flag under the weight of a carrier ring. An arrangement of cables and control means effects raising and lowering of the protective sleeve, and positions the lowered carrier in a tilted orientation to effectively close the lower end of the sleeve and thereby to afford enhanced protection for the contained flag.

Systems for automatically raising, lowering, and storing flags are well known in the art. Provision is commonly made for automatically operating such systems to lower or otherwise protect the flag in response to darkness, precipitation, and/or excessive wind velocity, and to thereafter display the flag when the ambient condition(s) are favorable. The following United States patents are representative of the prior art:
Nelson U.S. Pat. No. 2,327,056 provides an overhead tube used for storage of a flag.
Hutchins U.S. Pat. No. 3,047,258 provides a device for collapsing a parachute, which includes a funnel-like component having a ring of lead surrounding its leading edge.
Donkersloot U.S. Pat. No. 3,418,967 describes an automatic control system for lowering a flag to a stored position, which system includes climatic-response devices that operate according to light, wind, and precipitation conditions; manual control is also indicated.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,737,749, to Schmit, provides a selector switch that allows either manual rasing of a flag or automatic control, the latter utilizing, for example, a photocell to respond to prevailing light conditions.
Murdock U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,001 contains similar disclosure, but also teaches the utilization of a moisture sensor for moving a flag to a stored position within a tube.
In accordance with Barnes, U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,555, a control unit is provided which has both light and moisture sensors, as well as manually operated switches, to control furling and raising of a flag.
In Ebbeson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,289, an elongate, collapsible sleeve is disposed for being drawn downwardly to contain and furl a boat sail; a rigid, funnel-shaped member is attached to the lower end of the sleeve. Fretwell Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,343 and Svensson U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,617 are similar.
Smyly, Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,794, discloses a system in which a housing, coaxially mounted on a flag staff, is elevated to contain the supported flag; the housing is in the form of a hollow cylinder, open at the top and closed at the bottom.


A novel eyeglasses frame allowing sizing, assembly and disassembly without the need for special training, screws, bolts, or pins, or special tools.

In recent years, numerous improvements have been made in eyewear design and production, which have produced increasingly lightweight, comfortable, and attractive products. However, these product improvements have exposed a number of problems with traditional eyewear designs. First, many eyewear products are very delicate, have multiple small components, and require sophisticated tools or custom parts for repair or assembly. Second, the delicate components inevitably break after extended use, and the repairs are time consuming, expensive, or inconvenient for the user. Third, for a given set of eyeglasses frames, it is often difficult, expensive, or impossible to customize the eyeglasses for a given user. In addition, repairs to damaged eyeglasses can often not be made by the end user, necessitating a visit to an optician. The present invention can provide a solution to at least one of these problems.
A major problem with many eyeglasses designs is the need for multiple fasteners such as screws, pins, or small bolts. These fasteners may be located at hinge points between the eyeglasses temple arm and temple arm hinge block or at various positions on the eyeglasses rim. In some cases, multiple fastener types or sizes are used on the same pair of eyeglasses. Furthermore, these fasteners are often not easily replaced through a vender's stock and often require custom orders to make repairs.
Fasteners may be used both on eyeglasses rims and eyeglasses hinges. When used on eyeglasses rims, the fasteners may help secure a lens in place, connect the rim to another portion of the eyeglass, or hold multi-component parts together. In any case, the fastener, whether it be a screw, pin, or bolt design, is subject to back-out after extended wear. When this occurs, the fastener will often be lost, and the product will be rendered useless until a repair is made.
Fasteners are also used for eyeglasses hinges, for which numerous designs exist. Some designs require threaded fasteners such as screws or small bolts. Others require threadless fasteners such as pins. Some designs also employ an adhesive, washers, or friction-fit materials. Regardless, with all of these hinge designs, the screw, bolt, or pin risks backing out of the socket in the hinge or other frame section, rendering the eyeglasses unwearable and potentially requiring the purchase of new parts, the use of special tools, or a consultation with an optician to make repairs.
Another problem with eyeglasses hinges is that they are sometimes subject to relatively severe stress due to accidental or intentional misuse. Traditional eyeglasses hinges will often break or become distorted under sufficient stress. Broken eyeglasses cannot be worn, and distorted eyeglasses may fit improperly. With most current designs, repairs may require significant training, the purchase of replacement parts, or the use of unsightly materials such as tape or glue.
Yet another problem with current eyeglasses designs pertains to the temple arm ear piece. The temple arm ear piece comes in one length for a given set of frames. Although consumers often need shorter or longer temple arm lengths, this part is rarely stocked and must be special ordered by a vendor. This process is time-consuming if the appropriate piece is available at all. Most temple arms on frames are not universal, are typically left and right-sided, and cannot be switched with other frame styles. The earpiece sock or paddle is not designed to be removed once applied by the manufacturer. In the event that the paddle is lost or breaks, replacing it is very difficult. Paddle styles are often custom items designed for only one temple arm style, color, and size; and manufacturers do not often use paddle part numbers for reordering. Most provide complete frames only for replacement.


An apparatus and a method for detecting surface motion of an object subject to ultrasound are disclosed. The method comprises generating a laser beam, dividing the laser beam into a reference beam and an object beam to be directed onto the surface, thereby producing a scattered object beam, introducing a small-amplitude modulation in the optical path difference between the reference beam and the scattered object beam, detecting the interference between the scattered object beam and the phase modulated reference beam using a plurality of detecting elements to generate a plurality of electrical interference signals, wherein the electrical interference signals each comprise a wanted signal component indicative of the surface motion and a noise signal component, and processing the electrical interference signals to determine the surface motion of the object.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to laser interferometric methods and apparatus for optical detection of small transient surface motion and particularly for detection of very small transient surface motion of an object subjected to ultrasound, independently of the optical surface quality.
2. Background Art
Interferometry is a well known technique for measuring the phase difference between two or more optical beams. Two-beam interferometers, where one of the optical beams is back reflected by an object surface and the other beam is used as a reference, are used to monitor small deformations on an object or workpiece under test or small displacements of a surface of an object or workpiece under test. Laser ultrasonics can advantageously be used for nondestructive testing in order to measure the thickness of objects or to monitor defects in materials. When industrial applications involve the inspection of an optically rough surface, the ultrasonic information is encoded in a laser beam with speckles.
For detection on optically rough surfaces, the optical sensor must be able to efficiently process the back reflected speckled light. Three different types of interferometers have been previously proposed and developed to efficiently process speckled light for detection of small transient ultrasonic signals: confocal Fabry-Perot interferometers (CFP), adaptive interferometers based on two-wave mixing in photorefractive crystals (TWM), and Multi-channel random-quadrature (MCRQ) interferometers.
With the CFP and TWM interferometers, processing the speckles is carried out optically, and a single photodetector is then used to detect the demodulated signal. With the recently developed MRCQ interferometer, as described in published U.S. patent application US20090027688, processing the multiple speckles is carried out electronically using an array of photodetectors instead of a single photodetector. Each detector element of the array is optimized for single-speckle detection. As shown in FIG. 1A, the MRCQ interferometer 10 comprises a laser source 12 that is adapted to generate a laser beam 14 of a given intensity. The laser beam 14 is split into an object beam 16 and a reference beam 18 using a first beam splitter 20. The object beam 16 is then directed onto a scattering surface of an object 24 subjected to ultrasound using an optical lens 26. The back-scattered light 28 is collected by the lens 26, thus generating a scattered object beam 30. The reference beam 18 is expanded by means of a beam expander 32, and directed by means of mirrors 31, 35. The reference beam 18 and the scattered object beam 30 are then combined using a second beam splitter 33, thus forming two interference beams 34, 36. The two interference beams 34, 36 are each received by two detector arrays 38, 39 of photodetector elements 38i, 39i, respectively, and converted into electrical interference signals, which are processed by a parallel processing circuit 40.
The phases of the portions of the interference beam arriving at the detector elements are random and not correlated with each other due to the speckled interference beam that results from a rough surface of the object whose displacement is measured. Thus, every detector of the detector array 38, 39 receives another speckle pattern with random and non-correlated phases. A processing circuit used with the MRCQ interferometer is also described in U.S. patent application US20090027688 and shown in FIG. 1B. The processing circuit is used to carry out electronic parallel signal processing based on signal rectification, i.e., on the rectification of the amplitude of a sinusoidal signal. The processing circuit is used to generate an output signal proportional to the rectified displacement of the workpiece surface.
However, it has been shown that for measurement values near or below the noise level, the rectification process does not effectively rectify the signals and the output amplitude is lower than the amplitude expected for a response proportional to the absolute value of displacement. Furthermore, for signals with ultrasonic frequencies of more than a few tens of MHz, demodulation based on signal rectification is no longer efficient. With increasing detection bandwidths, the noise amplitude also increases and the signal is often of smaller amplitude.
U.S. published patent application US 20090122322 describes a linear demodulation scheme exhibiting high sensitivity. Linear-demodulation is achieved by using a frequency shift or a Doppler shift in one of the interferometer arms and by synchronizing the detection to this applied frequency/Doppler shift. Practically, the frequency shift may be achieved by mounting a mirror on a piezo electrical translator and applying a ramp signal to the piezo translator, thereby displacing the mirror at a constant velocity for the duration of the ramp.
Although the above described linear detection has shown a good signal-to-noise ratio, it has shown to present some limitations. When using a piezo-mirror, the above described linear detection technique requires excitation with a ramp signal. The detection is thus not continuous because a reset in the ramp is needed. Furthermore, with the technique described in US20090122322, the Doppler frequency must be well below the frequency bandwidth of the ultrasonic signal in order to be efficiently filtered out and to get a clean ultrasonic signal.
A new scheme for linear demodulation is proposed to overcome the above mentioned limitations.

Multi-channel laser interferometric method and apparatus for detection of ultrasonic motion from a surface


A system, method and computer program product that facilitates communication between devices that implement at least one proprietary feature in a DOCSIS-compliant broadband communication system. A logical channel is established for communication between a first device, such as a cable modem termination system (CMTS), that implements at least one proprietary feature, and other devices that also implement the at least one proprietary feature. Registration information is then received from a second device, such as a cable modem, wherein the registration information indicates that the second device also implements the at least one proprietary feature. In response to receiving the registration information, the second device is assigned to the logical channel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to broadband communication systems. In particular, the present invention relates to broadband communication systems that comply with the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS), including but not limited to DOCSIS-compliant cable modem communication systems.
2. Background
Conventional cable modem systems utilize DOCSIS-compliant equipment and protocols to carry out the transfer of data packets between multiple cable modems at the customer premises and a cable modem termination system (CMTS) at the cable headend. The term DOCSIS (Data Over Cable System Interface Specification) generally refers to a group of specifications published by CableLabs that define industry standards for cable headend and cable modem equipment. In part, DOCSIS sets forth requirements and objectives for various aspects of cable modem systems including operations support systems, management, data interfaces, as well as network layer, data link layer, and physical layer transport for data over cable systems. The most current version of the DOCSIS specification is DOCSIS 2.0.
It has been observed, however, that the use of proprietary features or protocols that are not provided for, or permitted by, the DOCSIS specification may be advantageous within a DOCSIS-compliant cable modem system. For example, the modification of certain DOCSIS-defined physical (PHY) layer or Media Access Control (MAC) layer parameters and/or the use of different PHY or MAC technologies than those supported by DOCSIS may provide a variety of benefits. Such benefits can range from providing better system throughput, reducing latency, reducing the cost of the cable modem and/or the CMTS, providing a system with better signal integrity, providing improved utilization of the spectrum, reducing the area of either the cable modem or the CMTS, or providing better noise immunity.
Heretofore, such use of proprietary features that extend beyond DOCSIS has been avoided. This is due, in part, to the fact that the DOCSIS specification does not provide a mechanism for implementing proprietary features. Moreover, because conventional CMTS and cable modem equipment have been designed in accordance with the DOCSIS specification, the implementation of proprietary features has been avoided to ensure interoperability between cable modem system components.
Accordingly, what is desired is a system, method and computer program product that enables the use of proprietary features that are not provided for, or permitted by, the DOCSIS specification within a DOCSIS-compliant broadband communication system, such as a DOCSIS-compliant cable modem system. For example, the desired system, method and computer program product should support the modification of DOCSIS-defined physical (PHY) layer or Media Access Control (MAC) layer parameters and/or the use of different PHY or MAC technologies than those supported by DOCSIS. However, the desired system, method and computer program product should also be interoperable with DOCSIS in the sense that system components that support the proprietary features can exist on the same network with standard DOCSIS-compliant components that do not. Furthermore, the desired system and method should be implemented in a manner that requires minimal modification to the design of existing system components, such as the design of existing cable modem and CMTS equipment.

System, method, and computer program product for facilitating communication between devices implementing proprietary features in a DOCSIS-compliant broadband communication system


An anti-fuse structure and a method of fabricating the same are described. The anti-fuse structure is disposed over a substrate having at least one device and a copper layer therein. The anti-fuse structure includes a bottom conductive layer, an insulating layer and a top conductive layer. The bottom conductive layer is disposed over and electrically connected with the copper layer. The insulating layer is conformally disposed over the bottom conductive layer covering a corner or a downward turning portion of the bottom conductive layer to form a turning portion of the insulating layer. The top conductive layer is conformally disposed over the insulting layer covering the turning portion of the insulating layer.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a circuit structure and fabrication thereof, and more particularly to a circuit structure with an anti-fuse and a method of fabrication the same.
2. Description of Related Art
An anti-fuse typically has a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure. To program a circuit or to store digital information with an anti-fuse, a high voltage is applied to the same to breakdown the insulator therein so that the two metal layers are electrically connected and the anti-fuse is at an On-state that is also called a programmed state. If no voltage is applied to an anti-fuse, the two metal layers are electrically disconnected and the anti-fuse is at an Off-state that is also called a default state.
Such an anti-fuse is traditionally formed in a front-end process and a low-end Al-process. However, with the raise in the integration degree of devices, the number of metal interconnects is increased and the requirements to the conductance and linewidth of the same are also higher, so that Al is often not a suitable material for an anti-fuse. Since copper (Cu) has low electric resistance, good anti-electromigration property and a much higher melting point (˜1060° C.), the Al-process is gradually replaced by the Cu-process. Hence, an anti-fuse that can be applied to a Cu-process and formed in a back-end process is desired currently.

Anti-fusse structure and method of fabricating the same


A method and apparatus for remote purchase, installation, and licensing of software is disclosed. The method comprising receiving, from a mobile device, a request for a software application; determining compatibility between at least one registered device and the software application; providing, to the mobile device, a list comprising compatible registered devices; placing the software application on an installation queue for the selected registered device in response to an input; and downloading the queued software application to the registered device.

Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to software purchase and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for remote purchase, installation, and licensing of software.
Description of the Related Art
Software purchase and installation for a device requires a user to be physically present on the device for which the purchase is made. Generally, software is purchased on computer readable media, such as a CD-ROM, flash drive and the like, or downloaded to a local hard drive on the device, for example from an Internet location. Installation of the software generally requires providing user details before making an online purchase. All activities related to download, installation and purchase are triggered from the device, and require the user's presence at the device.
Further, for multiple devices with different platform (e.g., WINDOWS® OS, MAC® OS, or LINUX® OS, among others), the user needs to download different installation files corresponding to each platform. The user is required to access devices individually, one by one, for completing software installation corresponding to that device's operating system. This procedure is quite tedious and time consuming for the user.
In certain instances, a user may purchase a software that is incompatible with the device (e.g., due to hardware or software configuration of the device). There is a significant inconvenience associated with discovering that the software is incompatible and possibly revoking the software purchase, for the user and the software provider.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus for remote purchase, installation, and licensing of software.

Method and apparatus for remote purchase, installation, and licensing of software


An array substrate, a fabricating method thereof, and a display device are provided. A portion of the array substrate aligned to a secondary function region has a first conductive layer and a second conductive layer disposed on two opposite surfaces of the substrate. A circuit in the second conductive layer is electrically connected to a circuit of a main display region, and a circuit of a driving circuit board is electrically connected to a circuit of the first conductive layer. In this way, a cell on film (COF) is directly placed on a back surface of the substrate, and the main display region and the COF are connected by a passing layer passing through the substrate. No further bending is required.

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) devices include a main display region, such as pixels, touch electrodes, and the like, and includes a peripheral secondary functional region, such as a driving circuit board (cell on film, COF). Both of them need to be connected by conductive wires.
In order to achieve a narrow frame design of the OLED devices, a conductive wire area is bent in the prior art to place a secondary function region below the main display region so as to shorten a distance between the main display region and a frame of the OLED devices.
Because the secondary functional region needs to be completely bent below the main display region, a bending angle is wide. Therefore, flexibility of a bending region is required to be relatively high, and product cost is increased. At the same time, there is a risk of film breakage at a bending point, resulting in bad products.
That is, a technical problem in the prior art is to provide a bending region to completely bend the secondary functional region to be located below the main display region.

Array substrate, fabricating method thereof, and display device

WUHAN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS SEMICONDUCTOR DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A collapsible caddy which coverts into a table when collapsed has wheels adapted to pavement and sand. The caddy optionally is provided with an umbrella support and attachment openings.

People encounter difficulty when transporting personal belongings to and from recreational settings, particularly over soft surfaces like sand.
Such difficulties have been approached in a variety of ways. U.S. Pat. No. 3,679,227, incorporated herein by reference, shows a cart having a frame with paddle wheels, which may be disassembled for storage. However, parts can become separated during storage, and no support for small objects such as sunglasses is shown.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,571 shows a beach cart having a frame for a bag and a roller like wheel. The cart can extend into a beach chair.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,511 incorporated herein by reference shows a collapsible beach barrow in which a ball serves as a wheel.


A method at a telecommunications system and a data communications system configured to adapt a resource reservation protocol for fixed networks to radio networks with a large variation in bandwidth and quality. Using a method of hierarchical coding, a data stream is divided into separate data streams with different priorities. Using the resource reservation protocol, resources in the fixed network for the data streams are reserved. A node in the fixed network shunts the data streams according to a pre-decided priority as the transmission capacity of the node decreases. Thus, if the transmission capacity at the node decreases and the quality requirement of a data stream cannot be maintained, the data stream in question is shunted. Upon shunting, the node transmits a message instructing upstream nodes to update their resource reservations; use the reserved resource temporarily for other traffic; and shunt the data stream until otherwise instructed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method at a data and telecommunications system for transmission of data streams between a receiving terminal and a transmitting terminal via at least one fixed network including just any to number of nodes and another network consisting of links with large variation in bandwidth and quality, at which a resource reservation protocol reserves resources in said fixed network for said data streams.
2. Background Art
A computer transmits data over a network to a receiving computer. At hierarchical coding, a data stream (with real time requirements, i.e. demands on controlled delay) is divided into separate data streams with different priorities. The data streams have different demands on quality. By a resource reservation protocol, resources then are reserved in the network for the data streams. Separate reservations are made for each data stream in all nodes from the receiver to the transmitter. At hierarchical coding, the node shunts data streams according to a predefined priority as the transmission capacity of the node, has decreased. Since the data streams have real time demands, data will not be buffered.
When hierarchical coding is used over a radio channel with large variation in bandwidth and quality, the number of data streams which can be transmitted over the radio channel will vary rapidly. The radio channel is the transmission link which in most cases will set a limit to the number of data streams that can be transmitted to the receiver. The data streams that are stopped at the node closest to the radio channel are still transmitted in the fixed network and therefore load the fixed network without due cause. At the same time, the receiver wants to keep its reservations in the network during the time when some data streams are stopped, because the reservation may not be possible to be retrieved if it is deleted. For unicast traffic, i.e. one receiver of data streams and separate resource reservations for each receiver, it is possible to signal to the transmitter to stop the transmission of a data stream. For multicast traffic, i.e. a plurality of receivers of the same data streams, resources are reserved in nodes with data streams in common. Thus, the transmitter cannot stop the transmission of any particular data stream since all other receivers then should be affected.
The aim of the present invention consequently is to solve this problem and provide multicast traffic without loading the fixed network without due cause.

Resource optimization function in a data and telecommunication system


A small lightweight golfers' aide comprising low-level high frequency physical vibration generator within a housing for transmitting the vibrations to a golfer as physical vibration patterns indicative of a preferred swing tempo for the golfer.

It has been realized for some time that consistency in the tempo of a golfer's swing under varying game conditions is essential to improvement in a golfers overall game and in reducing a golfer's scores. In the past, audio and visual training aides have been developed to improve the consistency of the tempo of a golfer's swing by providing audible and/or visual signals that guide the golfer during the back and down swings of his or her golf club. Unfortunately, such training aides are suitable for use only under controlled practice conditions. Under game conditions, however, a golfer is to keep his or her eyes on the ball as the ball is addressed and during the back swing, upper pause and downswing of the golf club to insure that the club head properly strikes the ball. This requirement renders prior visual signal training practically useless under game conditions.
Prior audio-signal training aides also suffer several drawbacks. Those systems that require a loud speaker to generate a sound signal for the golfer interfere with the golfers mobility on the course and are distracting to other golfers. Those systems which utilize a head set connected by an electrical lead to an audio source often interfere with the swing pattern of the golfer wearing the training aide and therefore distract rather than assist the golfer during game conditions. In fact, any audio headset or earpiece is likely to function as a distraction to the golfer while swinging his or her club.
The following U.S. patents describe such prior art visual and audio training aides: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,577,868; 4,583,738; 5,040,790; 5,082,281; 5,558,519; 5,743,807; 5,871,406; 5,984,799; 6,040,517; 6,179,723; and 6,517,352.
Recently, a shock device has been proposed for sending a periodic electrical shock signal to the wrist of a golfer as a means of prompting the golfer during the swinging of his or her golf club. Japanese publication JP3-128073 describes such a system. Certainly, the periodic shocking of a golfer is counter-productive to the creating of a smooth consistent golf club swing.


A fuel cell assembly (10) comprising a stack of a plurality of planar fuel cells (16) each comprising an electrolyte layer (20) having an anode layer (18) on one side and a cathode layer (22) on the other side and a plurality of interconnect members (12, 14), each fuel cell (16) being disposed between and in electrical contact with an adjacent pair of interconnect members (12, 14) with oxygen-containing gas passage means (28) being formed between the cathode layer (22) of each fuel cell (16) and the adjacent interconnect member (14) and fuel gas passage means (38, 42) being formed between the anode layer (18) of each fuel cell (16) and the adjacent interconnect member (12), and wherein a chamber (36) of greater height than the thickness of the respective fuel cell (16) is defined between the adjacent interconnect members (12, 14) in each pair within which the fuel cell (16) is received, and electrically conductive compressible means (32, 38, 40, 42) also disposed within the chamber (36) in electrical contact with a first side (18) of the fuel cell (16) and the adjacent interconnect member (12) urges the fuel cell (16) towards the adjacent interconnect member (14) on the second side (22) thereof to maintain the fuel cell (16) in electrical contact with both adjacent interconnect members (12, 14). The fuel cell assembly (10) may comprise a single fuel cell (16) between two interconnect members (12, 14). The compressible means (32) may comprise a corrugated sheet (42) of Ni or Ni alloy.

The present invention relates to a fuel cell assembly comprising a stack of a plurality of planar fuel cells, and is particularly concerned with such a fuel cell assembly in which the compressive load on each fuel cell is independent of its position in the stack. The invention also extends to a single fuel cell assembly.
A fuel cell assembly comprising a stack of a plurality of planar fuel cells requires interconnect means between each pair of adjacent fuel cells to transfer electrical current and heat from the fuel cells, to facilitate the conveyance of oxygen-containing gas and fuel gas to respective sides of each fuel cell, and to keep the oxygen-containing gas and fuel gas apart.
In a single fuel cell planar fuel cell assembly the interconnect means are effectively terminal plates which transfer electrical current and heat from the fuel cell and facilitate the conveyance of oxygen-containing gas and fuel gas to respective sides of the fuel cell. Likewise, the end interconnect means in a stack of planar fuel cells are effectively terminal plates. However, for convenience, all the aforementioned interconnect means, whether between adjacent fuel cells or terminal plates, will hereinafter be referred to as xe2x80x9cinterconnect membersxe2x80x9d.
Commonly, the fuel cells and interconnect members have the same cross-sectional area and the electrical contact between the cells and interconnect members and the sealing of respective sides of each fuel cell from each other is maintained by using the force imparted by the weight of the cell(s) and/or interconnect members above any one cell. Thus, the fuel cells are fully load bearing. Examples of such an arrangement are described in international patent applications PCT/AU96/00140 and PCT/AU96/00594. The problem with this approach is that the lower cells in the stack carry greater weight than the upper cells. For a stack with a large number of fuel cells the load on the lower cells can be significant.
The carrying load of a ceramic, such as in a solid oxide electrolyte fuel cell, is much higher in compression than in tension and the fully load-bearing arrangement described above assumes that, in a perfect system, the cells carry only a compressive load. This compression-only model acquires near perfect flatness of all load carrying parts since unevenness will lead to tensile forces in the structure and to the possible breakage of the fuel cells. In practice it is not possible to ensure such a quality of flatness in all of the load carrying parts.
The problem of possible breakage of solid oxide electrolyte fuel cells due to tensile forces applied to them in use has not been very substantial in the past due to the relatively high strength structure of previously proposed fuel cells such as those described in the aforementioned international patent applications. In this type of fuel cell, the solid oxide electrolyte layer is relatively thick compared to the anode and cathode layers applied to respective sides and has substantial strength. However, recent developments have introduced solid oxide electrolyte fuel cells in which the electrolyte layer is considerably thinner and is not a primary load bearing layer. Instead the porous anode layer acts as the primary load bearing layer and uneven or excessive loads applied to these fuel cells can be very destructive.
A further problem with a fuel cell in a stack carrying the full mass of the fuel cells and interconnects above it is that the relatively weak porous electrode layers of the fuel cell may collapse under the load.
European patent application EP 0568991 describes a fuel cell assembly comprising a stack of a plurality of planar fuel cell structures, each comprising a fuel cell and a single interconnect member on one side. Each fuel cell structure is located in a hollow plate and is separated from an adjacent fuel cell structure by a hollow intermediate plate, with the interconnect member of one fuel cell structure being maintained in electrical contact with the anode of an adjacent fuel cell structure by a felt-like nickel metal conductive material disposed in the hollow intermediate plate. Each fuel cell carries the load of the associated interconnect member. Furthermore, each fuel cell structure is compressed between a seal element and inlet defining elements of the adjacent intermediate plates so that increasing compressive loads may still be applied to fuel cells down the stack.
It is an object of the present invention to alleviate the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art.
According to the present invention there is provided a fuel cell assembly comprising a stack of a plurality of planar fuel cells each comprising an electrolyte layer having an anode layer on one side and a cathode layer on the other side and a plurality of interconnect members, each fuel cell being disposed between and in electrical contact with an adjacent pair of interconnect members with oxygen-containing gas passage means being formed between the cathode layer of each fuel cell and the adjacent interconnect member and fuel gas passage means being formed between the anode layer of each fuel cell and the adjacent interconnect member, and wherein a chamber of greater height than the thickness of the respective fuel cell is defined between the adjacent interconnect members in each pair within which the fuel cell is received, and electrically conductive compressible means also disposed within the chamber in electrical contact with a first side of the fuel cell and the adjacent interconnect member urges the fuel cell towards the adjacent interconnect member on the second side thereof to maintain the fuel cell in electrical contact with both adjacent interconnect members.
By this arrangement, each fuel cell is displaceably received within the respective chamber but for the associated electrically conductive compressible means and the compressive load on each fuel cell is provided by the respective compressible means. Thus, the compressive load on each fuel cell is independent of the position of the fuel cell in the stack. This means that a reduced compressive load may be applied to each fuel cell which is particularly advantageous for the aforementioned solid oxide electrolyte fuel cells in which the electrolyte layer is not a primary load bearing layer. It also means that the load conditions in each chamber can be the same throughout the stack, so that the properties of the materials used in the stack do not need to vary according to the position of the fuel cell in the stack.
The invention is also applicable to a fuel cell assembly comprising a single fuel cell. Accordingly, the invention further provides a fuel cell assembly comprising a planar fuel cell having an electrolyte layer with an anode layer on one side and a cathode layer on the other side, the fuel cell being disposed between and in electrical contact with respective interconnect members, oxygen-containing gas passage means being formed between the cathode layer and the adjacent interconnect member and fuel gas passage means being formed between the anode layer and the adjacent interconnect member, and wherein a chamber of greater height than the thickness of the fuel cell is defined between the interconnect members within which the fuel cell is received and electrically conductive compressible means also disposed within the chamber in electrical contact with a first side of the fuel cell and the adjacent interconnect member urges the fuel cell towards the adjacent interconnect member on the second side thereof to maintain the fuel cell in electrical contact with both interconnect members.
The compressible means may take any of a variety of forms which maintain at least a minimum desired compressive force on the fuel cell even at the operating temperature of the fuel cell assembly. It is desirable that the compressible means maintains electrical contact between the fuel cell and the interconnect member during the full life of the fuel cell in use and therefore that it is not subject to more than minimal creep under the compression load. Any creep should not be so great as to cause the electrical contact to be broken.
Preferably the compressible means is disposed on the anode side of the fuel cell. Examples of the metal or metallic material which may be used for or in a compressible means on the anode side of the fuel cell include nickel, nickel alloy such as nickel-chrome and nickel-aluminium, and oxide dispersion strengthened nickel. Alternatively, the nickel may be replaced by other suitable metal or metals from Groups 8-11 of the Periodic Table.
Possible examples of the compressible means for use on the anode side of the fuel cell include a structure, such as a metallic corrugation or a porous metallic felt, which retains some resilience at the operating temperature; and a composite of a porous brittle material and a metal.
The composite of brittle material, such as a ceramic, and a metal may be designed such that the brittle material yields at, the applied loading but does not fail completely so that it will maintain pressure on the fuel cell between upper and lower limits. The metal maintains the electrical path, and preferably a heat path, through the composite and may provide reinforcement for the brittle material.
Preferably the compressible means is resilient so that a compressive load may be maintained during, for example, temperature cycling of the fuel cell assembly. In a preferred embodiment, the resistance is provided by a corrugated metal or metallic sheet, optionally with a substantially flat sheet of metal or metallic material disposed between the corrugated sheet and the first side of the fuel cell to alleviate any sliding movement between the corrugated sheet and the first side of the fuel cell as the corrugated sheet is compressed.
The flat sheet must permit the gas to contact the first side of the fuel cell and may be porous or otherwise have gas flow passages therethrough. Preferably, the flat sheet is formed of expanded material, that is with an array of slits formed in the material and the sheet being stretched to open up the slits.
If the gas passage means on the first side of the fuel cell is formed between the adjacent interconnect member and the corrugated sheet, the corrugated sheet must be porous or otherwise have gas flow passages therethrough. In the preferred embodiment, the corrugated sheet is formed of expanded material. However, the corrugated sheet may be used to define the gas passage means, in which case it may not need to have gas flow passages therethrough.
The corrugated sheet may be joined to the adjacent interconnect member, for example by spot welding, in order to control the compressibility of the corrugated sheet. Alternatively, the substantially flat sheet of metal or metallic material may be disposed between the corrugated sheet and the adjacent interconnect member and may be joined to the corrugated sheet by, for example, spot welding. This substantially flat sheet may also be of expanded material or otherwise have gas flow passages therethrough and may be joined to the interconnect member, for example by spot welding.
The compressible layer may alternatively comprise an integral compliant layer on the interconnect member which is adjacent the first side of the fuel cell.
For a compressible means on the cathode side of the fuel cell, in addition to having electrical conductivity and porosity the material should be resistant to oxidation, for example a form of ceramic felt or other fibre structure.
Electrically conductive compressible means as described above may also be disposed within the chamber in electrical contact with the second side of the fuel cell and the adjacent interconnect member. Advantageously, compressible means on only one side is disposed on the upper side of the fuel cell.
The chamber for the fuel cell may be defined by a recess in one or both of the adjacent interconnect members, with the interconnect members being electrically insulated from each other around the chamber, and/or by an insulating spacer between the adjacent interconnect members around the chamber. The insulating spacer may be formed of an insulating material, for example a ceramic such as alumina, or, for example, of a conductive material, such as a metal, having an insulating coating or surface layer thereon.
Gas flow channels across one or both sides of the interconnect members for flow of oxygen-containing gas and/or fuel gas to respective sides of the fuel cells may be formed in the interconnect members. To minimise machining or other finishing of the interconnect members, the channels for gas flow to at least the first side of the fuel cell are advantageously defined by the compressible means, as described above, and the compressible means advantageously contacts a flat side of the adjacent interconnect member. The interconnect member may conveniently be formed of a stainless steel.
The fuel cell assembly may be externally manifolded for the gas flows, for example as described in the aforementioned EP 0568991, but is preferably internally manifolded. Thus, the oxygen-containing gas and fuel gas supply and exhaust passages preferably pass through the interconnect members, and possibly through the aforementioned insulating spacer if provided.
A seal which is advantageously compressible in use is conveniently provided around a peripheral portion of the fuel cell between the second side thereof and the adjacent interconnect member to seal the fuel gas and the oxygen-containing gas in the chamber from each other. Since the electrode layers may have a degree of porosity, it is desirable for the electrode layer on the second side of the fuel cell, preferably the cathode layer as described above, to not extend into the peripheral portion of the fuel cell, so that the seal engages the electrolyte layer. Preferably, when the compressible means is provided on only the first side of the fuel cell, the seal is compressible in use to the extent that the electrode on the second side of the fuel cell abuts and makes electrical contact with the adjacent interconnect member at the operating temperature. In a preferred embodiment, the seal is solid at room temperature, and therefore during assembly, but becomes viscous at the operating temperature, for example 700xc2x0 C. to 1,000xc2x0 C., of the fuel cell assembly. Advantageously, the seal is a glass-containing gasket which may comprise plural layers of glass containing material.
The seal, or a separate seal member, may extend between the adjacent interconnect members or between the interconnect member adjacent the second side of the fuel cell and the aforementioned insulating spacer. A further seal member, which may be thinner than the seal and/or the first-mentioned seal member may be provided between the insulating spacer and the interconnect member adjacent the first side of the fuel cell. The first and second mentioned seal members may be formed of the same or similar material to the seal and may also be compressed in use of the fuel cell assembly.
The or each fuel cell may be one of an array of fuel cells in a respective layer of plural planar fuel cells in the assembly, with each fuel cell being disposed in a chamber in accordance with the present invention. Advantageously, the interconnect members adjacent a common side of all or more than one of the fuel cells in each array are formed in a single plate. Likewise, the aforementioned insulating spacer, if provided, may define partly or wholly all or more than one of the chambers for the fuel cells in each array.


Provided are a leak inspection assistance device and a leak inspection method using the same which enable using a normal leak inspection device in a leak inspection of filters in a clean room, have a small cost burden since a scanning robot, large-scape equipment, an incidental work, and the like are not required, and enable performing the accurate leak inspection with a small number of workers.

As regards a work performed in a clean atmosphere, e.g., a work in a production process of drugs and medicines or a work in a production process of semiconductors or electronic components, the work is performed in a clean working environment inside of which is maintained in a dust-free/aseptic condition so that contaminant cannot enter from an external environment. As such a working environment, a clean room is generally used. In this clean room, a worker wearing dust-free clothes performs a work.
Clean air is supplied into this clean room from an air supply device through a HEPA filter or a ULPA filter (which will be also simply referred to as a "filter" hereinafter). Consequently, in the clean room, Grade A (The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry: Aseptic Drug Production Guidelines) or cleanliness conforming thereto required in production of drugs and medicines is guaranteed. To maintain such cleanliness, a leak inspection is periodically carried out to the filter installed in the clean room.
In general, in the leak inspection, fine particle-containing aerosol such as PAO (polyalphaolefin) is put on an upstream side of the filter, and fine particles which have leaked on a downstream side of the filter are detected by a leak inspection device. This leak inspection device includes a suction probe which captures the fine particles and a fine particle detector such as a particle counter which detects the captured fine particles. In an actual leak inspection work, one worker holds the suction probe in his/her hand, and performs scanning in X-Y axis directions on a filter surface. In accordance with this, another worker confirms detection of the fine particles effected by the fine particle detector and a detected quantity (see FIG. 3). Further, when the fine particle detector has detected the fine particles, the worker who is confirming the fine particle detector gives a sign to the worker who is performing scanning with the suction probe. Furthermore, this portion is again confirmed to identify a leak position of the filter.
In such leak inspection directions, since maintaining a scanning speed or a scanning interval of the suction probe constant is difficult, an accuracy of the leak inspection varies, and a possibility of overlooking the leak is high. Moreover, at least two persons or more are required as the workers, which leads to a large-scale work performed by multiple persons. On the other hand, in the following Patent Literature 1, an automatic leak test device in which a scanning robot which moves a suction probe in the X-Y axis directions at a constant speed is arranged on the downstream side of the filter is suggested. Additionally, in the following Patent Literature 2, a leak inspection device which has been provided by improving and developing the automatic leak test device in the following Patent Literature 1 is suggested. Further, in the following Patent Literature 3 and the following Patent Literature 4, a leak inspection system and an automatic leak test system in which a scanning robot is fixed on an entire ceiling surface of a clean room in advance are suggested.

Leak inspection assistance device and leak inspection method using same

Abstract: A projection device which projects a suction point of a suction probe adjunct to a leak inspection device which performs a leak inspection onto a surface of a filter in a clean room in such a manner that the suction point moves in X-Y axis directions orthogonal to each other along the surface of the filter at a fixed interval and a fixed speed is provided, and a worker uses the suction probe for scanning in accordance with movement of the suction point.


The invention relates to a method for disabling a discontinuous transmission node DTX of a speech encoder if a music signal is detected in a call input signal. The music signal is detected by determining an activity factor corresponding to the relation of sound signal periods relative to scheme signal periods. If the activity factor is higher than a specified activity factor, the DTX is disabled.

In most applications of mobile communication voice is still the most important media component. All speech encoders and the mechanisms around the speech encoders are optimized for voice. Music was not considered important in the design of the mobile communication components.
Recently, music has become more important in applications, e.g. in "Music-on-Hold" or "Music-ring-back-Tones".
In order to save radio and network link capacity, a voice activity detector (VAD) was developed for the discrimination between speech and pause. If a pause was detected, no signals were transmitted from the silent parts to the other party. Later it turned out that it is very unpleasant for the user when the loudspeaker is totally silent between talk snatches of the other partner. As a consequence, comfort noise was invented in which the terminal receiving the speech signal creates the comfort noise on its own just on the basis of a few silence descriptor (SID) parameters transmitted every now and then.
This operation is called discontinuous transmission (DTX) controlled by the voice activity detector within the speech codec. However, the VAD is not working well for music signals. Often, music signals are falsely classified as background noise and are replaced by comfort noise.
One solution would be to turn on or off VAD/DTX in the downlink direction, either for the entire duration of the call or just during the alerting phase. However, disabling VAD/DTX for all calls in a network will lead to increased radio interference.
Enabling downlink VAD/DTX makes it possible for the operator to optimize radio planning (e.g. fewer radio base stations may be needed) and it is therefore advantageous to use DTX in the downlink direction. For an optimized radio capacity and for correctly recognizing music signals in a call, the best solution would be to disable VAD/DTX only when music is played towards the mobile terminal.


A torsional vibration damper has a transmission element on the drive side and a transmission element on the driven side which is rotatable relative to the drive-side transmission element against the action of a damping device. The damping device serves to transmit torque between the two transmission elements and has at least one coupling body that moves along at least one guide path which is formed in one of the transmission elements. This coupling body is displaceable at least in the circumferential direction and is in a working connection with the other transmission element via a driver device so that a deflection of one of the transmission elements in the circumferential direction by a relative movement of the coupling body results in a deflection of the other transmission element. Each guide path is provided with a curvature having a curvature location at the maximum distance from the axis of rotation. The coupling body is preferably constructed with its own curvature at least along its rolling region facing the guide path, wherein the coupling body has a projection extending in the direction of a transmission element having a driver device. The projection engages in a material cut out portion of the driver device at the corresponding transmission element and is guided in this material cut out portion so that the material cut out portion allows movement of the coupling body substantially in the radial direction, but enables a maximum movement in the circumferential direction within the framework of a predeterminable angle.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a torsional vibration damper with rolling bodies as coupling elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
German reference DE 41 28 868 discloses a torsional vibration damper having a transmission element on the drive side and a transmission element on the driven side which is rotatable relative to the drive-side transmission element against the action of a damping device. The damping device serves to transmit torque between the two transmission elements. The damping device has springs which are guided along a guide path via slide blocks and which serve as displaceable coupling bodies. A plurality of these springs are combined in a spring set which is in a working connection with one of the transmission elements at one end and with the other transmission element at the other end so that a deflection of one of the transmission elements in the circumferential direction by a relative movement of the coupling body results in a deflection of the other transmission element. Every coupling body is arranged in a recess of one of the transmission elements, which recess has the guide path, and is connected with a driver device of the other transmission element. The driver device is formed by the control element acting on the spring set.
Torsional vibration dampers according to the German reference mentioned above are suitable for filtering a complete frequency range, that is, for damping amplitudes of different orders. However, particularly disruptive amplitudes of a certain order cannot be effectively suppressed in a manner that is often required or desired.
By constructing the coupling bodies as springs, it is ensured that the two transmission elements will be moved back into their initial position after every relative deflection brought about by a torsional vibration. Thus, the two transmission elements have an exactly defined reference position relative to one another in the unloaded state. However, a disadvantage of such coupling bodies is that the inertia which the corresponding transmission element sets in opposition to an introduced torsional vibration is not changeable. Furthermore, the constructional configuration of such a torsional vibration damper is relatively complicated, since control elements must be provided for the springs at both flywheel masses, the springs acting between these control elements.
A transmission element in the form of a flywheel mass is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,411, in which a circular compensating flywheel mass is received in each of a plurality of circular cavities. The diameter of the compensating flywheel mass is smaller than that of the cavity. A flywheel mass of this type is commonly referred to as "Salomon-Tilger" and has the advantage that the compensating flywheel masses are dependent on changes in speed at the flywheel mass with respect to their deflection speed. With a flywheel mass of this kind, torsional vibrations of a determined order, preferably of the second order in four-cylinder internal combustion engines, can be advantageously reduced by a determined amount at defined amplitude values. However, it is not possible to influence vibrations of another order.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,205,401 discloses a compensator in which a flywheel mass, having a guide path for compensator masses which are in a working connection with an actuating or adjusting device, is fastened to a drive, for example, a crankshaft. The compensator masses, as well as the guide path associated therewith, have a curvature, preferably in a circular shape, wherein the radius of curvature of the compensator masses is smaller than that of the associated guide paths so as to enable a rolling movement of the compensator masses in the guide paths when torsional vibrations are introduced via the flywheel mass. The reason for the existence of a plurality of guide paths and the adjusting device mentioned above is so that the compensator masses can be brought, during an adjusting process by the adjusting device, into the respective guide path required for compensating for a torsional vibration of a determined order occurring precisely at that time. Accordingly, in contrast to the compensator discussed above in connection with U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,411, not only one order but a plurality of orders can be reduced by a determined amount. Nevertheless, there is again no possibility of influencing torsional vibrations of other orders.

Torsional vibration damper with rolling bodies as coupling


A power supply strip for electronic equipment including a power supply cable for connection to a power source, a housing connected to the power supply cable, and a plurality of conductor rails located within the housing. One or more power receptacle modules is insertable into the housing, each comprising at least one power receptacle. Each power receptacle module is connectable to selected conductor rails such that the or each power receptacle is configurable to provide a desired power supply configuration. With a three-phase power supply, the rails can be selectable between A-phase, B-phase, C-phase, Neutral and Ground.

Data centers typically involve a large number of rack-mounted servers that are housed together in cabinets. Recent increases in processor speeds and reductions in the size of processors have meant that more processing power is provided by each server within a cabinet, and consequently the amount of power required to operate the server cabinets has increased dramatically. Additionally, power is typically needed for fans and other cooling equipment, due to the large amount of heat generated by the processors. A typical server cabinet in a data center contains 42 1U dual-power supply servers in each cabinet. Power demands for such a cabinet far exceed typical single-phase 120V 20 A power circuits, and thus three-phase power circuits must be used.
A problem arises when designing power supplies for server cabinets because the rated amperages of servers do not correlate with the amount of power that the device typically consumes. As an example, a device that is rated as 220 A, 220V and thus requires a power supply of 440 kW will typically not draw more than 2 kW. Most servers, and hence the cabinets that they are stacked within thus have a significantly overweighted power supply because the data center must dedicate the rated amount to the circuit.
It is desirable to be able to move the overweighting of the power supply circuit from each individual server to the cabinet itself. In this way, the distribution of power within the cabinet can be managed appropriately.

Power supply strip for electronic equipment