In the case where there is a plurality of data structures deployed in one or a plurality of storage units, while reducing communication traffic, easy yet efficient maintenance and management of a plurality of data structures is implemented. A data structure management apparatus according to the present invention is a data structure management apparatus (10), which manages a plurality of mutually equal data structures stored in one or a plurality of storage units, comprising a data structure storage unit (20), which stores an arbitrary first data structure; a data structure modification unit (105), which modifies the first data structure; a modified data extraction unit (107), which extracts only the data necessary for making the first data structure on the modification source side and a second data structure on the modification target side be equal, from the modified data in the first data structure by the data structure modification unit; and a modified data transmission unit (111), which outputs the extracted, modified data so as to reflect onto the second data structure.

Conventionally, various data structures are constructed by storing pointers with a certain technique in Random Access Memory (hereinafter referred to as "RAM") having one or more addresses, which is a typical main memory of a computer, to promote efficiency of information expression and increase the speed of operation.
For instance, there are techniques for expressing structures among a plurality of data as a linear list, binary tree, tree, or various graphs by storing a certain pointer for another node in a portion of RAM corresponding to the first node. Those data structures provide certain fixed operations and functions.
However, there has been no known effective maintenance/management techniques for providing equivalency among the functions of a plurality of data structures arranged upon one or a plurality of RAM.
A conventional technique for maintaining equivalency among a plurality data structures is described below.
First, there is a technique for securing functional equivalency among a plurality of data structures by performing with exactly the same content and sequence all of the update operations that modify a data structure function and the search operation required for this update operation, not just for a single data structure but also for each of the plurality of data structures.
However, with the first technique, the hassle or the calculation time, required to maintain and manage other data structures that should be reflected an update (modification) (hereinafter referred to as "the copy side data structure") is the same as the hassle required to maintain and manage the data structure on the modification source side (hereinafter referred to as "the master side data structure").
More specifically, in order to modify the data structure, in many cases a complex search operation is performed before this modification, and depending on the result of the search the details of the modification vary. Accordingly, with the first technique, unless the same modification procedure including the required search performed for the master side data structure is also performed for the copy side data structure, equivalency between both structures may not be provided. However, with the first technique, the modification processing for the master side data structure and the modification reflecting processing for the copy side data structure require the same amount of calculation time (resources). As a result, there is not much difference between the two sides as far as marginal space allowing other processing such as a search only request to be performed. Accordingly, considerable calculation time is required to implement equivalency among the data structures, and effective division of the processing may not be implemented in a dispersion environment where, for instance, many search requests that are different from the master side are performed on the copy side while the master side concentrates on the processing of the modification requests. In short, it has been impossible with this first technique to effectively reflect only those modifications made to a data structure onto the other data structures and reduce the cost of managing other data structures.
Secondly, there is a technique that, in order to maintain the data structure including the pointer values exactly the same as the content of RAM, all the pointers modified in the course of a modification operation are transmitted one by one and reflected onto the modification target side. With this second technique, the respective data structures (more precisely, each node configuring the respective data structures) are stored in RAM in a portion that is considered to be the same address, and an update (that is, pointer modification information) to one of data structures is copied into RAM which represents other data structures as modifications in the memory content of each address. As long as means for performing appropriate address conversions is employed, a plurality of equivalent data structures may be configured by storing the pointers of identical expressions in the same address in a single storage unit (or computer) or among a plurality of storage units (or computers). Modifications in a data structure may be reflected onto other data structures by structuring a plurality of data structures in this manner and simply copying the pointers as with the other data (codes).
However, the second technique may not be applied to some data structures that are functionally equivalent but allow the pointer structure to take on different forms. For instance, there is a data structure, which is called self-adjusting data structure, that appropriately adjusts pointer structure so that a frequently accessed node becomes a root node. This self-adjusting data structure changes the data structure format to another functionally equivalent format even with a search operation that does not accompany a functional modification. With this self-adjusting data structure, in order to make the stored pointer values match and maintain equivalency, all modifications to the pointer values (the content of each address) that occur as a result of all operations including search operation must be copied. This copying requires transmission of an enormous amount of pointer modification information to the other data structures (or other means for managing data structure), thus the communication traffic in addition to the hassle of managing becomes considerable.
Otherwise, in the case of a data structure such as a high-balanced tree, a large number of pointers may be modified with one modification operation, and as a result, the amount of modified data that must be transmitted increases. Also, in the second technique, there is a restriction whereby the configuration (form) of the data structures on the master side and the copy side must match completely. More specifically, in the case of a binary tree data structure, not only must they be equivalent as far as the binary search tree but also all parent/child relationships among the same corresponding nodes should coincide. (However, if the above address conversion is carried out appropriately, the address of each node and the pointer value do not have to be the same.) In other words, with this second technique, a data structure that is equivalent as a binary search tree between the master side and the copy side, but is different in terms of a specific binary tree structure cannot be used.
For that reason, for instance, when the tree configurations on the master side and the copy side are managed with completely different techniques, in other words, for instance, in the case where the master side utilizes the high-balanced-tree described above so as to manage the tree configuration whereas the copy side utilizes a splay tree so as to perform the search operation, even when the tree configuration is to be modified, the data structure configuration (that is, the form of the tree) before the modification is made and the data structure configuration on the copy side before having to reflect the modified data are completely different. Accordingly, when simply the master side data structure is modified, the modified pointer may not be reflected in the copy side data structure.
In particular, if an attempt is made to implement equivalency among a plurality of data structures arranged respectively upon the main memory of physically different computers using the first or second technique described above, considerable burden would be imposed on the data transmission channel (network) connecting these computers and significant influence imparted to the system as a whole including the data transmission channel.
Moreover, even with the various balanced trees, which are data structures where the form of the data structure is modified only in the case of an update operation, a large number of pointers are modified along with the form modification. As a result, in order to transmit all the modified information of those pointers, although not to the extent as the above-described self-adjusting data structure, considerable load ends up being applied to the data transmission channel that connects each RAM stored with the data structures.
The present invention is brought forth to solve problems of conventional data structure management techniques such as, as described above, the fact that the maintenance/management for the purpose of accomplishing equivalency among the functions of a plurality of data structures arranged upon one or a plurality of RAM requires a great deal of calculation time, there is a large volume of communication, and thus is inefficient.
In addition, an objective thereof is to provide a data structure management apparatus, a data structure management system, a data structure management method, and storage media for storing a data structure management program, which are capable of efficiently maintaining and managing equivalency among a plurality of data structures efficiently by reflecting a modification made to a data structure arranged on one or a plurality of RAM (storage regions) onto the other data structures with the least amount of traffic and calculation time.
Yet another objective of the invention is to maintain and manage the equivalence easily among a part of or the whole data structure arranged on the address unique to each other.

Data structure managing device, data structure managing system, data structure managing method, and recorded medium where data structure managing program is stored


An image sensor captures an image formed through an optical system and includes a plurality of types of imaging pixels with spectral sensitivity characteristics different from one another, two dimensionally disposed in a predetermined array. The image sensor includes a plurality of focus detection pixel rows that are disposed so as to occupy part of the predetermined array and extend along a plurality of directions intersecting each other, each made up with a plurality of focus detection pixels set along one of the plurality of directions, and the focus detection pixel rows are used to detect a focusing condition of the optical system. A focus detection pixel occupying a position at which the focus detection pixel rows intersect is set at a position equivalent to a position of an imaging pixel with specific spectral sensitivity characteristics corresponding to imaging pixels disposed with a highest level of density in the predetermined array.

There are image sensors known in the related art that include focus detection pixels disposed in a cross-shaped pattern in correspondence to a focus detection area set on the photographic field, so as to detect the focusing condition of an optical system along two directions assumed on the photographic filed (see, for instance, patent reference literature 1).
The prior art literatures related to the present invention include the following.
Patent reference literature 1: Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. 2000-292686


Directories in a file system are defined with a dummy cluster in a file allocation table as the initial entry. Subsequent clusters in a directory's definition may define any data for the directory that can be changed in a transaction-safe mode. A directory may be modified in a transaction-safe mode by modifying any of the subsequent clusters while tracking changes in a second file allocation table. When the changes have been made to the directory, a pointer to the second file allocation table may be switched to indicate that the second file allocation table is now last known good. The first file allocation table may then be synchronized with the second.

Data files are often arranged in a directory structure in a file system. Such file systems may be implemented on storage systems such as disk drives, flash memory, and other data storage devices. A hierarchical directory structure organizes various files into groups that can be browsed and displayed.
Many file systems use a file allocation table otherwise known as FAT. The FAT may be used differently in various applications. In some applications, a FAT may be used to link various clusters of data together into a file that is comprised of several such clusters.
As file systems have become more and more complex, some operations performed on the file system may take several steps. The file system may be vulnerable to corruption if a power disruption or other interruption occurs during such steps and before they are complete.

Fat directory structure for use in transaction safe file


A method of detecting a fault in a circuit design undergoing hardware emulation, includes, in part, comparing, in each cycle K of a clock and at the hardware emulation system, the cycle K register values of a reference circuit with the cycle K register values of the circuit design undergoing emulation. The method further includes detecting, in each cycle K of the clock and at the hardware emulation system, whether a mismatch exists between the cycle K reference circuit design register values and the cycle K register values of the circuit design undergoing emulation. Alternatively the comparison may be made between the respective signatures computed from the register values. The register values of the reference circuit design for all K cycles may be transferred to the emulation system prior to emulation. Alternatively, for each cycle K, the register values may be transferred to the hardware emulation system during that cycle.

It often takes a considerable amount of time and effort to bring-up a hardware platform, such as field programmable gate array (FPGA) based emulator, to verify an integrated circuit (IC) design. As is well known, such systems are used for modeling the behavior of the IC logic designs and to ensure that they operate as expected. The reason the so-called bring-up of such systems is time consuming can be attributed to a number of factors such as reduced signal visibility, implementation flaws (e.g. functional issues in netlist and/or undetected timing violations), diminished ability to synthesize assertion statements, and the like.
Unlike circuit simulation which enables full visibility into a design, in FPGA based emulation or prototyping, the only way to read the value of a register is either to insert a probe in the design that allows the monitoring of the register/net, or alternatively to use other techniques, such as readback (built in hardware scan chains in commercial FPGAs) to scan the value of the registers.
Scanning of the design registers via readback is relatively slow. Moreover, the scanning of the registers requires the design clocks to be stopped, further compounding the problem, particularly when the design being emulated receives input signals from a device external to the emulation system. A need continues to exist for improving the debugging of an FPGA based emulation/prototyping system.
A hardware emulation system often includes mechanisms to enable a user to view (dump) the state of the registers of the design being emulated. In such a system, the output value of every register in the design can be dumped every N cycles, where N is an integer equal to or greater than one. However, as described above, the readback and the dumping of the register values requires the emulation system clock to be stopped. Once all the values are dumped, the clock is restarted.
When using a workstation, the register state dump values are compared to a previous golden run state dump values to detect any differences. It is assumed that the golden run is obtained using, for example, a simulation run of the design known to include no defects. The failure window is thus the time period between the last comparison that resulted in a pass between the current design dump and the golden design dump (i.e., the passing comparisons), and the first failing comparison.
The extraction and dumping of the state data may take a substantial amount of time. Furthermore, it often takes a relatively long time to do a comparison of, e.g., millions of bits of the design under test and the corresponding bits of the golden reference, using a workstation. Accordingly, capturing and storing all register output values on every clock cycle without stopping the clocks is impractical. Performance is thus limited by the speed with which the workstation performs the comparison as well as the bandwidth of the data transfer to the workstation.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Hardware based state signature generation and check for test and debug of semiconductor circuit functionality


An optical signal detection circuit (10) includes an amplification circuit (11) that differentially amplifies an electrical signal (Tout) corresponding to the pulse train of an optical signal (Pin) and outputs a differential output signal (Aout), and a comparator (12) that compares the voltage value of the positive-phase signal of the differential output signal (Aout) with the voltage value of the negative-phase signal and outputs a pulsed comparison output signal (Cout) corresponding to the comparison result. The amplification circuit (11) includes a current addition circuit (11E) that adjusts a DC load current to generate a positive-phase signal (Aout+) and a negative-phase signal (Aout−) of the differential output signal (Aout) in accordance with an adjusted voltage value from an external adjusted voltage source (Vadj) and adjusts the DC bias of the positive-phase signal (Aout+) and the DC bias of the negative-phase signal (Aout−).

In an optical receiver that receives an optical signal and obtains a reception output formed from an electrical signal, an optical signal detection circuit (SD: Signal Detect) that determines the presence/absence of optical signal input is used to prevent the optical receiver from outputting unwanted noise in the absence of an optical signal. The optical signal detection circuit generates an optical signal detection signal representing whether an optical signal having a sufficient strength is received, thereby detecting a communication error or performing squelch control to cut off noise output from a limiting amplifier LA under no-signal conditions.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of a conventional optical receiver (see, for example, patent literature 1). In an optical receiver 200, a photodiode PD photoelectrically converts an optical signal Pin formed from a pulse train into a photocurrent signal Iin. A transimpedance amplifier TIA serving as a preamplifier amplifies the photocurrent signal Iin and outputs an electrical signal Tout. The electrical signal Tout output from the transimpedance amplifier TIA is input to a limiting amplifier LA serving as a post-amplifier. The limiting amplifier LA amplifies the electrical signal Tout and outputs a reception output Rout having a predetermined amplitude with respect to the optical signals Pin of various strengths. A waveform shaping circuit such as a CDR (Clock Data Recovery) or a timing adjustment circuit is normally provided at the subsequent stage of the limiting amplifier LA so as to extract a clock signal from a data signal included in the reception output Rout or shape the signal waveform into a waveform easy to be handled as a digital signal.
The transimpedance amplifier TIA is AC-coupled to an optical signal detection circuit 20. A positive-phase signal Tout+ and a negative-phase signal Tout− of the electrical signal Tout are input to the optical signal detection circuit 20 via corresponding coupling capacitors C. The optical signal detection circuit 20 includes a comparator 21 that outputs a comparison output signal Cout only when the electrical signal Tout is received, and an SR latch 22 that holds the comparison output signal Cout and converts it into an optical signal detection signal SD formed from a DC signal. The SR latch 22 cancels holding of the optical signal detection signal SD in accordance with a reset signal RESET. For example, in burst communication represented by a PON system, a PON control IC can output the reset signal RESET at the end of burst packet reception.
For example, the optical signal detection signal SD is used for squelch control, and the squelch is closed during the time from reception of the reset signal RESET up to reception of the next burst signal. This makes it possible to prevent noise output from the limiting amplifier LA. When the next burst signal is received, the squelch can be opened to return to a normal reception state.
FIG. 10 is a circuit diagram showing the arrangement of the comparator 21 used in the optical signal detection circuit according to the related art. The comparator 21 includes a first-stage bias circuit 21A, a first-stage amplification circuit 21B, a first-stage emitter follower circuit 21C, and a next-stage amplification circuit 21D.
The first-stage bias circuit 21A AC-coupled to the transimpedance amplifier TIA includes resistors R21 and R22 and resistors R23 and R24, which divide a power supply potential Vcc. The first-stage bias circuit 21A gives a DC bias to each of the positive-phase signal Tout+ and the negative-phase signal Tout− of the electrical signal Tout whose DC components are cut by the corresponding coupling capacitors C. The biased positive-phase signal Tout+ and negative-phase signal Tout− are input to a pair of differential transistors Q21 and Q22 of the first-stage amplification circuit 21B, respectively.
The first-stage amplification circuit 21B differentially amplifies the positive-phase signal Tout+ and the negative-phase signal Tout− of the electrical signal Tout and outputs them to the next-stage amplification circuit 21D via the first-stage emitter follower circuit 21C.
In the first-stage amplification circuit 21B, when load resistors R25 and R26 of the pair of differential transistors Q21 and Q22 are made to have different values, the DC level of the output of the first-stage amplification circuit 21B has an offset voltage.
If the amplitudes of the positive-phase signal Tout+ and the negative-phase signal Tout− input to the first-stage amplification circuit 21B are small, the inverted output from the transistor Q21 and the noninverted output from the transistor Q22 do not cross due to the offset voltage, that is, the first-stage amplification circuit 21B does not form a differential signal. In this case, the next-stage amplification circuit 21D that receives the noninverted output and the inverted output from the first-stage amplification circuit 21B does not output the pulsed comparison output signal Cout.
On the other hand, if the amplitudes of the input positive-phase signal Tout+ and negative-phase signal Tout− are sufficiently large, the inverted output from the transistor Q21 and the noninverted output from the transistor Q22 cross regardless of the presence of the offset voltage. In this case, High level and Low level corresponding to the crossing alternately appear in the comparison output signal Cout output from the next-stage amplification circuit 21D.
The SR latch 22 holds the comparison output signal Cout. As a result, for example, at the same time as the start of reception of the optical signal Pin, High level is output as the optical signal detection signal SD representing the presence/absence of optical signal input. Once High level is detected as the comparison output signal Cout, the SR latch 22 holds and outputs the level as the optical signal detection signal SD, as a characteristic feature. It is therefore possible to implement the high-speed optical signal detection circuit 20 that immediately responds to signal reception.

Optical signal detection circuit and optical receiver

NIPPON TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CORPORATION


A method and system for purification of a pressurized gas stream, wherein the method includes in a first absorption step bringing the pressurized gas stream in direct contact with a first absorption solution absorbing at least part of the acidic gases, in the gas stream obtaining a gas liquid mixture; and separating the gas liquid mixture in a partly purified pressurized gas stream and a first rich absorption solution. In a second downstream absorption step bringing the partly purified pressurized gas in contact with a second absorption solution through a membrane contactor, obtaining a second rich absorption solution and a purified pressurized gas stream. The first absorption solution is a partially lean absorption solution.

Purification of pressurized hydrocarbonaceous gas, including natural gas, biogas etc, hereinafter named as gas, may be desirable or necessary for a number of reasons. Removal of acidic contaminants such as CO2 and or sulphide contaminants from the gas improves the quality of the gas product. The acidic contaminants include CO2, H2S, mercaptans, CS2, COS, and SO2.
Some of the challenges to be achieved with respect to purification are to minimize plant size, energy consumption, operational and investment cost, carry over of absorbent and pressure drop.

Method and system for gas purification with first direct absorption step and second absorption step by means of membrane contactor


Disclosed is a housing part for a ventilating fan with an axial rotation shaft. A number of housing parts can be placed radially around the ventilating fan so as to form a substantially cylindrical housing. The housing part includes an inner wall; an outer wall placed at a distance from the inner wall; and connecting walls extending between the inner wall and the outer wall. The inner wall, outer wall and the connecting walls define a closed space.

The invention relates to a housing part for a ventilating fan with an axial rotation shaft, wherein a number of housing parts can be placed radially round the ventilating fan so as to form a substantially cylindrical housing.
The above stated housing parts are applied in for instance cooling devices, for instance for incinerator plants. Such a cooling device consists of a frame on which a large number of heat exchangers are placed. Placed under these heat exchangers is a fan which has a diameter of for instance 10 m. Housing parts are placed round this ventilating fan in order to enable large amounts of air to be drawn in and blown through the heat exchangers located thereabove.
It is known that the housing for the ventilating fan is constructed from four or eight housing parts. These housing parts can be manufactured from wood, concrete, steel or polyester. Since a limited number of housing parts is used to assemble a housing, the housing parts are specifically manufactured for a specific fan diameter. The wall parts all take a single-walled form,
The above stated known housing parts have a number of drawbacks. First of all, the wall parts are easily set into vibration, which can result in mechanical damage because they are single-walled. This also causes additional noise which, in view of current standards, is undesirable. The wall thickness would have to be increased to prevent this, but with the usual materials this can result in very large masses of the wall parts, whereby the construction to which these wall parts have to be fixed must take an extra-strong form.
Between four and eight housing parts have normally been used heretofore to assemble the housing. As a consequence of the large fan diameters, the dimensions of the housing parts are correspondingly large. This therefore has its drawbacks for transport and handling during fitting.
It is an object of the invention to obviate the above stated drawbacks.
This is achieved according to the invention with a housing part which comprises:
an inner wall;
an outer wall placed at a distance from the inner wall; and
connecting walls extending between the inner wall and the outer wall;
wherein the inner wall, the outer wall and the connecting walls define a closed space.
The housing part thus takes a double-walled form. The housing part hereby has a relatively great strength compared to a single-walled housing part, while the weight is relatively low. Because the housing part takes a double-walled form the housing part will cause fewer vibrations and therefore less noise. In addition, the weight is relatively low, thus simplifying assembly.
A preferred embodiment according to the invention comprises at least one strengthening bush which is arranged with the one end on the inner wall and with the other end on the outer wall. The inner wall and the outer wall are mutually connected by the strengthening bushes, whereby the housing part is given additional strength.
The at least one strengthening bush is preferably arranged such that in the formed housing the strengthening bush lies substantially in the same plane as the outer ends of the ventilating fan.
Air turbulences will occur around the extremities of the ventilating fan whereby a housing part could begin to vibrate and thus also cause noise. By now arranging the strengthening bushes such that they lie at the same height as the outer ends of the ventilating fan the housing part will be strengthened locally, whereby vibrations resulting from the air turbulences are prevented.
In another pref erred embodiment according to the invention coupling means are arranged on either side for coupling to an adjoining housing part.
A housing for a ventilating fan is constructed by placing the housing parts against each other around the fan. It is advantageous herein to be able to couple the adjoining housing parts relative to each other, so that they cannot shift relative to each other.
The coupling means preferably comprise a groove arranged on a first side of the housing part and a rib which is arranged on a second side of the housing part and which can be coupled with the groove of an adjoining housing part. By now sliding the rib of one housing part into the groove of an adjoining housing part these housing parts are coupled relative to each other.
In yet another embodiment according to the invention metal parts are arranged in at least one of the walls. These parts can for instance be used to secure bolts or screws therein with which the whole housing part can be fixed or, for instance, two housing parts can be fixed to each other.
In a preferred embodiment according to the invention the closed space is filled with a foamed material. An additional strengthening of the housing part is hereby obtained and the foam, owing to its structure, contributes toward extra noise reduction.
A housing part according to the invention is preferably manufactured by rotation moulding. Preferred materials here are polyethylene or polypropylene.
In yet another embodiment according to the invention the inner wall and the outer wall comprise a first curvature around a first axis of curvature. The inner surface of an assembled housing will hereby better approximate a cylinder surface, thereby reducing vibrations.
In a further preferred embodiment according to the invention the inner wall and the outer wall comprise a second curvature around a second axis of curvature, wherein the second axis of curvature lies perpendicularly of the first axis of curvature. The housing formed with such housing parts therefore has an outward protruding edge, whereby the supply of air is better guided.
The width of a housing part is preferably less than 2 m. The housing parts can hereby be readily placed in a transport container, whereby the housing parts can be transported easily over large distances.
The invention further comprises a housing for a ventilating fan with an axial rotation shaft, which housing comprises:
a first number of housing parts according to the invention placed against each other radially around the ventilating fan; and
fixing means for holding the housing parts fixed against each other.
The fixing means can be for instance bolts and nuts extending through edges of two adjoining housing parts. Preferably however, the fixing means comprise a tensioning belt extending around the housing. A cylinder shape results automatically from placing of the housing parts against each other and then clamping them with a tensioning belt.
In another embodiment according to the invention the housing comprises a second number of housing parts placed against each other and in the line of the first number of housing parts according to the invention.
When air is drawn by the ventilating fan through a housing and then blown for instance through heat exchangers, the air must be blown back again into the environment. By now placing a second number of housing parts in the line of the first number the air is guided into the environment, whereby further noise reduction is obtained.


Cable housing assemblies include frames and cable carriers slidably mounted to channels provided at edges of the frames. The cable carriers may house or support male or female connectors to the cables, which may be power or communications cables (e.g., Ethernet cables) that extend from the connectors within the cable carriers into the channels, and through voids within the frames to power sources or communications systems. The cable carriers are releasably inserted into channels at edges of the frames, and permitted to slide in either direction (e.g., up or down) to various positions within such channels, in order to make power or communications services available at such positions. When installed in association with a shelving unit, e.g., between a backerboard and shelves, the cable carriers may be used to provide power or communications services available to such shelves provided at any height within the shelving unit.

Materials handling facilities such as warehouses or retail stores often store or display items on shelves. For example, a materials handling facility may include structural features such as walls, gondola racks or fixtures to which one or more shelves may be mounted or from which such shelves may be suspended, and available items may be disposed upon such shelves. Available items may remain on shelves on a temporary basis, until one or more of the items thereon is desired (e.g., in response to an order or a request from one or more users of the materials handling facility).
Storing items on shelves or like elements provides a number of advantages to users of a materials handling facility. For example, an item having one or more flat surfaces may be stored individually or collectively (e.g., along with other like or identical items), by placing one or more of the flat surfaces of such items on a corresponding flat surface of a shelf or like element. Furthermore, items may be stored in random locations on a shelf, or in predetermined areas or spaces of the shelf that are set aside for items of a specific type, group or category.
Increases in processing power and network connectivity, and reductions in component size, have enabled computer-based systems to be utilized in connection with nearly every aspect of our daily lives. In bricks-and-mortar commerce, computer-based systems having one or more sensors, such as imaging devices (e.g., digital cameras), have been integrated into traditional retail establishments in order to aid in theft prevention or inventory tracking.
Computer-based systems, however, traditionally require connections to power sources and communications systems or networks. In newly constructed retail establishments, storage units may be installed with embedded or native ports or connectors to which a computer-based system may be readily connected. In an existing retail establishment, however, where such storage units have already been constructed, providing electrical or communications connections to a computer-based system requires running cables along one or more shelves of a storage unit, attaching such cables to the storage unit by unsightly means such as adhesive tape, or other unfavorable measures to refit the storage unit for use with the computer-based system. Moreover, while network connectivity may be provided by wireless technologies, wireless communications (e.g., Wireless Fidelity technologies) remain substantially slower than wired communications (e.g., Ethernet connections), and are typically subject to greater interference, increased latency, more dropped signals and higher risks of hacking than wired communications.


System and process are disclosed for the hierarchial control of a plurality of discrete chiller units each having individual dedicated controls. The system and process imposes limits on the amount of compression that can be demanded by the individual dedicated controls. These limits are selectively changed in response to whether a level of chilling has been collectively achieved. The selective changing of these limits is premised on examinations of each individual chiller unit including the recent history of any changes in compression by the unit.

This invention relates to the simultaneous control of several individual chiller units within a system that is processing chilled coolant via common supply and return lines. In particular, this invention relates to the control of a number of different chiller units each having their own respective dedicated control units.
Multiple chillers on a common coolant loop are subjected to the same entering coolant temperature at approximately the same time. The chillers are typically required to maintain the leaving coolant at the same temperature. This causes the individual units to simultaneously start or stop their compressors at the same time. This leads to unnecessary and at times excessive demands on electrical power consumption and excessive compressor cycling in order to provide the chilling of the coolant perceived to be necessary. In this regard, each individual chiller unit having its own particular compressor stages and control unit is trying to activate the perceived number of compressor stages necessary to achieve the desired chilling without regard to what may be happening elsewhere. This often produces an over reaction.
What is needed is a hierarchial control system which allows individually controlled units to provide normal control functions while at the same time supervising reaction by the individual chiller units to maintain the leaving coolant temperature at same predefined level.

Hierarchial control for discrete chiller units


Method and system for removing sparse data in a response to a query to a multidimensional database by establishing a cross-tab with sparse data. After selecting a member in an axis of the cross-tab for sparsity removal, a first set expression on the orthogonal axis is selected in the context of the member. The context of the orthogonal axis is collected for generating a filter set expression with a data removal criteria, based on the collected context; and the query is submitted to the database with the filter set expression.

Business decision makers often use business intelligence analytical software to pose operational performance questions as queries against their data sources. The basic capabilities of querying and reporting functions is extended by On-line Analytical Processing (OLAP), allowing a robust multidimensional understanding of the data from a variety of perspectives and hierarchies in a multidimensional database. OLAP operations such as drill-down, roll-up and pivot provide insights into business growth, spending, and sales patterns that would simply not be possible otherwise. Other OLAP functionality includes operations for ranking, moving averages, growth rates, statistical analysis, and "what if" scenarios.
Multidimensional databases intuitively view data as a multidimensional structural metaphor called a cube whose cells correspond to events that occurred in the business domain. Each event is quantified by a set of measures; each edge of the cube corresponds to a relevant dimension for analysis, typically associated to a hierarchy of attributes that further describe it. A multidimensional database may further comprise a collection of related cubes. Dimensions, such as an essential and distinguishing concept in multidimensional databases, are used for selecting and aggregating data at the desired level of detail.
However, the data to be analyzed often have up to 20 or more dimensions, making computations complex and costly. As the dimensions increase, and the number of members of each dimension increases, the number of cells increases dramatically. The number of cells in many cubes representing a business process in a medium or large company is often too large to provide a fast and efficient calculation.
Many of the cells in a cube are interconnected by formulas. Cells representing profit, for example, are calculated by the difference between corresponding cells representing revenue and corresponding cells representing expenses. Cells representing a year are computed as the sum of corresponding cells representing months which in turn are computed as the sum of corresponding cells representing days.
Often there is null or zero data interspersed throughout important data, resulting in sparsity of relevant data in the database. For example, no sale was made on a given day of a given product by a given salesperson to a given customer by a given sales channel. The business intelligence analysis activity typically involves the creation and manipulation of a cross-tabulation, or cross-tab. The sparsity of data makes it difficult to derive useful information when presenting data in a cross-tab, due to the relationship-based nature of multidimensional querying, analysis and reporting.
The sparsity of data may also be a result of a user creating a new cross-tab. Many common user scenarios may lead to cross-tabs with empty result sets. Removing sparse data from cross-tab views is therefore an important way to improve the readability of the user's data.
The business intelligence analytical tool is often implemented in a server-client architecture. The analytical tool often includes a client that provides a user interface, for example, a client browser; and a server that handles processing of queries and retrieval of data from data sources. Therefore, both accessing the desired cells with sparsity in the vast array of data in a database, and returned result data with sparsity can add significantly to the time taken to process a query.
There have been different approaches to remove the sparsity in the data. One is a brute-force zero-suppression by removing all cells with null or zero value in query result individually. This approach, while easy to execute, does not provide any selectivity when the null or zero data are removed, thereby suffering from poor performance for any significantly sized multi-dimensional data source.
Another approach is based on filtering member sets based on data value criteria. This approach may be tedious and error-prone as it requires in-depth knowledge of the data and intensive user-interaction to define appropriate filters, resulting in poor usability.
Yet another approach is described in U.S. Pat. 6,728,697 to Leathers, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. U.S. Pat. 6,728,697 teaches a mechanism to partition the processing work in such a way that the processing can be carried out by the OLAP data source, thereby improving the efficiency of the delegated portion of the operations, and making more effective use of the overall processing power of the computing facilities. Rows and columns of the original cross-tabulation (cross-tab) formed from the data are classified as either simple, or complex, depending whether the data can be computed at the OLAP data source. Accordingly, zero suppression may be carried out through an a priori preliminary determination of which rows and columns contain only zero, null or other non-relevant values, before the data is requested. A Boolean may be used to indicate whether a row has any zero or null data, and to condition subsequent operations.
There is therefore a need to query a multidimensional database in a single step, using sparse data removal criteria to determine whether certain data is returned in the query result, thereby enhancing the view of relevant data, and making the decision-making process more effective and timely.
It is further desirable to provide a mechanism for providing business intelligence information from the server to the client more efficiently, more specifically, there is a need to provide an efficient result set from a server to a client when responding to a query from the client.

International Business Machines Corporation


A printed circuit board assembly for coupling a plurality of surge protectors to multi-line communication cables includes a multi-layer printed circuit board, to which has been mounted at least two cable connectors, having multiple female sockets for receiving standard surge protector modules. The multi-layer printed circuit board includes traces on multiple layers in a manner that a unique signal path exists between each lead in each connector and a predetermined one of the plurality of sockets for receiving surge protector modules. The traces having a width and a copper content sufficient to carry large current surges from induced power signals, by way of example, from a lightning strike, without breaking down.

Surge protectors protect voltage sensitive equipment connected to electrical, communications, and signaling lines by discharging high voltage signals or current surges to ground before the high voltage signal can damage the equipment. Communication systems employ large numbers of surge protectors to connect voltage sensitive switching equipment and other equipment to outside cables. Communication lines, which normally carry relatively low voltage message signals, are subject to high current surges caused by lightning and other phenomena associated with the location of the communications lines.
Often, communication lines are bundled for logistic reasons including simplifying line routing. A communication bundle can include over 100 lines. Because of the large number of lines, connecting surge protectors to each of the lines is a labor-intensive task. One conventional device for connecting the communication lines to the surge protectors is a device known as a protector block.
A protector block provides a rigid structural platform for supporting a plurality of surge protector modules for coupling them to multi-line communications cables. Generally, protector blocks come in various sizes, including ones that handle ten, twenty-five, fifty, and one hundred surge protectors for coupling to an equal number of communication line pairs. The design of communication line and protector assemblies is currently limited to the availability of a specific protector block configuration. The protector blocks are rather expensive to produce, making the flexibility of their design rather limited.
A protector block assembly is fabricated as a single slab of plastic insulating material. On one side is a plurality of wire-wrap pins, one for each wire. On the opposite side, there is, for each wire-wrap pin, a female socket electrically connected to the wire wrap pins. The pins and the sockets are typically arranged in groups of five or six, with the pins in each group having a specified configuration depending on the type of surge protector module being used. The pins of the surge protector module, regardless of whether it has a five or six pin configuration, are inserted into the appropriate socket to establish a compression fit electrical connection with the socket and the wire-wrap pin.
There are two conventional methods for connecting communication lines to the protector block: wire wrapping each communication wire that is located within the communication line to the pin on the protector block or terminating multiple wires to a connector and connecting to a mating connector on a connectorized printed circuit board that is flow soldered to the protector block using a conventional flow soldering method known in the art.
After the communication cables are wire wrapped to the protector block, the communication cables are anchored to a metallic or plastic hood that extends over the pins of the protector block. The free end of each cable is usually equipped with a connector so that the entire assembly may be easily connected into a communications system.
In certain applications, there is a need to create a cross-connect between two or more lines of a communication cable. The cross connect allows incoming communication lines to be connected to multiple equipment lines for testing or rerouting communication signals. A conventional device for cross-connecting cables is known as a cross-connect block that is placed in series with the line and/or equipment pins on the protector block. The connections are made by wire-wrapping conductors to the pins of each block. The front side of the cross-connect block is a field of pins or connectors, where communication lines can be connected and disconnected with ease. Typical configurations include the following: wire wrap pins; insulation displacement connectors; and screw down terminals. Again, significant effort is spent wire-wrapping pins to integrate the cross connect block. It is noteworthy that the effort for connecting communication lines to a cross connect is in addition to connecting the communication lines to one protector block.
Alternatively, communication cables may be cross connected by way of a connectorized printed circuit board that is flow soldered to a cross connect block. This solution, however, as well as the use of a cross connect block wire wrap pins limits production rates and generally increases the cost of assembly. In addition, this assembly requires a significant amount of space in the equipment rack or cabinet. There is a need, therefore, for allowing the required connections to be made in a more efficient manner.

Printed circuit board for connecting of multi-wire cabling to surge protectors


An individual sheet overlapping mechanism includes holding cylinders having paper edge holding mechanisms capable of holding a front edge portion in a conveying direction of a first individual sheet and that are provided rotatably along the conveying direction of the first individual sheet. The holding cylinders are configured to wrap the first individual sheet that has reached the holding cylinders around the holding cylinders by the paper edge holding mechanisms, release the first individual sheet at a timing when a second individual sheet has reached the holding cylinders, and stack the first individual sheet on the second individual sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an individual sheet overlapping mechanism for overlapping two or more individual sheets having different cutoffs (cutting lengths), a folding device, and a printing apparatus, and to an individual sheet overlapping method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an ink jet printing type newspaper production device has been proposed as a device for producing a newspaper form signature (see JP 2011-157168A). The newspaper production device disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a paper feed unit that supplies a continuous paper, an ink jet printing unit capable of printing on both sides of the continuous paper, and a folding unit that cuts and folds the post-printing continuous paper. This folding unit is a rotary folding unit comprising a folding cylinder that includes a holding mechanism that holds paper on an outer peripheral surface of the folding cylinder and a folding blade mechanism that thrusts the held paper in an outwardly radial direction. Moreover, this folding unit is configured capable of executing a so-called collect run in which paper held by the holding mechanism is folded every plurality of rotations of the folding cylinder to produce the signature.
In an ink jet printing type newspaper production device as in the newspaper production device of Patent Document 1, contrary to in a conventional offset press, there is no need for a plate, hence there is no limit to the number of pages of different contents capable of being printed in a direction of continuity of one continuous paper. Therefore, due to the ink jet printing type newspaper production device, it is possible to print pages of required content in a predetermined order on the continuous paper, cut the printed continuous paper to form individual sheets, and overlap and fold these individual sheets, thereby producing a signature configured from a plurality of individual sheets having pages of different content printed thereon. In this way, the ink jet printing type newspaper production device can produce a signature of any number of pages provided there is one printing unit capable of printing on both sides of the continuous paper. Hence, the ink jet printing type newspaper production device has the advantage of being able to produce a newspaper at low cost and in a space-saving manner, without the need to increase the number of printing units corresponding to the number of pages as in a conventional offset press.

Individual sheet overlapping mechanism, folding device, and printing apparatus, and individual sheet overlapping method


A testing system for causing a physical change in a crack tip region of a crack within a specimen. The testing system includes a load application system for applying a load to the specimen having the crack formed therein, an electrothermal system for applying an electrical current through the specimen and comprising a power supply and a controller operably coupled to the load application system and the electrothermal system. The load application system configured to perform a crack growth test on the specimen. A method of thermally influencing a crack tip region of a crack within a specimen includes applying at least one pulse of current to the specimen to generate flux tangentially around the crack within the specimen and at the crack tip region and causing the crack tip region of the crack within the specimen to reach a predetermined activation temperature.

Thermal heating of a crack tip of a crack within a specimen utilizing electrical current has been studied by J. Griffin and S Cunningham (The Influence of Electric Current on Crack Propagation in Thermal Fatigue Tests, USAF Report AFOSR-TR-86-0886, 1986) in the context of thermal mechanical fatigue testing, where the specimen is heated using induction heating. In the foregoing study, testing was performed to determine whether induced current, interacting with cracks forming in the specimen, influenced a crack growth rate of the crack and whether the induced current introduced undesirable artifact into the test data. Others have similarly studied mathematics of potential flow of electrical current around a crack tip of a crack to quantify a potential drop (i.e., an amount of potential energy per unit charge) in the specimen as electrical current flows around a crack tip. A change in potential drop associated with the growth of the crack is conventionally measured and used to estimate the crack length and a propagation rate of the crack. The potential drop method is described in conventional test standards such as, for example, ASTM E647.
As is known in the art, electrical current flow around a crack tip of a crack within a specimen, applied simultaneously with an externally applied magnetic field oriented substantially parallel to a crack front of the crack, can create Lorentz forces (i.e., body forces local to the crack tip of the crack that can act to open the crack) depending on the orientation of the electrical current flow and the externally applied magnetic field. The foregoing process has been proposed in the art to grow a crack, and thus, cut a sheet of conductive material with an action conventionally described as an electromagnetic jigsaw. See Kumar et al., Electromagnetic Jigsaw: Metal-Cutting by Combining Electromagnetic and Mechanical Forces, Procedia CIRP, Vol. 6, 2013, pp. 600-604). As is known in the art, a mechanical force is combined with Lorentz forces, which enables an operator to direct a crack propagation along a predetermined path.

System for thermally influencing a crack tip of crack within a specimen and related methods


A preferred storm water management technology servicing system includes: (a) a waste water collection and storage subsystem for removing waste water from the storm water management technology; (b) a sediment collection and storage subsystem for removing sediment from the storm water management technology; and (c) a waste water regeneration subsystem for at least partially regenerating the waste water from the waste water collection and storage subsystem to create regenerated water. The storm water management technology servicing system may be used for a method for servicing storm water management technology.

Described herein are systems and methods for servicing storm water management technology and, more specifically, two-phase extraction and waste water regeneration systems and methods for servicing storm water management technologies. Further, the systems and methods described herein may include returning regenerated waste water to the point source.
As described herein, the phrase "storm water management technology" can be defined as technologies and structures used to catch water runoff. Much of this water comes from rain. As water flows towards the storm water management technology, additional "pollutants" are picked up and carried along with the water towards the storm water management technology. The pollutants may be liquids (e.g. oil and chemicals) and/or solids (e.g. soil, sand, gravel, and/or other debris). The combination of the rain (storm water) and the liquid pollutants is generally referred to as "waste water." The combination of the rain (storm water) and the solid pollutants is generally referred to as "sediment." Common storm water management technology, incorporates "gravity separation" of the waste water from the sediment. Exemplary storm water management technology includes, but is not limited to, storm drains, catch basins, water vaults, storm filter vaults, oil/water vaults, detention ponds, drywells, underground injection control (UIC), harvest tanks, and sediment manholes for holding waste water and solid waste mixed with the waste water. FIG. 1 shows the exemplary storm water management technology (point source 100) in which the storm water and debris is divided into a top liquid portion (waste water 102) and a bottom solid portion (sediment 104).
In 1972, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) amended the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (the Clean Water Act or CWA) to provide statutory basis for their permit program, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), and the basic structure for regulating the discharge of pollutants from point sources to waters of the United States (receiving waters). EPA regulations and/or other state regulations may, therefore, require that non-hazardous waste water treatment be performed on waste water and sediment associated with storm water management technology near commercial facilities and the parking lots of commercial facilities. Typical maintenance methods of storm water management technology require regular cleaning and service.
One of the most common maintenance methods is the cleaning and commercial service provided by Vactor trucks. Vactor trucks simply vacuum or collect the combined waste water and sediment at the source of collection (also referred to as the point source or the storm water management technology).
Waste water treatment systems are designed using "standard principles of waste water treatment" to achieve a specific water quality. These principles consist of a wide variety of treatment technologies to achieve a specific water quality. Standard systems are fabricated and offered as static (stationary) units and/or as mobile (temporary) treatment systems. The parameters for water quality are determined by the intended use and are set forth by EPA regulations and parameters. Water quality standards are categorized based on treatment for human consumption, industrial use, or use in the environment.
The following references describe systems that may be used for comparison and contrast with the systems and methods described herein.                U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,893 to Shaddock is directed to an industrial loader vehicle that handles both wet and dry waste materials. The vehicle has a single engine driving the vehicle to a pick-up site, powering all of the components to load the vehicle at the site, driving the vehicle to an unloading site, and dumping the waste materials as desired at the unloading site.        U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,539 to Sheppard et al. is directed to an apparatus for cleaning waste collection systems of solid materials using normal and injected water flow to suspend the solids in a slurry. A submersible pump moves the slurry from a collection point up to a pressurized container where the water content of the slurry is decanted and reused as injection water while the particulate material settles to the bottom of the pressurized container. When the container is filled with solid material it may be removed for emptying at a waste dump.        U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,630 to Bohrer is directed to a vehicle mounted high pressure water cleaning apparatus (pressure washer) includes a water delivery system, hydraulic system, and an electrical system working together to provide, alternatively, high pressure water for a cleaning operation, or recirculation of high pressure water back to a water tank. The hydraulic system is operable to either direct water toward a cleaning operation, or to wind in or extend out the water delivery hose while either supplying water to the delivery hose under pressure or recirculating the water back to the water tank.        U.S. Pat. No. 7,909,910 to Benner is directed to a vacuum clean-out system including a separator chamber and an associated collection chamber for removing liquid material and debris from a vacuum output and providing a vacuum return line free of contaminants. A vacuum exhaust line is coupled to a cyclonic separator chamber that induces a circular rotation within the incoming vacuum stream, causing the liquid and debris to impinge the chamber's surfaces and fall to the bottom thereof while the "clean" vacuum is drawn upwards into a return line.        U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0147293 to Imahashi is directed to a waste water treatment ship that purifies and treats oil bearing waste water collected from a ship or the sea.

Two-phase extraction and waste water regeneration systems and methods for servicing storm water management technologies


A content addressable memory (CAM) device, method, and method of generating entries for range matching are disclosed. A CAM device (800) according to one embodiment can include a pre-encoder (806) that encodes range bit values W into additional bits E. Additional bits E can indicate compression of range rules according to particular bit pairs. A CAM array (802) can include entries that store compressed range code values (RANGE) with corresponding additional bit values (ENC). Alternate embodiments can include pre-encoders that encode portions of range values (K1 to Ki) in a “one-hot” fashion. Corresponding CAM entries can include encoded value having sections that each represent increasingly finer divisions of a range space.

The relatively rapid speed at which content addressable memories (CAMs) can compare multiple entries to an applied search key value, has resulted in CAMs enjoying widespread use in higher speed applications, such as network packet processing.
Conventional CAMs may include binary CAMs and ternary CAMs. Binary CAMs typically include entries that can each store a data value having a number of data bits. In most cases, a match indication can be generated when all bits of a search key match all the bits of an entry. Thus, in a typical binary CAM, bits of an entry may have a value of 0 or 1. A corresponding search key (i.e., comparand) value is said to match its corresponding entry when it is exactly the same.
CAMs may also include ternary CAMs. Ternary CAMs may typically include entries having data bits that can be masked from a compare operation. Thus, in a typical ternary CAM, bits of an entry can be conceptualized as having a value of 0, 1 or "X". A corresponding search key bit value is said to match its corresponding entry bit when it is either the same, or when the entry bit has the X ("don't care" or masked) value.
Recently, various packet processing operations have given rise to the need for range matching operations. In a range matching operation, a portion (or all) of a search key value can be examined to determine if it falls within a range, as opposed to simply matching an entry value. One particular application that can employ range matching can be access control lists (ACL). An ACL may present a set of rules that can limit access (e.g., forwarding of packets) to only those packets having fields failing within a particular range.
Conventionally, CAMs have been utilized to express rules to provide range rule matching functions. A first conventional range rule matching arrangement is represented in FIGS. 20A, 20B and 21. FIGS. 20A and 20B illustrate how a range can be encoded according to common prefix values.
FIG. 20A shows how three ranges R<2, 2≦R≦3 and R>3 are encoded into four entries over a space of 0-15 (0000-1111 binary). As shown, those values lower than the range 2-3 can be encoded by utilizing an entry value of 000X, which has a common prefix of "000". The range itself, encodes into an entry value of 001×, which has a common prefix of "000". The range 2≦R≦3 encodes into one entry "001X". Finally, those values in the last range R>3 encode into two entries, one having a common prefix of "01" the other having a common prefix of "1".
In this way, a range can be "enumerated" by prefixes values that contain the range, or portions of the range.
One skilled in the art would recognize that such worst case result for a conventional prefix enumeration approach can be generalized as follows. For a range space defined by a W bits, the worst case number of rules (i.e., entries) to define a range ends up being 2W−2.
A drawback to the conventional arrangement is represented by FIG. 20B. The conventional approach of enumerating prefix can provide relatively compact results (a small number of entries) only when a range falls on convenient boundaries. As shown by FIG. 20B, a range of 7-10 in a space 0-15 encodes into 3 entries. Such a result represents a worst case result, as there is a prefix greater than one on each side of the range.
FIG. 21 shows a CAM device that may incorporate the range matching arrangement of FIGS. 20A and 20B. As shown by FIG. 21, a CAM device 2100 can be a conventional ternary CAM device that applies a search key value that includes W bits to ternary CAM entries 2102-1 to 2102-n. Each CAM entry (2102-1 to 2102-n) can include a corresponding W bits for storing a range rule. It is understood that all bits of a search key value can carry range bit values, or only a portion thereof (e.g., the search key has one or more groups of bits for comparison to one or more ranges).
While a conventional approach like that of FIGS. 20A, 20B and 21 may result in an undesirably large number of entries when encoding certain range values, the approach does have a number of advantages. First, little (or no) additional hardware may be needed accommodate range matching. Second, updating the CAM device can be accomplished relatively quickly. If new range information is needed, provided empty entries are available, new values are written into the CAM (assuming no additional priority for such entries is required).
A second conventional range rule matching arrangement is represented in FIGS. 22A and 22B and 23. FIGS. 22A and 22B illustrate how a range portion of a rule can be uniquely encoded utilizing range preclassification. In a conventional range preclassification approach, entire ranges are encoded into unique values.
FIGS. 22A and 22B show how preclassification can encode the same range values as those shown in FIGS. 20A and 20B. As shown by FIGS. 22A and 22B, preclassification can encode any range into one value ENC regardless of where the range falls along bit boundaries.
In this way, a range rule can be mapped to a unique entry value. One skilled in the art would recognize that conventional preclassification can greatly reduce the number of rules (essentially one entry per range rule).
However, conventional preclassification approaches can have drawbacks. First, preclassification can require knowledge of an entire range mapping database, in order to ensure unique values are provided for each range. That is, before any new range is added, an entire existing database is checked to ensure that the encoded value will be unique to the range.
FIG. 23 shows a CAM device that may incorporate the range rule matching arrangement of FIGS. 22A and 22B. As shown by FIG. 23, a CAM device 2300 can be a conventional ternary or binary CAM device that applies a search key value of W bits to CAM entries 2302-1 to 2302-n, each of which includes a corresponding W bits for storing a range rule.
In the event preclassification is performed "on-board" the device, the CAM device 2300 will have to include preclassification hardware 2304. This may undesirably increase the size and complexity of the device. If preclassification is performed outside of the CAM device 2300, a processor or the like, along with accompanying routines would be necessary to preprocess range values prior to application to the CAM device 2300.
Referring now to FIG. 24, one example of a range rule search key is shown to illustrate how a search key can require both standard bit matching (ternary matching) as well as range matching. The search key of FIG. 24 includes five search fields (FIELD1 to FIELD5). Search fields FIELD1, FIELD3 and FIELD4 are ternary match fields. Thus, these fields can be compared on a bit wise basis to arrive at a match result. However, search fields FIELD2 and FIELD5 are range match fields. Thus, such fields are examined to determine if they fall within a given range in order to arrive at a match result.
The above example shows how range rule matching can require numerous entries when expressed within a CAM device.
In light of the above, it would be desirable to arrive at some way of providing range rule matching capabilities that can result in a smaller number of rules than conventional prefix enumeration approaches.
At the same time, it would also be desirable to arrive at some way of providing range rule matching capabilities that provides faster and/or easier updating of rules than conventional preclassification approaches.

Range code compression method and apparatus for ternary content addressable memory (CAM) devices


Embodiments of the present invention may provide a method of sparing and removing pinned or interleaved memory. When a memory device failure is predicted in a device containing pinned memory, a request may be made for the de-allocation of a freeable memory range 304. When the request for de-allocating the freeable range of memory is accepted 306, the memory data from the failing memory device may be copied to one or more de-allocated memory devices 308. Requests directed to the failing memory device may be re-routed to the replacement memory device(s) 310 and the memory without the deactivated memory device 312 may be re-interleaved.

A primary concern of server computer memory performance is the throughput of the memory devices employed because oftentimes the large number of instructions received from networked terminals must be processed virtually simultaneously. The throughput of a memory device or "bank" is limited by the time necessary for a processor to access the data stored in the device. The average time necessary to access information from a memory device is determined by the physical limitations of the storage medium, operating system, processor speed and other factors. This time is known as the memory device cycle time. Multiple accesses are typically in progress to different memory devices at the same time. However, after a cycle has begun for a particular memory device, other functions, such as responding to an access request or retrieving requested data, may be blocked until the cycle is completed.
Typically, server computer memories are "interleaved" to prevent delays from multiple accesses to a particular memory device. Interleaving can be defined as choosing to select memory devices with address bits such that typical address streams are spread across multiple memory devices rather than a single one. An interleaved memory with n memory devices is said to be "n-way interleaved." Each of the contiguous memory devices is mapped to a virtual address that may be interpreted by an operating system, address decoder or other system specific software.
Incoming memory instructions tend to be "local" in that they oftentimes call for accessing contiguous addresses in a memory array. For example, a first request may be for memory location N, a second at location N+1, a third at N+2, and so on, wherein N, N+1 and N+2 may be mapped to consecutive virtual address locations. For desktop computer memory controllers, it is typically acceptable to map N, N+1, N+2, etc. to consecutive locations on the same memory device as there may only be one or two request streams at a time. However, it is impractical to map consecutive memory locations to the same memory device in a server computer because the volume of requests being received from multiple terminals would likely result in access delays. Instead, interleaving provides for increasing the bandwidth capability of a server computer memory by allocating contiguous memory requests among multiple memory devices. As such, consecutive requests may be addressed to noncontiguous physical memory locations. Therefore, when one memory device receives a request and is opened to process the request, another memory device may receive the next request so that the first and second requests may be processed without undue delay. With enough memory devices, by the time each memory device receives an instruction, the first device should have completed its cycle time and should therefore be ready to process a new instruction.
Various advanced interleaving strategies exist for server computer applications. For example, an interleaved memory may be partitioned into separate regions so that, in the case of a memory device failure, damage may be isolated to a particular region rather than jeopardizing the operation of the entire memory. Typically, a first region may contain "pinned memory" addresses for fixed, "non-freeable" data, such as an operating system structure that must remain resident in main memory for a program to perform adequately. A second region may contain "freeable" memory addresses for data that can be written to an external location, such as to a disk.
As with all physical components, memory devices occasionally fail. There are many methods for predicting a memory device failure. For example, a memory device failure may be predicted by evidence of overheating or an abnormally high error rate. When a memory device is determined to be failing, software may request the removal of the failing memory device from the system memory map. When the memory device is removed from the memory map, the data from the failing memory device is copied to one or more replacement memory devices in a technique called "memory sparing." After the memory data is copied to one or more operational memory devices, the address of the failing memory device is remapped to the new memory device(s) containing the data. Memory sparing can be performed without interrupting the normal operation of the memory devices, but typically requires additional unused (or "spare") memory devices to be available for when a memory device failure is detected.
While it is possible to predict the failure of and spare a failing memory device generally, there are unique problems associated with sparing a device containing memory which may not be de-allocated, or "pinned memory". First, as explained above, interleaved memory address locations are not contiguous. For example, address location N may be physically allocated to a memory device A, N+1 to a memory device B, N+2 to a memory device C, and so on. Therefore, each memory device may contain data that is essential to the operation of the interleaved memory as a whole. A failure of a given memory device can take out very large portions of, or possibly an entire memory address range. In another example, a particular physical memory device in an interleaved memory may contain every jth cache memory line, wherein j may be the number of memory devices in the interleaved memory. Therefore, if a particular memory device fails, the data it contains cannot be removed for a period of time and then replaced later on because the data contained in the remaining memory devices would be incomplete.
Interleaving multiples the range taken out by a single device failure to the point that it is very likely that a given device failure will impact pinned memory. Despite advances in failure prediction, memory removal/addition and sparing, there is currently no reliable method available for replacing a memory device which contains pinned memory. As such, without some method of dealing with pinned memory, techniques for sparing memory devices, especially techniques for sparing interleaved memory devices, have little value.

Method of sparing memory devices containing pinned memory


Techniques are described for selecting and displaying specific content elements from within content of a media asset, such that the content elements may be displayed within a reserved portion of a user display, thereby providing a visual summary of the media asset content. The content elements may be provided along with a graphical representation of the content elements indicating, for example, their importance within the media asset relative to one another and/or to a user preference. In this way, the user may quickly and easily assess his or her level of interest in the media asset.

Information is electronically presented to users of that information in a variety of ways. For example, a user may wish to view a document stored in an electronic format, such as a word processing document, a Portable Document Format (".pdf") document file, a Hypertext Markup Language ("HTML") document, or an Extensible Markup Language ("XML") document. Such documents may be electronically transferred between users, via, for example, electronic mail ("email") or the World Wide Web ("WWW"), or by some other type of computer network resources.
As another example, users often receive audio-visual information, in addition to (or as an alternative to) textual information. Such audio-visual information may be presented via a television or other display device, and may be formatted using an audio-visual format, such as the Moving Pictures Expert Group ("MPEG") format.
Often when a user is presented with such information, in the above or other formats, it is the case that the user is unsure of whether he or she should devote time to understanding the information in its entirety. For example, a user may receive a lengthy email, or access a large document as part of a web page. In other cases, even if the user definitely wishes to read the information in its entirety, time constraints may not allow a full reading.


A method of separating and processing a catalyst carrier that is contained in a processing object that includes a catalyst carrier metal cover to which an exhaust gas pipe is still connected, magnetic carrier foil or a ceramic carrier, a surface-enlarging coating film provided on the magnetic carrier foil or the ceramic carrier, and the catalyst carrier containing precious metal. This method includes the steps of: crushing the catalyst carrier and the metal cover to which the exhaust gas pipe is still connected, using a first crusher of a shearing type; breaking the catalyst carrier containing precious metal from the metal cover, using an impact-type pulverizer; and separating the catalyst carrier containing precious metals from the exhaust gas pipe and the metal cover, using a separator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of processing a waste catalyst of an internal-combustion engine that has a metal cover connected to exhaust gas pipes, a catalyst carrier, and a γ-alumina coating film containing precious metals supported on the catalyst carrier. By this method, a precious metal concentrate can be separated from the other components, the components of the waste catalyst can be reused, and precious metal collecting can be performed through a copper smelting procedure and a precious metal collecting procedure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, to purify exhaust gas, especially exhaust gas of the internal-combustion engine of an automobile, a metallic or ceramic catalyst carrier is used, as shown in FIGS. 1A through 3. A metal cover 10 attached to exhaust gas pipes 9 and 12 shown in FIG. 3 has a metallic or ceramic catalyst carrier provided therein. As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the metallic or ceramic catalyst carrier is coated with a γ-alumina coating film 6 that is impregnated with precious metals 7 to serve as catalysts, such as platinum, palladium, or rhodium.
A metallic catalyst carrier can overcome the problems of poor starting characteristics at a cool temperature (or an ordinary temperature) and poor shock resistance that are often seen with a ceramic catalyst carrier. Therefore, more and more metallic catalyst carriers are being used in recent years.
The waste catalysts of an internal-combustion engine are accompanied by connection engaging pipes and the metal cover 10 having at least a pair of an input engaging pipe and an outlet engaging pipe, as shown in FIG. 3. The metal cover 10 covers a layer-type catalyst carrier 5 or a honeycomb-type catalyst carrier 8, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. Also, the precious metals 7 as catalyst materials and the thin γ-alumina coating film 6 are provided on the surface of the catalyst carrier, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B.
The metal covers 10 and 2 and the exhaust gas pipes 9 and 12 shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B and FIGS. 3A and 3B are normally made of high-grade steel or nonmagnetic ferroalloy.
The metallic catalyst carrier 1 shown in FIG. 1A is made of a very thin ferromagnetic Fe—Cr—Al alloy. Carrier foil 3 that forms each layer is molded in a smooth form and a wave form alternately. Each peak of the waves is brought into contact with the foil of the adjacent layer, and can be joined to the foil by spot welding. The surface of the γ-alumina coating film 6 on the metallic catalyst carrier 1 is impregnated with the precious metals 7.
The ceramic catalyst carrier 4 shown in FIG. 1B is made of cordierite (2MgO—2Al2O3—5SiO2), and takes the honeycomb form 8, as shown in FIG. 2B. In the ceramic catalyst carrier 4, the surface of the γ-alumina coating film 6 is also impregnated with the precious metals 7.
The foil 3 of the metallic catalyst carrier 1 is as thin as 20 μm to 30 μm, and has a small heat capacity. Accordingly, the metallic catalyst carrier can be quickly heated by exhaust gas of the internal-combustion engine, and a catalytic effect starts appearing only a short time after the internal-combustion engine is activated. Being not greatly affected by mechanical or thermal impact, the metallic catalyst carrier 1 can be provided in a closer position to the engine than the catalysts in a ceramic catalyst carrier in the exhaust pipe. Accordingly, the heating can be quickly carried out.
However, it is extremely difficult to separate the γ-alumina coating film and the precious metals from the foil of a metallic catalyst carrier. As a result, most metallic catalyst carriers are scrapped, and the precious metals are not recovered.
Among catalyst carriers, ceramic catalyst carriers are mechanically separated from automobiles that are being scrapped, and catalytic materials such as platinum, palladium, and rhodium, are recovered.
The materials to be separated are the catalysts used in internal-combustion engines to be scrapped. The recovering of waste catalysts from an internal-combustion engine is not necessarily performed with a desired precision. As a result, mechanically damaged catalysts or catalysts still connected to a damaged connecting engaging pipe or exhaust gas pipes are often delivered as goods.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-248322, titled "Method of Recovering Platinum Group Element from Metal Substrate Catalyst", discloses a method of processing a metallic catalyst carrier, with a metal cover remaining the metallic catalyst carrier. In this prior art, a catalyst that is impregnated with precious metals is heated together with a metal cover in an electric furnace, so that the precious metal is absorbed by copper, and that the copper is oxidized to concentrate and recover the precious metals. The metal cover and the magnetic carrier foil, such as Fe—Cr—Al alloy foil, are oxidized and then discharged as slag.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2645789, titled "Method of and Apparatus for Recycling Catalytic Converters", also discloses a method of separating a metallic catalyst carrier. In this method, an impact-type crusher is combined with a pneumatic separation system. Each metallic catalyst carrier is disassembled to various pieces that can be recycled as usable components at the stage of delivery. The components used for recovering precious metals contain catalytic precious metals at a high concentration. Accordingly, this method of separating a metallic catalyst carrier involves neither chemicals nor toxic substances.
In the prior art disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-248322, however, the γ-alumina containing the precious metals supported on a metallic catalyst carrier is not removed from the Fe—Cr—Al alloy foil, and the metal cover is not removed either. It is therefore necessary to oxidize and dissolve the Fe—Cr—Al alloy foil and the metal cover. As a result, a large quantity of slag is generated, and, compared with a case of processing a ceramic catalyst carrier, higher process costs are required.
In the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2645789, the impact-type crushing is performed in one step. In this manner, a metal cover that is not easily crushed and a metallic catalyst carrier that can be easily crushed are subjected to crushing at the same time, resulting in a poor crushing efficiency. Furthermore, with a fixed discharging screen of an impact type, the fragments of the metal cover that is made of high-grade steel or nonmagnetic ferroalloy containing nickel are deformed into round shapes. As a result, it becomes difficult to prevent contamination of the metallic catalyst carrier containing precious metals.

Method of separating and processing catalyst carriers


A front mounting plate with integral locking tab for mounting an electrical switch to a support and for locking an operating handle of the electrical switch in a selected position. The front mounting plate includes a body having a cutout portion through which the operating handle of the electrical switch extends. The locking tab extends generally upwardly from the body and is positioned adjacent the cut-out portion and the operating handle so that a conventional padlock may be inserted through a lock receiving aperture of the locking tab to resist movement of the operating handle. The body of the front mounting plate includes first and second side projections and first and second end projections extending generally downwardly therefrom and overlays a raised escutcheon formed on a front surface of the electrical switch. The front mounting plate also includes first and second end flanges extending generally outwardly from the respective first and second end projections so as to provide a means for mounting the front mounting plate to a support. A fixed tab and a deformable tab extend generally inwardly from the first and second end flanges, respectively, so as to provide a means for attaching the front mounting plate to the electrical switch.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a front mounting plate for mounting an electrical switch to a support, and more particularly, to a front mounting plate having an integral locking tab for locking an operating handle of the electrical switch in a selected position.
2. Background Information
Generally, an electrical switch for use with various devices, such as a circuit breaker, electrical contactors, or motor controllers, has an extended operating handle moveable between an "on" and an "off" position for the electrical switch.
It is known to mount an electrical switch on a support, such as an electrical panel, using a front mounting plate which is attached to the front of the electrical switch and then mounted to the support. An example of a known front mounting plate arrangement for mounting an electrical switch is shown in FIGS. 1 and 1A of the accompanying drawings. The front mounting plate 10 is shown as being attached to a front surface 11 of an electrical switch, which in this instance is a circuit breaker 12. As shown, an edge portion 14 of the front mounting plate 10 extends beyond the front surface 11 of the circuit breaker 12 and the same is true for the other edge portion 15. Of course, this makes the front mounting plate 10 wider than the front surface 11 of the circuit breaker 12. This creates a problem when attempting to stack a plurality of circuit breakers side-by-side, which is commonly done in known electrical panel arrangements. The edge portions 14, 15 of the front mounting plate 10, which extend beyond the front surface 11 of the circuit breaker 12, prevents additional circuit breakers from being stacked side-by-side with circuit breaker 12.
It is also known to provide electrical switches with a locking device so that once the operating handle is moved to the selected position, it is prevented for safety purposes from being moved again. Examples of such locking devices are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,214,530, 3,291,924 and 4,260,861. These patents show locking devices for resisting movement of the operating handle wherein the locking devices are mounted to the electrical switches adjacent the operating handles. A conventional padlock is utilized in association with the locking devices so as to lock the operating handle in the selected operating position. However, the locking devices disclosed in these patents do not provide, nor do any other locking devices that we are aware of, a locking device that may be adapted for use with an electrical switch that is mounted using a front mounting plate, such as described above. One reason no such locking device is known is that the locking device and the front mounting plate would both occupy the same area adjacent the operating handle of the electrical switch.
There is a need, therefore, for an improved front mounting plate for mounting an electrical switch to a support which overcomes the above-described limitations and disadvantages of the prior art.
There is also a need for a front mounting plate for mounting an electrical switch to a support which allows for a plurality of electrical switches to be mounted in a side-by-side, stackable arrangement.
There is a further need for a front mounting plate for mounting an electrical switch to a support which includes an integral locking tab for locking an operating handle of the electrical switch in a selected position.
There is yet a further need for a front mounting plate for mounting an electrical switch to a support having an integral locking tab which is configured to be used with known electrical switch designs.

Front mounting plate with integral locking tab


An electronic flash includes a primary emission unit for emitting flash light for illuminating an object, an auxiliary emission unit for emitting light having a different color temperature from the flash light; and a controller for controlling emission of the auxiliary emission unit to adjust the color temperature of illumination light to the object. This electronic flash makes it possible to change the color temperature of illumination light to an object quickly and easily.

This invention relates to an electronic flash capable of changing the color temperature of flash light for illuminating an object and a camera provided with such electronic flash.
As an electronic flash externally connectable with a camera, an electronic flash using a xenon discharge tube is generally widely used. A color panel set is known as an accessory of this electronic flash. This color panel set includes four color panels, e.g., red, blue, green and yellow, and a filter panel for converting the color temperature. By suitably combining these panels and mounting them on a light emitter of the flash, special color effects in color photographing can be obtained and the color temperature of the flash can be corrected according to the type of the film.
With the conventional color panel set, a photographer has to suitably combine a color panel and a color temperature conversion filter panel and manually mounting them on the light emitter of the flash. Accordingly, it is difficult to easily change the color temperature of the flash light. Since the colors and the color mixing ratio of color panels are constant, the color temperature of the flash light cannot be continuously adjusted. A certain degree of experience is required to obtain a flash light of a desired color. Thus, according to the known method for changing the flash light by color panels, it is very difficult to quickly change the color temperature of the flash light into a desired one by a simple operation.

Electronic flash and a camera provided with the same


A lens that spreads light from a point light source includes a light entry side having a first Fresnel structure, a light exit side having a second Fresnel structure different from the first Fresnel structure, a section plane located entirely between the first and second Fresnel structures so that the lens is flat, and a central axis as an optical axis perpendicular to the section plane, wherein a height of Fresnel rings of the first Fresnel structure, referred to the section plane, increases in the direction away from the central axis, the Fresnel rings of the first Fresnel structure each have an entry surface facing towards the central axis and a deflecting surface facing away from the central axis, and Fresnel rings of the second Fresnel structure each have a mirror surface facing towards the central axis and an exit surface facing away from the central axis.

A Fresnel lens for a projector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,129 A. US 2005/0024746 A1 discloses a Fresnel lens in a luminaire having an LED as the light source. There is nonetheless a need to provide a lens by which a large angular range can be efficiently illuminated, the lens simultaneously having a low overall height.