A transport protocol that meets the requirements and performance for multimedia data transfer in a wireless link includes a transmitting/sending station and a receiving station. The inventive protocol is referred to as the Burst-oriented Transport with Time-bounded Retransmission (BTTR). This scheme uses a large transmission window for sending/receiving a burst of time-sensitive data and, within this window, several smaller observation windows are used for dynamic error retransmission. There is a time limitation on each retransmission such that the burst of data can be received in a timely manner, and thus trading some packet losses (still in an acceptable range) for delay and throughput performance. Specifically, the wireless network includes a wireless station for transmitting data over a wireless link. The sending station transmits a plurality of sequential data packets to the receiving station, wherein each plurality of sequential data packets form a respective Group-of-Packet (GOP). The receiving station detects whether any of the received data packets in each current GOP are corrupted before receipt of all data packets in the current GOP. The receiving station then transmits a negative acknowledgement (ACK) packet to the sending station before the receipt of all data packets in the current GOP, if at least one data packet in the current GOP is corrupted. Note that the ACK packet indicates which data packets are corrupted. In addition, the sending station selectively retransmits the data packets based on the indication of the received ACK packet before transmitting the next GOP to the receiving station.

The present invention relates to a network and method of transmitting data packets, and, more particularly, relates to a network and transport protocol method of transmitting data packets over a wireless link for use in real-time multimedia applications.
Wireless communication systems are now looking towards broadband solutions for future multimedia transmission. Wireless extension of broadband communications provides a radio access for the customers to enjoy integrated multimedia services. Technologies supporting such services include local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), wireless ATM, LMDS (Local Multipoint Distribution Service), MMDS (Multipoint Multichannel Distribution Service, or wireless cable), and broadband satellite communications. All of these systems are aimed to transmit data at a transmission speed from several Mega to several hundreds of Mega bits per seconds.
As compared with wired broadband systems, there are additional factors that make the design of the wireless broadband system more difficult. For example, wireless communication systems are less reliable then wired systems due to a higher bit error rate, a comparatively longer propagation delay (especially as the transmission speed getting higher), and a higher packet error rate caused by less reliable links and movement of the mobile stations. It has been shown that the cell loss rate in a wireless ATM system is around 10xe2x88x923 to 10xe2x88x925 with a bit error rate range 10xe2x88x924 to 10xe2x88x926. Further, in a wireless ATM system having a transmission speed of 25 Mbps, it takes about 20 xcexcsec to transmit a cell. This implies that the propagation delay may equal the time it takes to of transmit several cells in a wireless LAN or the time it takes to transmit several tens of cells in a wireless WAN. These factors will affect the throughput of a flow-controlled transport protocol.
Another issue is the asymmetry in wireless communication systems. Many studies have shown that the communication protocol between a wireless station and its wired access point should be asymmetric because of the limited resources on a wireless station (e.g., a lightweight handheld device). They suggest that the complicated part of a transport protocol should be put on the wired access point which may have more power to handle the tasks. However, performance tends to decrease as complicated tasks are removed from the wireless station. Accordingly, it has been recently recommended that the end-to-end transport protocol over wireless access network be divided into two parts in order to have a better performance, i.e., Indirect-TCP, and Mobile-TCP. This approach uses traditional transport protocols such as TCP on the wired part and requires a new design on transport and data link protocol for the wireless part. At the wireless access point (or base station), some protocol will also be necessary.
A further issue regarding the data transfer between two entities over a communication network requires careful flow controls on both sides to prevent the loss of packets due to, e.g., a shortage of buffers, a mismatch of processing rate, etc. Typical schemes can be classified into rate-based and quantum-based approaches. In the rate-based approach, the speed of sending packets is determined by its rate, i.e., by controlling the delay time gap between the sending of two consecutive packets. In the quantum-based scheme, the speed of sending packets is based on the receiver""s available resources, such as buffers. As shown in FIG. 17, the receiver grants a window (W packets) for the transmitter via a control packet. Typically, this control packet is called an ACK packet (acknowledgment packet). However, the performance of this scheme is poor when the network link can process a large number of packets. In this case the network will have to wait for each packet to enter the receiving buffer. Further, control packets will also take a lot of time to arrive at the transmitter. In addition, during the sending of the control packet, other packets are not permitted to be sent. The well-known Internet protocol TCP/IP is currently using this method.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,877 and in the I.E.E.E. article entitled, xe2x80x9cDesign and Implementation of a High Speed Transport Protocolxe2x80x9d, I.E.E.E. Transactions on Communications, Vol. 38, No. 11, November 1990, pp.2010-2023 by A. N. Netravali, et al. a more aggressive approach has been proposed. In this method, the maximum possible number of outstanding packets is estimated, such that the packets may be sent earlier with a hope that the receiver will release new resources as the packets are received. With reference to FIG. 18, the control packet will carry available buffer information and maximum packet sequence number received information, W and LWr, respectively, to the sending site. Let UWl, be the packet sequence number which is about to be sent. Then NOB can be estimated by
UWlxe2x88x92LWr
At the transmitter, the rules for permitting the transmission of a packet would be based on a control window L. When NOB less than L and W-NOB greater than O, then a new packet can be sent. This scheme can improve the throughput of sending large continuous and burst data. However, when the network link, e.g., a wireless link, has a high packet error rate, then it is likely that packets will be dropped. If a packet is dropped, then it needs to be retransmitted. The traffic load brought by retransmission may lower the throughput of sending normal packets. Since the network capacity is large (which exhibits a long propagation delay), the receiver state cannot quickly feed back to the transmitter due to the delay of control packets. Further, the NOB may be overestimated and pause the transmission. Thus, the system will be forced to idle before new control packet arrive. In this case, using a large control window L value and a large receiver buffer may relieve the problems but requires more space and expense.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,130,986, a two-window scheme was proposed to improve the above drawbacks. In this scheme, illustrated in FIG. 19, a receiver status map (RSM) is utilized having L bits, where each bit denotes the receiving status of the recently or soon to be received L packets. A bit 1 (0) represents that the packet is correctly (incorrectly) received and has been (not yet) stored in one of the L packet buffer spaces. Let N (RSM) denote the sum of all 1 bits in RSM. Thus, N (RSM) represents the current uncorrupted packets received but having not been acknowledged yet. Note, only when all packets are reassembled in sequence, can they be put on upper application processes. If there are still some sequence numbers missing, then the packets they should remain in the buffer.
In this scheme, a better estimation of NOB is:
NOBxe2x88x92N (RSM)
By using two windows L1, and L2, and letting L2 be very large and L1 be approximately the network capacity, the performance can be improved.
With respect to the transport protocol, two control windows are used for controlling the volume of transmitted information, e.g., the number of packets. The first window, called the network window, is used to limit the data in the network so that network buffer resources can be sized economically and to prevent excessive packet loss. The second window, called the receiver flow control window, is used to assure that packets are not dropped. However, this only inhibits packet loss due to the shortage of buffers. When the network itself is lossy, the retransmission traffic will become heavy. This is especially true when the network capacity is large. In such a case, the effect will make the throughput worse since the exchange of control packets will take more time. In a more serious case, when the control packet is lost, the system will be forced to idle and can only be resumed by a timer.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,222,061 and 4,439,859 are related to the retransmission protocols where a major concern is the packet receiving sequence. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,712,214, 4,928,096 and 4,975,952 are also related to retransmission protocols but use a different approach. This scheme uses a special data arrangement on the transmission of packets. For example, error correction codes and/or interleaving techniques are used to reduced the overhead of retransmission.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,877, packet retransmission is reduced by frequent and periodic exchanges of absolute state information, in lieu of incremental information. That is, only the error packet will be retransmitted.
In I.E.E.E. article entitled, xe2x80x9cA Retransmission Scheme for Circuit-Mode Data on Wireless Linksxe2x80x9d, I.E.E.E. Journal on Selected Area in Communications, Vol. 12, No.8, October 1994, pp. 1338-1352 by S. Nanda, et al., a scheme called RLP (radio link protocol) is disclosed that prevents the idle period during the loss of the control packets or during loss of the retransmitted packets. The scheme allows the sender to retransmit the unacknowledged packets preemptively when the system is in an idle state. Thus, there are possibly multiple copies of a unique packet that are outstanding in the networks. In a low-speed system with low network capacity, this scheme can efficiently improve the performance since the idle time has been removed and multiple copies of the packets may help the recovery of erroneous or lost packets.
However, in a high speed system with high network capacity, the advantages of this approach will not be significant. In this case, the exchange of control packets is slower and some idle time occurs if small receiving/transmitting buffers are used. This is true since the number of allowable outstanding packets may be large and thus a big number of multiple packet copies will be sent and congest the network.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
Based on the above prior art concerns, a transport protocol that meets the requirements and performance for multimedia data transfer in a wireless link is provided. Such a network configuration would require only small buffers on the both transmitting and receiving sides but permit a large number of outstanding packets unconditionally and independently to transmit to respective buffers. Further, there will not be any significant idle time during the transmission of a pre-granted burst of packets.
The inventive protocol is referred to as the Burst-oriented Transport with Time-bounded Retransmission (BTTR). This scheme uses a large transmission window for sending/receiving a burst of time-sensitive data and, within this window, several smaller observation windows are used for dynamic error retransmission. There is a time limitation on each retransmission such that the burst of data can be received in a timely manner, and thus trading some packet losses (still in an acceptable range) for delay and throughput performance.
Specifically, the wireless network includes a wireless station for transmitting data over a wireless link. The network, and in particular the wireless station includes a sending station and a receiving station. The sending station transmits a plurality of sequential data packets to the receiving station, wherein each plurality of sequential data packets form a respective Group-of-Packet (GOP). The receiving station detects whether any of the received data packets in each current GOP are corrupted before receipt of all data packets in the current GOP. The receiving station then transmits a negative acknowledgement (ACK) packet to the sending station before the receipt of all data packets in the current GOP, if at least one data packet in the current GOP is corrupted. Note that the ACK packet indicates which data packets are corrupted. In addition, the sending station selectively retransmits the data packets based on the indication of the received ACK packet before transmitting the next GOP to the receiving station.

Data transfer method for wire real-time communications

Industrial Technology Research Institute


The method for transmitting and receiving data at a base station in a wireless communication system according to one embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of receiving a performance report from a terminal, determining whether the addition of a serving cell is necessary, when the addition of the serving cell is necessary, transmitting a request for receiving a cell identifying signal to one or more other base stations on the basis of the received performance repoπand transmitting a request for transmitting the cell identifying signal to the terminal. According to the embodiment, in a network in which a small cell and a macro cell are overlapped and operated, the terminal can minimize battery consumption and quickly recognize the small cell.

Mobile communication systems were developed to provide the subscribers with voice communication services on the move. With the rapid advance of technologies, the mobile communication systems have evolved to support high speed data communication services beyond the early voice-oriented services.
Recently, standardization for a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, as one of the next-generation mobile communication systems, is underway in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). LTE is a technology for realizing high-speed packet-based communications with the data rate of up to 100 Mbps, which is higher than the currently available data rate, and its standardization is almost complete.
Recent studies are focused on the LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) for improving data rate with the adaptation of several new techniques to legacy LTE system. One of the representative technologies is Carrier Aggregation. Carrier aggregation is enabling terminal to use multiple downlink and uplink carriers unlike the conventional system using one downlink carrier and one uplink carrier.
Recently, one of the main issues of LTE-A is overlapping a plurality of small cells and one macro cell in the geographically same area. Through this, it is possible to obtain so-called cell splitting gain. In order to improve the throughput using the small cells, it is necessary to aggregate the small cells for the terminal entering the small cell area as quick as possible. In the case of using the current measurement method, the terminal has to continue measurement for the small cells, resulting in significant battery power consumption.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data by using plurality of carriers in mobile communication systems


The present disclosure discloses a backplane for an organic light emitting display device, a method for fabricating the same, and an organic light emitting display apparatus. The backplane includes a substrate on which a wiring structure and a thin film transistor are provided, wherein the wiring structure includes an initializing voltage input line which is provided in the same layer and made of the same material as electrodes of the thin film transistor.

With the development of science and technology and the optimization of integrated circuit technology, organic light emitting diode (OLED) display apparatuses have become leaders in the display field by virtue of their outstanding performance. OLED display technology has been widely used in mobile terminals, tablet computers, notebook computers, car audios, and televisions because of its advantages such as self-light emission, wide viewing angle, high contrast, low power consumption, and high reaction speed.
However, backplanes currently used for organic light emitting display devices, methods for fabricating the same, and organic light emitting display apparatuses still need to be improved.

Backplane for organic light emitting display device and method for fabricating the same, and display apparatus

ORDOS YUANSHENG OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY, CO., LTD.


An approach for allocating resources to an apparatus based on preemptable resource requirements generally involves a resource allocator determining that a resource that satisfies a resource requirement for one apparatus is not available but that another resource that currently satisfies another resource requirement for another apparatus does satisfy the resource requirement. The resource allocator determines that the other resource requirement for the other apparatus is characterized in that resources that currently satisfy the other resource requirement may be de-allocated from the other apparatus, such as a preemptable resource requirement. The resource allocator de-allocates the resource from the other apparatus and allocates the resource to the one apparatus. A preemptable resource requirement can be based on a suspendable resource requirement or a set of alternative resource requirements.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Computer system administrators desire to have a flexible, extensible way to rapidly create and deploy complex computer systems and data centers that include a plurality of servers, one or more load balancers, firewalls, and other network elements. One method for creating such a system is described in Aziz et al., which discloses a method and apparatus for selecting, from within a large, extensible computing framework, elements for configuring a particular computer system. Accordingly, upon demand, a virtual server farm or other data center may be created, configured and brought on-line to carry out useful work, all over a global computer network, virtually instantaneously.
Although the methods and systems disclosed in Aziz et al. are powerful and flexible, users and administrators of the extensible computing framework, and the virtual server farms that are created using it, would benefit from improved methods for deploying virtual server farms. For example, an improvement upon Aziz et al. would be a way to allocate resources from the available resources to create a virtual server farm.

Approach for allocating resources to an apparatus based on preemptable resource requirements


A hydraulic accumulator, especially a hydraulic damper, includes a connecting piece for producing fluid communication between the interior of the hydraulic accumulator and at least two fluid connecting lines in a fitting. The connecting piece is connected to the fitting. The connecting piece is provided with at least one annular channel in its outer periphery in such a way that the connecting section of the connecting piece leading to the interior of the hydraulic accumulator is in fluid communication with the connecting line in the fitting through the annular channel. A compact construction is obtained that avoids the disadvantages of long lines.

The present invention relates to a hydraulic accumulator, particularly a hydraulic damper, having a connecting piece providing fluid communication between the hydraulic accumulator interior and fluid connecting lines in a connection fitting. The connecting piece is connected to the connection fitting and the accumulator housing.
Pressure fluctuations can occur in hydraulic systems, involving periodic or even singular occurrences. Cases frequently arise involving discharge flow fluctuations of rotary pumps, operation of blocking and regulating valve systems with short opening and closing cycles, and connection and disconnection of pumps, as well as sudden impact-causing connecting of fluid chambers having different pressure levels.
Hydraulic dampers are adapted to the hydraulic accumulator, and serve for the damping of such pressure fluctuations (DE 25 08 960 A1, DE 36 09 534 C1), whereby the use of membrane or diaphragm and bubble accumulators is particularly suitable. Furthermore, the hydraulic dampers according to the type of construction differ from one another in terms of pulsation dampers, suction flow stabilizers, pressure surge dampers and liquid sound insulation dampers or silencers. More detailed individual features concerning these different types of constructions are the subject of the published brochure xe2x80x98Hydraulic dampersxe2x80x99, in No. 3.701.7/7.95 of the Hydac Catalog 01, under Heading 4.
In known damping solutions using hydraulic accumulators or hydraulic dampers, as disclosed, for example, on page 14 of the above-identified Hydac Catalog, a bubble or membrane/diaphragm accumulator is connected through an adapter or connection member with two fluid connecting lines in the form of tubular lines. The tubular lines extend essentially in a plane. The connecting piece opens in the area of the tubular connecting lines at a right angle thereto, with these lines being part of a connection fitting. In this manner the fluid chamber of the accumulator, consequently the interior of the accumulator, is connected with the fluid connecting lines. When the above described pressure fluctuations are considered, the gas chamber of the accumulator is intended to quench such pressure impacts. Particularly nitrogen is to be used in this case as working gas.
DE-A-3 235 234 discloses a low cost hydraulic accumulator whose pressure vessel includes a spherical body. In the pressure vessel, a bubble support part can completely support the membrane bubble, insofar as the interior of the bubble support system remains clear of fluid. For the attachment of the hydraulic accumulator to a fluid supply, the bubble support part has on its bottom a connection piece with an axially symmetrical connecting journal. The connecting journal is provided with an exterior threading for the screwing into a corresponding attachment member. The attachment member carries the fluid supply for the hydraulic accumulator. This hydraulic accumulator, taking this into consideration, has only one fluid attachment extending in the longitudinal direction of the bubble support part, and consequently, requires a quite extensive structural space. Since this hydraulic accumulator is accessible through only one fluid attachment to its connection piece, unfavorable pressure behaviors occur in the system, which particularly is the case insofar as such an accumulator is to be used as damper, stabilizer or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,055 discloses a throttle valve connected in a hydraulic circuit with a hydraulic accumulator such that when use of the hydraulic accumulator is not required, its fluid stored on the fluid side is provided continuously through the one leak-point-forming throttle valve to the tank side, to attain a complete relaxing of the elastic membrane in the hydraulic accumulator. Damage to the membrane is avoided in such a slackened membrane state, even long-term.
The leakage structure comes into usexe2x80x94throttle valve is in the cartridgexe2x80x94and engages over its axially symmetrical connection piece with exterior threading in a connection fitting with two fluid connections for the hydraulic circuit. In the connection piece, a throttle part is mounted with its exterior wall limiting an annular channel, and otherwise is surrounded by the interior wall of the connection piece. A connecting section of the one fluid connection can be attached to the hydraulic accumulator, and then opens in screwing-in direction of the connection piece into the aforementioned annular channel. The annular channel in turn opens through a fluid connection on the tank side into the connection piece. Even that throttle-valve arrangement is of large construction in its longitudinal design, particularly because in order to attain an effective throttle point for the fluid, such a large gap area is provided between connecting piece and throttle part, which is slackened in the direction of the annular channel. Also such arrangement, with its corresponding long fluid line extension, allows no favorable pressure behaviors in the area of the total system with hydraulic accumulator. Also, in the area of attachment and connection piece, it is of large construction.
Objects of the present invention are to provide a hydraulic accumulator, particularly a hydraulic damper, which facilitates compact installation, uses fluid connecting lines of short length, and thus, facilitates an improvement of the control of the pressure behavior in the system and improves the potential for exchange by limiting the repair cost.
The foregoing objects are basically provided by a hydraulic accumulator having a connecting piece providing fluid communication between the hydraulic accumulator interior and fluid connecting lines in a connection fitting. The connecting piece is provided on its exterior periphery with at least one annular channel. A connecting section of the connecting piece opens into the interior of the hydraulic accumulator and the annular channel, providing fluid communication between the associated fluid connecting line in the connection fitting and the accumulator interior. The connecting section opens at a right angle to the screwing-in direction of the connecting piece into the annular channel. An additional connecting section in the connecting piece provides fluid communication between the accumulator interior and the other connecting line in the screwing-in direction. The hydraulic accumulator or hydraulic damper, with its connecting piece, can be fitted directly into the connection fitting, and particularly, can be screwed together with the connecting piece in such a manner that a compact installation is attained.
On the basis of this compact arrangement, the connecting section opens at a right angle into the annular channel. Also, the connecting line lengths in the design of the connection sections are shortened within the connection fitting. Thus, harmful pressure differentials are reduced and the pressure fluctuations can be better damped. Furthermore, an installation can be mounted, for example, directly at the source of the disturbance, for example, directly on the pump which produces the pressure fluctuations. Because of the integral construction of the connecting piece and the accumulator housing being directly engaged in the connection fitting, greater security during assembly can be attained, since fewer structural parts are being used. Also, such hydraulic accumulator can, in a simple operation, be removed from the connection fitting, so that a simpler, lower cost exchange of the hydraulic accumulator is possible.
One particular difficulty for the intended block construction lies in the exterior design and the simultaneously required positive guiding in the interior through the connecting piece of the hydraulic damper. That problem is preferably solved by the connecting piece of the hydraulic damper being configured as an axially symmetrical connection journal with exterior threading.
A particularly compact construction of the arrangement is attained when, preferably, the second connecting section opens into a separate annular channel extending on the exterior periphery of the connecting piece of the hydraulic accumulator and arranged in the screwing-in direction in a different plane form the first annular channel. Furthermore, the arrangement can provide that the other fluid connection line opens transverse to the direction of screwing-in into the other annular channel carrying fluid.
With another particularly preferred embodiment of the hydraulic accumulator of the present invention, the connecting sections open as fluid lines mounted in at least one enlarged hollow space of the connecting piece. This arrangement in turn decreases the damaging delta-p in the feed and discharge lines. Preferably, the fluid connection line is configured as a connection block having standardizable fluid connection lines. In this case, a modular construction system of connection block constructions and the hydraulic damper can be manufactured at low cost.
In the case of one particularly preferred embodiment of the hydraulic accumulator of the present invention, its accumulator housing rests on the connection fitting, or maintains a certain axial distance from the connection fitting in the screwing-in direction. Between the housing and the connection fitting or between the connecting piece and the connection fitting only a jointing arrangement is arranged in the form of a sealing ring or a gasket. Since basically only one outwardly working seal is required, this arrangement simplifies and shortens the assembly outlay.
With another preferred embodiment of the hydraulic accumulator of the present invention, the connecting piece is provided with an additional jointing arrangement aligned along its exterior threading, or the connecting piece is provided at its open end with an installation cone or tapered socket. As a jointing arrangement, a plastic seal is provided solely on the exterior periphery of the exterior threading. Such arrangements are provided with a reduced jointing means or gasket insert, particularly for the situations wherein very high fluid velocities, or pulsations are in force. The screw threading, in turn, because of its considerable threading length, can be assumed as a seal arrangement for particular special uses.
A particularly low-cost and compact construction can be attained insofar as the hydraulic accumulator is embodied as a metal bellows accumulator. The bellow open end is turned toward the connecting piece. The bellows exterior periphery limits a fluid chamber with the housing. Preferably, the housing is likewise configured as the metal bellows, which is itself axially symmetrical.
Other objects, advantages and salient features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses preferred embodiments of the present invention.

Hydraulic accumulator, especially a hydraulic damper


A petroleum refining method for upgrading petroleum products improves the efficiency and reduces the costs of upgrading oils, such as lipids, bitumen, crude oil, fracking oils, synthetic oils, and other feeds, to produce useful fuels and chemical precursor streams. Usage of a specific type of zeolite (ZSM-5) catalyst, supercritical water to control coke formation, and a specific response to phase behavior and other catalytic effects optimize the process. A prescribed set of reactor conditions employing supercritical water increases activity of the catalyst in industrial reactions.

Continued demand for petroleum products ensures that technology for improving the refining process is sought. Catalysts are often added to petroleum refining reactors for improving speed, purity and/or yield in producing the resulting products, which typically include fuels and solvents. Zeolites are one such catalyst.
Zeolites are mineral compounds having particular microporous properties with beneficial uses as adsorbents and catalysts. ZSM-5 (Zeolite Socony Mobil-5) is an aluminosilicate zeolite composed of several pentasil units linked together by oxygen bridges to form pentasil chains. A pentasil unit consists of eight five-membered rings including the elements Al or Si and an O.

Water-assisted zeolite upgrading of oils


A method of detecting a target in a scene comprises the steps of generating a comparison of the value of data elements in first and second data sets, the data elements corresponding to returns from the same part of the scene and setting a detection threshold value for the comparison so as to detect targets entering said that part of scene The method provides improved target detection in the presence of clutter.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to methods of detecting targets, particularly (although not exclusively) by use of a radar or similar system.
(2) Description of the Art
One application of radar systems is in the field of area monitoring, in which detection of targets within a certain area is required. For example, it may be required to detect the presence of intruders within a monitored area. Examples of radar systems suitable for performing this type of function are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,595,924 and 6,466,157 and in published US patent application 2002/0 060 639.
A common problem encountered in target detection using radar is that small objects can be difficult to detect in the presence larger clutter returns. For example, intruders close to fixed objects such as building, walls, fences etc, or small objects lying on the ground (e.g. debris on a runway) may not be detected due to large clutter returns from the surrounding environment. Several methods of improving target detection by processing of radar data are known, however the amount of processing that can be done on signals from a low-cost radar system is limited.
One data processing method suitable for use with low-costs radar systems is CFAR (constant false-alarm rate) processing. In a typical implementation of CFAR processing, a rectangular window is scanned over a pixellated map of returns produced by a radar system and a detection threshold is set for each pixel in the map by reference to returns corresponding to pixels within a reference group of pixels containing a particular pixel under consideration, based on an assumed clutter distribution for the area under observation. Typical choices for the assumed clutter distribution are Rayleigh, exponential and K-distributions, or their appropriate counterparts in radar systems which generate a plurality of range profile measurements for a given range and then combine the measurements to provide within-beam integration gain.
A problem with CFAR processing performed on data corresponding to returns from radar or similar systems (e.g. lidar systems) is that high clutter returns can result in detection thresholds for some pixels (i.e. those corresponding to regions of high clutter return) being set at too high a level, resulting in some targets not being detected.


A thermal head has a head substrate including exothermic bodies which generate heat when electricity is supplied thereto, a common electrode connected with first ends of the exothermic bodies, and independent electrodes connected with second ends of the exothermic bodies. A printed circuit board (PCB) includes driving elements controlling the electricity supplied to the exothermic bodies. The head substrate and PCB are attached on a heat sink such that an end surface of the head substrate adjoins an end surface of the PCB. The independent electrodes are wire-connected with the corresponding driving elements across a gap between the adjoining end surfaces to define a wire-connection unit, which is sealed with resin. An adhesive layer is partially disposed between the PCB and the heat sink such that a space is provided therebetween. The space communicates with the outside of the thermal head and with the gap.

A typical thermal head is provided with a plurality of exothermic bodies which generate heat when electricity is applied thereto. The thermal energy generated by the exothermic bodies is supplied to a recording medium in order to perform a recording operation. Conventionally, a thermal head is provided with a head substrate and a printed circuit board, which are attached on an aluminum heat sink. The head substrate includes the plurality of exothermic bodies, a common electrode connected with first ends of the exothermic bodies, and a plurality of independent electrodes connected with corresponding second ends of the exothermic bodies. On the other hand, the printed circuit board includes a plurality of driving elements for controlling the electricity supplied to the exothermic bodies via the independent electrodes of the head substrate. The head substrate and the printed circuit board are disposed on the aluminum heat sink in a manner such that an end surface of the head substrate and an end surface of the printed circuit board adjoin each other. The independent electrodes of the head substrate and the driving elements of the printed circuit board are correspondingly wire-connected with each other across a bordering section between the head substrate and the printed circuit board so as to form a wire-connection unit. Such a wire-connection unit is sealed with a sealing-resin material, such as epoxy resin, whose viscosity decreases when heat is applied thereto. The sealing-resin material covers the wire-connection unit without leaving any empty spaces.
In the thermal head having the structure described above, it is actually difficult to make the end surface of the printed circuit board adjoining the head substrate exactly flat, and due to this reason, a small gap is formed between the head substrate and the printed circuit board. When a heated sealing-resin material in a low viscosity state enters the gap between the head substrate and the printed circuit board, the sealing-resin material traps air inside the gap, causing the air to expand. As a result, air bubbles are formed in the sealing-resin material. The formation of such air bubbles can lead to problems such as uneven surfaces or air holes formed in the hardened sealing-resin material. To prevent such problems, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-323592, for example, discloses a structure in which a section of the heat sink below the sealing portion in the gap between the head substrate and the printed circuit board is provided with a groove through which the air can be released outward.
However, according to such a heat sink provided with a groove, it has been discovered that the heated sealing-resin material in a low viscosity state moves further past the gap between the head substrate and the printed circuit board to enter the groove in the heat sink, and as a result, the sealing-resin material adheres to an elastic adhesive provided for an attachment between the head substrate and the heat sink. If the sealing-resin material adheres to the elastic adhesive, the head substrate and the heat sink become tightly combined with each other. This increases the rigidity between the head substrate and the heat sink, or in other words, reduces the elasticity between the two. In this case, even when the sealing-resin material hardens while the heat sink is thermally expanded, the elastic adhesive cannot absorb such thermal expansion of the heat sink. This forces the top and bottom surfaces of the head substrate to warp significantly. In order to increase the yield, the head substrate is kept flat as much as possible.

Thermal head having adhesive layer partially disposed on heat sink and method for manufacturing such thermal head


A device for dispensing and applying chemicals onto hair or other multi-fiber composition, consisting of a deformable container, a comb having a hollow spine in fluid communication with the deformable container, and a separator with a dispenser in fluid communication with the hollow spine of the comb.

It has always been a challenge for the professional or home hair stylist to apply chemicals, such as hair dye or perm solution to hair quickly, easily, safely and cleanly. Most methods of applying such chemicals require complicated or sophisticated equipment, and are slow, cumbersome and create a messy work environment. The present invention offers the ideal solution to all of these problems, as it is inexpensive to manufacture, both quick and simple to use, and helps keep the work environment clean. Because the invention unites the hair separator, comb and chemical dispenser into one unit, the user can quickly and easily apply chemicals to the hair, and save energy and time because he or she does not have to constantly put down and pick up the separate components that he or she would otherwise. Combining the separate elements into one unit also increases safety in the work environment, by reducing the possibility that harmful chemicals will be spilled on the operator or the operator's client.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,026 to Nolin shows a comb for dispensing treatment solution to hair, but differs from the present invention because the solution is dispensed through the teeth of the comb, whereas the present invention dispenses the solution from the tip of the hair separator.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,270 to Cochran shows a hair treating fluid applicator, but differs from the present invention because the solution is dispensed through the tips of the teeth of the comb, whereas the present invention dispenses the solution from the tip of the hair separator. Moreover, Cochran shows a special applicator disposed on the comb at a right angle thereto, which the present invention renders unnecessary.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,424,176 to Hale shows a hair dying apparatus, but is distinguishable from the present invention because Hale does not have a hair separator as does the present invention. Further, the present invention is totally contained in one unit, unlike Hale, which separates into two.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,368,569 to Lawrence shows a hair grooming device, but differs from the present invention in that it relies on a complicated valve system to deliver the solution to the hair, and further differs from the present invention because the solution is dispensed at the base of the teeth of the comb, rather than the tip of the separator as does the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,101,086 to Di Vito shows a combined dispenser and comb, but differs from the present invention because Di Vito dispenses the hair solution through the tips of the teeth of the comb, whereas the present invention dispenses the hair solution through the tip of the hair separator.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,059,652 to Thomas shows a liquid applicator, but differs from the present invention because Thomas dispenses the hair solution through the base of the teeth of the comb, whereas the present invention dispenses the hair solution through the tip of the hair separator.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,376,065 to Kuszyk shows a comb, but differs from the present invention because Kuszyk dispenses the hair solution at the tips of the teeth of the comb, whereas the present invention dispenses the hair solution through the tip of the hair separator.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,451,260 to Holland shows a comb, but differs from the present invention because Holland dispenses the hair solution at the tips of the teeth of the comb, whereas the present invention dispenses the hair solution through the tip of the hair separator.

Multi-toothed dispenser, comb applicator and bottle


There is provided a disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus including: a disk mounting part; a clamp member holding a disk-shaped recording medium between the clamp member and the disk mounting part; and a support member movably supporting the clamp member. One of the disk mounting part and the clamp member has a magnet and the other has an attractable member attracted to the magnet. A rotating member is rotatably supported by the support member and a rotary elevating mechanism moves the rotating member up and down at a predetermined height by rotating the member. The clamp member is allowed to approach the disk mounting part by attracting the attractable member by a magnetic force of the magnet or to depart from the disk mounting part against a magnetic force of the magnet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus in which an information signal is recorded (written) on and/or reproduced (read) from a disk-shaped recording medium such as an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk. In particular, the present invention relates to a disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus including a clamp member fixing a disk-shaped recording medium to a disk mounting part.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, disk recording and/or reproducing apparatuses in which an information signal is recorded on and/or reproduced from a disk-shaped recording medium such as an optical disk (OD) such as a CD or DVD, or a magneto-optical disk (MO) have been provided as apparatuses for storing a large amount of information.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-334499 discloses an example of such a disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus of the related art. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-334499 discloses a slot-in disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus having a disk entrance through which a disk-shaped recording medium enters and exits. The disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus according to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-334499 (hereinafter referred to as "first related art example") is as follows. Specifically, the apparatus includes an enclosure having a disk entrance; a gate member provided to cover the disk entrance; and a disk moving mechanism moving a disk-shaped recording medium to pass through the disk entrance. The gate member has a gate cover having a cut edge through which a disk-shaped recording medium passes; and a resistance modifying device modifying resistance on a periphery of the cut edge. The gate member is formed of a fabric member such as a fabric, a synthetic resin sheet, etc., and is constructed such that the gate cover rotates around a slit when a disk-shaped recording medium is inserted into the disk entrance.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-302425 discloses another example of a disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus of the related art. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-302425 discloses a disk clamp mechanism which may be used for both a read-only (non-recordable) disk and a read/write (recordable) disk, and a disk drive device including the same. The disk drive device according to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-302425 (hereinafter referred to as "second related art example") is as follows. Specifically, the device includes a clamp arm rotated around a fulcrum and between a clamp position and a clamp release position. The device also includes a damper which is maintained with a clearance at the top of the clamp arm and is rotated to the clamp position to press a disk against a turntable, and is rotated to the clamp release position to release pressing of the disk against the turntable. A top bent part bent toward the turntable is formed at the top of the clamp arm, where a bending point of the top bent part bent relative to the clamp arm is deviated from the center of gravity of the damper toward the fulcrum by a predetermined dimension.
However, in the aforementioned first and second related art examples, a lever rotatably supports a clamp member, and the lever is vertically rotated to change an inclination angle, so that the clamp member is pressed against a disk mounted on a disk mounting part. In this type, since the lever is moved in a wide range, a large space is needed to ensure its movement and the whole apparatus is increased in size, disadvantageously. Moreover, a pressing force of the clamp member against the disk mounting part is generally based on an attraction force generated between a magnet and an iron piece incorporated in these members. Therefore, the lever may need a strength enough to withstand a force to strip the clamp member from the disk mounting part against a pressing force of the magnet when the disk is ejected. As a result, the lever may need to be prepared, with a sufficient strength ensured, using a material having a certain strength, and is therefore limited in terms of the usable material and size, disadvantageously.
In another related art example, a lever rotatably supporting a clamp member is moved along a circumference of a disk, so that the clamp member is pressed against the disk mounted on a disk mounting part. However, in this type, a holding member holding the clamp member has an inclined surface, and the clamp member is pressed upward from both sides to release a pressing force of the clamp member. Therefore, a space for moving the holding member is needed, and furthermore a space to connect the members to each other is widened, making the structure complicated, disadvantageously. Moreover, since the clamp member is supported only by both edges of the holding member, an attitude of the clamp member is unstable, disadvantageously. In this regard, although the clamp member may be supported by many points of the holding member, the number of components is increased in order to support the clamp member by many points, making the structure complicated, disadvantageously.

Disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus


Provided is a method and server for providing a button configuration of a toolbar specific to an individual domain address in an electronic device in which the toolbar is installed. The toolbar button management method for automatically configuring a domain-specific button may include obtaining a domain address through a web browser, determining whether the domain address is preset, changing a button configuration of the toolbar automatically based on button configuration information when the domain address is determined to be preset, and displaying the changed button configuration of the toolbar.

Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments relate to a toolbar button management method performed in an electronic device in which a toolbar is installed, and to a method and server for managing a button configuration of the toolbar.
Discussion of the Background
A web browser is a program designed to enable users to access, retrieve, and view information on the Internet. Users can view information provided by website servers through an electronic device (e.g., a desktop personal computer (PC), laptop, smart phone, smart television (TV), and electronic pad) equipped with a web browser.
Conventionally, to obtain information using a web browser, a connection to a server is required, and a user may have to enter an address into an address window in order to connect to a server. The address may be input in a form of a uniform resource location (URL), for example, a domain name or an Internet Protocol (IP) address. For example, when a user desires to connect to a website of a particular blog, the user may input an address for the blog, such as "http://blog.AAA.com/BBB", into an address window of the web browser.
However, a tedium of typing in an address each time a user would like to access a website, incorrect recognition of desired information or an address of a website in which the desired information is placed, and a need to conduct a separate keyword search may result in user inconvenience of having to conduct a keyword search after linking to a portal site by entering an address of the portal site.
To resolve these issues, a toolbar service may be provided to users by a content provider. A toolbar is a tool designed to allow users to conduct a quick and easy operation (e.g., search) on the Internet using a web browser, and may include a keyword input window and buttons having various additional functions that are activated at a predetermined area of a web browser.
However, a conventional toolbar only provides users a general convenience over websites on the Internet, and there is a need for providing a customized service for individual websites.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Method and server for managing domain-specific toolbar button automatically


A heat exchanger includes fins arranged in parallel with each other with a predetermined spacing along the rotational axis direction of a blower. Heat exchanger tubes are inserted into the fins to form rows along a longitudinal direction of the fins connected to each other along the airflow direction, to form refrigerant channels. A branch portion is provided to connection portions of the heat exchanger tubes to increase or decrease the number of paths in the refrigerant channels. Refrigerant flows through each of the refrigerant channels passing through paths mutually different at least at one portion between the refrigerant inlet and the refrigerant outlets, flows along one direction from the windward-side row to the leeward-side row, or from the leeward-side row to the windward-side row in the airflow direction, in sequence between rows. One-path portion is provided in the most windward-side row heat exchanger tubes. The fins are in close contact with a refrigerant outlet case when the heat exchanger is operated as a condenser, and a connection piping are thermally separated by separation means.

Among indoor units of conventional air conditioners, some have been of a type in which refrigerant channels in its heat exchanger are constituted of two paths and in which the refrigerant has been circulated so that the balance of heat exchange amount can be kept, allowing for wind speed (refer to Patent Document 1 for example). Also, some have been of a type in which refrigerant channels in its heat exchanger are constituted of two paths and in which an expansion valve is provided midway along a refrigerant channel to allow a dehumidifying operation (refer to Patent Document 2 for example). Moreover, some have been of a type in which refrigerant channels in its heat exchanger are constituted of two paths and in which a balance of the amounts of a refrigerant flowing through mutually different paths is kept (refer to Patent Document 3 for example). Furthermore, some have been of a type in which the path number of refrigerant channels in its heat exchanger is increased from 2 to 4 and in which an increase in pressure loss is suppressed by increasing the area of the refrigerant channels in the evaporation process of the refrigerant (refer to Patent Document 4 for example).    [Patent Document 1]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-159502 (pp. 2 to 3, FIG. 2)    [Patent Document 2]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-82759 (pp. 3 to 4, FIG. 2)    [Patent Document 3]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-27359 (pp. 2 to 3, FIG. 2)    [Patent Document 4]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-71841 (pp. 2 to 3, FIG. 1)

Air conditioner and manufacturing method therefor


A staged catalytic cracking process and apparatus is disclosed where each stage has a catalyst to oil ratio of at least 15 and there are individual hydrocarbon feeds to each stage and product removal from each stage. There is a residence time profile with the first stage having a short residence time and the successive stages having progressively longer residence times. Further, there is a feed profile with the lighter components of the total feed going to the first stage and the heavier components being fed to the later stages. The apparatus has a generally vertical orientation which permits it to be incorporated into existing cracking units for upgrading and also easily provides for both short and long residence times.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the cracking of hydrocarbons and more particularly to a method and apparatus which utilize fluidized catalytic cracking processes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a petroleum refining operation, large hydrocarbon molecules are cracked into smaller molecules for the production of motor fuels such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene and diesel fuel. This process is usually carried out in a fluidized catalytic cracker in which the catalyst in powdered or granular form can be effectively contacted with the heavy petroleum feedstock.
In a typical fluidized catalytic cracking process, the hydrocarbon feedstock and hot regenerated catalyst are injected into the base of an elongated riser. In some cases, fluidizing gas is used to increase the dispersion of the solids and improve the contacting of the feedstock and catalyst powder. The fluidized suspension passes upwardly through the riser where reaction occurs. The riser terminates in a reaction vessel where catalyst and hydrocarbon effluent are separated in a primary separation zone. The hydrocarbon passes through a cyclone separation device to remove the remaining particulate solid catalyst and then goes to product separation. The spent catalyst is collected in the base of the reaction vessel, stripped of residual hydrocarbon vapors with steam, and then passed to a regeneration section.
There are a number of means of making the primary separation of the hydrocarbon and solids in the reaction vessel. The simplest means is to simply exit into a vessel of sufficient diameter that the resultant gas velocity is insufficient to carry the solids which then fall to the bottom of the vessel where they are stripped of residual hydrocarbons. As reaction temperatures increase, there is a desire to reduce thermal reactions that continue even after the hydrocarbons are separated. Thus more rapid primary separation is desired. Many devices have been commercialized to affect a more rapid separation including rough cut cyclones, inverted "top hats", slotted risers, closed coupled cyclones, etc. The general characteristic of all of these devices is rapid separation and/or controlled effluent gas removal, possibly including quenching of the gases via the addition of various other cooler streams. These technologies are well known to those skilled in the art.
In the regeneration section, coke deposited during the reaction and any unstripped hydrocarbons are combusted with oxygen containing gases. The regeneration serves to reheat the solids and remove any residual coke deposits to restore catalytic activity. In general, the amount of combustible hydrocarbons that enter the regenerator are a function of the severity of the cracking reaction, the specific gravity and character of the feedstock, and the circulation rate of solids. The cracking severity defines the amount of coke deposited. Heavier and/or more aromatic feedstocks tend to deposit more coke at a given reaction severity. Higher solids circulation rates tend to carry more unstripped hydrocarbons into the regeneration zone. Not only do these hydrocarbons represent fuel ("circulation coke") but given the higher hydrogen content of the unstripped hydrocarbons, their heating value is greater than deposited coke. This leads to overheating of the solids and possible thermal deactivation.
There are many variations of regeneration systems for catalytic cracking. In some cases, a single stage combustion is used. In others, variations in contacting zones and or fluid dynamic conditions are used to provide specific benefits such as reducing peak temperatures during combustion, improve air/catalyst contacting, reducing net heat release to the solids, etc. In other variations, two separate combustion zones are used with separate air contacting in each. These are known to those skilled in the art and a few examples are U.S. Pat. No. 2,852,443, U.S. Pat. No. 3,909,392, U.S. Pat. No. 3,919,115.
Following the regeneration, the reheated solids are stripped of combustion products prior to being recycled to the riser reactor. Hydrocarbon feedstock is introduced into the base of the riser. Many different nozzle injection systems are used in commercial practice. The reaction proceeds as the fluidized mixture flows through the riser. The riser geometry sets the system residence time.
A fluidized catalytic cracking process operates in heat balance. The heat required for the endothermic heat of reaction is supplied by the fuel (coke and/or unstripped hydrocarbons) that flows to the regeneration section from the reaction section. If the fuel is insufficient for the desired conversion, the regeneration temperature will drop and the system will gradually reduce conversion to where the fuel equals the demand in the reactor. Conversely, if the fuel from the reactor is excessive, the catalyst will return to the reaction section incompletely regenerated (still fouled). The coke deposits on the catalyst cover active sites and thus effectively reduce the catalytic activity of the solids. In this case, conversions will fall until the system again reaches heat balance.
The principal desired products from a fluidized catalytic cracking process are diesel oils, gasolines, and C3 to C5 compounds, particularly isoparaffins and isoolefins as opposed to normal paraffins and olefins. Heavy fuel oils and light gases have value principally as low cost fuels and thus do not add appreciable value to the process.
The total reaction in any fluidized catalytic cracking reactor is a summation of thermal and catalytic reactions. Thermal reactions are driven by temperature. The products of thermal reactions contain high percentages of less valuable C2 and lighter compounds by the very nature of the cracking kinetics. Thermal reactions proceed whether or not solids are present and are suppressed only by lowering the temperatures of the reaction.
Catalytic reactions on the other hand are driven by a combination of temperature, the number of catalytic sites involved in the reaction and the activity of each individual site. The products of the catalytic reactions are principally diesel oils, gasolines, and C3 to C5 compounds. Further, the C3 to C5 compounds formed have a high percentage of desired iso compounds due to the inherent isomerization activity of the typical zeolitic acidic cracking catalysts.
Increasing the catalyst to oil ratio in the process will increase the catalytic conversion at constant temperature while the extent of the thermal reactions will remain the same. Thus high catalyst to oil cracking will result in a higher conversion at any given temperature with the increase being due to catalytic reactions. Thus the effluent yield will show a higher percentage of total products due to the catalytic reactions.
In order to maximize the production of gasolines and olefins, high conversions of feedstock are desired. In order to achieve high conversions, operators of fluidized catalytic cracking units have attempted to increase both catalyst to oil (C/O) ratios and operating temperatures. There are however, limits to the extent that this can be done in single riser units. Higher temperatures will result in higher thermal products which negatively affect economics. Higher C/O ratios will increase conversion at constant temperature but will bring increased quantities of unstripped hydrocarbons into the regeneration zone. In fact the quantity of unstripped hydrocarbons is proportional to the solids circulation rate. This will result in more fuel to the regenerator and higher solids temperatures. Higher solids temperatures will increase reaction outlet temperature at the higher circulation rates which leads to even higher light gas production. The only way to achieve high C/O ratio cracking in a conventional single riser system is to remove heat from the regenerator.
Two stage regeneration as described above is one means of reducing solids temperature at constant fuel. Alternately, heat removal via steam generation can be used. Both of these options are practiced commercially.
It is obvious from the above that the operator of a conventional fluidized catalytic cracking unit is limited in the ability to process a hydrocarbon feed at high catalytic conversions at low temperatures in order to both maximize the "catalytic content" of the yields (isomerization), achieve high feedstock conversions, and minimize the unwanted thermal products.
Operators are often faced with an additional problem. In a refinery there are typically a wide range of feedstocks that vary in specific gravity, boiling range, and composition. These will exhibit varying performance in a fluidized catalytic cracking reactor. It is well known that the lighter feedstocks (e.g. naphthas with boiling ranges from 38.degree.-204.degree. C.) require higher reaction severity in order to crack in comparison to vacuum gas oils for example. In order to process a number of feedstocks in a single unit, various processes have been developed to stage the feedstocks to the riser. This involves feeding the lighter, lower molecular weight portion of the feedstock which is more difficult to crack to the bottom of the riser and feeding the heavier, higher molecular weight portion to a higher point in the riser. In this regard, reference is made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,624,771, 4,435,279 and 3,186,805.
All of the above mentioned staged processes have a common feature. The effluent from the first feedstock contacting stage (lower portion of the riser) passes in its entirety to the second stage. Thus the feedstock feed to the first stage of the unit sees the entire residence time of the riser and the subsequent feeds see progressively shorter residence times as they are introduced higher and higher in the riser. Further, for a given catalyst circulation rate, the first feed sees the highest C/O ratio at the highest solids temperatures. It thus experiences the highest severity. Subsequent feedstocks however see progressively lower C/O ratios and lower temperatures as more feed is introduced and as the endothermic reactions reduce the reaction temperature. Further, each time the catalyst is contacted with a feedstock, fouling of the catalyst takes place. The extent of fouling depends upon the severity of the reaction (time and temperature) and the nature of the feedstock. Thus the last feed sees the lowest C/O, the lowest temperature, and a less active catalyst since reaction has been occurring up to that point. Operation of these types of staged systems leads to wide distributions in yields from each feed due to wide differences in reaction severity for the initial feed and final feed. The wide differences in conversions for the feeds leads to a non-optimal product yield spectrum consisting of some portions of overcracked and some portions of undercracked materials.
Another development in the field of fluidized catalytic cracking is represented by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,925,632 and 4,999,100. These patents relate to what is referred to as a low profile fluid catalytic cracking process and apparatus wherein there is a succession of low profile catalyst chambers each containing a reservoir of catalyst and alternately connected in sequence by openings below the catalyst level and above the catalyst level. The catalyst in all chambers is fluidized by gas flowing upwardly through each chamber.
This process is a staged process that differs from the ones cited above. In this scheme, there are truly separate stages where hydrocarbon feedstock contacts catalyst and then is separated from that catalyst. The effluent gases are sent for further processing and the solids continue to the next stage where they contact a second feedstock.
The patents teach that a such a staged process will allow operation at a lower overall C/O ratio than a single riser system. The patent details a number of advantages all of which relate to operation at effectively lower catalyst circulation rates per unit of hydrocarbon processed. Lower circulation rates minimize the requirements for tall vessels to provide pressure for circulation. The lower circulation rates lead to lower fuel to the regenerator. The reduced circulation rates also reduce catalyst attrition and vessel erosion, both known to be a function of catalyst circulation. In addition, the lower vessels lend themselves to shorter residence times for reaction (shorter risers) which can improve yields.
The lower catalyst circulation rates are achieved by two means. First, the staged introduction of feeds with effluent separation between stages creates separate zones where a reduced net solids flow contacting only a portion of the feed results in a C/O ratio equivalent to a conventional unit but higher than that based upon total feed and catalyst flows. Secondly, the process utilizes common walls between reactors and regenerators to allow for indirect heat transfer from the hotter regeneration section to the reaction section. This minimizes the amount of solids circulation required to provide heat.


A rotary damper for a motor vehicle includes at least one damper element for damping the relative movement of a first mass located on the wheel-suspension side and of a second mass located on the vehicle-body side, with at least one vibration absorber (8) being arranged on the rotary damper (1).

The invention relates to a rotary damper for a motor vehicle, including at least one damper element for damping the relative movement between a first mass, arranged on the side of a wheel suspension, and a second mass, arranged on a side of the vehicle body.
Many areas of technology require damping of relative movements between two components of a vibratory mechanical system. One example involves vibration damping on a motor vehicle body in the region of the suspension of the body on the chassis. Hydraulic dampers, such as in the form of linearly acting telescopic dampers are used for example for this purpose.
Rotary dampers represent an alternative to the afore-mentioned telescopic dampers and are known per se. The mode of operation of a rotary damper is based in principle on a lever element which is arranged on a side of the wheel suspension and movable during a relative mass movement and which is directly or indirectly dynamically coupled with a rotatably mounted damper part of the damper element pertaining to the rotary damper so that the respective damper part is caused to rotate.
In view of the ever increasing demands on comfort and acoustics of modern motor vehicles, also the demands on absorption capability of the damper system increase with respect to vibrations caused during operation of the motor vehicle.
Known approaches for increasing the absorption capability of the damper system include in particular the use of so-called elastomer bearings, i.e. bearings formed of elastomer material. Additional measures are generally limited by the known tight space constraints within a wheel well that receives a respective rotary damper.


A bottom-emitting substrate, a display device and a method for manufacturing the bottom emitting substrate are provided. The bottom-emitting substrate comprises: a base substrate (1); a black matrix layer (2) with a plurality of opening regions and a plurality of non-opening regions disposed on the base substrate (1); and an array substrate unit disposed on the black matrix layer (2), projections of metal layers in the array substrate unit on the black matrix layer (2) locating within the plurality of non-opening regions of the black matrix layer (2). A method for manufacturing the bottom-emitting substrate and a display device comprising the bottom-emitting substrate are also provided.

Organic light emitting diodes (hereinafter referred to as OLED) panels have been applied widely due to their advantages of light weight, thin thickness, low power dissipation, pure color, wide viewing angle, and flexibility as compared to liquid crystal panels.
A bottom-emitting OLED panel known by the inventor adopts a white light OLED and color filter on array (hereinafter referred to as COA) technology, that is, the bottom-emitting OLED panel adopts a white light OLED and a COA substrate. The manufacturing process of the bottom-emitting OLED panel comprises: firstly forming an array substrate unit on the glass substrate through array process, then performing color filter process on the array substrate unit so as to incorporate the color filter on the array substrate unit, thereby forming a COA substrate through the two process steps, and then manufacturing an electroluminescence layer (hereinafter referred to as EL layer) on the color filter, and finally forming the OLED panel by encapsulation. Light emitted from the EL layer transmits the color filter, the array substrate unit and the glass substrate, and is perceived by an observer. Therefore, the above-mentioned OLED panel is referred to as bottom-emitting structure OLED panel or bottom-emitting OLED panel.
In order to relieve influence of reflected environment light, a polarizer sheet is generally attached to the bottom-emitting OLED panel at the observer side. However, the polarizer sheet would filter out 60% or so from exiting light, resulting in low light utilization. Without a polarizer sheet, although the light utilization is high, the metal layers such as gate layer, source/drain layer and active layer in the COA substrate could reflect environment light, hence reducing the contrast and color gamut of the bottom-emitting OLED panel and impacting the display effect of the bottom-emitting OLED panel. Therefore, how to provide a bottom-emitting substrate with high light utilization capable of relieving influence of reflection of ambient light becomes a concern of those skilled in the art.

Bottom-emitting substrate, display device and manufacturing method of substrate


In one embodiment, a radome-reflector assembly for, e.g., a microwave antenna, has (i) two semi-circular rims that receive the peripheries of the radome and the reflector and (ii) fixed and adjustable clamps that secure the ends of the rims together. The rims are designed with slanted inner surfaces that engage the periphery of the reflector, such that, when the adjustable clamp is tightened circumferentially, the periphery of the reflector is forced laterally to abut other rim structure to form a metal-to-metal RF seal between the reflector and the rims. Certain assemblies with low profiles and low circumferential forces can be assembled without special tooling using plastic clamps and still achieve good RF seals.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to antennas, such as microwave reflector antennas, and, more specifically but not exclusively, to mechanisms for retaining a radome upon the periphery of the reflector dish of such antennas.
Description of the Related Art
This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the invention. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is prior art or what is not prior art.
U.S. patent application publication no. 2013/0099991 A1 ("the '991 publication"), the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference, discloses a rim-based mechanism for retaining a radome upon the periphery of the reflector dish of a microwave reflector antenna. For typical applications, a relatively large clamping fixture is used to apply enough force to hold two semi-circular, metallic rims securely in place over the periphery of the mated radome and reflector dish while the rims are fastened to provide an RF seal with the reflector dish that limits RF leakage during antenna transmission. To reduce RF leakage to satisfactory levels, this rim-based mechanism often requires a backlobe suppression ring, which is frequency specific. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,138,958, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference. In addition, the use of the large clamping fixture limits the act of assembling the various elements into the desired radome-reflector assembly to be implemented in only those locations where such a fixture is available.


Tire inflation system and process, especially intended for truck or heavy equipment tires. A tire inflation system of this invention comprises, in the order named, a tubular air-inlet member adapted to be connected to an air pressure source and having an on-off valve therein; a pressure regulator which is setable to a desired outlet pressure; swivel fitting; a two-step disconnect coupler having a manual actuator which, on a first actuation, releases pressure downstream of a coupler and, on a second actuation, releases an air hose which is releasably connected to the coupler on the downstream thereof; and an air hose releasably connected to the coupler and having at its outlet end a clip-on chuck for connection to an air valve of a tire to be inflated. The preferred coupler is a push-button coupler. Air flow through the system may be initiated by opening the on-off valve. When desired air pressure in the tire has been reached or when a user of the system desires to stop inflation of a tire as, for example, when a user senses an unsafe condition which may lead to blow out, the user actuates the manual actuator of the coupler once to stop air flow (if not already stopped) and to vent downstream air pressure. The user then actuates the manual actuator a second time to disconnect the air hose from the coupler. The system is safe and easy to use and meets or exceeds all current OSHA requirements.

Inflation of a truck tire, or a tire used on other types of larger vehicles, such as tractors, trailers, buses and off-road machines, is inherently hazardous undertaking unless proper precautions are taken. Tires used on such vehicles are much larger than automobile tires and are typically operated at higher inflation pressures (say about 50-55 psig); as a result, when a tire of this size bursts, there is the possibility of death or serious bodily harm for anyone standing in the trajectory of the tire, unless a proper safety cage or other restraining device is used. Also, an operator who is filling such a tire should be at a position remote from the tire itself, i.e., out of trajectory of the tire. Failure is typically in the tire sidewall. Such failure may occur in the tire sidewall. A common mode of failure is breaking or weakening of steel reinforcing cords. A common mode of failure of this type is a "zipper rupture," so called because of the resemblance of a tire ruptured in this manner to an open zipper. A common cause of such failure is use of the tire while either under inflated or overloaded.
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has promulgated safety and health standards regarding the servicing of wheels and tires used on large vehicles such as trucks, tractors, trailers, buses and off-road machines. These standards are found at 29 CFR .sctn.1910.177. Briefly, these standards require all tubeless and tube-type medium and large truck tires to be inflated using OSHA-approved restraining device such as a safety cage or barrier, and using a clip-on air chuck with a pressure regulator and an extension air hose. The Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) of Washington D.C. goes further; it recommends that the OSHA procedures be applied to steel cord radial medium- and light-truck tires as well, and publishes bulletins explaining how zipper ruptures can occur and outlining recommended safety inspection procedures.


The embodiments of the present disclosure are generally directed to systems and methods for provisioning computing resources using computer vision. An image comprising a plurality of visual elements can be received. The visual elements within the image can be recognized as objects that represent network elements, where the recognized objects represent network elements of a network element type and the network element types comprise one or more of a database, a load balancer, a sub-network, or a virtual machine instance, and an arrangement of the recognized objects that represents a network architecture is recognized. Computing resources can be caused to be provisioned corresponding to the recognized objects by provisioning network elements that comprise one or more of the network element types, wherein the provisioning comprises generating a network architecture for the provisioned network elements based on the recognized arrangement.

The computing services implemented by modern service providers are often asked to be robust, flexible, and highly available. For example, modern demands on computing often arise from an opportunity cost associated with inefficient or unavailable computing resources. Some settings allow for on-demand provisioning of computing resources, such as cloud-based service providers, however this provisioning often involves a multi-step process, manual efforts, and other inconveniences. Given the stringent demands on modern computing, a tool that efficiently and quickly provides available computing resources would benefit users of the tool.


The invention provides derivatives and analogs of triazatetracyclo[7.7.0.01,13.02,7]-hexadeca-2,4,6,10,12-pentaenes, 5,7,11-triazatetracyclo[8.7.0.01,6.012,17]-heptadeca-6,8,12,14,16-pentaenes, pharmaceutical compositions comprising these compounds and methods for treatment of hepatitis C viral infections using these compounds.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a single stranded positive RNA virus belonging to the flaviviridae family. Infection by HCV is the main cause of chronic liver disease with over 170 million people infected worldwide. See, for example, Rosenberg, S. J. Mo. Biol. (2001) 313: 451 and Giannini, C.; Brechot, C. Cell Death Differ. (2003) 10: S27. Over three million Americans are infected by the HCV virus, which is particularly lethal for AIDS patients (http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/Statistics.htm#section1), of whom increasing numbers are co-infected with HIV and HCV (McGovern, B. H. J. Acquir. Immune Defic. Syndr. (2007) 45: S47). Nearly 40,000 new cases of HCV are reported yearly in this country, 20% of whom will develop liver cirrhosis, and up to 2.5% of these patients will develop hepatocellular-carcinoma. There is no vaccine for HCV, and the only treatment, a combination of interferon-α and ribavirin, is successful in less than half of the patients. See for example, Simmonds, P. J. J. Gen. Virol. (2004) 85: 3173 and Cristina, J.; del Pilar Moreno, M.; Moratorio, G. Virus Res. (2007) 127: 185. Until recently, the main efforts to develop novel HCV inhibitors has been on the viral protease and polymerase enzymes, but escape mutants have already been reported. See Courcameck, et al., Antivir. Ther. (2006) 11: 847 and DeFrancesco, R.; Caffi, A. Adv. Drug Delivery Rev. (2007) 59: 1242.
The HCV RNA enodes a polyprotein which is co- and post-translationally processed into ten individual proteins by host cell signal peptidases and viral peptidases (Bartenschlager, R.; Lohmann, V. J. Gen. Virol. (2000) 81: 1631). All ten proteins are essential for viral infectivity. One of these proteins, known as "core", is a 191 amino acid capsid protein which is required for viral assembly within the host cell following post-translational processing (Santolini, E.; Migliaccio, G.; La Monica, N. J. Virol. (1994) 68: 3631). Core is the most conserved of all HCV proteins, across the 6 major genotypes, and that it is the least variable of the ten HCV proteins in variant viruses emerging constantly in patients. As such, core has emerged as a viable target for drug therapy against HCV (Strosberg, A. D.; Kota, S.; Takahashi, V.; Snyder, J. K.; Mousseau, G. Viruses (2010) 2: 1734).

Small molecule inhibitors of hepatitis C virus


A polymer electrolyte fuel cell comprises an electrolyte membrane-electrode assembly, a pair of conductive separator plates sandwiching the electrolyte membrane of the electrolyte membrane-electrode assembly, and a pair of sealing means sealing between the electrodes of the electrolyte membrane-electrode assembly and the separator plates. The pair of sealing means is constituted by combination of a flat sealing member having a flat portion in flat contact with the electrolyte membrane and of a linear sealing member having a rib in linear contact with the electrolyte membrane, and at least part of the rib is in the form of falling in the direction to the electrode when the electrolyte membrane, the pair of electrodes and the pair of separator plates are stacked to be cramped. This makes it possible for the fuel cell to have an excellent sealing property and a stable output characteristic.

The present invention relates to a polymer electrolyte fuel cell for use in portable power sources, power sources for portable devices, power sources for electric vehicles, domestic cogeneration systems and the like.
A fuel cell using a polymer electrolyte membrane electrochemically reacts a fuel gas containing hydrogen with an oxidant gas containing oxygen, such as air, to simultaneously generate electric power and heat. This fuel cell comprises a polymer electrolyte membrane for selectively transporting hydrogen ions, and a pair of electrodes, i.e. an anode and a cathode, formed respectively on both faces of the polymer electrolyte membrane. This is called an electrolyte membrane-electrode assembly (MEA). The electrode comprises: a catalyst layer mainly composed of a carbon powder carrying a platinum group metal catalyst and formed on each face of the polymer electrolyte membrane; and a gas diffusion layer formed on the outer surface of the catalyst layer and having both permeability and electronic conductivity.
In order to prevent a fuel gas and an oxidant gas (reactive gases) to be supplied from leaking out or prevent these two kinds of reactive gases from being mixed with each other, sealing members, such as gaskets, are disposed on the peripheries of the electrodes, with the polymer electrolyte membrane sandwiched therebetween. The sealing members are previously assembled integrally with the electrodes and the polymer electrolyte membrane, and this is called an electrolyte membrane-electrode-sealing member assembly (MESA).
Conductive separator plates are disposed on the outer sides of the MEA for mechanically fixing it and for electrically connecting adjacent MEA's with each other in series. Each of the separator plates has a gas flow channel for supplying reactive gases to the electrode and for carrying away a generated gas and an excessive gas. Although the gas flow channel may be provided separately from the separator plate, a general manner is to provide grooves on the surface of the separator plate to serve as a gas flow channel.
In order to supply reactive gases to these grooves, it is necessary to branch pipes for supplying reactive gases, according to the number of separator plates to be used, and to use jigs for connecting the end of each branch directly to the grooves on the separator plate. This jig is called a manifold, and a type of manifold that directly connects the pipes for supplying reactive gases to the grooves as mentioned above is called an external manifold. A type of manifold with a simpler structure than the external manifold is called an internal manifold. The internal manifold is configured such that through holes are formed in the separator plates having gas flow channels and the inlets and outlets of the gas flow channels are extended to these holes so as to supply reactive gases directly from the holes.
Since a fuel cell generates heat during operation, it is necessary to cool the cell with cooling water or the like in order to keep the cell in good temperature conditions. Normally, a cooling water flow channel is provided for every 1 to 3 unit cells. It is often the case that a cooling water flow channel is provided on the rear surface of the separator plate to serve as a cooling portion. These MEA's and the separator plates are placed one upon another to form a stack of 10 to 200 unit cells, and this stack is sandwiched by end plates, with a current collector plate and an insulating plate between the stack and each end plate, and then fixed with clamping bolts from both ends of the stack. In this manner, a polymer electrolyte fuel cell having a typical structure can be obtained.
A sealing member to be used in such a polymer electrolyte fuel cell as described above is required to have high dimensional accuracy, sufficient elasticity and sufficient fitting margin in order to seal reactive gases, while bringing the separator plate into contact with the electrode. As a typical sealing material, therefore, a seat-shaped gasket comprising a resin, rubber or the like, or an O-ring-shaped gasket comprising rubber, has been used.
Recently, for example, an attempt has been made to reduce load needed for sealing with gaskets for the purpose of simplifying constituent members and reducing the weight and cost thereof by reducing load for clamping a stack, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei 11-233128 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-141082. Further, another attempt has been made to make a cross section of a gasket triangular, semicircular or the like, instead of making it O-ring-shaped.
In the case of using a gasket having an O-ring-shaped cross section and a certain degree of cross sectional area, it has been attempted that the gasket is disposed on the separator-plate side. However, such a gasket has a problem of being inappropriate for reliably securing a sealing property since a large number of unit cells are stacked to be clamped in a stack.
When an O-ring-shaped gasket is used, sealing is conducted by clamping an electrolyte membrane onto separator plates with the gaskets. Therefore, sealing needs to be conducted in two locations: between an anode (fuel electrode) and the electrolyte membrane; and between a cathode (oxidant electrode) and the electrolyte membrane, and that is to say, both a gasket for sealing a fuel gas and a gasket for sealing an oxidant gas are required, raising a problem of enlarging portions needed to be sealed.
It is further necessary to provide grooves, into which the O-ring-shaped gaskets are placed, on the surface of the separator plate, thereby setting restrictions, such as a restriction on reduction in thickness of the separator plate in order to secure the groove dimension. This has brought about an increase in stack volume, an increase in cost, and complication of the form of the separator plate, causing a decreased yield in processing the separator plate. With the aim of solving these problems, it has been attempted to conduct sealing in a smaller space.
In building a stack, an MESA or MEA is disposed on the separator plate, and on this MEA, the separator plate, or the O-ring-shaped gasket and the separator plate, are disposed. This process is repeated to obtain a stack. In such disposition of the O-ring-shaped gasket or the separator plate on the MEA, a guide is used as a typical jib for assembly. However, since there are dimensional deviations among the respective members, and from the viewpoint of facilitating stacking of the electrodes and the O-ring-shaped gaskets or the separator plates, a clearance is needed between the O-ring-shaped gasket and the electrode. This clearance is aimed at securing good operability or production yield.
When this clearance is small, it tends to be difficult to reliably build a stack. For example, the O-ring-shaped gasket may be partially placed or stacked on the electrode to cause poor sealing. Further, with the O-ring-shaped gasket brought into contact with the electrode, excessive surface pressure is applied onto the electrode, which may result in damage of the electrolyte membrane or deterioration in durability, whereby cell performance may be degraded.
In the case where the clearance between the O-ring-shaped gasket and the electrode is made smaller, therefore, a yield may decrease and cost for components may increase unless dimensional accuracy of each component is improved. Especially when a molded separator plate is used, it is difficult to reduce the clearance between the O-ring-shaped gasket and the electrode since there is a limit to process accuracy of a guide to be used in building a stack, or the like. For this reason, after production of the separator plate by molding, a guiding portion has been added in a post-process, and this has generated additional cost.
On the other hand, in the case where the clearance between the O-ring-shaped gasket and the electrode is enlarged for the purpose of securing a property of building a stack, a reactive gas may flow into the clearance, and it is thereby possible that the reactive gas may be prevented from flowing in a gas flow channel of the separator plate. Further, when clearances of the respective unit cells vary, attributed to deviations in stacking the MEA's and O-ring-shaped gaskets, pressure losses among the unit cells also vary. Because a reactive gas flows in each unit cell in an amount according to pressure loss of each unit cell, flow rates of the reactive gas vary. This causes variations in cell performance among the unit cells, having harmful effects such as lowering of power generation voltage, deterioration in durability and deterioration in safety during low output power operation. These problems occur more significantly on the fuel-gas side where a utilization rate of a reactive gas is relatively high.
Moreover, when a flat gasket is used, although the volume occupied by the gasket can be reduced, the aforesaid problems regarding building of a stack and a clearance exist as in the case of using the O-ring-shaped gasket. Further, excessive clamping force is required for securing surface pressure needed for sealing. It is therefore difficult to reduce weight and cost of members for clamping a stack, and compact those members.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.