An improved fiber optic sensor system and integrated sensor bearing assembly for detecting movement or position of a rotating wheel bearing having a multi-pole tone ring which produces an alternating magnetic field indicative of movement and position of the rotating member. A magneto-optical material, such as a bismuth garnet iron (B.I.G.) crystal, having discrete magnetic domains is positioned in the vicinity of the tone ring so that the domains align themselves to the magnetic field generated by the tone ring. A single fiber optic cable, preferably single mode fiber, carries light generated by a source of light to the B.I.G. crystal. The light passes through the B.I.G. crystal and is refracted at domain boundaries in the crystal. The intensity of the refracted light is indicative of the amount of alignment of the domains and therefore the strength of the magnetic field. The refracted light is carried by the fiber optic cable to an optic receiver where the intensity is measured and an electrical signal is generated and sent to a controller indicating the frequency of the changes in light intensity and therefore the rotational speed of the rotating wheel bearing.

Anti-lock braking systems (ABS) are increasingly popular on present day motor vehicles. Such systems automatically prevent wheel lock-up during hard braking maneuvers by modulating braking pressure in such conditions so that vehicle stability and directional control can be maintained. A critical feature of an ABS is a wheel speed sensor which provides a signal to the ABS controller related to wheel rotation. Passenger cars equipped with ABS typically have such a sensor for each of their four wheels. By monitoring the sensor signals, the braking system controller can determine if a wheel lock-up condition is being approached and thus control the braking system. Wheel system sensors are also used to provide signals for traction control systems which reduce slippage during acceleration. Traction control systems enhance traction by selectively applying braking torque to a spinning wheel causing torque transfer to a non-spinning traction wheel.
Numerous designs of ABS wheel speed sensors are presently known. Such sensors generally consist of a rotating part in close proximity to a stationary part. The rotating part, or "tone ring" has features which can be sensed as they pass the stationary part. Such features are typically ferromagnetic teeth, as on a gear, or magnetic poles which have been applied to the rotating part. The stationary part includes a transducer which can detect the passing of the features as the tone ring rotates. The detection is indicated by an electrical signal which is emitted by the transducer. The transducer may be a variable reluctance device, Hall effect device, magneto-resistive device, or of some other construction. However, some of these systems have problems sensing low/zero speed conditions. Light systems using rotating shutters are also known but do not work reliably in hostile automotive environments.
The use of optical sensors for determining the speed and/or torque of a rotating member has also been contemplated. Automobile manufacturers will eventually switch to optical fiber data communication systems to increase data capacity while reducing weight and cost. Optical sensors typically rely on modulating or changing a characteristic of electromagnetic energy and use a photoelectric device to convert that modulated characteristic into an electrical signal that can be further processed with conventional electronics. For example, optical speed sensors are known that utilize the Faraday rotation effect to detect the rotational speed of an object. Such an apparatus is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,035 issued to Zook et al. The "Domain diffraction" effect has also been used to detect the rotational speed of an object as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5, 192,862 issued to Rudd, Ill.
One disadvantage of the Faraday effect system is that it requires a polarization filter, which adds to the cost of the system. Another disadvantage is that the Faraday effect system requires a multi-mode fiber.
A potential feature of "Domain diffraction" effect systems when used with a multipole magnet frequency doubling. Frequency doubling occurs because the sensor is sensing magnetic strength, and not magnetic direction. Thus, the optical signal reaches a low point when the magnetic signal crosses zero, and the optical signal reaches a high point when the magnetic signal is at a positive or negative peak. If the magnetic fields have some bias ("imbalance" or "offset", where positive fields are not the same strength as negative fields), then the output cycles corresponding to the weaker pole direction will be smaller than those corresponding to the stronger poles. If the bias is very strong, there may be no flux reversal at all. In this case, the output frequency of the sensor would be the same as the frequency of the magnetic excitation (frequency doubling is completely lost).
Thus there is a need for an improved fiber optic sensor system for detecting movement or position of a rotating wheel bearing for use in anti-lock braking systems and traction control systems. There is also a need for reducing the cost needed to implement fiber optic sensor systems in anti-lock braking systems and traction control systems. There is yet a further need for an improved fiber Optic sensor system which is in a completely encased and sealed environment for packaging within a bearing assembly.

Fiber optic sensor system for detecting movement or position of a rotating wheel bearing


An improvement to multi-carrier communication, such as an OFDM and MC-CDMA system, where in a multipath or phase distorted channel, the received signal is flat with respect to frequency and linear with respect to phase. A first unit transmits a plurality of multi-carrier signals, which include unmodulated carrier signals. A second unit receives the plurality of multi-carrier signals, and determines the in-phase and quadrature amplitudes or powers of the unmodulated carrier signals of the received multi-carrier signal. The second unit compares the measured in-phase and quadrature amplitudes or powers of the unmodulated carrier signals to predetermined criteria, and generates adjusting data from the compared in-phase and quadrature amplitudes or powers. The first unit uses the adjusting data to pre-distort the next plurality of multi-carrier signals to be transmitted, the in-phase and quadrature amplitudes or powers of the plurality of multi-carrier signals. The first unit transmits, with the in-phase and quadrature phase adjusted per the adjusting data, the next plurality of multi-carrier signals, through the communications channel.

The present invention relates to multicarrier modulation schemes including spread-spectrum, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communications, and more particularly to a system and method to significantly improve the dynamic range, frequency reuse, capacity, and battery consumption for wireless communications through a novel automatic power control mechanism.

Power control in a multicarrier communications system


A playback control method, a player device, and a storage medium are provided. The method comprises: establishing the correspondence between a playback device and an account; establishing a connection between the playback device and the player device; allowing the account login via the correspondence between the playback device and the account; receiving and executing the playback control operation instruction of the playback device. By establishing a correspondence between the playback device and the account, once the connection between the playback device and the player is established, the account login can be directly allowed via the correspondence between the player and the account.

Player usually refers to software which can play video or audio files stored in form of digital signals, and also refers to an electronic product with a function of playing video or audio files. Besides a few waveform files, most of players are provided with a decoder to restore compressed media files, and need a full set of algorithms for frequency conversion and buffering. Music player is a kind of player.
At present, a flow for enabling a playing device to be authenticated to implement playing usually includes: the playing device establishing a connection with a player device, then a user inputting an account and a password of the playing device to complete login, and the player device receiving and performing play control for the playing device. The player device may be any of various terminal devices provided with a player.
In the above solution, the user needs to input the account and the password to complete the login. Therefore, the above solution is troublesome and results in low login efficiency.

Playback control method, player device, and storage medium

GUANGZHOU KUGOU COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A block copolymer, a method for preparing a block copolymer, a resin composition, and a film are provided. The block copolymer can be useful in inhibiting complete separation of the hard segment even under a severe high-temperature condition by increasing the chemical cross-linking density around the hard segment without causing an increase in glass transition temperature of the hard segment, thereby maintaining high-temperature durability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to a block copolymer, a method for preparing a block copolymer, a curable resin composition, and a film.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Phase separation of blocks occurs when a film is formed by using block copolymers having two or more immiscible blocks. In this case, phases such as spherical structure, gyroidal structure, cylindrical structure, and lamellar structure are exhibited according to the content ratios of the respective blocks.
Particularly, a phase having a spherical structure is a phase in which spherical domains are dispersed in the matrix. Thus, since the spherical domains may serve as physical cross-linking points, such a phase may be used in applied fields requiring thermoplastic properties, for example, technical fields requiring high heat resistance and durability.


The multi-chambered well dosage form and device disclosed herein can be single or multi dose capable for administration of pharmaceuticals of a range of particle sizes. The present dosage devices and systems provide for improved efficiency and patient ease of use owing to its compact size and simple design, low cost, and consistent, contamination free dosing of dry powder medicaments or other agents. The present disclosure provides a multi-chambered dosage form containing dry powder medical composition containing chamber well with an internal piercing device and one or more adjacent gas-filled chamber wells to aid the dispense of the powder contents to the user and in certain embodiments, without the requirement of an external energy sources common with active devices known in the art. Said methods, systems and devices provide increased ejection fraction and hence greater efficiency of drug delivery above that as provided by current devices.

Certain diseases and medical conditions that are systemic, intra-cranial or local are treatable via the administration of drugs and therapeutic agents taken topically or systemically through the eye, ear, mouth, nose, lungs or dermal skin layer. There are a growing number of medicaments that are most effectively manufactured, stored, delivered, and administered as a dry powder formulation. A number of pharmaceutical agents are deliverable as powders or particles orally to the lungs, sublingual, buccal or intra-nasally (including nose to brain), and may be administered for topical, systemic or intracranial deposition, including but not limited to antibiotics, antipyretics, anti-inflammatories, biologics, biosimilars, vitamins, botanicals, co-factors, enzymes, inhibitors, activators, nutrients, vaccines including DNA based killed or live virus or microorganisms, nucleic acids, proteins, peptides, antibodies, peptide mimetics, prophylactic or therapeutic immune-modulators, anti-viral and anti-bacterial compounds, biologics, diagnostic agents and other agents, pharmaceutical compositions or medicaments.
Solid formulated medicaments have a number of recognized advantages. Compound stability for certain agents is greater in solid form especially polypeptide and protein based biologics whose conformational and higher structure may tend to degrade or denature when in solution thus affecting their biological activity. Similarly, certain drug chemical compounds may tend to dissociate and degrade due to incremental pH shifts, Van der Waals and other forces resulting in diminished shelf life and drug efficacy. Consequently, unstable medicaments formulated as liquids must be refrigerated or even frozen to preserve their potency or effectiveness which adds cost and complicates deployment. This is especially troublesome in such cases whereby vaccines and other unstable medicaments must be distributed to remote areas and underdeveloped regions or very rapidly to large populations during a public health crisis under austere field conditions. Often unstable drugs must then be shipped in solid form and reconstituted back to liquid form at the time of administration thus delaying deployment and adding expense and the need for skilled personnel for proper utilization.
In certain other cases medicaments are designed in solid form to facilitate controlled release to result in sustained pharmacological concentrations of active ingredients over an extended period of time. For systemic treatments, powder based drugs delivered to mucosal surfaces via the nose, lungs or oral cavity offer a number of advantages including rapid drug uptake due to large mucosal surface area capable of systemic uptake, the avoidance of the harsh environment of the stomach and intestinal tract as in the case of pills, tablets, and capsules, and the avoidance of broad systemic and side effects often associated with parenterally administered drugs. Other advantages include enhanced bioavailability, reduced dose volume, and improved patient compliance and ease of self-administration. Powders can be formulated and dispensed to deliver medications topically to wounds, into the ear or nose to reach the upper respiratory tract for the treatment of a localized condition or as a prophylactic.
Typically these agents and medicaments are formulated and prepared from solution by recrystallization followed by milling, but for improved control over particle crystallinity, shape, mean size, and size distribution; lyophilization or various spray drying techniques known in the art are relied upon to produce a bulk powder with precise characteristics to aid in administration. Key characteristics include primarily the mean particle size as well as the distribution of sizes within the bulk powder. For a given inspiratory velocity initiated either nasally or orally, a certain mean particle size and mass is required to result in deposition to the targeted tissue location within the targeted area within the respiratory tract. Generally, smaller particles will tend to deposit deeper in the respiratory tract, more particularly; particles of 3 or fewer microns in diameter have a greater probability to reach the tissues of the lower lungs, with even smaller aerodynamic diameters preferred for enhanced systemic uptake. Conversely, larger particles of greater than 5 microns to the tens of microns or larger, owing to their larger mass are more likely to deposit proximally to the point of administration; most typically within the nasal cavity and passages when administered intranasally, or in the oral cavity or pharynx, larynx, or trachea if orally administered. The dispersity or polydispersity index describes the range and proportion of sizes within the bulk powder. Depending upon the targeted application location, a less disperse or mono-disperse powder may be desired to assure a specific deposition location or a more disperse powder may be necessary in order to impact a larger range of tissues such as the case with certain anti-viral therapies and vaccines where the intent is to contact the virus residing in several tissue areas and locations with the respiratory tract.
Other aspects of powder engineering are intended to impact the flowability, absorption efficiency and reduce the aggregation of the powders in order to aid in the friability of the material to increase the delivery efficiency, efficacy and rate of uptake. For that reason, certain excipients, carriers, or other matrix components may be added in defined quantity to the active dry pharmaceutical agent to impact particle shape, texture and surface properties for reduced adhesive and electrostatic forces in order to facilitate the breaking apart of settled or aggregated particles prior to and during dispense. Other excipients, carriers, or other matrix components may be added in defined quantity to the active dry pharmaceutical agent to impact mucosal absorption or dwell time on the targeted deposition site. Further, micro and nano particle formulations of drugs are often employed using biocompatible and degradable polymers as carriers.
All of these and other powder engineering principles play an important role in conjunction with the design of packaging and dispensing systems and devices to achieve precise delivery and dispense characteristics of powdered drugs. A variety of packaging and devices are known for delivering a controlled quantity of a dry pharmaceutical preparation to the ear, dermis, nose, nasal mucosa, sublingual, buccal, oral mucosa, pharyngeal, tracheal, and lower respiratory tissues.
Unlike liquid drug formulations, whereby a simple pump can deliver a precisely controlled quantity of drug as droplets with the required spray characteristics; drugs formulated as dry materials present additional challenges owing to the propensity of powders to settle and physically and chemically agglomerate. Thus it is necessary that the device must not only contain a single dose of material or be capable of metering it from a bulk source, but must also impart sufficient energy to agitate the material to break up the particles and propel them to the deposition site in the correct quantity and mean particle size in order to provide optimum deposition characteristics, and consequently the most advantageous therapeutic effect.
There exists numerous systems and devices to dispense powders to a human or other type of mammal; the basic designs of which vary depending upon the site of administration, target deposition zone and intended topical, systemic or intracranial application. For example, Dry Powder Inhalers (DPIs) is the class of devices that is a common type of device for delivering dry pharmaceutical preparations to a user most typically for pulmonary deposition via oral administration. Typically such devices require an external propellant, pressurizer or other external energy source which classified those devices generally as Active Dry Powder Inhalers (ADPIs). Alternatively, other devices rely solely on the inspiratory airflow of the user and hence are breath actuated and referred to as Passive Dry Powder Inhalers (PDPIs). Both approaches suffer from significant drawbacks. In the case of ADP's, owing to the need for a propellant or electromechanical componentry and often bulk storage of drug; the device itself can be complex, large, expensive, cumbersome, and inconvenient to handle and use. Passive devices while often smaller, less expensive and containing one or more individualized unit doses; often deliver inconsistent quantity of drug to the user with the variability of delivered dose a function of user inspiratory flowrate. Further, the passive devices often operate at a reduced efficiency as given by the fraction of the dose quantity actually delivered to the user. The reduced efficiency diminishes the cost effectiveness of the passive devices due to wasted drug material. The undispensed portion of the drug that remains is also left behind to contaminate the device, and in the case of multi-dose devices, possibly contaminate subsequent doses of drug.
In the case of pulmonary deposition, very small particles (1-5 microns) are preferred but smaller particles typically suffer from an increased tendency to form clumps due to hygroscopicity, adhesion and electrostatic forces. Prior art devices commonly rely on high velocity propellants or electromechanical agitation to de-aggregate the powder particles and deliver the material to the target deposition zone of the user. The means of providing the external energy source are widely varied and include pressurized canisters, propeller type agitators, mechanical, solenoid or piezoelectric based vibration to aid in particle deaggregation and delivery. For example, Gumaste in U.S. Pat. No. 7,950,390 discloses a microelectronic piezo vibrator to aid breaking apart the agglomerated particles and suspending them into the flow field. Such microelectronic systems offer improvements in the bulk size of the device as compared to Wilke et. al., who in U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,264 discloses a battery driven electro-mechanical vibrator to facilitate dispersion and release of the particles. These schemes, while incrementally different, consistently suffer from the disadvantage of system complexity due to the need for circuitry, motors, and electrical power sourcing. Additionally, these prior art devices often entail capsule based dosage forms externally pierced by various means often including retractable mechanical or motor driven pins, often arranged in multiple pin arrays and channels to facilitate increasing the fraction ejected from the dosage form.
Alternatively, passive devices rely upon the forceful inhalation of the user to disperse the particles and deliver them to the airway and the targeted tissues. In most prior art active and passive devices, the operation often entails a series of steps to facilitate administration of drug. Additionally, the dosage forms are often singularized into the form of capsules containing the prescribed dose quantity that must first be externally pierced in order to expose the compound to the velocity field. The other dosage form common in such devices are individual blisters either singularized or in strips or cartridges that are loaded into the dispensing device and also first require either piercing of the blister or peeling of the upper lidding layer to expose the contents. For example, Davies et al in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,590,645; 5,860,419; 5,873,360; 6,032,666 discloses an inhalation device with a multi-dosage configuration in the form of a strip of individual blisters containing the medicament. The base and lid materials are peeled apart as the strip is rotated into an opening station position and the two ends taken up on separate spools. Once in position and the contents exposed, the user then inhales the drug compound. This prior art device has the advantage of simplicity owing to the reliance upon the users inhalation as the primary means of particle dispersion and delivery. However, that approach may result in poor dose consistency; as measured by patient to patient variability or dose to dose variability of an individual patient. This variability is a consequence of the natural range of possible patient inspiratory rates and velocities. Further, the passive scheme as disclosed whereby no means are provided to augment the ejection of the blisters, may result in incomplete dosing and low efficiency of delivery whereby medication is left in the blister. Further, the undelivered quantity continues to reside within the opened blister and once indexed may fall out into the device interior, contaminating both the device and possibly subsequent doses.
Various devices within the prior art include measured quantities of dry powdered formulations and pharmaceutical compositions contained in a crushable ampoule, blister or other dosage form that entail forcing the form against an external piercing device during use, in order to pierce the dosage form and release the contents. The inherent disadvantages involve the reliance on external energy sources and/or solely upon the inhalation force of the user to adequately break apart the settled and aggregated dose material into individual particles. Often such prior art devices incorporate various aspects on the exterior of the dosage form or in the device itself such as channels, variously configured inlets, outlets, and orifices or other turbulence promoting means for improving the dispersion of the particles.
However, such schemes typically result in modest improvement in dose efficiency. The present invention addresses these disadvantages in the prior art devices by providing for an internally pierced dosage form that also includes one or more adjacent gas filled blister chamber(s) expressed in a manner to provide improved powder dosage delivery efficiency. Device technology has lagged current powder formulation and powder engineering capabilities such that the enhanced precision and effectiveness of new and existing powdered drugs can be fully harnessed. The present disclosure provides dosage forms with integrated dispense energetics for delivery of predetermined quantities of dry powder or granular pharmaceutical or medical compositions for local, intracranial and/or systemic action. Integrating the device energetics into the dosage form reduces overall device cost, complexity, and bulk to improve patient compliance and ease of use.

Devices and systems for air assisted dry powder administration


An adjustment system for repeated adjustment of a vehicle seat having a seat part and a support element are provided. The adjustment system includes a seat actuation unit for adjusting a seat position of the seat part and a support actuation unit for adjusting a support position of the support element. The seat actuation unit and the support actuation unit are arranged in a common reach area and are positioned next to each other. A vehicle seat using the adjustment system, a vehicle having the vehicle seat, and a method for making multiple adjustments to a vehicle seat via the adjustment system also are provided.

Vehicles having seats in which it is possible to make multiple adjustments to the vehicle seat are known from the related art. In particular, it is known with vehicle seats to adjust a seat part and to adjust a backrest relative to the seat part. In this context, the seat part of the vehicle seat may be adjusted vertically, that is to say the seat part may be adjusted to positions at various distances from a vehicle floor. The backrest may also be adjusted in terms of an angle thereof relative to the seat part, that is to say the backrest is pivotable towards the seat part and relative thereto about an axis of rotation. Various mechanisms are known for this adjustment. The mechanisms are actuated to make the adjustment via one operating or actuating unit each. In the known solutions, the operating unit for adjusting the height is located on the side of the seat part. The operating unit for adjusting the backrest is located in the area of the axis of rotation about which the backrest is pivotable or swivelable, to one side of the backrest. The two actuating units are therefore disposed at a distance from one another.
The backrest is adjusted via a lever mechanism arranged on the seat or via another actuating device fixed thereon. In this respect, stepless adjustments via actuators and discontinuous adjustment, that is to say stepped adjustment, via mechanical solutions are known. In the case of the mechanical adjustments, a locking or detent arrangement must be released in order to enable the adjustment, and must be locked to fix the adjustment. This is performed by means of a lever via which a force is transmitted to a ratcheted recliner mechanism. In this case, force is transmitted proportionally, that is to say a force to be transmitted increases with the distance travelled by the lever, or in the case of a rotary movement the turning moment increases with the angle of rotation. Due to intermediate positions of the ratcheted recliner mechanisms it is possible to make an adjustment when the ratcheted recliner mechanism is not fully released. If an adjustment is made in such intermediate position, undesirable side effects such as noise or increased wear occur.
From DE 38 00 924 C2 A is known a vehicle seat having an adjustment device for a backrest. The adjustment device comprises a fixed position bearing block, a swivel arm that is supported pivotably on the bearing block and is attached to the backrest and may be fixed in selectable angular positions via a locking device. The adjustment device is covered by a covering element in the direction facing the seat occupant. The bearing block is fastened to the seat part and the other parts of the adjustment device are arranged inside the backrest and connected thereto. The covering element is connected permanently to a part of the adjustment device and has a slot into which an upwardly protruding portion of the bearing block enters when the backrest is tilted forwards.
The actuating device for the known adjustment device is arranged directly on the seat that is to be adjusted, in the area of the axis of rotation. The arrangement for actuation is not ergonomic and is difficult to reach in conditions of limited space. Moreover, one adjustment characteristic is inconvenient for the user. The user or users must reach round in order to operate the seat adjustment.
Accordingly, at least one object herein is to provide a solution that offers a simpler, more convenient way to make an adjustment. In particular, to this end it is at least one object to provide a vehicle, a vehicle seat, an adjustment device and a method with which operating convenience when adjusting a seat is improved.

Adjustment system, vehicle seat, vehicle and method therefor


The invention relates to a process for converting cycle oils produced in catalytic cracking reactions into light olefin, preferably propylene. More particularly, the invention relates to a process for hydroprocessing a catalytically cracked light cycle oil, and then re-cracking in a second FCC reactor.

The invention relates to a process for converting cycle oils produced in catalytic cracking reactions into olefinic naphthas. More particularly, the invention relates to an out-board catalytic cracking process for converting a catalytically cracked light cycle oil (also referred to herein as light cat cycle oil or LCCO) into light olefins (C2-C5) and catalysts used in such processes.
Cycle oils such as LCCO produced in fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) reactions contain two-ring aromatic species such as naphthalene. The need for blendstocks for forming low emissions fuels has created an increased demand for FCC products that contain a diminished concentration of multi-ring aromatics. There is also an increased demand for FCC products containing light olefins that may be separated for use in alkylation, oligomerization, polymerization, and MTBE and ETBE synthesis processes. There is a particular need for low emissions, high-octane FCC products having an increased concentration of C2-C4 olefins and reduced concentration of multi-ring aromatics and olefins of higher molecular weight.
Hydroprocessing a cycle oil and re-cracking hydroprocessed cycle oil results in conversion of the cycle oil to a motor gasoline blend-stock. In some conventional processes, the hydroprocessed cycle oil is recycled to the FCC unit from which it was derived. In other conventional processes the hydroprocessed cycle oil is re-cracked in an additional catalytic cracking unit, sometimes referred to as an outboard catalytic cracker.
Some conventional hydroprocessing operations hydroprocess cycle oil such as LCCO to only partially saturate bicyclic hydrocarbons such as naphthalene to produce tetrahydronaphthalene. Hydroprocessing and subsequent LCCO re-cracking may occur in the primary reactor vessel. Hydroprocessed LCCO may also be injected into the FCC feed riser at a point downstream of feed injection to provide for feed quenching.
Unfortunately, such re-cracking of hydroprocessed LCCO results in undesirable hydrogen transfer reactions that convert unsaturated species such as tetrahydronaphthalene into aromatics such as naphthalene and decreases the olefin yield from the outboard catalytic cracker.
There remains a need, therefore, for new processes for light olefins produced from hydroprocessed cycle oils such as LCCO.
Accordingly, one embodiment of the present invention comprises a fluid catalytic cracking process that comprises the steps of: (a) contacting a FCC feed with a catalytic cracking catalyst in a first catalytic cracking stage under catalytic cracking conditions to produce cracked products; (b) separating at least a cycle oil fraction containing aromatics from the cracked products; (c) hydrogenating at least a fraction of the aromatics in the cycle oil fraction in the presence of a hydrogenating catalyst under hydrogenation conditions to form a hydrogenated cycle oil; and, (d) contacting the hydrogenated cycle oil with a catalytic cracking catalyst under catalytic cracking conditions in a second fluid catalytic cracking stage to form a second cracked product, wherein the second fluid catalytic cracking stage is separate from the first second fluid catalytic cracking stage and wherein the catalyst of the second fluid catalytic cracking stage comprises between about 50 and about 95 wt. % shape-selective zeolite, and between about 5 and about 50 wt. % of a large-pore zeolite having a pore diameter greater than or equal to about 0.7 nm.
Another embodiment of the present invention comprises a process for catalytically cracking a cycle oil to selectively increase the yield of light olefins comprising the steps of: (a) contacting a FCC feed with a catalytic cracking catalyst under catalytic cracking conditions in a first FCC reactor to form a first cracked product comprising a cycle oil fraction comprising aromatic species; (b) separating the first cracked product from the catalyst of the first FCC reactor; (c) stripping the catalyst of the first FCC reactor; (d) contacting the catalyst of the first FCC reactor with a gas comprising oxygen; (e) passing the catalyst of the first FCC reactor back to the first FCC reactor; (f) separating at least a portion of the cycle oil fraction from the first cracked product; (g) hydrogenating a substantial portion of the aromatic species in the cycle oil in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst under hydroprocessing conditions to form a substantially hydrogenated cycle oil, wherein the hydrogenation catalyst comprises at least one Group VIII metal and at least one Group VI metal on at least one refractory support, wherein the Group VI metal is selected from the group consisting of Pt and Pd, wherein the weight of the aromatic species in the hydrogenated cycle oil is less than about 1% of the total weight of the hydrogenated cycle oil; (h) contacting the hydrogenated cycle oil with a catalytic cracking catalyst under catalytic cracking conditions in a separate second FCC reactor to form a second cracked product, wherein the catalyst used in the second FCC reactor comprises wherein the catalyst used in the second FCC reactor comprises between about 80 and about 95 wt. % ZSM-5, and between about 5 and about 20 wt. % of a large-pore zeolite having a pore diameter greater than or equal to about 0.7 nm and a unit cell size less than 24.27 xc3x85; (i) separating the second cracked product from the catalyst of the second FCC reactor; (j) stripping the catalyst of the second FCC reactor; (k) contacting the catalyst of the second FCC reactor with a gas comprising oxygen; and, (l) passing the catalyst of the second FCC reactor to said second FCC reactor back to the second FCC reactor.

Cycle oil conversion process incorporating shape-selective zeolite catalysts

ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company


Measuring devices that can be incorporated with gripping tools are described. The measuring devices can be integral to a gripping tool or can be removably attachable to a gripping tool. The measuring devices can be incorporated in conjunction with a gripping tool for use in a medical application such as a clamp, a hemostat, a forceps, or the like. Devices can be utilized to determine a straight length and/or to determine the spread of the jaws a gripping tool associated with the device.

During medical procedures, the need often arises to measure distances of a relatively small size such as puncture depths, foreign object sizes, wound sizes, abscess sizes, and the like. Such dimensions are often necessary to gauge the level and type of care required for a patient. Moreover, this need is also becoming necessary for administrative purposes. For instance, proper and timely insurance remuneration can depend upon the accurate reporting of the details of a medical procedure including the dimensions of embedded objects, wounds, etc. Three typical such situations are illustrated in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3. FIG. 1 illustrates a foreign object 10 in a patient's foot and FIG. 2 illustrates a foreign object 12 in a patient's nose, such foreign objects must be described in required written reports according to size, location, etc. and can require different treatment options depending on their size, depth, etc. FIG. 3A illustrates a facial laceration 3 and FIG. 3B illustrates the laceration following suturing. Both the overall wound size and the laceration description must include dimensional information for both medical and administrative purposes.
FIG. 4 illustrates a common damping tool (a hemostat) that is used in medical procedures to clamp and manipulate physiological structures as well as to grip, stabilize, and remove foreign objects embedded in a body. Unfortunately, a separate instrument is presently required to provide information with regard to distances such as in situ depth and/or size of an embedded foreign object, size of a wound, etc. While foreign objects can be measured following removal, in situ measurement is desirable to properly obtain not only the subdermal depth of the object but also to be sure that the entire object is removed via post-removal measurement confirmation.
In response to such medical needs and administrative requirements, suggestions have been put forth to include measuring devices in sterile procedure trays. While this would be of benefit, it would also increase the size and cost of sterile trays as well as the amount of waste associated with a procedure.
What are needed in the art are measuring devices that can be integrated with existing tools and in one particular embodiment, with medical tools.


A system and method for managing the reserved memory in a microcomputer copies selected portions of reserved memory to a new reserved memory having a faster access time, and allows any free portions of the new reserved memory to be accessed by a typical software application. After the selected portions of reserved memory are copied, all access to an address within a selected portion are re-directed to the new reserved memory. Any free portions of new reserved memory have additional, accessible memory re-mapped to these free portions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a system and method for efficiently managing the reserved memory of a microcomputer.
2. Related Art
Within the internal memory of a microcomputer, certain addresses of memory are set aside to perform special system functions, and are thus not available for typical software applications to use. In the case of microcomputers, this memory, known generally as reserved memory (and referred to as original reserved memory herein), typically includes portions which can comprise video memory, the basic input/output system (BIOS) whose contents are accessed during and after the initialization of the microcomputer, and memory set aside for use by peripheral devices. Some of these portions of original reserved memory are read-only, such as the BIOS and video ROM (read-only memory), whereas some can be read/write such as the video RAM (random access memory).
In most microcomputers, the BIOS and video ROM are stored on an EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory). This type of memory device is slower than other read/write memory devices, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Since the video ROM and BIOS are typically utilized very frequently, these ROMs are often copied to a memory device (referred to herein as new system memory) having faster access time.
In view of the desirability of copying the slower, original reserved memory to a new, faster memory, a technique known as "shadowing" was devised. This technique allows for the copying of select portions of the original reserved memory to a new system memory, and then subsequently accessing the copied portions residing on the new system memory in lieu of accessing the selected portions of the original reserved memory. In a typical shadowing scheme, the selected portions of the original reserved memory and the corresponding portions of the new system memory (to which the selected portions of the original reserved memory are copied) are at the same memory address locations. (The new system memory having address locations corresponding to the original system memory is referred to herein as shadow memory.)
To avoid corruption of data, it is important that both the selected portions of the original reserved memory being copied and corresponding portions of shadow memory are not enabled at the same time. Thus, once the selected portions of original reserved memory are copied to the shadow memory, access to the selected portions of original reserved memory are directed to the corresponding portions of the shadow memory. Reading from the shadow memory allows for quicker and more efficient access of the BIOS and any other portions of the original reserved memory that have been selected to be shadowed.
Conventionally, shadowing is performed by copying the contents of the selected portions of the original reserved memory to be shadowed to some temporary memory location. Once these selected portions are transferred into these temporary memory locations, the selected portions of the original reserved memory are disabled, and the corresponding portions of shadow memory are enabled. Then, in a second step, the contents of these temporary locations are copied into the shadow memory at the same memory address locations from which they originally came. Thereafter, access to the selected portions of the original reserved memory results in the access of corresponding portions of the shadow memory.
The problem with the conventional approach of shadowing is that it requires a two step process, in that the selected portions of the original reserved memory require a first step of being written to a temporary memory location, and then require a second step of being written to the corresponding portions in the shadow memory. In addition, the conventional approach also utilized a scheme in which a first indicator is used to determine whether the original reserved memory or the shadow memory is to be accessed, and a second indicator to determine if write-access to the shadow memory is to be permitted. The purpose of the second indicator is to prevent the shadow memory to be inadvertently written to once the contents of original reserved memory had been copied to the shadow memory. Without this second indicator, corruption of the shadow memory could otherwise result.
A problem with the above two-indicator approach is that it wastes states. For example, there would be no purpose in activating the second indicator unless the first indicator indicated that the shadow memory was to be accessed.
The conventional approach of memory management of reserved memory has another significant deficiency and problem as follows. After the selected portions of the reserved memory have been copied into the shadow memory, it is often the case that much of the shadow memory is free memory that is not utilized. That is, it is usually the case that at least some of the portions of the original reserved memory are not shadowed, and the corresponding portions in the shadow memory remain unused. Since typical software applications are not designed to be able to access reserved memory for general storage purposes, these free portions of shadow memory are wasted, unless some mechanism/approach is devised to allow access to these free portions. By "typical software application", it is simply meant a software application that is not specifically designed to write to addresses within the original reserved memory.
Conventional methods exist for accessing the free portions of shadow memory, but they are all deficient in certain respects. In one conventional method, special expanded memory drivers are used to logically re-map accessible memory locations to the free memory. However, these expanded memory drivers are utilized during run-time of the software applications rather than during initialization of the microcomputer, and tend to degrade system performance.
Another conventional scheme is to re-map the highest address that the microcomputer is capable of addressing to portions of shadow memory. The disadvantage of this conventional method is that the memory location from which the free memory is re-mapped sometimes does not border on existing memory locations, and thus the total available memory is not contiguous. That is, there is a gap between the top location of system memory and the bottom location of the additional memory made available by the re-mapping.
Further, all conventional re-mapping schemes only allow free reserved memory to be re-mapped from below the address corresponding to 16 megabytes. Thus, if there is more than 16 megabytes of new system memory, the free reserved memory cannot be re-mapped to.
Moreover, conventional re-mapping schemes do not permit typical software applications to access this free reserved memory. The conventional re-mapping schemes only allow the free reserved memory to be accessed for special purposes, such as for disk cache memory. Thus, computer programs need to be customized to take advantage of this free memory in conventional microcomputer systems and methods.

System and method for shadowing and re-mapping reserved memory in a microcomputer


A process is provided for the gasification of a carbonaceous fuel to produce a synthesis gas whereby a secondary stream of oxygen is indirectly heated from said synthesis gas and passed to the gasifier to augment the primary oxygen supply.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the production of a synthesis gas by a reaction of a carbonaceous material with oxygen, oxygen enriched air or air and steam at elevated temperatures.
When oxygen is used in a purity range above 90 volume percent, the synthesis gas is rich in carbon monoxide and hydrogen and is an excellent feed material for the synthesis of various chemicals such as, for example, ammonia, methanol and various hydrocarbons. On the other hand, if air or oxygen enriched air is used then the synthesis gas is dilluted with nitrogen contained in the air and the synthesis gas becomes a fuel gas.
2. Prior Practice
A number of processes, for example, the Koppers-Totzek Process produce synthesis gases from carbonaceous material. A typical process involves the gasification of coal by the reaction of coal with oxygen and water vapor at elevated temperatures. The resulting gas generally consists of two predominant components; carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The ratio which these two components bear to each other depends upon factors such as the gasification process employed, the kind of carbonaceous material, and the relative ratios of the coal and oxygen and steam used. Attempts are made to adjust the ratio of these constituents in the resulting gas to the ultimate desired for the particular use to be made of the gas.
In the coal gasification process, as exemplified for example by the Koppers-Totzek Process, a mixture of the finely pulverized fuel, steam and oxygen is fed into the reactor where, at a high temperature, the reaction of the ingredients of the mixture is almost instantaneous to produce the gas. The gas discharges from the top and most of the ash from the coal becomes a fluid slag and flows from the bottom of the reactor. Although the reaction from the ultimate standpoint appears simple and to take place almost instantaneously, it is postulated that two reactions take place. Some of the carbon of the coal reacts exothermically with the oxygen to provide the quality of heat to raise the temperature of the reacting mass to such a degree that the rest of the carbon can be reacted endothermically with the steam to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The ratios of the fuel, oxygen and steam to be used can be varied to an extent to obtain a desired final gas composition, but it is appreciated that inasmuch as these are fed together as a mixture into the reactor it is difficult to change the individual constituents to any great degree. If a less pure oxygen such as oxygen-enriched air or air alone be used, the accompanying inert nitrogen dilutes the reaction mass. The presence of the diluent uses considerable amounts of energy, tending to consume more coal in bringing the reaction mass to the reaction temperature and dilute the final gas composition as far as such may be reflected in its Btu content or usable constituents such as the carbon monoxide and hydrogen. If either oxygen stream were preheated wtih gasifier hot synthesis gas then the coal usage would be lowered and the gasifier synthesis gas quality would be improved as regards to the production of carbon monoxide and hydrogen because the carbon dioxide level would be reduced since a lower quantity of exothermic heat would be required for the reaction.

Method for heating oxygen containing gas in conjunction with a gasification system


A lead-in guide and starting locator for use with a sheet metal card guide or similar structure is disclosed. The disclosed lead-in guide is preferably of a one piece construction and is most preferably molded or machined from a plastic material. The lead-in guide of the present invention provides multiple board lead-in slots and preferably includes integral retention pegs for quick mechanical attachment or can be held in place by a separate fastener. In a preferred embodiment, the lead-in guide has a top surface cut by a series of grooves that will be aligned with the slots in the card guide. Preferably, the lead-in guide has a front section that is somewhat thicker than the rest of the lead-in guide. As explained below, this permits the grooves to be cut to a depth such that the bottom of the groove in the thicker section is aligned with the bottom of the slots in the card guide, and the groove through the thinner section is actually cut all the way through such that its bottom surface is the sheet metal rack when it is installed.

Printed circuit board chassis are typically fabricated using stamped and formed sheet metal so that they meet structural requirements while maintaining low tooling costs, reduced design time and reduced delivery time. Stamped sheet metal chassis typically also provide structures compatible with creating proper airflow through a cabinet and minimize wall thicknesses, an important consideration for clearances within densely packed enclosures.
Printed circuit boards themselves are usually densely populated, and are therefore heavy and can easily be damaged when they are inserted into tightly-spaced card racks. This problem is aggravated when individual card guides formed in sheet metal components are set back from the front of the rack due to design constraints such as existing tooling, air management, nut bar locations, and the like.
Stamped sheet metal circuit card racks are nonetheless presently the preferred type of chassis, despite the limitations they impose on the lead-in or starting position for inserting boards. The leading edge of the guide should be gradual and curved, to conform to stamping and forming requirements, however, as noted above, the stamped construction also often dictates that it is recessed from the front of the chassis. A recessed lead-in, however, is not desirable since the distance between the edge of the rack and the entry point of the lead in provides an opportunity for misalignment and card damage. Thus, there is a need to develop improvements in stamped sheet metal circuit card guides, and in particular it would be desirable to improve the lead-in and move the entry point closer to the edge of the enclosure.
A number of prior patents disclose card mounting slots molded in plastic that extend across the full width of the enclosure. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,723,823--Lit et al. discloses a printed circuit board guide of molded plastic which, as illustrated in FIG. 2 thereof, has an integral molded lead-in section and a board-retaining section. The disclosed printed circuit board guide extends across the width of the enclosure and is substantially the same length as the width of the board being held in place. U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,099--Calabro discloses a printed circuit board guide in the form of a track mounting device molded from plastic that extends across the width of the enclosure and is substantially the same width as the width of the board that is being retained. The plastic board mounting device is attached to the sheet metal of the electronics enclosure using integral elements in the form of a split post that acts as a fastener. U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,290--Wetherbee discloses a device for use in an enclosure that has full length card slots disposed a fixed distance apart. A disclosed cantilever card guide is affixed to one side wall of the enclosure and also extends across the full width, permitting circuit boards of less than the full height to be mounted in the enclosure.
Others have attempted to create improved card guides using full width metal channels, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,778--Peyerl, which discloses a card guide that has a lead-in section, and is adaptable to accommodate either the edge of a circuit board in a groove, or to present an edge that engages a groove in a circuit card. U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,937--Stockmaster discloses a rack formed from structural shapes of metal that has full length card slots individually mounted on the angle pieces that form the frame of the enclosure.
It is also known in the prior art to retain a circuit card only near its edges, i.e., the channel in which the card rests does not extend across the full width of the enclosure. These types of card guides are not used in conjunction with another card guide, such as a sheet metal card guide, but function as both the lead-in and the card retention structure. U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,228--Erlam discloses modular card frames adaptable between two different heights. The card locations are defined by end pieces that are connected by a bar, and the end pieces are attached to the assembly by pegs that extend from cross rails. U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,032--Scagnelli discloses edge guides that are a series of spring fingers that both guide and support the circuit board. U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,485--Wright et al. discloses edge guides that are essentially a flat bar with grooves running across the width of the bar.
A lead-in guide placed in front of a card guide is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,075,683--Johansson et al. The disclosed design provides a molded lead-in portion that is slid into a specially designed bar by the cooperation of a molded flange on the lead-in guide and a groove in the bar.
The molded card slots, edge guides, lead-in guides and other alternate construction techniques disclosed in the prior art discussed immediately above all require greater tooling costs as well as increased material wall thicknesses. As noted above, increasing wall thicknesses is not desirable since the increased chassis material reduces the available space within the enclosure. Thus, there remains a need for improvements in the lead in section of stamped metal circuit card guides.

Lead-in guide for printed circuit boards


The present invention relates to various improvements to a device for access and tracking to a track carried by an information medium, the information being readable and/or recordable optically by a focused radiation, this track forming, on the medium, regularly-spaced or variably spaced revolutions, the revolutions forming a spiral or having the form of concentric circular elements, the device comprising an optical head (1) with optical axis A orthogonal to the plane of the medium, a fixed magnetic circuit comprising at least one core (7) secant to the set of revolutions of the track, in the gap of which two coils (14, 15) move permitting respectively track access and radial tracking to be achieved, as well as focusing of the radiation onto the track, the optical head and the two coils being fixed rigidly to one another in such a way as to form a single compact mobile unit.. According to one improvement, the two coils (14, 15) are set in a symmetric arrangement, the desired movement being obtained by addition of forces (F, F') induced by the currents flowing in the coils.

The present invention relates to various improvements to the access and tracking device for an optical disc described in French Patent Application No. 89-08800 filed on 30 Jun. 1989 in the name of ART TECH GIGADISC "ATG".
This Patent Application describes a device for access to and tracking of a track on an information medium, the information being readable and/or recordable optically by a focused beam such as an optical disc, which exhibits the lightest and the most compact structure possible. For this reason, the elements of the access and tracking device such as the optical head and the two coils associated with the motor-devices permitting respectively access and radial tracking, as well as focusing, to be achieved are fixed rigidly to one another in such a way as to form a single compact mobile unit moving in the gaps in the magnetic circuits. Hence, as represented in FIG. 1, the access and tracking device described in French Patent No. 89-08800 essentially comprises at least one optical head 1 which will be described in more detail later, a first coil 2 for access and radial tracking and a second coil 3 for focusing. This assembly forms a compact unit. In fact, as represented in FIG. 1, the optical head 1 is constituted more particularly by a cylindrical element 1' carrying, at its upper end, a focusing lens 4 and, at its lower end, a return mirror 5 intended to reflect the beam given off by the laser source towards the optical disc, not shown. The axis A of the head is placed orthogonally to the plane of the disc. This head 1 is fixed on a rigid support element 6 which is integrated with the coil 2. This coil 2 can be moved in translation in the gap of a first fixed magnetic circuit. In order to simplify the drawing, only the central core 7 of the first fixed magnetic circuit has been represented. In a known way, this core 7 is secant to all the grooves or revolutions of the optical disc and extends over a length equal to at least the useful recording length augmented by the length of the mobile unit. This first magnetic circuit, in association with the coil 2, thus forms the first motor device permitting access and tracking of the track. Moreover, as represented in FIG. 1, below the coil 2 is fixed, by means of a fixing system such as brackets or rigid elements, not shown, a coil 3 used for focusing. This coil 3 can be moved in the gap of a second magnetic circuit, not shown in FIG. 1, which, in association with the coil 3, forms the second motor device permitting focusing. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 1, the mobile unit comprises an anti-pitching device 8 which consists, in the embodiment represented, of a slide 9 into which can slide a stem 10 fixed at one end to the mobile unit and bearing at its other end specific anti-pitching means whose shape corresponds to the shape of the slide 9.
As shown in FIGS. 1 or 2, the coil 2 may be constituted by a cylindrical frame with axis parallel to a radius of the disc onto which is wound at least one conductor whose turns are oriented, in their active part, along the optical axis of the head. In the embodiment represented in FIG. 1, the coil 3 is constituted by a flat coil of substantially elliptical shape. This coil comprises conductors oriented perpendicularly to the optical axis A of the optical head 1.
In order to simplify the mobile unit and render it more compact, French Patent Application No. 89-08800 also proposes a solution using only a single magnetic circuit to produce the two access and radial tracking as well as focusing devices. In this case, an access and radial tracking coil 2 is used, as well as a focusing coil 3' such as those represented in FIG. 2. The coil 2 is substantially identical to the coil 2 of FIG. 1. In this case, the coil 2 is a self-supporting coil obtained by cylindrically winding a conductor, the rigidity of the coil being provided solely by the bonding of the various turns. However, the coil 2 could also be produced by winding on a cylindrical former. The sides 2a and 2b represent the active parts of the conductor or of the conductors of the coil 2. The coil 3 is then constituted by a flat coil bent into a U in such a way as to be fitted under the access coil 2. In this case, the parts 3'a and 3'b are the active portions of the conductor or of the conductors of the coil 3'.
With the coils described above, only one magnetic circuit is in operation. However, this type of coil exhibits a certain number of drawbacks. The bonding of the two coils is difficult to produce. Moreover, as the lower coil is fixed to the coil 2 only by a film of adhesive, resonance phenomena are observed. Furthermore, in order to keep these resonances to a sufficiently-high frequency, aluminium wires have to be used, which are more problematic in use than copper wires.

Access and tracking device for an optical disc


A light emitting device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes a first semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type having a first surface, and an active region formed overlying the first semiconductor layer. The active region includes a second semiconductor layer which is either a quantum well layer or a barrier layer. The second semiconductor layer is formed from a semiconductor alloy having a composition graded in a direction substantially perpendicular to the first surface of the first semiconductor layer. The light emitting device also includes a third semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type formed overlying the active region.

III-Nitride light emitting devices are based on semiconducting alloys of nitrogen with elements from group III of the periodic table. Examples of such III-Nitride devices include InxAlyGa1−x−yN light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs).
The active regions of InxAlyGa1−x−yN LEDs and LDs typically include one or more InxAlyGa1−x−yN quantum well and barrier layers. These layers typically have alloy compositions which differ from each other and differ from the surrounding layers in the device. As a consequence of these composition differences, the layers in the active region of an InxAlyGa1−x−yN light emitting device are typically biaxially strained. It should be noted that in the notation InxAlyGa1−x−yN, 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1, and x+y≦1.
InxAlyGa1−x−yN crystals such as those from which InxAlyGa1−x−yN light emitting devices are formed typically adopt either the wurtzite or the zinc blende crystal structure. Both of these crystal structures are piezoelectric. That is, both develop an internal electric field when stressed. In addition, the low symmetry of the wurtzite crystal structure produces a spontaneous polarization. As a result of their biaxial strain and of the piezoelectric nature of InxAlyGa1−x−yN, and as a result of the spontaneous polarization (when present), the quantum well layers and barrier layers in an InxAlyGa1−x−yN light emitting device typically experience strong internal electric fields even when the device is unbiased.
For example, FIG. 1 shows a schematic band structure diagram for a portion of an unbiased prior art InxAlyGa1−x−yN LED active region including GaN barrier layer 2, InxGa1−xN quantum well layer 4, and GaN barrier layer 6. The two horizontal axes in FIG. 1 represent position in the active region in a direction perpendicular to the layers. The interfaces between the layers are indicated by dashed lines. The lower vertical axis represents the energy of the conduction band edge 8 and of the valence band edge 10 in the various layers. The upper vertical axis represents the concentration of indium in the alloys from which the various layers are formed. Layers 2, 4, and 6 are of wurtzite crystal structure with the c-axis of the crystal substantially perpendicular to the layers and directed from layer 2 toward layer 6. In the prior art active region, the mole fraction of indium is constant across the width of quantum well layer 4.
In the absence of a spontaneous polarization, piezoelectric fields, and an externally applied bias, the conduction band edge 8 and valence band edge 10 would be nominally flat within each layer. In the band structure depicted in FIG. 1, however, piezoelectric fields have tilted the band edges. This tilting adversely affects the performance of a light emitting device including the illustrated active region. As a result of this tilting, for example, the electron wave function 12 and the hole wave function 14 are concentrated on opposite sides of InxGa1−xN quantum well 4. The spatial overlap of these wave functions is therefore reduced by the piezoelectric field, leading to a decrease in the probabilities of spontaneous and stimulated emission of light from the active region and an increase in the probability that electrons and holes injected into the active region will relax nonradiatively or leak out of the active region. Hence, the piezoelectric field decreases the operating efficiency of InxAlyGa1−x−yN LEDs and the optical gain in InxAlyGa1−x−yN LDs. Consequently, the piezoelectric field makes high brightness InxAlyGa1−x−yN LEDs and low threshold InxAlyGa1−x−yN LDs difficult to achieve.
Another consequence of the piezoelectric field in InxAlyGa1−x−yN light emitting devices is a reduction of the emission energy. Charge injected during operation of the device partially screens the piezoelectric field, however, and results in an increase of the emission energy as the carrier density in the quantum well layer is increased. In high-indium-content quantum well layers this shift can result in drastic color changes with variation in injection current.
What is needed is an InxAlyGa1−x−yN light emitting device in which the problems associated with the internal piezoelectric field have been overcome.

Light emitting diodes with graded composition active regions


A major amount of 1,2-dichloroethane (D12) and lesser amounts of trichloroethane and tetrachloroethane are prepared by contacting carbon tetrachloride, ethylene and oxygen (or an oxygen-containing gas, notably air) with an oxychlorination catalyst at a temperature sufficient to produce D12, and thereafter separating such D12 from the products of reaction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the synthesis of 1,2-dichloroethane by oxychlorination of ethylene by means of carbon tetrachloride.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to this art that chlorination of ethylene produces 1,2-dichloroethane (D12) which, by simple pyrolysis, is converted into vinyl chloride (VCM) and hydrochloric acid (HCl). HCl is recycled to produce D12 according to the following oxychlorination reaction mechanism (1): EQU 2C.sub.2 H.sub.4 +O.sub.2 +4 HCl.fwdarw.2C.sub.2 H.sub.4 Cl.sub.2 +2 H.sub.2 O (1)
This oxychlorination reaction makes it possible to utilize the chlorine contained in the HCl.
The above processes are described in Ullmann's Encyclopedia Of Chemical Industry, 5th edition, volume A 6, pages 263-270 and 283-291.
French Patent No. 2,260,551 describes the oxychlorination of heavy chlorinated residues, namely, the reaction between these residues of ethylene and oxygen to produce perchloroethylene, trichloroethane, tetrachloroethane and D12.
South African Patent Application No. 71-5,781, published Mar. 27, 1972, describes a process for the oxychlorination of ethylene, to prepare a mixture of perchloroethylene and trichloroethylene.
According to this prior art, the ethylene, the oxygen and the chlorine are passed over a fluidized bed catalyst based on copper chloride deposited onto a porous support, at a temperature ranging from 410.degree. to 440.degree. C. The reaction is carried out in the presence of carbon tetrachloride originating from the recycling of the products exiting the fluidized bed. The products exiting the fluidized bed are cooled to condense perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene and carbon tetrachloride. The latter (CCl.sub.4) is mixed with the feed gases (C.sub.2 H.sub.4, Cl.sub.2 and air) and is thus recycled to the fluidized bed. The perchloroethylene and trichloroethylene constitute at least 50 mol % of the chlorinated products exiting the fluidized bed. The amount of CCl.sub.4 is constant and the CCl.sub.4 does not accumulate. Its concentration does not exceed 10 mol % relative to the organic compounds charged into the fluidized bed, and this corresponds to a few percent relative to the total amount of the inlet gases. The amount of chlorine, in the form of Cl.sub.2, ranges from 40% to 75% of the chlorine-containing reactants introduced into the fluidized bed, about 2% to 8% is in the form of HCl and the remainder is organic chlorine-containing compounds (including CCl.sub.4). The atomic ratio of oxygen to carbon at the inlet to the fluidized bed ranges from 0.85 to 2. The overall result of this reaction, accordingly, is to produce perchloroethylene and trichloroethylene while consuming ethylene, chlorine (Cl.sub.2) and oxygen.

Synthesis of 1,2-dichloroethane by CCl.sub.4 oxychlorination of ethylene


The orally administrable pharmaceutical compositions containing a slightly water-soluble drug, characterized by improved stability and improved absorption of the drug from digestive tract into blood. The use of the compositions of the present invention enables decrease of the dose amount of a slightly water-soluble drug, which eventually leads to alleviation of pains and side effects on the part of patients.

The present invention relates to orally administrable pharmaceutical compositions containing a slightly water-soluble drug. The pharmaceutical compositions for oral use according to the present invention are based on the characteristic properties of improved absorption From digestive tract into blood and improved stability.
Due to poor absorption of slightly water-soluble drugs, particularly dihydropyridine derivatives and lipoxygenase inhibitors, from digestive tract, there has been a strong demand for the development of pharmaceutical formulations which afford good absorption in clinical applications. In order to improve absorption, addition of an absorbefacient, improvement of dosage form designs, etc. are necessary, and generally employed means of formulation are pulverization of crystals, noncrystallization, addition of surfactants, cyelodextrin inclusion, emulsification, dissolution in polyethylene glycol, vegetable oil, etc., or the like. However, none of these affords sufficient absorption from digestive tract.
In addition, dihydropyridine derivatives are specifically unstable to light, and for this reason, they are prepared into light-resistant preparations or colored preparations and stored in light-resistant containers.

Pharmaceutical Composition containing slightly water-soluble drug


A split boost converter is disclosed herein, suitable for both single phase and three phase AC input applications. It provides two equal but unparallelable output voltages stored on two separate independent output capacitors. The implementation supports two modes of operation in which two power switches are operated simultaneously or alternately. Each mode maintains the advantage of a reduced boost inductor size. In the first mode the charging of the capacitors in parallel circuits and their discharge in a series connection substantially reduces ripple current in the inductor permitting the user of a smaller inductor. In the second mode the capacitors are charged and discharged in differing time intervals achieving a similar result. The circuit is operable with input voltages which must exceed the voltages of its two output capacitors.

Boost converters are commonly used in high power factor applications as line conditioners. The boost stage processes the AC input and develops a DC output voltage, typically 400 V or 800 V. Boost converters are typically the topology of choice for providing a high output voltage (i.e., 400 V or 800 V) from substantially lower input DC voltages derived from sinusoidal input voltages. In applications with high AC input voltage (i.e., 320 to 480 VAC) where an intermediate DC bus voltage of 700 to 800 V is necessary, a soft-switched boost is often used to maintain the overall efficiency of the rectifier. For lower AC input voltage applications, a simple snubber to slow down the turn-off of the boost diode is all that is necessary to obtain a boost efficiency of 96-98%. In recent years, several new topologies have been proposed in which the semiconductor switching losses arc minimized by adding an auxiliary active circuit. The addition of the auxiliary circuit is an elegant solution but it results in increased cost and complexity.
A recent paper by Y. Jiang and F. C. Lee, entitled "Three-Level Boost Converter for Application in Single Phase Power Factor Correction", Virginia Power Electronics Center (VPEC) Power Electronics Seminar Proceedings, 1994, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va., pp. 127-133 suggests a configuration for a boost stage that accommodates semiconductor devices rated for approximately half the normal output voltage, (i.e., V.sub.0 /2) for use in high voltage, single-phase applications. Jiang and Lee's circuit, which they call a three-level boost, provides two unparallelable but equal output voltages. By reducing the maximum voltage stresses across the semiconductor devices, a zero-voltage switching topology becomes less important to maintain high efficiency. In addition to reducing the voltage stresses across all semiconductor devices to half of the normal output bus voltage, the three-level boost also decreases the size of the boost inductor without compromising EMI performance.

Boost topology with two outputs for power factor correction application


The present invention relates to wireless communication systems involving multiple local area networks. A communication system according to the present invention includes a plurality of local area networks (LANs). Each of the LANs includes: a network backbone; and at least one access point coupled to the network backbone which, when a mobile terminal is registered to the access point, enables the mobile terminal to communicate wirelessly with a device on the network backbone via the at least one access point. When the mobile terminal is registered to at least one access point in one of the plurality of LANs the mobile terminal is assigned a first network address, and when the mobile terminal is registered to at least one access point in another of the plurality of LANs the mobile terminal is assigned a second network address in place of the first network address, the second network address being different from the first network address. The mobile communication system also includes a system backbone interconnecting the plurality of LANs for permitting communications between the plurality of LANs. Furthermore, the system includes a gateway controller, operatively coupled to one of the plurality of LANs, for serving as an intermediary for communications between the mobile terminal and a device on one of the system backbones in order that in the event the mobile terminal is assigned a different network address by virtue of registering with an access point in another of the LANs, the device is able to maintain communications with the mobile terminal without requiring knowledge of a change in the network address of the mobile terminal. In addition, the gateway controller permits sessions to be suspended temporarily and resumed using a different mobile terminal.

In recent years, the use of wireless mobile communication systems has become increasingly popular. For example, wireless mobile terminals now serve to help automate and expedite processes in retail, manufacturing, warehousing and other industries. In a retail environment, wireless mobile terminals may take the form of a wireless bar code reading device for use in tracking inventory and checking prices. In the warehousing industry, the same mobile terminals may used to keep accurate accounting of incoming and outgoing shipments. In health care, transportation and other industries, the mobile terminals may take the form of wireless pen based computers to aid with on-site document control procedures, etc. In order to provide for real time communication, the mobile terminals often include a radio which allows them to communicate with a host computer connected to a LAN, for example.
LANs typically allow for connecting of devices operating in a building or specified site. Devices physically connected to the LAN may include desk top computers, printers and host computers. If the LAN also supports wireless mobile terminals such as those mentioned above, the LAN will also have connected thereto one or more access points (sometimes referred to as base stations). Each access point is coupled to the LAN and includes at least one radio through which wireless communication with the mobile terminals can occur.
Each access point can communicate with mobile terminals operating within the cell coverage area of the access point. The cell coverage area is the area in which the access point can reliably communicate with a mobile terminal. Once the mobile terminal roams outside of the cell coverage area of the access point, the mobile terminal can no longer communicate with the LAN through that particular access point. In order to provide cell coverage throughout an entire building or site, a LAN typically includes multiple access points strategically located throughout the building or site. Thus, the combined cell coverage of the access points is sufficient to cover the entire building or site. Mobile terminals may then roam from one area to another within the LAN.
As a mobile terminal roams throughout a LAN, it is important that an end to end session established between the mobile terminal and a device coupled to the backbone be maintained as the mobile terminals move from one cell to another cell. Known techniques for providing such seamless roaming from one access point to another access point within a given LAN are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,680, for example.
However, recent trends have shown a desirability for mobile terminals to be able to roam not only within a given LAN, but also among different LANs and/or wide area networks (WANs). Although there are known techniques for allowing mobile terminals to roam seamlessly from one access point to another within a given LAN, this does not include the ability for mobile terminals to roam seamlessly from LAN to LAN, or LAN to WAN, for example. According to current technology, when a mobile terminal wishes to roam from one LAN to another the mobile terminal typically must disassociate itself from one LAN and reassociate itself with another LAN. This break in communication makes it difficult for information originating from the former LAN to be forwarded to the mobile terminal in the new LAN. Such difficulty adds overhead such as time and complexity associated with establishing a new connection.
Further, situations can arise where it is desirable to transition a session from one mobile terminal to another mobile terminal without loss of a connection and/or the overhead associated with terminating a session with the one mobile terminal and restarting a session with the other mobile terminal. For example, a user may be conducting communications between a mobile terminal and a host computer collecting inventory data or the like. In the event the user is inexperienced, the user may encounter a difficulty and desire assistance from his or her superior. The superior would then have to study the situation using the same mobile terminal, thus necessitating that the superior meet in person with the user. Alternatively, the user must close out the session between the mobile terminal and host computer and the supervisor must attempt to reestablish a new connection with his or her own mobile terminal and duplicate the circumstances which created the difficulty. This can be difficult and costly in operational down time and/or employee costs in situations where the user and supervisor are located a considerable distance apart, for example.
Alternatively, a situation may arise where a mobile terminal is permanently fixed to a vehicle such as a forklift used in a warehouse. Circumstances may be such where a user may desire to access a portion of the warehouse which is inaccessible using the forklift (e.g., uppermost shelving in the warehouse). In the past, a user would have to close a session involving the mobile terminal fixed to the forklift and open a new session using a portable mobile terminal.
As another example, one type of mobile terminal may be suited for operation in one particular type of environment (e.g., indoors at moderate temperatures) whereas another type of mobile terminal may be suited only for operation at sub-zero temperatures. A user taking inventory at a warehouse including both room temperature stock areas and freezer areas would have to close a session and open a new session when transitioning from one area to another. Obviously such opening and closing of sessions can be time consuming and frustrating.
In view of the aforementioned shortcomings with conventional techniques, it will be appreciated that there is a strong need in the art for a wireless mobile communication system which provides for seamless transitioning between devices such as mobile terminals in addition to seamless roaming among different networks.

Seamless roaming among multiple networks including seamless transitioning between multiple devices


A driver circuit for a unidirectional optoelectronic device is disclosed, which circuit is arranged to improve the fall time characteristic of the optical output of the device. The circuit controls the device to draw a nonzero current when the device is in an "off" state and a larger current when the device is in an "on" state. The circuit controls the current through the device such that the current is momentarily reduced to an amount less than the "off" current during a transition from the "on" to "off" states, thus effectively simulating a negative current overdrive otherwise impossible through such a unidirectional device.

As optoelectronic devices become more important, particularly in the data processing and data transmission areas, the need to maximize the speed at which these devices may be operated becomes increasingly important. Considerable attention has been given to improving the overall operating speed of optoelectronic devices and data systems as a whole. For example, a lengthy discussion of data rate enhancement for optoisolator transmission systems is given in Optoelectronics Applications Manual; Hewlett-Packard Company; Section 3.6.3. The discussion includes a technique of voltage biasing an LED which terminates a transmission line to improve the overall response time.
As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,060, which issued to J. A. Neuner et al on Aug. 26, 1975, describes a light responsive circuit having a non-linear negative feedback unit which improves several characteristics of photo-coupled data transmission systems including overall response time.
Less emphasis has been placed on directly improving the rise and fall time response of the optoelectronic light generating devices themselves by circuit means. FIG. 7a of the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,060, however, discloses a drive circuit for an LED which overdrives the leading edge of a current pulse to an LED. This improves the rise time of the LED by rapidly charging the junction depletion region of the LED. This overdriving technique cannot be used, however, to improve the fall time characteristic of devices such as LEDs because of this unidirectional nature.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,166,947, which issued to J. P. Dirksen on Sept. 4, 1979 is illustrative of techniques conventionally used to improve the fall time of such devices. This patent discloses shunting an LED in response to a turn-off signal to provide a low impedance path for the elimination of minority carriers in the device. A need exists, however, to further improve the fall time characteristic of optoelectronic devices.

High speed driver for optoelectronic devices

Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated


A non-destructible, multi-position hinge lock to be coupled to the existing hinge assembly of a door so as to be capable of reliably retaining the door in either an opened or closed position relative to a doorway. The hinge lock has a hollow interior in which to receive the hinge pin of the existing hinge assembly of the door. A first longitudinal channel is formed in the hinge lock in which to receive the pair of hinge plates of the existing hinge assembly when the door is rotated to a closed position and the hinge plates are correspondingly rotated into face-to-face alignment with one another. The hinge lock includes second and third longitudinal channels formed therein in which to receive respective ones of the hinge plates when the door is rotated to a first opened position and the hinge plates are correspondingly rotated to form an angle of 90 degrees. The hinge lock also includes fourth and fifth longitudinal channels formed therein in which to receive respective ones of the hinge plates when the door is rotated to a second opened position and the hinge plates are correspondingly rotated to form an angle of 180 degrees.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a non-destructible, multi-position hinge lock to be coupled to the existing hinge assembly of a door so as to be capable of reliably retaining the door in either an opened or closed position relative to a doorway.
2. Background Art
Door stops have long been used to hold a door in an opened position relative to a doorway. In a majority of instances, the door stops are made from either rubber or wood or are wedged between the bottom of the door and the floor to inhibit movement of the door. However, these conventional door stops are known to crack, splinter, wear and generally disintegrate with prolonged use. Moreover, the tops of these door stops are sometimes sheared off by the force of the door to be held open, thereby causing such door stops to become unreliable, particularly when the door is subjected to a strong wind or a pulling force generated by a closing arm which operates to automatically bias the door towards a normally closed position across a doorway. As a consequence of the foregoing, a door stop as mentioned above is frequently discarded which leads to frustration on the part of the user. What is more, such door stops have little application for also retaining a door in a closed position so as to deny access to a room through a doorway that is closed by the door.
What is even more, the lack of a reliable door stop can prove to be very inconvenient. For example, when moving furniture into an apartment or boxes from a warehouse or when remodeling or constructing a room of a building, a dependable door stop is especially needed to hold open a door, particularly when only a single worker is available. Similarly, in certain police and fire fighting actions, it is often necessary to prevent a door from returning to the closed and locked position, whereby to deny law enforcement officers or fire officials continuous entry through the doorway. In each of these cases, a door stop which fails may leave an individual locked outside an area to which immediate access is required or faced with the undesirable and time consuming task of having to repeatedly open a door that continuously swings shut.
In an effort to replace the conventional door stops so as to overcome the problems inherent therewith and to be able to retain doors in both opened and closed positions to which they are moved, door stops have been introduced that are coupled to the existing hinge assembly of the door. More particularly, these door stops are located in surrounding engagement with the usual hinge pin whereby to prevent the hinge plates from rotating relative to one another. However, a single door stop may not be suitable for use in all positions of the door relative to a doorway. That is to say, different door stops may be required in order to retain a door in a closed position as well as an opened position.
Examples of stops that are coupled to the hinge assembly of a door or a shutter to control the movement of such door or shutter are available by referring to the following patents:
______________________________________ IT 469,538 March 4, 1952 U.S. Pat. No. 104,294 June 14, 1870 U.S. Pat. No. 314,105 March 17, 1885 U.S. Pat. No. 485,613 November 8, 1892 U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,596 February 22, 1994 Des. 311,677 October 30, 1990 ______________________________________


A game kit, including a generally rectangular box portion defining a recess, the box portion further including a case portion and a cover portion hingedly connected thereto, a generally flat support member hingedly connected to the case portion, a lockable armature assembly operationally connected to the generally flat support member and to the case portion, a first pipe operationally connected to the cover portion, a pair of ancillary pipes connected to the cover portion, wherein each respective ancillary pipe is positioned opposite the first pipe from the other respective ancillary pipe and wherein each ancillary pipe is equidistant from the first pipe, and a plurality of bean bags. The cover portion is pivotably connected to the case portion and pivotable between a closed position parallel to and engaging the case portion and an open position parallel to and extending away from the case portion. The case portion placed on a generally flat surface, pivoting the first cover portion away from the case portion and into a generally vertical orientation and pivoting the support member away from the case portion and locking the armature assembly deploys the first and ancillary pipes in a generally vertical orientation for receiving tossed bags.

It is important to learn basic concepts such as motor coordination, simple spatial relationships, how to follow simple directions, and how to deal with setbacks in a mature and sportsmanlike manner. As these simple skills are mastered, more complex skills may be acquired, such as how to plan competitive strategies and how to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves.
One way of acquiring such basic skills is through the playing of educational games that make the learning process fun and entertaining. While many such games have been developed, none effectively combine the teaching of colors, spatial relationships, and strategy with simple, easy to comprehend instructions and a unitary, easy to set up, integrated carrying case kit. Hence, there is a need for an improved educational, portable game capable of teaching colors, spatial relationships, strategy and sportsmanship and of being easily understood and played by anyone, including young children. A means for satisfying this need has so far eluded those skilled in the art.


An interface system for a television receiver includes an interface connector having a plurality contacts connected to various component circuits in the television receiver. In order to provide various functions for the television receiver, the interface system includes various circuit boards each having a plug connectable with the interface connector. The plug includes a number of contacts equal to or less than the plurality of contacts in the interface connector. Depending on the desired function, the circuit board further includes circuits for providing the function, these circuits being interconnected and connected to the appropriate contacts in the plug for connecting with the appropriate component circuits in the television receiver. The interface system allows the television receiver functions to be modified and/or updated without the need for opening the television and modifying the circuits and/or the wiring to the circuits.

1. Field of The Invention
The subject invention relates to television receivers and the various functionality options now available to a user.
2. Description of The Related Art
Television receivers that are being marketed today have various optional functions which may be incorporated therein. For example, the television receiver may include Picture-in-Picture (PIP) in which the video signal for PIP is provided by a second signal source (a VCR) connected to a second video input of the television receiver, or a second tuner so that the television receiver may by itself provide PIP. These and other optional features are provided by modifying the circuitry inside the television receiver. Quite naturally, these changes must be implemented in the production line resulting in a plurality of different models of the television receiver being fabricated. It should be apparent that this results in relatively high production costs. In marketing these separate models of television receivers, a dealer must then anticipate what features his/her customers would desire, and order sufficient quantities of the specific models. Any others must be ordered specifically for that consumer which may result in a lost sale.
In another situation, unless the particular model of television receiver in the user's possession has the appropriate features, the user must open up the television receiver, and cut into existing wiring so that the user may be able to adapt the television receiver for use with, for example, a computer.

Interface system for a television receiver


A packer can include an end ring positioned proximate a seal element on a base pipe, and a gripping device positioned in an annular space between the end ring and the base pipe, the gripping device comprising a polymer composition material. A method of constructing a packer can include positioning an end ring on a base pipe, and then injecting a gripping device into an annular space between the end ring and the base pipe, whereby the gripping device grips the base pipe. Another method of constructing a packer can include positioning a gripping device in an annular space between an end ring and a base pipe, so that the gripping device grips the base pipe, the gripping device comprising a polymer composition material.

Packers are used in wells to seal off annuli formed between tubular strings, or between a tubular string and another surface, such as a wall of a wellbore. It is important to construct packers so that they can reliably withstand substantial differential pressure, but it is also important to construct packers in an economical and expeditious manner.
Therefore, it will be appreciated that improvements are continually needed in the art of constructing packers for use in wells.

Packer end ring with polymer gripping device