A scintillator type radiation detector package is provided including a scintillation crystal directly coupled to the window of a photomultiplier. A scintillator package is also provided having a longer life at wellbore temperature with minimal deterioration of a hygroscopic scintillation crystal(s). Direct optical coupling of the scintillator to the photomultiplier reduces the amount of light lost at coupling interfaces and improved detection resolution over the conventional structures having separate packages for crystal and photomultiplier.

Conventional radiation (e.g., gamma-ray) detectors for wellbore formation measurement ("well logging") typically include a packaged photomultiplier ("PMT") and scintillation crystal. The most common scintillation crystal is thallium-activated sodium iodide, NaI(Tl), which is a hygroscopic material and must be protected from moisture. Consequently, such NaI(Tl) crystals are typically packaged in a hermetically sealed container having an optical window to allow light to escape. The crystal is optically coupled to the interior surface of an optically transparent window in the container, typically with a clear silicone elastomer. This packaging method increases the number of optical interfaces, which causes a loss of light and detector resolution. Some concepts to improve the optical efficiency of the foregoing crystal packaging including, e.g., the development claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,321,123 (Simonetti et al.) incorporated herein by reference and also owned by the assignee of the present invention. In the approach of this patent, the scintillator crystal replaces an optical faceplate in the container and the photocathode of the PMT is directly deposited on the scintillator.
To construct a gamma-ray detector, in the typical detector, the exterior surface of the crystal container window is coupled optically to an exterior window of the photomultiplier (PMT), again using a clear silicone elastomer. For light generated within the scintillation crystal to reach the photocathode of the photomultiplier (PMT), it must pass through five interfaces: two on the optical coupling between scintillator and the scintillation crystal container window, two on the optical coupling between crystal container window and the PMT window, and one between the PMT window and the photocathode of the PMT. At each interface, only a fraction of the light is transmitted, while reflected light may be eventually re-reflected back toward the interface or it may be absorbed within the various optical media and thereby lost. It is advantageous to reduce the number of optical interfaces between the scintillation crystal and the photocathode of the PMT as this will reduce the amount of reflected light and therefore increase the amount of light that reaches the photocathode. Increasing the amount of light reaching the photocathode will improve the gamma-ray resolution and increase the signal-to-noise ratio as long as other parameters, such as photocathode quantum efficiency, are equal.
St. Gobain, a supplier of scintillator crystals, has published brochures describing "integrated" detectors in which an entire photomultiplier and scintillator are packaged together in a common hermetically sealed housing. Similar "integrated detectors" are also sold by GE-Reuter Stokes. Such a system also has only three optical interfaces as described above. However, the foregoing identified systems each has deficiencies with respect to shock-induced noise. This type of noise typically is produced by flexing of the optical coupling or scintillation crystal with the resultant emission of light as a result of the mechanical stress applied to the scintillator crystal. In the St. Gobain scintillation detector structure, the mass of the scintillation crystal and the mass of the PMT are disposed on either side of an optical coupling, and a shock, whether axial or lateral, will generate slight movement of the crystal and the PMT with respect to each other, and emit shock-induced light in the process. An additional disadvantage of the foregoing structure, in particular for LWD/MWD applications, is that the PMT needs to be surrounded by shock absorbing materials inside the housing. Outgassing of the shock absorbing material can damage the reflector, the optical coupling and can lead to an early failure of the PMT. For some very reactive scintillator material reactions with outgassing products may tarnish the scintillator surface and degrade the scintillator performance.

Integrated coupling of scintillation crystal with photomultiplier in a detector apparatus


An angular velocity sensor includes a mass body; a first frame provided outside of the mass body; a first flexible part connecting the mass body and the first frame to each other; a second flexible part connecting the mass body and the first frame to each other; a second frame provided outside of the first frame; a third flexible part connecting the first frame and the second frame to each other; and a fourth flexible part connecting the first frame and the second frame to each other, wherein the mass body is fixed to the first frame by the second flexible part so as to be rotation-displaceable and translation-displaceable, and the first frame is connected to the second frame by the fourth flexible part so as to be rotation-displaceable.

The present disclosure relates to an angular velocity sensor.
Recently, angular velocity sensors have been used in various applications, for example, in defense sector applications such as satellites, missiles, unmanned aircraft, or the like; in automobile applications such as air bags, electronic stability control (ESC), black boxes for vehicles, or the like; a hand shaking prevention applications of camcorders, motion sensor of mobile phones or game consoles, navigation applications, and the like.
An angular velocity sensor generally has a configuration in which a mass body is adhered to an elastic substrate such as a membrane, or the like, in order to measure angular velocity. Through the above-mentioned configuration, the angular velocity sensor may calculate angular velocity by measuring Coriolis force applied to the mass body.
In detail, a scheme of measuring angular velocity using an angular velocity sensor is as follows. First, the angular velocity may be calculated by Coriolis force "F=2mΩv", where "F" is the Coriolis force acting on the mass body, "m" is a mass of the mass body, "Ω" is an angular velocity to be measured, and "v" is a motion velocity of the mass body. Among others, since the motion velocity v of the mass body and the mass m of the mass body are values known in advance, the angular velocity Ω may be calculated by sensing the Coriolis force (F) acting on the mass body.
Meanwhile, the angular velocity sensor according to the prior art includes a piezoelectric body or a piezo-resistor disposed on a membrane (a diaphragm) in order to drive a mass body or sense displacement of the mass body, as disclosed in the following Art Document (Patent Document 1: US20110146404 A1).


The present invention provides a method of making quinolone carboxylic acids or naphthyridine carboxylic acids in free base form, the method comprising dissolving a quinolone carboxylic acid salt or naphthyridine carboxylic acid salt in a solvent system to form a solution; combining the solution containing the quinolone carboxylic acid salt or naphthyridine carboxylic acid salt with a calcium salt in an amount in the range of about 0.01% to about 5.0% by weight of the quinolone carboxylic acid salt or naphthyridine carboxylic acid salt and a base, the combination resulting in the formation of a precipitate; and collecting the precipitate. Also provided is a solid bulk pharmaceutical chemical composition which is the product resulting from the precipitation.

Quinolone carboxylic acids or naphthyridine carboxylic acids are used in the treatment of patients having various conditions. Most often, quinolone carboxylic acids or naphthyridine carboxylic acids are used as anti-infective agents. The term "patient" means humans and other animals.
One way to deliver quinolone carboxylic acids or naphthyridine carboxylic acids to a patient is via a parenteral route. For example, a suitable solution of or a suitable formulation containing the quinolone carboxylic acid or naphthyridine carboxylic acid compounds can be injected into muscle tissue or the blood stream.
Formulation of parenteral dosage forms of quinolone carboxylic acids or naphthyridine carboxylic acids typically starts with the corresponding bulk drug substance prepared in its free base form. Chemical synthesis of the free base form of the quinolone carboxylic acids or naphthyridine carboxylic acids often involves hydroxide ion induced neutralization of an acid salt derivative of the quinolone carboxylic acid or naphthyridine carboxylic acid.
Poor filtration rates during the processing of bulk drug substances can cause major product quality problems including increased difficulties in washing out low level impurities from the product. In addition, when slow, inefficient filtration occurs, it is often necessary to use rework procedures to assure a thorough wash of the product.
Longer filtration times or rework procedures should be avoided because they result in increased time of exposure of the product to the environment and a corresponding greater chance for biological contamination of the product. Furthermore, a slow filtration procedure will normally add additional cost to the product because additional processing time requires extra labor. Moreover, these problems are magnified upon scale-up to commercial quantities.
The present invention provides a method of making quinolone carboxylic acids or naphthyridine carboxylic acids in free base form that provides for dramatically improved filtration rates. The present invention uses trace levels of calcium (II) salts, which results in products having improved filtration rates.

Method for making quinoline carboxylic acids or naphthyridine carboxylic acids in free base form


A wheel cylinder is formed in the brake caliper for each wheel of a vehicle and brake fluid is supplied from a master cylinder to this wheel cylinder by way of a fluid passage. A brake piston is provided inside the wheel cylinder and includes a piezoelectric piston device inside. By the application of voltage, this piezoelectric piston device expands and contracts the brake piston. A control valve is provided in the fluid passage to open and close it to selectively partition off the master cylinder. When the control valve has closed the passage, a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric piston device to expand it and control the pressure acting on the brake piston in the wheel cylinder to vary the braking force.

This invention relates generally to a braking control apparatus for a vehicle, such as an automobile, in which the braking action is based on a command resulting from the operation of a brake pedal, and more particularly, to a braking control apparatus which avoids the problem of slippage occurring due to the wheels locking, to thereby provide stable braking control.
The braking device provided for each wheel is operated by the pressure of the brake fluid. Brake fluid under pressure is supplied to each wheel cylinder from the master cylinder by the operation of the brake pedal. This brake fluid drives the brake piston provided in the wheel cylinder for applying a braking force against the rotary brake disc which is provided coaxial with the wheel of the automobile.
A piston, which is operated by the brake pedal to generate brake fluid pressure, is provided inside the master cylinder which is positioned near the driver's seat. Between the master cylinder and each wheel is located a brake pipe for the transmission of the brake fluid. An increase in the pressure results in the brake pipe expanding and changes in the compression of the fluid in the pipe, which in turn is the source of delays in pressure transmission.
When, upon operation of the brake pedal, the wheels begin to slip in relation to the ground and then lock, it is necessary that the braking force be immediately reduced to unlock the wheels and prevent slippage. What is desired is an antiskid control apparatus which detects the locking of the wheels and automatically controls the braking force. Various means have been considered for this kind of antiskid control apparatus.
For example, when wheel lock is detected, an electromagnetic valve, which is provided in the fluid passage between the master cylinder and the wheel cylinder, reduces the pressure of the fluid supplied to the wheel cylinder. In this case, however, any delay in transmission will result in a delay in response to the antilock operation, and any structure that improves the responsiveness is difficult to build.
Another example is a device which uses traction control such that the rotary force of the wheels is delivered efficiently to the ground. When slippage resulting from wheel spin is detected, the electromagnetic valve is operated to control the supply of fluid pressure to the wheel cylinder where slippage has occurred. In this case, as well, response cannot be controlled because of the transmission delay in the braking system.


A thermal sensor includes a comparator having a first and second input nodes. A reference voltage generator is electrically coupled with the first input node. The reference voltage generator is configured to provide a reference voltage that is substantially temperature-independent. A temperature sensing circuit is electrically coupled with the second input node. The temperature sensing circuit is configured to provide a temperature-dependent voltage. The temperature sensing circuit includes a current mirror. A first metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor is electrically coupled between the current mirror and ground. A first resistor is electrically coupled with the current mirror. A second MOS transistor is electrically coupled with the first resistor in series. The second MOS transistor and the first resistor are electrically coupled with the first MOS transistor in a parallel fashion.

A temperature sensor can be used to monitor temperature of an electronic component such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), CPU (Graphics Processing Unit), MPU (Micro Processing Unit), SOC (System On Chip), etc. When the temperature exceeds predetermined thresholds, the sensor may alert a circuitry to slow down or even shut down the unit to reduce power consumption and thus reduce the temperature so that overheat that can cause destructive failure to the unit may be prevented.
Typically, temperature sensors include a reference circuitry and a temperature measuring circuitry wherein the temperature dependency is either proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) or complementary to absolute temperature (CTAT). Further, DAC (digital to analog converter) based temperature sensors relying on comparing a PTAT voltage and a CTAT base-emitter voltage may be used. This approach, however, suffers from DAC code-to-temperature non-linearity issues, i.e., it cannot achieve good linearity over a wide temperature range, resulting in poor temperature measurement accuracy.
In some approaches involving a CTAT voltage, the compared voltage varies with high temperature coefficient over the design temperature range. When the compared voltage is PTAT, the implementation scheme introduces an intrinsic DAC code-to-temperature nonlinearity, and, as a result, suffers from poor temperature measurement accuracy unless an extensive temperature calibration (e.g., many-point calibration) is performed. Other approaches trying to cause the compared (or reference) voltage family curves to be parallel, and thus better DAC code-to-temperature linearity, are far from successful because the curves, in reality, are not parallel. These approaches therefore also suffer from poor temperature measurement accuracy.

Thermal sensors and methods of operating thereof

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


An electrical connector includes an insulative housing defining a slot for receiving a plurality of pins therein each having a U-shaped section. A pin retainer includes blocks integrated together and received in the slot. Each block has an insert portion fit into the U-shaped section of each pin thereby securing the pin in the slot. Two board locks, each having a channel-like portion receiving an expanded end of a fastener therein with an elongated fastener body extending through holes provided on the housing, secure the connector to a circuit board. The channel-like portion of the board lock has a first side defined by two spaced fingers which receive and retain the fastener body therebetween and an opposite second side from which a support section extends. A circuit board engaging section extends from the support section and is received in a slot defined on the circuit board with the support section directly positioned on the circuit board. The second side of the channel-like portion is dimensioned to have the support section substantially located at a central position with respect to the connector whereby a portion of the connector is located below the circuit board when the connector is supported on the circuit board by support section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates an electrical connector.
2. The Prior Art
Electrical connections between electrical systems are usually provided by means of electrical connectors, which may be classified as receptacle connectors and plug connectors mating with each other to form the desired electrical connection.
In FIG. 1 of the attached drawings, a conventional D-type electrical connector 10 is shown, which comprises an insulative housing 16 fixed to a circuit board 22 by means of board lock members 12. The housing 16 defines a plurality of channels 21 each receiving a conductive pin 20 therein. Each of the pins 20 has an extension soldered to the circuit board 22. A spacer 24 is attached to the housing 16 by means of resilient barbs 26 to hold the pins 20 in position. A shielding shell 18 is fit over the housing 16 and fasteners 14 extend through the board lock members 12, the housing 16 and the shell 18 to secure them together.
The conventional connector has several disadvantages, such as:
(1) The connector 10 is completely located on a top face 22a of the circuit board 22 whereby the connector 10 occupies a large amount of space on the circuit board 22.
(2) Since the connector 10 is mounted on the top face 22a of the circuit board 22, the electronic elements associated with the circuit board 22 must also be arranged on the top face 22a in order to be electrically connected to the connector 10 thereby preventing utilization of a bottom side face 22b of the circuit board 22.
(3) In the conventional design, the pins 20 must be in proper alignment with the respective channels 21 of the housing 16 in order to correctly insert the pins 20 therein. Incorrect insertion of pins or undesired deformation of the pins frequently results which leads to inefficient productivity.
(4) With the number of pins accommodated in the housing increased, the size of the pin receiving channels is reduced which complicates the manufacture the housing.
(5) In the conventional design, the connector is mounted to the circuit board by means of the board lock members that rigidly attach the connector to the circuit board so that adjustment of the spatial relationship between the shielding shell 18 that is fit over the housing 16 and a casing of the circuit board is difficult which may lead to an improper physical engagement between the shielding shell and the casing and thus no grounding may be obtained.
It is desirable to have an electrical connector which has a structure that overcomes the problems discussed above.


A new model of motivational behavior, described as a ten-level metaperspectival hierarchy of ethical terms, serves as the foundation for an ethical simulation of artificial intelligence. This AI system is organized as a tandem, nested expert system, composed of a primary affective language analyzer, overseen by a master control unit-expert system (coordinating the motivational interchanges over real time). The systematic organization of the ethical hierarchy allows for extreme efficiency in the programming of the respective knowledge bases, employing the principles of inheritance for modeling the more abstract levels of the hierarchy: allowing a precise determination of the motivational level at issue during a given verbal interchange (defined as the passive-monitoring mode). An optional active monitoring mode permits the posing of simple yes-or-no questions, allowing for clarification of ambiguous language input. This basic motivational determination, in turn, serves as the basis for the synthesis of a response repertoire tailored to the computer, simulating a sense of motivation in a given verbal interaction (defined as the true AI simulation mode). The AI mode operates in concert with the passive monitoring mode, and in potential alternation with the active monitoring mode.

This invention relates to the process of programming the rules governing the use of affective language into a computer, allowing a passive detection mode, along with an active simulation of affective language in an AI mode.
Language simulation of an ethical nature has remained an elusive goal for researchers in the field due to the complexities involved in simulating affective language in general. Fortunately, such an achievement has finally been achieved with the development of the power pyramid hierarchy (FIGS. 1 through 10). A direct outcome of the power pyramid hierarchy is the formulation of the power pyramid definitions, simulating emotionally-charged language in a form programmable into a computer. Through the aid of these schematic definitions, the logical consequences of the power pyramid hierarchy are programmed directly into a computer, serving in applications calling for the rapid decoding of motivational parameters. The computer further utilizes these decoded results to produce a language simulation of its own, allowing for an ethically based simulation of artificial intelligence.
The concept of artificial intelligence (AI) refers to language simulated using a computer. The prevailing standard in the field is the deductive inference machine, which employs deductive reasoning to establish original conclusions from a standard battery of logical premises. The product of years of research by ICOT (The Institute of New Generation Computer Technology) the deductive-inference machine uses information stored in a regional database to deductively draw fresh conclusions not literally contained in the data. A major drawback to this deductive format, however, is a basic restriction limiting conclusions to premises immediately at hand.
An alternate form of reasoning (known as induction) is much better suited to an ethical simulation of AI, formally gathering together the best available evidence, in order to draw the most probable conclusion from the sum total of facts. In contrast to deductive reasoning, the conclusions derived through inductive reasoning are never absolutely certain, although the uncertainties of the physical world give inductive reasoning the clear advantage in such a problem-solving mode. According to such an inductive model, each individual builds up a mental model of reality over a lifetime, forming a master template for all current experiences. When expectations match surroundings, a general sense of security is reached. A mismatch leads to a surprised reaction, followed by investigative behavior. An ethically based AI computer is similarly equipped with its own formal map of reality, employed in an analogous detection and matching function. The logistics of the power pyramid hierarchy rightfully enter the picture at this juncture, serving as the foundation for the first inductive system for decoding and simulating affective language. The logical attributes of the power pyramid definitions provide a formal model of motivational behavior, allowing a decoding of the motivational parameters of a given verbal interchange. On the basis of this determination, the computer devises counter-response of its own, effectively simulating a sense of motivation in the verbal interaction.
The Inductive Inference Affective Language Analyzer (hereafter abbreviated IIALA) makes extensive use of parallel processing, where various aspects of a complex problem are handled simultaneously, minimizing the computational bottleneck plaguing sequential processing. The number of parallel processor complexes equals the sum-total of power pyramid definitions (for a grand total of 320), a feasible number even by today""s design standards. These processor complexes are further organized in a hierarchial fashion, mirroring the stepwise architecture of the power pyramid hierarchy. This hierarchial arrangement takes full-advantage of the strict transformational logic of the power pyramid hierarchy, eliminating much of the redundancy certain to occur in any convincing language simulation. The greatest degree of complexity involves programming at the most basic (personal) levels of the power pyramid hierarchy, the remaining higher authority levels extending naturally upon this elementary foundation.
The most appropriate unit of input is necessarily the sentence, for the power pyramid definitions are analogously organized in the form of a dual sentence structure. With a design schematic specifying a parallel array of 320 dedicated processor complexes, each individual complex employs parallel processing to determine the relative degree of correlation between an input (target) sentence and its matching power pyramid definition template. The matching process scrutinizes the various grammatical elements of a given sentence, statistical correlating these specifics to a given power pyramid definition. The verb tense, the plurality and person of the nouns/pronouns etc. are all scrutinized according to pre-set criteria. Each processor complex then calculates the sum-total of correct matches, yielding the relative probability that a given sentence matches a particular power pyramid definition. The processor complex yielding the highest overall rating is singled out as the most probable solution to the power pyramid definition matching procedure.
The context of the interaction is further taken into account through the aid of a feedback circuit, the priority of the individual microprocessor complexes preemptively weighted on the basis of preceding deliberations. Each power pyramid definition is composed of both past (as well as present) design components, establishing context as a further critical feature in the detection procedure. The IIALA retains in long-term storage a record of every relevant experience with a given individual or situation. On this contextual basis, the master control unit selectively weights the individual processor complexes according to a record of both past (as well as current) behavior patterns. In this respect, the IIALA is exquisitely sensitive to variations in personality Oust as humans are instinctively so) satisfying yet a further prerequisite of Turing""s test (the ultimate standard for evaluating such a system).

Inductive inference affective language analyzer simulating artificial intelligence


A mold of a glassware forming machine has a longitudinal plane of symmetry, and two half-molds movable between a closed position and an open extraction position by a powered mold opening/closing device, which has a fixed fastening and supporting structure, two mold-holders, and, for each mold-holder, a respective supporting and actuating arm hinged to the relative mold-holder to rotate about a movable hinge axis, and to the fixed structure to rotate about a fixed hinge axis; the fixed hinge axes being located on opposite sides of the plane of symmetry, and at such a distance from the plane of symmetry that, when the half-molds are in the closed position, the line intersecting the fixed axis and movable axis of each arm extends substantially parallel to the plane of symmetry.

In glassware forming, forming machines commonly known as I.S. forming machines are used, which comprise a number of side by side forming sections, each for producing a respective sequence of products. Each forming section comprises a rough mold, normally comprising a row of side by side cavities, each for receiving a glass gob and forming a respective semifinished article, which is then transferred to a finish mold by means of an inverter. Each rough mold comprises two half-molds movable with respect to each other between a closed position defining the row of cavities, and an open position in which to remove the semifinished articles.
The half-molds are moved between the open and closed positions by means of a mold opening/closing device comprising an actuating arm for each half-mold. The actuating arms are connected at one end to the respective half-molds, and are hinged at the other end to a fixed supporting structure to rotate, in opposite directions and with respect to the fixed structure, about a fixed common hinge axis aligned with and parallel to the row of cavities.
The arms are connected to transmissions activated by respective actuators, which, also for reasons of size, are located at a distance from the mold.
Though widely used, known solutions of the above type have several drawbacks. In particular, the location of the arm hinge axis poses problems when working with a large number of cavities, on account of the cavities not being opened simultaneously and in the same way, due to the different trajectories traveled by the various portions of the half-molds, depending on how far away they are from the hinge axis. And this is reflected in the semifinished articles, which, by the time the molds are open, have different surface qualities and, at times, even different structural characteristics, sometimes bordering on the critical.
Known opening/closing devices are also unsatisfactory in terms of efficiency, particularly when the machine is operated at a high output rate, and are invariably bulky, especially perpendicular to the longitudinal plane of symmetry of the mold. This is mainly due to the transmissions having extremely long torsion shafts for transferring motion from the remote actuator, and which inevitably twist, thus creating unacceptable delays in opening/closing the molds, and unpredictable wear which, once initiated, worsens rapidly and uncontrollably.
Besides being complex and bulky, the transmissions of known solutions are also located alongside or outwards of the arms, thus increasing the size of the mold opening/closing devices crosswise.

Glassware forming machine molds opening/closing device


An angle bracket having a base leg and a perpendicular leg and are connected by a plurality of reinforcing ribs is disclosed. The reinforcing ribs have a partially parabolic outer edge. The angle bracket may be assembled to a tool base to support a tool element in a spaced relationship. The angle bracket is manufactured by an injection molding process wherein high strength polymer resin and fiber reinforcing materials such as glass fiber or carbon fiber may be molded to form an angle bracket in a single molding step.

Angle brackets are used in the making of tools and quality control fixtures to support a wide variety of items on a tool bed or other fixture. Angle brackets are typically made of steel or iron for strength and durability. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,500 to Valet, discloses a multipurpose angle bracket made of steel that is formed by either casting or by mechanical assembly and welding. U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,012 to Haddad, discloses a workpiece holding apparatus used to check part dimensions. The Haddad patent discloses a base that is cast as a single integral element and subsequently machined to a generally cubical configuration.
A problem with such prior art angle brackets is that metal brackets add to the weight of the tooling. They also require machining and finishing steps that add to the cost of manufacturing. Metal brackets are also costly to replace.
Angle brackets are used to support tool elements that are designed to withstand normal loads applied in a predetermined manner. If metal angle brackets are subjected to a side impact or other unintended load, they may become distorted or bent and the force of impact may be transferred to the tool necessitating repair of the tool. If a substantial unintended load is applied to the tool, damage may be caused to expensive tooling parts supported by the angle bracket.
The electrical conductivity of metal angle brackets can cause problems if there is an electrical malfunction of the equipment to which the bracket is attached. Metal angle brackets do not isolate tooling elements from the base and will not prevent short circuiting through the angle brackets.

Method of making a plastic angle bracket


Systems and methods for providing accelerated data storage and retrieval utilizing lossless data compression and decompression. A data storage accelerator includes one or a plurality of high speed data compression encoders that are configured to simultaneously or sequentially losslessly compress data at a rate equivalent to or faster than the transmission rate of an input data stream. The compressed data is subsequently stored in a target memory or other storage device whose input data storage bandwidth is lower than the original input data stream bandwidth. Similarly, a data retrieval accelerator includes one or a plurality of high speed data decompression decoders that are configured to simultaneously or sequentially losslessly decompress data at a rate equivalent to or faster than the input data stream from the target memory or storage device. The decompressed data is then output at rate data that is greater than the output rate from the target memory or data storage device. The data storage and retrieval accelerator method and system may employed: in a disk storage adapter to reduce the time required to store and retrieve data from computer to disk; in conjunction with random access memory to reduce the time required to store and retrieve data from random access memory; in a display controller to reduce the time required to send display data to the display controller or processor; and/or in an input/output controller to reduce the time required to store, retrieve, or transmit data.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to data storage and retrieval and, more particularly to systems and methods for improving data storage and retrieval bandwidth utilizing lossless data compression and decompression.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information may be represented in a variety of manners. Discrete information such as text and numbers are easily represented in digital data. This type of data representation is known as symbolic digital data. Symbolic digital data is thus an absolute representation of data such as a letter, figure, character, mark, machine code, or drawing.
Continuous information such as speech, music, audio, images and video frequently exists in the natural world as analog information. As is well-known to those skilled in the art, recent advances in very large scale integration (VLSI) digital computer technology have enabled both discrete and analog information to be represented with digital data. Continuous information represented as digital data is often referred to as diffuse data. Diffuse digital data is thus a representation of data that is of low information density and is typically not easily recognizable to humans in its native form.
There are many advantages associated with digital data representation. For instance, digital data is more readily processed, stored, and transmitted due to its inherently high noise immunity. In addition, the inclusion of redundancy in digital data representation enables error detection and/or correction. Error detection and/or correction capabilities are dependent upon the amount and type of data redundancy, available error detection and correction processing, and extent of data corruption.
One outcome of digital data representation is the continuing need for increased capacity in data processing, storage, and transmittal. This is especially true for diffuse data where increases in fidelity and resolution create exponentially greater quantities of data. Data compression is widely used to reduce the amount of data required to process, transmit, or store a given quantity of information. In general, there are two types of data compression techniques that may be utilized either separately or jointly to encode/decode data: lossy and lossless data compression.
Lossy data compression techniques provide for an inexact representation of the original uncompressed data such that the decoded (or reconstructed) data differs from the original unencoded/uncompressed data. Lossy data compression is also known as irreversible or noisy compression. Negentropy is defined as the quantity of information in a given set of data. Thus, one obvious advantage of lossy data compression is that the compression ratios can be larger than that dictated by the negentropy limit, all at the expense of information content. Many lossy data compression techniques seek to exploit various traits within the human senses to eliminate otherwise imperceptible data. For example, lossy data compression of visual imagery might seek to delete information content in excess of the display resolution or contrast ratio of the target display device.
On the other hand, lossless data compression techniques provide an exact representation of the original uncompressed data. Simply stated, the decoded (or reconstructed) data is identical to the original unencoded/uncompressed data. Lossless data compression is also known as reversible or noiseless compression. Thus, lossless data compression has, as its current limit, a minimum representation defined by the negentropy of a given data set.
It is well known within the current art that data compression provides several unique benefits. First, data compression can reduce the time to transmit data by more efficiently utilizing low bandwidth data links. Second, data compression economizes on data storage and allows more information to be stored for a fixed memory size by representing information more efficiently.
One problem with the current art is that existing memory storage devices severely limit the performance of consumer, entertainment, office, workstation, servers, and mainframe computers for all disk and memory intensive operations. For example, magnetic disk mass storage devices currently employed in a variety of home, business, and scientific computing applications suffer from significant seek-time access delays along with profound read/write data rate limitations. Currently the fastest available (10,000) rpm disk drives support only a 17.1 Megabyte per second data rate (MB/sec). This is in stark contrast to the modern Personal Computer""s Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Bus""s input/output capability of 264 MB/sec and internal local bus capability of 800 MB/sec.
Another problem within the current art is that emergent high performance disk interface standards such as the Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI-3) and Fibre Channel offer only the promise of higher data transfer rates through intermediate data buffering in random access memory. These interconnect strategies do not address the fundamental problem that all modern magnetic disk storage devices for the personal computer marketplace are still limited by the same physical media restriction of 17.1 MB/sec. Faster disk access data rates are only achieved by the high cost solution of simultaneously accessing multiple disk drives with a technique known within the art as data striping.
Additional problems with bandwidth limitations similarly occur within the art by all other forms of sequential, pseudo-random, and random access mass storage devices. Typically mass storage devices include magnetic and optical tape, magnetic and optical disks, and various solid-state mass storage devices. It should be noted that the present invention applies to all forms and manners of memory devices including storage devices utilizing magnetic, optical, and chemical techniques, or any combination thereof.
The present invention is directed to systems and methods for providing accelerated data storage and retrieval by utilizing lossless data compression and decompression. The present invention provides an effective increase of the data storage and retrieval bandwidth of a memory storage device. In one aspect of the present invention, a method for providing accelerated data storage and retrieval comprises the steps of:
receiving a data stream at an input data transmission rate which is greater than a data storage rate of a target storage device;
compressing the data stream at a compression ratio which provides a data compression rate that is greater than the data storage rate;
storing the compressed data stream in the target storage device;
retrieving the compressed data stream from the target storage device at a rate equal to a data access rate of the target storage device; and
decompressing the compressed data at a decompression ratio to provide an output data stream having an output transmission rate which is greater than the data access rate of the target storage device.
In another aspect of the present invention, the method for providing accelerated data storage and retrieval utilizes a compression ratio that is at least equal to the ratio of the input data transmission rate to the data storage rate so as to provide continuous storage of the input data stream at the input data transmission rate.
In another aspect of the present invention, the method for providing accelerated data storage and retrieval utilizes a decompression ratio which is equal to or greater than the ratio of the data access rate to a maximum accepted output data transmission rate so as to provide a continuous and optimal data output transmission rate.
In another aspect of the present invention the data storage and retrieval accelerator method and system is employed in a disk storage adapter to reduce the time required to store and retrieve data from computer to a disk memory device.
In another aspect of the present invention the data storage and retrieval accelerator method and system is employed in conjunction with random access memory to reduce the time required to store and retrieve data from random access memory.
In another aspect of the present invention a data storage and retrieval accelerator method and system is employed in a video data storage system to reduce the time required to store digital video data.
In another aspect of the present invention the data storage and retrieval accelerator method and system is employed in a display controller to reduce the time required to send display data to the display controller or processor.
In another aspect of the present invention the data storage and retrieval accelerator method and system is employed in an input/output controller to reduce the time required to store, retrieve, or transmit data various forms of data.
The present invention is realized due to recent improvements in processing speed, inclusive of dedicated analog and digital hardware circuits, central processing units, digital signal processors, dedicated finite state machines (and any hybrid combinations thereof), that, coupled with advanced data compression and decompression algorithms, are enabling of ultra high bandwidth data compression and decompression methods that enable improved data storage and retrieval bandwidth.
These and other aspects, features and advantages, of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, that is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

System and methods for accelerated data storage and retrieval


A cassette for use in cassette-type heat exchanger has an inlet and an outlet, and include an upper plate and a lower plate. The upper and lower plates are sealed together around an edge area of the cassette, thereby forming a flow path within the cassette between the inlet and outlet. The plates are formed with a stamped pattern that increases the surface area of the plates as compared to a flat plate surface. The pattern includes a series of weld points whereby the upper and lower plate are welded or bonded together at a point location.

An indirect evaporative heat exchanger is made of one or more bundles of individual cassettes stacked and connected together. Each cassette is made of two generally flat, plates formed from a thin wall of conductive material (e.g., copper, aluminum, steel, etc.), and the perimeter of the plates are sealed together so that internal fluid can flow through the cassette between an inlet and outlet without leaking through the outer edges. On the outside of the cassette, an external fluid (e.g., air, water, or combinations thereof) fluid flow over the surface of the cassette. Via this process, heat is indirectly transferred from the higher temperature fluid to the lower temperature fluid through the cassette plates.
From a heat transfer perspective, it is more efficient for cassettes to use plates having relatively thin walls, as thinner material will have a higher heat transfer rate than a thicker wall. However, from a structural perspective, thicker walls provide greater structural stability over thin walls, which can be important in situations where cassettes are subjected to relatively high levels of internal pressure.
To realize the heat transfer benefits of a thin walled cassette while avoiding the associated structural problems, cassettes may be welded together via welding lines at spots between the plates. These welding lines help hold the plates together and allow the cassette to withstand high internal pressure, but again they diminish the heat transfer capabilities because the length of the lines tend to restrict the flow rate of fluid through the cassette. Moreover, these weld lines tend not to mix the external fluid over the surface area of the cassette as well as the un-welded portions, thereby further inhibiting heat transfer performance.


A system includes one or more memory devices storing instructions, and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions to perform the steps of a method to automatically crop images. The system may convert a raw image into a grayscale image before applying an edge detection operator to the grayscale image to create an edge image. The system may then create a binary image based on the edge image, identify one or more contours in the binary image, and determine one or more contour bounding image areas surrounding the contour(s). Upon identifying contour bounding image area(s) having user-specified dimensional criteria, the system may determine a minimum bounded image area including those area(s), pad the minimum bounded image area, and crop the raw image based on the padded bounded area.

Image cropping can be used to accentuate subject matter, remove unwanted subject or irrelevant detail, improve framing, or change aspect ratio of a digital image (e.g., photograph, illustration, film, etc.). As the process for manually cropping images can be arduous, many photographers, graphic designers, and other users have turned to image editing computer systems to expedite the image cropping process. An image editing system can be useful to process a high volume of images. For example, many merchants provide images of a large quantity of goods to be sold over the Internet to attract customers to their location. It is desirable to present images of those goods in a standardized format to increase the marketability of the goods, avoid customer confusion about the products being sold, and increase brand and merchant recognition. While helpful in presenting images in a standardized format, existing image editing systems tend to require extensive user input (e.g., to ascertain the subject of an image) that limits the capability of those systems.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved systems and methods that expedite and automate the manual process of image cropping without requiring extensive user input or providing inadequate noise removal. Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to this and other considerations.

Automatic image cropping systems and methods


A drainable ostomy pouch includes a closure system, which includes four closure members and a two-part fastening system. The closure system is arranged on a neck portion of the drainable pouch, and configured such that the pouch can be securely sealed after the neck portion is folded up three times and closed using the two-part fastening system.

The present disclosure generally relates to ostomy appliances, and more particularly to drainable ostomy pouches having closure systems.
Ostomy pouches for collecting body waste are used by patients who have had surgery such as a colostomy, ileostonty, or urostomy. Ostomy pouches typically include flat, opposing side walls secured together along their edges to define a collection cavity. One of the side walls is provided with an opening to receive a stoma, and means to secure the pouch to the user, such as an adhesive barrier, so that body waste discharged through the stoma is received within the cavity.
The ostomy pouch may be a closed-end pouch for a single use, in which case the entire pouch is discarded after it has been substantially filled with stomal discharge. Alternatively, the ostomy pouch can be a drainable pouch with as discharge opening at its lower end, which may be closed during collection of body waste material but may be opened for draining, body waste material from the pouch after a period of use. Such drainable pouches are disclosed, for example, in Nolan, U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,534, and Jensen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,659, which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.
The discharge opening of drainable pouches is typically defined at the end of a narrowed neck portion, which is provided with closure means for maintaining the discharge opening in a sealed condition until waste material is to be drained from the pouch. The closure means may take the form of a clamp, as in the aforementioned Nolan patent, or a device such as conventional wire ties or wraps for securing the neck portion in an upwardly-rolled condition.
For quality of life of the users, drainable pouches should be easy to drain without risking soiling of clothes or the surroundings. They also should be easy to close securely after being drained and amenable to being cleaned after drainage and before closing again, such that the risk of unpleasant odor is substantially reduced. Most importantly, the closure means should provide a secure seal when closed to minimize the risk of leakage.
Many different solutions concerning the closing, cleaning and drainage operations have been proposed and implemented. For example, Villefrance et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,879,015 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/843,457, which are commonly assigned with the present application and incorporated herein in their entirety by reference, disclose drainable pouches having integral closure systems. For obvious reasons, fluffier improvements in the closure systems for easier operation and reduced risk of leakage are much desired by users.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved closure system for drainable pouches.


An analysis tool suppressing background and improving detection sensitivity. In a first plate is formed a first concavity having, in the path of excitation light of a surface opposite to a bonding surface, a first bottom surface, a first opening, and a slanted surface widening from the edge of the first bottom surface towards the edge of the first opening. In a second plate, having a flow path formed on the bonding surface, is formed a second concavity having, in the path of excitation light of the surface opposite to the bonding surface, a second bottom surface, a second opening, and a slanted surface widening from the edge of the second bottom surface towards the edge of the second opening. The first plate is bonded to the second plate, and the first opening and the second opening are covered with a film.

In a current scientific field or medical field such as biochemistry and analytical chemistry, a micro analysis system is employed for rapidly testing and analyzing a small amount of substances such as protein or nucleic acid (for example, DNA) with accuracy.
One of the micro analysis systems involves providing a micro flow path (hereinafter, referred to as "a flow path") having a width and a depth of approximately several tens to two hundreds μm in the interior of the analysis tool, filling electrophoretic solution (i.e., buffer solution, gel) in the flow path, infusing samples from the end of the flow path and applying a voltage to the solution, and applying an electrophoresis to the samples to analyze the samples.
In such a sample analysis, there is a known method of setting an analysis tool including a micro flow path in an analysis apparatus including an optical system unit capable of irradiating and receiving analysis light, applying electrophoresis to samples, irradiating light at a predetermined position in a flow path, and observing a fluorescence wavelength irradiated from the samples in the flow path, (see, for example, Patent literature 1).


An apparatus for intraocular implantation of a plastic lens in the eye lens zone from which a natural lens has been removed via a surgical incision in the corneoscleral limbus comprising a surgical forceps having two arms and blades projecting beyond portions of the arms defining a cross-over locus, the blades clamping the plastic lens to be implanted; the blades including first and second spaced blades carried by one arm portion, and a third blade carried by the other arm portion, whereby stable three point support is provided for the lens during its passage through the incision into the eye.

This invention relates generally to intraocular lens implantation, and more particularly concerns apparatus and method for achieving such implantation, employing three blades.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,957, I have disclosed a method of implantation onto the eye of a plastic lens which has been folded, so as to pass through a very narrow incision in the corneosclera.
However, some surgeons do not desire to fold the soft lens implant, but prefer to implant the lens in unfolded condition. Also, if and when an inadvertent rupture of the posterior lens capsule occurs, the surgeon can avoid the use of an anterior chamber lens implant with al its potential complications by simply using a non-folded, soft lens implant through a small wound.
There is therefore need for an improved lens implantation forceps enabling easy grasping of a nonfolded plastic lens for passing it safely and accurately into the posterior chamber in the eye.

Three bar cross action lens implantation forceps


A rotary viscometer of the type which measures the viscous torque to which a rotating spindle is subjected, by measuring the current drawn by the electric motor driving the spindle. True viscosity, i.e. the slope of the torque-spindle rotation speed curve, is approximated by varying the spindle speed stepwise in sets of speed measurements having a fixed speed difference, and obtaining the difference between the corresponding torque values for each set. By repeating this process throughout the desired speed range, an approximate derivative of the torque-speed curve is obtained, corresponding to an approximation of the true viscosity of the fluid being characterized.

This invention relates to a rotational viscometer apparatus and a process utilizing the same for measuring the viscosity of a fluid medium; and more particularly to an apparatus and process capable of approximating the true viscosity of non-Newtonian fluids.
Various techniques are known in the art for the repetitive or continuous measurement of the viscosity of Newtonian fluids, and a number of such arrangements are described in the introductory portion of U.S. Pat. No. 3,875,791, the invention of which relates to a rotary viscometer capable of providing a true indication of the viscosity of Newtonian fluids, and of characterizing a fluid as to its Newtonian or non-Newtonian character.
The rotary viscometer of U.S. Pat. No. 3,875,791, rotates a fluid shearing spindle in a cup containing the fluid to be characterized, at a rotation speed which can be scanned across a desired range; and provides a plot of fluid shearing torque to which the spindle is subjected, as a function of spindle rotation speed. If the torque increases linearly with speed, the fluid is Newtonian, with a viscosity equal to the torque/speed ratio. If the torque variation with speed is non-linear, the fluid is non-Newtonian.
While the rotary viscometer arrangement of U.S. Pat. No. 3,875,791 is thus quite accurate and useful in connection with Newtonian fluids, it is incapable of directly providing true viscosity information for non-Newtonian fluids. For such non-Newtonian fluids, an effective differentiation of the torque-speed curve is required, since the true viscosity of the non-Newtonian fluid at any given spindle rotation speed is proportional to the slope of the torque-speed curve at such speed.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved rotary viscometer which is capable of not only generating torque vs. spindle rotation speed curves, but also of generating information respecting the approximate true viscosity of non-Newtonian fluids.

National Metal and Refining Company, Ltd.


The present invention relates to an optical receiving pre-amplifier and an optical receiver using the same. The object of the invention is to provide an optical receiving pre-amplifier having an enlarged dynamic range to a large output swing, and an optical receiver having a simplified circuit configuration and a sufficient eye aperture and suitable for a parallel transmission. The optical receiving pre-amplifier includes an input FET 10 with a gate terminal 10a to receive a current signal from a light receiving element and an output FET 12 with the gate terminal 12a connected to the signal terminal 10b of the input FET 10 to amplify and output the current signal to a predetermined voltage signal. A feedback resistor 14 is connected between the gate terminal 10a of the input FET 10 and the output terminal 19 of the output FET 12. A current source 15 can enlarge an output potential amplitude of the output FET 12 to a light signal change and is arranged between the gate terminal 10a of the input FET 10 and the power source 17.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pre-amplifier for optical receiving and an optical receiver using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with the improved processing speed of communications systems and computers, optical signal communication between systems has been demanded. For such a communication system, small, low cost, adjustment-free optical receivers have been desired. Particularly, it has been desired to realize reduced cost and low power consumption in an optical communication system with a bit rate of less than 1 Gbps.
FIG. 29 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of an optical receiver. In FIG. 29, the optical receiving trans impedance-type pre-amplifier 1A, described later with FIG. 30, amplifies and outputs to a predetermined voltage signal a current signal converted from an optical signal by a light receiving element (photoelectric element such as a photo-diode) 2.
Numeral 3C represents a reference detector described later according to FIGS. 31 and 32. The reference detector 3C detects the center potential of an amplitude of an output signal from the pre-amplifier 1A and produces its potential as a standard reference potential for the amplifying operation of a limiter amplifier 4 to output to a limiter amplifier 4. The limiter amplifier 4 amplifies the output signal of the pre-amplifier based on the reference potential from the reference detector 3C.
The trans impedance-type pre-amplifier 1A, as shown in FIG. 30, is formed of four field effect transistors 10, 11A, 12, and 13A (hereinafter referred to FET), a feedback resistor (with a resistance value Rf) 14, and two diodes 20 and 21. The FET 11A acts as a load resistor and FET 13A acts as constant current source (load resistance).
In the pre-amplifier 1A, a current signal converted from an optical signal by the light receiving element 2 is inputted to the gate terminal 10a of the input FET 10 via an input terminal 18. A first power source (positive power source Vdd or GND 0 V) 16 is connected to the drain terminal (one signal terminal) 10b of the input FET 10 via the load FET 11A and a second power source (GND or negative power source Vss) 17 is connected to the source terminal (the other signal terminal) 10c via the diode 20.
The output FET 12 has a gate terminal 12a connected to the drain terminal 10b of the input FET 10, a drain terminal 12b connected to the first power source 16, and a source terminal 12c connected to the second power source 17 via the diode 21 and the load FET 13A. The amplified result amplified to a predetermined voltage value is outputted from the output terminal 19 connected to the source terminal 12c of the output FET 12.
A feedback resistor 14 supplies the output signal of the output FET 12 back to the gate terminal 10a of the input FET 10 and is arranged between the gate terminal 10a of the input FET 10 and the output terminal 19 (diode 21) of the output FET 12.
The load FET 11A has a gate terminal 11a and a source terminal 11c connected to the drain terminal 10b of the input FET 10 and to the gate terminal 12a of the output FET 12, and a drain terminal lib connected to the first power source 16. The load FET 13A has a gate terminal 13a and a source terminal 13c connected to the second power source 17 and a drain terminal 13b connected to a feedback resistor 14 and a diode 21.
In the trans impedance-type pre-amplifier 1A, a current signal Iin is supplied to the gate terminal 10a of the input FET 10 via the input terminal 18. The current signal is obtained by converting to an optical signal by the light receiving element 2 an optical signal representing a digital signal received by way of an optical fiber (not shown) from the transmission side. The potential of the drain terminal 10b of the input FET 10 is supplied to the gate terminal 12a of the output FET 12 and the potential of the source terminal 12c of the output FET 12 is outputted as an amplified result from the output terminal 19.
The reference detector 3C, as shown in FIG. 31, is constituted of a high level peak potential detector 3a for detecting a high level peak potential of an output signal of the pre-amplifier 1A, a low level peak potential circuit 3b for detecting a low level peak potential of an output signal of said pre-amplifier 1A, and an average value detector 3c for averaging the peak potentials from the above detectors 3a and 3b to output the averaged result as a predetermined standard reference potential to the limiter amplifier 4.
The high level peak potential detector 3a, as shown in FIG. 32(a), is formed of a diodes D1 and a capacitor C1. The low level peak potential detector 3b, as shown in FIG. 32(b), is formed of a diode D2 and a capacitor C2. The average value detector 3c, as shown in FIG. 32(c), is formed of two resistors R1 and R2 having the same resistance value to each other.
The pre-amplifier 1A shown in FIG. 30 has an output voltage to input current characteristic as shown in FIG. 33. For example, with the use of the power source voltage of 5 volts, the pre-amplifier 1A saturates with the output amplitude of more than 0.6 v. For that reason, an intensive light hitting the light receiving element 2 may vary the duty of the output waveform of the pre-amplifier 1A so that eye pattern (eye diagram) cannot be recognized because of its glared state.
The eye pattern is used to evaluate the degree of the inter-sign interference due to transmission distortion by using an aperture ratio (eye aperture: the unoverlapped portion when all possible pulse waveforms produced between two signal intervals are overlapped to display) of a waveform pattern which is overlapped on a cathode-ray tube a received and demodulated base band signal series by time-sweeping synchronously with bit. This procedure limits the dynamic range of the receiver.
Hence, as shown in FIG. 30, a diode is connected in parallel across the feedback resistor 14. This circuit configuration can limit the input current Iin to less than a fixed amplitude by making the diode conductive to form a by-pass circuit for an optical current when the input current Iin exceeds a fixed value.
However, in the above circuit, a sufficient eye aperture cannot be obtained because the output waveform duty of the pre-amplifier 1A varies in principle and the eye pattern is blinded. The above circuit configuration cannot be adopted to the system. The reason is that if the eye pattern does not have a sufficient eye aperture for a received signal corresponding to each optical signal, each channel cannot be recognized when each channel must be recognized with common clocks in the parallel transmission of plural channel optical signals.
As described above, there is a disadvantage in that the optical receiving pre-amplifier, as shown in FIG. 30, cannot establish a wide dynamic range and sufficient eye aperture because an insufficient output amplitude causes a waveform distortion due to an intensive light hitting the light receiving element 2.
In the optical receiver, as shown in FIG. 29, since the pre-amplifier 1A has a wide dynamic range, the reference detector 3C receives an input voltage with a large swing of amplitude. Most of the peak potential detectors 3a and 3b in the reference detector 3C are formed of a diode and a capacitor, as shown in FIGS. 32(a) and 32(b).
However, it is very difficult to obtain accurately the center potential (reference potential) over all levels in the configuration that the outputs of the peak potential detectors 3a and 3b are inputted to the average value detector 3c. Particularly, when the input level is small, the probability that a large error occurs is very high.
It is difficult that the optical receiving pre-amplifier establishes usually a sufficient eye aperture because of an error in a reference potential when an optical parallel transmitting receiver identifies plural received signals (channels) using common clocks, whereby plural received signals cannot be identified certainly. Since the capacitors C1 and C2 with larger capacitance value in the reference detector 3C can make the error small, an optical parallel receiver formed in an IC device requires a relatively large capacitor therein, thus resulting in an increased cost.
As described above, in the optical receiver shown in FIG. 29, since the reference detector 3C cannot detect accurately a reference to the dynamic range of an output of the pre-amplifier 1A, a sufficient eye aperture cannot be established at all times, whereby it is difficult to recognize each channel with common clocks at parallel receiving time.
There is a problem that a feedback in a circuit using a variable gain circuit may cause a possible oscillation. Moreover, in a system including plural optical receivers arranged in parallel, there is a disadvantage in that a reference detector 3C with a capacitor of large capacitance requires for each channel, thus resulting in a large-sized IC built-in circuit and an increased cost.

Pre-amplifier for optical receiving and optical receiver using the same


A ground conductor film is formed at an insulating substrate. A floating conductor film capacitively couples to the ground conductor film. A radiating element is connected to the floating conductor film. A shielding film shields an electromagnetic wave radiated from the radiating element. By applying such a configuration to a printed circuit board, noise reduction can be achieved.

A filter which prevents a high frequency noise current from propagating to a cable via a connector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2009-105575. In the filter disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2009-105575, a region which exhibits high impedance is formed at a portion around a connector of the printed circuit board. The region which exhibits high impedance has an electromagnetic band gap structure having a band gap which prevents propagation of electromagnetic waves at a prescribed frequency band. A surface structure which exhibits high impedance at a plurality of frequency bands is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,483,481.
The region which exhibits high impedance includes a plurality of conductor pieces disposed at a first conductor layer periodically, a ground conductor film disposed at a second conductor layer, and a conductor pillar which connects the plurality of conductor pieces to the ground conductor film.


A plate-type heat exchanger comprises a plurality of plates laminated through gaskets fixed in gasket grooves formed in the entire peripheral edges thereof without using any adhesive agent. The liquid-noncontacted peripheral side surface of the gasket body of the gasket is integrally formed with suitably spaced fixing tabs each comprising a plurality of projecting pieces projecting from the gasket body, and at least a fixing piece extending parallel with the gasket body. The plate is formed with gasket fixing portions associated with the fixing tabs of the gasket for fixing the fixing tabs by force-fitting the fixing pieces of the fixing tabs in slits extending parallel with the gasket groove. The gasket fixing tabs may be integrally formed with fixing pieces interconnecting adjacent projecting pieces or with suitably spaced L-shaped fixing tabs each comprising a projecting piece projecting from the gasket body and a fixing piece extending parallel with the gasket body and integrally connected to the front end of the projecting piece. The plate gasket fixing concave portions are formed wider than the gasket projecting pieces to loosely accommodate the projecting pieces with room for freedom of lateral movement.

This invention relates to a plate-type heat exchanger comprising a required number of plates laminated through gaskets and is used in the fields of food and medicines where the use of an adhesive agent should be avoided in attaching the gaskets to the plates and in the field of general chemistry where improvements in gasket replacement maintenance is desired.
Generally, a plate-type heat exchanger comprises a required number of plates each having a heat transfer surface formed with a suitable unevenness pattern, said plates being laminated through gaskets to define a plurality of channels between adjacent plates, with two types of mediums flowing through alternate channels.
FIG. 9 is a partial perspective view showing a concrete example of a typical plate-type heat exchanger, wherein the numeral 1 denotes plates each having a heat transfer surface 2 with a suitable unevenness pattern (not shown) and having holes 3, 4, 5, 6 at four corners, and gaskets 7 of synthetic rubber or other elastic material having heat resistance are mounted, each gasket surrounding the associated heat transfer surface 2 in such a manner as to establish communication between the holes 3 and 4 and close the other holes 5 and 6. A required number of such plates 1 are alternately turned upside down and laminated to define a channel 8 for a medium a and a channel 9 for a medium b.
In such plate-type heat exchanger, as shown in FIG. 10, the gasket 7 is fitted in a gasket groove 10 formed in the peripheral edge of the plate 1. The plates 1 are laminated, whereby the gaskets 7 are pressed against the rear surfaces of the gasket grooves 10 of adjacent plates 1 to define sealed channels 8 and 9 between the plates 1, thus forming a sealing construction which prevents the mediums from leaking outside.
Heretofore, it has been common practice to fix said gaskets in the gasket grooves 10 by an adhesive agent. That is, since such adhesive agent suitably fixes the gaskets 7 in the gasket grooves 10 but allows the relatively easy removal of the gaskets when it is necessary to replace them, it has been generally used for fixing the gaskets in the gasket groove 10. When it is desired to adhesively fix the gaskets 7 in the gasket grooves 10 of the plates 1, however, it is necessary to wash the oil and grease and other extraneous substances, which hinder adhesion, off the surfaces of the plates 1 in advance of application of an adhesive agent. Further, application, drying and aging of an adhesive agent take time and there has been a need for maintenance operation including careful cleaning of the old adhesive agent off the gasket grooves 10 in advance of adhesion of fresh gaskets 7 to replace the old gaskets 7. Besides this, in the case where heat exchange is effected for fluids for food and medicines, migration of an adhesive agent sometimes becomes a problem. Therefore, it has been desired to fix the gaskets 7 in the gasket grooves 10 of the plates 1 without using any adhesive agent.
According to a known arrangement for attaching the gaskets 7 to the gasket grooves 10 without using any adhesive agent, as shown in FIGS. 11 through 13, fixing tabs 7b are integrally fixed at suitable intervals to the liquid-noncontacted peripheral side surface of the gasket body of a gasket 7 and a fixing projection 7c is integrally fixed to each fixing tab 7b, while the liquid-noncontacted peripheral side surface of each gasket groove 10 of the plate 1 is recessed to form a gasket fixing insertion portion 10a corresponding to said fixing tab 7b and the bottom of said gasket fixing insertion portion 10a is formed with a fitting hole 10b associated with said fixing projection 7c to receive the latter, said fixing projection 7c of said tab 7b being force-fitted in said fitting hole 10b of the fixing insertion portion 10a, thereby fixing the gasket 7 to the gasket groove 10 of the plate 1.
According to the means described above, the fixing of the gasket 7 to the gasket groove 10 of the plate 1 without using any adhesive agent becomes possible, but there has been the following problem.
The material for gaskets to be used in plate-type heat exchangers is suitably selected according to the temperature, pressure and liquids to be used. Thus, many gasket materials have been required and used.
First, in the case of a gasket 7 which is made of an elastic material having heat resistance, such as synthetic rubber, since the amount of shrinkage taking place during manufacture due to difference in material, if the same metal mold is used to produce gaskets of synthetic rubber, the length always differs. Even if the same material is used, when the production lot differs, a scatter occurs in the length of the gasket body 7a; furthermore, such dimensional scatter is not constant on the entire periphery of the gasket body 7a but takes place locally. Therefore, in the case of the conventional gasket 7 in which the fixing point of the fixing tab 7b is set at a single point, the scatter in the length of the gasket body 7a cannot be accommodated in the fixing operation. Therefore, in the case where the gasket body 7a of the gasket 7 is long, when the gasket 7 is fixed in the gasket groove 10 of the plate 1, the gasket body 7a is locally bent, as shown in FIG. 14 at a, and is raised from the gasket groove 10 of the plate 1, so that when the plates 1 are clamped for lamination, the gasket 7 is not received in the predetermined position in the gasket groove 10 of the plate 1; thus, the sealing property becomes a problem. Further, in the case where the gasket body 7a is short, as shown in FIG. 14 at b, the fixing of the gasket 7 in the gasket groove 10 is effected with the fixing tab 7b positioned in the bent state in the gasket fixing insertion portion 10a of the gasket groove 10. Thus, the operability for fixing the gasket 7 in the gasket groove 10 is degraded, and the gasket body 7a is raised from the gasket groove 10 by the bent fixing tab 7b, so that when the plates 1 are laminated, the gasket 7 is not received in the gasket groove 10 of the plate 1, offering a problem of sealing quality. Further, since the gasket 7 is merely integrally formed with the fixing tab 7b projecting from the gasket body 7a with only a limited area of junction, the fixing tab 7b has a limited strength, tending to bend with respect to the gasket body 7a. Thus, to achieve firm fixing of the gasket 7 in the gasket groove 10 of the plate 1, many fixing tabs 7b must be formed with a short pitch, and the plate processing equipment and the gasket processing time are increased, leading to a cost increase. Further, the fixing tab 7b of the gasket 7 tends to bend with respect to the gasket body 7a and the fixing projection 7c is integrally formed with the fixing projection 7c on the rear surface of the front end thereof; therefore, when a plurality of gaskets 7 are bundled during manufacture or handling, the fixing tabs 7b and fixing projections 7c interfere with each other, making handling inconvenient or damaging the fixing tabs 7b. Further, since the fixing force created by the force-fit between the fixing projection 7c integrally formed on the rear surface of the front end of the fixing tab 7b of the gasket 7 and the fitting hole 10b formed in the plate 1 is low, the gasket 7 tends to be disengaged from the plate; thus, there has been a problem of sealing quality.
This invention has been accomplished in view of the aforesaid problems to the conventional plate-type heat exchanger and has for its object the provision of a plate-type heat exchanger wherein the operation for fixing gaskets in gaskets grooves in plates is improved and high fixing force is obtained and the gaskets are seldom damaged.


An improved fixed dummy block assembly to be used with a heavy duty metal extrusion assembly including a hydraulic press and a billet container. The assembly includes a stem connected with the press in axial alignment with the billet container so as to be pushed by the press towards an open inlet end of the billet container. Further, the stem, which is generally elongate and includes a first end having an axial socket extending into the stem therethrough, is structured to receive an exterior dummy block member therein within the axial socket. The exterior dummy block member includes an expansion segment and a connector segment, the connector segment being structured to be axially and slidingly inserted into the axial socket of the stem so as to be securely, yet removably locked in place without the use of any threads. The expansion segment of the exterior dummy block member includes an open interior area having a bell head containment portion and a bell stem containment portion into which a compression bell is inserted and secured. The bell itself has a bell head which fits in the bell head containment portion and bell connector stem which extends into the bell stem containment portion and is secured therein in a threadless manner such that the bell head is retained in the bell head containment portion and will protrude slightly from a front end of the expansion segment in order to engage the metal billet first and engage the expansion segment in order to outwardly flex of the surrounding wall structure of the expansion segment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved fixed dummy block assembly to be used with a heavy duty metal extrusion assembly so as to replace a standard dummy block with an assembly that is quick and easy to install and secure in place, as well as to remove and replace when necessary, and which significantly minimizes operation down-time generally associated with the preheating and parts replacement requirements of known dummy block assemblies, in a durable effective and adaptable assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of large metal parts that are utilized throughout industry are made by heavy duty extrusion procedures. Simply put, the extrusion procedures utilize a quantity of heated, and therefore deformable, metal, in a large block generally called a billet. This metal billet is introduced into an extrusion assembly which pushes the billet through a specific die that defines the desired output shape. Often, however, because of the natural properties of the metal being utilized for extrusion, it is difficult to maintain a balanced billet consistency, which is neither too soft nor too hard, and is therefore appropriate for effective extrusion. Specifically, it is evident, that in order to enable the billet to be extrudeable in a typical extrusion procedure, it is necessary to maintain substantially high temperatures during operation so that the metal billet is softened and can be pushed through the die. Still, however, the operating temperatures must not be so high so as to make the metal billet soften to the point where it looses all its rigidity and is therefore unmoldable as it will not retain its extruded form when pushed through the die. As such, an ideal billet consistency will require that a substantial amount of force is exerted on the billet in order to push it through the relatively small openings of the die. Accordingly, a major cause for downtime and/or operational malfunctions during extrusion procedures relates to the substantial amounts of stress exerted on the extrusion equipment, and the substantially high operating temperatures which can weaken the structure of the extrusion equipment, thereby leading to breakage.
Conventional heavy duty metal extrusion assemblies generally include a hydraulic press and a billet container. In particular, the billet container includes a die end over which the extrusion die is positioned and from which the formed part exits. Accordingly, an interior wall surface of the billet container is structured to contain the metal billet as it is pushed towards the die in order to form the extruded part. Generally, the metal billet is pushed into the billet container, and towards the extrusion die, by an elongate stem connected to the hydraulic press. Disposed on an end of the stem is a dummy block which is structured to substantially ensure that metal from the metal billet only exits the billet container through the die. Further, conventional dummy blocks are generally sized to be substantially equivalent to an interior dimension of the billet container, thereby protecting, to the greatest extent possible, the stem and other operating parts of the extrusion press from being covered and possibly damaged by metal from the metal billet, and maximizing the overall percentage of the metal billet that is actually pushed through the extrusion die to form the finished part. Still, however, because some clearance must be provided if the dummy block is to slide into the billet container, and because of the heavy compression forces utilized during the extrusion process, some seepage of metal usually results over the surface of a conventional dummy block. While this seepage may not be sufficient to contaminate the stem or other portions of the extrusion assembly, the dummy block itself tends to become contaminated or otherwise coated to the point where it is inoperable and necessitates frequent replacement after a small number of uses. Furthermore, standard dummy blocks are generally aligned at a pin on the end of the stem. Subsequent to extrusion, however, such a pin interconnection is insufficient to pull back the dummy block and fully separate it from the remaining billet. As a result, a layer of metal often becomes stuck on the dummy block, requiring manual removal, often by chipping away with a hammer and/or chisel. Of course, such manual removal requires the cycling of multiple dummy blocks to avoid excess down time, and can easily lead to damage to the surface of the conventional dummy block. Accordingly, and because of the great expense and time delay associated with continuous standard dummy block replacement and/or cycling, others in the art have sought to implement alternative dummy block assemblies. These alternative dummy block assemblies are conventionally known as fixed dummy block assemblies. Specifically, fixed dummy block assemblies are structured to permit continuous or at least repeated use, and generally include a bell portion that is movably retained within the dummy block housing. In use, the bell portion of the fixed dummy block engages the metal billet first and is pushed back into the dummy block housing. Due to the great compressive force which is exerted on the billet by the bell and the resistive force provided by the billet as it resists compression and extrusion, the bell portion will engage the walls of the dummy block housing resulting in a flexing of the surrounding wall until the housing's exterior expands to within very small clearance of the interior surface of the billet container. Accordingly, as the fixed dummy block is inserted into the billet container, the perimeter diameter of the dummy block housing is slightly smaller than the interior surface of the billet container; however, when contact with the metal billet is made and the dummy block housing flexes outwardly, the perimeter diameter of the dummy block housing will be substantially equivalent to the interior surface diameter of the billet container such that very little space will remain between the housing and the sidewalls of the billet container to prevent significant outward seepage of the metal billet over the surface of the dummy block housing and therefore the stem. Conversely, when the fixed dummy block is removed from the billet container, the diameter of the fixed dummy block housing returns to its normal diameter and facilitated removal is achieved. This seepage prevention, which maximizes the amount of the metal billet that is used and protects the operating equipment, is therefore one primary reason why the use of a fixed dummy block assembly is substantially beneficial and cost saving for industries using heavy duty metal extrusion systems. Furthermore, the secure engagement between the fixed dummy block and the stem permits separation of the dummy block from the billet without the need to cut or scrape the remaining billet metal.
Still, however, there are a number of problems associated with fixed dummy block assemblies. One such problem involves the overall size of conventional fixed dummy blocks, and hence the manner in which the fixed dummy block portion of the assembly must be secured to an end of the stem. Conventionally, most fixed dummy blocks are necessarily quite long and heavy, as compared with standard dummy blocks, due to the intricate interior configurations necessitated by prior art dummy block assemblies. In particular, most prior fixed dummy blocks incorporate interior threaded and/or biased interconnections which call for added interior spacing for both operational and repair purposes. As such, prior art assemblies require a portion of the conventional sized stem to be cut off to a length which matches the precise length required by the fixed dummy block assembly to ensure maximum extrusion. Not only does this require extensive and possibly damaging cutting of the stem, but more importantly, such shortening of the stem makes the modified stem, and hence the extrusion assembly, substantially unusable unless an entire, matching, replacement fixed dummy block assembly is available.
Further, most conventional dummy block assemblies provide for securing of the fixed dummy block portion via a threaded connection. Such a design can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,761 to Robbins. This design, as with many conventional fixed dummy block designs, includes a stud portion that is threaded into the cut off stem. If, however, the device breaks or becomes coated with excess metal and must therefore be replaced, the substantially high temperatures and the problems associated with the removal of partially broken threads make it quite difficult to remove the stud, and hence the fixed dummy block portion from the stem. For this reason, a device such as that in U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,900, also to Robbins, is provided to include a bayonet type connection between the stud and the stem. Unfortunately, however, while this improvement does generally facilitate removal of the fixed dummy block from the stem, it does not address a number of additional problems associated with fixed dummy block use.
In particular, after extensive experimentation it has been determined that the incorporation of a number of threaded elements and various separate components within the fixed dummy block itself can lead to significant disadvantages during use of the fixed dummy block assembly. Specifically, it is often the bell portion of the fixed dummy block which becomes contaminated or otherwise damaged while the remainder of the fixed dummy block assembly remains fully operational. As a result, efficiency considerations dictate that in certain circumstances the bell portion alone be removed and replaced, thereby saving the expense associated with the replacement of an entire fixed dummy block and minimizing the downtime required for obtaining and replacing the entire dummy block. Because of the expense of the overall dummy block portion of the assembly, many facilities only keep one fixed dummy block portion on hand. Unfortunately, even if the operators wish to replace only the bell portion, most fixed dummy block assemblies, even those which include a bayonet type stem connection as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,900, include a bell portion that is threadedly secured in place within the housing of the fixed dummy block by way of a bolt or like fastener element. Additionally, the bell portion may be connected to a variety of springs and the like within the housing of the fixed dummy block. As a result, under the substantially high temperatures associated with fixed dummy block use, it can be significantly difficult to remove the bell portion from its secured position within the fixed dummy block, especially if the bell, and/or some of its threaded connections are partially broken. Also, the conventional configuration and interconnection of the bell portion and the housing will generally necessitate that the access to the bell portion must be achieved from an interior of the fixed dummy block housing because only minimal portions of the bell are exposed from the housing and a substantial grip of the bell is necessary if it is to be effectively unscrewed. There is, therefore, a need for an improved fixed dummy block assembly which provides for convenient and facilitated removal of merely the bell portion of the fixed dummy block as well as facilitated removal of the entire fixed dummy block from the stem in a quick and effective manner. Furthermore, because the stud is screwed into the housing portion, even with a bayonet type stud-stem connection, appropriate disengagement of the stud from the stem cannot be achieved if the threaded stud-housing connection is broken and the stud cannot be rotated effectively by turning the stem. In this regard the removable stud must be employed to permit access to the bell-housing connection within the housing.
Further, during replacement of fixed dummy blocks, a major source of added cost and/or downtime generally relates to the requirement that the fixed dummy block be heated when mounted on the stem. The pre-heating is primarily done to minimize the risks of breakage or fracture of the fixed dummy block portion when introduced into the hot, high pressure operating environment. In particular, the preheating is especially directed towards heating the numerous threaded portions that are contained within the fixed dummy block assembly. Specifically, the commonly employed threaded interconnections between the entire fixed dummy block portion and the stem, between a stud and the fixed dummy block housing, and/or between the bell portion and the housing of the fixed dummy block are much more susceptible to shatter and breakage if exposed to substantial quantities of stress without being preheated. Unfortunately, however, because of the ridged, mating interconnection of the threaded portions, often within an interior of the fixed dummy block housing, the threaded connections are very difficult to fully heat and thereby necessitate direct preheating of the entire fixed dummy block portion in a special oven or heating unit. Also, if the threaded portion is the portion of the fixed dummy block assembly that shatters, it substantially increases the difficulty associated with removal and/or separation of portions of the fixed dummy block. Furthermore, because conventional fixed dummy blocks must be generally large and elongate due to their intricate interior mechanism, direct heating on the stem would take a substantial amount of time, a consequence that further leads to costly down time.
In addition to ensuring that the threaded portions within the fixed dummy block assembly are sufficiently preheated, another problem associated with conventional fixed dummy block assemblies involves ensuring that the threaded portions within the fixed dummy block are not overly hot. Specifically, the threaded portions of the fixed dummy block assembly are most susceptible to breakage because under the high temperatures and high stress, they are subject to some play or stretching during the constant load cycles endured by the fixed dummy block. Not only does this stretching of the threads lead to quicker breakage, but also the play between the threads increases as the gaps stretch even further such that the fixed dummy block assembly does not remain properly aligned as it is introduced into the billet container for compression of the billet. This improper alignment can lead to malfunctions in the extrusion cycle and can lead to excessive damage or wear to the billet container. It is therefore evident that there is a substantial need in the art to provide an improved fixed dummy block assembly which identifies the previously unaddressed and unidentified problems associated with the use of threaded portions within a fixed dummy block assembly by eliminating all threaded portions of interconnection within a simple and effective device. Additionally, there is a need in the art for an effective fixed dummy block assembly which is efficiently configured to be substantially compact thereby eliminating the need to cut the conventional stem of an extrusion press and allowing for rapid and effective heating of the fixed dummy block directly on the stem. Further, there is a need in the art for a fixed dummy block assembly which is capable of operating at the high temperatures associated with metal extrusion, but which is also capable of balancing temperatures therein to ensure that the fixed dummy block assembly itself does not get too hot so as to be subjected to excessive wear or potential deformation.


A Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) post-correlation processing system (12) for delay locked loop processing reduces the control data rate into a delay locked loop (DLL) processor and the number of required interpolation operations by executing a portion of the interpolation operations at a symbol data rate rather than at a chiprate. Specifically, an interpolator (16) generates time shifted chip samples based on input CDMA chip samples. First and second correlators (22, 24) extract ontime control and data symbol samples, respectively, from ontime input CDMA chip samples. A third correlator (26) extracts first non-ontime control symbol samples from non-ontime CDMA chip samples. The first non-ontime control symbol samples are then input with the ontime control symbol samples to a post-correlation interpolator (28) operating at a symbol rate to generate second non-ontime symbol samples necessary for Delay Locked Loop (DLL) processing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to signal processing, and specifically to signal processing in which symbol samples for delay locked loop processing are extracted pre and post correlator processing.
2. Description of Related Art
In a wideband Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, multiple paths of a transmitted signal can be tracked using a rake receiver implemented at a base station due to the nature of spread spectrum sequences in a wireless channel. The rake receiver functions as several receivers operating with associated propagation delays based on the respective delays experienced by arriving multipath signals. The rake receiver has a tracking loop for each rake finger of a user that tracks the movement of the fingers typically through the use of a delay locked loop (DLL). The DLL, which computes the error in, and subsequently shifts, the sample time, needs to be performed on a per finger, or multipath, basis.
To compute the error in the sample time, the DLL requires early and late sample times. Specifically, the DLL takes the early and late samples for a given multipath signal being tracked and calculates the energy for the early and late correlations. The difference between these two energies is multiplied by a pre-computed gain factor to obtain a timing correction. A third ontime sample sequence is used for demodulation purposes as it has the largest signal to noise ratio.
In conventional DLLs, interpolators provide the early, late and ontime samples so that three samples are provided for each CDMA symbol. A conventional hardware implementation often processes the early and late correlation outputs in parallel. As the data resulting from the early and late correlations is processed using dedicated links, transfer bandwidth is not a problem.
In new high end devices, more processing is being moved to digital signal processors. In addition, the potential for performance improvements via more sophisticated software algorithms creates motivation to place more functions like DLL processing in software. However, this shift in processing puts a strain on Digital Signal Processor (DSP) bandwidth, as such bandwidth is typically small enough to create processing bottlenecks at the DSP I/O interface and therefore slow down DSP processing times.
Clearly a need exists for more efficient signal processing systems for, for example, delay locked loops.

Post-correlation interpolation for delay locked loops