A microtag cut from a sheet of plastic material and having at least one acuminate snag extending outwardly from the microtag. The sheet of plastic material includes a serial number replicated a plurality of times and the microtag is cut so as to contain at least one complete serial number. Each microtag is less than about two millimeters in diameter. The plastic material is nonconductive and can be from a plastic that will fluoresce under certain wavelengths of light. A plurality of microtags can be used to mark an item of personal property.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to microtags and, more particularly, to a novel microtag and method, the microtag having at least one acuminate snag extending outwardly from the periphery and a preselected indicia on a face for purpose of marking or otherwise tagging an item of personal property wherein each item of personal property is tagged with one or more microtags that are releasably engaged to the item of personal property by the acuminate snag.
2. The Prior Art
The proper identification of personal property is important particularly to prove ownership in the event of inadvertent misplacement or loss through unlawful activity such as theft. The subsequent, proper recovery of the item of personal property requires accurate identification of the property to assure that the correct owner of the property receives the correct item of personal property. This problem is significant even where the particular item of person property is visibly marked with a serial number or such other device since owners rarely properly record serial numbers of person property.
The foregoing problem is compounded by the unlawful interference with ownership of personal property through theft and the like. In particular, it is a common practice by persons belonging to the criminal element in society to remove serial number plates and decals and even replace them with counterfeit or even legitimate serial numbers taken from other articles of equipment. The primary purpose of this activity is to enable the perpetrator to sell or otherwise exchange the item for money or other items of value to the perpetrator. The altered serial number conceals the origin and ownership of the property thereby enabling the perpetrator to more readily dispose of the property for a greater amount of value.
While the use of a Serial number decal is of limited value for indicating ownership, another method for marking an item of personal property involves physically marking the serial number on the item with an indelible ink or by engraving the serial number on the item. Each of the foregoing techniques for property identification can be circumvented, for example, by the simple removal of the serial number or replacement of the serial number decal with another decal. The ease by which these marking systems are circumvented has created a significant problem in personal property recovery.
Another problem with the foregoing techniques for property identification is that the certain tag systems are inappropriate in that they may interfere with the function or even aesthetic appearance of the item. For example, an item of jewelry such as a valuable gem stone mounted in a ring setting is difficult, if not impossible, to mark with an identification system that cannot be easily circumvented.
One specific identification system designed for identifying the source of a particular explosive product involves the use of color-coded microspheres which are blended into the explosive composition. The color-coded microspheres are blended into the explosive during manufacture so as to enable the appropriate police agencies to identify the specific batch that was the source of the particular explosive which created the event which is under investigation. In this case, the number of color-codings available to the manufacture are fairly limited. Further, it would be desirable to mark each item, even every stick of dynamite, with its own specific identity that would not be destroyed by the detonation process.
The patent of Dillon (U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,734) discloses an identification system wherein a plurality of microdots are produced by photoreduction techniques. In particular, the method consists essentially of printing the indicia in multiple units on a large plate with the images being reduced in size by step photographic process. The result is a glass slide having the negative of the image developed thereon. The image is then transferred photographically to a piece of film of the same size as the glass slide. The film is then cut into the individual microdots. The microdots are immersed in a carrier fluid which is used as the vehicle to apply the microdots to the item to be marked.
The reference of Krietemeier et al (U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,928) teaches the identification of articles using a miniature disc cut from a thin film bearing preassigned data. The film is produced as a strip with the individual discs partially severed from the film to enable the user to retrieve individual discs and place them at discrete locations on the articles.
An optically coded identification system for marking an item of personal property is disclosed in the patent of Richardson (U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,261). The labels are formed from a thin microsized plate of generally transparent material having the marking indicia thereon. The indicia is optically coded with a digital bit of data.
A document identification system for authenticating a document is disclosed in the patent of Knop (U.S. Pat. No. 4,661,983) as a random-pattern of microscopic lines that inherently forms in a dielectric coating layer of a three-layer diffractive subtractive filter. An authenticating device permits identification of a genuine document by comparing read-out-line-position information derived by microscopic inspection with read-out digital codes of line information obtained earlier at the time of fabrication of the document.
However, in addition to being able to accurately identify the correct ownership of an item of personal property, there is a critical need to deter theft in the first place. A primary reason property is stolen is that it can be converted into cash or other valuables by use of an intermediary commonly referred to as a "fence." As long as the fence feels that he is sufficiently removed from the actual scene of the crime and the stolen goods, per se, are capable of being rapidly moved to an ultimate buyer without traceability to the fence, the theft of personal property will continue to be a major plague of society.
In view of the foregoing, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a novel microtag for use as an identification system whereby an item of personal property is marked with an identification system that is extremely difficult to circumvent. It would also be a significant advancement in the art to provide a novel microtag and method whereby the microtag includes acuminate snags formed at its periphery to enable the microtag to releasably cling to the item of personal property. Another advancement in the art would be to provide a microtag for use as an identification system that is specifically designed to leave a trail of microtags wherever the item of personal property is moved thereby providing an easily provable trail of evidence thereby significantly discouraging the fencing of stolen property. Such a novel apparatus and method is disclosed and claimed herein.


An energy storage apparatus includes an outer case, and an energy storage device housed in an inside of the outer case. The outer case includes a ventilation chamber which makes the inside and an outside of the outer case communicate with each other. The ventilation chamber includes a front wall in which a through hole communicating with the outside is formed, a back wall disposed at a position where the back wall opposedly faces the front wall, a first wall disposed between the through hole and the back wall, and a first side wall disposed in an extending manner along a first direction which intersects with the front wall with a gap formed between the first side wall and the first wall. The gap is formed over a distance from the front wall to the back wall along the first direction.

With respect to an energy storage apparatus which includes an outer case and energy storage devices housed in the outer case, there has been known a configuration where a gas discharged from a safety valve which the energy storage device includes is discharged to the outside of the outer case.
For example, an outer case which an energy storage apparatus described in JP-2015-056323 A has a communication portion which makes an internal space and an external space of the outer case communicate with each other and extends in an X-axis direction. The communication portion has a plurality of shield plates which are disposed such that the movement of a substance in the inside of a communication passage in the X axis direction is prevented and the communication between the internal space and the external space by the communication passage is maintained. Since the outer case includes the communication passage in this manner, it is possible to discharge a gas to the outside of the outer case from the inside of the outer case. Further, by disposing the plurality of shield plates in the communication passage, it is possible to prevent the intrusion of foreign substances scattered to the communication portion into the internal space of the outer case.
For example, with respect to an energy storage apparatus which is mounted on a machine, an apparatus or the like used outdoors, when a passage which makes the inside and the outside of an outer case communicate with each other is formed in the outer case, there is a case where water such as rainwater flows into the inside of the passage and flow-in water stagnates in a place in the inside of the outer case. In this case, there is a possibility that functions of constitutional elements which the energy storage apparatus includes are impaired by stagnating water, for example.


For copy measuring the coordinates of an object to be measured using a coordinate measuring probe by disposing a rotary table on a platen of a coordinate measuring machine and placing the object on said rotary table and further rotating the object through said rotary table, there are calculated a speed vector V of the probe when the rotary table is stationary at the rotational angle .theta. and an angular velocity .omega. of the rotary table by said probe speed vector V viewed from the axis center of the object, and lead and retardation of said rotational angle .theta. is adjusted so as to keep unchanged an angular relationship between the object and the probe to determine the angular velocity .omega. anew. Further, there is calculated a speed vector V.sub.R that follows up the movement of said angular velocity .omega., and the vector sum V.sub.T =V+V.sub.R is issued as a speed command to the probe and said angular velocity .omega. is issued as a speed command to the rotary table. Therefore, one axis copy control owing to the rotary table is incorporated in addition to three-axis copy control of the probe when the rotary table is not used, to perform simultaneous four-axis copy control keeping unchanged the angular relationship between the object and the probe.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for copy controlling a coordinate measuring probe with a rotary table, and more specifically to a method of and an apparatus for copy controlling a coordinate measuring probe with a rotary table suitable for use in a three-dimensional coordinate measuring machine. The rotary table is settled on a platen of a coordinate measuring machine, and an object (workpiece) to be measured is placed on the rotary table and rotated by the same to copy measure the coordinates of the workpiece using the coordinate measuring probe. One axis by the rotary table is incorporated in the three-axis copy control of the probe when the rotary table is not used, that has already been realized, and copy operation by simultaneous four-axes control is assured keeping unchanged a direction of the probe with regard to an axis center of the object.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For measuring the shape of an object to be measured using a coordinate measuring machine such as a three-dimensional (3-D) coordinate measuring machine or the like, it is necessary to copy measure the coordinates of the object in succession with a coordinate measuring probe such as a touch signal probe and a copying probe, etc. For automated methods that automatically achieve such copy control utilizing a computer but without use of the rotary table, there have already been developed and realized two control methods: one where copy control is performed along the contour of a workpiece keeping the height of the probe constant from an arbitrarily assigned reference plane (hereinafter, referred to as constant height copying), and the other where copy control is performed along the contour of a workpiece in a cylindrical plane defined by an arbitrarily assigned radius from an arbitrarily assigned straight reference line (hereinafter, referred to as constant radius copying).
There is, however, found no copy control method with use of a rotary table, that satisfies necessary conditions.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, it is typical to set a rotary table 12 on a platen 10 of a coordinate measuring machine. parallely or perpendicularly to an axis X, Y or Z of the coordinate measuring machine. Such parallel or perpendicular installation of the rotary table is difficult, however, and care must be taken to ensure that the rotary table 12 can be mounted or demounted. Accordingly, conditions must be taken into consideration that the rotary table 12 should be placed on the platen 10 at an arbitrary position and with an arbitrary inclination independently of the axis of the coordinate measuring machine.
Additionally, the same can be said for an interrelation between an object 14 to be measured (a workpiece for example) placed on the rotary table 12 and the axis of rotation of the rotary table 12. More specifically, although it is common to place the workpiece 14 on the rotary table 12 such that a measuring reference line of the workpiece 14 is coincident with the axis of rotation of the rotary table 12, it is preferable to allow the workpiece 14 to be placid on the rotary table 12 at an arbitrary position and with an arbitrary inclination.
It is imagined that any lack of the foregoing two conditions would bring about very severe restriction to actual use of the apparatus.
Further, for a given positional relationship between the probe 16 and the workpiece 14, when the probe 16 is performing constant radius, copying, the position of the probe is measured with respect to a given radius from an imaginary measuring reference line (work axis, for example). However, this operating configuration allows innumerable positional relations as illustrated in FIG. 3. More specifically, any of the probes 16A, 16B, and 16C shown in FIG. 3 is located on a plane spaced away a predetermined distance from the work axis so that there are existent innumerable combinations of probe positions with respect to a certain rotation angle .theta. of the rotary table 12 under the restriction only of the distance from the work axis. Therefore, data processing becomes very complicated.
The rotary table 12 is preferably used to position the workpiece 14 so that only tip of the probe 16 (and not the body of the probe 16) makes contact with the workpiece 14. Preferably, a line connecting the measuring ball of the probe 16 to the measuring reference line of the work intersects the reference line at a constant angle even when the Table 12 (i.e. the workpiece 14) rotates as shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating the situation of the rotary table 12 viewed from the just above portion of the rotation axis of the rotary table 12 when the rotation axis of the rotary table 12 and the work axis measuring reference line are parallel to each other. In the figure, the angle of the probe 16 relative to the rotation axis of the rotary table 12 is maintained constant at all times.
To sum up, the copy control method and apparatus using a rotary table should satisfy the following three conditions:
No. 1. The rotary table can be set on the platen of the coordinate measuring machine at an arbitrary position and at an arbitrary angle.
No. 2. A workpiece can be mounted on the rotary table at an arbitrary position and an arbitrary angle.
No. 3. The angle of the probe should be maintained constant during a copy measurement.
There is, however, found no rotary table copy control method that satisfies such conditions, until now.

Method of and apparatus for copy controlling coordinate measuring probe with rotary table


A diffuser including opposing structured first and second major surfaces is described. The first major surface includes a first plurality of surface structures providing a uniform first haze. The second major surface includes a first portion adjacent an edge and a second portion adjacent the first portion. The first portion includes a first region and a second region between the first region and the second portion. The second major surface includes a second plurality of surface structures providing a uniform second haze over the second portion and providing a third haze in the first portion. The third haze in the first region is higher than the second haze, and the third haze in the second region is monotonically decreasing. The second portion has a surface area of at least 90 percent of a surface area of the second major surface.

Backlights used in liquid crystal displays (LCDs) can include a light guide and a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) that inject light into an input edge of the light guide. A diffuser can be incorporated in the display between the light guide and a LCD panel. Objectionable lighting intensity variation near the input edge of the backlight can sometimes be seen in the display.


A glass for sealing a beta-alumina tube in a sodium-sulphur cell has a composition suitable to resist attack by sodium at elevated temperatures and a coefficient of thermal expansion suitable for use with beta-alumina. The glass consists essentially of 28-48 mol % B.sub.2 O.sub.3, 0-20 mol % SiO.sub.2, 16-28 mol % Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, together with 18-33 mol % of at least one alkaline earth oxide selected from the group consisting of BaO, SrO, CaO and MgO, the proportions of the constituents being such that the combined total of B.sub.2 O.sub.3 and SiO.sub.2 is 40 to 60 mol % and furthermore being such that 0.0517 A.sub.1 +0.0354 A.sub.2 -0.0063 A.sub.3 +0.168 A.sub.4 +0.1336 A.sub.5 +0.098 A.sub.6 +0.1597 A.sub.7, lies between 5.7 and 6.4 where A.sub.1, A.sub.2, A.sub.3, A.sub.4, A.sub.5, A.sub.6 and A.sub.7 are the respective molar percentages of B.sub.2 O.sub.3, SiO.sub.2, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, BaO, CaO, MgO and SrO.. A cell sealed with such a glass is described.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to glass seals for beta-alumina in electro-chemical cells and other energy conversion devices containing sodium and to glasses for use in such seals.
2. Prior Art
In cells, such as for example sodium-sulphur cells, and other devices (e.g. sodium-sodium thermo-electric generators) where beta-alumina ceramic is used as a solid electrolyte through which sodium ions can pass, it is necessary to seal the beta-alumina in the cell structure. Sodium sulphur cells utilise a molten alkali metal and have to operate at elevated temperatures where the electrode materials are liquid. Seals necessary to seal these electrode materials within the cells have therefore not only to withstand highly reactive materials at these elevated temperatures but are also subjected to temperature cycling. As a typical example, a sodium sulphur cell might contain a beta-alumina electrolyte tube closed at one end and having sodium on one face of the tube, preferably the outer face, and the sulphur/polysulphides on the other face. The cell has to be sealed to prevent escape or mixing of these materials and a number of proposals have been made for the sealing of such cells. Compared with most metals, ceramic materials are generally weak, particularly in tensile strength and it is necessary therefore in any seal for such a cell to ensure that the ceramic material is not overstressed.
It is well-known in a sodium sulphur cell to provide a beta-alumina electrolyte tube with an alpha-alumina tubular extension at its open end so that the end portion is ionically insulative. The alpha-alumina and beta-alumina have similar coefficients of thermal expansion and the alpha-alumina extension can be secured to the beta-alumina with a glass seal.
The present invention is concerned more particularly with such glass seals. The use of glass seals is described, for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,928,071, 3,826,685 and 3,868,273. These references however do not discuss the glass composition. It is convenient, in sodium sulphur cells and similar electro-chemical cells to use a glass as a bonding agent between ceramic materials or between a ceramic material and a metal member. In a sodium sulphur cell, the closure may be effected by sealing the ceramic electrolyte material to a closure member or to the housing. This may readily be done with a glass seal. The alpha-alumina extension then has to be sealed to the housing or to the closure member. The closure member may be a part of a current collector. Thus glass may be employed, in sealing a cell, as a bond between solid electrolyte material, e.g. beta-alumina ceramic, or an insulating ceramic, e.g. alpha-alumina, and a metal component or components such as a current collector, an intermediate component, or an external housing. The glass-to-metal bond is formed by a reaction between the glass and an oxide layer on the metal.
Both for sealing alumina to metal and for sealing beta-alumina to alpha-alumina, the glass employed must be a sodium-resistant glass. The metal material has to be chosen in accordance with both mechanical and chemical requirements. In particular, it must resist attack by sodium at elevated temperatures. It is the practice in sodium sulphur cells to use mild steel or stainless steel for the housing, in contact with the sodium.
In particular, use has heretofore been made of a glass, commonly known as BAB glass. As is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,275,358, this glass, which has a composition by weight of about 40% B.sub.2 O.sub.3, 25% Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 and 35% BaO can be used for providing a fused hermetic seal around lead wires of tantalum and other similar metals. Expressed in molar percentages, the composition of this glass is about 54.8% B.sub.2 O.sub.3, 23.4% Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 and 21.8% BaO.
This BAB glass however does not fully meet the difficult service conditions of seals for sodium-sulphur cells, particularly alpha to beta alumina seals, which place a severe demand on the performance of the sealing glass used. The required characteristics of such a glass in terms of its physical and chemical properties are many and sometimes conflicting and so the development of a glass composition approaching the desired behaviour is of necessity a complex process. It must produce a reliable hermetic seal and hence must wet both the alpha and beta alumina. The glass should be chemically compatible with cell materials at cell operating temperatures. The thermal expansion characteristics of the glass and the other seal components must be compatible to give low seal stresses over the whole working temperature range and lifetime of the cell.
In general, most stable glasses will satisfactorily wet both alpha and beta alumina and so could potentially satisfy the first criterion. The requirement as the chemical compatability considerably constrains the choice of glasses to the use of the alumino-borate glasses because of their known good sodium resistance. The requirements about thermal expansion characteristics are not satisfactorily met by BAB Glass.
It is necessary to consider in further detail the problems of seal stresses. The theory and practice of glassed seals, notably glass-to-metal seals, is very well established: See, for example, "Glass-to-Metal Seals" by J. H. Partridge, Soc. for Glass Technology, Sheffield 1949 and "Glass-to-metal Seals" by A. W. Hull and E. E. Burger, Physics 5. 384-405 1934. One of the most important factors contributing to successful seal performance is the close thermal matching of the seal components. Differential thermal strain causes seal stresses which, if sufficiently high, can result in seal failure.
At high temperatures when a seal is made, the glass is fluid and wets the ceramic components. On cooling, the viscosity of the glass rapidly increases and eventually it becomes so high that the glass behaves as a rigid material. It is convenient for analysis to idealise the transition between the fluid and rigid regions as occurring suddenly at a single temperature called the set point, even though in reality the change takes place over a small range of temperatures. Above the set point any thermal stresses developed in the glass are relieved by viscous flow. However, at the set point the glass becomes rigid and mechanically constrains the seal components, so that on further cooling, stresses are developed due to the subsequent differences in thermal strain characteristics.
A convenient graphical construction to assess the magnitude of the differential strain is shown in FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings where the expansion/contraction characteristics (dimension change plotted as ordinate against temperature as abscissa) of the seal components are plotted and the characteristics are vertically displaced so as to intersect the set point. Assuming that the seal components are elastic, the stresses generated at any temperature are proportional to the vertical separations of the two curves in FIG. 1, and so the stress-temperature characteristic has the shape shown in FIG. 2, in which the stress is plotted as ordinate against temperature as abscissa.
For sodium-sulphur cells, the properties of the ceramics to be joined are effectively fixed. The main seal stresses in the glass are material dependent only and are not greatly influenced by seal geometry except at points close to the seal edges. The composition of the sealing glass does however have an important effect on the seal stress characteristics.
Because of its brittle nature, glass has a much higher strength in compression than in tension. Thus, for good seal strength, a high crossover temperature (see FIGS. 1 and 2) is desirable so that the seal stresses are compressive both at room temperature and operating temperature (typically 300.degree.-400.degree. C.). This is not the only criterion for satisfactory seal stresses because seal cracking and failure can also occur if the room temperature stress is too highly compressive.
All glasses have non-linear thermal strain characteristics and these are such that a sealing glass will always be in tension at high temperatures. By using a glass with a high set point, it is possible to have both a high crossover temperature and a moderate room temperature compressive stress as is shown in FIG. 3, which is a diagram similar to FIG. 2 but for two further different glasses.
Seals made with BAB glass have a generally tensile seal stress characteristic and tend to crack easily in thermal cycling of sodium sulphur cells. An additional disadvantage of this glass is a high densification rate. Densification, sometimes called stabilisation, is a process of molecular reordering of a glass at temperatures below the glass transition point, resulting in a gradual shrinkage of the material. When constrained within the seal components, the sealing glass is thereby subjected to increasing tensile stresses, which can cause seal failure if they grow sufficiently large. It might appear that improvement could be obtained by altering the relative proportions of the three constituents in this glass. However, as will be apparent from consideration of the data given by C. Hiramaya, J. Amer. Ceram. Soc. 1961, 44(12), 602-6 on this ternary system that the particular composition or BAB glass is on the edge of the glass forming region of the phase diagram of this three-phase system and it has not been found possible to satisfactorily lower the expansion coefficient of the glass of this ternary system by altering the proportions of the components.

Glass seals for sealing beta-alumina in electro-chemical cells or other energy conversion devices, glasses for use in such seals and cells or other energy conversion devices with such seals


A processing system for simultaneous bidirectional transmissions, the processing system comprising a non-transitory memory storage comprising instructions and one or more processors in communication with the memory, wherein the one or more processors execute the instructions to: determine first transmission time slots for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) transmissions for a first plurality of user equipment (UEs); assign a DL transmission to a first shared time slot of said first transmission time slots for a first UE in said first plurality of UEs; and assign an UL transmission to said first shared time slot for a second UE in said first plurality of UEs.

Of the two forms of duplex commonly used in wireless networks, namely frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD), current Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standards accommodate both FDD (LTE FDD) and TDD (LTE TDD) implementations in half duplex mode. Interference, caused by both a user equipment (UE) itself, as well as inter-terminal interference, present obstacles to implementations of full-duplex communication.
Currently, for all transmission between UEs and base stations, the timeline for a downlink and an uplink transmission is partitioned into units of radio frames. Each radio frame is partitioned into a predetermined number of subframes. For TDD, each subframe used for the downlink may be referred to as a downlink (DL) subframe, and each subframe used for the uplink may be referred to as an uplink (UL) subframe.
A particular TDD DL/UL subframe configuration is associated with a network, a cell or a cluster of cells. In current implementations, such as LTE, the subframe configuration is shared amongst a large number of cells over a larger geographical region. Further, subframe configurations are selected from a limited set of DL/UL subframe permutations. The network usually determines the subframe configuration based on an average need of all UEs in that region. Once chosen, the particular frame configuration is used to serve all UEs belonging to the region, sometimes termed fixed TDD. Thus, the network has centralized control over the frame configuration applied to all UEs served by the network. In other words to avoid base station (BS) to base station (BS-BS) interference and UE-UE inter-cell interference, all TDD deployments typically operate synchronously.
Revisions to the LTE standard include the possibility of dynamically adapting TDD DL/UL subframe configurations based on the actual traffic needs, termed flexible TDD. The revisions allow mutually different subframe configurations across neighboring cells or neighboring clusters of cells. For example, during a short duration, a large data burst on the downlink may be needed; all the UEs served by a particular cell may be instructed by the serving node to change their configuration from one of the known configurations to another predetermined configuration. While flexible TDD may provide more efficient use of resources resulting in UL and DL throughput gain, it may cause interference to both DL and UL transmission when the cells have different overlapping DL and UL subframes, usually at the cell boundary. This inter-layer (DL2UL and UL2DL) interference may significantly affect the overall system performance. Various interference mitigation (IM) techniques may be implemented, such as scheduling dependent IM (SDIM) and cell clustering IM (CCIM). Traffic adaptation (TA) techniques may also be used, that is, proper choice of subframe configuration.
While Flexible TDD is an improvement over fixed TDD in terms of network spectral efficiency and efficient radio resource usage, both techniques are still inefficient in that individual UEs may have needs for DL and UL subframes in proportions that do not correspond to the configuration of the cell. Further, in practical non-full buffer/bursty traffic, some subframes or other network resources may not be fully utilized. Also, for most networks, once a subframe configuration is set, it is generally fixed among geographically adjacent cells over a longer duration even though, as described above, this may compromise spectral efficiency and efficient radio resource usage. Further as described above, interference, caused by both a UE, as well as inter-terminal interference, present obstacles to implementations of full-duplex communication.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system time division duplex communication in wireless networks


A method for detecting an engine block heater includes block heater detection logic and a data table containing calibration thresholds. The method determines a time-series of delta (Δ) engine coolant temperatures (ECT), which represent the respective differences between a start-up ECT and a plurality of operating ECT values measured thereafter. The method integrates the time-series to obtain a Δ ECT integral. The method also maintains an integrated engine speed parameter accumulated over the course of the detection period. Throughout the detection period, the method retrieves a threshold value from the table based on the integrated engine speed (Y-axis) versus an elapsed time (X-axis) since the detection period began. When the calculated Δ ECT integral value exceeds the retrieved threshold, the method determines that the block heater was operated, which can thereafter be used to suppress sensor rationality testing or reporting of results thereof.

Increasing awareness of the effects of vehicle exhaust emissions and the like has resulted in regulations to control these emissions. In particular, various federal and state on-board diagnostic regulations (e.g., OBDII) require that certain emission related systems on the vehicle be monitored, and that a vehicle operator be notified if the system is not functioning in a predetermined manner. Automotive vehicle electronics therefore include a programmed diagnostic data manager or the like service configured to receive reports from diagnostic algorithms/circuits concerning the operational status of various components or systems and to set/reset various standardized diagnostic trouble codes (DTC) and/or otherwise generate an alert (e.g., MIL). The intent of such diagnostics is to inform the operator when performance of a component and/or system has degraded to a level where emissions performance may be affected and to provide information (e.g., via the DTC) to facilitate remediation.
In this regard, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) requires monitoring for "irrational" sensor values. A sensor value may be considered irrational when it is outside of a range of allowed normal performance. Rationality diagnostics rely on other system performance signals to evaluate the accuracy of the sensor signal undergoing the rationality test.
Two examples of rationality tests include an intake air temperature (IAT) skewed low test and an engine coolant temperature (ECT) range low-limited test. As to the IAT test, one characteristic evaluated is whether the measured IAT is skewed relative to what it should or is expected to be (i.e., skewed high or skewed low), for example, as seen by reference to U.S. Pat. No. 7,120,535 entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS TO EVALUATE AN INTAKE AIR TEMPERATURE MONITORING CIRCUIT" issued to Rahman et al, owned by the common assignee of the invention and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Rahman et al. disclose a method for performing an IAT (skew low) rationality test that involves comparing the IAT measurement with an engine coolant temperature (ECT) measurement under circumstances where they are expected to be about the same. For example, start-up IAT and ECT measurements should generally be the same after a long (e.g., greater than 6 hours) "soak" in cold environments (i.e., when a vehicle is exposed to ambient air temperatures, with its ignition turned off and thus has been allowed to cool off). If there is a large temperature offset (e.g., >20° C.) between the start-up IAT and ECT after adequate soak time, the IAT rationality test assumes that the IAT sensor output signal is skewed, and then conducts a secondary drift check. The purpose of the secondary check is to determine if the large temperature offset is caused by a skewed sensor (which should fail the test) or rather by non-stabilized ambient conditions (which should not fail the test). Rahman et al. further disclose that the secondary check involves subsequent monitoring of the IAT sensor output for a predetermined amount of time, constantly comparing new IAT readings with the start-up IAT. If the subsequent IAT reading(s) do not show sufficient change within the predetermined time, the IAT rationality test will conclude that the IAT sensor/output is skewed and a failure will be reported. However, if there is sufficient change in the IAT, no report is made, on the belief that unstable ambient conditions caused the initial skew between the start-up IAT and start-up ECT. When certain conditions are met (e.g., a recurrence of the detected IAT skew), a failure code or other indication may be generated (i.e., a DTC "P0111-IAT Circuit Range/Performance Problem" flag may be set).
A problem, however, exists in the art. As background, it is known to provide an engine block heater on certain vehicles, which is a desirable feature especially in colder climates. In cold operating temperatures, the engine can suffer slow engine cranking speed and unstable combustion. The slow cranking speed is caused primarily by the inherent higher viscosity of the engine lubricating oil, reduced frictional bearing clearances as well as reduced battery performance. The engine block heater is typically deployed as a heating element or the like located in the engine block. The engine block heater is operated, typically from an external alternating current (AC) power source, for heating the engine block and thus also heating up the engine coolant contained in the block. Increasing the engine coolant temperature reduces the impact of viscosity and bearing clearances (although battery performance is not directly affected). Accordingly, the use of the block heater facilitates cold starting, among other benefits.
Operation of the engine block heater, however, can confuse the IAT and ECT rationality diagnostics. Testing has shown that the engine block heater can (1) raise the engine coolant temperature (ECT) as much as 50° C. above ambient and (2) raise the intake air temperature (IAT) as much as 20° C. above ambient. This results in a temperature offset at start-up between IAT and ECT by as much as 35° C. after an ample soak time. Thus, a conventional IAT rationality test, in view of this temperature difference, would conclude that there is a rationality problem with the IAT sensor output, since it is skewed to the low side of the ECT. This conclusion, however, is erroneous. Moreover, since the engine block heater is operated from externally-provided AC power, it is not possible for an engine control unit (ECU) or the like to directly detect if an engine block heater was operated during soak. It is important for the reliability of certain rationality tests (including the IAT and ECT tests mentioned) to be able to determine if an engine block heater has been used during soak.
There is therefore a need for a system and method for detecting the presence (operation) of an engine block heater that minimizes or eliminates one or more of the problems set forth above.

Method to detect the presence of a liquid-cooled engine supplemental heater


A method for validating a process stream for the presence or absence of a substance of interest such as a chemical warfare agent; that is, for verifying that a chemical warfare agent is present in an input line for feeding the agent into a reaction vessel for destruction, or, in a facility for producing commercial chemical products, that a constituent of the chemical warfare agent has not been substituted for the proper chemical compound. The method includes the steps of transmitting light through a sensor positioned in the feed line just before the chemical constituent in the input line enters the reaction vessel, measuring an optical spectrum of the chemical constituent from the light beam transmitted through it, and comparing the measured spectrum to a reference spectrum of the chemical agent and preferably also reference spectra of surrogates. A signal is given if the chemical agent is not entering a reaction vessel for destruction, or if a constituent of a chemical agent is added to a feed line in substitution of the proper chemical compound.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for verification of the constituent chemical compounds of a process stream, that is, for verifying that a chemical substance that should or should not be present in a process stream is in fact present or not present, respectively. In particular, the invention relates to verifying the presence of a chemical warfare agent to be destroyed in a destruction facility, and verifying the absence of such substances in a facility not intended for producing chemical warfare agents. The United States Government has fights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. DE-AC09-89SR18035 between the U.S. Department of Energy and Westinghouse Savannah River Company.
2. Discussion of Background:
The U.S. and other nations have large stockpiles of chemical warfare agents, including the so-called "nerve gases": HD (mustard gas), GA (tabun), GB (sarin), etc. Some stocks are outdated and must be destroyed; others are scheduled for destruction to comply with treaty requirements. Agents shipped to a destruction facility could conceivably be diverted and replaced by simulants or surrogates. Therefore, it is important to verify that "declared" agents, that is, agents for which claims are made that they are a constituent being introduced into a destruction facility, are actually introduced and are being destroyed. On-site inspection may be difficult to arrange and only partially effective. Furthermore, nerve gas agents are lethal in extremely small quantities, so any testing procedure must minimize the possibility of human exposure.
From time to time, other hazardous substances that present verification problems may be scheduled for destruction. Such substances include common pesticides and insecticides, and hazardous byproducts from industrial processes.
Related to the problem of verifying the destruction of chemical warfare agents, is the problem of verifying that such agents are not being produced. Common phosphene-based pesticides are chemically related to nerve gas agents and are manufactured by similar processes. For example, the pesticide diazinon is similar to the nerve gas agent GB (sarin). A diazinon manufacturing facility can be converted to GB production in a few weeks. In some cases, it is important to verify that a legitimate pesticide plant is not being used to manufacture nerve gas agents. Here, rather than the absence of a hazardous substance among the constituents that might signal a diversion, it is the presence of a constituent of a hazardous substance that might signal that hazardous substances are being made.
It is well known to analyze the exhaust gases of an incinerator as a check on its efficiency. For example, Schultz (U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,696) describes a process for the destruction of nerve gases and other cholinesterase inhibitors by molten metal reduction in a furnace. The exhaust gases are analyzed for the presence of the agent(s) being destroyed and returned to the furnace if not free of the agents. However, verifying the identity of a substance just before it is introduced into an incinerator or other destruction facility has not been done.
There is a need for a method for verifying the identity of a substance before it is introduced into a destruction facility, or, alternatively, to verify that a substance is absent from a production facility.

Method for verification of constituents of a process stream just as they go through an inlet of a reaction vessel

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy


A communication method for use in a wireless communications network is proposed, said method comprising the steps of—monitoring at least one property representative of the channel variability in time and/or frequency, for each of at least two channels in the cell, used to communicate with said at least two user terminals; —using the result of the monitoring to control, by a control node in the network or in one of the user terminals, the communication in the cell. The control of the communication may include artificially inducing time selectivity and/or frequency selectivity or selecting an operating mode for the cell.

In a typical cellular communications system there are many system parameters that should be adapted to the actual situation, and to each other, in order to make the system work as efficiently as possible. For example, certain physical layer parameters may be adapted, such as frame structure, pilot distribution and multiple antenna transmission mode (beamforming, MIMO, space-time coding and others).
In a future system it may also be possible to select among different radio interfaces in a base station depending on the deployment scenario. For example, in micro or pico cells WLAN may be used and in large macro cells WCDMA or GSM/EDGE may be used.
When adapting the system parameters the operator will try to match these to situations that may occur in a certain cell. Different types of planning tools exist where certain parameters such as, for example, radio propagation models, are selected to match the anticipated environment, for example, in terms of an assumed worst case scenario or in terms of typical conditions in this environment. The actual communication in the cell may be very different from the initial assumptions made when deploying the system. Also, if a cell that has been designed for a particular environment and that environment is changed, e.g. new buildings, roads or other objects appear in the surroundings, the parameters may be changed to reflect the new situation. Either the communication in the cell will not work very well, or the communication will be unnecessarily complex. Variations in user behaviour over time can also cause the experienced channel conditions to deviate further from initial assumptions, for example, during busy hour.
Multipath propagation of radio waves in a wireless communication system results in a pattern of standing waves where minima are encountered when the vector sum of all waves is zero or close to zero. A mobile unit moving through this standing wave pattern will experience rapid signal variations, fading, that present a challenge to upholding and optimizing the transmission and reception of information. The multipath fading can be experienced in both the time domain and in the frequency domain. Multipath fading can be time-selective or frequency-selective.
Time-Selective Multipath Fading:
Movement of the receiving antenna through the standing wave pattern will result in signal variations in time. By reciprocity, the same variations will be observed if the direction of transmission is reversed, i.e. the moving receiver becomes a moving transmitter and the stationary transmitter becomes a stationary receiver. Furthermore, even if both transmitter and receiver are stationary, movement and changes in the surroundings of the two may result in changes to the standing wave pattern and hence time variations of the received signal. All types of movement give rise to what is referred to as time-selective multipath fading, or time selectivity.
Frequency-Selective Multipath Fading:
The phase of each radio wave is a function of the path length expressed in wavelengths. If the frequency is shifted, the phase of each radio wave may also be shifted, and the standing wave pattern is changed. Thus, at a given time instant, the received signal will have fading variations over the frequency band that is referred to as frequency-selective multipath fading or frequency selectivity.
In addition, multiple antennas may be used for transmission and/or reception of the radio waves. Properties of the antenna arrangement such as relative positions, radiation patterns, mutual coupling and polarization will result in different weighting and phase shifts of the radio waves at different antennas. Hence, the standing wave pattern associated with one transmitting antenna may be partially or fully independent of that associated with another transmitting antenna. By reciprocity, the same hold for different receiving antennas. Thus, different signal strengths may be encountered for different antennas, which will be referred to as antenna selectivity.
The time and frequency selectivity of the wireless communication channel presents a challenge to upholding efficient communication. Various methods have been devised to utilize the selectivity and improve the system performance; examples of such methods are coding, diversity, scheduling and Automatic Retransmission Request (ARQ) or hybrid ARQ.
Coding and diversity add redundancy to avoid the loss of information caused by fading dips, while scheduling utilizes channel knowledge to distribute the information over time and frequency to avoid times or frequencies in which the channel conditions are poor in terms of poor signal strength or high interference.
All of these methods will improve information transfer under certain channel conditions that are typical for the operation of wireless systems. However, all of the described methods also have limitations depending on the time and frequency selectivity of the channel. When the channel variations with time or frequency are slow compared to the extent of the transmitted data block the methods cannot provide resilience towards channel variations or C/I variations. On the other hand, when the channel variations are very fast a large amount of overhead information is needed for the receiver to be able to estimate the channel, leaving less room for the transfer of information. Frequency selectivity also introduces inter-symbol interference (ISI), which may lead to a need for channel equalization. This will require more complex and costly receivers.
A well known method for creating additional selectivity in wireless systems is to use more than one antenna at either transmitter or receiver or both. This creates multiple channels that may be more or less decorrelated, allowing the use of redundancy or scheduling over the antenna domain. The drawback of this solution is added complexity and cost, and often the need for more overhead signalling.
Adding time or frequency selectivity to the wireless channel using multi-antenna transmission of a cellular communications network is known per se. For example, in TDMA systems, delay diversity can be applied uniformly in a cell. In this case, two or more antennas are used to transmit delayed replicas of the same signal. At the receiving antenna, the delayed replicas will be superimposed and give rise to an increased time dispersion compared to the single antenna case. In this way increased frequency selectivity is achieved. If the frequency selectivity is increased too much increased inter-symbol interference and system degradation will result.
Two or more antennas may also transmit the same signal with different time varying amplitudes and/or phases, to achieve time selectivity. This technique, in combination with channel dependent or quality dependent scheduling, has been termed opportunistic beamforming. The additional time selectivity introduced in this way is beneficial in slowly varying channels but can cause problems if the channel is already varying rapidly.
A combination of time and frequency selectivity has also been described, where different time variations are introduced in different segments of the frequency band.
When the channel does not provide sufficient time and frequency selectivity the use of an artificially created time and frequency selectivity can lead to large improvements in system capacity and throughput. On the other hand, if the channel for a certain user already provides sufficient selectivity, there is no additional gain from artificially creating more selectivity in the time or frequency domain. It may even be harmful if the selectivity exceeds that required for the system to operate in an optimal way. In this case time and frequency variations may be so rapid that they cause degradation due to, for example, inter-symbol interference or channel estimation errors. Given a certain system configuration there exists a region of selectivity in which the system performance is improved compared to outside this region. Prior art solutions only enable this region to be moved, but not extended.
Also, in a multi-user system each user experiences individual channel conditions. For some users the performance would benefit from artificial selectivity while others might be harmed by it. Selecting the appropriate amount of artificial selectivity becomes a difficult design choice that may have undesired consequences if the experienced channel conditions differ from the expected. A related design choice is the selection of the maximum time dispersion and mobile speed at which a certain system performance should be required. The artificially induced time and frequency variations must be taken into account, which effectively lowers the maximum possible rate of channel variations.
Yet another problem with the existing solutions is that both instantaneous and average channel characteristics will differ between the uplink and the downlink, as the artificial selectivity is only induced in one of the links. Therefore, methods that rely on the similarity of the characteristics between uplink and downlink will suffer from degraded performance. For example, in a time-division duplex (TDD) multiplex system the channel is usually assumed to be identical in both directions. This will not be the case if artificial selectivity is introduced in one of the links. Another example could be where a transmitting unit can choose from two possible coding/interleaving schemes, one best suited for rapid time variations of the channel and the other best suited for slow channel variations.
Communication systems can be designed to be flexible in how the transmitted information is spread over time and frequency, both to be able to adapt to the coherence time and frequency of the channel and to adapt to the different requirements of different users. Artificially inducing a fixed amount of selectivity may limit the benefit of this flexibility, for example, if one user requires a large part of the available frequency band. Too much frequency selectivity could lead to this user being scheduled on many small non-contiguous frequency segments, whereas with less frequency selectivity the user could have been scheduled on one contiguous segment. The latter situation would require less signalling overhead.

Method and apparatus for improved single cell adaption due to change in environment


The present invention provides a method for generating preamble sequences in a code division multiple access system. The method includes forming an outer code in a mobile station. The mobile station forms an inner code. The mobile station multiplies the outer code to the inner code to generate the preamble sequence.

Access channels in Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems typically include the transmission of a short signal known to the base station before the transmission of the information. This allows the base station to detect the presence of a user who has data to transmit. Because multiple mobile stations may be trying to access this channel simultaneously, each user must use a different code. These codes must be designed such that the correlator needed in the base station must be of relatively low complexity. The codes must also be robust to large differences between the carrier frequency of the received signal and the base station's receiver oscillator. They should also lend themselves to simple implementation of automatic frequency control circuits.
In the transmitter of a typical spread spectrum communication system, a source of information bits is first channel coded and then used to modulate a signal which has a bandwidth on the order of the information rate. Coherent, noncoherent, or differential modulation may be used. This signal is then spread to a wider bandwidth by multiplication with a spreading code. The signal is then translated in frequency to a carrier frequency determined by the frequency of a local oscillator and transmitted through an antenna. The signal goes through a channel where it may be modified by additive noise, changes in amplitude and phase as occurs in multipath fading, and changes in carrier frequency as when the transmitter is in motion relative to the receiver. The output of the channel is mixed to baseband with a receiver oscillator whose frequency is known by some means to be close to that of the transmitter oscillator. It is then fed to a receiver which, by some means, knows the arrival time of this signal. The receiver first despreads the incoming signal by multiplication with the same spreading code used in transmission. The signal is then demoduated and finally decoded to yield estimates of the transmitted information bits.
The processes of determining the arrival time and carrier frequency of the received signal are called time and frequency acquisition respectively. One method of performing time and frequency acquisition involves the transmission of a short training signal prior to the transmission of the information-bearing signal. There may be a period of time between the preamble and the transmission of information. This preamble also serves a second purpose in systems where the receiver does not know when a transmission will begin. In some systems, such as IS-95C and WCDMA systems, there may be a number of transmitters which periodically begin transmissions. By looking for the presence of the preamble, the receiver can determine if a transmission is about to begin and if so from which transmitter to expect further transmission.
The signal generated by the preamble generator should be easily detectable by the receiver, allow the receiver to determine the timing of the transmission with high precision and accuracy, allow the receiver to determine the carrier frequency of the received signal with high accuracy and precision, and allow the receiver to determine which transmitter is about to begin transmission.
A prior art preamble generator which generates binary signals of +1 and -1s is shown in FIG. 1. The generator consists of two orthogonal Gold code generators. The inner code, c.sub.i (n), comprises 256 chips that are modulated by 16 symbols, c.sub.o (m), corresponding to one transmitter's code, c.sub.o. The total code is therefore: ##EQU1##
The inner code is typically common to all transmitters. The preamble output from this generator suffers from several problems. First, the autocorrelation function has large peaks at multiples of 256 chips, which makes the accuracy of the estimated arrival time of the transmission poor. Second, small differences between transmit and receive oscillator frequencies cause the receiver to misidentify which transmitter is sending the preamble.
Consequently, a need exists for a method for generating preamble sequences in a spread spectrum communication system. Further, a need exists for a method for estimating the difference between the carrier frequency of the received signal and the receiver oscillator frequencies.

Method for generating preamble sequences in a code division multiple access system


A system of downhole communication and control is provided in methods and associated apparatus for data retrieval, monitoring and tool actuation. In a described embodiment, an item of equipment installed in a tubular string has a first communication device associated therewith. A tool conveyed into the tubular string has a second communication device therein. Communication is established between the first and second devices. Such communication may be utilized to control operation of the tool, retrieve status information regarding the item of equipment, supply power to the first device and/or identify the item of equipment to the tool.

The present invention relates generally to operations performed in conjunction with a subterranean well and, in an embodiment described herein, more particularly provides a method and apparatus for downhole retrieval of data, monitoring and tool actuation.
It is usually the case that a tubular string, is installed in a subterranean well with one or more items of equipment interconnected in the tubular string. Thereafter, a tool conveyed into the tubular string may be positioned relative to the item of equipment, engaged with the item of equipment and/or utilized to actuate the item of equipment, etc.
In the past, various mechanisms and methods have been utilized for positioning a tool relative to an item of equipment in a tubular string, for engaging the tool with the item of equipment and for utilizing the tool to actuate the item of equipment. For example, where the item of equipment is a sliding sleeve-type valve, a shifting tool is typically conveyed on wireline, slickline or coiled tubing into the valve and engaged with the sliding sleeve. An operator is aware that the shifting tool is properly positioned relative to the valve due to the engagement therebetween, as confirmed by the application of force to the shifting tool. The shifting tool may be configured so that it operatively engages only the desired sliding sleeve, out of multiple items of equipment installed in the tubular string, by equipping the shifting tool with a particular set of keys or lugs designed to engage only a particular profile formed in the desired sliding sleeve.
Unfortunately, it is often the case that the operator is not able to positively determine whether the shifting tool is properly engaged with the desired sliding sleeve, such as when the well is highly deviated. Additionally, the operator may not accurately know information which would aid in performance of the task of shifting the sleeve. For example, the operator might not know that an excessive pressure differential exists across the sleeve, or the operator might attempt to shift the sleeve to its fully open position not knowing that this should not be done with an excessive pressure differential across the sleeve. Thus, it may be clearly seen that improved methods of positioning, engaging and actuating tools are needed.
Many operations in wells would be enhanced if communication were permitted between an item of equipment installed in a tubular string and a tool conveyed into the string. For example, if a valve was able to communicate its identity to a shifting tool, an accurate determination could be made as to whether the tool should be engaged with the valve. If a valve was able to communicate to the tool data indicative of pressure applied to a closure member of the valve, such as a sliding sleeve, a determination could be made as to whether the tool should displace the closure member, or to what position the closure member should be displaced.
Improved communication methods would also permit monitoring of items of equipment in a well. In one application, a tool conveyed into a tubular string could collect data relating to the status of various items of equipment installed in the tubular string. It would be desirable, for example, to be able to monitor the status of a packer seal element in order to determine its remaining useful service life, or to be able to monitor the strain, pressure, etc. applied to a portion of the tubular string, etc.
Therefore, from the foregoing, it may be seen that it would be highly advantageous to provide improved methods and apparatus for downhole data retrieval, monitoring and tool actuation.
In carrying out the principles of the present invention, in accordance with an embodiment thereof, a system for facilitating downhole communication between an item of equipment installed in a tubular string and a tool conveyed into the tubular string is provided. Associated methods of facilitating such downhole communication are also provided, as well as applications in which the downhole communication is utilized for data retrieval, monitoring and tool actuation.
In one aspect of the present invention, the downhole communication system includes a first communication device associated with the item of equipment and a second communication device included in the tool. Communication may be established between the devices when the device in the tool is brought into sufficiently close proximity to the device associated with the item of equipment.
In another aspect of the present invention, the tool supplies power to the first device. Such provision of power by the tool may enable the first device to communicate with the second device. In this manner, the first device does not need to be continuously powered. The first device may, however, be maintained in a dormant state and then activated to an active state by the tool.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, the communication between the first and second devices may be by any of a variety of means. For example, electromagnetic waves, inductive coupling, pressure pulses, direct electrical contact, etc. may be used. The communication means may also be the means by which power is supplied to the first device.
In still another aspect of the present invention, communication between the devices may be used to control operation of the tool. For example, where the item of equipment is a valve and the tool is a shifting tool for displacing a closure member of the valve, communication between the first and second devices may be used to determine whether an excessive pressure differential exists across the closure member. This determination may then be utilized to control the displacement of the closure member by the tool. As another example, the tool may not be permitted to engage the item of equipment until the communication between the devices indicates that the tool is appropriately positioned relative to the item of equipment.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, communication between the devices may be used to monitor a status of the item of equipment. For example, the first device may be connected to a sensor, such as a pressure sensor, a strain gauge, a hardness sensor, a position sensor, etc., and may transmit data regarding the status to the second device.

Methods and associated apparatus for downhole data retrieval, monitoring and tool actuation


An ergonomic sander handle for clamping onto a sanding device so that the ergonomic handle can be comfortably gripped by a worker and used to apply the sanding device to a surface, is provided. The ergonomic handle includes an elongate body, a clamp head and a bearing. The elongate body is typically a cylindrical aluminum tube with padding for easy and comfortable gripping. One end of the elongate body is attached the clamp head that attaches to the sanding device. The other end of the elongate body is attached to the bearing which may include a pair of roller balls. To sand a surface, the worker grips the elongate body in a power grip (without significant wrist flexion or deviation) and applies pressure to urge sanding device and the bearing onto the surface. The power grip minimizes loads on the wrist and hand which reduces the likelihood of musculoskeletal trauma.

The present invention relates to the field of hand operable sanding devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to an easily gripped handle that can be affixed to an existing palm sander device that reduces cumulative hand and wrist trauma.
Sanding is an abrasive process that requires that two surfaces rub together and is extremely time consuming and tedious when performed manually. Various power-driven sanders have been available for some time and frequently require the use of two hands due to excessive weight. Belt sanders are one type of hand sander that is available but these are generally used for roughly removing large amounts of material. Belt sanders themselves are heavy and are not recommended for one-handed operation. Two handed sanders have limited usefulness on vertical and overhead surfaces because of their size and weight.
Sanders that can be operated with one hand include oscillating and random orbit palm sanders. Random orbit palm sanders are pneumatically powered and typically have a small power head with a trigger paddle attached to the top. On the bottom of the random orbit palm sander is a small, typically about six-inch diameter, sanding disc that is fixed to a spinning pad. A random orbit action is achieved by use of an eccentric weight or cam in the drive which causes the pad to orbit a center point while spinning at a high speed with respect to the power head. The random orbit pattern is necessary to produce a mechanical action that results in a swirl free finish. However, the random oscillation transfers considerable vibration to the operator""s hand and the operator must grip the power head tightly with his or her fingers to both control the action and maintain palm pressure on the trigger paddle. Oscillating sanders are generally less effective in producing a swirl-free surface and are therefore not as desirable in many applications.
Regardless of the type, oscillating, random orbit or other, all power hand sanders produce some vibration. Operators cannot be completely isolated from vibration because the operator must apply pressure to some degree in order for the sanding disc to remove material from the surface being sanded. Heavier sanders aid in pressure application but, as mentioned above, they are limited to use in vertical and overhead surfaces.
One industry that requires a significant amount of sanding labor is the aerospace industry. Sanding is typically required on both the aluminum fuselages and on composite control surfaces and panels of aircraft before the application of paint or for the removal of old paint in a paint hanger. Because of the nature of the fuselage and its surface shapes, one-handed control of the sander and use of the sander on vertical surfaces and overhead surfaces is necessary. The tight grip required to use the sanders in a paint hanger can reduce blood flow to the fingers and result in musculoskeletal stress that is further exacerbated by vibration. In addition, when sanding a vertical or overhead surface in a fuselage, the operator""s wrist is typically extended which results in greater musculoskeletal stress. Prolonged exposure to these conditions can lead to Raynaud""s disease and/or carpal tunnel syndrome. Raynaud""s disease is commonly called xe2x80x9cwhite fingerxe2x80x9d and results in numbness, cold skin and a blue color when exposed to cold temperatures. Raynaud""s disease can be a permanent condition. Carpal tunnel syndrome is an inflammation of the flexor tendons of the fingers which pass through a channel on the palmer side of the wrist formed by the carpal bones and the transverse carpal ligament. These flexor tendons become inflamed with repetitive overuse and place pressure on the nearby median nerve. Pressure on the median nerve causes numbness and/or pain in the lower arm. Carpal tunnel syndrome can also result in permanent dysfunction.
Small oscillating detail sanders solve some of the repetitive motion problems by having a very short stroke at a very high frequency with a low weight. This greatly reduces vibration that is transmitted to the hand of the operator. However, the area and mass of the sanding pad must be kept too small to be of any practical value on large surfaces, such as those encountered when sanding an aircraft fuselage. Automated sanding machines have been used on fuselages, but oftentimes fail to reliably negotiate vertical and overhead surfaces.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an operable sanding device that is easily gripped with one hand or both hands and can be used to negotiate large sanding surfaces. In addition, it would be advantageous to have a sanding device that is light in weight and transmits minimal vibrations to reduce the incidence of cumulative trauma to the hand and wrist of the operator.
The present invention includes an ergonomic sander handle for a sanding device that reduces the incidence of cumulative trauma to the hand of a worker using the sanding device. The sander handle provides an ergonomic grip by having an elongated tubular body attached to the sanding device at one end and a bearing at the other end. The handle can be gripped by the worker with a single hand in an anatomically friendly position without flexion or deviation of the hand and wrist. In addition, the ergonomic handle is of light-weight construction to reduce loads on the hand and wrist of the operator when sanding vertical and overhead surfaces, such as the fuselage of an airplane.
In one aspect of the invention, an ergonomic handle for clamping onto a sanding device so that the ergonomic handle can be gripped by a worker and used to apply the sanding device to a surface, is disclosed. The ergonomic handle includes an elongate body, a clamp head and a bearing. The elongate body has a head end and an opposing tail end. The clamp head is attached to the head end of the elongate body and is operable to clamp the sanding device. The bearing is attached to the tail end of the elongate body, opposite the clamp head. In use, the worker clamps the clamp head onto the sanding device, grips the elongate body, applies the sanding device and bearing to the surface and moves the sanding device and bearing along the surface during sanding.
In another aspect of the invention, an ergonomic sander that can be gripped by a worker and used to sand a surface, is disclosed. The ergonomic sander includes an elongate body, a sanding head and a bearing. The elongate body has a head end and an opposing tail end. The ergonomic sander also includes a sanding head that is attached to the head end of the elongate body and has a sanding interface operable to sand the surface. The bearing is attached to the tail end of the elongate body, opposite the sanding head. In use, the worker clamps the clamp head onto the sanding device, grips the elongate body, applies the sanding device and bearing to the surface and moves the sanding device and bearing along the surface during sanding.
The bearing can include a fluoropolymer resin pad (e.g., a Teflon(copyright) material) or a pair of freely rotating roller balls. The bearing can include a hinge that allows it to pivot with respect to the tail end of the elongate body. The bearing can also include a height-adjustable bracket mounted to the tail end of the elongate body and operable to adjust the height of the handle with respect to the bearing. The bearing serves as a support for the elongate body that allows the downward application of pressure on the elongate body with a power grip. Changing the bearing height and the bearing""s ability to pivot on the hinge allows the bearing to adjust to various non-planar surfaces. The bearing can also include an air bearing which comprises a plurality of holes in the resin pad. Air bled from the exhaust of the sanding device or air supply line is fed through plumbing and the holes in the resin pad to reduce friction between the resin pad and the surface being sanded.
The elongate body can have a tubular shape covered with padding to reduce grip fatigue. A trigger may also be included that is operable to control power to the sanding device. The trigger has an elongated paddle shape that is attached to the clamp head and extends along the elongate body. The trigger can be attached to the clamp head using a pivot pin that allows the trigger to pivot when grasped. The trigger may also include an adjustment bolt positioned to contact a power switch on the sanding device. The adjustment bolt is adjustable to change the angular orientation of the trigger with respect to the elongate body. Alternatively, the trigger could be attached directly to the sanding head. The paddle shape allows the trigger to be grasped from several positions along the elongate body. Changing the orientation of the trigger allows for adjustment to suit different hand sizes and finger lengths.
The clamp head typically includes a pair of jaws connected by a jaw pin. The pair of jaws are operable to clamp the sanding device by at least partially encircling the sanding device. The pair of jaws may also include a draw bolt inserted through each jaw of the pair of jaws. Tightening of the draw bolt draws the jaws together in a pinching motion. The clamp head can also include a pivot mount in which the head end of the elongate body is free to slide and pivot. The pivot mount includes a slot and the head end of the body includes a ball mounted in the slot for sliding and pivoting therein.
The sander handle of the present invention reduces the risk of injury due to vibration and poor grip posture by allowing a random orbit sanding device to be held and controlled in a power grip. In the power grip the wrist is held in a neutral position, or slightly extended. The power grip allows good blood flow to the hand and fingers, reducing the incidence of Raynaud""s disease and carpal tunnel syndrome. The ergonomic handle can be held securely overhead with the fingers relaxed. In addition, the ergonomic handle separates the forces required to control sanding direction and pressure from the more precision forces required to control the trigger. As a result, the operator can put more force on the sanding interface with less hand and wrist fatigue while still maintaining control using only one hand.

Ergonomic sander handle apparatus and method


A collapsible golf fairway distance marker including a visible structure that can assume two discrete configurations, and an anchor structure. The visible structure is generally cone-shaped when raised and flat when collapsed and is comprised of a base support ring, a spring-loaded plunger assembly disposed in the center thereof, and a plurality of generally trapezoidal shaped leaves. Each leaf has its narrower end captured within an annular recess formed between the plunger top and a cap screwed into the plunger, while its wider end is captured within an annular recess formed in the base support ring. Numerals indicating distance are affixed to or embossed in an upper part of one or more leaves. The anchor structure is connected to the base support ring and is buried beneath the ground to provide a fixed location for the visible structure on the fairway.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices that assist in the play of golf, and more particularly, to a distance-indicating device for allowing golf players to make a quick estimate of the distance between their ball position on the fairway and the center of the green.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
For the purpose of making it easier to select the proper golf club and speeding up the play on a golf course, distance markers are placed on course fairways. Distance markers provide players a quick estimate of the distance between the ball's position on the fairway and the center of the green. It is common for these markers to be permanently fixed to the ground so that they can not be easily moved. Some golf courses use sprinkler heads as distance markers. This method of distance marking is useful since each fairway is equipped with numerous sprinkler heads and such heads remain at fixed positions.
A major problem that exists with such markers is that they rise above ground level and interfere with maintenance operations conducted on the fairways (e.g. grass cutting). These devices must either be removed prior to grass cutting or must be avoided by the mowers. In either case the maintenance operations are impeded. In the first instance, the mowing operation is slowed down by the constant removal and reinstallation of the markers. In the second instance, the grass cutting around the markers cannot be done by large-scale cutters without damaging the markers. Thus, alternative cutting mechanisms must be employed to cut the grass.
One prior art solution to this problem is to have markers that are level with respect to the surrounding ground so as not to impede these fairway maintenance operations. The teaching of Zausmer (U.S. Pat. No. 3,599,981) is an example of such a marker. In Zausmer, the marker is comprised of a base plate and a top plate. The base plate has a plurality of pins having cone-shaped barbs on the ends, and numerals raised upwards from the base. The barbs anchor the base plate permanently into the fairway turf. The raised numerals indicate the applicable fairway distance. The top plate is attached to the base plate, and features a cutout that frames the numerals rising up from the base plate. Markers of this type fail to provide easily visible information to golfers during the course of play. The numerals on such a marker are virtually invisible to a golfer standing any distance away from the marker. The numerals would only be visible if the golfer were standing overhead or virtually next to the marker. Thus, in many cases the golfer will not see the marker and therefore will not be assisted in calculating the distance from his ball to the green.
Another prior art solution provides markers with elastically deformable visible elements rising above the level of the surrounding fairway turf, which are not damaged even when run over by fairway maintenance equipment. The teaching of Carman (U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,669) is an example of such a marker. Carman's marker comprises an elastic dome connected to a base. The dome extends upward from the base, rises above ground level, and may be inscribed with numerals to indicate range distances along the fairway. Although a golfer does not have to stand over the element to read the distance, as in the Zausmer teaching, because of the curved surface the distance at which the inscribed numerals are visible is still quite limited.
A significant shortcoming of the Carman-type markers is that its visible element deforms rather than collapses out of the way of potentially damaging devices. When the element encounters a sufficient pressure only the localized area in contact with the force deforms: a simultaneous collapse of the entire element does not occur. Areas that are not exposed to such sufficient pressure remain elevated above the ground and may be damaged by the oncoming mower device.
Finally, the prior art discloses using a system of determining the distance from a point on the fairway to its associated green. KARSTEN PING discloses a system wherein a plurality of yardage markers are disposed at twenty-five yard intervals along the fairway. Each marker, set at ground level, displays the distance from its location on the fairway to various points on the green. Since the markers used in the KARSTEN PING system are set at ground level they have the same shortcomings as those identified with the Zausmer markers. That is, markers of this type can only be read by golfers standing overhead or virtually next to the marker. Golfers positioned any distance away from the marker cannot read the range information stamped on the marker and in many cases cannot even see the marker itself. Thus, a system utilizing such flat markers cannot assist the golfer in calculating the distance from his ball to the green.

Collapsible golf fairway distance marker


An improved magnetic soap holder (10) for suspending a bar of soap and, if desired, utensils so that each may dry. The improved magnetic soap holder (10) includes a soap-holding magnet (20) used to attract the soap-holding plate (14), which is imbedded into a bar of soap. The soap-holding magnet (20) is placed in a soap-holding-magnet housing (18) to concentrate the magnetic force thus allowing a magnetic pull through a greater distance. This in turn allows an arm underside covering (24) to be employed, making cleaning easier. The bar of soap is suspended from the arm (12) when the soap-holding plate (14) is brought into magnetic contact with the soap-holding magnet (20). In an alternate embodiment, there is also at least one utensil-holding magnet (30) used to attract a utensil-holding piece (40), which is adhesively backed and which is attached to a utensil. The utensil is suspended from the arm (12) when the utensil-holding piece (40) is brought into magnetic contact with the utensil-holding magnet (30).

When wet soap is placed in a soap dish or placed on the rim of the basin of a sink or washtub, the bottom of the soap often becomes viscous, or "gloppy," as some people might say. Some of this viscous soap hardens on the surface of the soap dish or basin becoming soap scum. This requires time, energy, and money to clean. The rest of the viscous soap usually remains on the bar of soap only to be washed down the drain the next time soap is used. These are obviously wasteful occurrences.
To solve this problem, people have heretofore used magnetic soap holders. By and large, the magnetic soap holders comprise an arm, a magnet, and a magnetically activatable soap-holding plate. The arm is substantially parallel to the ground and mounted so as to be substantially perpendicular to a wall, i.e. sticking out from a wall. The soap-holding magnet is embedded in or attached to the underside of the arm. The magnetically activated soap-holding plate is inserted into the soap. The bar of soap then hangs from the arm due to the magnetic force drawing the magnetically activated soap-holding plate in the bar of soap to the soap-holding magnet in the arm. The bar of soap then dries simply by hanging in the air suspended above such surfaces as the sink basin. Several inventions utilize this basic structure. These include: U.S. Pat. No. 2,597,925, issued to Urey Edger on May 27, 1952; U.S. Pat. No. 2,825,177, issued to Ragnar Nordlof and Leif Nordlie on Mar. 4, 1958; U.S. Pat. No. 3,472,391, issued to Gino Bolognesi on Oct. 14, 1969; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,705, issued to Eldred Caster on Jan. 5, 1971. However, all of these inventions have drawbacks.
For instance, all of these inventions use substantially or partially exposed magnets. The magnets used were circular. Circular magnets do not allow a strong enough magnetic pull through any significant distance because the magnetic force is not concentrated. Thus, the circular soap-holding magnet and magnetically activatable soap-holding plate must be in direct contact (i.e. the circular magnet must be exposed) to properly secure the soap. The exposed magnet gives more nooks and crannies in which dirt and soap scum could collect, making cleaning of the magnetic soap holder difficult.
The present invention solves this and other problems. The soap-holding magnet is rectangular or square, as opposed to circular. This also allows a soap-holding-magnet housing to be used. This soap-holding-magnet housing is a u-shaped metal plate with a securement device, such as downward bent flanges, fitted over the soap-holding magnet. This concentrates the magnetic force at the edges of the flanges of the u-shaped soap-holding-magnet housing and increases the magnetic force at the edges of the flanges. Due to this increased magnetic force, the soap-holding-magnet is able to attract a heavier, larger bar of soap. This also means that the soap-holding-magnet need not be exposed as long as the bottom edges of the flanges are exposed. This allows the improved magnetic soap holder to employ a thin layer of material to cover the soap-holding-magnet compartment, or, alternatively, the entire underside of the arm, leaving slots through which the flanges of the soap-holding-magnet housing protrude. This thin layer of material is preferably the same material of which the rest of the arm is made. The soap-holding-magnet maagnet and the soap-holding-magnet housing are still able to attract the magnetically activated soap-holding plate but are not exposed to dirt. The surface of the arm underside covering is a relatively smooth one, thus making cleaning easier. Employing the arm underside covering also protects ceramic magnets which are easily broken if struck directly.
The present invention also utilizes a boss in the soap-holding-magnet compartment. The boss is a small protrusion running the entire width of the arm which allows the soap-holding magnet and the soap-holding-magnet housing to be secured by being snapped into the soap-holding-magnet compartment. This manufacturing step is done in one, quick motion by a human or robot. This saves money compared to other methods which are relatively intensive in terms of labor and time, such as gluing or screwing down the soap-holding-magnet and soap-holding-magnet housing.
In addition, all of the above cited magnetic soap holders have relatively short arms. This means that the bar of soap is secured such that the bar's longer axis is substantially parallel to the ground but substantially perpendicular to the arm. (Other orientations are those such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,169,743, issued to John S. Page, Jr. on Feb. 16, 1965, which uses no arm, and the Edger invention which holds the bar such that the bar's longer axis is vertical and perpendicular to the arm.) Because of this, a large portion of the bar of soap is exposed to errant movement of such things as arms and washcloths.
The present invention utilizes an arm which is long enough to accommodate a family-sized bar of soap. This allows the soap to be secured so that its longer axis is substantially parallel to the arm. Because of this, most of the soap is protected by the arm allowing less chance for the soap to be knocked off. However, the present invention also allows the soap to be held in any attitude. The improved magnetic soap holder is able to employ a longer arm and, thus, hold larger, family-sized bars of soap because the soap-holding magnet in combination with the soap-holding-magnet housing creates greater magnetic force.
Finally, the present invention, in an alternate embodiment, also has one or more rectangular or square utensil-holding magnets in the second end of the arm. This allows the improved magnetic soap holder to hold other items which are normally used in the same area as soap, including, but not limited to, toothbrushes, safety razors, combs, and other utensils. One invention, U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,566, issued to Jeffrey Hempel on Nov. 17, 1992, uses magnets to hold toothbrushes, but none of the above cited inventions combined the use of magnets to hold both soap and other items in the same invention.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a soap-holding-magnet with a soap-holding-magnet housing so as to concentrate the magnetic force at the edges of the flanges of the soap-holding-magnet housing and create greater lifting strength.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an improved magnetic soap holder with unexposed magnets, thus allowing the improved magnetic soap holder to be more easily cleaned.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a less costly and time consuming means of securing the soap-holding and utensil-holding magnets, to be achieved through use of a boss which allows the soap-holding magnet and the soap-holding-magnet housing to be quickly snapped into place.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved magnetic soap holder with an arm long enough to accommodate a family-sized bar of soap.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved magnetic soap holder which also uses utensil-holding magnets to hold other items, including, but not limited to, toothbrushes, safety razors, and other utensils.


A mirror bracket is provided for supporting a mirror in deployed and stowed positions. The mirror bracket includes: a base; a mirror arm pivotally mounted on the base and movable between a deployed position and a stowed position; a first sloped surface of the mirror arm corresponding to the deployed position; a second sloped surface of the mirror arm corresponding to the stowed position; a pin movably mounted on the base and having a tapered end formed thereon, the pin located proximate to the mirror arm such that the pin contacts the first sloped surface when the mirror arm is in the deployed position and such that the pin contacts the second sloped surface when the mirror arm is in the stowed position.

Recreational watercraft frequently include one or more mirrors mounted near an operator of the watercraft such that the driver of the watercraft can view a water skier, wakeboarder, or wake surfer behind the watercraft. Placement of the mirror is important in that it should allow an operator of the watercraft to maintain a clear view of a person being towed by the watercraft while also placing the mirror in a position that does not obstruct a forward view of the watercraft operator.
Difficulties associated with installing mirrors on recreational watercraft include locating the mirror such that the mirror does not obstruct the placement of a close-fitting cover on the watercraft to protect the watercraft when not in use. For example, one popular location for a mirror is such that the mirror is located on a bracket that places the mirror above a windshield of the watercraft. When located above the windshield, the bracket securing the mirror typically obstructs placement of a cover of the watercraft that normally fits over the windshield.
Various mirror brackets exist that allow the mirror to be adjusted relative to the boat. For example, folding brackets exist that allow the mirror bracket and attached mirror to be folded under the windshield when not in use, thereby allowing a cover of the watercraft to be fitted closely over the windshield. However, existing brackets may not securely hold the mirror in an upright position during use and therefore allow the mirror to move during use. Other brackets may be difficult to operate and require additional time to move between folded and deployed positions.
What is needed, therefore, is a folding mirror bracket that advantageously allows a supported mirror to move between folded and deployed positions and further securely holds the mirror in the deployed position to minimize any movement of the mirror when deployed.