Wireless communication traffic channels are allocated based on random plus planned processes. A request for a traffic channel is sent on a random traffic channel that is not a dedicated random access channel. A determination is made whether to allocate a traffic channel based on status of a subscriber that sere the traffic channel request, including determining base on temps of subscription of the subscriber. An implementation at a base station includes receiving the request on a traffic channel making the determination, and assigning either the traffic channel on which the request was received, or another channel. In a user terminal, the user terminal sends the request on a random traffic channel that it is not assigned to, and receives a traffic channel allocation, or an indication that no channel is available.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to networks and more specifically relates to accessing networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, access to communication systems has followed one of two patterns. Either the system allowed completely planned access, utilizing a control channel and other channels assigned through the control channel (traditional cellular systems for example) or the system allowed unplanned access, such as listening for space/time on a network and then squeezing packets into the space/time available (such as a traditional Ethernet/token ring for example). It will be appreciated that each of these styles of access either suffers from high overhead (a dedicated control channel) or potentially high latency (a situation where no space/time for packets is available). In either instance, the lack of availability of the full network resources on a priority basis can degrade performance of the network.

Channel allocation based on random plus planned processes


In a device for displaying images by application of an electric field to a charged substance, a structure for reducing afterimages and a method for manufacturing the structure are provided. The device is a display device which includes a plurality of pixel electrodes and a charged layer (a layer including a charged substance) provided over the pixel electrodes. An end of one of two pixel electrodes that are adjacent to each other among the plurality of pixel electrodes has a depression in an end-face direction, and an end of the other of the pixel electrodes has a projection in the end-face direction. In a state in which the depression and the projection are in a set, a gap is formed between the two pixel electrodes.

1. Field of the Invention
The technical field of the present invention relates to a display device and a method for driving a display device. Further, the technical field of the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
These days, with the development of digitization techniques, text data and image data of newspapers, magazines, and the like can be provided as electronic data. This kind of electronic data is generally displayed on a display device included in a television, a personal computer, a portable electronic terminal, or the like, so that the content of the data can be read.
As display devices with high visibility equivalent to the visibility of paper, display devices using electronic ink such as electrophoretic elements have been developed. As a display device using electronic ink, for example, there is a display device which includes a microcapsule between a pixel electrode and a counter electrode. In such a display device, images are displayed by application of voltage between the two electrodes and movement of colored particles in the microcapsule in an electric field direction (see Reference 1).

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A multi-purpose child support device comprises a frame having a base for placement on a floor surface and a support section positioned above said base. A seat element is configured for receiving a toddler child in a sitting position and is coupled with the support section above the floor surface for forming a high chair. The seat element is removably mounted to the frame and is operable for being selectively removed from the support section such that the support section receives an infant child carrier for supporting an infant child carrier above a floor surface. A mounting element is positioned on the frame and engages the removed seat element for securing the removed seat element to the frame.

When families go to a restaurant or other similar facility for dining, they often include small children. The children may be small toddlers or even smaller infants. Therefore, for a pleasurable dining experience for the entire family, and particularly the adults of the party, the small children must be properly and safely accommodated at the table.
While larger children are often able to sit in regular adult chairs, some with the aid of a traditional booster seat, the smaller toddler and infant children require special arrangements. For example, traditional high chairs have long been available for toddler children who are able to sit up on their own, but who are yet too small to sit in an adult chair, even with a booster seat. Furthermore, high chairs are particularly suitable for rambunctious toddlers for whom a certain amount of containment is desired during a meal. High chairs provide certain restraints, such as belts, for a child placed therein, and therefore, provide peace of mind for the parents or caregivers during the meal. Additionally, the seating platform for the toddler child is generally smaller than in an adult chair, thereby helping the child to remain in an upright position.
While traditional high chairs have been suitable for toddler children who can sit on their own, they are entirely inadequate for infant children who do not yet have the motor skills to do so. Infants are generally brought to restaurants in an infant carrier, often referred to as a "pumpkin seat." Infant carriers usually include a cradle-shaped base for comfortably carrying or supporting the infant. A pivoting handle is attached to the base so an adult may manipulate the carrier. When dining with an infant child, parents often have to place the infant carrier and infant on the table, on a chair (if large enough) or on the floor. All of those available options for placement of the infant carrier are undesirable. Not only is the carrier exposed to the chances of falling, but oftentimes there is not sufficient table space for placing the carrier thereon. Furthermore, a chair may be too small to accommodate the carrier. Even if the chair is large enough, the awkward and cumbersome shape of infant carriers often requires that the chair and carrier be wedged against the table to ensure that the carrier does not fall off of the chair. This can present a precarious, and therefore, dangerous situation for the infant. Finally, placing the infant and carrier on a dirty, drafty restaurant floor is certainly an option to be avoided, even though it is often the safest of the available options.
One option, but one which is dangerous and discouraged or prohibited by many restaurants, is to turn a traditional high chair structure upside-down and place the infant carrier in the wide base of the chair. In doing so, the chair rests on the very narrow seat portion. Therefore, the upside-down chair is very likely to fall, which could injure a baby placed thereon. Furthermore, the restaurant could be exposed to legal liability for an injured child. While such an option is discouraged, parents will still choose to do so, and restaurants will allow them for the purposes of accommodation or lack of a more suitable option.
Attempts have also been made to develop a support device specifically for infant carriers. Many such structures are expensive and complicated and are only adapted to a specific carrier design. If a restaurant does not have a specific device for the family's infant carrier, the parents have to carry their own support device. As may be appreciated, it is very inconvenient and time-consuming to have to transport and set up such a device in a restaurant.
One type of device for supporting a variety of different infant carriers consists of a sling stretched between two support elements. The sling forms a hammock to receive the carrier. Such a device is usually suitable for the purpose of supporting the carrier above the floor, regardless of the shape of the carrier. However, such devices must be purchased and maintained by a restaurant in addition to their other separate high chair structures.
Another commercially available product purports to be suitable for both infants and toddlers. Essentially, the product is a traditional high chair which can recline for cradling an infant. However, such a product requires that the infant be removed from its carrier and placed in the plastic seat of the product. For a parent, such a scenario is not desirable. First, the plastic seat is hard and cold, and may even be dirty. Personal infant carriers usually have cushions on which the baby rests and the parents know that their carrier is clean. Therefore, the parents will be reluctant to switch the baby from their personal carrier to a public high chair device. Secondly, the infant may be nestled in blankets and other such covers, and may even be sleeping. Having to wake the infant and/or move all of the blankets to the public high chair device would further deter use of such a product. Finally, the parents or the restaurant staff are left with trying to store the bulky, empty infant carrier during the meal.
Therefore, it would seem that the only practical option is to maintain a large number of dedicated infant carrier support devices. A significant drawback, however, to any dedicated infant carrier support device, is that the restaurant must keep a number of such devices on hand, and also must obtain separate high chair structures for toddler children, and booster seats for older children. Available infant carrier support devices and high chairs are large and bulky, and therefore, require a substantial amount of floor space. While some high chair structures and infant carrier support devices are stackable, generally they are not.
Another drawback is the additional purchase and replacement costs for separate devices. However, restaurants, and particularly family-type restaurants, desire to keep their family patrons not only satisfied, but also comfortable with the thought that their children will be safe during the dining experience. Therefore, they maintain a large number of different devices to do so.
Another drawback to having a large number of dedicated support devices, is the cleaning required for such structures. Food is usually splattered all over by toddler children and may also be splattered by older infant children. Of course, parents do not want to place their child in a high chair or other device which is still dirty from the previous child. Therefore, the work loads of waitpersons, buspersons, and hosts are all increased to ensure clean high chairs and infant carrier support devices.
Therefore, it is one objective of the invention to accommodate dining families so that their children of all ages are safe and secure during the meal.
It is another objective of the invention to accommodate both toddler children and infant children during dining.
It is still another objective of the invention to reduce the costs to the restaurant owner and the workloads of the staff associated with such accommodation.
It is another objective of the invention to safely provide support to a child during a meal which is above the floor and off of the table.
Still further, it is an objective to provide such accommodation in a safe manner to reduce the liability exposure of a restaurant owner.

Child support device with removable seat element


Disclosed is an illuminating device that includes a light source and a mouthpiece. The mouthpiece is configured to adapt the light source thereon and is capable of being accommodated within a user's mouth. The mouthpiece includes a switch and a power source. The switch is electrically connected to the light source. The power source is electrically connected to the switch and the light source and is capable of providing electrical power to the light source for illumination. Upon receipt of the mouthpiece within the user's mouth and application of pressure on the switch by the user's teeth, the light source is illuminated.

More often than not, physical tasks require use of both hands of a worker. For example, mechanics, contractors, plumbers, locksmiths, woodworkers, and similar workers, need to use both their hands while performing their job-related activities. When performing these job-related activities in insufficient ambient light or in the dark, a worker may require additional light source, such as a flashlight, torchlight, and the like. Generally, the worker would need to compromise on the job by making use of one hand to hold the light source and perform the job with other hand. Occasionally, the worker may hold the light source in his mouth and use both hands to work on the job. However, holding the light source in the mouth may cause excessive salivation, leading to uneasiness or discomfort to the worker. Moreover, it may lead to obstruction in conversing with fellow co-workers. Further, when the worker needs to operate the light source, he may have to use his hands to switch on the light source before placing the light source in his mouth. Other than that, the light source may be too bulky to be appropriately held by the worker's mouth. Moreover, the light source may have sharp corners or edges that may hurt the worker in his mouth.
Accordingly, there is need for a hands-free operable illuminating device for providing additional light to users, in an easy and reliable manner.


Images of a heart are acquired with a high resolution medical imaging system used to construct a dynamic high resolution 4D model. During a medical procedure such as endocardial physiology mapping and ablation, real-time images are produced by an ultrasonic transducer inserted into the heart. The high resolution heart model is registered with the acquired real-time images and used to produce dynamic, high resolution images for display during the medical procedure. An electrical activation map which depicts the spatial distribution of heart wall electrical activation is merged with the anatomic images to facilitate cardiac ablation therapy.

The field of the invention is medical imaging, and particularly, the production of real-time anatomic images used to guide the performance of medical procedures.
High resolution medical images which accurately depict detailed anatomical features can be produced using a number of imaging modalities. Such images may be produced, for example, using electron beam CT systems, ultrasound systems or MRI systems commercially available from a number of manufacturers. To reconstruct high resolution and high SNR images, however, considerable data must be acquired. Such data acquisition requires time ranging from seconds to many minutes depending on the imaging modality used and the particular subject of the acquisition. For example, when imaging the human heart both cardiac and respiratory gating may be used during the data acquisition with the result that image data may only be acquired during short intervals during each respiratory and cardiac cycle. A high resolution 3D image of the heart may require many seconds or minutes to acquire using an MRI system or an x-ray CT system. Such high resolution images are commonly used for diagnosing disease, but they cannot be acquired and reconstructed at a high enough frame rate for use during medical procedures.
Medical images are produced at high frame rates for use during medical procedures. For example, x-ray fluoroscopy is commonly used by physicians to guide catheters in the placement of balloons and stents during angioplasty procedures. MR fluoroscopy is a method used to produce real-time images for monitoring medical procedures, and real-time ultrasound images are used in intravascular procedures such as those disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,325,860 and 5,345,940. Such real-time imaging methods produce images at a frame rate of 10 to 30 frames per second to provide a relatively continuous, flicker-free view of the procedure being monitored.
While real-time medical images can thus be produced with a number of well-known imaging modalities, such images do not depict anatomy in great detail or with great clarity. They do depict medical instruments with enough clarity, however, that the instruments can be seen and guided to carry out some medical procedures.
There are medical procedures which require both real-time imaging to guide the operation and high resolution, high SNR depictions of the anatomical structures being operated upon. One such procedure is guided ablative therapy for cardiac arrhythmias. Ablative therapy employs an electrode which is placed on or near the heart wall and energized to create lesions of specific dimensions in specific anatomic locations. These lesions disrupt or change the sequence in which the heart wall muscle activates during an arrhythmia, and if done accurately, will prevent the arrhythmia from occurring.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,325,860 and 5,345,940, both the ablation electrode and an ultrasonic transducer may be delivered to the interior of the heart intravascularly by a catheter. The ablation electrode is guided into position using the real-time ultrasonic images and the ablation process is monitored using the real-time ultrasonic images. While this method and apparatus has enabled certain types of arrhythmias to be treated successfully, improved accuracy in the placement of the ablation electrode is required before the method can be used to treat many other cardiac arrhythmias. To do this, an accurate and clear image of the underlying anatomy must be provided in real-time to the physician so that the ablation electrode can be placed in precisely the right location.
The present invention is a method and means for providing clear, high resolution medical images in real-time, and more particularly, providing such medical images to assist physicians in the performance of medical procedures. The invention includes: acquiring image data of the subject anatomy and reconstructing an image which is a high resolution model of the subject anatomy; performing a medical procedure in which the subject anatomy is imaged in real-time by acquiring low resolution images at a high frame rate; registering the high resolution model of the subject anatomy with each acquired low resolution image; and displaying to the physician in real-time images of the registered high resolution model of the anatomy. The high resolution model may be a 2D or 3D image of static anatomy, or it may be a 4D model in which the fourth dimension depicts changes in the anatomy as a function of time, cardiac phase, respiratory phase, or the like. The creation of this model is performed using a high resolution imaging modality and it may be done prior to performing the medical procedure. The registration of the high resolution model is performed in real-time and includes a 2D or 3D spatial orientation as well as a registration in time or phase when the model depicts changing anatomy.
Another aspect of the present invention is the merging of real-time images of physiological data with an anatomical model during a medical intervention procedure. The physiological data may be, for example, electrophysiological data, EEG data or thermal data. If a medical device such as an endocardial electrode array is used, for example, the device itself may not be displayed. Instead, the location of each electrode in the array may be precisely located on the registered high resolution anatomic model and an electrical activation map is produced from the acquired electrophysiological data and overlayed on, or merged with the high resolution image. In a preferred embodiment the overlay is done by modulating the color of the pixels to indicate the activation timing of the imaged tissues, however other display methods may also be used.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is to accurately display the location of a medical device as a medical procedure is performed. The low resolution images clearly depict medical devices located within their field of view. Devices can thus be properly located in the displayed images by simply overlaying them on the registered high resolution model. In the case of an ablation catheter, for example, this overlay is simply the depiction of the device itself.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is the production of real-time medical images having a wide field of view. The field of view of many real-time imaging systems is very limited, or it may depict a single slice or a single projection view. It requires great skill and practice on the part of the physician to relate such limited views to the subject anatomy and properly understand the image. By registering the high resolution model of the anatomy to the limited real-time image, however, a much larger and more understandable field of view depicted by the model can be displayed. Indeed, the registered model may depict the subject anatomy in 3D and the images displayed to the physician can create a virtual reality environment during the medical intervention procedure.

Method for producing high resolution real-time images, of structure and function during medical procedures

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research


An apparatus for controlling vehicles which are moved through a conduit by air and includes a processing system positioned in the conduit for collecting, storage and dispatching the vehicles in which an air pump is positioned in parallel with the processing system having its suction connected to the conduit upstream of the system and its discharge connected to the conduit downstream of the system. Valve means are connected to the conduit for reducing the tendency of the vehicles in the processing system to move upstream towards the pump suction. The valve means alternates the pressure in a portion of the processing system between less than atmospheric and at least atmospheric. One form of the valve means may include an air blocking vehicle stop movable into and out of the conduit and a valve connected between the conduit and the atmosphere upstream of the vehicle stop which is open and closed in synchronism with the vehicle stop. In addition, a second valve may be connected between the conduit and the pump suction upstream of the air blocking vehicle stop for speeding up the vehicle processing. In another embodiment, first and second swingable flap valves may be positioned in the conduit in the upstream portion of the processing system with an air flow control connected to the pump suction and positioned for alternately withdrawing air from the conduit upstream of each of the first and second valves for allowing the vehicles to pass through the flap valves, but preventing the application of the pump suction to the conduit downstream of the second valve.

The movement of load carrying vehicles through a conduit by air in which the vehicles are suitably collected, stored, and dispatched are disclosed in copending patent application Ser. No. 894,108 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Processing Vehicles Moving Through a Conduit by Air" filed Apr. 6, 1978, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,845. In that system, the pump was positioned with its suction intake connected to the downstream side of the processing system. It is desirable in some applications to place the air pump in parallel with the processing system thereby utilizing the pump to move vehicles downstream of the processing system by a positive pressure and at the same time draw vehicles to the processing system by the pump suction. However, the application of the pump suction to the upstream side of the processing system tends to cause reverse air flow through the processing system and undesirably acts on the vehicles in a direction which tends to move them upstream.
The present invention is directed to various improvements in an apparatus for controlling vehicles moving through a conduit by air in which a pump can be positioned in parallel with the processing system and suitable valve means connected to the conduit for reducing the tendency of the vehicles in the processing system to move upstream.

Apparatus for controlling vehicles moving through a conduit by air


A method for removing sulfur compounds including transferring the impurity gas to a concentration process in which the impurity gas is separated into a concentrated gas containing hydrogen sulfide and a residual gas containing carbon dioxide, mercaptans and aromatic hydrocarbons: transferring the concentrated gas to a Claus reaction process in which hydrogen sulfide is recovered as an elementary sulfur, and an off-gas discharged from the Claus reaction process is heated to a temperature between the discharge temperature and 700° C.; introducing the heated off-gas into a mixing unit provided downstream of the heating means to be mixed with the residual gas; transferring a resultant mixed gas to a hydrogenation reaction process in which sulfur compounds are converted into hydrogen sulfide under the presence of a reduction catalyst; and separating the converted hydrogen sulfide and returning the separated hydrogen sulfide to the Claus reaction process.

Carbon dioxide (CO2), H2S, COS, mercaptans, and aromatic hydrocarbons, are examples of impurity gases contained in natural gas, etc., and these impurity contents tend to gradually increase in recent years in association with decreasing of quality of natural gas, etc., obtained from gas wells. Accordingly, it is necessary to purify the natural gas, etc., by removing the impurity gases therefrom in order to produce a product gas.
As a method for removing H2S contained in an impurity gas (acid gas), on the other hand, one which utilizes a Claus reaction is available. In the Claus reaction, a part of H2S in a gas is oxidized to be SO2, and the SO2 obtained is reacted with residual H2S to react and recover elementary sulfur substances, thereby removing H2S in the gas.
Also, a method is known in which the rate of removing sulfur components is increased by hydrogenating residual SO2, which is contained in an off-gas after the Claus reaction, to be H2S in the presence of catalyst, and returning the obtained H2S to a Claus reaction apparatus.
As mentioned above, various components other than H2S are contained as impurity components accompanied with a natural gas, etc., and the following problems may occur when such impurity gases are separated from the natural gas, etc., and are introduced into a Claus reaction apparatus in order to remove sulfur components contained therein:                1. the rate of removing the sulfur components is decreased since a large amount of components other than H2S, for instance CO2, is contained in an impurity gas (acid gas), which reduces the concentration of H2S and decreases the reaction rate in the Claus reaction; and        2. aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, xylene, etc., (BTX)) contained in an impurity gas (acid gas) are incompletely combusted and soot is generated, and hence the sulfur recovered may be contaminated by the soot, thereby decreasing the quality of the sulfur, and also the Claus catalyst layer may be clogged by the soot.
As a method for subjecting a hydrogen sulfide containing gas including a large amount of CO2, for example, one which is disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Application, Second Publication No. Sho 63-17488 is conventionally known.
In this method, a part of H2S containing gas including 20 vol. % or more of CO2 is supplied to a Claus plant, and the rest of the gas is made to contact with an absorbent which selectively absorbs H2S, and H2S which is regenerated and separated from the absorbent is returned to the Claus plant.
However, using this method, it is not possible to sufficiently solve the above-mentioned problems.
As a method for solving the problem, one is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 10-28837.
In this method, as shown in FIG. 1, a residual impurity gas (acid gas) containing CO2, H2S, mercaptans, and BTX, etc., which is obtained after purifying a product natural gas from a raw natural gas, is separated to a concentrated gas including H2S as a main gas and to a residual gas including CO2 as a main gas, mercaptans, and BTX, in an absorption tower 41 and a regeneration tower 42.
Then, the concentrated gas is transferred to a Claus sulfur recovering device 43, and a majority of H2S is recovered as elementary sulfur in the device 43. An off-gas (exhaust gas) from the Claus sulfur recovering device 43 is transferred to a heating furnace 44 together with the above-mentioned residual gas to be heated, and then the heated gas is transferred to a hydrogenation reactor 45. In the hydrogenation reactor 45, sulfur compounds, such as SO2, mercaptans, and sulfur vapor, contained in the heated gas is reduced to H2S in the presence of a reduction catalyst.
The obtained H2S is separated in an absorption tower 46, and this is returned to the Claus sulfur recovering device 43 via the regeneration tower 42.
This method of prior application has advantages such as a high removing rate of sulfur from sulfur compounds contained in an impurity gas (acid gas), prevention of clogging in a catalyst layer of the Claus sulfur recovering device 43, and high quality of recovered elementary.
However, it was found that even this method has the following elements that should be improved.
That is, since the residual gas and the off-gas are introduced into the above-mentioned heating furnace 44 at the same time and heated, soot may be generated due to BTX contained in the residual gas, and the generated soot may flow into the hydrogenation reactor 45 used in the next step so as to deactivate the reduction catalyst or clog the catalyst layer.
The cause of the problem is found to be direct contact of the residual gas with the flame of a combustion burner of the heating furnace 44, and the temperature at that time is 700° C. or higher. Accordingly, the problem may be solved if the residual gas does not make direct contact with the flame, or the gas is not heated to the temperature of 700° C. or higher. In order to achieve these, the length of the heating furnace 44 may be increased so that the residual gas is introduced to a low temperature portion separated away from the flame. However, in this manner, a new problem will be created in which the size of the device must be increased.
Also, when a relatively large amount of 1–10 vol. % of mercaptans is contained in the residual gas, mercaptans may be adsorbed by the reduction catalyst in the hydrogenation reactor 45, and this prevents sufficient desulfurization of the mercaptans. Hence, the recovery rate of the sulfur may not be increased in the overall process.
Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to prevent the generation of soot in the heating furnace, which is a problem associated with the method for removing sulfur compounds disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 10-28837, and to prevent increase in size of the heating furnace.
Also, a second object of the present invention is to carry out sufficient desulfurization even when the content of mercaptans in an impurity gas (acid gas) is high, and to improve the recovery rate of sulfur in the overall process.

Method and apparatus for removing sulfur compound in gas containing hydrogen sulfide, mercaptans, carbon dioxide and aromatic hydrocarbon


A speech output is generated from a text input written in a first language and containing inclusions in a second language. Words in the native language are pronounced with a native pronunciation and words in the foreign language are pronounced with a proficient foreign pronunciation. Language dependent phoneme symbols generated for words of the second language are replaced with language dependent phoneme symbols of the first language, where said replacing includes the steps of assigning to each language dependent phoneme symbol of the second language a language independent target phoneme symbol, mapping to each one language independent target phoneme symbol a language independent substitute phoneme symbol assignable to a language dependent substitute phoneme symbol of the first language, substituting the language dependent phoneme symbols of the second language by the language dependent substitute phoneme symbols of the first language.

The general framework of a modern commercial TTS system is shown in FIG. 1. An input text—for example "Hello World"—is transformed into a linguistic description using linguistic resources in the form of lexica, rules and n-grams. The text normalization step converts special characters, numbers, abbreviations, etc. into full words. For example, the text "123" is converted into "hundred and twenty three", or "one two three", depending on the application. Next, linguistic analysis is performed to convert the orthographic form of the words into a phoneme sequence. For example, "hello" is converted to "h@-1oU", using a phonetic alphabet. Further linguistic rules enable the TTS program to assign intonation markers and rhythmic structure to the sequence of words or phonemes in a sentence. The end product of the linguistic analysis is a linguistic description of the text to be spoken. The linguistic description is the input to the speech generation module of a TTS system.
State of the art TTS systems use one of two methods to generate a speech signal. The unit selection method is based on the selection of speech segments (or "units") from a large database of speech segments. The segments typically stem from a single speaker or voice talent. The speaker typically records several hundred sentences, corresponding to several hours of speech. The HMM-based speech synthesis method is based on generating speech parameters using a statistical model. The statistical model is trained on a database of recorded speech. The speech can stem from multiple speakers. Speaker adaptation techniques are converting the voice identity of speech generated by a statistical model.
EP 1 835 488 B1 discloses a method for converting an input linguistic description into a speech waveform comprising the steps of deriving at least one target unit sequence corresponding to the linguistic description, selecting from a waveform unit database a plurality of alternative unit sequences approximating the at least one target unit sequence, concatenating the alternative unit sequences to alternative speech waveforms and choosing one of the alternative speech waveforms by an operating person. Finding the best speech waveform depends on a operating person.
There is an increasing demand for TTS systems that can render texts with foreign language inclusions. For example, in German texts English terminology is commonly used, or reference is made to songs or movie titles in a language like French or Italian. In the navigation domain, drivers crossing a language border expect their navigation system to pronounce foreign location names. The pronunciation should be intelligible and match the driver's proficiency in the foreign language, while using the voice the driver has selected.
State of the art TTS systems are typically designed for mono-lingual text input. Several TTS systems support multiple languages, but during operation only one language is activated at a time. Foreign language inclusions are often pronounced using letter-to-sound rules that are valid for the activated language but are inappropriate for the foreign language. For example, the French location name "Bois de Boulogne" may be pronounced by a mono-lingual English TTS as "Boys day Bow-log-gen"
A known approach to support mixed lingual input is to include a list of foreign words in the pronunciation lexicon of a mono-lingual TTS. The foreign words are transcribed using the phoneme set of the native language. Then, "Bois de Boulogne" may be pronounced as "Bwa duh Boo-lon-je". This approach still has several disadvantages. The added word list requires memory space, which is costly for embedded systems. The list has to be derived for each combination of a foreign and native language, where the foreign language determines which words need to be added, and the native language determines the phoneme set to be used for the transcription. Finally, the foreign word list is finite, leaving words or names in the foreign language without a proper transcription.
Another shortcoming of state of the art TTS systems is that the output speech signal does not contain phonemes that occur in a foreign language but not in the native language. For example the German vowel "ü" or the Spanish "rr" cannot be produced by an English TTS system. Human speakers, on the other hand, often become quite proficient at pronouncing foreign phonemes, even if they did not learn to pronounce these sounds during childhood. For example, many German speakers have no problem pronouncing the rhoticised English "r" in "great" or "road". Human listeners with a proficient foreign language skill find a TTS system that does not mimic their phonetic proficiency level simplistic or primitive.
In US 2007/0118377 A1 (Badino et al), in CAMPBELL Nick: "Talking Foreign Concatenative Speech Synthesis and the Language Barrier" EUROSPEECH 2001, vol. 1, 2001, page 337, XP007005007 AALBORG, DK and in CAMPBELL Nick: "Foreign-Language Speech Synthesis" PROCEEDINGS OF ESCA/COCOSDA WORKSHOP ON SPEECH SYNTHESIS, 26 Nov. 1998-29 Nov. 1998 pages 177-180, XP002285739 JENOLA CAVES HOUSE, Australia, phoneme mapping mechanisms are described. The phoneme mapping in Badino and in Campbell is based on phonetic feature vectors, where the vector components are acoustic characteristics. For each phoneme in each language a set of phonetic articulatory features is defined, such as voicedness, place of articulation, and manner of articulation (vowel, consonant, diphthong, unstressed/stressed, long, nasalized, rounded, front, central, back, plosive, nasal, trill, tapflap, fricative, lateral, affricate, bilabial, labiodentals, dental, alveolar, palatal, uvular, glottal, aspirated, semiconsonant . . . ). A distance measure is defined as a weighted combination of feature differences. The disadvantages of this approach are that the weights are difficult to tune and it is often found that the phoneme mapping with the lowest distance is not perceptually optimal. The approach also requires the distance calculations to be repeated for each speech unit.
According to Badino the comparison between phonemes is carried out for each phoneme pair by comparing the corresponding vectors, allotting respective scores to the vector-to-vector comparisons. Using vectors of 8 IPA standard components causes a time consuming comparison.
Campbell discloses in "Talking Foreign" the use of mapping vectors based not on direct phone-to-phone pairs, but on vectors of articulatory features. In "Foreign-Language Speech Synthesis" it is disclosed that the waveform data (or its cepstral transform) is taken as a model to specify the acoustic characteristics of the desired speech. The acoustic similarity is compared by scoring every candidate phone.
Acoustic characteristics (vectors) have to be known for all phonemes to be compared. The provided pronunciations of the foreign words sound simplistic to listeners with a more proficient knowledge of the foreign language. The known method is reduced to express only a limited number of known words of a foreign language with waveform data of the native language.
Romsdorfer et al, Text Analysis and Language Identification for Polyglot Text-to-Speech Synthesis, Speech Communication, Vol 49/9, pp. 697-724, September 2007, describe a method to predict an accurate foreign transcription for words of a foreign language. The method is based on a modular approach that integrates foreign language morphology and syntax components in a joint framework. The method produces a linguistic description that can be sent to a speech generation module. However the approach does not teach a method to synthesize foreign phonemes that are not in the phoneme set of the database speaker. It is necessary to map foreign phonemes to phonemes spoken by the database speaker. Romsdorfer et al have used multi-lingual speakers to cover the phonemes of the languages in their mixed-lingual system. It is clear that this approach does not generalize well, as one requires voice talents for each native language to be proficient at each foreign language that is to be supported by the TTS system.
To overcome the phoneme set limitation of a given TTS voice, a known solution is to switch voices for foreign language text inclusions. This solution introduces an undesirable break between parts of the sentence in the native language and parts of the sentence in a foreign language. Often a long pause is introduced and the intonation flow is interrupted. Moreover the voice identity changes, which is unnatural for example in the navigation domain ("Turn right onto the Bahnhofstrasse") or for entertainment announcements ("You are listening to <<Les Champs Elysées>> by Joe Dassin").
There have been some proposals in the literature to enrich voice databases with foreign sounds. For example, Conkie and Syrdal, "Expanding Phonetic Coverage in Unit Selection Synthesis through Unit Substitution from a Donor Voice", Proceedings Interspeech, 2006, excise a "th" sound from an English voice database and add it to a South American Spanish database. Unfortunately this approach only produces satisfactory results for unvoiced sounds. For voiced and especially sonorant sounds, the speaker identity of the donated units interferes with the identity of the native voice. Donated sonorant units also can introduce large concatenation errors because their phonetic quality does not match that of the native units.
Latorre et al., "New approach to the polyglot speech generation by means of an HMM-based speaker adaptable synthesizer", Speech Communication, vol. 48, no. 10, pp. 1227-1242, October 2006, describe an approach where the acoustic models of an HMM synthesizer are trained from recordings of multiple speakers speaking multiple languages. The acoustic models are then matched to a target speaker using statistical speaker adaptation. However, the quality of HMM-based speech synthesis is lower than the quality of unit selection-based synthesis. This is due to the fact that the statistical modeling approach cannot preserve detailed information necessary for high fidelity speech.

Text to speech synthesis for texts with foreign language inclusions


The present invention provides a water-absorbent resin powder and its production process and use, wherein the water-absorbent resin powder has high liquid permeability and high water absorbency. The production process for a water-absorbent resin powder, according to the present invention, comprises the step of obtaining water-absorbent crosslinked polymer particles by an aqueous solution polymerization step, and grinding the resultant crosslinked polymer particles until the bulk density thereof increases to not lower than 0.72 (g/ml). The water-absorbent resin powder is characterized by being arbitrarily pulverized and having a bulk density of not lower than 0.74 (g/ml) and a water absorption capacity of not lower than 20 (g/g) for 0.9 weight % physiological saline under a load of 0.7 psi (4.83 kPa). In addition, the absorbent structure comprises the above water-absorbent resin powder and a fibrous material. The absorbent article comprises an absorbent layer including the above absorbent structure.

A. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a water-absorbent resin powder and its production process and use.
B. Background Art
In recent years, water-absorbent resins (water-absorbing agents) are widely used as constituent materials of sanitary materials, such as disposable diapers, sanitary napkins, and so-called incontinent pads, for the purpose of causing the water-absorbent resins to absorb body fluids.
Known examples of the above water-absorbent resins are as follows: crosslinked polymers of partially neutralized polyacrylic acids; hydrolyzed products of starch-acrylic acid grafted polymers; saponified products of vinyl acetate-acrylic acid ester copolymers; hydrolyzed products of acrylonitrile- or acrylamide copolymers, and their crosslinked polymers; and crosslinked polymers of cationic monomers.
It is said that the above water-absorbent resins should, for example, have the following properties: upon contact with aqueous liquids such as body fluids, excellent water absorption quantity and rate, the gel strength, the suction power to suck up water from a base material containing aqueous liquids. In addition, a variety of water-absorbent resins or a variety of absorbent structures or articles using the water-absorbent resins are proposed, wherein the water-absorbent resins jointly have a plurality of the above properties and exhibit excellent performance (absorption properties) when used for sanitary materials such as disposable diapers and sanitary napkins.
Known examples of the above water-absorbent resins or absorbent structures or articles using the water-absorbent resins are as follows: a water-absorbent resin comprising combinations of a gel volume, a shear modulus, and an extractable polymer content as are specified (U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,039); a water-absorbent resin with a water absorption quantity, a water absorption rate, and a gel strength as are specified, and disposable diapers and sanitary napkins using this water-absorbent resin (JP-A-60-185550, JP-A-60-185551, JP-A-60-185804, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,975); disposable diapers using a water-absorbent resin having a specific water absorption quantity, a specific water absorption rate, and a gel stability (JP-A-60-185805); water-absorbent articles using a water-absorbent resin with a water absorption quantity, a suction power, and a water-soluble content as are specified (JP-A-63-021902); water-absorbent sanitary articles containing a water-absorbent resin with a water absorption quantity, a water absorption quantity under a load, and a gel fracture strength as are specified (JP-A-63-099861); disposable diapers containing a water-absorbent resin with a water absorption quantity and a water absorption rate under a load as are specified (JP-A-02-034167); a water-absorbent composite containing a water-absorbent resin with a water absorbency under a load (AUL) and a particle diameter as are specified (EP 339,461); an absorbent structure containing 60xcx9c100 weight % of a specific water-absorbent resin with a free swell rate (FSR) and a water absorbency under a load in 5 minutes as are specified (EP 443,627); a water-absorbent composite containing at least 30 weight % of water-absorbent resin with a deformation under a load (DUL) and a wicking index (WI) as are specified (EP 532,002); an absorbent article using 30xcx9c100 weight % of a water-absorbent resin with a pressure absorbency index (PAI) and a 16-hour extractability level as are regulated (EP 615,735); a water-absorbent composite of super-absorbent material with a specific water retention capacity, a specific water absorption rate, and a specific liquid permeability under a pressure (U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,944); a water-absorbing agent having a specific diffusing absorbency under pressure (U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,080); a water-absorbing composition having a specific diffusing absorbency index under pressure (EP 761,241); and an absorbent structure using a hydrogel that is, for example, characterized by performance under pressure (PUP) and physiological saline flow conductivity (SFC) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,646). In addition, water-absorbent resin powders have problems in that they undergo deterioration of the physical properties due to surface fracture when (air-)transported or incorporated into absorbent articles in process of production or thereafter. However, a water-absorbent resin which undergoes such deterioration of the physical properties little and has excellent impact resistance is also known (EP 812,873).
The properties relating to water absorbency (e.g. water absorption capacity under no load, water absorption capacity under a load) of absorbent structures or absorbent articles containing them, for which water-absorbent resins are used, are surely enhanced by adding the above various improvements to water-absorbent resins when compared with the unimproved properties, and thus such improvements are applied to superabsorbent disposable diapers and so on. However, the liquid permeability between particles of a gel resultant from water absorption of the resin, which is important for practical daily use, is still at an insufficient level, so it is difficult to say that the whole water-absorbent resin, which is contained in the absorbent article, is sufficiently made use of. Furthermore, in the case where an attempt is made to ensure the liquid permeability of the gel under a high load (e.g. 0.3 psi (2.07 kPa) corresponding to an infant""s load), the crosslinking density of the gel needs to be increased at the sacrifice of the water absorbency.
An object of the present invention is to provide: a water-absorbent resin powder and its production process, wherein the water-absorbent resin powder has high liquid permeability under a load, and further, high water absorbency both under a load and under no load; and further, an absorbent structure and an absorbent article, for which this water-absorbent resin powder is used. Another object of the present invention is to provide a water-absorbent resin powder which undergoes little deterioration of the physical properties and has excellent impact resistance when (air-)transported or incorporated into absorbent articles in process of production or thereafter.
The present inventors diligently studied to achieve the above object. As a result, they thought that a cause of insufficient liquid permeability of conventional water absorbent resins was that because particles of such resins have an arbitrarily pulverized shape and therefore have angular or frilly portions in their surfaces, liquid-permeable spaces between particles are non-uniform in absorbent structures or articles which usually include from tens of thousands up to more than hundreds of thousands of the resin particles. The inventors further thought that the above angular or frilly portions of the particle surfaces are so weak as to deteriorate the impact resistance.
Then, it occurred to the inventors to grind the surfaces of the resin particles and then crosslink the surfaces of the resultant particles as a means of eliminating the above cause, and actually, the inventors ground the surfaces of the resin particles and then crosslinked the surfaces of the resultant particles, with the result that the inventors found that while the water absorbency was retained at a conventional level, the liquid permeability under a load was greatly enhanced when compared with conventional cases. In addition, the inventors found that a water-absorbent resin powder resultant from the surface grinding was the water-absorbent resin powder which underwent little deterioration of the physical properties and had excellent impact resistance when (air-)transported or incorporated into absorbent articles in process of production or thereafter. Furthermore, the inventors found that if the above process was used, a novel water absorbent resin powder having high water absorbency and high bulk density was obtainable. In addition, the inventors found that a water-absorbent resin powder, having the arbitrarily pulverized shape and a high bulk density, surprisingly had a rather enhanced liquid permeability between particles under a load in spite of having only a small quantity of spaces when packed. Thus, the present invention was completed.
That is to say, an arbitrarily pulverized water-absorbent resin powder, according to the present invention, is characterized by having a bulk density of not lower than 0.74 (g/ml) and a water absorption capacity of not lower than 20 (g/g) for 0.9 weight % physiological saline under a load of 0.7 psi (4.83 kPa).
An absorbent structure, according to the present invention, is characterized by comprising the above arbitrarily pulverized water-absorbent resin powder according to the present invention and a fibrous material.
An absorbent article, according to the present invention, is characterized by comprising an absorbent layer including the above absorbent structure according to the present invention.
Another absorbent article, according to the present invention, is characterized by being a diaper that comprises an absorbent layer including the above absorbent structure according to the present invention, wherein the absorbent structure has an arbitrarily pulverized water-absorbent resin powder content of not lower than 30 weight %.
A production process for an arbitrarily pulverized water-absorbent resin powder, according to the present invention, comprises the step of obtaining water-absorbent crosslinked polymer particles by way of an aqueous solution polymerization step, and is characterized by further comprising the step of grinding the resultant crosslinked polymer particles until the bulk density thereof increases to not lower than 0.72 (g/ml).
These and other objects and the advantages of the present invention will be more fully apparent from the following detailed disclosure.

Water-absorbent resin powder and its production process and use


A tricycle push stick for attachment to a tricycle frame for pushing or pulling, the device having an elongated member with a handle mounted at one end and a releasable attachment member mounted at the other end wherein the releasable attachment member is in the form of an opening and an angular slot cooperating with the opening to allow the frame of a tricycle into the opening at a predetermined angle.

The present invention relates to a training accessory for a tricycle, and more particularly, a handle attachment for pushing or pulling a tricycle.
The prior art has recognized the need for tricycle pushing implements as shown by the patents to Garth (U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,066) and Christof (U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,507). However, these pushing implements are securely mounted to a specific tricycle, and thus are not universal, that is, attachable to numerous styles of tricycles. In being securely mounted, these pushing poles do not allow for easy removability, thus making the tricycle awkward and a burden to store. Further, these pushing poles do not allow for adjustment to accommodate differently sized users.
While many toys have come and gone, the demand for tricycles still remains, which has created numerous styles of tricycles. One thing these numerous styles of tricycles all seem to have in common is a cylindrical, longitudinal main frame from which the seat projects. This common feature of a cylindrical main frame is what has led to the present development of a universal push/pull stick for a child's tricycle.
In the process of learning how to ride a tricycle, a child must develop coordination skills and have adequate size and strength to reach and propel the pedals. Therefore, during the initial stage of learning, a parent often does most of the pushing, usually by bending over to push the tricycle or imparting a force to the frame with his foot. Pushing with one's foot causes a jerking motion to the child, which is not only uncomfortable to the child, but is also dangerous, as it may throw the child from the seat. Thus, an implement to push the tricycle at the initial stage would be beneficial to both parent and infant. Once the child has the proper skills, size and strength, he usually lacks the endurance to go distances, such as walks around the block with the family, and again the parent must aid in pushing the tricycle.
Therefore, a need exists to provide a push stick which is attachable to almost any type of tricycle, and once attached, will not disengage from the tricycle while in use.


A first acceleration reference value is continuously determined by a nonlinear distance control. In parallel thereto, a second acceleration value is generated by a nonlinear velocity controller. A simple selection criterion that comprises only these two alternative acceleration values engages the second alternative acceleration reference value engagement for run up. The first alternative acceleration reference value initiates the destination braking. The second alternative reference value is used for approaching the destination position. The trip destination and the velocity of the positioning drive can be accommodate inching velocities.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for the step, acceleration and velocity control of a positioning drive that has a limited travel distance and a subordinated velocity control. The acceleration, velocity and value of the desired distance of the positioning drive is controlled through the multiple integration in time of a step value. The amplified difference between a desired acceleration value and the time integral of the step value is formed between ID a desired acceleration value and the time integral of the step value which is limited with respect to its maximum absolute value. Such a method is known from German Pat. No. 3,001,778. The desired position can thus be rapidly reached by keeping the boundary positions fixed within predetermined limits and utilizing these positions as long as possible.

Method and apparatus for the distance control of a positioning drive


An electronically tunable oscillator comprises a transistor coupled to ground by an emitter resistor. The collector and base of the transistor are interconnected through an inductor which has a tap connected to a bypass capacitor and a B+ voltage source. The source maintains the collector and base at the same DC potential. The collector of the transistor is coupled to a capacitance which cooperates with the inductor to provide a tuned circuit. At least part of the capacitance is provided by a varactor whose value can be controlled to determine oscillator frequency. The magnitude of the oscillator frequency is limited to two times the base to emitter voltage of the transistor and the use of the emitter resistor cooperates to minimize distortion.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to tunable semiconductor oscillators.
2. Description of Prior Art
Prior art considered to be relevant herein is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,454, issued on Feb. 22, 1977, on an invention by J. Darrow and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,407,363, issued on Oct. 22, 1968, on an invention by N. Kaiser et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,454 discloses a constant amplitude signal generating circuit, the circuit comprising a shunt type voltage regulator providing a constant voltage source to a free-running transistor oscillator. The regulator includes first and second series connected resistors in series with a B+ supply and a zener diode, the anode of the diode being connected to a grounded terminal of the supply. A junction common to the first and second resistors is coupled to ground by third and fourth series connected resistors and a junction common to the third and fourth resistors is coupled via a feedback winding of a transformer to the base of a transistor of the oscillator. The collector of the transistor is connected by the primary winding of the transformer to the second resistor and the cathode of the zener diode and is coupled by a capacitor to ground. In addition, the emitter of the transistor is coupled by a feedback resistor to ground. Inductance provided by the transformer and the capacitor determine the frequency of oscillation of the circuit. The values of the second, third, and fourth resistor are chosen such that the DC operating point of the transistor is on the linear portion of the dynamic transfer characteristic curve. In operation, the transistor is alternately driven between saturation and cutoff. Therefore, a slight clipping effect is associated with the signal generated. An output signal, similar to the generated signal, is provided by a secondary coil of the transformer.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,407,363 discloses a varactor tuned oscillator. The oscillator comprises a transistor whose base is coupled to its collector by a turned circuit which includes an inductor connected in parallel with a pair of series connected varactors. A DC source coupled to the emitter of the transistor and a center tap on the inductor supplies power to the oscillator. The oscillator is said to operate in class C.

Amplitude limited varactor tuned L-C oscillator


A disposable liner for a child's potty chair includes a generally flexible sheet material, a pouch portion formed near the center of the sheet material to extend downwardly into the opening of the potty chair, an absorbent material disposed in the pouch, a plurality of outwardly extending portions extending laterally from the sheet material, and an adhesive material disposed on an underside surface of the outwardly extending portions to adhere the disposable liner to the seat portion of the potty chair. A pull string may be disposed around the pouch, such that the pull string may be pulled after the disposable liner is used to close the pouch portion.

Beginning at about one and one-half years old, many parents begin training a child to use a potty chair to learn adult bathroom behavior and to wean the child off of diapers. Children of such a young age often have a fear of using conventional adult-sized toilets. This fear is probably caused by concerns relating to the size of the opening of the seat on the toilet, concerns relating to the depth of the bowl of a toilet, as well as to concerns relating to the height of the toilet. Adapter rings which fit onto the seat of the toilet to reduce the size of the opening for children are known. However, many children are still afraid of the depth of the hole below the adapter ring, that is, the depth of the bowl of the toilet. Thus, such adapter rings find limited success and limited use.
Thus, most parents utilize a child's potty chair. Such chairs are of a miniature size suitable for a small child. The opening in the center of the chair seat is also sized for a small child. Disposed below the seat of the chair and below the opening is a pan in the form of a small pot with generally cylindrical sides and a generally flat bottom. The depth of the pan is usually in a range of about three to six inches. The pan usually slides in from one of the sides or from the back and is held in place below the seat by slides attached to the underside of the seat.
While such potty chairs are suitable for their intended purpose, unlike conventional adult toilets, potty chairs are not self-cleaning. Thus, after each use, the parent must empty the urine and/or feces from the pan, and then, rinse or clean the pan. Of course, transfer of the urine or feces from the potty chair to a toilet sometimes results in an accidental spill thereof, which necessitates an unpleasant clean-up task.
Other problems also arise from the use of potty chairs. For example, especially with male children, urine may be directed into the gap between the underside of the seat and the top edge of the pan during urination. Depending upon the design of the potty chair, this frequently results in urine escaping from the potty chair onto the floor. This results in frustration for both the parent and the child.
A general object of the present invention is to therefore provide a liner for a potty chair which avoids the problems of spillage and accidental urine loss.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a liner for a potty chair which adhesively attaches to the seat of the potty chair.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a liner for potty chair which has a formed pouch which extends downwardly into the pan of the potty chair.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a liner for a potty chair which has an absorbent material disposed in the pouch for absorbing urine.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a liner for a potty chair which has a pull string disposed near the periphery of the liner such that the liner may be conveniently closed after use and for disposal.

Disposable liners for a child's potty chair


The present invention relates to a toner used in a toner-jetting system wherein the toner is jettingly adhered to a recording medium in a direct manner, said toner satisfying a specific relationship between an average quantity of charge (x)(.mu.C/g) and a distribution deviation of quantity of charge (y).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner for a toner-jetting system wherein a toner-supporting member and a recording medium, such as paper and the like are maintained in a non-contact state, and a charged toner from the toner-supporting member is jettingly adhered to the recording medium in a direct manner to form an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, electrophotographic apparatuses have been generally used as apparatuses for copying (printing) images such as letters and graphics. However, in the electrophotographic apparatuses, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of an image-supporting member (photosensitive member), and toner is allowed to adhere to the electrostatic latent image on the image-supporting member so as to visualize the electrostatic latent image, thereby temporarily forming an image; thereafter, the resulting toner image on the image supporting-member is transferred to a recording medium. Therefore, such a system makes the apparatus size bulky and the cost higher.
For this reason, a toner-jetting system (direct recording method) has been proposed in which: a recording electrode and a back electrode are placed face to face with a toner-supporting member; a recording medium such as paper is transported between the recording electrode and the back electrode; a voltage corresponding to an image signal is applied to the recording electrode so that an electrostatic force is exerted on the toner; and in accordance with the voltage-applied state, the toner from the toner-supporting member is jettingly adhered to the recording medium in a direct manner.
However, in such a toner-jetting system, when the toner flies from the toner-supporting member to the recording medium, the toner is forced to pass through a number of holes in the recording electrode, with the result that problems arise in which upon flying from the toner-supporting member to the recording medium, the toner adheres to the recording electrode (FPC stain), resulting in clogging in the holes of the recording electrode.
Moreover, the above-mentioned recording system also causes problems with image quality in the resulting images. For example, when dots are printed, a phenomenon tends to occur (referred to as "tailing") in which the dots are extended and distorted in the transporting direction of paper, or when lines are printed, a problem arises in which line edges become dull or the toner particles scatter on paper area between lines (problem with convergence). Moreover, another problem arises in which when the toner flies to the recording medium from the toner-supporting member, the toner is not separated from the toner supporting-member smoothly, resulting in a reduction in the image density (problem with separating property).


Conventional noble metal reforming to upgrade the octane number of petroleum naphtha is an endothermic reaction which is carried out in a series of reactors with intermediate furnace heating of the petroleum fraction being upgraded. This specification discloses a process and apparatus configuration to increase the octane number of the reformate at a minimum liquid yield loss by cooling the first reforming stage effluent and then contacting the cooled effluent with a ZSM-5 type zeolite catalyst prior to the first intermediate furnace heating.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to upgrading petroleum naphtha. It more particularly refers to a modified reforming process for more efficiently increasing the octane number of the produced reformate at a smaller yield loss as compared to conventional reforming.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The reforming of petroleum naphthas in order to increase their octane number is one of the most important and widely practiced unit processes in the petroleum industry. Reforming catalysts are usually noble metals, such as platinum, or mixtures of metals, on acidic supports such as alumina. The acidity of reforming catalysts is often improved by chloriding them and/or by incorporating zeolites with them. The term reforming is used in the petroleum industry to embrace a number of hydrocarbon transformations which occur more or less simultaneously or sequentially including: dehydrogenation of naphthenes to aromatics, isomerization of aliphatics and aromatics, and dehydrocyclization of aliphatics. These reactions are cumulatively endothermic and, therefore, it is conventional to carry out reforming in a multiple series of reactors with initial and interstage heating. Thus, the initial naphtha feed is heated to a suitable reforming temperature of at least about 900.degree. F. pressurized with hydrogen to some suitable pressure of at least about 150 psig and fed into contact with reforming catalyst in a first stage reactor. Passage of the charge through the reactor converts portions of it, according to at least some of the reaction mechanisms listed above, to an intermediate product having a lower temperature below about 825.degree. F., a higher aromatics content and an associated higher octane. This intermediate improved product is then, in its entirety, heated in a furnace to a suitable temperature of at least about 900.degree. F. and then passed through a second stage reactor containing reforming catalyst in which the above-recited reactions or some of them go forward endothermically to produce a further improved, intermediate product having a lower temperature, but not as low as the first stage reactor and a higher aromatics content and, therefore, a higher octane number. A third, and perhaps even a fourth, stage reactor with intermediate heating is conventionally employed to produce a final reformate of substantially higher octane than the feed naphtha. As reforming proceeds, the octane number of the liquid increases and the volume thereof decreases. Reforming with a given catalyst and at a given severity has a characteristic yield-octane relationship such that as the octane of the reformate is pushed higher, the volume thereof decreases. This yield-octane relationship is not a straight line function but is progressive in the sense that as the absolute octane is increased, the incremental octane improvement is achieved at the expense of proportionally increasing yield loss. That is, there is a greater yield loss in going from 95 to 96 octane than there is in going from 88 to 89.
In the recent past, there was impetus to improve the efficiency of naphtha octane upgrading, including a reforming process, by obtaining the final incremental octane boosts by processes other than noble metal reforming as described above. Thus, various processes have been proposed for upgrading reformate by shape selectivety cracking out the very low octane components using an erionite or a ZSM-5 type zeolite catalyst. Processes have also been proposed for combinations of shape selective cracking of the lowest octane components of reformate coupled with alkylation of aromatics in the reformate by at least some of the cracked fragments. Other proposals have suggested combination configurations whereby the naphtha was first subjected to shape selective cracking of the lowest octane components, followed by reforming, followed by another shape selective cracking operation. Another proposal has been to upgrade reformate by sequential shape selective cracking of the lowest octane components with respectively an erionite type and a ZSM-5 type catalyst.
While all of these processes have been more or less successful in increasing the reformate octane number at some yield sacrifice smaller than that which would have been necessary by increased severity reforming to the same octane level, all of them suffer from one or more associated disadvantages such as the problem of adjusting the temperature of the reformate product to that required to support shape selective cracking of the lowest octane components of the reformate.
Of particular importance is U.S. Pat. No. 3,729,409, Chen, which discloses the generic combination of reforming and reformate upgrading over a ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a novel process configuration for upgrading the octane number of naphthas.
It is another object of this invention to provide a novel modified reforming process.
It is a further object of this invention to upgrade the octane number of naphthas at a reduced yield loss.
Other and additional objects of this invention will become apparent from a consideration of this entire specification including the claims hereof.


A guidance system for guiding a user to selected targets located within a defined area, such as a warehouse, museum, parking garage, etc., includes a portable unit to be carried by each user and having a memory for storing target information identifying a selected target within the defined area, and a transmitter for transmitting signals identifying the selected target within the defined area. The system further includes at least one changeable guidance sign at a predetermined location within the defined area for receiving signals transmitted by a portable unit and for displaying stored guidance information of the location of a target corresponding to a signal transmitted from the portable unit, and/or a plurality of target devices at the target location for receiving target signals transmitting by a portable unit and for indicating that a received target signal identifies the respective target.

The present invention relates to guidance systems and in particular to such systems using changeable signs to lead a person to a predefined target.
Many human activities involve the need to reach a predefined location or object. Guidance means for choosing a preferred route or for identifying the target location or object are in common use, usually in the form of signs. Such signs, clearly visible from a fair distance, allow a person to choose the route to the target without interrupting the travel or risking travel safety. However, when the number of possible routes or targets is large, the use of common signs becomes impractical, because too much visual information must be displayed and then read and interpreted during travel. A changeable sign system capable of providing selectively guidance signals relating to a specific route or target of an individual, could be highly advantageous in such circumstances.
An example of an existing environment using changeable signs displaying route and target information is the so-called pick-to-light (PTL) system for warehouses. Such commercial systems and their advantages are described in the article "Pick-to-light directs productivity: however you store materials, PTL indicators make for timely and accurate orderpicking" by Schwind, Gene F., Material Handling Engineering, Dec. 1993, Page 43, downloaded through Compuserve Information Services. In such pick-to-light systems, the pick assignments are stored in a central computer. The central computer communicates with terminals positioned next to stock locations. When a certain pick assignment is activated by the central computer, lights in the corresponding terminals are turned on to provide the picker with clear visual guidance signals. Additional information may be generated by the central computer and displayed by the terminal, such as information relating to the pick quantity. The terminal may also include input means for keying-in and uploading pick reports. Other prior art references relating to pick-to-light systems include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,739,339 to Hilihouse et al., 3,908,800 to Drapeau and 4,346,453 to Drapeau et al.
While having many advantages regarding productivity and accuracy, the existing pick-to-light systems have two major limitations: they can serve only a single picker or a small number of pickers operating simultaneously, and they require a costly communication infrastructure between the central computer and all terminals.


This invention relates to horseshoes that are adapted to fit snugly against the bottom of the hoof surface of a horse, which are made of an elastomeric material, such as a synthetic rubber, natural rubber, etc., and have a plurality of discrete or continuous recesses of an elongated shaped designed to accommodate nails on the surface facing the ground. Such elongated recesses may also be used to receive a metal plate or sheet on the bottom thereof, and a desired number of openings may be provided on the metal plate. Also the horseshoes may be formed with a plurality of projections extending upwardly from and around the opposite surface to the surface facing the ground for registering and positioning the horseshoes with respect to the bottom surface of the hoof. The extent of elasticity of the elastomeric material for the horseshoes may be selected at option from a range in terms of JIS A 45 to 98.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to horseshoes, and more particularly to horseshoes made of an elastomeric material such as a synthetic rubber, natural rubber, etc., which have a plurality of discrete or continuous recesses of an elongated shape designed to accomodate nails on a surface facing the ground thereof.
2. Prior Art
It has long been a common practice to apply horseshoes made of metal to the hoofs of a horse in order to protect them from cracking and accidental injuries. The conventional method of putting such metal horseshoes on the hoofs of a horse is that one of the horseshoes is registered or positioned correctly upon the bottom surface of a hoof and is then fixed against the bottom of the hoof by driving nails into the hoof from the bottom surface of the tread or the surface facing the ground of the horseshoe in such a manner that the nails may penetrate through the hoof in a slightly outwardly slanted fashion with their end tips exposed slightly out of the side surface of the hoof, and thereafter having the exposed end tips of the nails bent so as to prevent the nails and hence the horseshoe from deviating from the desired position and thus locking it into the desired position. However, when using such a conventional method of fixing the horseshoes on the hoofs of a horse, it would naturally be essential to renail the horseshoes each time they are replaced, thus resulting in many nail holes being left in the hoofs. This eventually leads to no room being left for renailing into the hoof.
Particularly, in the case of the race horse, it is common that a horseshoe of a relatively wide type, generally call "flat shoes", are normally put on and are set on the hoof by use of nails while they are red hot. At the time of the horse race, however, it is necessary to replace those flat shoes with ones having a relatively narrow width and which are made of a light alloy, which are generally called "race shoes". Consequently, it is generally inevitable that the cycle of replacing horseshoes on a race horse is far more frequent than in comparison to that of normal farm horses or the like.
In this respect, it is natural for the race horses which often take part in races, to accumulate many lock nail holes in their hoofs in a relatively short period of time, so that it would be difficult to put the horsehoes on. With the hoofs being in such a condition, there would be a high possibility of dropping a horseshoe or cracking a hoof or hoofs during a race. Should a horseshoe be dropped during a race, it would be very possible that the race horse would not only get its hoof injured, but also may even break that leg. As is generally known, once a race horse breaks its leg, on many occasions, there is no better choice other than a mercy killing. The dropping of a horseshoe during a race does not only bring the possibility of shortening the life of the race horse but often also causes the jockey to fall from the horse, and this occasionally results in his injury or even death.
More particularly, the conventional horseshoes made of metal are usually relatively heavy in weight, and thus create an undesired effect of substantial impacts or shock loads upon the leg joints of a horse while going on foot. In this respect, it would be harmful and dangerous for the horses wearing such conventional metal horseshoes to gallop or walk on relatively hard ground. Such risks would still exist even in the case of relatively soft ground.
Therefore, it has long been desired to have the conventional metal horseshoes improved thereby eliminating such drawbacks inherent thereto. The present invention is essentially directed toward the improvement of the metal horseshoes to meet the above-mentioned requirements.


A fishing rod holder comprises a tubular body, an upper bracket assembly, and a lower bracket assembly. The upper bracket assembly comprises first and second upper bracket arms carrying hooking elements of a sufficiently small thickness to readily pass between the window of a vehicle door and the outer portions of the vehicle door. The lower bracket assembly comprises first and second lower bracket legs carrying feet for confronting the outer surface of the vehicle door. The hooking elements are capable of being wrapped at least partially around a horizontal railing portion, and the lower bracket members together define a U-shaped configuration capable of straddling a vertical railing portion. The holder includes a sand spike flexibly connected to a point proximate the normally lower end of the tubular body. When the sand spike is driven into the ground, the upper bracket arms extend generally downwardly to the ground and thus define with the lower end of the body a three-point support for the fishing rod.

With respect to many types of fishing, it is no understatement to say that a sizeable fraction of the time is spent waiting for something to happen. During most of this time, the fishing rod is held in a generally upright inclined position as the angler waits for the taletale tug signifying that a fish has taken the bait. In order to ease the fatigue that would set in from holding the rod during these long periods of time, various fishing rod support arrangements have been devised.
The nature of known fishing rod supports varies, depending on the location from which the fisherman is fishing. For example, the angler may be fishing from a pier, from a boat, from the shoreline, or from an automobile. The more informal support mechanisms provide an upstanding structure (e.g. a fishing tackle box) over which the rod is inclined, and a weighted element (e.g. a handy rock) to hold the butt end of the rod handle on the ground. Less ad hoc methods of supporting a fishing rod may be found in the patent literature.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,319,911 discloses a fishing rod holder that may be mounted to a boat or a pier. This is accomplished by the provision of a suitable mounting bracket which is more or less permanently attached to the boat or pier, and which receives and holds suitable rod supporting structure. U.S. Pat. No. 2,576,624 shows a fishing rod holder that may be fastened to the user's belt or alternately to an upright anchor post. It is clear that these prior art devices have a common characteristic, namely the need for a customized fixed mating supporting structure on the boat or pier. U.S. Pat. No. 1,831,190 discloses a portable fishing rod holder that clamps over the side of a boat. However, this holder is unsuitable for use in other situations, and may even be of limited usefulness on many kinds of boats.
It is also known in the prior art to provide a sand spike to which is rigidly mounted a tubular rod holder. The spike is pushed into the ground to provide a support for the rod near ground level, thus allowing the fisherman fishing from the shoreline of a body of water to enjoy the benefits of a fishing rod support.
However, the prior art fishing rod holders have tended to be designed for one or at most two uses, and have not provided the user with true flexibility. Therefore, the angler who has wished to have fishing rod holders for a wide variety of situations has generally been forced to carry several special purpose fishing rod holders in his tackle box. This is both costly and inconvenient.


A base drum beater amplitude adjustment device including a beater holder fixed to a revolving shaft of the pedal mechanism of a base drum to hold a beater, a flywheel consisting of two opposing parts joined together by screws and driven to turn the revolving shaft back and forth, and a locating device made of a split cylinder mounted around the polygonal revolving shaft and held down by the flywheel to stop the revolving shaft from rotary motion relative to the flywheel, wherein the angular position of the beater is adjusted by loosening the screws and turning the revolving shaft relative to the flywheel.

The pedal mechanism of a base drum as shown in FIG. 1, is generally comprised of two upright supports upstanding from a base frame to hold a revolving shaft in a horizontal position by bearings, a flywheel mounted around the revolving shaft, a pedal having one end hinged to the base frame and an opposite end connected to the flywheel by a chain, a beater holder fixed to the flywheel to hold a beater by a screw. As the pedal is pressed by the foot, the chain is pulled downward to turn the flywheel, causing the beater to hit the drum. The amplitude of the beater is controlled by a cam mechanism. The cam mechanism is comprised of an inner cam fixed to the revolving shaft, an outer cam engaged with the inner cam and coupled with a hanging ring, a spring having a top end suspended from the hanging ring and a bottom end fastened to the locating member at an outer side by one upright support. The spring is provided to return the beater and the pedal back to their former positions after each strike. The procedure to adjust the amplitude of the beater is done by loosening the cam mechanism, then turning the revolving shaft to change the angular position of the heater holder. When adjusted, the cam mechanism is fastened tight again. As the angular position of the beater holder is adjusted, the elevation of the free end of the pedal is relatively adjusted. When the free end of the pedal is lifted higher, more effort should be employed to the pedal to pull the chain and turn the flywheel. Due to the limitation of the chain, the adjustable range of the amplitude of the beater is limited, and therefore the quality of the drum cannot be fully carried out.
In order to eliminate the aforesaid drawbacks, the present invention invented a beater amplitude adjustment device for the base drum pedal mechanism of a base drum and applied for a patent under U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/120,513. This adjustment device is comprised of a beater holder mounted around the revolving shaft of the pedal mechanism of a base drum to hold a beater, and a locating device made of a split cylinder and fastened around the revolving shaft to retain the beater holder in position. The beater holder consists of two opposing parts connected together around the locating device by screw bolts. The angular position of the beater is adjusted by loosening the screw bolts, then turning the beater holder to the desired angular position around the locating device, and then fastening tight the screw bolts again.

Structure of beater amplitude adjustment device for the pedal mechanism of a base drum


A non-circular optic is described that includes a base region, the base region including a rim and an exit surface. The non-circular optic further includes a projection that projects from the base region, the projection including a cavity. The cavity includes an open end, a bottom surface, and first, second, third, and fourth sidewalls that extend from the open end to the bottom surface. A first, second, third, and fourth total internally reflective surfaces each extend from the open end of the cavity to the rim of the base region.

As compared to incandescent and fluorescent light sources, light emitting diodes (LEDs) offer substantial potential benefit associated with their energy efficiency, light quality, and compact size. However, to realize the full potential benefits offered by light emitting diodes, new technologies are needed.
For instance, there are needs in the art for technology to utilize light emitting diodes for illumination. A further need exists for optics and light-emitting-diode-based systems that can distribute light. Yet a further need exists for an optic or an optical system that can receive light from a light source and distribute the light for a luminaire with a non-circular aperture. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates a simulation of a luminaire with a substantially square aperture and a circular optic. However, such an arrangement produces an irregular or non-uniformly lit appearance. As shown in the simulation of FIG. 1, when looking into the substantially square aperture of the luminaire with a circular optic, there is a bright region in the center of the substantially square aperture and undesirable darker regions in the corners of the square aperture. Accordingly, a capability addressing one or more such needs, or some other related deficiency in the art, would support improved illumination and more widespread utilization of light emitting diodes in lighting applications.

Non-circular optic for distributing light


An optical network includes an erbium-doped silica-based optical fibre having a D-shaped cross-section. The wave-guide carries information signals at 1.53 .mu.m from a signal source and provides amplification to the information signals when pumped by an optical pump source operating at 0.994 .mu.m. Optical signals are tapped from the waveguide by means of evanescent couplers. The waveguide provides amplification to at least partially restore tapping loss to the information signal due to the optical taps. The core of the optical waveguide is chosen to substantially minimize the spot size of signals at the wavelength of the pump source so as to provide preferential extraction of the information signal in order to leave the pump source substantially undisturbed to be able to pump regions of the amplifying waveguide beyond the optical tap.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to optical networks and in particular to optical networks in which an optical waveguide of a given refractive index profile has a waveguiding core surrounded by a cladding to which is coupled a source of optical information signals at a first wavelength, an optical amplifier, and a source of optical pump power at a second wavelength shorter than the first wavelength for optically pumping the optical amplifier.
2. Related Art
It is envisaged that optical networks will be made from various types of optical waveguides and optical amplifying technologies, for example, planar Si--SiO.sub.2 waveguides, plastics or polymer based fibre guides, planar doped waveguide amplifiers and so on.
A particular example of such a network is described in the applicant's co-pending patent application WO 90/09708 published on the 20 Aug. 1990 which network is designed to provide a multiple access interconnection scheme which can be exploited for both static and dynamic interconnect applications. This network is based on optical fibre waveguides. The teaching of this patent application is imported in full into this application by reference.
The spatial dimension of such an interconnection network can be based on optical D-fibres, for example. See for example Cassidy S. A. et al, 1989 "Extendable Optical Interconnection Bus Fabricated using D-Fibre" IOOC 1989, Kobe, Japan, Paper 21 D2-1 pp 88-89. A central component of the design is a multi-fibre backplane for carrying the signals and the reference channels, with discrete tapping points along its length. These tapping points may take the form of array connectors in the known form of crossed D-fibres. The interaction length is determined by the angle of crossover of the crossed D-fibres. Each connector provides a link between each output fibre and its corresponding fibre path on the backplane, evanescently tapping out a small portion of the power from each of the signal and reference channels. The limitation on the number of the tapping points is that eventually the signal level along the backplane will fall below detector levels (as each tap removes a small portion of signal).
The use of erbium doped fibres, either distributed or in discrete amplifier units, allows amplification of the signal in the 1.55 .mu.m window. The amplification can be arranged to maintain the output from all the tapping points on the bus above the detector power limit. The signal power is regenerated by amplification between tapping points, thus allowing a significantly larger number of user ports to be served. It is convenient to distribute the pump power along the waveguide to the fibre amplifiers from a single pump source rather than provide a separate pump source for each amplifier. However, a small amount of pump power will also be removed at each tapping point and so wasted.

Optical fiber amplified tapping network and method using same

British Telecommunications public limited company


A seed layer is located between a first read gap layer and a nickel oxide (NiO) pinning layer for improving the microstructure of the pinning layer. The improved microstructure of the pinning layer increases an exchange coupling between the pinning layer and a ferromagnetic pinned layer structure which improves the magnetoresistive coefficient (dr/R) of a spin valve sensor. The seed layer is chromium (Cr), chromium oxide (Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3) or an alloy thereof with a preferred seed layer being chromium (Cr) with a thickness less than 50 .ANG.. In another embodiment an additional seed layer of tantalum (Ta) may be employed between the chromium (Cr) seed layer and the first read gap layer for further enhancement of the magnetoresistive coefficient (dr/R).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spin valve sensor with a nickel oxide (NiO) pinning layer on a chromium based seed layer and more particularly to a chromium seed layer that improves an exchange coupling between the pinning layer and a pinned layer of the sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
A spin valve sensor is employed by a read head for sensing magnetic fields on a moving magnetic medium, such as a rotating magnetic disk. The sensor includes a nonmagnetic electrically conductive first spacer layer sandwiched between a ferromagnetic pinned layer and a ferromagnetic free layer. An antiferromagnetic pinning layer is exchange coupled to the pinned layer for pinning the magnetic moment of the pinned layer 90.degree. to an air bearing surface (ABS) which is an exposed surface of the sensor that faces the magnetic disk. First and second leads are connected to the spin valve sensor for conducting a sense current therethrough. The magnetic moment of the free layer is free to rotate upwardly or downwardly with respect to the ABS from a quiescent or bias point position in response to positive and negative magnetic field signals from a rotating magnetic disk. The quiescent position, which is typically parallel to the ABS, is the position of the magnetic moment of the free layer with the sense current conducted through the sensor in the absence of signal fields.
The thickness of the spacer layer is chosen so that shunting of the sense current and a magnetic coupling between the free and pinned layers are minimized. This thickness is typically less than the mean free path of electrons conducted through the sensor. With this arrangement, a portion of the conduction electrons are scattered at the interfaces of the spacer layer with respect to the pinned and free layers. Changes in scattering changes the resistance of the spin valve sensor as a function of cos .theta., where .theta. is the angle between the magnetic moments of the pinned and free layers. When the magnetic moments of the pinned and free layers are parallel with respect to one another scattering is minimal and when their magnetic moments are antiparallel scattering is maximized. The sensitivity of the sensor is quantified as magnetoresistive coefficient dr/R where dr is the change in resistance of the sensor from a minimum resistance, where the magnetic moments of the free and pinned layer are parallel, to a maximum resistance, where the magnetic moments are antiparallel, and R is the resistance of the sensor before the change.
Over the years a significant amount of research has been conducted to improve the magnetoresistive coefficient dr/R (also referred to as GMR) of spin valve sensors. These efforts have increased the storage capacity of computers from kilobytes to megabytes to gigabytes. Some of these efforts have been directed to the type of material and thicknesses of the various layers of the spin valve sensor which is an effort of the present invention.

Spin valve sensor with nickel oxide pinning layer on a chromium seed layer

International Business Machines Corporation