A load controller coupled to a load for generating and changing a load voltage including a polarity and a magnitude of the load voltage applied to the load. The load controller further includes a polarity selector, a processor, and a transistor module, and the load controller may be coupled to an interface including polarity controls and magnitude controls. The controller may further include a voltage converter coupled to a power source to provide operating power to the controller. The polarity selector responds to the polarity controls for generating a polarity signal exclusively at one of at least one output of the polarity selector. The processor includes a magnitude generator and at least one switch, with the magnitude generator responding to the magnitude controls for generating a magnitude signal. The at least one switch responds to the polarity signal from the at least one output of the polarity selector for switching the magnitude signal and a ground path between a first pair of contacts and a second pair of contacts of the transistor module. The transistor module responds to the switching of the magnitude signal and the ground path to one of either the first pair of contacts or the second pair of contacts by generating a load voltage; i.e. a voltage signal having a magnitude corresponding to the magnitude signal and having a direction or a polarity corresponding to the switching of the magnitude signal and the ground path to one of either the first pair of contacts or the second pair of contacts.

Industries and businesses employ advanced electronic equipment as well as medium-sized to miniature motors in production and other services. Servomotors are being utilized in smaller dimensioned applications, and miniature devices and nanomachines on a molecular level are finding many applications. The use of reversible voltages generated and controlled by small to miniature control systems including miniature circuits, integrated components and circuit boards and applied to a load in an application increases the versatility of many applications; for example, reversible direct current (DC) motors. Increasingly, however, the failure of integrated components on a circuit board requires replacement of the entire circuit board, thus wasting entire circuit boards having only one or a few integrated components actually needing replacement.
Replaceable plug-in components such as circuit boards as well as removable integrated circuit (IC) chips provide an advantage in preventing waste in wholesale replacement of electronics by allowing the replacement of smaller integrated components of the electronics instead.
For applications requiring reversible load control, electric or electromagnetic pulses, spikes, shorts, and burnouts may damage or destroy the components used in reversible load control. In some reversible load control applications, the reversal of voltages or currents in the components may damage or destroy the components. It is advantageous to implement reversible load control using small or miniature control systems avoiding the disadvantages of the reversal of voltages or currents, and further allowing the easy replacement of components in the event of damage.


In variable bit rate communications in which the information rate changes at B/2.sup.n (where n is 0 or a positive integer) in each frame when the maximum information rate is B, at the transmitter side, information data is convolution coded in order to carry out an error correction of the information data, and when n.gtoreq.1, coded data is repeatedly transmitted by (2.sup.n -1) times. At the receiver side, the information rate is detected from the transmission data that has been received, and when carrying out Viterbi decoding, an information rate is estimated by utilizing the repetition characteristics of the data, so that the coded data is Viterbi decoded for only the estimated bit rate, to thereby restrict an increase in the power consumption of mobile terminal units that are driven by batteries.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for detecting an information rate of information data in communications in which the information rate is variable.
2. Description of the Related Art
As Allen Salmasi et al. describe in their literature, "On The System Design Aspects Of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) Applied To Digital Cellular And Personal Communications Networks (1991 41st IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference)", a variable rate voice CODEC has been used in the CDMA system for the purpose of reducing power consumption of a mobile unit and reducing interference to other mobile units and the base station. The voice CODEC codes and decodes signals in a frame unit, so that an information rate (amount of information) of the coded data changes frame to frame. At the signal receiving side, it is necessary to decode the signal after detecting the information rate. In general, data of voice CODEC is transmitted after an error-correcting coding and other processing.
According to the prior-art mobile unit, a transmitter section provides transmission data having a constant transmission rate by arranging coded data repeatedly by the number corresponding to the current rate. The coded data are formed by convolution coding on the information data coded through the variable rate voice CODEC. A receiver section for receiving the transmitted data can not decode the transmission data correctly if the receiver does not know the exact rate at which the transmitter has coded the information data. Therefore, the receiver section obtains decoded results by Viterbi decoding the received data at every possible information rate, performs convolution coding on each of the decoded results at each corresponding rate again, collates the convolution coded data with the received data, decides the rate used in the convolution coding of the information data by the transmitter section based on the convolution re-coded data which is the most coincident with the received data of the receiver section, and then outputs the decoded result which corresponds to this rate as Viterbi decoded data. A literature, "CDMA Mobile Station Modem ASIC, (IEEE Journal Of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 28, No. 3, March, 1993)" discloses a method for detecting an information rate according to the method described above.
As described above, the conventional method can detect an information rate in variable rate communications, by Viterbi decoding received data and performing convolution coding on the decoded result again at all potential information rates, and estimating the information rate.
The above-described conventional method for detecting an information rate, however, has problems in that it is necessary to estimate all possible information rates and apply a Viterbi decoding, which is known to require a large change of arithmetic operations, to the respective information rates, so that it is necessary to increase the hardware capacity and increase the circuit operation speed in order to complete the processing within a limited time available, and in that the above requirements lead to an increase in the power consumption at mobile terminal units which are driven by batteries.

Variable rate communication method and a variable rate communication system

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A monolithic, micromechanical vibrating string accelerometer with a trimmable resonant frequency is fabricated from a silicon substrate which has been selectively etched to provide a resonant structure suspended over an etched pit. The resonant structure comprises an acceleration sensitive mass and at least two flexible elements having resonant frequencies. Each of the flexible elements is disposed generally colinear with at least one acceleration sensitive axis of the accelerometer. One end of at least one of the flexible elements is attached to a tension relief beam for providing stress relief of tensile forces created during the fabrication process. Mass support beams having a high aspect ratio support the mass over the etched pit while allowing the mass to move freely in the direction colinear with the flexible elements. Also disclosed is a method for fabricating such an accelerometer with high aspect ratio tension relief and mass support beams.

Accelerometers serve as one of the major sensors used in inertial navigation systems as well as various other safety and control systems.
Accurate and reliable accelerometers require great precision and uniform operating results. Prior art accelerometers are generally assembled from a number of components which creates tremendous assembly problems associated with such precision devices. In addition, these accelerometers are typically large and may not be radiation hard.
Although other prior art accelerometers are fabricated utilizing a micromechanical process, no provisions are made for electrically isolating the proof mass from the flexures which is required to accurately and independently drive and sense the resonant frequency of each of the flexures. Additionally, none of these prior art devices have provided reliable means for easily and accurately adjusting the natural resonant frequency of the flexure.

Monolithic micromechanical vibrating string accelerometer with trimmable resonant frequency

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.


In accordance with the present invention, a method and apparatus are disclosed for real-time processing of digitized image data using an implementation of the Hough transform. More specifically, frames of image data are received and stored as pixel arrays in a rectangular coordinate system. Pixels having values above a predetermined intensity are subsequently transformed into polar coordinate space. Maximum meeting points of curves associated with all pixels which have been transformed into polar coordinate space are then identified using a real-time, hardware implementation of a neuro-Hough transform for analyzing windowed portions of the digitized image. The present invention identifies maximum meeting points in polar coordinate space using a neuro-Hough transform implemented as a single chip.

The present invention relates generally to image recognition, and more particularly to image recognition via use of the Hough transform.
The Hough transform represents a known technique which has achieved widespread use in image recognition systems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,752 (Fujii et al) discloses an automatic working vehicle control system having a boundary detecting system which employs the Hough transform. As described therein, a portion of a working area forward of the vehicle is photographed and a variable density image is produced according to edge data derived from the brightness level of image pixels.
Transition points in the image where dense portions of the image change into light portions are identified to detect a boundary line. The boundary line distinguishes a dark, untreated area (e.g., if the vehicle is a lawn mower, the untreated area corresponds to uncut lawn) and a treated area (e.g., cut lawn) along which the vehicle is to be guided. The Hough transform is employed to avoid false detection of noise (due, for example, to bright spots which occur in the untreated area and dark spots which occur in the treated area) as the boundary along which the vehicle is to be guided.
More particularly, as shown in FIG. 13 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,752, the Hough transform can detect a straight line representing an image boundary despite the presence of surrounding noise in the image. Basically, the Hough transform acts upon pixel values of a digitized image. The Hough transform assigns a locus curve to the (x,y) coordinates of each pixel value having an intensity which corresponds to that of a boundary line condition. The locus curve for each of these pixels corresponds to a polar coordinate transformation of the (x,y) coordinates for each such pixel. A straight line used to represent the boundary line in the image is then obtained by finding the polar coordinates of a point where the curves representing the loci concentrate.
Although many forms of the Hough transform have been used in a variety of systems, this transformation is most often implemented in software and involves significant processing time. More than one minute is typically required to process each frame of image data using a software implementation of the Hough transform. Further, even where specialized hardware is used to enhance the processing speed, real time processing at a typical frame rate of image data acquisition (i.e., 30 frames of image data per second) has not been achieved.
For example, the document entitled "A Real-Time Processor for the Hough Transform", IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Hanahara, Keishi et al., Vol. 10, No. 1, January 1988 relates to dedicated straight line detection hardware which uses the Hough transform. More specifically, an experimental model which exploits parallel processing and pipelining techniques is described. For a gray-scale picture with 1024 feature points, total processing time for an image using standard TTL circuits is described as being 0.79 seconds, not including time for clearing a histogram memory used during processing.
In another document entitled "A Monolithic Hough Transform Processor Based on Restructurable VLSI", IEEE Transactions On Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Rhodes, F. Matthew et al., Vol. 10, No. 1, January 1988, an implementation of a Hough transform processor using a wafer-scale integration technology, restructurable VLSI, is described. A basic implementation for a typical line extraction is described as being performed using a traditional Hough transform implementation.
In European Patent Application No. A2-361,914 to Nakayama et al., a specialized implementation of the Hough transform is described for judging a contour of a road by processing data of an image taken of the road by a camera. Processing is apparently performed using known Hough transform techniques for extracting straight lines in first and second regions of a digitized image. However, no specific hardware which would permit real-time implementation of Hough processing for the potentially numerous edges present in either or both of the first and second regions shown, for example, in FIGS. 16 and 17 is disclosed.
Thus, while efforts have been made to enhance the speed of image analysis processing using the Hough transform, versatile implementations having a potential processing speed which can exceed that of typical digital image data acquisition are not presently available. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an image processor which includes a versatile, real time implementation of the Hough transform.

Real time implementation of the hough transform


Multijunction thermal converters are formed in an integral multifilm membrane form over a through opening in a nonmagnetic, dielectric substrate. Through the use of conventional photolithographic and etching techniques, very compact, rugged and precise integrated structures are formed to include either single linear elongate heater elements, bifilar or trifilar heater elements, and multijunction thermopiles at reasonable cost. Disposition of the heater element and hot junctions of the thermopiles over a through opening in the substrate, with the cold junctions of the thermopiles disposed over the substrate thickness, enables the heating element to provide a substantially isothermal uniform heating of the thermocouple hot junctions to obtain high thermal efficiency and reduce Thompson and Peltier heating effects. Forming the essential elements into an integrated multifilm membrane also makes possible minimization of interconnections between the elements, and this results in minimized reactance. The resulting thermal converters are relatively inexpensive and rugged, have high sensitivity, superior ac-dc and RF-dc performance characteristics, and provide broader bandwidth performance than is possible with conventional devices.

Thermal converters are the most accurate instruments known for the measurement of ac voltage and current at frequencies ranging from low audio frequency on up to 1 GHz. Multijunction thermal converter structures are most conducive to a wide range of uses. These are frequently used in very high accuracy ac-dc difference metrology, because they exhibit very small ac-dc differences, provide a good square law response, and high output emfs. In one form or another, such multijunction thermal converters are employed to generate primary standards for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for ac-dc difference, ac voltage and current, and ac power and energy calibration services.
The basic MLF-MJTC structure includes a heater element, a plurality of cooperating thermocouples connected in series, i.e., one or more thermopiles, and electrical wiring connecting the MLF-MJTC to an external circuit or known types of voltage, current and power measurement devices. In addition to the basic MLF-MJTC structure, one or more resistors connected to heater element to receive input voltage and/or current. Preferably, the thermopiles are electrically insulated from the heater element to ensure high response accuracy, i.e., so that an unknown signal will not flow into the circuit which is used to monitor the thermopiles (or even into the thermopiles themselves) as this would produce an error.
In the past, thermal converter structures have typically included fine wires of different conductive materials to form sets of thermocouples carefully located with respect to each other and the heater element. There are significant problems in physically handling the very fine wires that are combined to make such thermocouples and in soldering or otherwise affixing them to each other and to the rest of the structure. An example of such an early structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 839,985 to Bristol, titled "THERMOELECTRIC GENERATOR".
More recently, a variety of thermocouples and thermal converter structures have been designed for specific applications through the use of thin film and thick film technologies.
Regardless of which physical form is selected, i.e., whether wires or thin films deposited by any known technique are employed, the principal physical phenomenon being exploited depends on the fact that when different thermal electric materials are joined at their spaced-apart ends, with the junctions located in regions at different temperatures, the difference in the internal electron structures of the two materials causes a voltage difference to exist between the junctions. This voltage difference, which the typical thermocouple is constructed to use, is temperature-dependent and is known in the art as the "Seebeck effect". If the materials used are conductors or semiconductors, a current will flow through the thermocouple and may be extracted by connection to elements of an external circuit, typically through contact pads. When a number of thermocouples are connected in series, to enhance the rather small voltage differences generated in the individual thermocouples under certain circumstances, the plurality of thermocouples is referred to as a "thermopile". Thermopiles may be used for a variety of purposes, e.g., to determine a voltage or current, to generate electricity from sources of heat such as sunlight received by a solar collector system, or to actuate protective or sensing devices.
In light of the variety of uses to which a thermocouple or a thermopile may be employed in a device to convert energy of one form into another, e.g., heat or incident electromagnetic radiation into a current, it is important to clarify the use of the term "converter" as used in the present application. In the following description of the present invention, the term "converter" is used to refer to conversion of each of an ac and then a dc signal to heat, and in each case to generate from the heat corresponding output electrical signals which are monitored. In essence, the devices and the methods described more fully hereinbelow relate to generating electric energy from a very precisely controlled source of heat energy, this being accomplished by the provision of a very precisely formed and operated electrically-powered heater element and selectively disposed sets of thermocouples with their hot junctions heated by the heater.
Very precise standards for determining a voltage or current over a wide range of frequencies for ac-dc and RF-dc applications are necessary for an MLF-MJTC. To meet this need, an MLF-MJTC requires physical ruggedness, ability to withstand stresses associated with thermal cycling and in-use exposure to a wide range of temperatures locally, and an error-free structure, e.g., minimization of capacitances or inductances developed between the heater and thermopiles.
Such devices may be used to measure the power or calibrate the energy of radiated signals from optical sources, e.g., infrared sources or lasers. This operation relies on the physical principle that when radiation is incident on the invention a certain percentage of it is absorbed and the heater region of the invention is heated, thus producing a change in its emf output that is proportional to the incident energy. The measurement of this output can be used to determine the power or energy of the incident radiation.
Also, the measurement of vacuum, pressure or airflow can be accomplished with the present invention. This operation is permitted by the physical principle that the amount of heat lost by convection when operated at a constant power is proportional to the pressure and gas flow. The number of molecules striking the heated surface and leaving it per second is proportional to either the pressure or the flow of the gas over the surface. By measuring the temperature, which is inversely proportional to the thermal loss, which in turn is inversely proportional to either the pressure or gas flow, the pressure or gas flow can be measured. It is noted that these two properties are not measured at the same time. Consequently, pressure is measured when there is no significant gas flow and vice versa.
In order to maximize the accuracy of MLF-MJTC, it is necessary that the Thompson coefficient of the heater material be small, and the thermocouples be disposed uniformly and symmetrically on opposite sides of the elongated heater element. Low Peltier effect is also necessary for enhanced operation as exemplified by the present invention. To achieve this result the contact area between the heater and the contact pads should be on a good heat sink such as a silicon frame.
These and other related objects of this invention are described more fully hereinbelow, as are structural details of the preferred embodiments of this invention and methods of forming the same. Persons of ordinary skill in the art, upon understanding the following disclosure and the accompanying drawing figures may consider implementing obvious modifications and variations of this invention, and the claims appended hereto are intended to comprehend such variations of the explicitly disclosed embodiments.

Multilayer film multijunction thermal converters

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Commerce


A passive occupant restraint belt system for a vehicle which includes a restraining belt and apparatus for moving the belt between occupant-restraining and occupant-releasing positions in response to partial opening of a door of the vehicle. A belt transfer device engages the seat or shoulder belt for moving the belt from the retraining to the releasing position and is actuated by a motion transmission mechanism which transmits and amplifies door opening motions to the belt transfer device. The transmission includes a motion amplifier mounted on either the vehicle body or door, and a force transmitting input rod having one end coupled to an input component of the motion amplifier. The other end of the rod engages a coupler mounted on the other of the vehicle body or door, the coupling arrangement such that the rod is connected when the door is between closed and partway open to transmit opening and closing motions of the door to the motion amplifier thereby to move the belt transfer device between its releasing and restraining positions. The rod, however, is disconnected from the door or body when the door is between partway open and fully open, such that the door may be fully opened without further actuating the belt transfer mechanism. The coupler for engaging the input rod also includes an emergency releasing feature for permitting the door to open when the belt transfer mechanism or amplifier is inoperative and thereby bound up.

This invention relates to a passive vehicle occupant restraint belt system in which the belt is automatically, easily, and effectively transferred between an occupant-restraining and an occupant-releasing configuration in response to opening and closing movements of a vehicle door.
In recent years there have been many proposals for passive occupant restraint belt systems for vehicles. The most common type are those based on restraint belts, and most of the proposed belt systems include a belt transfer mechanism which is driven by an electric motor or a mechanical lever or gear transmission. In the case of mechanical drives, a motion transmitter is coupled between the belt transfer device and the vehicle body or door for transmitting and amplifying the door opening and closing movements. One such mechanical device, which is capable of moving the restraint belt between the occupant-restraining and occupant-releasing positions in response to a partial opening of the door is shown and described in commonly-owned U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 950,020 filed Oct. 10, 1978.
As described in the aforementioned U.S. application, a passive restraint belt system in which the restraining belt can be moved between restraining and releasing positions in response to only a partial opening of the vehicle door is preferred. Since the motion transmitter, however, remains coupled to the belt transfer mechanism during the entire door opening movement, the remainder of the door opening movement must be absorbed within the coupling mechanism. This normally requires a complicated mechanism, such as the folding linkage described in U.S. application Ser. No. 950,020. Moreover, mechanisms of this type possess the disadvantages that in the case of accident where the input amplifier or belt transfer mechanism is damaged and thereby unable to move, there may be difficulty encountered in attempting to open the vehicle door.
A greatly simplified mechanism which overcomes these shortcomings is shown and described in commonly-owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 45,172, filed June 4, 1979; entitled "Input Motion Coupling to a Motion Amplifier for Use in Door-Actuated Passive Seat Belt System." A mechanism is described for transmitting opening and closing motions of the door to the motion amplifier which includes an extendable rod, one end of which is coupled to the motion amplifier and the other end of which, through the action of a spring, engages a bearing surface on the vehicle body or door. The rod moves between a retracted position and an extended position when the door is moved between closed and partway open to move the belt between occupant-restraining and occupant-releasing positions. When the door is moved between partway open and fully open, the rod, which is fully extended, moves away from the bearing surface such that no further door movement is transmitted to the amplifier.

Input coupling to a motion amplifier for use in door-actuated seat belt systems


An assembly for applying a tone to a document includes an elongated hollow casing, a rotatable print element mounted in the casing with a print applying surface extending outwardly from the casing, and a mechanism to supply the ink to the print element. The print element has tone applying projections, such as dots or lines, extending outwardly from it, and may comprise a roller rotatable about a fixed axis of rotation, a sphere, or an endless belt. Ink is applied to the print element with a piece of foam, or with a bundle of fibers. The foam is positively held in place in the casing with notches and ridges, and may have a wide variety of configurations, especially of the surface associated with the foam that engages the print element.

A standard felt-tipped fluorescent highlighter is commonly used to accentuate text or other printed images in letters, reports, books, etc. In its brightly colored, semi-translucent state it is effective in drawing one's attention to a particular area of a page. However, this translucency also limits a highlighters' usefulness as it cannot be `seen` by the optics of a photocopier and thereby cannot be consistently reproduced. In addition, facsimile technology cannot distinguish standard highlighter markings and thus cannot transmit the highlighted background.
According to the present invention a method, product, and apparatus are provided for effecting highlighting of text, symbols, or the like in documents so that the highlighting reproduces when the document is reproduced electronically (e.g. by photocopying or by facsimile transmission), while not adversely the text after it has been reproduced. This is effectively provided for according to the present invention--in general--by providing a background tone to the text to be highlighted. A background "tone" is typically produced by screening utilizing dots (the dots may be of any geometric configuration) or lines. It is most desirable according to the invention to utilize a tone produced from dots where the dots are small enough and close enough in proximity to one another to appear as a continuous gray tone. The tone is of sufficient density to effectively highlight the text, but does not impair the legibility of the underlined text/symbols. It is most desirable to provide a tone pattern of about 10-22% density (e.g. approximately 20% density), with about 30-65 lines per inch. Such a tone will adequately highlight the text on documents, while being reproduceable utilizing a photocopier or a facsimile transmission, without the highlighted information being obscured.
According to one aspect of the present invention, an assembly for applying a tone to a document is provided which has many features in common with a conventional marker, being just as portable and as readily usable as a conventional marker. The assembly comprises: An elongated hollow casing having a body portion and a removable cap at one end of the body portion; the one end of the body portion also having a projecting portion, and having means defining an opening in the projecting portion. A rotatable print element having tone applying projections extending radially outwardly from the peripheral surface thereof. Means for mounting the print element for rotation and so that a portion of the peripheral surface thereof extends outwardly from the projecting portion of the casing, through the opening therein. And, a piece of foam mounted in the casing and having a surface thereof in engagement with the print element, and extending from the print element into the casing, for applying ink to the tone applying projections on the print element, so that as the print element is moved along a document, a tone pattern is applied to the document.
Preferably the assembly also comprises surface manifestations formed in the casing body near, but spaced from, the print element to positively position the foam in the casing to fix the length of foam between the surface manifestations and the foam surface engaging a print element. The foam is a parallelipiped, and has notches which cooperate with ridges (providing the surface manifestations) in the preferred embodiment. The surface for engaging the print element is at a first end of the parallelipiped, while the second end engages a liquid reservoir. Preferably from the notch to the first end of the parallelipiped the foam is not significantly compressed (just enough to ensure positive transfer of ink to the print element) but between the notch and the second end the foam may be compressed, without affecting the pressure of the foam on the print element.
The foam is typically a plastic microporous open cell construction, for example having 400-1400 pores per inch. The surface for engaging the print element may have a wide variety of configurations. For example it can be a surface of the foam itself that is flat (and parallel to the axis of rotation of the print element), concave, pointed, slit in a plane containing the axis of rotation, or convex. Alternatively, a plurality of short, parallel, nylon or other fibers can be flocked to one end of the parallelipiped and form the surface (acting as a brush) engaging the print element.
Instead of foam, the element engaging the print element for transferring ink to it may comprise a bundle of capillaries (preferably aligned fibers) which form an ink reservoir, being disposed within a tube of ink impervious material. A short length of fibers may extend outwardly from the tube to engage the print element.
It is preferred that the print element comprise a roller mounted for rotation about a fixed axis, with the tone projections on the circumferential periphery thereof. Alternatively, the print element may comprise a sphere, or it may comprise an endless belt having opposed, in line, interior surfaces thereof and each in engagement with a curved surface operatively attached to the casing body. The curved surface may be a stationary, low friction curved surface, or may comprise a roller mounted about a fixed axis of rotation in the casing body.
The assembly/instrument according to the invention not only can be used for applying tone patterns to documents so as to highlight them for facilitating copying by photocopying machines, and transmission by facsimile machines, they also can be used for shading by artists and draftsmen or may be used as novelty drawing instruments by children. Any type of tone projections can be provided, such as dots of any shape, lines, or other geometric elements.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an effective tone pattern applying instrument, having a number of uses, including uses in effecting highlighting of documents so that the highlighted portions will reproduce when the document is electronically copied, but will not obscure the portions they highlight. The disclosed invention also relates to other mechanisms, besides the preferred instrument described above, for accomplishing that same purpose. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.


Various computing network messaging techniques and apparatus are disclosed. In one aspect, a method of computing is provided that includes executing a first thread and a second thread. A message is sent from the first thread to the second thread. The message includes a domain descriptor that identifies a first location of the first thread and a second location of the second thread.

Message passing is a widely-used communication model for multi-processor and multi-node processing. Current examples include the message passing interface (MPI), MPI+ OpenCL, and MPI+ CUDA. Accelerator-based computing (e.g., graphic processing units or GPUs) has become popular recently, however GPU's are usually not the first-tier entities which are involved in message passing (e.g., today's MPI+ OpenCL, and MPI+ CUDA models). The MPI+X model is widely adopted today in high performance computing (HPC) environments, where communications rely on the host central processing unit (CPU) across nodes.

Method and apparatus for peer-to-peer messaging in heterogeneous machine clusters


The present invention may be embodied in a method, performed in a computer system having a disk drive, for installing an application program for execution under a user's preferred operating system without requiring user intervention. A command is received by the disk drive for reading a first data block to initiate a bootload of the user's preferred operating system. The disk drive detects the command and transfers a second data block which bootloads an installer program for installing the application program. The installer program is executed in the computer system to transfer the application program from a protected area of the disk drive to a user area of the disk drive, to modify a parameter of the user's preferred operating system to cause the application program to be loaded during a bootload of the user's preferred operating system, and to reboot the system to bootload the user's preferred operating system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital information storage, and more particularly, to a method in a computer system having a disk drive with a hidden partition for storage of an application program.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Traditionally, a disk drive provides a nonvolatile disk media for storage of data under the exclusive control of a host computer's operating system. Generally, a user installs an application program on the disk drive from a portable media such as floppy disk and/or compact-disk read-only-memory (CDROM), or from another computer over a network. Thus, the user participates in the installation of the application program. Such installation activity fails to take advantage of the capacity and the capability of current disk drives.
Accordingly, there exists a need for permitting installation of an application program on a disk-drive without user participation and without requiring distribution using portable media or an online connection. The present invention satisfies these needs.

Method for installing an application program, to be executed during each bootload of a computer system for presenting a user with content options prior to conventional system startup presentation, without requiring a user's participation to install the program


An ascending/descending structure including an engaging strip, a mating board, an engaging button, a U-shaped block, a receiving member and an ascending/descending bar. The ascending/descending bar is a rectangular hollow member formed with multiple pairs of opposite inner arch dents spaced by such a distance as to snugly receive the bottom end of the engaging button. The ascending/descending bar can be smoothly pulled upward and located for adjusting the height without slippage or loosening. When it is desired to push the ascending/descending bar downward, the same is first pulled upward to the top and a U-shaped block presses the engaging button and disengages the engaging button from the arch dents of the ascending/descending bar, permitting the same to be further pushed downward to the bottom,

The present invention relates to an ascending/descending structure.
Many kinds of appliances include ascending/descending structures for changing the height or length, such as an electric fan or a telescopic antenna. Several shortcomings exist in these structures as follows:
1. The locating members of the ascending/descending structures provide locating effect by means of conic profile or screwing measure which cannot achieve a reliable locking effect. When subject to external force, the locating members are apt to slide or loosen. Therefore, such locating members have poor stability and limited using range. PA1 2. The screwing operation often needs to be repeatedly performed during use of the appliances. This causes great inconvenience to a user. PA1 1. The multiple pairs of opposite inner arch dents of the ascending/descending bar provide more reliable multi-stage locating effect, permitting the adjustment to be performed more smoothly. PA1 2. The engaging button is more stably locked by the arch dents without slippage so as to bear heavier load. PA1 3. The locating effect is achieved without using a screw so that the adjustment can be easily completed only by way of pulling and pushing.


Provided is a device submersion preventing structure which is capable of releasing heat generated from a device such as a pump and oil vapor, and preventing submersion of the device. The device submersion preventing structure comprises an enclosure having an internal chamber 60 for installing a pump 20 therein, wherein the enclosure 60 is configured such that an opening 61 is provided only in a bottom portion thereof, and a remaining portion thereof is formed as an air-confining structure.

For example, as for a pump for feeding oil stored in an underground tank to a private power generator, it is often installed on a ground surface (GL) close to the underground tank, in relation to a suction head of the pump, and generally no measure against submersion was taken. However, after the Great East Japan Earthquake, measures for preventing submersion of a pump have become considered to be important, and various pump submersion prevention measures are currently being studied and taken.
Heretofore, as a pump submersion prevention measure, there has been known a structure configured to install a pump in a watertight box or enclosure (watertight structural member), as disclosed in the following Patent Document 1. There has also been known a technique of using as a pump an oil-submersible pump and installing the pump under oil stored in an underground tank.
However, a pump submersion preventing structure using the watertight enclosure of the Patent Document 1 is based on completely covering a pump by the watertight enclosure. Thus, during use in a normal state, heat generated from the pump stays within the watertight enclosure, so the heat is likely to cause a malfunction or failure of the pump, particularly, when the pump is continuously used for a long period of time. Moreover, in the case where the pump is an oil feed pump, oil vapor stays within the watertight enclosure, and thus leads to a situation where explosion or the like is extremely highly likely to occur.
On the other hand, in the case of using an oil-submersible pump (water-submersible pump), the oil-submersible pump (water-submersible pump) is much more expensive than a commonly-used pump, and is required to take a considerable amount of cost, time and effort, specifically, required to be extracted from an inside of the underground tank during maintenance in the event of a malfunction or failure of the pump.
It is to be understood that such a submersion preventing measure is required for any device, such as an electric or electronic device and its peripherals (e.g., console), a mechanical device and a nuclear-related device, as well as a pump.

Structure for preventing submersion of device


A contact record processing method includes: detecting whether a use time of a phone number stored in a contact record is greater than a use term of the phone number; and deleting the phone number from the contact record when the use time is greater than the use term.

With the development of mobile communications technologies, people are able to have conversations with others anytime and anywhere, which brings great convenience to their daily life. At present, virtual SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card services are becoming more and more popular. After buying a virtual SIM card service, a user obtains a temporary mobile phone number. The temporary mobile phone number becomes invalid after the deadline of the use term. It is not easy to manage an address book of a phone with a virtual SIM card.

Contact record processing method and apparatus


The presently described technology provides a novel class of prodrugs of quetiapine that can be synthesized by chemically conjugating fatty acids to quetiapine. Pharmaceutical compositions and methods of synthesizing conjugates of the present technology are also provided. Methods of treating patients with the compositions of the present technology are also provided.

Quetiapine has been used in the treatment of severe mental illness in approximately 70 countries including the US, Canada, most Western European countries, and Japan. Quetiapine is a dibenzothiazepine derivative with a relatively broad receptor binding profile. It has major affinity to cerebral serotonergic (5-HT2A), histaminergic (H1), and dopaminergic D1 and D2 receptors, moderate affinity to α1- and α2-adrenergic receptors, and minor affinity to muscarinergic M1 receptors; it demonstrates a substantial selectivity for the limbic system. This receptor avidity profile with relatively higher affinity for the 5-HT2A receptor compared to the D2 receptor is considered to be, at least in part, responsible for the antipsychotic characteristics and low incidence of extrapyramidal side-effects of quetiapine.
The efficacy of quetiapine in reducing positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia has been proven in several clinical trials with placebo-controlled comparators. Quetiapine has also demonstrated robust efficacy for treatment of cognitive, anxious-depressive, and aggressive symptoms in schizophrenia. Quetiapine also has proven efficacy and tolerability in the treatment of moderate to severe manic episodes, and in the treatment of juveniles with oppositional-defiant or conduct disorders, and in the geriatric population with dementia. Data indicate that quetiapine is also effective in the treatment of bipolar depressive symptoms without increasing the risk of triggering manic episodes, and in borderline personality disorder. In comparison with other antipsychotics, quetiapine has a favorable side-effect profile.
In clinical trials, only small insignificant prolongations of the QT interval were observed. Weight-gain liabilities and new-onset metabolic side-effects occupy a middle-ground among newer antipsychotics. As a result of its efficacy and tolerability profile, quetiapine has become well established in the treatment of schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders.
Recently though, in addition to large interindividual variability and weight gain, reports surfaced on treatment emergent diabetes (TED), associated with chronic administration of quetiapine. Additionally, the therapeutical dose of quetiapine is relatively high, leading to the need of making pharmaceutical compositions with relatively high concentrations of the active ingredient (up to 60%). Making tablets of such a high concentration of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) is difficult, particularly due to the bad tabletting properties of the API.
Therefore, an advantageous alternative would be a formulation that allows for better bioavailability of the drug, and avoids the need for repeated administration thereby helping in regimen adherence by otherwise reluctant psychiatric patients. The formulation would preferably exhibit a desired release profile that can lower the total necessary therapeutical dose and/or reduce side-effects such as TED and/or weight gain.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Fatty acid conjugates of quetiapine, process for making and using the same


An arrangement with a worktop and a cooktop with a cooking surface, a mounting frame and a decorative frame, which is arranged in a recess in the worktop, with the distance elements, embodied for relative positioning of the cooktop in relation to the recess and on which the cooktop rests, being arranged between the cooktop and the worktop.

The invention relates to a cooktop with a cooking surface, a mounting frame and a decorative frame which is arranged in a recess of a worktop.
Such an embodiment of a cooktop is generally known. In such cases the cooktops are arranged recessed in at least some areas into the cutout of the worktop and also extend partly above the level of the upper side of the worktop.
With a known cooktop there is provision for the cooking surface embodied from glass ceramic to be supported directly on the upper side of the worktop or to rest there, which however results in the height with which the cooktop extends above the level of the upper side of the worktop being relatively small and the height of the decorative frame not being allowed to exceed the thickness of the glass ceramic. In addition embodiments are known in which profiles, which are mostly embodied from aluminum, are glued on underneath the glass ceramic. This is however very complex and cost-intensive and in addition joint gaps which are undesirable also occur, at least in the corner areas. In addition with these designs spaces must be ensured between the worktop section and the cooktop housing with separate distance pieces. Last but not least, with the known embodiments, problems arise to the extent that forces acting on the cooktop which are transmitted to the worktop are transmitted through the decorative frame, which thus becomes part of the force flow path. This is associated with relatively high levels of wear on the glued joint between the decorative frame and the glass ceramic, and thereby might reduce the lifetime of this joint through the high stresses. Last but not least, with known cooktops the positioning of these in recesses is relatively difficult with respect to maintaining spacing which is essentially the same all around, which means that the worktop can be subjected to high temperatures at specific points in an undesired manner.


Methods and apparatus are provided for adaptive coupled pre-processing and post-processing filters for video encoding and decoding. The apparatus and method encode input data for a picture into a resultant bitstream, wherein said video encoder comprises a pre-filter and a post-filter coupled to the pre-filter, wherein said pre-filter filters the input data for the picture and the post-filter filters in-loop reconstructed data for the picture.

A block-based transform approach has been the primary choice for transforms in current video compression schemes and standards, such as the International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) Moving Picture Experts Group-4 (MPEG-4) Part 10 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) Standard/International Telecommunication Union, Telecommunication Sector (ITU-T) H.264 Recommendation (hereinafter the "MPEG-4 AVC Standard"), when compared with more advanced transform approaches (such as sub-band coding, for example) due to its inherently lower complexity and achievement of comparable performance. Lapped transforms perform significantly better than non-overlapping transforms such as discrete cosine transforms (DCTs) while incurring just a small increase in complexity. Lapped transforms can be designed to maximize coding gain, maximize energy compaction, provide good frequency response, maximize regularity in the basis, or maximize a combination of the above objectives. The coding gain is especially of interest since it translates directly to an improvement in the rate-distortion performance. The coding gain of a transform is computed as the ratio of the "reconstruction distortion without transform" to that of the "reconstruction distortion with transform". Under the high-bitrate assumption, this quantity for a lapped bi-orthogonal transform (LBT) is described in a first prior art approach as follows:
                              G          TC                =                              {                                          ∏                                  i                  =                  1                                M                                                                                [                                                      (                                                                  σ                                                  y                          i                                                2                                                                    σ                        x                        2                                                              )                                                                                                                              P                        i                                                  -                          1                                                                                                            2                                                  ]                                      }                                -                          1              M                                                          (        1        )            where σx2 is the variance of source x, y is the output of the lapped transform, σyi2 is the variance of the ith transform output, and Pi−1 is the ith synthesis basis (post-filter column) of the lapped transform. The design of a high bitrate lapped transform requires that the coding gain defined in Equation (1) is maximized.
In a second prior art approach, an alternate equivalent is disclosed for decomposing the quasi-optimal lapped transform into a pre-filter operation followed by a shifted DCT operation. The advantage is that the pre-filter approach can be applied outside of existing encoder and decoder loops, therefore the second prior art approach requires little change within existing encoders and decoders.
For the pre-filtering based approach to lapped transform, the output y can be represented as follows:y=DCT[Shift(Px)]  (2)where Shift is a time-shift between the pre-filter and the block transform, and P is the pre-filter applied on current data x.
Turning to FIG. 1, an implementation of a 4×8 lapped transform as a 4×4 pre-filter followed by a shifted 4×4 DCT operation is indicated generally by the reference numeral 100 That is, FIG. 1 depicts two equivalent implementations of the lapped transform. In the top portion of FIG. 1, 8 input samples are directly transformed into 4 output samples by the lapped bi-orthogonal transform. Note that in order to have the same number of total input and output samples, the next 8 input samples are taken with an overlap with the first 8 input samples, as can be observed in FIG. 1. Regarding the bottom portion of FIG. 1, where the implementation uses a pre-filter, the following is involved: first a pre-filter is applied to 4 input samples; and then a DCT is applied. Note that the shift between the pre-filter and the discrete cosine transform allows for the processing of 8 input samples for each 4 output samples in exactly the same way as the top portion of FIG. 1.
Previous efforts to augment the block-based coding approach such as that performed in the MPEG-4 AVC Standard include using pre-processing filters and post-processing filters and increasing the coding gain while ignoring the impact on predictive-coding efficiency. However, such prior art pre-filters are designed to work with only a single transform. For example, a third prior art approach involves a scheme in which the 4×4 pre-filter was designed to work with the 4×4 DCT for intra-coding only. Additionally, the third prior art approach does not give any consideration to modifying dependent encoder and decoder blocks such as the rate-distortion optimizer and the most probable mode predictor to work in unison with pre-filtering and post-filtering and achieve a higher compression efficiency.

Methods and apparatus for adaptive coupled pre-processing and post-processing filters for video encoding and decoding


A rotationally symmetrical preform (1) is made by atomizing molten metal by means of a gas jet in a nozzle and by deposition of the droplets on a suitable substrate, wherein at least two independent nozzles (2,3) are arranged so that their droplet streams (4,5) overlap and are directed onto a substrate (6) of circular cross-section, and wherein insoluble particles are injected either into the first or into the second droplet stream (4 or 5) or wherein different types of particles are injected into the first and the second droplet stream (4,5).

Preforms having a varying alloy composition and resulting in varying properties needed for the article are state of the art (e.g. German Published Application No. 4 105 420). The production may follow the method of spray deposition (e.g. British Patent Nos. 1 379 261 and 1 472 939) where the molten metal is atomized by a gas jet in a suitable nozzle and the droplets are collected to form a coherent deposit.
According to German Published Application No. 4 105 420, the initial preform is made from an alloy that contains no modifying additions by molten metal being sprayed onto a rotating hollow mandrel. The layers added later on have an alloy composition modified by the modifying additions that are added to the molten metal and sprayed together with it.

Rotationally symmetrical article with properties varying over the cross-section


A system and method of providing a reliable and efficient multicast data transfer mechanism in a communication network. The mechanism includes a plurality of computer nodes and one or more data system managers wherein each of computer nodes and each of data system managers are connected through the said communication network. The method generally comprises the steps of setting up of an association among one or more computer nodes as senders and one or more computer nodes as receivers using a combination of unicast and multicast protocols and transmitting one or more packets of data through the said multicast protocol by one or more senders to one or more receivers. The receivers may collaborate among themselves to ensure delivery of said one or more packets of data reliably to the collaborating receivers.

Electronic data systems are implemented using software on a variety of hardware components like computers, disk drives, solid state memory and networking switches. Most data systems store their data in block format where, the sequence of bytes are broken into fixed size blocks and stored in the underlying storage media blocks. This is usually the case as the underlying physical storage is organized into blocks. Read and writes happen in chunks of each data block. The blocks may not be laid out in sequence in the storage media but would be logically linked to form each contiguous file or data blob. The last block may be partially filled. These blocks are stored in the media based on some form of block organization. There is an overlaying data management layer that maintains meta information for the files or data blobs and mechanisms to deploy and retrieve the blocks as required. In a network connected distributed storage, the blocks are spread over clusters of computer nodes connected by data networks. For reliability and disaster recovery, clusters can be distributed over many geographic locations. The blocks are distributed and replicated over these clusters based on various policies specified for that installation. Usually, this includes the same block saved in multiple different computer nodes of geographically separated clusters.
The replication is done to create data redundancy and load balancing. The replication is usually designed to serve two purposes. First, the data is made available closer to the processing units. Second, the replication is such that even if a catastrophe were to strike one location, the data would still be preserved in another location. The data management system can then work around the lost data blocks. It would then replicate those blocks on other working clusters.
The replication process needs to be reliable as data integrity and data preservation is of utmost importance. The communication mechanism over the network between the nodes has to be reliable. Currently, block storage mechanisms use unicast streams to replicate data across the various computer nodes that are selected for replication. The mechanism is called pipelining. In this mechanism, when the client wants to write data, it queries the data management system for a list of computer nodes where the data is to be replicated. It receives a list of computer node information where the data would be replicated. This is called the pipeline. The client then opens a point-to-point connection to the first computer node in the list. It passes the list to the next computer node in the pipeline and streams the block data to it. The first computer node then opens a second point-to-point connection to the second computer node and streams the block data to it, and so on it goes. The last block receiving the data sends an acknowledgement. The acknowledgement is then cascaded back to the client through the reverse sequence of computer nodes in the pipeline. Alternatively, the sender can open multiple point-to-point connections and unicast the data over these connections.
There are other kinds of replication like Master-Slave configuration and Multi-Master replication where the same data needs to be transmitted to multiple database servers. Such scenarios can benefit from a fully reliable multicast data transfer.
In a multi-user network based remote conferencing system, some of the data from one participant would need to be transmitted to multiple participants. Such a use case can also benefit from a fully reliable multicast data transfer.
Multicast is a class of communication where one entity sends the same data to multiple entities in a single transmission from itself. The data can be sent with multiple transmissions at points that fork into multiple independent paths. The transmission takes on different forms depending upon the underlying network. There is Internet Protocol multicast, ISO CLNP multicast, Network-on-chip multicast and Ethernet multicast and Infiniband multicast. Multicast datagram is normally an unreliable protocol. Where the requirements are strict reliable, reliable unicast mechanisms are used like TCP, TP4 etc. Multicast is used for distributing real time video where it needs to scale with the number of receivers. Limited loss of data show up as glitches and the communication moves on.
Where data needs to be transmitted from one source to multiple receivers, use of multicast transmission is an obvious idea. The validity and viability of a solution based on multicast transmission depends upon the speed, reliability and scalability with error and loss recovery. Reliability using multicast is a domain specific problem. There is no one-solution-fits-all available. Different situations have different types of reliability requirements. Real time audio and video delivery requires sequenced delivery but small amounts of lost data is less important. Small segments of lost data will cause only a slight jitter in the audio or video. In cache updates, time synchronization is more important as validity of cache is important for quick changing data. In data replication, sanctity of the data is more important than speed.
The reliability conditions over wide area networks are different than over local networks. If any of the multicast paths traverse over a wide area network, the issue becomes very important. Over a wide area network, the possibility of packet fragmentation increases. At higher data rates, the possibility of data misalignment during reassembly increases. The number of fragmented packets that can be present in the network at any instance of time is limited by the size of the packet identifier and the data rate. This is described in RFC4963. For IPv4 the packet identifier field is 16 bits. This allows only 64K packets of any protocol between two IP address pairs during a maximum per maximum packet lifetime. At 1 Gbps rate, it takes less than one second to fill up this count. Layer 4 checksum can be used to detect and discard wrongly reassembled packets. With a checksum field of 16 bits and well distributed data, the failure rate of layer 4 in filtering out bad datagrams is 1 in 64K. It improves with larger size checksum like 32 bit. Some firewalls allow only known protocol types to pass through. So, many multicast applications tend to use User Datagram Protocol (UDP) which has a checksum size of 16 bits. This analysis indicates that for big data kind of usage, direct interfacing with the network layer with a higher size checksum would be a better option.
Multicast has been used in the distributed file systems to transmit the data to the client side caches. JetFile and MCache are examples of this. JetFile is a distributed file system similar to NFS in functionality. It maintains cache of the files at the computer nodes requesting the file. The files are distributed using Scalable Reliable Multicast (SRM) protocol. In the JetFile system, the sender has no knowledge of the receivers. The sender sends the data to the group multicast address. The receivers are clients who serve files as a peer-to-peer network. Multicast is an unreliable delivery mechanism. In the above two cases, if any receiver does not get the data, there would not be any damage. A retry will fetch the data with a slight delay. If data caches do not receive the data, it will only delay the fetching of data, not cause a data loss. The problem of data loss can be somewhat mitigated by using published algorithms like SRM & PGM but not completely solved. In all of these algorithms, the responsibility of getting all the data lies completely with the receivers. If any or all receivers fail to get the complete block of data, the sender will never know. In the case of block replication, that would be a failure of operation. In case of data replication, the sender needs to know of any data loss and take corrective action.
Encrypted UDP based FTP with multicast (UFTP) uses multicast to send files to a group of receivers. In this protocol, the sender breaks the data into a sequence of transmittable blocks. Each block has a sequence number. The blocks are grouped in sections. The sender transmits all the blocks in a section and then waits for the negative acknowledgement (NAK) from the receivers. For every block that it receives a NAK, it retransmits the block. If it does not receive any NAK, it closes the session. Again the problem is, if a NAK is lost or receivers fail to get the data, the sender will not get to know. Also, if the NAKs are sent at the end of a big section transfer, it poses a burden on the sender. The sender needs to preserve all the transmitted packets holding up memory or recreate the lost packet by streaming through the original data. This is good for occasional transfer like end of day updates to remote sites. For high load of simultaneous occurring transfers, this can exhaust system resources.
In Distributed File Systems, like Hadoop Distributed File System, there is a need for bytes constituting a file block to be delivered sequentially and reliably. No existing reliable multicast transport has been able to fulfil that requirement. So, such file systems continue to use multiple reliable unicast point-to-point links using Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) till date.
Accordingly, there exists in the art a need for a method for a reliable multicast data transfer with better error recovery and faster loss recovery mechanisms in network connected data distribution systems.

System and method for reliable multicast data transport


An electrical plug-in contact, having a first region for electrical contact with an electrical connection and a second region for electrical contact with an electrical conductor, wherein the two regions are connected to each therein an electrically conductive manner. To provide a plug-in contact that has a simpler design and is more reliable in use, the second region is designed as a plug-in sleeve, in particular a cylindrical plug-in sleeve, which, in the contact region thereof with the electrical conductor, has an elongated hole parallel to the longitudinal axis of the plug-in sleeve, and a longitudinal slot located diametrically opposite of the elongated hole. Furthermore, a system is provided, consisting of an electrical plug-in contact and an electrical conductor, in particular a current bar, wherein an angular, in particular quadrangular, hole for receiving the, in particular cylindrical, plug-in sleeve in the inserted position thereof is formed in the electrical conductor.

The present invention relates to an electrical plug-in contact, in particular a test adapter, as claimed in the preamble of claim 1, and to a system having an electrical plug-in contact as claimed in claim 11.
An electrical plug-in contact of this kind has already been known for a long time. The known electrical plug-in contact, which is in the form of a test adapter, has a first region for making electrical contact with a meter and has a second region for making electrical contact with an electrical conductor, with the longitudinal axes of the two regions running laterally offset and parallel in relation to one another. In this case, the first region is formed in the manner of a sleeve and the second region consists of three sheet metal strips which are riveted to one another. The first and the second region are soldered to one another and encapsulated with an insulation material, in particular plastic.
The present invention is based on the problem of specifying an electrical plug-in contact which is simpler in terms of design and more reliable in terms of application.
This problem is solved by an electrical plug-in contact having the features of claim 1. The dependent claims relate to advantageous developments of the invention.
A significant advantage of the electrical plug-in contact according to the invention is, in particular, that it is simple in terms of design and reliable in terms of application. The electrical plug-in contact according to the invention can therefore be produced more simply, and is consequently more cost-effective. On account of the special structural design of the plug-in sleeve of the electrical plug-in contact, the plug-in sleeve bears against the electrical conductor over a large surface area and therefore ensures good electrical contact between the electrical plug-in contact and the electrical conductor.
Although U.S. Pat. No. 2,980,883 already discloses equipping an electrical plug-in connector with an elongate hole in the region in which said electrical plug-in connector makes contact with an electrical conductor, the known plug-in connector does not exhibit the combination according to the invention of an elongate hole and a longitudinal slot which is situated diametrically opposite said elongate hole.
However, it is specifically this combination which advantageously leads to the plug-in contact according to the invention being uniformly cushioned when it is moved to the plugged-in position. The elongate hole and the longitudinal slot ensure symmetrical force absorption. The plug-in sleeve can deform elastically over a large area. As a result, the plug-in sleeve bears in an effective manner against the electrical conductor when the electrical plug-in contact is in the plugged-in position, and therefore a good electrically conductive connection is established, without the electrical plug-in contact being plastically, that is to say permanently, deformed in the process.
Furthermore, the production of the known plug-in connector is complicated and therefore cost-intensive. The known plug-in connector is not suitable for use as a test adapter either.
A further plug-in connector is known from DE 295 16 504 U1. The known plug-in connector has a pin contact connection and a corresponding socket connection. In this case, only the socket connection has two diametrically opposite longitudinal slots in the region in which contact is made between the pin contact connection and the socket connection. However, the manner of operation of the known socket connection is naturally fundamentally different from that of the electrical plug-in contact according to the invention. While the known socket connection has to expand when the pin contact connection is plugged in, the plug-in sleeve should compress in an elastic manner when the electrical plug-in contact according to the invention is moved to its plugged-in position.
The type, dimensioning and material of the electrical plug-in contact can be selected within wide suitable limits. The plug-in sleeve and/or the first region are/is advantageously cylindrical. The production of the plug-in sleeve is simplified in this way.
In principle, the dimensioning of the elongate hole and the arrangement of said elongate hole on the plug-in sleeve can be freely selected within wide suitable limits. The elongate hole expediently has an extension in the longitudinal axis direction of the plug-in sleeve of at least 3 times the extension of the plug-in sleeve perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.
An advantageous development makes provision for the longitudinal axes of the two regions to run laterally offset and parallel in relation to one another. As a result, it is possible to position a plurality of electrical plug-in contacts, in particular test adapters, in an extremely narrow space without the electrical connection, for example of a meter, to the first region of the respective electrical plug-in contact being made difficult in the process.
A particularly advantageous development of the electrical plug-in contact makes provision for the plug-in sleeve to have at least one latching recess or a latching hole laterally offset in relation to the elongate hole, said latching recess or latching hole being formed in such a way that the electrical plug-in contact, when it is in the plugged-in position, is latched to the electrical conductor. This ensures that the electrical conductor makes reliable contact with the electrical plug-in contact when the electrical plug-in contact is in the plugged-in position.
In principle, it is possible to provide just one single latching recess or one single latching hole on the latching sleeve. The latching recess or the latching hole is advantageously in the form of a pair, with the latching recesses or latching holes being situated diametrically opposite and being arranged perpendicular to the elongate hole and the longitudinal slot. In this way, the plug-in sleeve is not subject to mechanical loading on one side and there are no undesirable relative movements between the plug-in sleeve and the electrical conductor when the electrical plug-in contact is in the plugged-in position.
A particularly advantageous development of the two abovementioned embodiments makes provision for the elongate hole to have an, in particular symmetrical, constriction, which extends transverse to the longitudinal axis of the plug-in sleeve, in the region of the latching recess or of the latching hole. This ensures that the plug-in sleeve has enough material in the region of the latching recess or of the latching hole in order to allow for elastic deformation of the plug-in sleeve. Otherwise, insufficient material would undesirably lead to plastic deformation of the plug-in sleeve in the region of the elongate hole.
An advantageous development also makes provision for the elongate hole to have an extension perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of at least 40% of the plug-in sleeve in the regions without the constriction and, in the case of the abovementioned embodiment, of at least 25% of the plug-in sleeve in the regions with the constriction. Elastic deformation of the plug-in sleeve over a wide range is possible in this way.
A particularly advantageous development makes provision for the plug-in sleeve to have a run-on slope at its free end. As a result, the force which is to be applied for moving the electrical plug-in contact to its plugged-in position is reduced.
An advantageous development makes provision for the first region and the second region to be integrally formed. The production of the electrical test adapter according to the invention is further simplified in this way since a joining process for mechanically connecting the first region to the second region is dispensed with.
A further particularly advantageous development makes provision for the plug-in sleeve and/or the first region to be in the form of a rolled sheet metal part. The production of the plug-in sleeve and/or of the first region is further simplified as a result.
The invention also relates to a system comprising an electrical plug-in contact as claimed in one of the preceding claims and comprising an electrical conductor, in particular a current bar.
In principle, the design and the relative arrangement of the electrical plug-in contact and the electrical conductor in relation to one another can be freely selected within wide suitable limits.
A particularly advantageous development of the system makes provision for a polygonal, in particular square, hole for accommodating the, in particular cylindrical, plug-in sleeve when said plug-in sleeve is in its plugged-in position to be formed in the electrical conductor. This ensures reliable contact is made between the electrical plug-in contact and the electrical conductor; this is particularly true in the case of electrical plug-in contacts in which the electrical plug-in contact and the electrical conductor are latched by means of the latching recesses or latching holes which are formed on the plug-in contact.
An advantageous development of the system makes provision for the dimensions of the elongate hole and those of the electrical conductor to be matched to one another in such a way that the elongate hole projects beyond both sides of the electrical conductor in the longitudinal axis direction of the plug-in sleeve when the plug-in contact is in the plugged-in position. This ensures that the electrical plug-in contact makes reliable contact with the electrical conductor.
A further advantageous development of the system makes provision for the dimensions of the latching recess or of the latching hole in the direction of the longitudinal axis and those of the electrical conductor to be matched to one another in such a way that there is play between the plug-in sleeve and the electrical conductor in the longitudinal axis direction of the plug-in sleeve when the electrical plug-in contact is in the plugged-in position. Manufacturing and production tolerances can be compensated for in this way. Furthermore, the play ensures that the electrical contact is made between the electrical plug-in contact and the electrical conductor in a desired manner by means of the electrical contact areas provided for this purpose, and not by means of the boundary areas of the latching recesses or latching holes.
As a result, it is also possible to make contact with a series of electrical conductors, in particular current bars, with different strengths and positions with a single type of electrical plug-in contact. Therefore, the variety of components is reduced in a desirable manner.
A further advantageous development of the system makes provision for the edge length of the polygonal hole to be 80% to 97% of the extension of the plug-in sleeve perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said plug-in sleeve. As a result, the mechanical contact between the electrical plug-in contact and the electrical conductor is ensured without departing from the elastic deformation region of the plug-in sleeve.


A transfer station for transfer of material from a longwall face to a gate or roadway of a mine working employs a box frame in which the two runs of a scraper-chain face and gate conveyors intersect. A driving drum for the face conveyor is mounted in a housing in the box frame. A baffle plate cover in the form of a pivotal flap which can be locked in the closed position is arranged on an end face of the housing receiving the chain drum. The pivotal flap preferably consists of two flap doors which can be hinged outwardly on opposing sides so that the chain drum is accessible from the exterior.

A transfer station is known in which a box frame connects a scraper-chain face conveyor a scraper-chain gate conveyor. The top run of the gate conveyor is arranged below the top run of the face conveyor. The face conveyor has an opening in the floor or tray for allowing material to pass to the top run of the gate conveyor. A baffle plate cover, arranged in front of a chain drum of the face conveyor serves to convey any fines entrained by the scraper-chain assembly of the face conveyor from the top run into the bottom run of the face conveyor. Transfer stations of this type are known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,079, DE-PS 26 00 999 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,992. The box frame forms the common machine frame of the face conveyor and of the gate conveyor extending transversely thereto. The material is discharged from the face conveyor into the gate conveyor inside the box frame. The individual runs of the face conveyor and of the gate conveyor are arranged so as to intersect alternately within the box frame so that the top run of the gate conveyor is located between the top run and the bottom run of the face conveyor. Material is discharged from the top run of the face conveyor via the opening in the conveying floor or tray thereof into the top run of the gate conveyor located directly below it, optionally with the assistance of a fender. Any fines which are entrained by the scraper chain assembly of the face conveyor over the opening in its tray are conveyed at the chain drum of the face conveyor via the baffle plate cover into the bottom run thereof and are discharged here via an opening in the floor or tray of the bottom run into the closed bottom run of the gate conveyor so that they can be raised into the top run thereof via the reversal of the gate conveyor and can be carried off therein together with the remaining material. The driven chain drum of the face conveyor is mounted in the box frame or in an attachable housing thereof and is surrounded by the baffle plate cover.
During use, the chain drum of the face conveyor and the space receiving it must be accessible for maintenance or cleaning purpose, for example for eliminating blockages at the transfer station from the top run to bottom run of the face conveyor. This can be achieved by designing the baffle plate cover as a screwed-on mounting plate. The effort involved in releasing the screw connections, removing the baffle plate and screwing it on again is considerable and the cramped conditions in a typical mine working aggravate the situation.
An object of the invention is to modify the design of the transfer station simply such that the chain drum of the face conveyor and the space receiving it is easily accessible from the exterior at any time without difficulties and without complicated mounting work.

Transfer station for transferring material between conveyors in a mine working


In a roller shade for an opening such as a rear windshield of an automobile, when the shade is full closed, the pull rod is intentionally bent so as to fully conform to the peripheral edge of the opening. The bending of the pull rod can be achieved either by an axial force which may be produced by gradually reducing the distance between a pair of guide members extending on either lateral side of the opening as the pull rod moves up or by a lateral force which may be produced by placing a slope on which the pull rod rides over as it reaches its final position for fully covering the opening. By controlling the bent shape of the pull rod in a suitable manner, it is possible to entirely cover the opening without leaving any uncovered gap.

Windows and windshields for vehicles such as road vehicles, air craft, and ships, and buildings such as homes, public buildings and garages are often provided with roller shades for the purpose of shielding the sunbeam and/or preventing the view from outside. Also, a cover may be provided between the passenger compartment and the luggage compartment of a vehicle as a partition. Covering the luggage compartment of a vehicle is preferable to the end of discouraging theft.
A typical roller shade comprises a spring-loaded retractor attached to a lower end of an opening such as a rear windshield, an opague or semi-transparent screen sheet having a trailing edge attached to the retractor, and a rigid rod member attached to the leading edge of the screen sheet and guided for a translational vertical movement. The screen sheet is normally wound around the retractor, and can be paid out from the retractor by pulling out the rod member away from the retractor. Typically, the rod member may be hooked or otherwise secured to an upper end of the opening with the screen sheet in its fully extended condition. When exposing the opening, the screen sheet is retraced and wound around the retractor by a spring incorporated therein.
In copending patent application Ser. No. 07/703/177 filed May 20, 1991 and claiming the Conventional priority data of May 23, 1990, it is proposed to use a screen sheet having a non-rectangular shape to cover a window or opening having a corresponding shape, and incorporate a telescopic structure to the pull rod to accommodate it to the changing width of the window as the pull rod is moved vertically. The contents of this copending application is incorporated herein by reference.
Modern car design requires streamlined vehicle bodies from aerodyamic as well as aesthetic view points, and such vehicle body design in turn requires three-dimensionally curved borders for windows on the exterior of the vehicle and areas for dividing a luggage compartment from a passenger compartment.
When such a window having a curved border or a curved window frame is to be covered by a conformal screen sheet, the rigid pull rod is unable to align itself to the edge of the opening because the edge is normally not straight, and an uncovered gap may be created between the edge of the window and the pull rod. For instance, if such a gap is present between the upper edge of the rear windshield of a motor vehicle and the pull rod of a roller shade intended for covering the rear windshield, direct sunlight passing through this gap may penetrate deep into the passenger compartment, thereby substantially diminishing the usefulness of the sun shade.

Roller shade for an opening having a curved frame


A method of making an electronic device, according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, comprises the steps of: forming a polycrystalline substrate in a desired shape; converting the polycrystalline substrate into a single crystal substrate using a solid state crystal conversion process; and forming an electronic element on the substrate. Typically, alumina is formed in the shape of a wafer, sintered to form a densified polycrystalline alumina wafer, and heated to a temperature between the melting point of alumina and one-half the melting point of alumina to convert the densified polycrystalline alumina wafer into a sapphire wafer. A light-emitting diode or other electronic device, such as a laser diode, a high frequency microwave device, or an optoelectronic detector, can be formed on the wafer by depositing layers of semiconductor material on the wafer. The solid state crystal conversion process provides several advantages in forming electronic devices. For example, the cost of the single crystal substrate is significantly reduced since crystal growing from a melt is not required. Also, less processing is required after the crystal is formed, since the precursor polycrystalline substrate can be formed to near net shape. In addition, the polycrystalline substrate can be made in many shapes, in contrast to the shapes possible when growing a crystal from a melt.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic devices such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), and more particularly to a method of making an electronic device having a single crystal substrate formed from a polycrystalline material.
2. Description of the Related Art
LEDs, laser diodes, and other electronic devices are typically manufactured by depositing various layers of semiconductor materials on a substrate. A know group of semiconductor materials which is useful in forming light-emitting devices is the gallium nitride (GaN) system. The gallium nitride system refers to semiconductor materials comprising one or more of the group III nitrides, GaN, AIN, and InN. The GaN system allows various wavelengths of light, particularly the shorter wavelengths, to be produced based on the relative amounts of GaN, AIN, and InN in the composition.
Gallium nitride-based semiconductor devices are commonly formed on a substrate comprising sapphire, a single crystal alumina (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3). Typically, the sapphire substrate is produced by growing a single alumina crystal from molten alumina, and subsequently cutting the sapphire body in the shape of a thin wafer. However, the process of growing a sapphire crystal from a melt is relatively expensive due to the need to carefully control the growing conditions. In addition, the resulting crystal typically must be cut with a diamond saw, ground, and polished into the shape of a wafer. In addition to being expensive, this process limits the types of shapes which can be produced.
It would be desirable, therefore, to have a process for forming a sapphire substrate which decreased the amount of cutting, grinding and polishing required, thereby decreasing the cost of the substrate, and which could be used to form substrates of a variety of shapes useful for different electronic devices.

Method of making an electronic device having a single crystal substrate formed by solid state crystal conversion


A tank truck having a cylindrical tank resiliently supported on a bed frame of rectangular configuration and disposed above the main frame of the truck with the tank being disposed partially within the horizontal plane of the bed frame and having the bed frame resiliently supported on the main frame of the truck. A pair of saddle-shaped plates conforming to the outside of the cylindrical tank are secured thereto, one close to each end of the tank, and a pair of upper tank hold down brackets are secured to each saddle plate and in turn are resiliently bolted to corresponding lower tank hold down brackets which are rigidly secured to the bed frame. The brackets secured to the bed frame are in turn bolted to corresponding brackets on the main truck frame with resilient members placed between the bed frame and the truck frame to absorb shock. The resilient couplings not only absorb shock, but permit slight cushioning movement between the tank, bed frame and main frame during normal operating conditions on the roadway.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tank trucks, and more particularly, to means for resiliently supporting the tank on the truck frame.
2. Prior Art
There are a variety of tank trucks in commercial operation today most of which employ a substantially cylindrical tank which is secured in a variety of ways to a truck frame which in turn is supported by a suspension system on the axles of the truck, along with the cab. Many of these tank trucks have the tanks rigidly secured to the truck frame so that the only suspension or "give" during normal operation of the truck is provided by the suspension system of the truck.
During normal operation of such tank trucks the connections between the tank and the frame are subject to a variety of stress conditions due to turning, stopping, accelerating, etc. These loads cause cyclical stresses in the connections between the tank and the frame which eventually can result in fatigue failure if the support mountings are not designed to be adequately strong. As a result, the connections between the tank and the truck frame are usually overly massive in order to provide adequate safety margin to prevent such possible failures. Since the connection between the tank and the frame is generally a rigid connection the stresses produced in the mounting brackets are more severe than they would be if a more resilient mounting connection was provided and thus the mounting brackets must be additionally "beefed up" because of these higher stresses.
In addition to these deficiencies in such prior art tank trucks, additional stresses are produced due to the fact that the tank truck is mounted somewhere above the main frame of the truck and suspended on support legs which are rigidly secured to both the tank and the frame. This provides an increased moment about the connection points which further increases stresses under normal operation of the truck. This in turn, therefore, requires additional increasing of the massiveness of the support between the tank and the truck in order to provide adequate safety margins for the level of stresses involve.


A method for measuring the flow rate of a liquid, particularly of blood, in which the frequency shift of a laser beam reflected from the liquid is determined according to the optical Doppler effect. This method and the apparatus provided for its implementation are designed so as to enable reliable measurement of the flow rate of the flowing medium which is resolved both spatially and with respect to time. In accordance with the invention at each scanning point a number of N measured values is collected corresponding to the reflected light, N being a whole number equal to or larger than 2; the Doppler shift is calculated from the time variation of the thus measured intensity of the reflected light at the respective scanning points, and the flow rate is determined from the Doppler shift at each point of the scanning pattern.

This invention relates to a method for measuring the flow rate of a liquid, particularly of blood, by determining the frequency shift of a laser beam reflected in the liquid according to the optical Doppler effect. The invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out the method of the invention.
Nilsson, Published PCT Application No. WO 93/03667 discloses a method of the above-mentioned type and an apparatus for measuring the flow rate of a liquid, particularly of blood, specifically by determining a frequency shift of a laser beam reflected in the liquid according to the optical Doppler effect. Thus, a point-type determination of the flow rate of the blood can take place by determining the frequency shift of the reflected laser beam. This measuring method is non-invasive but permits the measuring of the flow rate only at one point. In addition, high expenditures are required on the part of the patient and of the person performing the examination; particularly since the target beam has to be aimed precisely at a defined point for an extended period of time. By means of this method, it has not been possible, particularly in the field of ophthalmology, to measure the blood flow in the vascular system of the choroid membrane.
Furthermore, Riva, U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,796 discloses a process based on the optical Doppler effect as well as a corresponding apparatus for diagnostic purposes in ophthalmology.
In many fields of medical diagnostics and therapy, it is necessary to measure blood flow rates. In particular, a considerable clinical need exists in ophthalmology to carry out a locally resolved and continuous measurement of the blood flow in the retina. It is known that the three cell layers of the retina are supplied with oxygen by two independent vascular systems. The photoreceptors of the bottom layer are supplied by the choroid membrane; the bipolar cells/amacrine cells as well as the nerve cells of the top layer are supplied by the intraretinal vascular bed. It is necessary to measure the flow rates in the afferent arterioles, the retinal capillaries and in the arteriovenous shunt vessels which divert the blood flow directly into the venules while bypassing the capillaries.
In addition to the initially mentioned Doppler laser flow rate measurement, two other methods are used clinically for determining retinal blood circulation. Thus, the very frequently carried-out fluorescence angiography is based on a qualitative assessment of the retinal arterioles and capillaries after intravenous injection of a fluorescent dye. The quantitative analysis of digitized fluorescent images supplies information on special filling times, like the arm-to-retina time or the arteriovenous passage time. However, the intravenous injection of a fluorescent dye represents an invasive procedure which entails a residual risk of an anaphylactic shock and is therefore carried out predominantly in eye clinics. Fluorescence angiography is a two-dimensionally spatially resolving procedure, but it is not resolving with respect to time and is invasive with a vital residual risk.
Finally, by means of non-invasive ultrasonic Doppler sonography (duplex sonography, pulsed Doppler sonography) the blood flow rate can be determined at limited points and resolved with respect to time in orbital arteries, arterioles and venules of a diameter of up to 1 mm. In contrast, smaller vessels and capillaries of the retina cannot be detected by means of this method.
Zinser, U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,276, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an apparatus for scanning an object by means of a bundle of rays in two essentially orthogonal directions. This apparatus contains a first and a second scanner each having a mirror, whose axes of rotation extend in planes which are orthogonal with respect to one another. This apparatus has a compact construction and contains no additional optical system in the path of the rays between the above-mentioned mirrors. The mirror of the first scanner is mounted at a defined distance from its axis of rotation. An optically perfect scanning operation is ensured primarily because the center point of the mirror of the second scanner is arranged in the center of the above-mentioned distance between the axis of rotation and the mirror of the first scanner, whereby the bundle of rays passes from the mirror of the first scanner directly to the mirror of the second scanner.
Furthermore, Chehroudi et al., "A rapidly scanning laser Doppler anemometer," J. Phys. E: Sci. Instrum., Vol. 17, pp 131-36 (1984) discloses a wind velocity indicator in which, while utilizing the Doppler effect and scanning by means of a laser beam, the wind velocity can be measured, for example, in a wind tunnel. Also, Durst et al., "Laser-Doppler system for rapid scanning of flow fields," Rev. Sci. Instrum., Vol. 52 (11), pp 1676-81 (1981) describes a Doppler laser system by means of which primarily the wind velocity also can be measured. In apparatus or systems of this type, special rigidly arranged mirrors are provided, and such systems have, as a whole, a comparatively large space requirement. Therefore, it is not readily possible to use them in medical diagnostics and therapy.

Method and apparatus for measuring flow rate, particularly of blood

Heidelberg Engineering, Optische Messsysteme GmbH