The pages of a book being held at least partially open may be sequentially automatically turned over from one side of the book to the other by pivoting an elongated arm from one side of the book toward the other and turning over individual pages with a vacuum head pivoting relative to the elongated pivoted arm about a different pivot axis as the elongated arm moves to reduce undesirable forces on the individual book pages being turned over. The vacuum head may initially pivot to bend the edge of an individual page up away from the book, to aid in page separation, and then subsequently differently pivot to help peel the same page gently away from the vacuum head and flip it over onto the opposite side of the book. This may be assisted by moving frictional belts on the vacuum head.

Disclosed in the embodiments herein are improved systems and methods for automatically sequentially turning over the pages of a book, such as to provide for their improved sequential digital imaging or viewing, with rapidity, reliability and safety (minimizing damage to delicate or valuable books). Further disclosed in these embodiments are improved systems and methods for improving book page turning systems by improved flattening and/or holding book pages stationary for improving the imaging of the book, which may be provided automatically in automatic coordination with automatic sequential page turning.
Page turning technology for reading or imaging extends back in time for at least approximately 100 years, to an automatic page turner developed for reading U.S. plural page folded census forms for example, and to various special devices built for the photocopying or microfilming of official records and other books. However, even though page turning and imaging is a long-standing art, there continue to be problems, and/or a lack of suitable products, for providing various desired features of low cost, speed, reliability (prevention of skipped pages, pluralfed pages, or folded-over pages, etc.), and/or protection from damage of old, fragile paper, and/or rare or valuable books.
With the development of improved and lower cost digital imaging, digital data storage, OCR, data compression, and data transmission technologies, as well as electronic books, the internet, xe2x80x9con demandxe2x80x9d printing, remote printing, the xe2x80x9cinformation explosionxe2x80x9d, etc., there is an increased need for more rapidly, reliably and safely automatically digitally reading and storing the pages of many prior hardcopy books, including out of print books, especially conventionally bound books (but also books in the broader sense of paper brochures, pamphlets, etc.). Improvements in laser or multipixel imager (e.g., linear and two-dimensional imaging arrays), image processing and manipulation, digital OCR, etc., have made digital imaging of physical (hardcopy) printed books much easier, cheaper and faster. Optics and software has even been developed for compensating for image distortion from the inherently curved surfaces that an opened thick edge-bound book typically has unless subjected to excessive flattening pressures that could damage the binding.
However, the development of technology for sequentially suitably presenting the pages of books for such imaging (broadly referred to as book page turning herein) has not kept up. Especially, for doing so automatically but nondestructively, without cutting out the pages of a book into separate sheets to be imaged manually or fed by an automatic document feeder into a conventional sheet imaging device such as a digital scanner/copier. Much book imaging has heretofore actually been done by sending books to third world countries for reducing the costs of fully manual copying, with inherent delays. Some specialized niche market devices for turning pages for handicapped people to read have also been developed, not suitable for accurate higher speed book page digital imaging systems.
Many government, educational, and commercial institutions have huge libraries of printed books they would like to transfer into digital formats to reduce the costs of storage, make the information available remotely, and make the information available for electronic searching. This increases the need for a system able to turn large numbers of book pages quickly and reliably and also to hold these sheets stationary, and flatter, for imaging.
Various apparatus for automatically turning the pages of books are known in the art. The following patent disclosures are noted by way of some examples (some of which also show or describe book imaging systems): Ricoh U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,033, issued Feb. 14, 1995, on a face up digital book scanner and page turner, and other art cited therein; and the following Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,484,970xe2x80x94Automatic Sheet Turner Using A Rotating Vacuum Head; 3,800,453xe2x80x94Page Turning Device; 3,939,587xe2x80x94Page-Turner for Books and the Like; 4,102,071xe2x80x94Automatic Page Turning Apparatus; U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,141xe2x80x94Automatic Document Page Turning Apparatus; 4,663,873xe2x80x94Page Flipper for Book Copying; 4,673,286xe2x80x94Frictionless Vacuum Feeder for Book Copying; 4,916,839xe2x80x94Page Turning Apparatus; 4,942,482xe2x80x94Automatic Page-Turning Device; U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,213xe2x80x94Image Reader and Book Document Reader with a Page Turning Capability for an Image Forming Apparatus; 5,471,277xe2x80x94Book Document Reading Device Having a Page Turning Capability; and 5,612,791xe2x80x94Bound Document Imager with Air Jet Page Turning System.
Of particular interest as to the concept of using a vacuum head on a pivoting arm to acquire and turn the pages of a book are U.S. Pat. No. 3,550,296 issued Dec. 29, 1970 to J. F. Castagna; and Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,252 issued Jun. 17, 1997 to William D. Turner, et al; and other art cited therein.
Also noted as to book copying background art, as to various book imaging systems, and book holding systems, are: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,888,584xe2x80x94Semi-Automatic Document Handler; Rank Xerox 4,068,950xe2x80x94Variable Platen Cover; Xerox Corp. 4,143,960xe2x80x94Retractable Support Member; 4,693,594xe2x80x94Platen Transport and Vacuum Plenum for Book Copying; 4,793,812xe2x80x94Hand Held Optical Scanner for Omni-Font Character Recognition; 4,980,720xe2x80x94Document Reproduction Machine with Enhanced Book Copying Capability; 5,012,275xe2x80x94Right-to-Left Scanning System for Copying Documents or Bound Books; 5,084,732xe2x80x94Book Copying Machine; 5,119,206xe2x80x94System for Printing Bound Documents; 5,177,617xe2x80x94Book Edge Copier Inversion Sorting; 5,212,568xe2x80x94Method and Apparatus for Scanning a Signature Document; 5,276,530xe2x80x94Document Reproduction Machine with Electronically Enhanced Book Copying Capability; 5,359,207xe2x80x94Wedge Scanner Utilizing Two Dimensional Sensing Arrays; 5,475,505xe2x80x94Canted Platen Input Scanner; 5,619,302xe2x80x94Apparatus and Method for Scanning a Bound Document Using a Wedge Shaped Platen; 5,636,006xe2x80x94Apparatus and Method for Scanning a Bound Document Using a Wedge Shaped Platen with a Moving Mirror; 5,726,775xe2x80x94Method and Apparatus for Determining a Profile of an Image Displaced a Distance From a Platen; 5,760,925xe2x80x94Platenless Book Scanning System with a General Imaging Geometry; 5,764,383xe2x80x94Platenless Book Scanner with Line Buffering to Compensate for Image Skew; 5,835,241xe2x80x94Method for Determining the Profile of a Bound Document with Structured Light; 5,847,846xe2x80x94Apparatus and Method for Scanning a Bound Color Document Using a Wedge Shaped Platen; and 6,056,258xe2x80x94Bound Document Imager.
Further by way of background art, the protecting of a book""s binding while copying or imaging the book by holding the book in a xe2x80x9cVxe2x80x9d configuration, rather than flat, typically with an inclined xe2x80x9ccornerxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9croofxe2x80x9d type platen, is disclosed in various of the above-cited patents. Such a V-shaped book platen and/or book cradle is disclosed with a digital scanner in, for example, the above-cited Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,056,258, issued May 2, 2000; 5,475,505 issued on Dec. 12, 1995; and also in 5,847,846. Additionally noted on a xe2x80x9croofxe2x80x9d type platen for a book copier system is a Xerox XDJ publication Vol. 12, No. 5, September/October 1987, pp. 231-2. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,334 based on a GB 034478 of 24.12.83, by the British Library Board, in which apparently the book is held right-side up in a V-shaped book support and scanned by an overlying wedge shaped surface scanner housing with a window in one face. Also noted is a German DE 3546404-A1 Offenlegungstag of 2.7.87 with a roof shaped double platen for simultaneous copying of book pages.
As noted, disclosed in the embodiments herein is an improved book page turning system including an improved system for automatically flattening and holding, after each turned-over book page, the exposed pages of the open book, to retain the open book pages flatter for improved viewing and/or imaging, e.g., with less optical distortion, and for reducing the tendency of stiff book pages to move and/or stand back up after being turned. As disclosed herein, this may be done without having to hold a heavy glass plate xe2x80x9cVxe2x80x9d or half-V platen against the open book, or vice-versa, optically interposed in between the book text and the book imaging system as in much of the above-cited art. Such a glass plate platen may become optically contaminated by paper lint, etc. Also, intermittently imposing a glass platen may require a relatively high powered and heavy mechanism for rapidly moving such a heavy glass book platen or pressing plate up and down to allow for the next page to be lifted up and turned over before providing each page imaging. Also, pressing a large flat glass platen heavily against the entire page, or both pages, of an open bound book, or vice versa, can damage the book binding, or even damage delicate image areas of a book, such as delicate page inserts, attachments, photographs, smearable or flakeable inks, or the like.
As shown in these embodiments, the open book pages flattening system disclosed herein can even operate without ever touching the text, or other imageable portions of the book. That is, by engaging only, or almost only, the central edge margins or xe2x80x9cgutterxe2x80x9d of the book, to push the upper pages outwardly toward the book edge. As also disclosed in the embodiments, this can desirably be done in cooperation with then clamping the outer edge margin(s) of the book page(s) after the flattening operation, before the removal of the flattening member, and before the imaging, to hold the flattened page(s) stationary for imaging.
Because of the known factor of beam strength of paper or other print media sheets to resist curvature, and the typical curvature of those sheets when bound into an edge bound book which is opened for viewing, the pages of open books often bulge and/or move, especially after the pages have just been turned. If a page moves during a time in which the book is being scanned for being digitally imaged, for example, data can be lost and/or images distorted. Thus clamping the book pages during imaging to keep them from moving is desirable. Heretofore that has typically been done the same way as for the page flattening, by pressing the book down against a glass platen, or pressing a V-shaped glass platen down onto the open book, before and during imaging, as in the above-cited references, with significant disadvantages as discussed above. In contrast, the cooperative page clamping system shown in the embodiments also does not need to press against or engage the text areas of the open book.
With the disclosed embodiments, a book and its pages can be handled very gently, without tugging or pulling on the sheets, without bucking the sheets, without scuffing the image areas of the sheets, and without damaging the book binding or the book pages. Also, without interfering with or interposing obstructions, such as easily contaminated glass platens, in the optical path for imaging the pages of the open book. Even allowing both open book pages to be imaged at once, if desired. The disclosed embodiments can provide, along with the above and other advantages, positive single page acquisition, robust page separation, and gentle page flipping (turning) without excessive page bending.
A specific feature of the specific embodiments disclosed herein is to provide a method of book page turning in which the individual pages of a book which is being held at least partially open are sequentially automatically turned over from one side of the book to the other side of the book; the improvement comprising, sequentially pivoting an elongated pivotally mounted arm from one side of the book toward the other side of the book, turning over individual pages sequentially with a vacuum head which is pivotally mounted on said elongated pivotally mounted arm to move on said elongated pivoted arm from one side of the book towards the other side of the book, said vacuum head automatically pivoting relative to said elongated pivoted arm about a different pivot axis as said elongated pivotal arm moves from one side of the book towards the other side of the book to reduce undesirable forces on the individual book pages being turned over.
Further specific features disclosed in the embodiments herein, individually or in combination, include those wherein said pivotal mounting of said elongated pivotally mounted arm and said pivotal mounting of said vacuum head to said elongated pivotally mounted arm function as a dual pivot system enabling said vacuum head to initially pivot about said pivot axis to bend the edge of an individual page up away from the book to aid in page separation, and then to differently pivot said vacuum head about said pivot axis to help peel the same individual page gently away from said vacuum head and to flip the same individual page over onto the opposite side of the book with further pivotal movement of said elongated pivotally mounted arm, and/or wherein said pivot axis is offset from said elongated pivotal arm to allow said vacuum head to self-pivot in a selected direction as said elongated pivotal arm is pivoted, and/or in which said vacuum head initially pivots about said pivot axis to bend the edge of an individual page up away from the book to aid in a page separation, in which said pivot axis for said vacuum head is offset from the centerline of said elongated pivotal arm so that said individual pages are not put in substantial tension when so bending them during said page separation, and/or wherein said pivoting vacuum head further includes a finger extension that assists in flipping over said individual pages as said vacuum head releases them, and/or wherein said pivot axis of said vacuum head is adjustable for use with different size books, and/or wherein said vacuum head is pivoted relative to said elongated pivotal arm by a motor, and/or wherein said vacuum head is automatically pivoted relative to said elongated pivotal arm in coordination with the pivoted position of said elongated pivotal arm, and/or wherein said vacuum head has driven feed belts engaging an individual book page being turned over and operated in coordination with the position of the vacuum head to assist in turning over an individual book page, and/or wherein the book is supported in an at least partially opened manner in a generally V-shaped cradle, and/or wherein said individual book pages are sequentially imaged after said turning over of said individual pages sequentially by said sequentially pivoting of said elongated pivotally mounted arm with said pivotally mounted vacuum head from one side of the book toward the other side of the book, and/or a system for automatically turning the individual pages of a book having gutter margins and unprinted outer margin edges, with a book holder for holding the book at least partially open so that the book has first and second open sides, and with a book page turning apparatus for automatically sequentially turning over individual pages of the book from said first side of the book to the second side of the book; the improvement wherein said page turning apparatus for automatically sequentially turning over individual pages of the book from said first side of the book to the second side of the book comprises an elongated arm pivotal from one side of the book toward the other side of the book about a first pivot axis, and an individual book page acquisition member pivotally mounted to said elongated arm to move with said elongated pivoted arm from one side of the book towards the other side of the book, said individual book page acquisition member being pivotally mounted to said elongated arm about a second and different pivot axis to allow said individual book page acquisition member to pivot relative to said elongated arm as said elongated arm pivots from one side of the book towards the other side of the book about said first pivot axis, to reduce undesirable forces on the individual book pages being turned over, and/or wherein said individual book page acquisition member includes a vacuum head, and/or wherein said pivotal mounting of said elongated arm with said first pivot axis and said pivotal mounting of said individual book page acquisition member to said elongated arm with said second pivot axis provides a dual pivoting system enabling said individual book page acquisition member to initially pivot about said second pivot axis to bend the edge of an individual book page on the first side of the book up away from the book to aid in page separation, and then to differently pivot about said second pivot axis with further pivoting of said elongated arm about said first axis to help peel the same individual book page gently away from said individual book page acquisition member and to flip the same individual page over onto the second side of the book, and/or wherein said second pivot axis is offset from said elongated pivotal arm to allow said individual book page acquisition member to self-pivot in a selected direction about said second pivot axis as said elongated arm is pivoted about said first pivot axis, and/or wherein said individual book page acquisition member is a vacuum head, and wherein said vacuum head is mounted offset from the centerline of said elongated arm to initially pivot about said second pivot axis to bend the edge of an individual book page up away from the book to aid in an individual book page separation in the initial pivotal movement of said elongated arm away from said first side of the book without putting said individual book page in substantial tension, and/or wherein said individual book page acquisition member is a vacuum head which releases the individual book pages on the second side of the book and further includes a finger extension for assisting in the flipping over the individual pages as released from said vacuum head, and/or wherein said elongated arm is adjustable in length for use with different size books, and/or wherein said individual book page acquisition member is automatically pivoted relative to said elongated arm in coordination with the pivotal position of said elongated arm, and/or wherein said individual book page acquisition member is a vacuum head which automatically releases the individual book pages on the second side of the book and wherein said vacuum head is pivoted relative to said elongated arm by a motor, and/or wherein said individual book page acquisition member is a vacuum head which automatically releases the individual book pages on the second side of the book, and wherein said vacuum head is pivoted relative to said elongated arm by a motor, and wherein said vacuum head has at least one driven feed belt engaging an individual book page being turned over and operated in coordination with said automatic releasing to assist in turning over an individual book page, and/or further including an imaging system for sequential imaging of the individual book pages as they are sequentially turned over by said individual book page acquisition member by said sequentially pivoting of said elongated arm from the first side of the book towards the second side of the book.
The disclosed system may be operated and controlled by appropriate operation of conventional control systems. It is well known and preferable to program and execute imaging, printing, paper handling, and other control functions and logic with software instructions for conventional or general purpose microprocessors, as taught by numerous prior patents and commercial products. Such programming or software may of course vary depending on the particular functions, software type, and microprocessor or other computer system utilized, but will be available to, or readily programmable without undue experimentation from, functional descriptions, such as those provided herein, and/or prior knowledge of functions which are conventional, together with general knowledge in the software or computer arts. Alternatively, the disclosed control system or method may be implemented partially or fully in hardware, using standard logic circuits or single chip VLSI designs.
The term xe2x80x9csheetxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cpagexe2x80x9d as alternatively used herein refers to a usually flimsy physical sheet of paper, plastic, or other suitable physical substrate for images. As is well known, for book printing with center binding, the book pages can be duplex printed xe2x80x9c4-up,xe2x80x9d that is, printing four pages per printed sheet, two on each side, in xe2x80x9csignaturesxe2x80x9d page order, and the printed sheet center folded and assembled with others into books and centrally bound. However, the term xe2x80x9cbookxe2x80x9d as used in the claims herein broadly encompasses various different bound documents. The pages of most books have non-image (unprinted) margin areas on both their binding or inner edge and their outer edge.
As to specific components of the subject apparatus or methods, or alternatives therefor, it will be appreciated that, as is normally the case, some such components are known per se in other apparatus or applications, which may be additionally or alternatively used herein, including those from art cited herein. For example, it will be appreciated by respective engineers and others that many of the particular component mountings, component actuations, or component drive systems illustrated herein are merely exemplary, and that the same novel motions and functions can be provided by many other known or readily available alternatives. All cited references, and their references, are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for teachings of additional or alternative details, features, and/or technical background. What is well known to those skilled in the art need not be described herein.


A ring-shaped, thin walled braking body with a circumferentially continuous and conical braking surface in a yarn brake for a yarn feeding device. The braking body is held by a first spring assembly in its outer region in a ring-shaped carrying structure. The braking body is formed as a closed circular ring with the conical braking surface positioned adjacent to the inner diameter. The braking surface is continued by a plurality of outwardly extending lamellas having an arc curvature. The lamellas define the first spring assembly. The outer ends of the spring lamellas are interconnected by a ring element which can be mounted to the carrying structure. In a yarn feeding device equipped with the yarn brake, the carrying structure is supported in an universal joint such that it can tilt relative to the support to all sides.

The invention relates to a yarn brake and to a yarn feeding device.
In a yarn brake known from DE-U-94 06 102 which is to be mounted at a yarn feeding device, the braking body is a thin walled metallic ring band with the shape of a frustocone jacket the inner side of which forms a braking surface co-operating with the withdrawal rim of the storage drum. The braking body is supported at the outer edge region of the carrying structure by means of a frustoconical plastic foam ring having a rectangular cross-section. Said plastic foam ring is glued to the rear side of the braking body and into the annular carrying structure. The carrying structure is supported at the stationary support of the yarn feeding device by a group of axial coil springs located coaxially to the centre axis of the yarn brake. The foam material forms a first spring assembly and allows the braking surface to locally yield in the yarn passing region. The foam material also has to transfer axial load from the axial coil springs onto the braking surface. The carrying structure is rigid. The first spring assembly is acting substantially at the diameter of the braking surface. The necessary bondings or gluings are difficult to manufacture and tend to degrade during operation of the yarn brake. Furthermore, any gluing spots cause inhomogeneties which produce fluctuations of the yarn tension during the orbiting movement of the withdrawn yarn between the braking surface and the withdrawal rim. A correct centring of the braking body at the withdrawal rim also can not be achieved for operation conditions.
It is an object of the invention to provide a yarn brake of the kind as mentioned and a yarn feeding device with a yarn brake which is easy to manufacture and very reliable, at which the braking surface reliably remains centred and wherein the braking surface shows an extremely uniform deformation performance in the circumferential direction. At the yarn feeding device the yarn brake should lead to a braking effect which fluctuates as little as possible. Furthermore, the braking effect should be accompanied by a self compensation effect. This means that the tension in the withdrawn yarn increases as little as possible in case of increasing yarn speed or increasing yarn acceleration, respectively, such that the yarn tension only varies a little relative to a precisely adjustable basis tension. Finally, a large adjustment range should be achieved within which the braking effect can be adjusted gradually.
The above object is achieved by providing a yarn brake having an annular and thin-walled braking body with a circumferentially continuous conical braking surface. The braking body is mounted via a first spring assembly in an annular carrier structure arranged at a side of the braking body facing away from the braking surface, which carrier structure is mountable at a stationary support. The conical braking surface of the braking body is continued unitarily by a plurality of springy lamellas extending outwardly essentially in a star-like fashion. The lamellas are formed with a pre-shaped curvature and are interconnected at a radial distance from the braking surface by an outer ring element and the lamellas constitute the first spring assembly within said braking body.
The above object is also achieved by providing a yarn feeder having a yarn brake, the yarn feeder including a storage drum forming a frontal withdrawal rim which is continuous in the circumferential direction. The yarn feeder also includes a housing bracket with a stationary support for the yarn brake, and the yarn brake includes an annular, thin-walled radially deformable braking body with a circumferentially continuous conical braking surface. The braking body is mounted via a first spring assembly in an outer ring of a cup-shaped, hollow carrier structure supported at the stationary support so as to axially and yieldably press the braking surface against the withdrawal rim. The carrier structure is tiltably supported by a universal joint at the stationary support, the universal joint centre essentially coinciding with the centre axis of the storage drum, and the universal joint consists of two positively interengaging ring parts, one of which is defined by a seat ring of the carrier structure and the other is a ring-shaped counter-engagement element formed with a spherical bearing surface.
The yarn brake can be manufactured for fair costs and in a simple way, since the braking body having the integrated and pre-bent lamellas and the ring element interconnecting the outer ends of the lamellas and the annular braking surface can be prefabricated comfortably. No bondings or gluing spots are needed to manufacture the braking body or to fix the braking body in the carrying structure. The lamellas generate their spring effect between the inner and outer ring parts and in the circumferential direction uniformly and with a large effective lever arm. The axial pre-load is transferred into the braking body by the carrying structure which in turn is supported at the stationary support. A long-stroke elasticity range results as well as a very uniform deformation performance of the braking surface in the circumferential direction. A correct centring of the braking surface at the withdrawal rim also results. Thanks to the long-stroke of the spring assembly, the braking surface compensates for possible deviations of the roundness of the withdrawal rim. Since there is no foam materials or elastomeric materials and no bonding spots, spring properties and braking properties can be assured which remain constant for long operation durations and which are not influenced by ageing or degrading. Furthermore, it is assured that deviations from a precise circular shape of the withdrawal rim do not influence the yarn tension or the uniformity of the braking effect over a full revolution of the yarn withdrawal point, as such deviations are compensated for. A particular advantage of the structure of the braking body is a relatively flat spring rate which allows precise and gradual adjustment of the braking effect between an extremely weak braking effect and an extremely strong braking effect. This is due to the relatively long axial stroke between the braking surface positioned by the pre-bent lamellas in a predetermined orientation and the carrying structure. The positive effect results from the fact that the pre-bent lamellas distribute over a long adjustment stroke the adjustment range of the yarn brake.
The carrying structure is supported by the universal joint in the yarn feeding device such that it can tilt to all sides. Due to the form fit of the ring parts the universal joint leads to a reliable centring. The universal joint does not allow any uncontrolled relative lateral movements but an optimum tilted position of the carrying structure to compensate for misalignments between the support and the storage drum of the yarn feeding device. Such misalignments may result from the assembly or the manufacturing of the components. The braking body itself is an easily replaceable part.
Manufacturing is facilitated also when the outer ring element is a unitary part of the braking body. The braking body for example is made from a metal foil blank, e.g. by etching or laser cutting the interspaces between the lamellas before they undergo a plastic deformation into their curved configuration. By this measure a first spring assembly with a long stroke is integrated into the braking body. The first spring assembly additionally holds the braking surface in an orientation at the withdrawal rim needed for an optimum braking performance. Due to this measure, the braking surface need not be deformed by the axial pre-load out of a radial orientation which is particularly advantageous in case of a very weak braking effect, e.g. for very thin yarns.
Alternatively, the outer ends of the lamellas are imbedded in a plastic ring, preferably by injection moulding, such that the plastic ring becomes part of the braking body.
The braking body is seated with a form fit in a socket of the carrying structure and is detachably mounted in the socket by means of a securing ring. The securing ring, preferably made from plastic material, is only needed for transport or the assembly procedure to prevent detachment of the braking body. In the operational position of the yarn brake, the braking body is secured by the axial pre-load.
In order to achieve a very uniform deformation performance of the braking surface and a relatively soft braking body, the stretched length of each lamella ought to correspond to a multiple of the width of the braking surface. Small interspaces between adjacent lamellas prevent the yarn from being caught.
The lamellas are pre-bent almost or exactly to an essentially radial orientation, or even further. Their inner roofs continue along the generatrice of the conical braking surface. Expediently, the ring element of the braking body is positioned radially which simplifies the fixation of the braking body in the carrying structure. By the plastic pre-bending of the lamellas prior to assembly of the yarn brake, the long stroke of the soft integrated spring assembly can be predetermined upon demand.
A long adjustment stroke in connection with long effective lengths of the lamellas and a soft characteristic are achieved by several bends (snake line shape) in the lamellas.
In order to vary the softness of the first spring assembly or the effective length of the lamellas, in case of a given radial mounting space for the yarn brake the lamellas can be formed such that they deviate from a radial orientation.
An advantageous axial pre-load transfer principle is selected in view of the desired self-centring of the yarn brake and a desirable xe2x80x9clazyxe2x80x9d operation performance of the braking surface. In the kinematical chain of the force transmission from the support into the braking surface, the force is acting within an axial long stroke of the elasticity range of the yarn brake from relatively far inward first outwardly into the ring element of the braking body, and then from the outer side by means of the lamellas again inwardly into the braking surface. That long force transmitting path is of advantage for the elasticity and is achieved by the structure of the yarn brake even if the useable mounting space for the yarn brake is limited in radial and axial directions.
Of particular advantage are spokes connecting the outer ring with the seat ring of the carrying structure. They form bending spring arms defining an additional large stroke and soft spring assembly in the yarn brake. These two spring assemblies acting in series within the yarn brake lead, e.g. to an adjustment range of extreme magnitude, a good self-centring function, an optimum compensation of misalignments, and an extreme de-coupling of the braking surface which behaves very passively or xe2x80x9cdeadxe2x80x9d in operation, i.e. the braking surface does not act undesirably dynamically. This is particularly important for high yarn speeds. Expediently, the spring rates of the first and second spring assemblies are substantially similar such that both spring assemblies do work during operation. The large stroke of the adjustment range is particularly expedient to gradually adjust the braking effect. In the lateral and torsional directions the carrying structure, however, is relatively stiff. The carrying structure is relatively soft only in the axial and tilting directions.
Advantageously, leaf springs are provided as spokes of the carrying structure, e.g. eight leaf springs are provided in a flat orientation. The number of lamellas in the braking body can amount to 200 or more in order to achieve a uniform force transmission.
Special dimensional relations for the leaf springs are advantageous. The yarn brake then operates softly over a long stroke. The braking surface shows a very uniform deformation performance. Said advantages result from both spring assemblies acting in series and from the long force transmission path from far inwards to the outer region and back into the inner region.
In order to achieve a uniform braking effect in the circumferential direction it is of advantage when the seat ring of the carrying structure is a component of the universal joint which defines the universal joint in co-action with a stationary counter engagement element. By said universal joint the yarn brake is properly centred in a form fit. There is a large degree of freedom for tilting motions to all sides in order to compensate for occasionally existing manufacturing or mounting tolerances between the stationary support and the storage drum.
The main components of the yarn brake are prefabricated components which then are releasably assembled without bonding spots.
In the yarn feeding device, the yarn brake produces only very small fluctuations of the yarn tension in relation to a pre-adjusted basis yarn tension of the withdrawn yarns. The yarn brake operates with an efficient self-compensating effect, meaning that high yarn speeds or strong yarn accelerations do not cause a significant increase of the yarn tension. To the contrary, in operation an optimum yarn tension profile can be achieved which shows almost no fluctuations. The variability of the braking effect departing from a very weak braking effect is distributed over a long adjustment stroke. The basis tension braking effect can be adjusted precisely.
The full extent of the available mounting space between the storage drum and bracket of the yarn feeding device can be used for the force transmission and the wide range elasticity of the yarn brake. Despite the yarn brake mounted therein, the access to the storage drum and to the area between the storage drum and the withdrawal eyelet is hardly restricted.

Yarn brake and yarn feeding device having a yarn brake


A method and apparatus for generating correction signals for use in forming low distortion analog signals. A digital representation of a desired analog waveform is encoded into a digital data signal which is outputted to memory. A digital correction signal is encoded, having an opposite phase and increased amplitude from the signal distortion which it is determined will occur when the digital data signal is repetitively read out of memory and decoded. This digital correction signal is outputted to memory. The digital data and correction signals are repetitively and synchronously read out of memory into a decoder. The decoder converts both digital signals into analog signals, so that the analog correction signal may superpose on the distortion in the analog data signal, resulting in a low distortion analog signal.

The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for generating correction signals for use in forming low distortion analog signals and, more particularly, to a correction signal generator that encodes a desired signal waveform into a digital data signal and a digital correction signal and stores such signals, and subsequently reads out the stored digital signals and decodes the signals into analog signals that may be summed into the desired low or ultra-low distortion analog signal.
Recent advances in analog signal processing technology have created a need for testing and other devices capable of generating purer and purer analog signals. Digitizers (such as A/D converters) now exist that are capable of 120 dB of dynamic range without interference from noise or distortion, and in the near future it is anticipated that signal processing technology will exist for analyzing analog signals with signal to noise and distortion ratios as high as 150 dB. However, before the new signal processing technology can be effectively implemented, especially in field applications such as seismic exploration, a means must exist for calibrating and testing these new digitizers. Because there are additional constraints such as power and weight limitations affecting equipment used in the field, the solution to this need has been elusive until now.
It should be recognized that there are many devices used for generating analog signals which are well known in the art. In particular, it is well known that many varieties of D/A converters exist which can be used to convert digital signals to analog signals. Further, successive approximation D/A converters, particularly when oversampled, have been used with some success to achieve signal to noise and distortion ratios of up to 100 dB for digital signals having as many as 18 bits.
However, it is difficult to achieve greater than 100 dB signal to noise and distortion ratios using such technology. For example, the successive approximation converters typically use a weighting source, whether it be a current source, voltage source, or resistors. These weighting sources are difficult to control and maintain accurate over time due to temperature fluctuations and other variables, particularly when more than 16 to 18 bits of input are used in the D/A converter. Thus, the recent advances in analog signal processing technology render the past state of the art of test signal generation practically useless; a new means of generating analog signals with a signal to noise and distortion ratio exceeding that of the new A/D technology is needed. Further, there is a particular need for analog signal sources that are portable and can be used for field calibration of the new digitizers.
A solution to this problem might be found in the use of a device that converts a continuously generated digital datastream into a desired analog signal. Such a datastream might be a sequence of discrete time data values, such as a digital bitstream. A device such as a DPCM (differential pulse code modulator) might then be used to convert, or used as a model for a program to computationally convert, the datastream into an analog signal. Also, there might be advantages in using a computational program modeled on one bit D/A converter circuits, found in the feedback loops of sigma delta digitizers. Such one bit D/A converters provide linear signals and, particularly with the well-known sigma delta converter, make encoder/decoder modeling easier.
But, while such an approach may produce low noise signals, the approach would not be feasible for applications such as field use. The computations required to continuously generate an appropriate digital bitstream, capable of conversion to a desired low or ultra-low distortion analog signal, would include high speed reiterative solutions of a system of equations and require a continuous high level of power consumption. This level of computational power is highly undesirable in field equipment, which is desired to operate at as low power as practical. In fact, with respect to field applications it is estimated that the equipment needed for computing such a signal could require as much as double the power needed for current field testing equipment, and would increase the speed and cost of the computational equipment.
Thus, there is a continuing need for a system of generating a digital signal and using this signal to form an analog signal with low or ultra-low distortion, but without significant extra requirements or expenses for computational equipment and power supplies.

System for generating correction signals for use in forming low distortion analog signals


The present invention provides a method of diagnosing Crohn's disease in a subject by determining the presence or absence or IgA anti-OmpC antibodies in the subject, where the presence of the IgA anti-OmpC antibodies indicates that the subject has Crohn's disease.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the fields of immunology and inflammatory bowel disease and more specifically to the diagnosis and treatment of Crohn's disease using the bacterial antigen, outer membrane protein C (OmpC).
2. Background Information
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is the collective term used to describe two gastrointestinal disorders of unknown etiology: Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). The course and prognosis of IBD, which occurs world-wide and is reported to afflict as many as two million people, varies widely. Onset of IBD is predominantly in young adulthood with diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever the three most common presenting symptoms. The diarrhea may range from mild to severe, and anemia and weight loss are additional common signs of IBD. Ten percent to fifteen percent of all patients with IBD will require surgery over a ten year period. In addition, patients with IBD are at increased risk for the development of intestinal cancer. Reports of an increased occurrence of psychological problems,  including anxiety and depression, are perhaps not surprising symptoms of what is often a debilitating disease that strikes people in the prime of life.
Unfortunately, the available therapies for inflammatory bowel disease are few, and both diagnosis and treatment have been hampered by a lack of knowledge regarding the etiology of the disease. What is clear, however, is that a combination of genetic factors, exogenous triggers and endogenous microflora can contribute to the immune-mediated damage to the intestinal mucosa seen in inflammatory bowel disease. In Crohn's disease, bacteria have been implicated in initiation and progression of the disease: the intestinal inflammation in Crohn's disease is notable for its frequent responsiveness to antibiotics and susceptibility to bacterial fecal flow. Common intestinal colonists and novel pathogens have been implicated in Crohn's by direct detection or by disease associated anti-microbial immune responses. Furthermore, in many genetically susceptible animal models of chronic colitis, lumenal micro-organisms are a necessary cofactor for disease; animals housed in a germ-free environment do not develop colitis. However, despite much direct and indirect evidence for a role for enteric microorganisms in Crohn's disease, the pathogenic organisms and antigens contributing to the immune dysregulation seen in this disease have not been identified.
Current diagnostic assays for Crohn's disease are unable to detect all patients with the disease. Thus, identification of novel microbial antigens associated with Crohn's disease would provide reagents that can increase the sensitivity of current diagnostic assays. In addition, such microbial antigens can bear a  disease related T-cell epitope and, as original or contributing inducers of the disease-related immune response, can be effective tolerogenic antigens for treating Crohn's disease.
Thus, there is a need for identification of microbial antigens associated with Crohn's disease that can be used to improve the sensitivity of current diagnostic assays for this disease. The present invention satisfies this need and provides related advantages as well.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Diagnosis, prevention and treatment of Crohn's disease using the OmpC antigen

The Regents of the University of California


The present disclosure provides novel endophyte strains or cultures thereof that have a symbiotic relationship with plants. The present disclosure further provides methods of improving seed vitality, biotic and abiotic stress resistance, plant health and yield under both stressed and unstressed environmental conditions, comprising inoculating a seed with the novel endophyte strains and cultivating a plant therefrom.

Fungi and bacteria are ubiquitous microorganisms. Endophyte is the term first coined by de Bary [1866] defining those microbes that colonize asymptomatically plant tissues [Stone et al., 2000]. The existence of endophytes has been known for more than one century [Freeman 1904] and it seems that each individual host, among the 300,000 plant species, inhabits several to hundreds of endophytes [Tan and Zou, 2001]. Endophytes are microbial organisms mostly symbiotically or mutualistically associated with living tissues of plant hosts. Many are capable of conferring plant tolerance to abiotic stressors or can be used by the plant for defense against pathogenic fungi and bacteria [Singh et al. 2011]. Some of these microorganisms have proven useful for agriculture, forestry and horticulture sectors, as well as plant production of medicinally important compounds.
Endophytes largely determine plant cell and whole plant genome regulation, including plant's vital cycles: (i) seed pre- and post-germination events (mycovitalism) [Vujanovic and Vujanovic 2007], (ii) plant nutrient uptake and growth-promoting mechanisms (mycoheterotrophism) [Smith and Read 2008], and (iii) plant environmental stress tolerance and induced systemic resistance against diseases and pests (mycosymbionticism) [Wallin 1927; Margulis, 1991]. They could play a major role in plant biomass production, CO2 sequestration, and/or yield and therefore be significant players in regulating the ecosphere, ensuring plant health and food security. In addition, they can be important sentinels (bioindicators) of environmental changes, as alterations in the structure and biomass of endophytic communities can herald changes not only in pathways of nutrient (N, P, K), energy transfer in food-webs and biogeochemical cycles but also in UV-B, heat, drought or salt tolerance influencing the overall plant ecosystem establishment and stability. Despite their abundance and likely importance in all terrestrial ecosystems, nearly nothing about the composition of endophytes in seeds or spermosphere, their interactions, or their common response to environmental changes is known.
While the spermosphere represents a rapidly changing and microbiologically dynamic zone of soil surrounding a germinating seed [Nelson, 2004], the rhizosphere is a microbiologically active zone of the bulk soil surrounding the plant's roots [Smith and Read 2008]. The rhizosphere supports mycoheterotrophy or a plant-mycorrhiza symbiotic relationship. The spermosphere, on the other hand, promotes mycovitality or an endophytic fungi relationship with the plant seeds—enhancing seed vigour, energy and uniformity of germination that could be fairly predicted. Fungal endophytes are distinct from mycorrhizae in that they can colonize not only roots, but also other plant organs including seeds [Vujanovic et al. 2000; Hubbard et al. 2011]. They belong to the multicellular phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota and form colonization symbiotic structures different from those produced by unicellular or cenocytic phylum Glomeromycota, known as vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis [Abdellatif et al. 2009]. Endophytic bacteria have been also found in virtually every plant studied, where they colonize an ecological niche similar to that of fungi, such as the internal healthy tissues. Although most bacterial endophytes appear to originate from the rhizosphere or phyllosphere; some may be transmitted through the seed [Ryan et al. 2008].
Seed germination is a vital phenophase to plants' survival and reproduction in either optimal or stressful environmental conditions. Microbial endophytic colonization at the seed state is especially critical because of the role of the seed as a generative organ in regeneration and dispersion of flowering plants [Baskin and Baskin 2004] and the role of mycobionts and symbiotically associated bacteria (bactobionts) as potential drivers of seedling recruitment in natural—undisturbed, disturbed and polluted—habitats [Mühlmann and Peintner 2000; Adriaensen et al. 2006; White and Torres 2010]. Thus, developing methods by which seedling emergence can be enhanced and protected under the limitations of disease pressure, heat or drought is precious. The use of endophytic symbionts is a promising method by which seed germination can be enhanced [Vujanovic et al. 2000; Vujanovic and Vujanovic 2006; Vujanovic and Vujanovic 2007]. It was hypothesized that plant stress hardiness can be conferred via a mycobiont-seed relationship known as mycovitality—a phenomenon that had been reserved for Orchidaceae [Vujanovic 2008] and via bactovitality which refers to a form of bactosymbiosis, using different endophytic strains with variety of activities.

Endophytic microbial symbionts in plant prenatal care


An information processing system includes a reception part and a process control part. The reception part receives a processing request including process identification information identifying a process and user identification information from an apparatus. The process control part, when the received user identification information is stored in correlation with the received process identification information, executes the process according to the process identification information based on the result of applying change information stored in correlation with the received user identification information to setting information stored in correlation with apparatus identification information identifying the apparatus and with the received process identification information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information processing systems and methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a system in which image data scanned in an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral are transferred to a cloud service and a process according to preset settings information (such as storage in an online storage system) is executed on the image data in the cloud service.
Reference may be made to, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2007-293654 for related art.

Information processing system and method


The present invention is an apparatus to counter normal gravitational force in order to provide a personnel lifting device. The personnel lifting device is a lighter-than-air gas-filled balloon having a harness to suspend a user therefrom. The balloon further includes a weighted tether to automatically control the height of any ascent and the speed of any descentxe2x80x94wherein the balloon may be used as a component of an amusement.

This invention relates generally to a personnel lifting device to completely counter a normal gravitational force, and more particularly to various features of a balloon, wherein the balloon apparatus is limited in the height of ascent or has controlled descent by a weighting mechanism associated with at least one tether attached to the balloon apparatus.
The present invention is an apparatus for providing an upward lifting force to an individual(s), so as to enable the individual to partially counteract the earth""s normal gravitational force, thereby allowing for a slower, controlled ascent to, or descent from, an elevated position.
One aspect of the invention is based on the observation of problems with conventional lighter-than-air flight systems is their reliance on a xe2x80x9cpilot,xe2x80x9d a ballast and/or fuel system to control the flight. Very little control is left to the inexperienced user. Moreover, existing low-gravity jumping apparatus (e.g., Parabounce(trademark)) require fixed tethering and or have crude methods of adjusting the net lift of the apparatus with the user. Furthermore, such systems merely allow for bouncing or jumping, and do not contemplate descent from elevated positions or an ability to maneuver or control the apparatus.
This aspect is based on the discovery of a technique that alleviates these problems by providing a balloon as part of the personnel lifting device, wherein the balloon and user can automatically be limited in the height to which they ascend via weighted tethers, while preventing or controlling the impact between the user and the ground upon descent. This aspect may be achieved by incorporating one or more weighted tethers, attached to the balloon, so as to add weight as the balloon and user ascend (more tether extended increases weight due to increased length of tether being suspended), and to decrease weight as they descend.
Moreover, a system incorporating the maneuverable, controlled descent balloon may be used to provide an amusement ride or game. The techniques described herein are advantageous because they provide an efficient method of offering user-controlled lifting, wherein the apparatus may be employed as an amusement. The various efficiencies afforded by aspects of the invention enable the personnel lifting device and amusement applications to be provided in a cost-efficient manner. The techniques of the invention are advantageous because they provide a range of alternatives for use of a personnel lifting device, each of which is useful in appropriate situations. As a result of the invention, the personnel lifting device can be offered in a low cost amusement setting.

Personnel lift device with automatic ascent and descent control


A method of changing the cross-sectional format of a strand when continuously casting strands by using a mould, involves at least one mould side wall which is displaced relative to an opposite mould side wall and has its inclination changed. According to the method the displacement of the mould side wall during casting is effected by step-wise changing of the inclination in a manner that, in a first step, the upper or lower rim region of the mould side wall is displaced in one direction, and, in a second step, the opposite rim region of this mould side wall is displaced in the same direction.

The invention relates to apparatus and a method of changing the cross-sectional format of a strand when continuously casting strands with a mould, at least one side wall of the mould being adjusted relative to an opposite mould side wall, and its inclination being changed.
For changing the cross-sectional format of a strand, such as e.g. for changing the strand width of a slab, the continuous casting process hitherto has had to be interrupted. It was only after displacing the mould narrow sides to the new cross-sectional format of the strand, that the casting process could be started anew by using a starter bar, and this only after having carried out the necessary set-up. This resulted first in a loss of production due to the time expenditure necessary for setting up the plant, and secondly in a deterioration of the yield due to the resulting end and starting scrap, and due to the resulting residual steel in the distributor vessel.
From German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,018,962, a specially designed mould is known with which the changing of the format of a strand is feasible without using a starter bar. For this purpose, the mould comprises mould side walls that are subdivided at half-height. For changing the format, at first the bath level in the mould is lowered to below the divisional plane of the mould side walls. Then the upper wall parts of the divided side walls are each laterally displaced in accordance with the new cross-sectional format of the strand, whereupon a specially manufactured cooling scrap container containing cooling scrap is inserted. The bath level is next raised, and finally the lower wall part of the divided mould narrow side wall is laterally displaced in accordance with the upper wall part. Changing of the format according to German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,018,962 is cumbersome to carry out, requires an interruption of the casting process and a complex design of the mould. Furthermore, the production of cooling scrap containers is necessary, which--as regards their dimensions--have to precisely correspond to the new and to the old cross-sectional formats of the strand. Insertion of the cooling scrap containers requires additional manipulations.

Method of changing the cross sectional format of a strand and a plate mould for carrying out the method


An automatic control system is shown to vary the mixture of fuel-to-air in a conventional internal combustion engine to minimize resulting pollutants and maximize engine efficiency and performance. The system senses manifold vacuum and engine acceleration and based, in part, upon such inputs forces the mixture leaner until an instability event is detected at which time the system rapidly forces the mixture richer at a predetermined rate and time period to overcome the instability. The mixture is then again gradually forced leaner. The rate of leaning is controlled by the vacuum pressure so that no leaning occurs at or near full throttle and the rate of leaning is decreased either gradually or incrementally as power requirements decrease. The air-to-fuel ratio may be adjusted by regulating the introduction of secondary air or by adjusting the quantity of fuel injection. A control system for individually monitoring and correcting fuel injection rates of individual cylinders is provided. Another embodiment of the control system includes an improved vacuum operated air valve for disabling the leaning function when the throttle is fully closed or fully open. The lean burn control system may be combined with either an exhaust gas recirculation system or a water injection system.

It is well known in the art that lean fuel/air mixtures may be used advantageously to produce relatively low levels of exhaust emissions and relatively low fuel consumption. However, drivability often suffers when lean mixtures are employed, because mixtures which are slightly "too lean" result in a markedly increased incidence of combustion instability. Combustion instability results in poor drivability and increased emission of hydrocarbons.
A measurement of engine acceleration has been shown to be a reliable source of information regarding combustion instability. Engine acceleration may be measured by monitoring changes in the speed of the engine, or by measuring the motion of the engine. Further, it has been shown that control systems may be constructed which continuously urge the fuel/air mixture leaner, until an indication of "over-leanness" (combustion instability) is detected at which time the mixture is urged richer. However, these systems require the mixture to be over-lean for a period of time before the mixture responds to the enrichening.
Control systems for automobile engines must be especially fast and accurate to provide the correct quantities of fuel and air at each moment in time, while the engine experiences rapid changes in throttle position, speed, and load. The ability of a control system to quickly adjust its mixture based on changes in operating conditions is characterized as overall system response. Therefore, a need exists to minimize the response time for a lean burn mixture control system.
Fuel injection has been used commercially for many years. The term "fuel injection" is used whenever the liquid fuel is forced into the engine under pressure, as opposed to aspirated into the airstream, as done by a carburetor. Fuel injection may be either mechanically or electronically controlled, and the flow of fuel may be either continuous or intermittent.
In all of these forms, it is desirable to control the air-to-fuel ratio. When all the cylinders of a multi-cylinder engine are treated as an aggregate; the control systems are designed to deliver the same air-to-fuel ratio to each of the individual cylinders. In fact, one of the chief benefits claimed for many prior art fuel injection systems is their ability to deliver nearly the identical quantity of fuel to all the cylinders.
While uniformity of fuel delivery to all cylinders is an object of most prior art systems, air delivery to each of the cylinders is not necessarily exactly uniform, and the air-to-fuel ratio requirements of each cylinder are not necessarily uniform, particularly when lean mixtures are used.
The prior art relies on a plurality of sensors to measure engine and environmental operating conditions. The control systems described in the prior art make control decisions based on sensor inputs. Each of those prior art sensors measures a time-averaged signal which is assumed to represent all the cylinders as an aggregate. Information regarding the differences between cylinders is not available from those prior art sensors. Accordingly, there is a need for control systems which consider separately the conditions in each cylinder.
Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) has been used for many years for exhaust emission control purposes. One of the disadvantages of prior art EGR systems is degradation of drivability. It is well known that EGR has a tendency to spoil the combustion. EGR is known to reduce combustion temperatures, reduce the speed of flame propagation within the combustion chamber, and increase cyclic variability from one combustion event to the next. This variability of flame speed causes undesirable combustion roughness, which is perceived by the driver of the vehicle as poor drivability.
When EGR is used with prior art lean burn control systems, the degradation in drivability can be particularly offensive. Therefore, there exists the need for a lean burn control system which is compatible with EGR.
Water injection has also been known (and sometimes used) for many years for purposes of engine knock suppression and power enhancement. Prior art water injection systems have sometimes substituted alcohol or a water/alcohol mixture for water, to prevent freezing in cold weather. When water or alcohol are injected into the intake manifold in quantities roughly equal to the fuel flow rate, the principal effect is a cooling of the combustion gasses. As a result, the formation of Oxides of Nitrogen (NO.sub.x) in the combustion gasses is reduced markedly, and the intake charge is cooled. Water injection has been used to increase the density of the intake charge, allowing more power to be achieved without producing excessive engine temperatures. In smaller quantities, water injection is an effective emission control technique for NO.sub.x reduction.
However, as with EGR, water injection tends to spoil the combustion and reduce the engine's tolerance for lean mixtures. Water injection is known to reduce combustion temperatures, reduce the speed of flame propagation within the combustion chamber, and increase cyclic variability from one combustion event to the next. This variability of flame speed causes undesirable combustion roughness, which is perceived by the driver of the vehicle as poor drivability. Therefore, a need exists for a lean burn control system which is compatible with water injection.


A molding machine is disclosed which can be used in the manufacture of concrete building elements. A method for the molding of concrete modular units using the disclosed concrete molding machine is also provided. The molding machine is constructed of vertical walls joined to form a single outer frame which is moveable up and down by means of expandable joints such as pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders which allow positioning and vibration of the outer frame. To said outer frame are attached horizontally expandable joints which support at least two mold sides which can be placed in abutment by the action of the expandable joints so as to form the continuous sides of a mold. The bottom side of the sequentially assembled mold is provided by a metal plate to which the aforesaid sides are lowered or attached. Detachment of the mold sides from the said outer frame as a unit allows support of the uncured concrete by the mold sides as an assembled mold during subsequent transport from the molding machine to curing ovens. The outer frame may then be used to assemble another set of mold sides immediately and is not prevented from use until the cementitious material which filled a prior set of mold sides cures sufficiently for the removal of the mold sides Provision is also made for the support of articles to be cast internally in the building elements by means of members attached at one end to the vertical walls of said outer frame, wherein the members may be extended horizontally thru apertures in the mold sides to within the confines of the various molds by a means of expansion and contraction which forms an integral part of the said members.

It is now common practice in the concrete or cementitious products industry to mold articles such as concrete blocks on various machines.
In these machines a mold of fixed dimensions is filled with concrete and then the mold is vibrated. Once compacted by the vibration, the molded article is pushed vertically downward out of the bottom of the mold having four walls which are fixed and immovable relative to one another.
So configured, these machines do not allow for a fast change in the dimensions of the article being molded. These machines and molds also require that the vertical sides of the article being molded be smooth and substantially vertical so that the molded article may be pushed downward out of the mold after compaction.
These machines of the art also do not allow for the inclusion of hollow members in a specified position in the molded concrete or cementitious article.
The object of the present invention is to remedy these shortcomings of the present art.


In an imaging device having a belt supporting image on an image supporting surface and moving along an endless path in a process direction, an exposure device for forming images on the image supporting surface, an arrangement is provided to derive information about belt position with respect to the exposure device. The belt is provided with at least one fiducial opening or target at a belt edge, and a sensor is arranged with respect to the belt and the fiducial opening, to sense illumination directed through the fiducial opening. An illumination source is provided at a fixed position with respect to the exposure device and the sensor to directing illumination to the sensor, when the fiducial opening is aligned with the sensor, including at least two independently detectable illumination sources arranged along a cross process direction. Belt position with respect to the exposure device is then determined from the amount of occlusion of one of the first and second independently detectable illumination sources. Control of belt position may be split between image processing methods and mechanical methods.

In certain electrophotographic applications such as color xerography, a charge retentive surface moving in a process direction is electrostatically charged and exposed to a light pattern of an original image to be reproduced to selectively discharge the surface in accordance therewith. The resulting pattern of charged and discharged areas on that surface form an electrostatic charge pattern (an electrostatic latent image) conforming to the original image. The latent image is developed by contacting it with a finely divided electrostatically attractable powder or powder suspension referred to as "toner". Toner is held on the image areas by the electrostatic charge on the surface. Subsequently, a second image can be formed over the first image, by providing a re-charge station, a second exposure station and a second development arrangement. Subsequent extension of this basic process can be understood to form the basis for producing multiple color images. Conveniently, an LED bar, an array of light emitting diodes arranged in a linear array and extending across the charge retentive surface, transverse to the process direction may be used as an exposure device. However, such an arrangement has no intrinsic built-in means for compensating for uncontrolled travel or mechanical drift of the charge retentive surface (commonly a belt) in the cross process direction. This becomes especially important for color images where misregistration of the different colors by as little as a fraction of a pixel width can seriously detract from image quality.

Belt position sensing for image registration


A reaction chamber contains catalytic material(s). Tunable microwave source(s) each emit microwave radiation at corresponding time-varying microwave frequency(ies) or at simultaneous multiple different microwave frequencies. Microwave transmission element(s) irradiate the interior volume of the reaction chamber with the microwave radiation, emitted by the microwave source(s), that propagates along the transmission element(s) into the reaction chamber. The reaction chamber is characterized by a maximum temperature variation of a fixed-frequency, steady-state temperature spatial profile that results from irradiation of the reaction chamber by microwave radiation at a substantially fixed microwave frequency and at a reference microwave power level. Irradiation of the reaction chamber at the reference microwave power level by the microwave radiation with the time-varying microwave frequency(ies), or the simultaneous multiple different microwave frequencies, results in a multi-frequency temperature spatial profile having a maximum temperature variation less than the maximum temperature variation of the fixed-frequency, steady-state temperature spatial profile.

Many examples exist wherein a reaction chamber containing catalytic material(s) is irradiated with microwave energy to increase the rate of one or more catalyzed chemical reactions in the chamber. A few of those examples are described in:                U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,374 entitled "Method of producing carbon monoxide and hydrogen by gasification of solid carbonaceous material involving microwave irradiation" issued Mar. 6, 1984 to Helm;        U.S. Pub. No. 2014/0163120 entitled "Method and apparatus for producing liquid hydrocarbon fuels" published Jun. 12, 2014 in the name of Kyle;        U.S. Pub. No. 2014/0346030 entitled "Methods and apparatus for liquefaction of organic solids" published Nov. 27, 2014 in the name of Livneh;        U.S. Pub. No. 2014/0356246 entitled "Process and apparatus for converting greenhouse gases into synthetic fuels" published Dec. 4, 2014 in the name of Livneh; and        U.S. Pat. No. 8,779,013 entitled "Process and apparatus for converting greenhouse gases into synthetic fuels" issued Jul. 15, 2014 to Livneh.

Microwave irradiation of a chamber with time-varying microwave frequency or multiple microwave frequencies


A fitting (26) for rotatably supporting a conduit (22) in a bulb-shaped slot in a wall (20). The fitting (26) has a pair of spaced parallel fiats (38, 40) defining a minor dimension for sliding into the narrow entrance (14) to the circular seat (16) of the slot and a larger circular major dimension (36) for rotating into a locked position crossways the entrance (14) to prevent removal of the fitting (26) from the slot. A radial web acts as a stop (50) to prevent backward insertion of the fitting into the slot and for engaging the edge of the entrance (14) in the locked position to prevent the retention arm (46) from overriding the retainer recess (18).

Motion transmitting remote control assemblies require support fittings for attachment to support structure such as a wail, bulkhead, bracket, or the like. A class of such fittings known to the prior art present a pair of flanges for engaging a U-shaped slot in a wall with an L-shaped arm presenting a projection for snapping into a hole or recess to retain the fitting in the slot. Examples of fittings falling in this class are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,763,541 to Spease, 4,951,524 to Niskanen and 5,272,934 to Chegash et al, all assigned to the assignee of the subject invention.
Such assemblies work very well for supporting a conduit in a slot where the conduit is not likely to experience forces which could "pop" the conduit out of the slot.


A multilayer composite in which a nonwoven filter media layer is affixed to but separated from a hydrophobic microporous membrane such that the multilayer porous composite provides effective separation of water and particulate with substantial resistance to clogging in new fuels with low interfacial tensions.

For a variety of economic, political, and environmental reasons there has been a drive for higher fuel efficiency, lower emissions, and more sustainable fuel sources. This drive has resulted in changes to fuel composition and chemistry of middle distillate fuels, new high precision engine designs, and the use of biofuels and blends thereof. These trends are discussed, for example, in "Filtration Solutions for High Pressure Common Rail Fuel Systems," Barry Verdegan, Abby True-Dahl, William Haberkamp, Norm Blizard, David Genter, and Eric Quillen, American Filtration & Separation Society Annual Conference, May 19-22 (2008), Valley Forge, Pa. As a consequence, new fuels often have higher water content, lower interfacial tension against water, and now readily form stable emulsions of very fine water droplets on shearing in transfer via pumping. In addition, newer precision engine designs are highly sensitive and easily damaged. The escalated water content in fuel when present in the form of free water droplets can reduce lubricity, thus causing damage. Furthermore, suspended particulates of a size from 4-20 microns and smaller can provide a significant source of abrasive wear. These factors generate a need for higher fuel purity requiring durable, long-lasting fuel filters, water separators, and the porous filter media composites that comprise them. These filters find use in a variety of applications where middle distillate fuels are used in combustion engines including, but not limited to: automotive, trucking, marine, and aerospace markets.
Filter media known to be applied for these applications include a wide variety of porous and composite materials. The porous composite media most commonly employed in practice are comprised of fibrous polymer non-wovens (non-wovens" as used herein are also referred to alternatively but equivalently as "nonwovens", cellulose or paper nonwovens including those containing microfiber glass, and textiles. Many of the aforementioned media also include hydrophobic coatings. Examples also exist of fibrous and non-fibrous microfilter membranes including fully and partially fluorinated polymers and expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE).
However, these porous and composite materials fail to meet increased needs for durable, long-life, water and particulate separation. Specifically, there is a need for a porous composite capable of removing water and fine particulate to a purity level sufficient to protect new engines in the new fuel compositions and chemistries which include interfacial tension-lowering additives and surfactants. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,904,845, 7,938,963, US20090178970 provide examples of attempts which include combinations of microfibrous composite non-wovens and textiles. These attempts fail to provide sufficient emulsified water removal in the presence of additives and surfactants in new fuels. In addition these attempts often include hydrophobic treatments that lack durability and are defeated over time. In contrast, ePTFE microfilters such as described in US patent application 2008/0105629 A1, can provide sufficient durable emulsified water removal, but are found to rapidly clog in the presence of particulate, thus reducing or eliminating liquid passage through the filter rendering the filter inoperable. In contrast, the ePTFE described by U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,764,598, and 7,285,209 is not always effective in preventing clogging and involves a complicated apparatus requiring recirculation to provide sweeping flow across the composite surface to delay clogging. Thus, known proposed solutions which employ ePTFE have issues related to clogging and are of limited practical use.
Significantly, much of the existing art regarding filtering water droplets from fuel involves the use of a "coalescer." A coalescer operates to remove water from fuel by allowing fine water droplets to pass through the material of the coalescer, but to encourage those fine droplets to merge, or coalesce, with one another. The water thus forms coarse particles or droplets which are then heavy enough to fall out of the fuel, for example by the force of gravity. This approach, which allows the water to flow through the material and encourages fine-to-coarse particle size progression in order to separate water from fuel actually teaches away from the present invention. In accordance with teachings of the present invention, both fine and coarse water droplets are rejected at the surface of a fine separating layer, rather than being allowed to pass through it.


A stripline filter with wide-band filter characteristics having an attenuation pole on a high frequency side of frequency characteristics. The stripline filter includes at least three resonant lines, and two of the resonant lines include parallel line parts and bent parts. The third resonant line has a U shape in which both ends thereof are open and interdigitally coupled to the two resonant lines located on both sides thereof. The parallel line parts extend from base ends connected to a ground electrode via side surface lines that are parallel to respective line parts of the third resonant line. The bent parts extend so as to be bent from ends of the parallel line parts, and face each other at an interval.

A stripline filter having filter characteristics suitable for a communication system that uses a wide band in a high frequency band, is known (see Patent Document 1).
FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an existing stripline filter. The stripline filter 101 is a filter that uses three resonators. The three resonators are constituted of lines 102, 103A, and 103B, respectively, provided on the same principal surface of a dielectric substrate. The line 102 is bent in U shape, and its ends are open. The lines 103A and 103B each has an I shape in which one end is connected to a ground electrode 105, and their ends are open. These resonators are interdigitally coupled to each other, and input/output transmission lines 104A and 104B are connected to the lines 103A and 103B, respectively. In this configuration, the resonators are strongly coupled to each other by being interdigitally coupled to each other, thereby achieving expansion of the band of the filter characteristics.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-358501
Due to development of UWB (ultra wide band) communication and the like, there is a demand for further expansion of the bands of stripline filters. However, in existing stripline filters, due to constraints on element size and the like, there are limitations on the line lengths of striplines and the degree of coupling between resonators, and there is also a limitation on expansion of bands.
Moreover, it is difficult to optionally set an attenuation pole and the like while achieving wide-band frequency characteristics. Particularly, it is difficult to provide an attenuation pole on a high frequency side of the band and to finely set its pole frequency.


A signal encoding method and device are disclosed. The method includes, when an encoding manner of a previous frame of a currently-input frame is a continuous encoding manner, predicting a comfort noise that is generated by a decoder according to the currently-input frame when the currently-input frame is encoded into an SID frame, determining an actual silence signal, determining a deviation degree between the comfort noise and the actual silence signal, determining an encoding manner of the currently-input frame according to the deviation degree, and encoding the currently-input frame according to the encoding manner of the currently-input frame. It is determined, according to the deviation degree between the comfort noise and the actual silence signal, that the encoding manner of the currently-input frame is the hangover frame encoding manner or the SID frame encoding manner, which can save communication bandwidth.

A discontinuous transmission (DTX) system is a widely-applied voice communication system, where in a silence period of voice communication, a manner of discontinuously encoding and transmitting a voice frame can be used to reduce occupation of channel bandwidth, and meanwhile, adequate subjective call quality can still be ensured.
Voice signals may be usually classified into two types, namely, an active voice signal and a silence signal. The active voice signal refers to a signal including a call voice, and the silence signal refers to a signal not including a call voice. In the DTX system, the active voice signal is transmitted by using a continuous transmission method, and the silence signal is transmitted by using a discontinuous transmission method. The discontinuous transmission of the silence signal is implemented in the following manner: an encoder intermittently encodes and sends a special encoding frame, namely, a silence descriptor (SID) frame, where in the DTX system, none of any other signal frame is encoded between two adjacent SID frames. A decoder discretionarily generates, according to discontinuously-received SID frames, a noise that enables comfortable subjective hearing of a user. The comfort noise (CN) does not aim to accurately restore an original silence signal, but aims to satisfy a requirement of a decoder user on subjective hearing quality, and enable the user not to feel uncomfortable.
In order to obtain better subjective hearing quality at the decoder, quality of transition from an active voice band to a CN band is critical. To obtain smoother transition, one effective method is that: during transition from an active voice band to a silence band, the encoder does not transit to a discontinuous transmission state immediately, but additionally delays for a period of time. In this period of time, some silence frames at the beginning of the silence band are still considered as active voice frames and are continuously encoded and sent, that is, a hangover interval of continuous transmission is set. The advantage of this measure lies in that: the decoder can fully use a silence signal within the hangover interval to better estimate and extract a feature of the silence signal, so as to generate a better CN.
However, in the prior art, a hangover mechanism is not effectively controlled. A condition for triggering the hangover mechanism is relatively simple, that is, whether to trigger the hangover mechanism is determined by simply checking whether there are enough active voice frames to be continuously encoded and sent at the end of a voice activity; after the hangover mechanism is triggered, a hangover interval at a fixed length may be executed compulsorily. However, it is unnecessary that a hangover interval at a fixed length must be executed when there are enough active voice frames to be continuously encoded and sent, for example, when a background noise of a communication environment is stable, even if no hangover interval is set or a short hangover interval is set, the decoder can obtain a CN having better quality. Therefore, this mode of simply controlling the hangover mechanism causes waste of communication bandwidth.

Signal encoding of comfort noise according to deviation degree of silence signal


The present invention provides methods of treating a β-arrestin2 mediated and/or GPR120 mediated response in a subject. The β-arrestin2 mediated and/or GPR120 mediated response can be inflammation, including diabetes, inflammation associated with obesity and obesity. The methods can comprise administering to a subject a therapeutically effective amount of a compound predicted to bind a β-arrestin2 molecule and/or GPR120, wherein the compound selectively activates a β-arrestin2-dependent signaling pathway of GPR120.

The traditional view of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) has been that ligands, whether agonists or antagonists, affected both the G protein-dependent and β-arrestin-dependent pathways equally. Recently, however, it has been shown that the two pathways are pharmacologically separable. Certain ligands are capable of selectively activating one of the two pathways. These ligands are referred to as biased ligands, and the phenomenon is termed "biased agonism" or "ligand-directed signaling." To date, no compounds or methods for identifying compounds that selectively activate one of the two pathways have been provided. Therefore, what is needed in the art are such compounds that have biased effects for treating β-arrestin and/or GPCR mediated responses, as well as methods of screening for such compounds. In addition, methods of using such ligands to treat conditions associated with the G protein-dependent and/or β-arrestin-dependent pathways are needed.

Methods of treating inflammatory conditions


An apparatus and method for Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) generation, and OCC mapping, includes generating the first group of OCC sequences, which is used to generate the first group of OCC sequences; generating the second group of OCC sequences, which is used to mirror the columns of the first group of OCC sequences to generate the second group of OCC sequences; generating the third group of OCC sequences, which is used to perform cyclic shift on the column vectors of the first group of OCC sequences to generate the third group of OCC sequences; and generating the fourth group of OCC sequences, which is used to mirror the columns of the third group of OCC sequences to generate the fourth group of OCC sequences.

The next-generation wireless communication system LTE-A (Long Term Evolution-Advanced) of 3GPP requires providing a peak rate of 1 Gps and a peak spectrum efficiency of 30 bps/Hz in the downlink. This brings challenge to the transmission scheme in the physical layer of the system. A multi-antenna MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) system is able to support parallel data flow sending thereby greatly increasing the system throughput. Typically, the independent forward error correction encoding is firstly performed on the parallel data flow in the multi-antenna transmission, and then the encoded code words are mapped into the corresponding data transmission layer. In one transmission, the number of all the layers supported by the system is also referred to as a Rank of this transmission. The process of transforming data in each layer into data on each physical antenna is referred to as a pre-encoding process for a signal. LTE-A Rel-10 supports a pre-encoding technology with maximum Rank of 8.
The sending terminal should transmit pilot sequences used for channel estimation, namely demodulation reference signals (DMRSs), for the receiving terminal to perform MIMO decoding and related demodulation. The design of DMRSs should satisfy that DMRSs corresponding to each data transmission layer are mutually orthogonal, i.e. ensure that there is no interference between equivalent channels of pre-encoded channels of respective sending antennas. In a Rel-10 system, DMRSs corresponding to each data transmission layer are distinguished in the manner of frequency division multiplexing (FDM) and/or code division multiplexing (CDM). The code division multiplexing is implemented by spreading sequences whose correlation is ideal with orthogonal cover code sequences. The orthogonal cover code sequences usually employ Walsh Code sequences or Discrete Fourier Transform sequences.
If the orthogonal cover code sequences are mapped in the time domain, i.e. spread in the time domain, it is usually assumed that the channels in the physical resources corresponding to the cover code sequences are identical. Assuming that a spreading factor of a spreading sequence is M, the channel response of the M OFDM symbols are considered to be identical. This assumption is true in the low speed environment. However, with the increasing moving speed of a mobile station, variations of the channel response of the M OFDM symbols increase and the orthogonality of the spreading codes are destroyed, leading to mutual interference between respective data transmission layers and thus reducing the accuracy of the channel estimation.
Moreover, in the Rel-10 system, DMRSs are subjected to the same pre-encoding process as that for data and are mapped onto each sending antenna. The pre-encoding process performs linear superposition on the DMRSs corresponding to each of the code division multiplexed data transmission layers. If the DMRSs corresponding to the M data transmission layers are superposed in the same direction, a signal with amplitude of M is gotten; and if the DMRSs corresponding to the M data transmission layers are superposed in the opposite direction, they are mutually canceled out and a signal with amplitude of 0 is gotten. If such power imbalance of each of the sending antennas occurs in the entire frequency bandwidth, the efficiency of the transmission power may be reduced apparently.
The reference documents of the present invention are listed in the following, which are incorporated herein by reference as if they are described in detail in the present description.    1. [Patent Document 1]: Ishii Hiroyuki, Higuchi Kenichi, Base station apparatus, user apparatus and method used in mobile communication system (US 20100034077 A1);    2. [Patent Document 2]: Hooli Kari, Pajukoski Ka, et al., Method, apparatuses, system and related computer product for resource allocation (WO 2009056464 A1);    3. [Patent Document 3]: Kim Hak Seong, Yun Young Woo, et al., Method of transmitting scheduling reference signal (US 20100008333 A1);    4. [Patent Document 4]: Che Xiangguang, Guo Chunyan, et al., Variable transmission structure for reference signals in uplink messages (WO 2009022293 A2);    5. [Patent Document 5]: Cho Joon-young, Zhang Jianzhong, et al., Apparatus and method for allocating code resource to uplink ACK/NACK channels in a cellular wireless communication system (US 2009046646 A1);    6. [Patent Document 6]: Yang Yunsong, Kwon Younghoon, System and method for adaptively controlling feedback information (US 20090209264 A1); and    7. [Patent Document 7]: Pajukoski Kari P, Tiirola Esa, Providing improved scheduling request signaling with ACK/NACK or CQI (US 20090100917).

Apparatus and method for orthogonal cover code (OCC) generation, and apparatus and method for OCC mapping