The invention comprises a wireless electrical interface system and method for establishing a non-intrusive interface with the vehicle's electrical subsystems required for the operation of an aftermarket electrical device, such as an Ignition Interlock Device (IID) or a GPS tracking device with integrated immobilizer technology. Said non-intrusive interface is established through utilizing engineered connectors for electrical connections to the vehicle's electrical system, and by incorporating wireless interface technology to establish a wireless electrical interface between the vehicle's electrical subsystems accessible only within the passenger compartment and the vehicle's electrical subsystems accessible only within the engine/trunk compartment, eliminating the conventional hardwired electrical interface between aftermarket electrical devices and the vehicle's electrical system.

The interface between a vehicle's electrical system and aftermarket electrical devices require hardwired installation methods performed by 3rd party installers. An example is the requirement for aftermarket Ignition Interlock Devices (IIDs) to interface with the following vehicle's electrical subsystems: (1) the battery system, (2) the ignition system, (3) the starter system, (4) the horn system, and (5) the lighting system. Currently, to achieve the interface the 3rd party installer must hardwire said IIDs into said vehicle's electrical subsystems, which generally requires modifications to the OEM's electrical and, or structural design of the vehicle. Examples of IIDs include but are not limited to Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Devices (BAIIDs) and GPS tracking devices having an immobilizer system.
As stated, aftermarket electrical devices requiring an interface with multiple vehicle electrical subsystems, typically requires 3rd party installers to hardwire the device into the vehicle's electrical wiring system. The hardwired method typically includes but is not limited to: (1) probing of the vehicle's electrical wiring system to locate the correct electric subsystem circuit, within a wire loom, required by the aftermarket electrical device, (2) splicing into various vehicle electrical subsystems for interfacing with the aftermarket electrical device, (3) modifying the wiring of the vehicle's starter subsystem for connecting to the immobilizer circuit of the aftermarket electrical device, (4) altering and/or damaging the vehicle's firewall for access to the required electrical subsystem(s) within the vehicle's engine/trunk compartments, (5) stripping and terminating multiple electrical conductors for electrical connections to required electrical subsystems, and (6) routing additional aftermarket electrical wiring throughout the vehicle for electrical connections between the vehicle and the aftermarket electrical device. Although the conventional hardwiring method establishes an interface between an aftermarket electrical device and the required vehicle's electrical subsystems, recent advancements in the design of the overall vehicle's electrical system, significantly increases the complexity of each electrical subsystem and vastly impacts the hardwired method, encouraging the use of alternative methods.
Examples of advancements in the design of a vehicle's electrical system, significantly impacting the hardwired method by increasing the complexity of each electrical subsystem, include but is not limited to: (1) the introduction of solid-state devices within the vehicle's electrical subsystems, (2) the introduction of factory installed remote starting systems, (3) the introduction of factory installed push-button ignition systems, (4) the introduction of key ignition systems using pulse width modulation, and (4) the introduction of totally integrated fuse and relay power centers. Improvements in microcontroller (MCU) technology specifically designed for automotive and industrial applications is the primary reason for these advancements. These breakthroughs have allowed vehicle manufacturers to improve the electrical system, by using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). PWM is a technique for getting analog results by digital means.
The significance of MCU improvements is aftermarket electrical devices designed to interface with a vehicle's analog, 12-volt, electrical subsystems and are not currently capable of interfacing with the vehicle's PWM, 5-volt, electrical subsystems. Thus, the hardwired method is required to establish the required interface between the aftermarket electrical devices and the vehicle's electrical system, requiring modifications to the OEM wiring system of various electrical subsystems and/or modifications to the vehicle's firewall and/or body. The firewall is a primary safety structure preventing smoke and, or fire entering the vehicle's passenger compartment from the engine compartment.
U.S. Pat. No. US20140229061 (Tarnutzer and Prohaszka) discloses a control module relating to a CAN based vehicle immobilizer through a processor being capable of immobilizing said CAN bus, and said control module is installed by an aftermarket supplier. In addition, said patent references supplemental patented vehicle interface systems, which are intended to be used by an OEM and are factory installed. Moreover, the referenced control module and systems utilize the vehicle's CAN bus data lines, via the OBD-II system, for input and output (I/O) operations, specifically relating to vehicle immobilization, and are generally designed to withstand the environment of the vehicle's passenger compartment. Consequently, the referenced control module and systems cannot withstand the harsh operating environments of the vehicle's exterior compartments, such as the engine compartment. Finally, vehicle's manufactured before 1996 were not required to be equipped with the OBD-II system. Therefore, vehicles manufactured without the OBD-II system will not communicate with control modules and systems having this communication protocol.
What is needed is a wireless electrical interface system creating a wireless interface between the vehicle's electrical subsystems by using a wireless master/slave piconet between an interior interface module, electrically connected to the vehicle's electrical subsystems which are only accessible within the passenger compartment, and an exterior interface module, electrically connected to the vehicle's electrical subsystems which are only accessible within the engine/trunk compartment, whereby the electrical connections are established at the vehicle's passenger compartment fuse box, the vehicle's OBDII-port, and the vehicle's engine/trunk compartment fuse box, by using a non-intrusive method to electrically connect the interior and exterior interface modules of the wireless electrical interface system to the required electrical subsystems.
What is a needed is a wireless electrical interface system which is installed by a 3rd party to eliminate the conventional hardwired method required for aftermarket electrical devices to interface with the vehicle's electrical system, eliminating modifications to the firewall and, or the body of the vehicle, and reducing modifications to the vehicle's electrical system.
What is needed is a wireless electrical interface system which can establish an interface with the vehicle's digital and, or analog electrical subsystems through the non-intrusive electrical connections at the vehicle's fuse boxes and a pass-through electrical connection at the vehicle's OBD-II port, utilizing the OBD-II port to interface with the vehicle's CAN bus network for communication with the vehicle's auxiliary electrical subsystems (i.e. horn and/or lighting system) controlled by the Powertrain Control Module (PCM), Body Control Module (BCM), or other control module.
What is needed is a wireless electrical interface system which can withstand the harsh environment outside of the vehicle's passenger compartment, more specifically, the environment of the vehicle's engine compartment.


A parallel processing apparatus of a superscalar type includes an instruction decoding stage which decodes four instructions simultaneously fetched from an instruction memory and issues instructions which allows simultaneous execution to related function units. The instruction decoding stage includes an instruction decoder which decodes the instruction and issues the instructions allowing simultaneous execution to the function units, and a queue which queues and stores the instructions fetched from the instruction memory. This instruction decoding stage also includes a scope logic which forms a read queue address for reading the instructions of the queue in accordance with the number of issued instructions in the instruction decoder and whether a branch is generated by a branch instruction, and a queue top logic which forms a write address in the queue in accordance with a storage state of an unissued available instruction in the queue. Instructions are read from four successive addresses starting from the read address. Fetched instructions are stored in four addresses in the queue starting from the write address. Four instructions to be decoded are always supplied to the instruction decoder in accordance with an issue state of the instructions. Four instructions are always fetched from the instruction memory and queued. Therefore, the instructions can be efficiently supplied to the instruction decoder in accordance with the execution state of the instructions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parallel processing apparatus, and particularly to an improvement for efficiently supplying instructions in processors of a superscalar type.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, microprocessors have been remarkably advanced, and particularly their performance and operation speed have been increased. However, high speed of semiconductor memories has not been increased enough to follow the increased operation speed of the microprocessors, and thus the access of the semiconductor memories provides bottle neck against increasing the speed of the processors. Therefore, parallel processing has been employed for improving the performance of the microprocessors.
As a method for achieving the parallel processing, there is a processing method called as a superscalar. A processor of this superscalar type (will be called merely as a "superscalar") has a construction, as shown in FIG. 1, in which a scheduler 200 in the superscalar detects parallelism in an instruction stream to supply instructions which can be processed in parallel to parallel pipelines P1, P2 and P3. That is; the superscalar is a processing device having following features.
(1) It fetches simultaneously a plurality of instructions.
(2) It has a plurality of function units (pipe lines) and can execute simultaneously a plurality of instructions.
(3) It finds simultaneously executable instructions among a plurality of fetched instructions, and simultaneously dispatches these simultaneously executable instructions to related function units (pipe lines).
FIG. 2 shows a general construction of a superscalar. In FIG. 2, the superscalar includes a plurality of function units 4, 5, 6 and 7 which perform predetermined functions, respectively, as well as instruction memory 1 for storing instructions, an instruction fetching (IF) stage 2 for fetching simultaneously a plurality of instructions from the instruction memory 1 and an instruction decoding (ID) stage 3 which receives instructions fetched by the instruction fetching stage 2. The instruction decoding stage 3 finds simultaneously executable instructions among the instructions and dispatches them to corresponding function units. The superscalar further includes a data memory 8 for storing results of processing and others. The instruction memory 1 includes a cache memory and an external memory, and can perform high-speed reading of the instructions in a case of cache hit, i.e., if required instructions exist in the cache memory.
The instruction fetching stage 2 supplies an instruction pointer (IF.sub.-- PC) to the instruction memory 1 to fetch the instructions corresponding to this instruction pointer IF.sub.-- PC from the instruction memory 1.
The instruction decoding stage 3 includes an instruction decoder and a pipeline sequencer. The instruction decoder receives the fetched instructions from the instruction fetching stage 2 and decodes them. The pipeline sequencer (instruction scheduler) identifies, for example, machine types of the decoded instructions and dispatches simultaneously the instructions of different machine types to corresponding function units. The machine type is information for representing a function unit by which a particular instruction is processed.
Each of the function units 4-7 has a pipeline configuration, and executes an applied instruction in response to clock signals. In an example shown in FIG. 2, four function units are provided, and parallel processing of up to 4 instructions can be performed. The function units 4 and 5 are integer operational units for performing integer addition or others and include executing stages EX for executing the integer arithmetic and writing stages WB for writing results of executed processing into data registers.
The function unit 6 is provided for executing access (i.e., loading or storing of data) to the data memory 8, and includes an address forming stage (ADR), an access executing stage (MEM) for the data memory 8 and a writing stage (WB) for writing the data in a data register (not shown). In the writing stage (WB), loading of the data is performed.
A function unit 7 is provided for executing, e.g., a floating-point addition, and includes three executing stages (EX1, EX2 and EX3) and a writing stage (WB) for writing the execution result in data register. The floating-point number is a number expressed by an index and mantissa and having a point which is not fixed. The execution of the floating point arithmetic operation requires more cycles than the integer arithmetic and others.
In this parallel processing apparatus, each step has a pipeline configuration, and the operation periods for instruction fetching, instruction decoding, instruction executing and data writing overlap each other. Therefore, an instruction fetched from the instruction memory will be decoded by the instruction decoding stage in a next cycle. An operation will be briefly described below.
The instruction decoding stage 3 supplies an instruction fetch request to the instruction fetching stage 2. The instruction fetching stage 2 supplies the instruction pointer IF.sub.-- PC to the instruction memory 1 in response to this instruction fetch request and fetches a plurality of instructions corresponding to the instruction pointer IF.sub.-- PC from the instruction memory 1. These fetched instructions are simultaneously supplied to the instruction decoding stage 3, which in turn simultaneously decodes these supplied instructions. Among the decoded instructions, the instruction decoding stage 3 detects instructions, which include non-competitive calculation resources and data registers and thus allows parallel processing, and issues or dispatches these instructions allowing parallel processing to the corresponding function units, respectively.
The function units supplied with the instructions execute the parallel processing in accordance with the instructions. The processing in the function units 4-7 are executed in a pipeline manner, and are executed sequentially in the respective stages shown in FIG. 2. Operations of the instruction fetching stage 2, instruction decoding stage 3 and instruction executing stage (function units 4-7) are performed in the pipeline manner, and overlap each other when predetermined operations are performed.
The operations of the respective stages in the pipeline manner and the parallel processing by the function units, which are described above, enable high-speed execution of the instructions.
Processors having parallel processing capability are disclosed, for example, in (1) "The i960CA Superscalar Implementation of the 80960 Architecture", by S. McGeagy, Proceedings of 35th COPMCON, IEEE 1990, pp 232-240, and (2) "An IBM Second Generation RISC Processor Architecture", by R. D. Groves, Proceedings of 35th COMPCON, IEEE 1990, pp 162-170. The above prior art (1) discloses a processor which simultaneously fetches four instructions, and can simultaneously execute three instructions by function units of REG, MEM and CTRL.
The prior art (2) discloses a RISC processor which simultaneously fetches four instructions. This RISC processor includes a floating-point processor, fixed point processor, branch processor and control unit, and can simultaneously execute the four instructions.
As described above, in the superscalar, a plurality of instructions are fetched, and a plurality of instructions are simultaneously executed, so that the processing speed can be increased as compared with ordinary computers. For example, in the construction shown in FIG. 2, when the four instructions which are simultaneously fetched are executed in parallel by the four function units 4-7, the four instructions can be processed in 4 clock cycles (in a case that the pipelines of the function units 4, 5 and 6 are in a waiting condition until the termination of the processing of the function units 7).
Although the instruction scheduler (or the pipeline sequencer included in the instruction decoding stage) executes the scheduling of instructions for efficiently executing the parallel processing, the instructions which are simultaneously fetched may not be simultaneously executed. As an example, instructions having following data dependency will be reviewed.
(1) add R1, R2, R3; R2+R3=R1
(2) sub R4, R1, R5; R1.sub.-- R5=R4
The above instruction (1) serves to add a content of the register R3 to a content of the register R2 and to write a result of addition in the register R1. Here, the superscalar is one of RISCs, and has a register file. The operation is executed using a register of the register file. Access to a memory (data memory) is performed only by loading and storing instructions.
The above instruction 2 serves to subtract a content in the register R5 from a content in the register R1, and write a result of the subtraction in the register R4. The operation by these instructions 1 and 2 correspond to the processing of, for example, (x+y--z).
When the instructions 1 and 2 are simultaneously fetched, they commonly use the register R1 and the instruction 2 uses the result of the execution of the instructions 1, so that these instructions 1 and 2 cannot be simultaneously executed. If there is such data dependency between the instructions, conditions of issue of instructions (i.e., a form of issue of the instructions from the instruction decoding stage to the function units) can be as shown in FIG. 3.
FIG. 3 shows conditions in which only the instructions allowing simultaneous processing are issued. The simultaneously issued instructions are determined in an order from a smaller address to a larger address (from left to right in the Figure).
In FIG. 3, numerals encircled by squares represent instructions which can be issued without mutual data dependency.
In a cycle 1 shown in FIG. 3, the instructions 2, 3 and 4 have data dependency on each other or on the instruction 1. Therefore, the instructions 2, 3 and 4 cannot be issued, and only the instruction 1 is issued.
In a cycle 2, the instruction 4 has the data dependency on the instruction (2) and/or (3) and the instructions 2 and 3 have not mutual data dependency, so that the instructions 2 and 3 are issued.
In a cycle 3, the remaining instruction 4 is issued.
In a cycle 4, four instructions 5-8 which are newly fetched are decoded, and the instructions 5 and 6 having no mutual data independency are issued.
In a cycle 5, the instructions 7 and 8 do not have the mutual data dependency, and thus are issued. In a scheme shown in FIG. 3, fetching of the instructions is delayed until the last instructions 1-4 which were simultaneously fetched are entirely issued, in which case it requires five cycles between the issue of all the first fetched instructions 1-4 and the issue of all the subsequently fetched instructions 5-8. Therefore, in such an instruction supplying and issuing method, emptiness is formed in the pipelines, and thus the high-speed processing efficiency of the parallel processing apparatus is impaired.
Even in this case, if there were no data dependency between the instruction 4 and the instructions 5 and 6 in FIG. 3, and a given number of instructions could be fetched from the instruction memory, an instruction issue scheme shown in FIG. 4 would be allowed. FIG. 4 shows instruction issue conditions in an improved issue scheme.
Referring to FIG. 4, the instruction 1 among the simultaneously fetched four instructions 1-4 is issued in the cycle 1.
In the cycle 2, a new instruction 5 is supplied, and the instructions 2-5 are decoded. Among the four instructions 2-5, the instructions 2 and 3 having no dependency are issued.
In the cycle 3, new instructions 6 and 7 are supplied, and the instructions 4-7 are decoded. In accordance with a result of decoding, instructions 4, 5 and 6 are issued.
In the cycle 4, new instructions 8, 9 and 10 are supplied and the instructions 7-10 are decoded. In accordance with the result of this decoding, the instructions 7 and 8 are issued.
In the instructions issuing scheme shown in FIG. 4, only four cycles are required for issuing the eight instructions 1-8, and high-speed processing can be executed as compared with the scheme shown in FIG. 3. As one of methods for achieving the instruction issue scheme shown in FIG. 4, a method shown in FIG. 5 can be contemplated. FIG. 5 shows procedures for supplying instructions, by which the instruction issue conditions shown in FIG. 4 can be achieved.
In a step (1) shown in FIG. 5, when instructions 2 and 3 among the instructions 2-5 held by an instruction register, which is employed for holding the instructions, are issued, emptiness is formed in the instruction register.
In a step (2), a content of the instruction register is shifted by a number corresponding to the number of the empty registers. That is; in the step (2) in FIG. 5, register positions of the instructions 4 and 5 are respectively shifted leftward by two.
In a step (3), subsequent instructions 6 and 7 are fetched into these empty instruction registers. The steps (1)-(3) shown in FIG. 5 must be executed in one cycle. A construction shown in FIG. 6 may be contemplated for performing the instruction shifting operation shown in FIG. 5.
In FIG. 6, an instruction decoding stage includes instruction registers R1-R8 for storing the instructions, a barrel shifter BR for shifting the applied instructions and an instruction decoder ID. The instruction registers IR1-IR4 store the instructions fetched by the instruction fetching stage 2 and the instructions shifted by the barrel shifter. The instruction registers IR5-IR8 accommodate the instructions applied to the instruction decoder ID without decoding. The barrel shift BR shifts the instructions from the instruction registers IR5-IR8 in accordance with information of issued instruction count from the instruction decoder ID.
Usually, the parallel processing apparatus operates in accordance with clock signals T and L in two phases without mutual overlapping. An operation will be briefly described below.
Instructions which were fetched in the last cycle are held in the instruction registers IR1-IR4 in response to the clock signal T. The holding instructions of the instruction registers IR1-IR4 are applied to and decoded by the instruction decoder ID, and are issued to the instruction units in accordance with a decoded result.
The instruction registers IR5-IR8 are responsive to the clock signal to hold the instructions applied to the instruction decoder ID and apply the same to the barrel shifter BR. The barrel shift BR responds to the information of the issued instruction count from the instruction decoder ID by shifting the instructions applied from the instruction registers IR5-IR8. The contents of the barrel shifter BR are applied to and held by the instruction registers IR1-IR4 in response to the subsequent clock signal T.
In this case, the barrel shifter is required to complete the shifting operation for the instructions in a period between the clock signal L and the subsequent clock signal T. In the barrel shifter BR, however, an instruction length is long (e.g., 32 bits; the instruction length is fixed in RISC), so that the instruction shifting operation cannot be performed at a high-speed and requires a long period of time. Therefore, it is impossible to apply the instructions to the instruction registers IR1-IR4 to be held therein in response to the subsequent clock signal T, and thus it is impossible to supply the instructions to the instruction decoder ID at a high speed, which impairs the high-speed operability of the parallel processing apparatus.
The instruction memory is required to obtain information of a number of the empty registers in the instruction registers IR1-IR4 and determine the instruction supply number and the instruction supply positions based on this information. The information relating to the number of the existing empty registers in the instruction registers RI1-RI4 is obtained by the issued instruction count information from the instruction decoder ID. However, this issued instruction count information is issued after the decoding operation by the instruction decoder ID. Therefore, it requires a long time to determine the instruction supply number and instruction supply positions by the instruction memory, and a timing for starting the determining operation is delayed. Therefore, it requires a long period of time for fetching the desired instructions, and increased period of the clock signals T and L is required for executing the instructions without disturbing the pipeline architecture, which impairs the high-speed operability of the parallel processing apparatus.

Pipelining device in a parallel processing apparatus and an instruction supplying method therefor


A disposable applicator for dispensing liquid formulations to the undercoat and skin of animals. The invention is a substantially hermetically sealed applicator that dispenses liquid formulations to the coat and skin of the animal through a single row of applicator prongs adapted to comfortably move through the animal's coat and along the skin. Liquid formulation is released from each applicator prong through a plurality of delivery ports adapted in size to permit the flow of liquid to be easily controlled by the pressure from the user's hand. Liquid is prevented from spilling from applicator prior to use by means of integral closure protuberances on the end of each applicator prong which must be cut to permit the liquid to flow. Once the liquid formulation is dispensed, the applicator is discarded.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing an efficacious formulation to the undercoat and skin of an animal.
2. Description of Related Art
Animal care liquids are widely used on animals. Prior to liquid dispensers, treatment substances were applied to the animal by either pouring the liquid directly from a container or spraying onto the animal's coat. This method unevenly distributes the liquid, is slow and cumbersome and may startle the animal. Direct distribution by the pet owner, animal groomer or veterinarian can be hazardous and irritable due to chemical inhalation and skin contact. Furthermore, the animal may experience discomfort if liquid comes in contact with the animal's ears, nose and eyes. Despite the numerous designs of liquid dispensers for animals that have been developed over the years, none of the designs meet the standards for a disposable dispenser that is only meant to apply to liquid formulation, not to be a grooming device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,913, issued to Wilkenson, discloses a combined applicator and grooming brush for animals. Because the dispenser is not disposable, it must be cleaned after each application. Numerous rows of comb-like picks make the device more expensive to manufacture and more difficult to clean. Liquid is dispensed only when downward pressure is applied to the dispenser making the process uncomfortable to the animal and difficult on the operator.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,596, issued to Belsam, discloses a pet grooming kit with an applicator comprising an array of treatment liquids stored in a flexible container. Because the kit contains several different doses of liquid it is expensive to manufacture and limits the consumer to purchasing all treatments. The containers of liquid are attached to an applicator and when attached, serve as a handle. A handle disperses the pressure applied on the applicator and requires more energy to brush the animal's coat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,154, issued to Valeman, discloses a dispensing brush with barb means to rupture a material packet. The liquid is dispensed from a material packet held in a molded body. A break-away sheet attached to the bristle ends control the release of the material held in the brush body making the device complicated and expensive to manufacture. The liquid packet is ruptured by sharp barbs that tear upon the packet with a release lever. A substantial portion of the liquid formulation can be lost by remaining trapped in the packet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,183, issued to Sheviek et al., discloses a container-application device. A self-contained dispensing valve to control the outlet of liquid is disclosed. Because of the complicated release value, the devise is expensive to manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,875, issued to Holland, discloses a grooming and treatment applicator. As in other devices, substantial numbers of parts, and several rows of picks, are required thus making the device expensive to manufacture and difficult to clean. The housing is rigid rather than flexible, with the flow of fluid accomplished by gravity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,572, issued to Freulon, discloses an apparatus for taking care of the coat of animals that has a handle for connecting the housing to a suction device. A distributor tube in a chamber is provided for spraying a product. Numerous parts result in a high cost of manufacture. Also, the device must be disassembled for cleaning.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,456, issued to Young, discloses a combination medication applicator and pet grooming device that relies on a squeezable bulb handle to accomplish fluid flow. This distribution method requires more energy to brush the animal and makes it difficult to apply to hard to reach places. The device also provides an additional interchangeable mounting plate with shorter bristles making it more expensive to manufacture.
An efficient, inexpensive to manufacture, disposable device for dispensing an efficacious formulation to the under coat and skin of an animal is not found in prior art.

Dispensing liquid animal pick applicator


Systems and methods are provided for dynamically splitting print jobs to reduce the time taken to start printing those jobs, allowing those jobs to be printed on a wider range of printers more efficiently. One embodiment includes a print server with an interface that is able to receive a Portable Document Format (PDF) print job. The print server also includes a job controller that divides the PDF print job into segments. Dividing the PDF print job includes determining a segment size comprising a number of the logical pages to include in each segment, based on the memory footprint for the logical pages. Dividing the PDF print job also includes generating multiple segments, populating each of the segments with logical pages from the PDF print job based on the segment size, and populating each of the segments with a page tree. The job controller transmits the segments to a printer.

Entities with substantial printing demands typically use a production printer. A production printer is a high-speed printer used for volume printing (e.g., one hundred pages per minute or more). Production printers include continuous-forms printers that print on a web of print media stored on a large roll.
A production printer typically includes a localized print controller that controls the overall operation of the printer, and a print engine (sometimes referred to as an "imaging engine" or a "marking engine"). The print engine includes one or more printhead assemblies, with each assembly including a printhead controller and a printhead (or array of printheads). An individual printhead includes multiple (e.g., hundreds of) tiny nozzles that discharge ink as controlled by the printhead controller.
Production printers typically have limited memory capacities for storing print data. This may cause a problem when a printer receives a print job in the PDF format, because a printer cannot initiate printing for a PDF print job until the entire PDF file has been stored in memory at the printer. If the PDF document is too large for the memory of the printer (e.g., 120,000 pages), the memory of the printer overflows before the entire job is loaded, meaning that printing for the job fails.

Dynamic splitting of portable document format print jobs


A switching regulator includes an inductive load. A monolithically integrated active free-running element includes an npn transistor switching the inductive load to generate a free-running current carried by the transistor. The transistor has a base terminal and collector and emitter terminals defining a collector-to-emitter voltage. A drive circuit has an output terminal connected to the base terminal of the transistor to trigger the transistor for operating the transistor largely into the saturation range, whenever the collector-to-emitter voltage of the transistor is positive.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a monolithically integrated active free-running element for use in a current switch device with inductive loading, of the kind that can be used in secondary switching regulators. In particular, it relates to a largely monolithically integratable current switch device for such a switching regulator.
As described in a book entitled "Halbleiterschaltungstechnik" [Semiconductor Circuitry], by Tietze and Schenk, 9th Edition, 1991, Chapter 18.6, "Sekundargetaktete Schaltregler" [Secondary Switching Regulators], pp. 563 ff., and in particular Chapter 18.6.1, pp. 563-566, depending on their structure, secondary switching regulators include a current switch which, upon being controlled, typically by a closed and open-loop control circuit whenever the current switch periodically switches, switch an inductance either between the input voltage and the reference potential, or between the output voltage and the reference potential, or between the input voltage and the output voltage. So far, such current switches have been achieved by means of an electronic power switch and a so-called recovery or free-running diode. Either a thyristor or a bipolar or field-effect transistor is provided in such a case as a power switch. In that case, however, the efficiency of switched-mode power supplies depends on the forward voltage drop of the recovery diode. Particularly in switched-mode power supplies with significant step-down voltage conversion, that is so-called step-down converters, the efficiency of the switched-mode power supply depends very strongly on the forward voltage drop of a recovery diode. In switched-mode power supplies with a low output voltage, such as 5 V for logic power supplies, that influence is especially pronounced. Previously, the efficiency of such switched-mode power supplies could be improved only by using Schottky diodes, which are known to have a forward voltage drop of approximately 0.4 V, in contrast to the usual silicon diodes having a forward voltage drop of approximately 0.65 to 0.8 V. However, the integration of Schottky diodes requires a great amount of surface area and therefore is expensive, and provision is not made for such integration in all semiconductor technologies. Such switched-mode power supplies therefore require not only the power switch as a discrete component, but the recovery diode as well.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a monolithically integratable free-running element, which overcomes the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices of this general type and which has a low forward voltage.


A new and distinct cultivar of Dahlia plant named ‘BKDAMAGPU’, characterized by its broadly upright plant habit; moderate basal branching habit; dense and bushy growth habit; dark green-colored leaves; and large decorative type inflorescences with red to red purple-colored ray florets.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Dahlia plant, botanically known as Dahlia hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the name 'BKDAMAGPU'.
The new Dahlia plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Hillegom, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new large container Dahlia plants with large and attractive decorative type inflorescences.
The new Dahlia plant originated from a cross-pollination in September, 2013 in Hillegom, The Netherlands of a proprietary selection of Dahlia hybrida identified as code number FET.S11.003.011, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Dahlia hybrida identified as code number FET.S12.001.005, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Dahlia plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Hillegom, The Netherlands in October, 2015.
Asexual reproduction of the new Dahlia plant by vegetative terminal cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Maasdijk, The Netherlands since February, 2016 has shown that the unique features of this new Dahlia plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


An ablation device includes an electrode having an enclosed lumen, and a heat sink located within the lumen. An ablation device includes an elongated body, an electrode secured to the elongated body, and a heat sink connected to the electrode, wherein the heat sink is confined by the electrode and at least a portion of the elongated body. An ablation device includes an electrode, and a heat sink connected to the electrode, wherein the heat sink is not connected to a pump.

Tissue may be destroyed, ablated, or otherwise treated using thermal energy during various therapeutic procedures. Many forms of thermal energy may be imparted to tissue, such as radio frequency electrical energy, microwave electromagnetic energy, laser energy, acoustic energy, or thermal conduction. In particular, radio frequency ablation (RFA) may be used to treat patients with tissue anomalies, such as liver anomalies and many primary cancers, such as cancers of the stomach, bowel, pancreas, kidney and lung. RFA treatment involves destroying undesirable cells by generating heat through agitation caused by the application of alternating electrical current (radio frequency energy) through the tissue.
Various RF ablation devices have been suggested for this purpose. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,576 describes an ablation apparatus that includes a plurality of electrodes (tines) deployable from a cannula. Each of the electrodes includes a proximal end that is coupled to a generator, and a distal end that may project from a distal end of the cannula. The electrodes are arranged in an array with the distal ends located generally radially and uniformly spaced apart from the distal end of the cannula. When using the above described devices in percutaneous interventions, the cannula is generally inserted through a patient's skin, and the tines are deployed out of the distal end of the cannula to penetrate target tissue. The electrodes are then energized to ablate the target tissue. The electrodes may be energized in a bipolar mode (i.e., current flows between closely spaced electrode) or a monopolar mode (i.e., current flows between one or more electrodes and a larger, remotely located common electrode) to heat and necrose tissue within a precisely defined volumetric region of target tissue.
Ablation devices have also been implemented using catheters. Physicians make use of catheters today in medical procedures to gain access into interior regions of the body to ablate targeted tissue areas. For example, in electrophysiological therapy, ablation is used to treat cardiac rhythm disturbances. During these procedures, a physician steers a catheter through a main vein or artery into the interior region of the heart that is to be treated. The physician places an ablating element carried on the catheter near the cardiac tissue that is to be ablated. The physician directs energy from the ablating element to ablate the tissue and form a lesion. Such procedure may be used to treat atrial fibrillation, a condition in the heart in which abnormal electrical signals are generated in the endocardial tissue.
Ablation catheters typically have an elongated shaft carrying an electrode at its distal end. Lesions of different shapes and sizes may be formed by choosing a suitable electrode shape or size, and/or by manipulating the position of the electrode at the distal end of the catheter. An ablation catheter may also have a steering mechanism for steering its distal end, which is beneficial because it allows a physician to steer the catheter through veins and vessel junctions. It also allows the physician to accurately position the electrode carried at the distal end at a target site to be ablated. Steerable ablation catheters have been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,033,378 and 6,485,455 B1, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated by reference herein.
During use of an ablation device, the electrode delivering ablation energy may overheat, thereby causing tissue charring and preventing formation of a deeper lesion. This may negatively affect the ablation catheter's ability to create a desirable lesion. An overheated electrode may also cause healthy tissue adjacent the target site to be heated. Furthermore, an overheated electrode may cause blood to be heated, thereby creating an undesirable embolism. As such, an ablation device that is capable of cooling an electrode is very desirable.
Ablation devices that have cooling capability are generally connected to a pump via a fluid delivery tube. The pump delivers cooling fluid to the ablation device for cooling an electrode on the ablation device. However, cooling systems that require use of the pump and the fluid delivery tube may be expensive to design and implement, and may be inconvenient and a nuisance to use. For examples, during an operation, the fluid delivery tube connecting the pump and the ablation device may tangle with another medical equipment, or may interfere with the operation. Also, the pump may produce noise that interfere with a physician's concentration, and may disturb conversation between operators in the operation room. In addition, fluid may leak at the pump, at the fluid delivery tube, or at the ablation device. Further, for steerable ablation catheters, if not designed or constructed properly, the fluid delivery tube inside the catheter may kink or buckle during use. For the foregoing reasons, cooling an electrode using fluid delivered from a pump may not be desirable.
Thus, there is currently a need for an improved ablation device that is capable of cooling an electrode during use. Also, it would be desirable that such ablation device does not require use of a pump.


A standoff for an optical imaging system includes a base, with a target plate coupled to the base and positioned along a central trajectory of the base. The target plate includes a scan window positioned along the central trajectory of the base. The scan window serves to align the optical imaging system with an optical mark on an object. A machine readable code can be positioned on the target plate, the machine readable code including optical imaging system setting information to be read by the optical imaging system.

The present technology relates to optical imaging systems, and more specifically, to a standoff accessory for optical imaging systems.
One of the most common imaging systems is the handheld scanner typically used for reading fonts or other symbols or marks on packages or articles, for example. It is important for imaging systems to achieve a quality scan so the image can be electronically searched, stored more compactly, displayed on-line, and used in a variety of machine related processes, including machine translation, text-to-speech and text mining applications.
With a handheld scanner, it can be necessary to position the scanner where the mark is at the right distance and the right angle in front of the scanner, all while providing adequate illumination, in order to achieve a successful scan. This is because in most imaging systems, the size of the image of a mark depends on the distance between the vision sensor and the object containing the mark. Therefore, in applications requiring gauging a size, it can be necessary to have the object at a known distance.
When illumination has been integrated into the imaging system, and more particularly the handheld scanner, the light distribution on the object usually varies with the distance between the object and the vision sensor in the handheld scanner. Proper light distribution is especially important in applications such as reading dot-peen 2D codes with low-angle illumination or verification of direct part marking (DPM) codes, for example.
Especially in handheld scanner applications, it can be difficult to keep the handheld scanner at a proper focal distance where the depth of field is very small, such as when a mark is very small or includes low contrast. As with any imaging device, providing quality results for each image scan can be difficult taking into consideration the numerous variables that affect the quality of an image scan.
What is needed are systems and methods that can improve the quality of results for each image scan by influencing the variables that affect the quality of an image scan.


Means for inhibiting the escape of liquid from a liquid electrolyte battery having at least one fluid vent, wherein the battery is subject to frequent partial rotation about a horizontal axis, such as in the mounting of a power-assisted manually operated golf-bag carrying tricycle cart. The apparatus comprises a manifold and a hollow tube defining a coil substantially in a plane perpendicular to the axis of contemplated battery rotation, the coil having an outlet suspended normally directly downwardly.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to self-powered electric carts and in particular to an electrically powered push-type collapsible tricycle cart having dual independent motor drive.
Electrically powered vehicles are quite popular on golf courses. However, vehicles large enough for transporting passengers are generally expensive and therefore beyond the means of the average golfer to purchase or to transport to and from the golf course. On the other hand, light pull- or push-type golf carts are known for caddying golf bags alone. Such non-powered carts are quite popular, especially if collapsible. However, a non-powered cart becomes a major burden to drag or push around the golf course.
As a compromise, powdered golf bag carrying carts have been proposed. However, such powered carts have not met with success for various reasons. A number of such problems, prior proposed solutions and shortcomings of these solutions are illustrated by the prior art.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One example of a powered golf club carrying cart is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,758 to Cropp, wherein a pair of d.c. motors is series connected to a large bank of rather heavy multi-celled batteries. Such a device is costly, excessively heavy, bulky, unsightly and not easily stored or transported and therefore not readily accepted by the average golfer. A relatively light, collapsible golf cart is therefore needed.
Two-wheeled carts are often found to be unsuited to power drive. Such carts with the power source (the battery) located along the main column may be easily upset if tipped too far. Prior three-wheeled arrangements, such as suggested in the Cropp patent may provide stability, but known arrangements are not suited to collapsible carts, where compact storability is a prerequisite.
The battery power sources for golf carts contain corrosive battery acid which, if accidently leaked or spilled, can cause considerable damage. Yet, practical batteries must be vented in order to prevent the equally dangerous build up of gases. Golf cart power packs also can be accidently tipped during transportation or storage. Thus, there exists a need to provide a vented battery which includes means for containing battery acid against spillage as might be caused by accidental tipping.

Vent for battery of self-powered folding golf cart


A golf bag cart providing wheeled support for a golf bag and that is collapsible to a relatively flat storage condition. The cart includes an elongated frame member having a pair of wheel supporting legs pivoted thereto. A bracket member joins the legs to the frame member to enable folding of the legs from spread, operative positions wherein the legs project outward of the frame, and compact storage positions wherein the legs are folded close to the frame with the wheels thereon situated adjacent a handle end of the frame. A removable tensioner releasably secures the legs in the operative and inoperative storage positions.

The present invention relates to golf bag carts that are collapsible from open, operative positions to closed, inoperative storage conditions.
Numerous golf carts have been developed that provide wheeled support for carrying golf bags and clubs about a golf course. Such carts are usually pushed or pulled along by the golfer or his caddy. Many conventional carts function very well for their ultimate purpose in providing wheeled support to a usually heavy golf bag. However, the typical collapsible cart adds substantially to the space required for storage of the cart and bag. This becomes a significant problem with the increasing popularity of compact automobiles having relatively little storage space.
It becomes desirable then to obtain some form of golf bag cart that is collapsible to a compact configuration that will fit easily into a confined area. It is also desirable to obtain such a cart that is lightweight so it will not add significantly to the weight of the golf bag and clubs.
The above problems were recognized to a limited degree by B. J. Carr et al in U.S. Pat. No. 2,414,017. Carr discloses a collapsible golf bag carrier that includes a pivoted pair of legs and associated brace members mounted to a single central support frame. The wheels pivot intermediate opposed ends of the frame between operative and inoperative positions. In the inoperative position, however, the wheels of the cart are situated directly adjacent to the midsection of the golf bag and substantially increase the overall space requirement for the bag and carrier. Furthermore, the brace mechanisms and associated slider add to the weight of the carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,360,279 to A. J. Hunt discloses a golf club carrier that recognizes, to a limited degree, the storage problem associated with other typical forms of golf bag carriers. The Hunt carrier includes a substantially "U shaped frame" with a rack on one side for mounting clubs in spaced relationship. The carrier therefore presents a somewhat flat configuration that decreases its overall storage space requirement from that required by other apparatus similar to the Carr collapsible carrier. The wheels of the Hunt carrier, however, swing about a horizontal axis back toward the bottom end of the carrier and so project forwardly of the carrier even in the closed, storage condition. The wheels of the Hunt carrier are not rigidly mounted to the carrying frame. Instead, they are yieldably positioned by tension members so they may pivot in response to contact with bumps or holes along the ground surface and absorb the impact rather than transmitting it directly to the frame.
The present golf bag cart represents a substantial improvement over the prior carts in that it functions as a lightweight, effective golf club carrying cart that will collapse to a storage condition that requires only minimal storage space.


A quantizer takes an analog signal as input and produces a quantized signal for output. The quantizer includes a shoot-through current detection unit and a feedback unit. The shoot-through current detection unit is configured to detect a shoot-through current flowing through the quantizer. The feedback unit is configured to feed back a signal from the shoot-through current detection unit and control an electric charge stored at an input of the quantizer.

Lithium-ion secondary batteries or the like are now widely used in wireless electronic devices such as mobile phones. Such electronic devices are equipped, for example, with a circuit for generating a power-on reset (POR) signal to indicate whether a sufficient supply voltage is available or not or with a power management IC (semiconductor integrated circuit) for managing it.
The POR signal generating circuit outputs, for example, a high level "H" when a sufficient supply voltage is available, and otherwise outputs a low level "L", and therefore it usually includes a comparator circuit that performs voltage comparisons using a given reference voltage.
In the comparator circuit, the difference between the reference voltage (reference signal) and the divided supply voltage (input signal), for example, is amplified by an analog amplifier and converted into an H/L digital-output signal by a subsequent quantizer. The reference voltage here may be generated within the circuit by using, for example, a bandgap reference or the like.
In the case of a quantizer which includes a CMOS inverter, when an inversion of the POR signal occurs with the voltage level of the input signal becoming higher than or lower than that of the reference signal, the output of the amplifier is driven to an intermediate voltage level, and as a result, a shoot-through current flows through the quantizer.
The shoot-through current of the quantizer does not present any problem, when the duration of the shoot-through current is very short or when the amount of electric charge stored at the power supply is large (the stored power resource is sufficient), however, it may present a problem when the amount of electric charge stored at the power supply is very small.
That is, when the amount of electric charge stored at the power supply is very small, all the stored charges may be used as the shoot-through current that flows at the time of the inversion of the quantizer output, making it difficult to ensure normal operation.
In this regard, various types of comparator circuit capable of performing decision-making operations at high speed with low power consumption have been proposed in the prior art.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2011-182188
None-Patent Document 1: K. Isono et al., "A 18.9-nA Standby Current Comparator with Adaptive Bias Current Generator," IEEE Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference, pp. 237-240, Nov. 14-16, 2011

Quantizer, comparator circuit, and semiconductor integrated circuit


A system for mixing five channel sound which surrounds an audio plane. The position of a sound source is displayed on a VDU (16) relative to the position of a notional listener (31). The sound source is moved within the audio plane by operation of a stylus (23) upon a touch tablet (24). Thus, an operator is only required to specify positions of a sound source over time, whereafter a processing unit (17) calculates actual gain values for the five channels at sample rate. Gain values are calculated for the sound track for each of the loudspeaker channels and for each of these specified points. Gain values are then produced at sample rate by interpolating calculated gain values for each channel at sample rate.

The production of cinematographic films with stereo sound tracks has been known for some time and, more recently, stereo sound tracks have been produced for video recordings. In order to enhance the effect of sounds emanating from different directions, the stereo principle has been extended by the provision of six separate audio channels, consisting of a front left, front right, front centre, rear left, rear right and a low frequency channel, often referred to as a boom channel. Thus, with such an arrangement, it is possible to position a sound anywhere within a two-dimensional plane, such that the sound sources appear to surround the audience.
The position of a sound source in the six channel system is determined by the contribution made by signals derived from a recorded track for that respective source, to each of the five spatially displaced channels. The allocation of a contribution to these channels is determined during the mixing process, in which many input tracks are combined and distributed, in varying amounts, to said five output channels. Conventionally, the mixing of these channels has been done under the manual control of an operator, in response to the adjustment of manual sliders or manual joysticks etc. Thus, in known systems, an operator is able to control the contribution of the originating sound to each of the channels. Or, considered from the view point of the originating sound source, an operator is in a position to control the gain of each of the five channels independently, thereby enabling said operator to simulate the positioning of the sound source within the sound-plane of the auditorium.
A problem with known systems, which are capable of operating in a professional environment, is that a significant amount of skill is required on the part of an operator, in order to position a sound correctly within the listening plane. Although an operator has complete control as to the extent to which gain is controlled for each of the channels, he has very little guidance as to how this control should actually be exercised. Furthermore, this problem becomes particularly acute if a modification is required so as to reposition a sound source, in that it may not be at all apparent to an operator as to what modifications to the gains are required to effect the re-positioning of the sound source as required.
Computerised systems have been proposed which allow the position of a sound source to be defined via a graphical user interface. However, a problem with procedural software approaches is that the processing requirements are substantial if a plurality of channels, each conveying digitally encoded audio information, are to be manipulated simultaneously.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for simulating the position of the sound in space.


Apparatus and method for monitoring and for improving the state of alertness of a subject while he continues to perform a primary task, driving a vehicle, operating machinery, etc. The apparatus includes stimulation apparatus for issuing stimuli to the subject and response apparatus for enabling the subject to reply to the stimuli. The stimuli can be audible, visual or tactile. Test results are processed and compared to baseline values taken when the subject is displaying a normal state of alertness. The rate of activation of the stimulation apparatus increases inversely with a deteriorating state of alertness of the subject to improve the state of alertness of the subject. The apparatus can be fashioned in a wide range of devices including a hand-held portable device, a wristwatch, a behind-the-ear (BTE) clip, a pair of spectacles, and for installation in a steering wheel.

The present invention relates to the field of psychological data collection in general and in particular to apparatus and method for monitoring and improving the alertness of a subject.
Devices for monitoring the alertness of a subject through administering successive stimuli to the subject and analyzing his responses are known in the art. Typically, the devices are used to provide an indication when a subject displays an insufficient level of alertness to execute his routine work be it driving a vehicle, operating machinery, standing guard, etc. The indication can be provided automatically by the device if the performance level of the subject indicative of his state of alertness falls below a pre-determined baseline performance level or by a mediator administering a test. The insufficient level of subject alertness can be due to drowsiness under monotonous working conditions, mental preoccupation, the influence of alcohol or drugs, etc. Devices are known for use in a variety of environments including when operating a vehicle, within the confines of a laboratory, under field conditions, etc.
Devices are known for administering stimuli at pre-determined time intervals and at random time intervals. Furthermore, devices are known for providing stimuli at variable time intervals in response to the subject's overall performance level provided in terms of either the time taken by the subject to respond to a stimulus and/or the accuracy of the responses given by the subject. Typically, the accuracy of the responses involves the evaluation of correct responses, errors of commission when a response is given at the wrong time and errors of omission when a response is not given at all.
A common feature of the devices is that they require the subject to perform a task. The tasks can be classified into two types: discrimination level tests and cognitive tests. Discrimination level tests are characterized in that the subject has to respond to the presence or the absence of a stimulus in the form of an audible signal, a visual signal, or a tactile signal. Discrimination level tests are referred to as secondary task type tests in the sense that the subject performs the task concurrently with his primary task be it driving a vehicle, operating machinery, standing guard, etc. The devices are typically designed to automatically provide an alarm signal when the overall performance level of a subject, in terms of his response times to stimuli and his accuracy of responses, falls below a pre-determined baseline indicating that the subject is not capable of performing the task in hand.
Advantages of discrimination level tests include that they are generally quick, easy to administer, easy to evaluate, provide concurrent monitoring of subject alertness during execution of a primary task and provide automatic alarm signals when the overall performance level falls below a pre-determined baseline level. Disadvantages of discrimination level tests include that the stimulus can be of such intensity so as to cause a sudden change in the state of alertness of a subject, thereby disguising his true state of alertness, and that the discrimination level detected by the subject depends on the environment in which the test is performed.
In contrast to discrimination level test, cognitive tests are characterized in that the subject has to respond to a stimulus requiring the mental processing of information including recognition, recall, association, etc. before initiating a response. Most of the known cognitive tests are primary task type tests in the sense that the subject only performs that task during an interruption from his routine work. In this case, often a mediator supervises the testing of subject to ascertain which subjects display a sufficient level of alertness to execute their routine work.
Advantages of cognitive tests are that the contents and the difficulty of the tests can be readily adjusted so as to be compatible for a wide range of subjects and that subjects do not become desensitized to the tests. Disadvantages of cognitive tests include that the tests typically take a relatively long time to perform, thereby disrupting the execution of the subject's routine work, and that they are not concurrent with the routine work of the subject.
Exemplary devices known in the art are now briefly described.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,665 to Curry et al. discloses a device implementing discrimination level tests in which the intensity of an audio tone increases until the subject actuates a response switch to terminate the stimulus. Successive stimuli are initiated intermittently at selectively variable time intervals inversely related to the time taken by the subject to detect and to respond to each stimulus. An alarm signal is given when no response is made within a given interval after a stimulus is initiated. The device also includes an automatic stimulus level control apparatus for sampling background noise levels and adjusting the volume of the audible tone stimulus to match the background noise level. The device suffers from two main disadvantages. First, that the subject becomes desensitized to the test. Second, that the device records a higher intensity signal than detected by the subject due to the length of time it takes the subject to respond to the signal because during his response time the signal continues to increase.
Devices implementing cognitive tests are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,121 to Perelli, U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,140 to Rimland, and others. In the case of U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,121, the cognitive test requires that the test subject respond to numerals and symbols displayed on a numeric-symbolic display by activating one or more switches while, in the case of U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,140, the cognitive test requires the test subject respond to a particular sequence of numbers using an array of pushbutton keys having programmable variable numerals. The alertness of a subject is provided in terms of response times, the number of errors made in a test, etc. These devices suffer from the above-mentioned disadvantages of devices cognitive tests.
In summary, there is a need for apparatus and method for monitoring and improving subject alertness which combines the beneficial features of discrimination level tests and cognitive tests. In particular, there is a need for apparatus and method for monitoring and improving subject alertness while the subject continues to perform his primary task without undue disturbances.

Apparatus and method for monitoring and improving the alertness of a subject


The present subject matter provides method and apparatus for hearing assistance devices, and more particularly to a system for evaluating hearing assistance device settings using detected sound environment. Various examples of a hearing assistance device and method using actual use and hypothetical use logs are provided. Such logs provide a dispenser or audiologist the ability to see how a device is operating with actual settings and how the device would have operated had hypothetical settings been used instead. In various examples, the system allows for collection of statistical information about actual and hypothetical use which can assist in parameter setting determinations for a specific user. The settings may be tailored to that user's commonly experienced sound environment. Wireless communications of usage logs is discussed. Additional method and apparatus can be found in the specification and as provided by the attached claims and their equivalents.

When a user of a hearing assistance device, such as a hearing aid, gets a new device, the dispenser or audiologist can make some educated guesses as to settings based on the user's hearing. Improvements to the settings are possible if the sound environment commonly experienced by the user is known. However, such information takes time to acquire and is not generally immediately known about the user. Different users may be exposed to very different sound environments, and settings may be changed for better performance.
Some attempts at logging sound environments have been done which can enhance the ability of a dispenser or audiologist to improve device settings. However, advanced, highly programmable hearing assistance devices may provide a number of modes which can provide unpredictable performance depending on the particular hearing assistance device and the environment the device is exposed to.
What is needed in the art is an improved system for assisting hearing device parameter selection based on the sound environment commonly experienced by a particular user. The system should be straightforward for a dispenser or audiologist to use and should provide support for setting decisions in advanced, highly programmable devices.

System for evaluating hearing assistance device settings using detected sound environment


A lightweight, completely recyclable paper pallet (10) is provided which can be produced, shipped and stored as two die cut pieces (24, 26), and which can be readily constructed without gluing to form a complete pallet (10). Preferably, the pallet (10) includes a planar main panel (12) having a pair of laterally spaced apart, side marginal, box-like underlying support sections (18, 20); a box-like central support section (22) coupled to the main panel (12) completes the construction. Interconnection of the marginal support sections (18, 20) and central support section (22) is accomplished by means of notched locking elements (106-120, 174-188) passing through strategically located slots (38-60) in main panel (12) and interfitting with upright notched reinforcing panels (70-84, 140-146) provided along the length of the supports (18, 20, 22).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with a lightweight pallet fabricated entirely from recyclable paper (e.g., cardboard) which can be quickly constructed without gluing and which has an extremely favorable weight to load-bearing capacity. More particularly, it is concerned with such a paper pallet which can be shipped and stored as two die cut and scored cardboard pieces, thereby eliminating excess volume, with the pieces being readily interconnectable to form a complete pallet construction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Users of conventional wooden pallets are faced with a number of increasingly expensive problems. For example, damaged and no longer usable wooden pallets can not generally be taken to a landfill or other waste disposal site. Rather, they must be reduced, either by chipping or burning before disposal. Chipping is a significant problem inasmuch as nails and other metal fasteners must be removed from the pallet wood before the chipping operation can be undertaken. By the same token, increasingly stringent environmental regulations often preclude burning of used pallets.
It has been proposed in the past to fabricate pallets composed largely or entirely of corrugated cardboard material. For example, a pallet construction commercialized under the designation "Buckboard" includes an apertured, flat main panel with a plurality of depending, synthetic resin cup-like legs attached to the main panel. These units are deficient in that they are not completely recyclable, owing to the presence of the synthetic resin legs.
Another type of prior cardboard pallet commercialized under the designation "Payload" includes a plurality of transverse cross-rails with three separate supports beneath the rails. Although this unit is entirely recyclable, experience has proven that it is very time-consuming and difficult to fabricate. Moreover, the cost of such pallets is considerable, on the order of a good used wooden pallet. As such, this unit likewise presents real-world problems for a pallet user.


A monolithic compressed-gas dryer including in series: an inlet chamber, a precooler/reheater chamber, an evaporator chamber, and a sump chamber. The chambers are welded together to form columns where at least one column has a filtration chamber. Further provided is a gas outlet. The system creates a first and second set of heat transfer passages where refrigerant passes through the second set in a heat exchange relationship in a direction perpendicular to incoming gas passing in the first set. The filtration chamber conducts chilled gas from the first set to a third set of heat transfer passages. The third set extends through the precooler/reheater in heat exchange relationship with the first set. Chilled gas passes in heat exchange relationship in a direction perpendicular to the incoming gas so that the incoming gas chilled in the evaporator exchanges heat with the incoming gas in the precooler/reheater.

1. Field of the Invention
This patent application relates to a compressed air/gas dryer system for generating clean, dry air for use in industrial processes. More specifically this patent application relates to a refrigerant compressed air/gas dryer system comprising a singular monolithic construction and a replaceable filter.
2. Background
Atmospheric air is contaminated with varying concentrations of hydrocarbons, solid particles and water vapor. When compressed to a working pressure of 100 pound-force per square inch gauge (PSIG), the concentration of these contaminants is increased by a factor of eight to one. If these contaminants are not removed prior to entering a process distribution system they will damage air operated equipment, slow down or stop production, corrode the inside of pipes, spoil product, ruin processes, and drive up energy costs.
Moisture is a serious problem in compressed air systems. Since atmospheric air always contains some amount of moisture, measured in terms of relative humidity. Relative humidity is the ratio of moisture in the air compared to the capacity of moisture that volume of air is capable of holding at a specified temperature. When air is compressed, friction causes the actual air temperature to rise, greatly increasing its ability to hold moisture. At 100 PSIG the quantity of moisture commonly held in eight cubic feet of air is reduced in an area ⅛ its original size. The result of compression is hot, wet, dirty air.
A good general rule is that for every twenty degrees Fahrenheit (20° F.) the temperature of air decreases, its ability to hold moisture is reduced by 50%. As air passes through a plant piping system, the ambient conditions cause the compressed air to cool, causing the formation of liquid water. This water, coupled with particulate matter and oil/lubricant carry-over will cause numerous problems. The water will wash away lubricants from tools and machinery, spoil paint applications, rust the general system, and, if exposed to unfavorable ambient temperatures, freeze.
Particulate matter consists of atmospheric particles that are drawn into a plant piping system through the air compressor intake. Some air system components, along with scale build-up in piping, may introduce additional particulate matter. Particulates traveling through the air system will cause pressure drop to increase, valves and orifices to clog, and product to be spoiled. Particulate matter will clog orifices and valves, damage gear driven equipment, increase system pressure drop and contaminate product.
Airborne hydrocarbons, compressor oils and lubricants are harmful to all downstream equipment and processes. Today's high performance compressor lubricants can cause additional problems, and need to be removed before they cause irreversible damage. They will cause valve and gasket materials to fail, and wreak havoc on processing equipment. Residual oils and lubricants will cause valve wear, spoiled product and system contamination.
Therefore, it is essential to treat process air before it can do any damage to a process system. By drying and filtering compressed air, operation efficiency can be maximized, and equipment productivity and longevity can be greatly increased.
Presently, refrigerated compressed air/gas dryer systems utilize some basic components. For example, there is usually a heat exchange unit used to pre-cool air entering the dryer system and to reheat dry air before the air leaves the dryer. Various systems also use an evaporator for circulating refrigerant to promote condensation of water vapor followed by a means to drain-off the resultant condensation. Systems are further equipped with a filter to clean the compressed air/gas before the air/gas enters the dryer system and/or as the air/gas leaves the dryer system. Additionally, some systems utilize a filter as an intermediate stage component; such as after the evaporator and before the reheater. To date, there are no dryer systems contained within a single housing that efficiently allows the passage of compressed air/gas to flow through the system and exit both dry and filtered.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,453 discloses an apparatus for removing condensate from a gas. The system has a chiller to cool the gas followed by a separator to remove the condensed liquid. The dried gas is then sent through a reheater before exiting the apparatus. While this apparatus dries and reheats the gas, there are significant drawbacks to this design. First, there is no filtration of the gas to remove particulates or to further condense any remaining water vapor in the gas following chilling. Secondly, the device is inefficient as the hot incoming air is cooled only through the chiller, thus requiring more energy to run and a greater amount of refrigerant to cool the gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,693 describes a gas compressor refrigeration system. The system has a chiller to cool the gas followed by a separator to remove the condensed liquid. The dried gas is then sent through a reheater before exiting the apparatus. A closed-loop refrigerant system which supplies heat to the reheater and is then recharged to cool the gas in the chiller. While this apparatus dries and reheats the gas, there are significant drawbacks to this design. First, there is no filtration of the gas to remove particulates or to further condense any remaining water vapor in the gas following chilling. Secondly, the device is inefficient as the hot incoming air is cooled only through the chiller, thus requiring more energy to run and a greater amount of refrigerant to cool the gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,755 presents a gas drying system having a recuperator, a moisture separator, and a refrigerated section housed in a single unit. The recuperator has a pair of fluid flow paths in thermal communication such that incoming hot air is cooled by, and in turn warms, cooled air exiting the system. The incoming air is further chilled in the refrigerated section to cause water in the air to condense into liquid water. The liquid water is then separated from the gas in the separator section. While this apparatus dries and reheats the gas, there is no filtration of the gas to remove particulates or to further condense any remaining water vapor in the gas following chilling.
Importantly none of the example provided above, even combined, construct in a single, compact housing, all the necessary elements to dry and clean compressed air/gas, namely to precool incoming gas, to chill the gas to 33° F., to drain off resulting condensation and to coalesce any remaining water molecules, to remove particulates in the gas, to sense the liquid level (of coalesced condensate) and drain off as necessary, and to reheat exiting gas. Further, none of the above examples employ filtration, and more specifically, filtration using a replaceable filter.
Thus, there is clearly a long-felt need for a free-standing, cost effective, refrigerated compressed air/gas dryer system that dries and filters compressed air/gas in a single pressurized housing where the housing further comprises a replaceable coalescing filter; eliminating the need for bulky interconnecting means between subcomponents. Ideally, a refrigerated compressed air/gas dryer system that dries and filters compressed air/gas in a single pressurized housing is compatible with a variety of existing dryer systems.
It should be understood that there are other conventional components that, when combined with the refrigerant compressed air/gas dryer system of the present disclosure, fully constitute a finished dryer which is ready for use. Such additional conventional components include a condensing unit (refrigerant compressor, condenser that is either air or water cooled, receiver, accumulator, pressure switches), drain solenoids and valves, cabinetry, controls and wiring, etc.

Monolithic construction compressed air/gas dryer system with filtration


An apparatus for providing attractive and customized illuminated signs, the apparatus comprising a shroud for the mounting of desired letters, numbers, or other designs, a set of figures for mounting upon said shroud and a means for transmitting illumination energy through said shroud to said figures for illumination. The apparatus may be enhanced by a mounting mechanism and a photoelectric cell to facilitate more efficient and convenient outdoor use.

The invention relates to outdoor and indoor illuminated signs, particularly those useful in smaller businesses and individual residences to identify addresses.
A number of inventions teach apparatus and methods for providing an illuminated display for the letters and numerals of identifications of addresses and business identities. Most of this prior art, however, concerns articles which are specifically prepared for a single display and cannot be readily changed to make a different display.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,265, issued to Davis (9/9/86) teaches a lighted address display in which the light from an incandescent bulb is reflected into a translucent wall upon which address indicia appear. The invention teaches the use of opaque, stick-on numerals to form the address figures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,535, issued to Stock (3/1/77) teaches the illumination of a plastic template in which the desired figures are cut out. By illuminating one side of the plastic template light will pass through the cutouts and be visible in the shape of the desired figures on the other. Once such a template is cutout the only way to change the display would be to create a new template.
What is not available in the present art is a means of providing an attractive illuminated sign which is capable of wide interchangeability of characters and designs and capable of outdoor display. The presently available efforts at such an objective typically result in large, inefficient displays which are capable of accomodating only a relative few styles, sizes and designs of figures.

Apparatus for interchangeable outdoor illuminated signs


A key case for holding and enclosing one or more keys in a more orderly, compact manner while allowing ease of selection, freedom of use, and ease of restorage after use. This is accomplished using a single, triangularly shaped key-holder, which holds all the keys in the key case, and attaching it at one corner to the body of the key case by a double-hinge, universal pivot mechanism, with the keys being stored in face-to-face engagement in an "upside-down" disposition (FIG. 3). The triangular key holder in storage disposition allows for a reduction in size of the key case and further incorporates semicircular corners at its base to facilitate control and separation of the keys while a key is being put in use (FIG. 1).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to any application where keys as those commonly found in homes and offices must be periodically handled and used. It is particularly applicable to the use of pocket key cases to prevent wear and unsightly bulges in clothes where compactness and ease of selection of the proper key is essential.
2. Prior Art
The use of keyholders within key cases has been prevalent for many years wherever keys must be used and selected in an orderly manner, and carried where damage might occur to clothing or compactness is desirable. The prior art includes the following patents:
R. H. Wendt, U.S. Pat. No. 2,564,242 PA1 Castro, U.S. Pat. No. 3,011,537 PA1 Rubenstein, U.S. Pat. No. 3,294,137 PA1 Campbell, U.S. Pat. No. 2,541,333 PA1 Hawes, U.S. Pat. No. 2,360,675 PA1 Wright, U.S. Pat. No. 2,270,015 PA1 Nevesink, U.S. Pat. No. 3,379,041 PA1 Heiring, U.S. Pat. No. 1,843,923 PA1 Nasser, U.S. Pat. No. 2,130,469
This invention stems from the inventor's own dissatisfaction with such prior and current art. This dissatisfaction culminated in a new method of retaining keys inside a key case in a more compact manner while also allowing greater flexibility, spacing, and ease of use of a selected key for its intended purpose than earlier designs.


Laser inscribing system for one step labeling, dating or applying appropriate artwork to a plastic battery enclosure case. A computer controlled laser gun directs a laser beam to inscribe pertinent data on a plastic battery enclosure case.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a battery enclosure case, and more particularly pertains to a method of applying information to a battery enclosure case.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art devices for labeling of battery enclosure packages for the containment of multiple batteries have consisted of devices such as labels, hot stamp embossing, painted on information and the like. Often labels would fade or be worn away with battery use thus rendering contained data unreadable or even nonexistent should the label peel off. Hot stamp embossing often involved a multiple step process where the model number might be applied in one process and the manufacturer date and/or serial number might be applied in another separate process. Often hot stamp labeling would cause smoke to be produced in the hot stamp process which would be harmful to the process operator. Other methods of labeling, such as by using surface attachment such as by paint, dot matrix generation or the like, produced images which could be easily worn off of a surface by constant use. The use of prior art marking devices proved to be labor and capital intensive in system set up and often required lengthy changes to present or new tooling to include or change new information.
Clearly, what is needed is a quick one step process of labeling a battery enclosure case which is permanent in nature. The present invention provides such a device for one step lasting and durable labeling of a plastic battery enclosure case. Laser inscribing provides for a permanent marking, provides for rapid marking and also provides for a readily changeable marking input which is readily changed by the computerized controller. Also the change can be readily made merely by inputting required characters from a computerized control unit.


A face seal assembly mounted on a vertically oriented drive shaft is disclosed for use in connecting two members rotatable with respect to each other. The seal assembly includes a lower stationary graphite seal member which is received in one end of a rubber bellows. A spring within the bellows urges the upper surface of the graphite ring into contact with an upper rotatable second seal member, which is preferably a bronze mating ring. Liquid which seeps radially inwardly past the seal members is channeled within the rubber bellows to discharge outside the face seal assembly without contacting either the drive shaft, or the bearing member located below the bellows. The channel means includes a collar portion within the bellows extending downwardly along the drive shaft from a point adjacent the seal members. A bottom wall, contiguous with the collar encloses the bottom end of the bellows and provides support for the spring located within the bellows. The bottom wall defines apertures which communicate with the channels in the support structure located immediately below the bellows assembly to provide a path for accumulated seepage which is directed radially outwardly of the outer bearing surfaces.

This invention relates generally to face seals, and in particular to face seal assemblies which divert liquid seepage away from bearing elements located adjacent the face seal members.
Prior art face seals of the kind having a stationary seal element and a rotatable seal element of widely used where a leak-proof connection of rotating components is required. While generally acceptable in their performance, these seal arrangements are known to seep a relatively small amount of liquid past the seal surfaces. Frequently these seals are located near bearing elements, which provide rotating support for the components to be sealed. If not controlled, the seepage can flush out, or otherwise contaminate the bearing lubricant, causing premature failure of the bearing element.
Some prior art approaches to controlling seepage such as found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,046--Golubev et at and U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,811--Richards, Jr. et al, have included arrangements for diverting seepage away from bearing elements, but these arrangements are complex and appear difficult to fabricate.


In an injection-locked laser system, a timing system for assuring the locking of an injection-locked oscillator to the frequency of a master oscillator. The system automatically controls the firing of the injection-locked oscillator in accordance with the difference in time between the production of a master oscillator pulse and the time that a predetermined population inversion level has been reached in the injection-locked oscillator as measured by a predetermined level of fluorescence produced by the injection-locked oscillator.

As described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,130 entitled "Improved Apparatus for Lengthening Laser Output Pulse Duration," issued to Charles T. Pike, Aug. 26, 1975, assigned to the assignee hereof, and incorporated herein by reference, recently developed tunable dye lasers permit the generation of spectrally pure laser radiation at very nearly any selected frequency over a range of frequencies associated with the particular dye, rather than being limited to the frequency output of only a few widely separated discrete wavelengths. When this type of laser is used to produce atomic or molecular resonant light, a single frequency of a specific wavelength radiation is typically employed to produce appropriate resonant response.
Where a dye laser is employed for this purpose, it is advantageous to amplify the pulse and increase the pulse duration in order to make more energy available. The Pike patent addresses this problem and solves it as follows. A low-power, short duration and spectrally pure laser pulse is applied to a regenerative laser amplifier. The laser amplifier, when energized or pumped, radiates in a spectrally broad frequency pattern which may be 100 angstroms in width. The broadband radiation is a result of stimulated emission in the active medium of the laser amplifier. If at the start of the stimulated emission, light of a given frequency from a master oscillator is introduced, the stimulated emission will occur only at this frequency. When this occurs, the laser amplifier is said to be locked to the master oscillator. In order for this locking to occur, the master oscillator pulse must exist in the amplifier material at the right instant of time. If the pulse occus early, it will have no effect. If it occurs late, the stimulated emission will have started and the amplifier will have a broadband output when it lases.
Such a system is now known as an injection-locked laser. This type of laser in general involves a master oscillator which is of low power and an injection-locked oscillator (ILO) which acts as the regenerative laser amplifier and includes an active medium into which the signal from the master oscillator is injected.
In order to time the generation of the pulse from the master oscillator so it occurs at the moment when the laser amplifier has been excited to an amplifying condition, but before self-oscillation, a control circuit is provided to activate the master oscillator in timed relationship to the pumping of the laser amplifier. This commences the regenerative cycle that produces a sequence of output pulses.
While the system described in the Pike patent operates very well for allowing the production of the high-power pulses of appropriate spectral content, degradation over time of the laser components may cause the production of a pulse from the master oscillator at a time which is non-optimal with respect to the energization of the active medium and a broad spectral output results. When this system is utilized for isotope separation, this broad spectral output may destroy the isotope selecting mechanism.
With respect to laser isotope separation processes, the master oscillator beam carries the precise narrow bandwidth wavelength information necessary for proper operation of the laser isotope separation process, and the ILO increases the energy in each pulse to the level required by the process. If the ILO fails to lock to the master wavelength, the energy contained in the pulse will be spread over a band-width several orders of magnitude greater than that needed to match the absorption bandwidth of the isotope to be separated, drastically reducing process efficiency. In fact, if the bandwidth is too broad, ionization of both the desired and undesired isotopes may occur, which defeats the separation process.
In summary, whether the ILO locks to the master oscillator pulse depends on the time of arrival of the master oscillator pulse with respect to the triggering of an ILO flashlamp and also the peak power of the master oscillator pulse. Lock can be lost due to the aging of the triggering circuits, Thyratron switches normally utilized, or the flashlamp. This problem is especially severe if the master oscillator pulse power is just great enough to lock when timing is optimally set.
If the master oscillator pulse arrives too early, the population inversion in the ILO active medium is too low to initiate stimulated emission at the master oscillator wavelength and hence lock to it. If the pulse arrives after the ILO has begun laser action on its own, the output will again be the broadened characteristic of the ILO cavity and the output will not be locked.

Automatic locking system for an injection locked laser