A method of measuring expended energy of a moving body, including providing a first sensor for measuring data of a first part of the moving body; providing a second sensor for measuring data of a second part of the moving body, wherein the second part is moveable relative to the first part and connected to the first part by a first resistive deformable element that is external to the moving body; using the first sensor to make a first measurement and subsequently calculating a global expended energy of the first part relative to a reference frame; using the second sensor to make a second measurement and subsequently calculating a relative expended energy of the second part relative to the first part; and calculating the total expended energy of the moving body by summing the global expended energy with the relative expended energy.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is characterised by insulin resistance which may be combined with relatively reduced insulin secretion. In the early stage of T2D, the predominant abnormality is reduced insulin sensitivity. The risk of developing T2D is largely due to lifestyle factors most notably lack of physical activity and poor diet.
Insulin resistance is characterised by an abnormal regulation of blood glucose concentration leading to excess amounts of glucose circulating the body and a failure of biochemical reactions at the skeletal muscle to utilise the energy source. The role of insulin in stimulating the transport of glucose across the muscle cell membrane via activation of the glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) is crucial for allowing glucose uptake, however, in diabetic patients, failure to produce insulin in the pancreas leads to diminished amounts of insulin transported into the blood stream (Turcotte & Fisher, 2008). As skeletal muscle is the most responsive to insulin and the main source of blood glucose clearing, it is essential that skeletal muscle is stimulated in the most efficient way to 'dispose' of the excess glucose in the blood by physical exercise.
The onset of exercise increases glucose transport at working muscles by stimulating GLUT4 from within the muscle cell to the surface of the cell which causes a number of metabolic changes, the most important being increased glucose uptake (Lund et al., 1995). During the onset of exercise, intra-muscular, readily available stores of energy (glycogen) are utilised as the primary source for muscle contraction, this leads to the recruitment of the Krebs cycle to, in basic terms, recycle energy by additional glucose and sustained oxygen consumption (aerobic glycolysis), however, anaerobic exercise relies heavily on increased stores on muscle glycogen as a result of training and replenishes stores post exercise as stimulation of muscle glucose uptake persists for an extended period of time post-exercise. Glycogen repletion is characterised by a marked and persistent increase in insulin action (Richter, 1996). Based on this premise, it is important to understand which exercise parameters (intensity, duration, frequency and mode) and the characteristics of the individual (presence of disease, fitness and genetic pre-dispositions) are most beneficial to maximising adaptations to the cells involved with muscle glucose clearing (Sigal et al., 2004), especially in diabetic patients.
There is evidence to suggest that endurance and resistance exercise training lead to adaptations specific to that training regime. Endurance exercise training allows skeletal muscle to utilise O2 and blood-borne fuels, whereas resistance training leads to improvements in force generation (muscle hypertrophy and contractile properties). Both training approaches lead to increased muscle GLUT4 which probably contributes to the increased capacity for insulin-stimulated glucose transport in trained subjects which has implications for insulin-resistant patients (Sigal et al., 2004). Furthermore, both training mechanisms are similar with relation to increased glucose disposal, however, resistance training has the advantage by increasing muscle mass (and therefore glucose storage space) (Holten et al., 2004; Ivy, 2002), but also increase mitochondrial function and density which has been found in elderly subjects or potentially diabetes sufferers (Jubrais et al., 2001). Emerging data on the outcome of different resistance training protocols can conflict, a single session reduced glucose infusion rate during an insulin clamp, however no decrease or increase occurred when 3 sessions were performed (Howlett et al., 2007). Conversely, 1 session (3 sets, 8-12 reps during 8 exercises) decreased the glucose area under the curve during an oral glucose tolerance test by ˜12% compared to pre-exercise levels, 24 hours after exercise in T2D women (Fenicchia et al., 2004).
Other studies have shown a 15% increase compared to control group following 3 sets×10 rep.max in upper and lower body exercise during oral glucose tolerance test (6 hours post exercise (Venables et al., 2007). Another resistance training protocol yielded similar results (13% higher glucose absorption) following 8×10 reps at 75% of 1 rep.max after an insulin injection given 24 hours post exercise (Koopman et al., 2005). Results from a study by Babraj et al, (2009) found that following a 2 week high intensity training program of cycle sprint training against 7.5% body weight reduced the area under the plasma glucose by 12%. A similar protocol to Babraj found that sprint interval training (against 7.5% body weight) increased muscle glycogen content by ˜50% which suggests this form of exercise is capable of inducing post-exercise glucose absorption in diabetic patients.
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends a resistance training regime for T2D individuals whenever possible including 8-10 exercises involving major muscle groups with a minimum of 1 set of 10-15 reps to near fatigue. This regime can be altered to increase the number of sets or the intensity of exercise in certain individuals, this data was published prior to studies by Dunstand et al (2002) and Castaneda et al (2002) who found significant results following 3 sets of 8-10 repetitions of >85% 1 rep.max which should be advocated into further studies. Although 1 set may increase muscular strength, it appears that three or more sets of resistance training may produce greater metabolic benefit in type 2 diabetic patients (Sigal et al., 2004).
An area for consideration with regards to resistance training is the type of muscular action performed as evidence has shown that eccentric muscle contractions (muscle lengthening, e.g. elbow extension against a resistance) may actually damage the muscle and inhibit a metabolic adaptation. For instance, 30 mins of down-hill running caused a 36% decline in insulin-stimulated glucose disposal 48 hours after exercise (Kirwan et al., 1992). Likewise 2 days following intense one-legged eccentric exercise (4 sets knee extension/flexion, 5 mins per set using an isokinetic dynamometer) resulted in a decline in muscle GLUT 4 content and 15% decrease in glucose infusion rate during an insulin clamp (Asp et al., 1996).
Implications for high resistance exercise using weights may be acceptable for young individuals or those with longstanding diabetes. Moderate weight training programs that utilize light weights and high repetitions can be used for maintaining or enhancing upper body strength in nearly all patients with diabetes (Turcotte & Fisher, 2008). Current recommendations for improving glycemic control involve performing moderate to vigorous intensity aerobic and resistance exercise for several hours per week (American Diabetes Association, 2008; Lakka et al., 2007). However, the general population fails to follow such regimes due to lack of time, motivation and adherence (Godin et al., 1994), therefore resistance training in a manageable form (such as exergaming) may provide beneficial adaptations which are more appealing to wider public population.
As discussed above, it is accepted that exercise reduces the risk of developing T2D. Indeed, the promotion of exercise is a cost-effective strategy of reducing the risk of people developing T2D in a population. It is also recognised that achieving a healthy balance between energy input and energy expenditure is an important factor in reducing the risk of developing T2D. There has been much work on developing methods of measuring energy expenditure which have been important in helping the understanding of the relationship between physical activity and health. It is recognised that regular and accurate self-monitoring of energy expenditure in the free-living environment can provide important feedback to a patient, thereby increasing self-awareness which is the prerequisite for healthy decision making and long-term lifestyle change.
The, location and type of muscle loading and intensity and duration are all important parameters in the prevention of T2D. At present, there are several known ways of measuring energy expenditure but these are generally focussed on the calorific energy intensity (termed EE) of the whole body. While such data is vital in terms of measuring calories burned, levels of exercise intensity and duration during free-living, the prior art systems are not configured to give specific energy-related information corresponding to the movement of specific, individual parts of the body. Simply taking a systemic measure of overall calories used will generally not be sufficient to quantify the potential benefits of exercise, and will therefore not be sufficient to maximise the potential benefits of future exercise interventions.
The number of calories a person burns is an important and actionable parameter for many applications and disease conditions. These include metabolic disorders, weight control (loss, gain, or maintenance), sports performance, and body composition changes. True total energy expenditure (TEE) is a much more useful parameter but is very difficult to measure, and all known techniques make use of approximations of one kind or another, and/or are impractical due to the nature of data collection. An overview of the techniques for measuring energy expenditure can be found in Andre at al., 2007. Known techniques include indirect calorimetry, the use of doubly labelled water, or the use of heart rate monitors, pedometers, global positioning system (GPS) monitors, accelerometers, multisensor devices or multilocation devices. Each of these prior art systems and methods are described below.
Indirect Calorimetry
Indirect calorimetry measures the oxygen and carbon dioxide that a person inhales and exhales and indirectly determines the calories burned during a given period. This method is undertaken in laboratory conditions using a metabolic cart and is widely regarded in the research community as a standard measurement method, presently. However, most metabolic carts for indirect calorimetry measurements are large and bulky and are not suited for monitoring outside the laboratory setting. In addition, the required devices are expensive, costing in the region of $20,000 for a basic system, although more portable, less costly metabolic carts have now become available. Typically, however, portable systems have higher error rates compared with their larger stationary counterparts. Both stationary and portable metabolic carts require the user to breathe through a mouthpiece or mask and are usually used in a laboratory.
Doubly Labelled Water (DLW)
The DLW stable isotope method is based on the principle that in a loading dose of 2H218O given to a subject, 18O is eliminated from the body as CO2 and water, while deuterium is eliminated from the body as water. The rate of CO2 production, and, thus, energy expenditure, is calculated from the difference of the two elimination rates. The subjects give urine and saliva specimens before and after drinking an initial dose of DLW and then give a final urine specimen 1 to 2 weeks later. During the period between initial and final samplings, subjects are free to carry out their normal activities. This is a safe procedure, as the isotopes are stable and emit no radiation. Limitations of the DLW method include a high cost (˜$1500/person), the need for specialized equipment and expertise to implement the techniques. Additionally, the method can only be used to measure expenditure over a long period of time (e.g., 10-14 days). DLW has an error rate of about 5% over a 2-week period because of starting and ending conditions.
Heart Rate Monitors
Heart rate (HR) is one of the fundamental vital signs and is related to the level of physical exertion. A person's HR increases linearly with oxygen consumption, especially for moderate to strenuous activity. HR monitoring is quite common and is often used as part of an exercise prescription. Furthermore, most HR monitor companies have released software for converting HR data into an estimate of energy expenditure (e.g., Polar, Kempele, Finland). Several studies have found that calibration is required to create a curve between the subject's HR and estimated energy expenditure, involving a submaximal stress test at moderate activity levels. Additionally, HR monitors are typically only accurate for moderate to vigorous activities, as in lower-intensity activities. Confounds such as stress, emotions, caffeine intake, ambient temperature, or illness may have a significant impact on a person's HR and may therefore skew results.
Chest-strap HR monitors can be a burden to participants because of the constriction required across the chest to maintain good skin contact. Electrode-based HR monitors are difficult to wear, as placement, skin treatment, and irritation can be significant issues and detriments to long-term wear. Subjects have shown poor compliance at wearing heart rate monitors in free-living trials. Additionally, many HR monitors receive interference from electrical equipment. Thus, signal transmission is prone to interference.
Pedometers
Pedometers, by definition, measure footfalls. The advantage of pedometers is their low cost, ranging from $15 to $300, and wide availability. In general, pedometers are not accurate when used for activities that do not involve footfalls (e.g., weight lifting, biking, household activities). Even for ambulatory activities, pedometers have been found to be inaccurate at both counting steps and assessing distance walked.
In most cases, pedometers (at the higher end) can be accurate at counting steps, although they are much less accurate at predicting energy expenditure, even during walking, with error rates of ±30%. Whilst a pedometer can be used as a coaching or self-monitoring tool to help people set goals and increase their physical activity levels, they do not measure the intensity, duration, or frequency of physical activity.
Global Positioning System (GPS) Monitors
Several devices based on GPS are known that compute speed and distance traveled and, from that information, estimate calories expended for a particular activity (e.g., walking/running, road biking). The accuracy of these products is only beginning to be assessed adequately. Even for outdoor activity, where the GPS signal is strongest, some research indicates that these products may overestimate energy expenditure except for fast walking. Although GPS receivers have become quite wearable for short durations, long-term wear may be uncomfortable. Furthermore, because the monitors only work outdoors and for activities involving true translational motion, these devices have significant limitations with respect to being a suitable free-living monitor of energy expenditure. Most currently available devices either report their results on the device itself or to a personal computer.
Multisensor Devices
Most of the single-sensor based systems that are appropriate for free-living activities involve surrogates for energy expenditure, e.g. measuring steps, motion, heart rate, location on the planet, or expired oxygen. All of these quantities provide indirect measures of energy expenditure.
Low motion might indicate rest or it might indicate physical activity using a part of the body far from the accelerometer. Moderate motion might indicate physical activity or it might indicate riding in a moving vehicle on a rough road. By adding another variable, such as heart rate, these different contexts can be disambiguated. For example, riding in a car will typically induce lower heart rates than moderate physical activity, and subjects at rest will typically have lower heart rates than those performing low-motion physical activity. By taking advantage of the science of data fusion, multisensor systems typically achieve higher accuracies than single sensor systems while typically keeping overall costs moderate.
Like single sensor devices, multisensor devices require sensors in skin contact which may be inconvenient or impractical for the type of activity being monitored.
Another multisensor system is the Garmin® Forerunner, which utilizes GPS, heart rate, and optional foot pod and biking cadence/speed sensors to provide "fill in" data if the GPS signal drops out.
A further multisensor monitor is the SenseWear® Pro3 (BodyMedia Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.). The SenseWear® armband (SWA) is a small, wireless, and wearable body monitor worn on the back of the upper right arm. The SWA utilizes a combination of sensors. A proprietary heat-flux sensor measures the amount of heat being dissipated by the body by measuring the heat loss along a thermally conductive path between the skin and a vent on the side of the armband. Skin temperature and near-armband temperature are also measured by sensitive thermistors. The armband also measures galvanic skin response (the conductivity of the wearer's skin), which varies as a consequence of physical and emotional stimuli. A two-axis accelerometer tracks the movement of the upper arm and provides information about body position. Additionally, a wireless display device is available that can be worn as a watch or clipped to clothing that displays the calories burned, steps taken, and minutes spent in moderate and vigorous physical activity for today, yesterday, and from the time a trip button was pressed.
The SWA utilizes pattern detection algorithms that utilize the physiologic signals from all the sensors to first detect the wearer's context and then apply an appropriate formula to estimate energy expenditure from the sensor values. The armband can recognize many basic activities, such as weight lifting, walking, running, biking, resting, and riding in a car, bus, or train. Other activities are classified into combinations of these basic activities; for example, baseball could be broken down into a combination of mostly near-restful activity and running. The armband can be worn comfortably during a person's normal life and does not require any time in the laboratory for uncomfortable measurements. Laboratory tests indicate that the device is accurate across a broad range of activities and performs well when compared to DLW in diabetic and obese subjects with only an 8% average error.
Accelerometers
Accelerometers operate by measuring acceleration along a given axis, using any of a number of technologies, including piezoelectric, micromechanical springs, and changes in capacitance. Often, multiple axis measurements are bundled into a single package, allowing two and three axis accelerometers. The major function of accelerometers is that the sensor converts movements into electrical signals that are proportional to the muscular force producing motion. Most accelerometers compute energy expenditure by first rectifying the accelerometer signal and then integrating to compute accelerometer counts. Typically, these counts are then multiplied by a constant and added to a separate constant to compute energy expenditure.
Moreover, accelerometer equations have been developed for specific activities (e.g., walking and running, sometimes rest) and do not estimate other activities accurately (e.g., stationary biking, elliptical trainer). Additionally, accelerometers are subject to motion artifacts from activities such as driving in a car or riding on a train. The consensus appears to be that for activities composed entirely of flat-ground ambulation and rest, accelerometers can provide objective measures of activity. Advantages of these types of activity monitors are that they are low to moderate in cost ($50 to more than $1000) and are typically relatively easy to use. Because of the complex nature of some of these devices, as well as the size, subject compliance can sometimes become an issue.
More complex equations for estimating energy expenditure from counts are being developed in this technological area. In these methods, the coefficient of variation of the accelerometry signal is utilized to select an appropriate regression equation. This works because the coefficient of variation of regular walking activity is lower than for free-living activities such as house cleaning. Essentially, this idea utilizes two aspects of a signal: first to classify and then to predict.
Additionally, it is known that the indirect process of determining position from accelerometry data (and accelerometer-based systems [e.g. inclinometers]) is problematic. Errors rapidly accumulate during the integration process and additional information (such as initial conditions) are required for determination of integration constants. Consequently, attempts to track motion by integration of even the most accurate accelerometer signals have been unsuccessful unless low-pass filtering is permitted at each integration or very high quality, expensive and bulky equipment is used. For the purposes of exergaming where an unknown range of non-cyclical movements will occur and the gamer must be free to move unrestricted, neither approach is feasible.
Multilocation Devices
Given that some of the problems of predicting energy expenditure from motion come from an activity that utilizes a part of the body not being measured (e.g., stationary biking), one solution is to utilize accelerometers on multiple parts of the body. Two devices, the DynaPort (McRoberts, B V, The Hague, The Netherlands) and the IDEEA monitor (MiniSun, Fresno, Calif.), utilize this technique. The IDEEA monitor classifies more than 30 activities, with high reported accuracy, and utilizes five accelerometers attached via medical tape to the chest, the underside of each foot, and the front of each thigh. Wires connect the accelerometers to a belt-worn recorder. The accuracy of the device appears to be good, as they are reported to be accurate to within 10% for energy expenditure for some activities. In general, these devices tend to be expensive (more than $1000) and have a significant ease-of-use problem. Many single-location devices are seen as unattractive and inconvenient by the user, especially those that require taping multiple electrodes to locations only accessible when the user is disrobed.
An example of a known system for monitoring the exertion of a user is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,637, which comprises one or more sensors attached to a user for measuring the user's motion. An algorithm is used to determine what kind of activity the user is doing, and at what level of intensity, based on the sensor measurements. A level of overall exertion (e.g. number of calories burned) is then estimated from a look-up table, matrix, formula, or decision flowchart based on the determined type and level of exercise.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an alternative method and apparatus for measuring the total expended energy of a moving body that, in at least one embodiment, improves over the prior art.

Method and apparatus for measuring expended energy


Systems and methods for ferrite circulator phase shifters are provided. In one embodiment, a multi-bit phase shifter comprises: a first switching circulator having a first port coupled to a first short circuit of a first phase length; and a second switching circulator coupled in series with the first switching circulator, the second switching circulator having a second port coupled to a second short circuit of a second phase length, the second switching circulator configured to switch in the second short circuit when the first short circuit is switched out by the first switching circulator, and switch out the second short circuit when the first short circuit is switched in by the first switching circulator.

Ferrite switching circulators can be configured as low loss switched line phase shifters for applications such as beam steering for phased arrays or autotrack modulators for improved beacon tracking in satellite applications. One common problem with switched line phase shifters available today is phase tracking over temperature. That is, the insertion phase of a circulator can change by a few degrees of phase per degree Celsius due to the changes in ferrite material properties over temperature. Thus the effect of temperature on the total phase shift provided by such devices will vary depending on the total number of circulator pass throughs incurred. In one proposed approach to address phase tracking over temperature, two circulators are connected together through two different sections of waveguide with different insertion phase lengths. However, the downside of this approach is that the phase shifter becomes physically large if more than one bit is required. In satellite applications, small size and mass are critical considerations, so a need is present for a switched line phase shifter that has both inherent temperature stability and can be achieved in a compact size.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for improved systems and methods for ferrite circulator phase shifters.


An ink-jet apparatus is disclosed having a vacuum type print media transport subsystem for moving the print media through a printing zone. A transport belt is provided with an array of perforations such that vacuum flow is restricted. The perforations only pass vacuum induced airflow through the belt when over vacuum ported platen regions. In an alternative embodiment, belt lifting is controlled and substantially eliminated via vacuum ports associated with non-perforated regions of the transport belt.

Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to vacuum transport belt apparatus, such as useful in ink-jet hard copy apparatus and methods of operation and, even more specifically, to a vacuum transport belt system providing edge lift control and, preferably, substantial elimination of all edge lift.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known to use a vacuum induced force to adhere a sheet of flexible material to a surface, for example, transporting sheet metal, holding a sheet of print media temporarily to a transport system or platen, and the like. (Hereinafter, xe2x80x9cvacuum induced forcexe2x80x9d is also referred to as xe2x80x9cvacuum induced flow, xe2x80x9cvacuum flow,xe2x80x9d or more simply as just xe2x80x9cairflow,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cvacuumxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9csuction,xe2x80x9d as best fits the context.) Such vacuum holddown systems are a relatively common, economical technology to implement commercially and, in printing technology, can improve hard copy apparatus throughput specifications. For example, it is known to provide a rotating drum with holes through the surface wherein a vacuum type airflow through the chamber formed by the drum cylinder provides a suction force at the holes in the drum surface (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,466 for a PAPER TRANSPORT SYSTEM FOR AN INK JET PRINTER (Scranton) or U.S. Pat. No. 5,081,506 for a TRANSFER SYSTEM FOR A COLOR PRINTER (Borostyan)). (The term xe2x80x9cdrumxe2x80x9d as used hereinafter is intended to be synonymous with any curvilinear implementation incorporating the present invention; while the term xe2x80x9cplatenxe2x80x9d can be defined as a flat holding surface, in hard copy technology it is also used for curvilinear surfaces, e.g., the ubiquitous typewriter rubber roller; thus, for the purposes of the present application, xe2x80x9cplatenxe2x80x9d is used generically for any shape paper holddown surfacexe2x80x94stationary or movablexe2x80x94as used in a hard copy apparatus.) Permeable belts traversing a vacuum inducing support have been similarly employed (see e.g., Scranton and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/163,098 by Rasmussen et al. for a BELT DRIVEN MEDIA HANDLING SYSTEM WITH FEEDBACK CONTROL FOR IMPROVING MEDIA ADVANCE ACCURACY (assigned to the common assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference)).
Generally in a hard copy apparatus implementation, the vacuum device is used either to support cut-sheet print media during transport to and from a printing station (also known as the xe2x80x9cprint zonexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cprinting zonexe2x80x9d) of a hard copy apparatus, to hold the sheet media at the printing station while images or alphanumeric text are formed, or both. (In order to further simplify description of the technology and invention, the term xe2x80x9cpaperxe2x80x9d is used hereinafter to refer to all types of print media and the term xe2x80x9cprinterxe2x80x9d to refer to all types of hard copy apparatus; no limitation on the scope of the invention is intended nor should any be implied.)
In essence, the ink-jet printing process involves digitized, dot-matrix manipulation of drops of ink, or other liquid colorant, ejected from a pen onto an adjacent paper. One or more ink-jet type writing instruments (also referred to in the art as an xe2x80x9cink-jet penxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cprint cartridgexe2x80x9d) include a printhead which generally consists of drop generator mechanisms and a number of columns of ink drop firing nozzles. Each column or selected subset of nozzles (referred to in the art as a xe2x80x9cprimitivexe2x80x9d) selectively fires ink droplets (typically each being only a few picoliters in liquid volume) that are used to create a predetermined print matrix of dots on the adjacently positioned paper as the pen is scanned across the media. A given nozzle of the printhead is used to address a given matrix column print position on the paper (referred to as a picture element, or xe2x80x9cpixelxe2x80x9d). Horizontal positions, matrix pixel rows, on the paper are addressed by repeatedly firing a given nozzle at matrix row print positions as the pen is scanned. Thus, a single sweep scan of the pen across the paper can print a swath of dots. The paper is stepped to permit a series of contiguous swaths. Dot matrix manipulation is used to form alphanumeric characters, graphical images, and even photographic reproductions from the ink drops. Page-wide ink-jet printheads are also contemplated and are adaptable to the present invention.
A well-known phenomenon of wet-colorant printing is xe2x80x9cpaper cockle,xe2x80x9d the irregular surface produced in paper by the saturation and drying of ink deposits on the fibrous medium. As a sheet of paper gets saturated with ink, the paper grows and buckles in a seemingly random manner. Paper printed with images are more saturated with colorant than simple text pages and thus exhibit great paper cockle. Colors formed by mixing combinations of other color ink drops form greater localized saturation areas and also exhibit greater cockle tendencies.
As the ink-jet writing instrumentsxe2x80x94often scanning at a relatively high rate across the paperxe2x80x94expel minute droplets of ink onto adjacently positioned print media and sophisticated, computerized, dot matrix manipulation is used to render text and form graphic images, the flight trajectory of each drop is critical to print quality. Printing errors (also referred to in the art as xe2x80x9cartifactsxe2x80x9d) are induced or exacerbated by any airflow in the printing zone. Thus, use of a vacuum platen and vacuum transport device in the printing zone of an ink-jet printer creates an added difficulty for the system designer. One solution to the problem is set out in common assignee""s pending application U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/514,830, filed on Feb. 28, 2000, for a LOW FLOW VACUUM PLATEN FOR AN INK-JET HARD COPY APPARATUS. In essence, it employs a platen having an array of vacuum ports that are each filtered. The filter is constructed to provide restricted airflow such that media holddown pressure remains substantially uniform when the platen is either fully covered or partially uncovered. The filter mechanism provides airflow restrictions such that ink drop flight trajectories in the printing zone are unaffected, acoustic dampening of the vacuum pump is provided, and vacuum pressure is kept relatively high at the print media edges.
Moreover, in general there has been found that a problem exists where near the side edges of the vacuum transport belt lifting of the belt off the subjacent platen occurs. The higher the speed of the belt, the larger the dimensions of the belt, the greater the problem. The problem has been found to be most egregious at any cross-belt seam(s). For a printer, the problem is that if the belt lifts from the platen along the belt side edges, the pen-to-paper must be increased to prevent the pen from catching which could damage the belt and possibly damage or destroy the pen. At the same time, to improve throughput, it is advantageous to have the belt move as quickly as possible to off-load a printed sheet and advance a next sheet to the print zone. Moreover, if a heated platen is employed to assist in drying ink on the transported media in either or all of the pre-print, print, and post-print zones, lifting of the belt can interrupt conductive heating via the belt to the media. One common known manner solution is to provide physical edge guides. However, this adds piece part to manufacture, increasing cost and complexity.
There is still a need for a commercial, low-cost, vacuum system for use in an ink-jet printing zone which will assist in minimizing cockle and provide a minimal airflow impact on ink-jet drop flight trajectory. There is a further need for a vacuum system for controlling and substantially eliminating belt edge lifting.
In its basic aspect, the present invention provides a vacuum platen system for transporting a sheet material, including: a platen having first ports permitting airflow therethrough at predetermined positions of a surface thereof; a vacuum device associated with the platen and inducing the airflow; and a transport belt superjacent the surface, having an array of belt perforations and non-perforated belt side margins, wherein said platen has at least one elongated second port subjacent each of said margins.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for transporting print media across a vacuum platen associated with a vacuum inducing mechanism, the method including: drawing a vacuum through a plurality of vacuum ports distributed across the platen; transporting ink-jet print media across the platen in a predetermined direction by a belt associated with the platen, the belt having a perforated central region and non-perforated side margin regions; and drawing the vacuum against said side margin regions such that lifting of said belt during transport across said platen is substantially eliminated.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a vacuum platen adapted for association with a vacuum source and a partially perforated transport belt, the platen including: at least one central region having a plurality of first vacuum ports associated with providing vacuum to at least one adjacent central region of the perforated transport belt; and at least marginally located second vacuum ports associated with providing vacuum to non-perforated regions of the transport belt.
Another aspect of the present invention is an ink-jet hard copy apparatus including: an ink-jet writing instrument associated with a printing zone within the apparatus; an endless loop vacuum belt system for transporting print media to and from the printing zone; and a vacuum platen system located proximate the printing zone, the vacuum platen system having a platen, having a plurality of vacuum ports therethrough, a vacuum chamber, and a vacuum device for maintaining a negative pressure within the chamber such that an airflow is established through the vacuum ports into the chamber, wherein the vacuum belt system has a belt having a perforated central region and non-perforated side margins, and said platen system has at least two side margin vacuum ports, each of said side margin vacuum ports subjacent to said non-perforated side margins of said belt.
The foregoing summary is not intended to be an inclusive list of all the aspects, objects, advantages, and features of the present invention nor should any limitation on the scope of the invention be implied therefrom. This Summary is provided in accordance with the mandate of 37 C.F.R. 1.73 and M.P.E.P. 608.01(d) merely to apprise the public, and more especially those interested in the particular art to which the invention relates, of the nature of the invention in order to be of assistance in aiding ready understanding of the patent in future searches. Objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following explanation and the accompanying drawings, in which like reference designations represent like features throughout the drawings.

Edge lift reduction for belt type transports


A method and an apparatus for processing a low-latency service flow, where the method includes that a first forwarding device obtains a low latency identifier corresponding to a first service flow, and obtains a second data packet based on the first data packet and the low latency identifier after determining that a received first data packet belongs to the first service flow, where the second data packet includes the first data packet and the low latency identifier, the low latency identifier instructing a forwarding device that receives the first service flow to forward the first service flow in a low-latency forwarding mode, and the low-latency forwarding mode is a mode in which fast forwarding of the first service flow is implemented under dynamic control, and the first forwarding device sends the second data packet to a second forwarding device in the low-latency forwarding mode.

With popularity of high-definition videos on demand and emergence of vehicle to vehicle (V2V) networks, a growing number of services require a relatively low latency in network transmission. Low-latency service flows arise with emergence and development of the foregoing services. A low-latency service flow is a service flow that requires a transmission latency to fall within a preset threshold. Generally, the preset threshold of the low-latency service flow is relatively small, for example, at a millisecond level.
Currently, a device in an Ethernet network may meet a latency requirement of a low-latency service flow by statically configuring a gate control list by a management plane. For example, eight queues are configured for each Ethernet port of the device in the Ethernet network, and to-be-sent packets are stored in each queue in a sequence of receiving packets. Each queue corresponds to one gate that is configured to control packet sending. That is, eight gates are further configured for each Ethernet port. One gate control list is configured for each Ethernet port. The gate control list includes many entries, and each entry includes eight gating values. The eight gates included by the Ethernet port can be opened or closed based on the eight gating values included in each entry. When a gate is opened, a sending action is performed on to-be-sent packets in a queue that corresponds to the opened gate. To process low-latency service flows using a gate control list, a gate control list needs to be configured for each Ethernet port, resulting in complex and inflexible management.

Method and apparatus for processing low-latency service flow


A bi-directional safety mechanism used in an elevator safety device and which produces a gradual catch on a guide rail. The bi-directional safety device has a roller and two hinged rectangular frames, each having a friction element. One hinged rectangular frame is disposed above the roller and the other hinged rectangular frame is disposed below the roller with both hinged rectangular frames on the same side of the guide rail. In addition, a set of fixed brakes are disposed on the other side of the guide rail and opposite to the hinged rectangular frames, preventing this system from marking the guide rail during the braking process.

Some prior safety devices of elevators are based on the use of a fixed clamp and a mobile clamp and require means for releasing the mobile clamp.
In general, these and other catch systems for safety devices have the drawback that the pressure exerted on the guiderail, in combination with the manner in which it is exerted, tends to mark said guiderail.
Marks left in the elevator guiderails are not received well by manufacturers and installers, due to subsequent effects on the operation of the safety device.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to develop a gradual catch system for an elevator that allows bi-directional braking, both in an upwards and downwards direction, wherein said braking takes place so that the mark left on the guiderails by the rollers is as small as possible, since after a certain time they stop acting and no longer mark the guiderail during braking.

Gradual catch system for a bidirectional safety device


In one aspect, the invention includes: a) forming a first opening into a substrate surface; b) forming a polysilicon layer over the substrate surface and within the first opening to a thickness which less than completely fills the first opening to leave a second opening within the first opening; c) forming a coating layer over the polysilicon layer and within the second opening; d) etching the coating layer and the polysilicon layer to remove the coating layer and the polysilicon layer from over the substrate surface and leave the coating layer and the polysilicon layer within the opening; and e) after the etching, removing the coating layer from within the opening. In another aspect, the invention includes: a) forming a first opening into a substrate surface; b) forming a polysilicon layer over the substrate surface and within the first opening to a thickness which less than completely fills the first opening to leave a second opening within the first opening, the polysilicon having a surface with a first degree of roughness; c) forming a coating layer over the polysilicon layer and within the second opening, the coating layer having a surface with a second degree of roughness which is less than the first degree of roughness; d) etching the coating layer and the polysilicon layer to remove the coating layer and the polysilicon layer from over the substrate surface and leave the coating layer and the polysilicon layer within the opening; and e) after the etching, removing the coating layer from within the opening.

A semiconductor wafer fragment 10 comprising a prior art capacitor construction is illustrated in FIG. 1. Wafer fragment 10 comprises a substrate 12. Substrate 12 can comprise, for example, a monocrystalline silicon wafer lightly doped with a conductivity-enhancing dopant. To aid in interpretation of the claims that follow, the term "semiconductive substrate" is defined to mean any construction comprising semiconductive material, including, but not limited to, bulk semiconductive materials such as a semiconductive wafer (either alone or in assemblies comprising other materials thereon), and semiconductive material layers (either alone or in assemblies comprising other materials). The term "substrate" refers to any supporting structure, including, but not limited to, the semiconductive substrates described above.
An insulative material layer 14 is formed over substrate 12. Layer 14 can comprise, for example, borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG). An electrical node 16 is formed within substrate 12. Node 16 can comprise, for example, a diffusion region formed by implanting conductivity-enhancing dopant within substrate 12.
An opening extends through layer 14, and a container-type capacitor assembly 20 extends within the opening. Capacitor assembly 20 comprises a storage node 18, a dielectric layer 22, and a capacitor plate 24. Storage node 18 can comprise, for example, conductively-doped rugged polysilicon, wherein rugged polysilicon is defined to encompass hemispherical grain polysilicon and cylindrical grain polysilicon. Dielectric layer 22 typically comprises a composite of silicon oxide and silicon nitride. Capacitor plate 24 typically comprises conductively-doped polysilicon. Storage node 18 is in electrical connection with electrical node 16.
A difficulty in forming capacitor assembly 20 arises in forming storage node 18. Formation of storage node 18 typically comprises providing conductively-doped hemispherical grain polysilicon within the opening and over layer 14. The hemispherical grain polysilicon is subsequently etched to leave the hemispherical grain polysilicon remaining only in the opening. During such etching, conductive polysilicon particulates can be formed. Such particulates can redeposit on wafer 10 to cause shorts in an integrated circuit formed on wafer 10. For instance, it is common in semiconductive processing to form multiple capacitor assemblies 20 on a single semiconductive wafer. Conductive polysilicon particles formed during etching of a hemispherical grain polysilicon layer can redeposit between adjacent capacitor structures to form a short between the capacitor structures. It would be desirable to develop alternative methods for forming a capacitor structure wherein a hemispherical grain polysilicon layer is etched to form a storage node without having conductive polysilicon particles redepositing and shorting electrical components.

Semiconductor processing for forming capacitors by etching polysilicon and coating layer formed over the polysilicon


The present invention aims at achieving the object of keeping a contact housing portion liquid tight sealed and to improve the durability of a switch apparatus. A switch apparatus according to the present embodiment includes: a switch case 3 including a contact housing portion 25 therein and a shaft hole 27; a rod 5 whose outer flange portion 33 is capable of axially abutting on and engaging with a periphery portion 121a of a detecting plate; a first return spring 37 biasing the rod 5 in the direction opposite to protruding direction; a fixed contact 9 in the switch case 3 and a movable contact 7 which can reciprocally move between a position touching the fixed contact 9 and a non-touching position; a diaphragm 11 separating the shaft hole 27 from the contact housing portion 25 and being formed of rubber; a movable base 39 supporting the movable contact 7 and abutting on the diaphragm 11; a second return spring 2 bringing the movable contact 7 into contact with the fixed contact 9; and a retention member 13 interposed between the diaphragm 11 and the rod 5, including an abutting portion 41 for abutting on the rod 5, and axially movably, but not rotatably supported with respect to the switch case 3.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a switch apparatus used for detecting a differential lock state in an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, there has been known a switch apparatus capable of detecting a locking state or an unlocking state of a differential apparatus, as illustrated in FIG. 3 (refer to Patent Document 1). FIG. 3 illustrates a cross section of a rear differential apparatus for an automobile.
The rear differential apparatus 101 illustrated in FIG. 3 includes a locking device which locks a differential mechanism 111 such that a lock member 105 supported by a differential case 103 moves in the axial direction and engages a side gear 107 with a dog clutch 109.
A differential lock state is detected by a switch apparatus 115 supported on the side of a differential carrier 113.
The switch apparatus 115 is equipped with a rod 117 for detection. A flange 119 of the rod 117 is capable of axially engaging with the periphery of a detecting plate 121 attached to the lock member 105.
For this reason, when the lock member 105 moves to lock the differential mechanism, the flange 119 engages with the periphery of the detecting plate 121 in the axial direction and draws the rod 117 out in the axial direction.
The movement of the rod 117 in the axial direction enables the switch apparatus 115 to detect the differential lock state.
The structure of the switch apparatus 115 is illustrated in a cross section in FIG. 4 and is the same as that described in Patent Document 2.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, the switch apparatus 115 has a contact housing portion 125 in a switch case 123 and a shaft hole 127 opened to outside at one end thereof.
The rod 117 is movably supported in the axial direction along the shaft hole 127 and biased by a return spring 129, which is disposed between the rod 117 and the switch case 123, toward the contact housing portion 125.
A movable contact 131 is disposed at the inner end of the rod 117 and opposes axially to a fixed contact 133 which is provided on the side of the switch case 123.
In accordance with the structure described above, when the differential mechanism is locked the rod 117 moves to bring the movable contact 131 into contact with the fixed contact 133, enabling the differential lock state to be detected.
Here, since the switch apparatus 115 is attached on the side of the differential carrier 113, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the distal end portion of the switch case 123 including the rod 117 is exposed to lubricating oil inside the differential carrier 113.
For that reason, the lubricating oil enters between the rod 117 and the shaft hole 127 and infiltrates into the contact housing portion 125 which is not liquid tight sealed. Hence sludge and contaminant included in the lubricating oil stick to the movable contact 131 and the fixed contact 133 to occur a contact failure due to roughness on the surface of the contact portion.
To solve the above problem, there may be adopted a configuration in which the shaft hole 127 and the contact housing portion 125 are liquid-tightly partitioned by a diaphragm of an elastic material such as rubber, and the rod 117 is arranged to press the diaphragm so as to transmit the action of the rod 117 to the contact housing portion 125, thereby enabling a movable portion which is supporting the movable contact 131 to move, or the like.
However, in the switch apparatus 115 for detecting a differential lock state as described above, since the flange 119 of the rod 117 abuts on and engages with the rotating detecting plate 121 in the axial direction, the rod 117 rotates in an interlocking manner with the detecting plate 121 generates a sliding contact between the rod 117 and the diaphragm, which may produce a problem in that the diaphragm loses its durability in a short period of time.
The problem caused when the rod 117 receives input in the rotation direction occurs not only in detecting a rotational object as described above, but also occurs when a rod receives a torsional force as in a case where a rod is designed to engage with a cam to detect its displacement, wherein the cam surface thrusts the rod.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-29579
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-265859
The problem to be solved is that the contact housing portion being made liquid tight loses its durability.


Providing interpolated signals with enhanced signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR). In an embodiment, for each digital sample (of an analog signal) having strength Dn, N values are inserted, with the kth inserted value having a strength of Dn(1+/−Dk), wherein Dk is selected randomly from within a range set according to quantization noise. The received digital samples along with inserted digital values are provided as the interpolated signal corresponding to the input signal represented by the received digital samples.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to digital signal processing, and more specifically to method and apparatus for enhancing signal to noise ratio at the output of an interpolator.
2. Related Art
Interpolation generally refers to generating additional data points from several input data points. Interpolation is often applied in the context of signal processing, which has the effect of increasing the sampling frequency of the signal from which additional data points are generated. The generated signal is referred to as an interpolated signal.
Noise may be introduced into the interpolated signal during interpolation. It is generally desirable that interpolation be performed while reducing the noise in the interpolated signal, thereby enhancing the signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR).
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.

Enhancing signal to noise ratio of an interpolated signal


The present set of embodiments relate to a bioproduction system, method, and apparatus for creating a scalable bioreactor system. Specifically, the present set of embodiments enable the determination of bioreaction performance characteristics of a commercial scale by matching operational parameters between a small test scale bioreaction to that of a commercial scale bioreaction. The system and methods do not rely on simply making bioreactor apparatuses across scales the same dimensionally which would not account for differences in fluid dynamic properties between very small to very large volumes, but requires tuning of a variety of systems (mixing assembly, sparger system, and headspace airflow system) in conjunction with one another to achieve predictive outcomes.

The biopharmaceutical industry uses a broad range of mixing systems for a variety of processes such as in the preparation of media and buffers and in the growing, mixing and suspension of cells and microorganisms. Some conventional mixing systems, including bioreactors and fermenters, comprise a flexible bag disposed within a rigid support housing. An impeller is disposed within the flexible bag and is coupled with the drive shaft. Rotation of the drive shaft and impeller facilitates mixing and/or suspension of the fluid contained within flexible bag.
Scientist and engineers have worked to create stirred tank reactors that can provide not only an aseptic and well controlled environment for cell culture growth, but also deliver a robust scale-up solution from research to manufacturing scale. Traditionally good engineering principles have been applied in such a manner to design reactors based upon linear geometric scaling approach (i.e. the vessels will have similar height/diameter ratios as well as similar impeller/tank diameter ratios). This works fairly well in many cases, but the operators usually have to make many complex decision as how best to choose operational settings in order to have reproducible results through scale-up. Because it is a two phase and metabolically based system, most of the operational parameters interact dynamically and are often non-linear in response; the best parameter choices and process outcome are often far too unpredictable, costly, and time consuming to be addressed properly at the operator level.
Those skilled in the art of biopharma manufacturing recognize the importance of having a good scale-up and scale-down models that are able to simulate or ideally replicate the physiological growth conditions found in large-scale bioreactor. The reason for the scale-down model's importance is often related to the need to screen multiple parameters quickly (optimization of cell clone, media, critical operating parameters, or product quality) and it is beneficial to be able to perform a wide range of experiments under well controlled conditions at lower cost and with less labor. A good scale-down model will also de-risk a desired process in that there will be much less likelihood of experiencing problems at large scale that were not previously identified at small scale.
Because the large bioreactors are two phase systems (gas and liquid based) they are difficult to scale-down in a predictable manner largely due to the solubility differences of gas types and because the fluid mechanics and/or physics of the system are very dynamic (non-linear) due viscosity, shear, density, and surface interactions that are influenced across scale. While bulk power dissipation rates may be similar using traditional bioreactor designs, the resulting bulk flow and measured mixing times are rarely similar across all scales. As a result, problem often arise at large scale that have not been seen as problematic in the small scale system because the same gradients of pH, nutrients, gas concentration, or shear found at large scale are not easily replicated under a single operating state created in a small scale bioreactor.
The main design methods currently employed are geometric ratio scaling of the system (tank height to diameter ratio and an impeller to diameter ratio); this being operated in combination with either 1) near constant impeller tip speed or 2) near constant P/V (power input to volume). These approaches have been reasonably successful because it allows operators to compensate for some of the non-linearity of kinetics and mass transfer in a rotating agitator based system while being gassed. Whereas shear is traditionally benchmarked based upon tip speed of the impeller (where tip speed is a function of the square of impeller diameter). Power input to volume is more often employed because is favorable to meeting the limits of practical mechanical designs scale-up (meaning the power requirements are within reasonable magnitude across scales) because power transfer is nonlinear function of speed and diameter (and partially impeller geometry).
Once the general design of the reactor is known, common practice is to focus on one of two critical process parameters. Choose a tier 1 target constant—shear sensitive cultures often use impeller tip speed, whereas more shear tolerant cultures often use power input to volume (P/V). Mixing efficiency is important regardless of the chose scale parameter, best practice is to verify that similar or at least reasonable blend times are achievable across scales (T90 mixing times of <30 sec are most desirable, but often not achievable across scale because of bulk fluid mixing dissipation issues inherent to water based fluid). Then the second tier target is often tied to pH control and dissolved gases—mass transfer kLa of oxygen (primary) and kLa of carbon dioxide (secondary). Some systems are further optimized by use of computational fluid dynamic (CFD). This is a good method for determining impeller power number (Np) and for modeling the fluid flow profile in the system. Power transfer can be estimated and used to predict the amount of (mixing) power transferred into the system. Computational or hybrid models (RPT) can also predict fluid field direction, velocity, and localized shear conditions.
Well informed operators are often very successful in achieving acceptable outcomes if the system is designed properly, but the overall process is still often burdened with unknowns and time consuming troubleshooting especially when process transfer must be facilitated between dissimilar system as part of scale-up or transfer to an alternate location.
The issue that is often overlooked is the bulk fluid flow of the system and how this changes across scale. Fluid is displacement and velocity is not linear across scales, therefore the mixing profile of liquid movement will change not only based upon volume, tip speed, and diameter. It also depends upon the spatial distribution of power within the reactor. In practical terms, designs should detune the localized mixing performance of the smaller volume system to match the bulk mixing and mass transfer performance of the large scale system. A good design will take in the account the effects of baffling or flow disrupters in the design as some randomness in the mixing or vessel turn-over is beneficial.

System and method for cell culture scaling


A charging device including a first connector connected to a power source; a second connector connected an electronic device; a magnetic element connected to a magnet of the electronic device; a magnetic sensor that detects a magnetic force generated by the magnet of the electronic device; and a switch circuit disposed between the first connector and the second connector and that switches between an open state and a closed state based on an output of the magnetic sensor.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a charging device for an electronic device including a secondary battery.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, electronic devices such as portable terminals, portable music players, digital cameras, gaming devices, and small-sized PCs include a secondary battery built therein. The secondary battery is charged utilizing a charging device. The charging device is typically a device that is connected between a commercial power source and the electronic device and that converts an alternating voltage obtained from the commercial power source into a direct voltage suitable for the electronic device to supply charge power to the electronic device.
A connection portion that connects the charging device to the electronic device uses a connector and terminals that may have a variety of shapes. Some electronic devices incorporate a magnet in the connector so that the charging device and the electronic device are connected to each other using a magnetic force. Such a connector allows a user to easily connect the connector. In addition, the connector is easily disconnected in the case where the user trips over a cable for the charging device, for example. Therefore, advantageously, the main body of the charging device is not pulled to fall down, and degradation of and damage to the cable and the connector can be prevented.


An electrical wire includes a first conductor, a second conductor, and a third conductor. The first conductor is formed as an electrifiable conductor for delivering electrical power. The second and third conductors are respectively formed on opposing sides of the first conductor, such that the first conductor is at least substantially entrapped by the second and third conductors. A distance between the first conductor and each of the second and third conductors is no greater than approximately 0.030 inches.

The earliest forms of wiring homes (1920s-1950s) utilized wire insulated with shellac permeated cloth wrap. Asphalted cloth wrap was used for insulation in the 1950s-1970s. Aluminum electrical wiring was installed in homes in the mid 1960s through the mid 1970s. Wire, as we know it today with two insulated inner conductors (e.g., hot/neutral or electrifiable/return conductors) and a non-insulated ground conductor (e.g., grounding conductor), all within a thermoplastic outer insulator, has been used since the mid-1950s.
FIGS. 1A-B illustrate examples of such conventional electrical wire. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, one conventional electrical wire 50 includes an electrifiable (e.g., hot) conductor 55 surrounded by a first insulation layer 60, a return (e.g., neutral) conductor 65 surrounded by a second insulation layer 70. A third insulation layer 75 surrounds the insulated conductors 55, 65.
As illustrated in FIG. 1B, another conventional electrical wire 100 includes an electrifiable (e.g., hot) conductor 105 surrounded by a first insulation layer 110, a return conductor 115 surrounded by a second insulation layer 120, and a grounding conductor 125. A third insulation layer 130 surrounds all of the conductors 105, 115 and 125.
Many millions of homes today are facing end-of-life scenarios regarding their older wiring and run significant risk of fire damage and casualties. According to the National Science and Technology Council November 2000 report, "[w]ire systems may become unreliable or fail altogether, due to poor design, use of defective materials, improper installation, or other causes. The risk of failure increases as wire systems age, due to cumulative effects of environmental stresses (e.g. heat, cold, moisture, or vibration), inadvertent damage during maintenance, and the wear and tear of constant use. The aging of a wire system can result in loss of critical function in equipment powered by the system . . . can jeopardize public health and safety and lead to catastrophic equipment failure or to smoke and fire." The Consumer Products Safety Commission estimates that 50 million homes in the United States have reached or are about to reach the "end-of-life" of their electrical wiring system.
Furthermore, wire insulation and/or conductors can deteriorate due to radiation, high temperature, steam, chafing; mishandling, corrosion, mechanical loading, and vibration. Reports issued by the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) show that in 1997 home wire systems caused over 40,000 fires that resulted in 250 deaths and over $670 million of property damage. Further study by the CPSC based on 40,300 electrical circuit fires showed that 36% were due to installed wiring and 16% were due to cord/plugs. Along with the usual wire system failures due to age and environmental stresses, aluminum wire systems were "prone to degradation and dangerous overheating".
Regarding modern wire systems and technology, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL) acknowledge, "[w]ires and cables made with fluorocarbons have excellent flammability, but are very expensive. Flame-retarded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cables also have excellent flammability and physical properties . . . . However, the chloride content of (all) PVC cables is a concern for potential formation of dioxin during incineration."
As illustrated in FIGS. 1A-B, conventional electrical wire which is commonly used in homes and offices today consist of solid, round wires individually insulated with PVC (except for the ground wire) with an outer PVC jacket surrounding the inner wires. Fires are increasingly being caused by overheated wires, insulation breakdown, and penetrations. The open spaces afforded by conventional in-wall or in-ceiling wiring offer plenty of oxygen for fire ignition and expansion associated with electrical fires.
Moreover, such conventional electrical wire poses an electric shock hazard and therefore, causes safety concerns. That is, such conventional electrical wire is often accidentally penetrated by objects such as nails, screws, drill bits, etc. which often results in the serious injury or death. Thus, such conventional electrical wire has a high potential for serious injury when penetrated by any of the aforementioned electrically conductive objects.
Other key examples of conventional wiring systems being inadequate in the changing-marketplace include:                (a) the proliferation of solid wall (and ceiling) construction techniques; and        (b) the proliferation of new technologies and devices being installed in new and especially existing home and office environments that require wire interfaces and many are designed for surface mounting of these devices.
New materials such as foam block forms for poured concrete walls, removable form poured concrete walls, fabricated alternative materials to wood and recycled materials formed into solid wall (and ceiling) panels all represent better long-term characteristics and advantages over current "hollow" exterior and interior wall (and ceiling) construction techniques. These solid material construction techniques require some type of invasive channeling done on-site. This channeling has many drawbacks, safety concerns and costs associated. It also typically places the wiring closer to the finished surface where future invasions as previously described may cause shock or potential arch faults and fire potential. On a global scale the construction issues have existed for many years based on differences in construction techniques.
In addition, the advent of advances in audio, video and computer/internet applications have drastically changed the paradigm of home and office devices. Surround-sound home theater and multi-media conference room audio systems, flat-panel plasma and liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions, networked homes and offices, new applications of lighting, air quality and control systems have put tremendous strains and in many cases compromises on wiring systems. The requirement for alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) electrical power interfaces and the associated wiring has created problems for the installer and the user.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electrical wire and method of fabricating the electrical wire


A fully adjustable system is provided for reducing overheating of engines caused by the blockage of air flow by snow plow blades. One embodiment mountable onto blades of a split V-plow includes two elongated deflectors, two T-shaped mounting brackets, and a U-shaped slide bracket. When the system is assembled, the base plates are slidable in a direction parallel to the blade before the fasteners are tightened, the deflectors are slidable relative to the slide bracket in a direction parallel to the blade before the fasteners are tightened, the deflectors are slidable in a direction perpendicular to the blade before the fasteners are tightened, and the deflectors are angularly rotatable relative to a top lip of the blade.

Snow plows on plow vehicles such as pickup trucks, dump trucks and the cause the plow vehicle to suffer a cooling problem. The issue is not the weight nor the drag of the plow but rather the airflow disruption engendered by the snow plow.
To illustrate this problem, FIG. 1 shows a side view of a plow vehicle 10 with a plow 12 and ancillary mounting equipment 14. However, it is apparent from viewing this side view that air flow is massively disrupted from its normal straight flow. As the vehicle 10 moves under normal circumstances, it is designed to generate a largely unimpeded airflow to radiator 16. With a curved blade 12 in front of the radiator 16, however, the air flow is disrupted and is scooped up by the upper edge and body of the blade 12, generating a high pressure area CH in front of the blade 12 in the exact same manner in which the snow on the ground is scooped up by the lower edge and body. Plow blades may be commonly seen with a vortex of snow swirling around in the front of the blade, which eventually exits via one side (one end) of the horizontal blade. What is not visible to the naked eye is the fact that the air flow follows the same path, being entrained by the blade and snow in the high pressure area CH and carried around the end of the plow blade 12.
A limited amount of air passes over the plow blade 12 as shown by arrow CA'. This air from above the plow is pulled by a low pressure area 'L' behind the blade downward, thus resulting in a very small flow past radiator 16. However, this small flow exists in the partial vacuum 'L' generated by the blade 12. Since the vehicle radiator 16 is not designed for use in a partial vacuum, the real world result is that the vehicle engine begins to overheat in the midst of snow, forcing the operator to periodically stop and cool the engine or causing a significant loss of power.
This is not a theoretical issue. The overheating problem caused by the plow acting like a scoop to move air away from radiators has been long noted by plow operators and the reason for this understood. The problem, therefore, is of considerable vintage.
A search in the United States Patent Office Collection reveals previous attempts to solve this problem. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,544,434 to Calvachio, Jr. and 4,587,750 to Larson teach airfoils or scoops which attempt to solve this problem. Testing these types of units reveals immediate flaws. In particular, the mountings of these devices are wildly inadequate to the battering received by snow plows. Real world snow plow blades are driven across rugged uneven surfaces and they may frequently encounter small but immovable obstacles which are completely hidden by the snow. An object as insignificant as a pebble embedded in a tarmac road surface can actually bring a plow vehicle to a halt, and more typical hidden obstacles include concrete gutters, sidewalks, curbs and the like. Most plows do not come to halt under such conditions, though, because the plow blades are normally hinged so that they can rotate when encountering a small object, with strong springs urging the plow blade back to normal position after the object is passed.
The battering, vibration and shaking the plow blade undergoes makes a mockery of the light mountings taught by the 1 434 and 750 references. As mentioned, testing showed that light mountings made to the rib 102 very quickly shake themselves free from the blade and vanish into the snow in front of the plow or under the wheels of the vehicle.
These mountings have other problems besides lack of durability. They do not allow easy height adjustments of the device for differing combinations of plows and vehicles. This is important to effectiveness: if an airfoil cannot be adjusted in height to gather the required amount of air and redirect it towards the radiator, then the device does not prevent the overheating / power loss problems seen by operators. A single height setting cannot provide this as plow vehicles come in a wide range of heights and radiators are variously disposed at various heights as well. Plows also come in a variety of heights and a variety of lengths of separation from the front of the vehicle. Finally the shapes of the plows results in differing degrees of vortex formation, and if an airfoil is not located at a location which receives a strong airflow, that is, if the air foil is located in the low pressure zone even though it is atop the blade, then the air foil in the low pressure zone cannot function in any event. The combinations of plows and vehicles means that the air foil must be adjustable not just in angle but also in height.
In addition, these devices do not easily fit to plows lacking such an upper rib, having an upper rib inappropriate for the mounting, or split V-blade plows.
These references teach two simple air foil shapes: a true air foil and a flat scoop. Thus, these devices are not found widely distributed among plow operators. In addition to the '434 patent to Calvachio, Jr. and the 750 to Larson, trunking or duct works have been tried to solve this problem. Examples of this include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,881,479 to Pavey and 4,896,915 to Morandi et al. These patents do not disclose airfoils which ride above the plow blade but rather scoops which redirect a certain amount of the incoming air more closely toward the radiator. It is difficult to see how such trunking devices could possibly be made adjustable in height, particularly as imagination is required to guess the details of the mountings of these two devices. Some of these devices are too far forward to properly direct air to the vehicle radiator area. Others, such as the '915 device, have weak mounts, become clogged with snow, and reduce the effective turning radius of the plow vehicle by impinging into the area between the plow and the vehicle when the come close together during turns.
Finally, there are numerous deflectors which are designed to deflect snow which spills over the top of the plow blade and direct it downward actually away from the plow vehicle. (Abstract, U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,653 to Pease et al. and Col. 1, line 21, U.S. Pat. No. 3,432,947 to Peitl). Since these devices have a different function and result it seems safe to dismiss them and their kin as irrelevant to devices which try to direct air *toward* the plow vehicle: reference prior art cannot violate its own fundamental operation.

Fully adjustable air deflector system for snow plow blades


The present invention describes an apparatus and method for shutting off an electrodeless lamp such that it can be restarted instantaneously at any time. The method involves reducing the applied microwave power in a controlled way the moment the lamp is turned off. The reduction of power is accomplished by modulating the microwave power with an ever decreasing duty factor or a decrease of analog power. This reduction in power results continually in reduced light output and lamp cooling while maintaining partial ionization of the lamp fill. Circuitry to accomplish this is also presented.

This invention relates to restarting electrodeless high intensity discharge (HID) lamps and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for shutting down electrodeless HID lamps so that they may be restarted instantaneously.
During normal operation of an electrodeless HID lamp, continuous microwave power is supplied to the lamp. Generally electrodeless discharge lamps are operated by a microwave field with a constant power level. Breakdown of the hot gas within the electrodeless discharge vessel is achieved by capacitively coupling high voltage pulses through the quartz wall. Under fixed microwave power and high voltage pulse conditions, the discharge will fail to restart during well defined intervals in the cooling phase even though gaseous breakdown occurs within the vessel.
Although high voltage pulses can in some circumstances, be used to restart electrodeless lamps there are problems associated with such methods. These problems include surface breakdown around the arc tube from the high voltage pulses and the safety concern of the high voltage source. The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for restarting hot electrodeless lamps without using high voltages.

Method of hot restarting electrodeless HID lamps


An improved decking system is provided for an exterior deck extending from one side of a building. The exterior deck has a header around its periphery, a railing on the header and a plurality of joists spaced apart in parallel relationships between the header. The improvement consists of a plurality of plastic flooring members extending in slightly spaced apart parallel relationships transversely across the joists.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates generally to house decks and more specifically it relates to an improved decking system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous house decks have been provided in prior art that are adapted to contain wooden horizontal floors raised above the level of adjacent ground areas, which project from the sides of building structures to be utilized for dining and recreation. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.


A micromechanical capacitive converter and a method for manufacturing a micromechanical converter comprise a movable membrane and an electrically conductive face element in a carrier layer. The electrically conductive face element is arranged opposite the membrane above a cavity. The electrically conductive face element and the carrier layer are perforated by perforation openings. The opening width of the perforation openings corresponds approximately to the thickness of the carrier layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a micromechanical capacitive converter and methods for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a micromechanical capacitive converter for which a silicon microphone is an example, frequently an air-filled cavity with a small volume is present. In a microphone, this is for example an air-filled sensor capacity consisting of a sensitive membrane and a rigid counter electrode. Due to this small air volume, the enclosed air exerts a strong restoring force on the sensor membrane. The enclosed air causes a damping of the membrane deflection and reduces the sensitivity or bandwidth, respectively, of the sensor.
For increasing the bandwidth it is known to provide discharge facilities for air, wherein this is done by a perforation of the counter electrode in silicon microphones. By such a perforation, the air may escape from the capacitor gap, i.e. the cavity between the sensitive membrane and the rigid counter electrode.
Well-established commercial elecret microphones comprise geometries with dimensions so great that the rigidity of the air cushion is neglectable. These microphones have, however, not the advantages of a temperature-stable silicon microphone in mass production.
In micromechanically manufactured microphones, ones with electroplated counter-electrodes are known, wherein the counter-electrode is electroplated in the last step of the manufacturing process on the microchip. With regard to such microphones, reference is for example made to Kabir et al., High sensitivity acoustic transducers with p+ membranes and gold black-plate, Sensors and Actuators 78 (1999), pages 138-142; and J. Bergqvist, J. Gobet, Capacitive Microphone with surface micromachined backplate using electroplating technology, Journal of Micromechanical Systems, Vol. 3, No. 2, 1994. In manufacturing processes for such microphones the perforation openings may be selected so large that the acoustic resistance is very small and has no influence on the damping of the membrane deflection. Disadvantageous is the expensive process of electroplating.
From the prior art, further two-chip-microphones are known, in which the membrane and the counter electrode are respectively manufactured on separate wafers. The microphone capacity is then obtained by "bonding" the two wafers. With regard to such a technology, reference is made to W. Kühnel, Kapazitive Silizium-Mikrofone, Series 10, Informatik/Kommunikationstechnik, No. 202, Fortschrittsberichte, VDI, VDI-Verlag, 1992. Dissertation; J. Bergqvist, Finite-element modeling and characterization of a silicon condenser microphone with highly perforated backplate, Sensors and Actuators 39 (1993), pages 1991-2000; and T. Bourouina et al., A new condenser microphone with a p+ silicon membrane, Sensors and Actuators A, 1992, pages 149-152. Also with this type of microphone it is technologically possible to select sufficiently large diameters for the perforation openings of the counter-electrode. For cost reasons, however, one-chip solutions are preferred. In addition to that, with the two-chip microphones, the alignment of the two wafers to each other is problematic.
With the one-chip microphones, the counter-electrode is manufactured in an integrated way, i.e. only one wafer is required. The counter-electrode consists of one silicon substrate or is formed by deposition or epitaxy, respectively. Examples for such one-chip microphones are described in A. Torkkeli et al., Capacitive microphone with low-stress polysilicon membrane and high-stress polysilicon backplate, Physica Scripta, Vol. T79, 1999, pages 275-278; Kovacs et al., Fabrication of single-chip polysilicon condenser structures for microphone applications, J. Micromech. Miroeng. 5 (1995) pages 86-90; and Füldner et al., Silicon microphone with high sensitivity diaphragm using SOI substrate, Proceedings Eurosensors XIV, 1999, pages 217-220. In the manufacturing methods for those one-chip microphones it is generally required to close the generated perforation openings in the counter-electrode again for the following processing in order to balance the topology.
One manufacturing method for such one-chip microphones is known from WO 00/09440. In this manufacturing method, initially perforation openings are generated in an epitactic layer formed on a wafer. In the following, among others for generating a sacrificial layer an oxide deposition is performed on the front side of the epitaxy layer, so that on the one hand the perforation openings are closed and on the other hand a spacing layer whose thickness defines the later spacing between membrane and counter-electrode, is formed. On this layer, a silicon membrane with the required thickness is deposited then. After the required processing of the electronic devices, in the area of the perforation openings the wafer is etched from the backside up to the epitaxy layer. In the following, from the backside an etching of the oxide is performed for opening the perforation openings and the cavity between membrane and counter-electrode. One part of the sacrificial layer between membrane and epitaxy layer thus remains as a spacing layer between the membrane and the counter-electrode.
One disadvantage of this hitherto known manufacturing method for one-chip microphones is that the hole diameter in the counter-electrode may not be larger than twice the thickness of the layer deposited thereon, so that the perforation openings may still be securely closed when depositing the sacrificial layer with the desired thickness. This is disadvantageous in particular insofar as the width of the individual perforation openings may not be realized so large that the acoustic resistance and thus e.g. the top cut-off frequency of the microphone sensitivity may be optimized.

Micromechanical capacitive transducer and method for producing the same


A wiper drive system including a wiper drive mechanism driving a pair of wiper drive arms to sweep a wiper blade across a surface. The wiper drive mechanism has a motor driving a rack engaged with a sector gear that is supported by pivot bearings. Each wiper drive arm is driven by a sector gear.

The present invention relates to a wiper system for clearing a portion of a surface such as a windshield, and relates in particular to a mechanical drive for a large wiper.
The windshields or windows of large vehicles such as farming equipment, recreational vehicles, and buses are large and may be convex to provide a generous field of vision for their drivers. A windshield wiper system for these types of vehicles should be capable of clearing a large portion of a windshield for the driver. The windshield wiper systems on such vehicles should be capable of adequately sweeping dust, debris, rain and the like away from a significant portion of the windshield to allow the driver to see as well as possible through the windshield.
A typical windshield wiper system for a large window has a large wiper blade including a thin rubber edge. A windshield wiper drive system drives the wiper blade to sweep across and clear a portion of the windshield for the driver. Many windshield wiper drive systems contain a pantograph linkage that allows for the wiper blade to be kept in a steady orientation as it sweeps through an arc across the windshield.
In some previous pantograph arrangements an idler arm has controlled the blade angle, but the idler has had to be carried along by the wiper drive arm, and any looseness in such linkages causes lag and sloppiness in the movement of the wiper blade. As a result wiper blades often skitter ineffectively across a windshield.
At the point where the wiper blade has completed a sweep in one direction, it stops and changes direction. Many windshield wiper systems become wobbly or insecure when the wiper blade reaches the point at which it changes direction, resulting in a decrease in quality of the wiper blade's ability to sweep those portions of the windshield. Additionally, in many previous drive systems the reversal of the sweep at each end of the swept arc has required a significantly increased drive motor electric current.
In some previously available wiper drive systems pivot shafts for wiper drive arms have been asymmetrically located at one end of a drive mechanism housing, requiring careful consideration by a designer of a vehicle or machine with limited space for installation of such a wiper drive mechanism.
An improvement desired, then, is a wiper drive system capable of driving a large wiper blade on a large window, with continued control of the orientation of wiper blades and without requiring large increases in drive motor power at the ends of a swept arc.

Windshield wiper drive assembly with dual sector gear drive


A method for processing a silver halide color photographic material, which comprises processing an imagewise exposed silver halide color photographic material with a processing solution containing at least one chelate compound of a metal salt selected from the group consisting of salts of Fe(III), Mn(III), Co(III), Rh(II), Rh(III), Au(II), Au(III) and Ce(IV) with an organic acid represented by following general formula (I): ##STR1## wherein Z represents a nonmetallic atom group required to form a heterocyclic group; R represents a substituent; n represents 0 or an integer of from 1 to 10; Q.sub.1, Q.sub.2 and Q.sub.3 each represents a hydrogen atom, an aliphatic hydrocarbon group substituted by a carboxyl group, an aromatic hydrocarbon group substituted by a carboxyl group or a heterocyclic group substituted by a carboxyl group; and W represents a divalent linkage group containing at least one of an alkylene group or an arylene group.

Generally, a silver halide color photographic material (hereinafter, referred to as "color photographic material") is, after imagewise-exposure, processed by the processing steps of color development, desilvering, washing, stabilization, etc. Also, a silver halide color reversal photographic material is, after imagewise exposure, processed by the processing steps of black and white development, reversal processing, color development, desilvering, washing, stabilization, etc.
In the color development step for photographic processing, exposed silver halide grains are converted into silver by being reduced with a color developing agent and at the same time, the oxidation product of the color developing agent formed reacts with couplers to form dye images.
Then, in the subsequent desilvering step, developed silver formed by the development step is oxidized into a silver salt by a bleaching agent having an oxidative action (bleach), and further the silver salt is removed from the light-sensitive layer together with remaining silver halide by a fixing agent forming a soluble silver (fix). Bleaching and fixing may be carried out independently as a bleach step and a fix step or may be carried out simultaneously as a bleach-fix (blix) step. Details of the compositions and the processing steps are described in T. H. James, The Theory of Photographic Process, 4th edition, (1977), Research Disclosure, No. 17643, pages 28 to 29, ibid., 18716, page 651, left column to right column, ibid., No. 307105, pages 880 to 881.
In addition to the foregoing fundamental processing steps, various auxiliary steps are added for the purposes of keeping the photographic and physical qualities of dye images and keeping the stability of photographic processing. For example, there are a wash step, a stabilization step, a hardening step, a stop step, etc.
With the increase of the use of mini labs for processing of color photographic materials, a quick processing service for customers has been increased.
However, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid ferric complex salt, which is conventionally used as a bleaching agent for a bleach step and/or a blix step in processing of color photographic materials, has a fundamental fault in that the oxidative power is weak. In spite of that the improvement such as the use of a bleach accelerator (e.g., the addition of the mercapto compound described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,138,842), etc., is added. However, quick bleaching has not yet been attained.
As a bleaching agent capable of attaining quick bleaching, potassium ferricyanide, iron chloride, bromates, etc., are known. However, potassium ferricyanide can not be widely used because of environmental concerns, iron chloride can not be widely used because of its inconvenience in handling, such as the corrosion of metals, etc., and bromates can not be widely used because of the problem of instability of the processing solution.
Accordingly, a bleaching agent capable of attaining quick bleaching having a good handling property without causing the problem at discharging the waste solution has been desired. Recently, as a bleaching agent meeting such requirements, 1,3-diaminopropanetetraacetic acid ferric complex salt has been disclosed as a bleaching agent.
However, the foregoing bleaching agent has a problem in performance, such as bleach fog forming with bleaching. As a method of reducing the formation of the bleach fog, it is disclosed to add a buffer to the bleach solution as described, e.g., in JP-A-1-213657 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"). However, the improvement level is not sufficiently satisfactory. In particular, since a developer having a high activity is used in quick processing wherein the color development is carried out within 3 minutes, large bleach fog occurs even in the case of using such a buffer.
Furthermore, when the processing solution having a bleaching power containing the 1,3-diaminopropanetetraacetic acid ferric complex salt is used, there occurs a problem that during storing the photographic images after processing, the formation of stain is increased.
Moreover, when continuous processing is carried out using a processing solution having a bleaching power containing the 1,3-diaminopropanetetraacetic acid ferric complex salt, the desilvering property is greatly lowered as compared with the beginning of continuous processing. Also, precipitates form in the processing solution.
The inventors found a novel processing composition having a bleaching power, as described in JP-A-3-216650, as a means for solving these problems. However, it was found that the bleaching agent described in the above-cited patent causes yellow images to be discolored after processing. It has thus been desired to provide an alternative novel processing composition having a bleaching power and a processing method using such a processing composition.

Method of bleaching or bleach-fixing a color silver halide photographic material