An interleaver for use with transform processors provides an address generator allowing for implementation using a reduced memory foot print, and permitting interleaving of an input sequence while minimizing latency.

The discrete Fourier transform (DFT) implementation of the FFT is an important block in many digital signal processing applications, including those which perform spectral analysis or correlation analysis. The purpose of the DFT is to compute the sequence {X(k)}, having N complex-valued numbers, given another sequence {x(n)} also of length N, where {X(k)} is expressed by the formula:
            X                    (        k        )              =                  ∑                  n          =          0                          N          -          1                                                                      x                                (            n            )                                            W          N          kn                      where            W      N        =          ⅇ                        -          j2π                N
It can be observed from these formulae that for each value of k, a direct computation of X(k) involves N complex multiplications and N−1 complex additions. Thus, to compute the DFT, X(k) must be computed for N values of k, which Would require N2 complex multiplications and N2−N complex additions.
This general form solution can be decomposed using a divide-and-conquer approach, where the most commonly used decimating factors are 2 or 4 (leading to the "radix-2" or "radix-4" FFT implementations of the DFT). An example of a discussion of this implementation may be found in Digital Signal Processing: Principles, Algorithms and Applications, by J. G. Proakis and D. G. Manolakis, Prentice-Hall Publishing Inc., 1996.
In such a divide-and-conquer approach, the computation of the DFT is performed by decomposing the DFT into a sequence of nested DFTs of progressively shorter lengths. This nesting and decomposition is repeated until the DFT has been reduced to its radix. At the radix level, a butterfly operation can be performed to determine a partial result which is provided to the other decompositions. Twiddle factors, which are used to perform complex rotations during the DFT calculation, are generated as the divide-and-conquer algorithm proceeds. For a radix-2 decomposition, a length-2 DFT is performed on the input data sequence {x(n)}. The results of the first stage of length-2 DFTs are combined using a length-2 DFT and then the resulting value is rotated using the appropriate twiddle factors. This process continues until all N values have been processed and the final output sequence {X(k)} is generated. FFT processors performing the above process are commonly implemented as dedicated processors in an integrated circuit.
Many previous approaches have improved the throughput of FFT processors while balancing latency against the area requirements through the use of a pipeline processor-based architecture. In a pipeline processor architecture, the primary concern from the designer's perspective is increasing throughput and decreasing latency while attempting to also minimize the area requirements of the processor architecture when the design is implemented in a manufactured integrated circuit.
A common pipeline FFT architecture achieves these aims by implementing one length-2 DFT (also called a radix-2 butterfly) for each stage in the DFT recombination calculation. It is also possible to implement less than or more than one butterfly per recombination stage. However, in a real-time digital system, it is sufficient to match the computing speed of the FFT processor with the input data rate. Thus, if the data acquisition rate is one sample per computation cycle, it is sufficient to have a single butterfly per recombination stage.
A brief review of pipeline FFT architectures in the prior art is provided below, in order to place the FFT processor of this invention into perspective.
In this discussion, designs implementing the radix-2, radix-4 and more complex systems are described. Input and output order is assumed to be the most appropriate form for the particular design. If a different order is required, an appropriate re-ordering buffer (consisting of both on-chip memory and control circuits) can be provided at the input or output of the pipeline FFT, which is noted as a "cost" of implementation as that adds complexity or uses additional area on chip.
FFT implementations that accept in-order input data are most suitable for systems where data is arriving at the FFT one sample at a time. This includes systems such as wired and wireless data transmissions systems. Out-of-order input handling is most appropriate when the input data is buffered and can be pulled from the buffer in any order, such as in an image analysis system.
All of the discussed architectures are based on the Decimation-in-Frequency (DIF) decomposition of the DFT. Input and output data is complex valued as are all arithmetic operations.
For the radix-2 designs, a constraint that N is a power of 2 applies, and for the radix-4 designs, a constraint that N is a power of 4 applies. For simplification of algorithmic analysis, all of the control and twiddle factor hardware has been omitted. Because the control hardware plays a minor role in the overall size of the FFT this is acceptable for a coarse comparison of the architectures.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional Radix-2 Multi-path Delay Commutator ("R2MDC") pipeline FFT processor. The R2MDC approach breaks the input sequence into two parallel data streams. In each butterfly module, one of which is labeled 100, a commutator 102 receives the data stream as input and delays half of the data stream with memory 104. The delayed data is then processed with the second half of the data stream in a radix-2 butterfly unit 106. Part of the output of the butterfly unit 106 is delayed by buffering memory 108 prior to being sent to the next butterfly module. In each subsequent butterfly module the size of both memory 104 and 108 are halved. The processor of FIG. 1 implements a 16-point R2MDC pipeline FFT. In terms of efficiency of design, the multipliers and adders in the R2MDC architecture are 50% utilized. The R2DMC architecture requires 3/2 N-2 delay registers.
A Radix-4 Multi-path Delay Commutator ("R4MDC") pipeline FFT is a radix-4 version of the R2MDC, where the input sequence is broken into four parallel data streams. In terms of efficiency of design, the R4MDC architecture's multipliers and adders are 25% utilized, and the R4MDC designs require 5/2 N4 delay registers. An exemplary 256-point R4MDC pipeline implementation is shown in FIG. 2. The FFT processor of FIG. 2 is composed of butterfly modules, such as butterfly module 110. Butterfly module 110 includes commutator 112 with an associated memory 114, butterfly unit 116 and an associated memory 118. The commutator 112 orders samples and stores them in memory 114. When memory 114 is sufficiently full, three samples are provided from memory 114 along with one sample from commutator 112 to the radix-4 butterfly unit 116. A standard radix four butterfly operation is performed on the samples, and the results are provided to a subsequent commutator, after some of them have been buffered in memory 118. The use of memories 114 and 118 ensure in order delivery of the samples between butterfly units.
A Radix-2 Single-path Delay Feedback ("R2SDF") pipeline FFT design uses the memory registers more efficiently than the R2MDC implementation by storing the butterfly output in feedback shift registers. In terms of efficiency, R2SDF designs achieve 50% utilization of multipliers and adders and require N-1 delay registers , which are fully utilized. FIG. 3 shows the basic architecture of a prior art R2SDF for a 16-bit FFT. A butterfly module is composed of the radix-2 butterfly unit, such as butterfly unit 120, and its associated feedback memory 122. The size of the memory 122a-122d in a butterfly module varies with the position of the module in the series. Butterfly unit 120 receives an input series of 16 samples, and buffers the first 8 samples in feedback memory 122a. Starting with the ninth sample in the series, butterfly unit 120 serially pulls the stored samples from feedback memory 122a and performs butterfly operations on the pair-wise samples. The in order output is provided to the next butterfly module by storing out of order outputs in the feedback memory 122a until they can be provided in order.
A Radix-4 Single-path Delay Feedback ("R4SDF") pipeline FFT is a radix-4 version of the R2SDF design. The utilization of the multipliers increases to 75% in implementation, but the adders are only 25% utilized, while the design will require N-1 delay registers. The memory storage is fully utilized. A 256-point R4SDF pipeline example from the prior art is shown in FIG. 4. The structure of the processor of FIG. 4 is similar to that of FIG. 3, with butterfly modules being composed of a radix-4 butterfly unit, such as BF4 124, and an associated feedback memory 126. The size of feedback memory 126 decreases from 126a-126d in accordance with the amount of separation required between samples. The butterfly modules of FIG. 4 function in the same fashion as those of FIG. 3, with additional samples being stored in feedback memory 126 in each cycle.
A Radix-4 Single-path Delay Commutator ("R4SDC") uses a modified radix-4 algorithm to achieve 75% utilization of multipliers, and has a memory requirement of 2N-2. A prior art 256-point R4SDC pipeline FFT is shown in FIG. 5. FIG. 5 has single input single output butterfly modules, such as butterfly module 127. In butterfly module 127a single input is provided to commutator 128 which stores and reorders samples using an internal memory. Commutator 128 provides the samples four at a time to radix four butterfly unit 129. The output of butterfly unit 129 is serially provided to the next butterfly module.
A Radix-22 Single-path Delay Feedback ("R22SDF") pipeline FFT design breaks one radix-4.butterfly operation into two radix-2 butterfly operations with trivial multiplications of ±1 and ±j in order to achieve 75% multiplier utilization and 50% adder utilization, with memory requirements of N-1. The architecture of an exemplary 256-point R22SDF implementation is illustrated in FIG. 6. Butterfly modules are composed of butterfly units such as BF2I 130 and an associated feedback memory such as memory 131. Butterfly unit 130 receives a series of input samples and buffers the first set of samples in memory 131, then performs pairwise butterfly operations using stored samples and the incoming series. The operation of this processor is functionally similar to that of the processor of FIG. 4 with the differences noted above.
U.S. patent application Publication No. 2002/0178194A1 to Aizenberg et al. teaches the calculation of a single twiddle factor before moving onto a new twiddle factor during computation. It uses a single butterfly which uses both a true adder and an arithmetic logic unit (ALU). The advantage of the resulting circuit is a reduction in the implementation area which comes at the cost of reduced data throughput.
U.S. patent application Publication No. 2002/0083107A1 to Park et al. teaches the use of a radix-4 and radix-2 butterfly units together to reduce the number of complex multiplications performed. It uses the multi-path delay commutator architecture, or single-path delay commutator architecture.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,319 to Cambonie teaches a memory architecture based upon the radix-4 architecture. The memory allocation in this application is based on a loopback architecture similar to the single path delay feedback (SDF) architecture. Furthermore this patent teaches the use of a single-access memory. SDF architectures, such as this one, have sub-optimal adder requirements in their implementation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,347 to Ireland teaches an architecture based on a decimation in time algorithm for the FFT. The butterfly disclosed is large in comparison to other butterflies and does not offer additional throughput or a reduction in the area of other components in the system.
The prior art includes trade-offs in design implementation. Trade offs are made among implementation area, power consumption, complexity, and data throughput. Although some innovation has taken place in the area of altered algorithms, including the use of hybrid single butterfly/pipelined throughput, and novel addressing schemes the prior art FFT processors do not provide satisfactory implementation area, and power consumption without incurring high degrees of complexity and impairing throughput.


The disclosed embodiments aim to improve upon existing multi stage generators for providing power to a load. In particular, embodiments of the invention include a regulator situated between the output of a pilot exciter and the main exciter of a multi stage generator system, the regulator arranged to limit the voltage available to a field current control element which sets the field current supplied to the main exciter.

Typically, in gas turbine driven generators, rotational energy is provided to the generator rotors as a function of the speed of the turbine(s) driving the generator. In the context of an aircraft, for example, the rotational speed of the engine varies between ground idle (low speed), take off (high speed) and cruise (medium speed). This means that the generator operates over a range of input speeds. Many aircraft use constant frequency generators, with a speed changer interposed between the engine and generator, in order to provide the required electrical output within a range of acceptable frequencies, for the electrical equipment powered by the generator to function properly.
It is beneficial in many applications, and particularly in aircraft, for generators to be as lightweight as possible, and so variable speed generators can be advantageously used, since they can remove the need for a mechanical speed changer between the turbine, or other prime mover, and the generator. Omission of the mechanical speed generator can reduce weight, cost and complexity, and potentially increases system reliability whilst decreasing the need for routine servicing.
Although the electrical load driven by generators can be readily designed to cope with a range of input frequencies inherent to the variable output of a generator, one problem posed by such generators is that the output voltage of the generator can vary, depending particularly on rotational speed and the electrical load on the generator. If the output voltage exceeds the operating limits of the electrical equipment, faults can arise. If the generator's output voltage is too low, the electrical components in the system making up the load may not function correctly.
A variable speed generator therefore needs to be designed so that it can deliver the designed output voltage at minimum speed and maximum load. An example of this situation in the context of aircraft would be when the aircraft is in the ground idle state, and all electrical systems are engaged.
At low loads and high speed, in contrast, the generator can provide much more than the designed output voltage. For example, in an example of a typical system, the generator can provide its maximum output voltage when a field current of 2 A is provided to the main exciter. At full rotational speed, however, the pilot exciter can provide up to 12 A.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional three-stage generator as known for converting mechanical rotation, such as from an output shaft of a turbine, into electrical power for use in electrical systems. The generator 100 comprises a first stage 110, a second stage 120, and a third stage 130, which in the example shown are all coupled to a shaft 140, which may be driven by a turbine (not shown).
The first stage 110 is a pilot exciter. A pilot exciter is a source of electrical power for the subsequent stage exciter coil. It may be a small AC generator with a rotor 111 having permanent magnets 112, mounted on rotor shaft 140, and having a three-phase winding on a stator 113, 114. The output 115 of the pilot exciter 110 is a three phase electrical signal, designated by lines 15A, 15B, 15C. The pilot exciter can be included on a generator shaft 140 in order that no external electric power is required to provide a voltage to the main exciter. The pilot exciter may be a permanent magnet exciter as shown in FIG. 1, or alternatively other systems for providing power to the main exciter are equally possible. Permanent magnet exciters of the kind illustrated will be known to the skilled reader and so are not described in detail herein.
As can be seen in FIG. 1, second stage 120 may be provided as a main exciter 120, and may comprise a rotor 121 mounted on shaft 140. The main exciter field current IC is applied to field winding 122. Field winding 122 is situated on stator 124. Application of field current Ic to the main exciter is necessary to power the field windings 122, so that the operation of main exciter 120 generates the required field current for the third stage 130. The rotation of rotor 121 within the field provided by the field current IC applied to field winding 122 of stator 124 produces the output of the main exciter, which is provided to the third stage 130 of the generator 100. An increase in the field current IC applied to the main exciter will evidently increase the current which is present at the output of the main exciter. Located at the output of the main exciter 120 is a three-phase bridge rectifier 125. The bridge rectifier 125 is connected to the third stage 130 of the generator 100 in order to provide rectified exciting current h. The main exciter 120 in FIG. 1 is a brushless exciter, although other configurations are possible, such as a slip-ring exciter, for example.
The third stage 130 of generator 100 is an alternator comprising a rotor 131 mounted on shaft 140. Located on rotor 131 are exciting coil 132 and poles 133. Rotor assembly 131, 132, 133 rotates within stator 135. Air gap 134 is provided between the rotor and stator 135. The output 136 of the alternator 130 can be seen to have three phase terminals and a neutral terminal. The rectified field current Ix received from the second stage main exciter 120 is provided to main field circuit 132, 133. The output voltage of the generator at output 136 of armature 135 is dependent on the field current Ix supplied to the exciting coil 132 located on rotor 131.
As stated above, it is desirable to ensure that the main output 136 of the generator 100 does not deviate too far from the desired level during operation of the generator at different rotational speeds. In order to control the output voltage, a generator control unit (GCU) is provided as a control element between the output of the permanent magnet generator pilot exciter and the main exciter field. The function of the GCU control element is to ensure that the main exciter is provided with a field current IC in such a way that the output of the generator remains within the tolerance required for a connected load to operate.
FIG. 2 shows a system comprising a GCU field current control element. As can be seen in FIG. 2 the output terminal of the first stage 115 is passed to the field winding of the main exciter via a circuit including diode rectifier 116, and a GCU field current control element 150. Rectifier 116 is shown as a diode rectifier, although it will be appreciated that different rectifiers could be used for the purpose of rectifying a signal output of the PMG pilot exciter 110. The rectified output of the pilot exciter 110 is then passed directly to GCU 150. It can also be seen in FIG. 2 that a signal indicative of the output of the third stage of generator 100 is connected to an input 153 of the GCU 150. In this way, GCU 150 can regulate the field current IC input to main exciter 120 in response to the measured output of the generator 100, to ensure that the required operational characteristics, such as output current and/or output voltage, are maintained.
The exciter field current IC can be reduced by the control element 150 when the main output of the generator is above the desired voltage to reduce the main output voltage. The control element 150 can increase the field current IC when the main output is lower than required to increase the main output voltage. If the control element 150 fails such that the output voltage is too low, a GCU, or other power management system, can disconnect the generator from the aircraft electrical system, and the loads that were fed by that generator are typically fed from an alternative power source, such as a secondary generator. If the control element fails where the output voltage is too high, there is a potential for the load fed by the generator to be overloaded.
For example at a high engine speed in a low load condition, if the control element 150 fails in such a way that the full rectified permanent magnet generator exciter current is applied to the field winding, the output voltage of the generator 100 may rise very rapidly to undesirable levels. Under these circumstances, the design of a protection circuit to detect the failure, and prevent excessive voltage being applied to the load sufficiently quickly and reliably, becomes technically challenging.
In the event of a failure of a GCU field current control element in known systems, safety devices located at the output of the generator have to react very quickly to take mitigating action such as disconnecting the generator from any loads at risk from damage by over-voltage. In the event of the output voltage exceeding a predefined threshold or limit, the main output of the generator can be shorted. Such a circuit must be designed to act very rapidly in order that load equipment is not damaged, such a "crow bar circuit" may be effective at safeguarding load equipment. A circuit at the output of the generator may have to act within 1 ms or less to disconnect the generator from the load to avoid damage to the load equipment, and therefore necessarily must include complex circuitry. In systems where weight is critical, such an output based safety device, which may weigh several kilos, is not necessarily ideal.


Cementing compositions are provided that comprise water, cement kiln dust, vitrified shale, zeolite, and/or amorphous silica, that utilize a packing volume fraction such that the solid particulate materials of the fluid are in a hindered settling state. Methods of cementing are provided that utilize compositions comprising water, cement kiln dust, vitrified shale, zeolite, and/or amorphous silica, that utilize a packing volume fraction such that the solid particulate materials of the fluid are in a hindered settling state.

The present invention relates to cementing operations and, more particularly, to the use of cementing compositions comprising water, cement kiln dust ("CKD"), vitrified shale, zeolite, and/or amorphous silica, that are prepared by utilizing a packing volume fraction, and associated methods of use.
Cementing compositions are commonly utilized in a variety of subterranean operations. Subterranean applications that may involve cementing compositions include, but are not limited to, primary cementing, remedial cementing, and drilling operations. For example, cement compositions are used in primary cementing operations whereby pipe strings such as casings and liners are cemented in well bores. In performing primary cementing, cement compositions are pumped into the annular space between the walls of a well bore and the exterior surface of the pipe string disposed therein. The cement composition is permitted to set in the annular space, thereby forming an annular sheath of hardened substantially impermeable cement therein that substantially supports and positions the pipe string in the well bore and bonds the exterior surface of the pipe string to the walls of the well bore. Cement compositions are also used in plugging and abandonment operations as well as in remedial cementing operations such as plugging permeable zones or fractures in well bores, plugging cracks and holes in pipe strings, and the like. Cementing compositions also may be used in surface applications, for example, construction cementing.
Cementing compositions used heretofore commonly comprise Portland cement. Portland cement generally is a major component of the cost for the cementing compositions. To reduce the cost of such cementing compositions, other solid particulate components may be included in the cementing composition in addition to, or in place of, the Portland cement. The resulting combination of multiple solid particulate materials in the cementing compositions can result in a "settling effect," in which different sized particulate materials will settle separately at different speeds. This settling of the solids in a cement composition may result in defective cementing procedures and failure of the set cement to provide zonal isolation. Thus, among other things, there are needs for an improved cementing composition for well cements which can be utilized without resulting in settling of solid particulates.

Cementing compositions comprising cement kiln dust, vitrified shale, zeolite, and/or amorphous silica utilizing a packing volume fraction, and associated methods


There is provided an improved electrical connector assembly and method for directly mounting electrical components, such as a rearview mirror and light assembly on a glass surface in a manner which provides electrical power to the rearview mirror and light assembly. A retaining button is provided for removably mounting a rearview mirror assembly thereon. The button has a cutout portion, preferably, arranged to receive electrical contact terminals therein. The terminals are also electrically connected by a pair of conductive strips formed in the glass pane to an external source and also to terminals of the rearview mirror and light assembly.

The present invention is directed generally to electrical connectors and, in particular, to improved electrical connector assemblies which are couplable to electrical devices mountable on, for example, an automotive windshield for use in providing electric power to such devices.
A variety of approaches have been proposed for purposes of coupling electrical power to windshields and/or appliances, such as rearview mirror unit connected thereto. One of these approaches is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,196 and discloses the use of strips of electrical conducting materials formed on the exterior surface of a window pane tempered glass for supplying electrical power from an external source to a rear window of windshield wiper. It is also known to provide a rearview mirror and light assembly for automotive windshields with electric power, such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,210. This latter patent discloses an approach wherein electrical power is supplied to a rearview mirror and light assembly by virtue of a visible external connector assembly. Several drawbacks are associated with this approach. One is that the electrical connector assembly is visible and aesthetically somewhat out-of-place in the vehicle compartment. Not only is such exposure generally unaesthetic, it is perhaps a potential safety hazard should the electrical connector assembly not be securely connected. In addition, such external electrical connector assemblies because of their many parts and the labor intensive assembly associated therewith tend to be somewhat expensive in manufacture and assembly.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an electrical connector assembly for coupling electric power to, for example, a rearview mirror and light assembly which avoids external electrical connectors which otherwise detract from vehicle aesthetics and which are more reliable, and safer to manufacture and assemble than known approaches.

Electrical connector assembly for automobile rearview mirror and light assembly and method of assembling the same

AP Technoglass Corp./Kentucky, 1 Autoglass Dr., P.O. box 5000


An orifice tube refrigerant expansion valve has an upstream particulate filter of novel design and a downstream expansion noise attenuation filter with a fail safe flow provision. The upstream particulate filter is a truncated cone of porous filter material that forms a thin manifold space inside the refrigerant line, forcing refrigerant flow into a small central bore of the filter and concentrically into the orifice tube. Leaving the orifice tube, the flow is forced axially end to end through a cylindrical body of noise muffling, porous material. Should the noise muffling cylinder become blocked, it shifts piston-like to open a bypass passage around its outer surface so that flow is not blocked through the line.

Automotive air conditioning systems require an expansion valve in the refrigerant line that runs between the condenser and low evaporator to expand the high pressure refrigerant leaving the condenser to a sufficiently low pressure to cool the evaporator. The least expensive and most common design for the expansion valve is a simple, small diameter metal tube that is held concentrically within the refrigerant line. High pressure refrigerant inlet flow reaching the tube is quickly throttled down to a high velocity flow that expands quickly when it leaves the tube. While such valves are inexpensive and reliable, the quick contraction and expansion of the flow inherently produces a certain level of hissing noise. A typical means for deadening this noise is a relatively large volume, canister type muffler, similar to that used with air conditioning compressors. These are large and costly, though effective. Another drawback of small diameter orifice tubes is the necessity to prevent them being plugged by the particulate contaminants inevitably found in refrigerants, such as metal filings or rubber seal detritus. A nylon screen upstream of the orifice tube is often used to screen particulates out, but it has a limited filter capacity, and provides no noise muffling function.

Orifice tube type refrigerant expansion valve assembly with combined particulate and noise attenuation filters


A speaker docking station for an iPad has a housing having a seat for supporting the iPad resting thereon in either portrait or landscape position, a dock connector, an operating circuit for processing an audio signal from the iPad via the connector, and two speaker drivers for reproducing sound based on an audio signal from the iPad and processed by the operating circuit. The connector is connected to the operating circuit by a cable extending outside the housing. The seat has a void, e.g., hole or recess, for accommodating the connector when the iPad is supported by and resting on the seat in the portrait position. The cable is of a sufficient length such that the connector will remain in connection with the iPad when the iPad is turned and supported by and resting on the seat in the landscape position.

Media players of the type concerned in general are becoming ever increasingly popular such as iPad and iPhone, which may be used in either portrait or landscape position. Most of these media players have built-in speakers but such speakers are often not of an adequate power and/or quality to meet higher expectations. Speaker docking stations equipped with more powerful, better quality speakers are available on the markets for connecting such media players to play better sound. Some of the speaker docking stations includes a hinged or otherwise pivotable bracket for holding the media player for turning between the portrait and landscape positions, but the incorporation of such brackets renders the docking stations complicate in construction and more expensive in production costs, and some of these brackets are found to be vulnerable to damage through use.
The invention seeks to mitigate or at least alleviate such a problem by providing a new or otherwise improved speaker docking station.

Docking station with speakers for media player


A straddle-type vehicle includes: a seat to be straddled and sat upon by a rider; an electric motor configured to generate traveling power for driving a wheel; a battery case arranged in front of the seat and accommodating a battery storing DC power to be supplied to the electric motor; and a charging connector which is arranged above the battery and through which the battery is charged from an external power supply, wherein the charging connector includes a connector connection surface to which a power supply connector of the external power supply is connected and which faces a vehicle width direction, and the charging connector is attachable to and detachable from a vehicle body integrally with the battery.

According to an electric motorcycle of PTL 1, a covering member is provided between a handle and a seat, and a charging connector is arranged at a portion which is exposed by detaching a lid body of an opening portion formed at an upper end portion of the covering member. Accordingly, a rider sandwiching the covering member with his/her legs feels the same as when knee-gripping an engine-driven motorcycle.


An image forming apparatus includes a toner cartridge that has an inner shutter and an outer shutter and is attached to and detached from a main body through a door disposed on a main body. The outer shutter moves to a position in which toner is allowed to be discharged through a toner outlet of the toner cartridge when the toner cartridge is loaded into the main body, and the inner shutter moves to an open position in which the toner outlet is opened by being interlocked in a closing operation of the door after the toner cartridge is loaded into the main body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a detachable toner cartridge including a shutter to close or open a toner outlet, and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus including the detachable toner cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus prints an image on a recording medium by irradiating light modulated according to image information onto a photoconductor in order to form an electrostatic latent image on a surface of the photoconductor, supplying toner to the electrostatic latent image in order to develop the electrostatic latent image into a visible toner image, and transferring and fixing the visible toner image onto the recording medium.
The electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a process cartridge developing a visible toner image on the photoconductor, and a toner cartridge containing toner that is to be supplied to the process cartridge. The toner cartridge may be attached to and detached from the electrophotographic image forming apparatus. When the toner contained in the toner cartridge is used up, the toner cartridge is replaced with a new toner cartridge.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Detachable toner cartridge and image forming apparatus including the same


A multiplexing/demultiplexing system has a multiplexor that includes a first plurality of optical switches having a plurality of outputs and a first plurality of optical delay elements coupled to the optical switches. A source of optical light is coupled to the delay elements, and an optical combiner is coupled to the plurality of outputs and a source of framing pulses. A demultiplexor includes a first and second splitter, and a threshold detector coupled to the first splitter. The demultiplexor further includes a second plurality of optical delay elements coupled to the threshold detector, and a second plurality of optical switches coupled to the second splitter and the second plurality of delay elements.

Optical communication networks are rapidly being deployed to transmit both voice and data. Because the carrier frequencies used in optical fiber are orders of magnitude higher than used in any other communications medium, the bandwidth (i.e., data rate) afforded by such systems is inherently greater than twisted pair copper cables or coaxial cable.
Nevertheless, the majority of optical networks use electronic devices for signaling because electronic routing and signal processing devices are well developed. In some cases, sophisticated protocols requiring complex electronic logic are used.
Electronic processing requires converting an optical signal to the electronic domain prior to processing, then converting it back to the photonic domain for transmission. These conversions are time-consuming and a major bottleneck in optical networks.
All-optical switching technology, in which one optical signal is switched on or off upon signaling by an optical control beam, allows optical switching to be done without conversion, eliminating the optical-electrical-optical conversion bottleneck. Examples of such devices include Nonlinear Optical Loop Mirrors and Semiconductor Optical Amplifier-based devices.
Another type of all-optical switch is a Quantum Dot Saturable Absorber switch, which is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/737,470, filed Dec. 18, 2000 and entitled "Optical Switch Having A Saturable Absorber", the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. The Quantum Dot Saturable Absorber switch operates by controlling the optical properties of a quantum dot material such as optical absorption or index of refraction with an external beam of light. It is much faster than conventional electronic devices, has low losses, and is well-suited for integration into larger-scale devices and systems.
A widely-used technique for transmitting and routing signals in optical communication networks is Time Division Multiplexing ("TDM"). This consists of dividing up a frame, or window in time, into multiple evenly-spaced time slots, and synchronously inserting a single bit of data from lower-bandwidth sources into a higher-bandwidth multiplexed stream. Recovering the signal consists of a demultiplexing operation in which the high-bandwidth stream is split into the individual low-bandwidth sources. The inherent simplicity of electronic TDM renders the processing logic and the devices required to be fairly straightforward and more easily implemented than complex protocols.
Optical time division multiplexing ("OTDM") is performed entirely optically without electronic conversion. Prior art OTDM implementations have encountered technological constraints that have prevented its implementation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,433, entitled "Terahertz optical asymmetric demultiplexer" discloses an Optical Time Division Multiplexor system that includes a fiber loop that contains a nonlinear optical element placed asymmetrically within the loop. The entire device functions as an optical AND gate that allows an optical pulse to pass through when in the appropriate time slot. The device operates by first splitting the input signal pulses into two beams which are coupled to the optical fiber loop but travel in opposite directions around the loop. An optical control pulse is timed to alter the index of refraction of the nonlinear optical element so that a phase difference is generated between the counter-propagating optical signal pulses. When the optical signal pulses traverse the fiber loop they are coupled back together. If the pulses are in phase, constructive interference occurs and the pulses can exit the device. However, if the optical pulses are out of phase, deconstructive interference occurs and the optical signal cannot pass.
Optical loop type devices, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,433, are fairly fast (on the order of picoseconds) but are very power hungry and large. Therefore, these devices requires extremely expensive components and are difficult to integrate into more complex systems because of their large size. In addition, these types of devices are very sensitive to environmental factors such as temperature, because the refractive index of the fibers are related to temperature and because the length of fiber within the loop mirror is so long. Therefore, a small temperature change greatly alters the performance of the device.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for an improved optical time division multiplexing/demultiplexing system.

Optical time division multiplexing/demultiplexing system


A system and method for providing power from a source of stored electrical energy to a microcomputer for a user established "ride-through" period of time after a disruption in the primary power supply for the microcomputer. If the primary power supply is not restored within the ride-through time period the system performs an orderly shut down of computer applications. Should stored energy reserves run low during the primary power disruption, the system instead performs an abbreviated, critical application shut down. Following application shut down, or upon the expiration of a user established "shut down" time period, the system performs an orderly shut down of computer system operations and thereafter removes all power from the computer. Shut down and shut off procedures are canceled, if possible, upon restoration of the primary power supply.

To ensure uninterrupted operation of a computer system dependent upon the receipt of power from an external AC power source, and thereby prevent the loss of data and equipment damage, uninterruptable power source (UPS) systems have been developed to supply the electrical power needs of computer systems during disruptions in primary AC power sources.
The typical UPS includes an inverter for converting a source of stored energy into alternating current power having the same frequency and voltage as the primary AC power source for the computer. An on-line UPS continuously provides power from the inverter regardless of the state of the primary AC power. On-line UPS systems are normally provided for large scale computers. Smaller, less-expensive off-line, or standby, UPS systems which provide power directly from the primary AC power source until an AC power failure is detected are better suited for small computer system applications. Upon detection of a primary AC power failure, the standby UPS system operates to provide power from the stored energy source through the inverter to the computer system.
One such UPS system for supplying power to a group of small computers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,289. The system includes a standby UPS and a bank of batteries for supplying backup power to the computers when utility power is interrupted. The system further includes a microprocessor which monitors the utility power state and the remaining energy level stored in the back-up batteries. The microprocessor provides to the computer a first signal indicating the loss of primary utility power and a second signal indicating restoration of primary utility power. The first signal is designed to instruct non-critical task computers to perform an orderly shut down. However, the initiation of shut down of critical task computers is delayed until a low energy condition in the back-up batteries is detected.
The shut down routine may include the steps of halting program execution and storing the contents of volatile memory in non-volatile memory, closing open files, logging users off the system, and removing power from the system. The shut down routine may also include procedures for resetting or restarting the computer system in the event primary AC power is restored to the system prior to the completion of all shut down procedures.
Although shut down routines are well known in the art, improvements in such routines are desirable. Improvements may include reducing interference with normal operations and inconvenience to users, delaying of initiation of critical and non-critical program execution curtailment until essential, increasing opportunity for system and application recovery in the event primary AC power is restored, and allowing the user to define application shut down procedures and select ride-through and shut-down time periods.

Power failure detection and shut down timer


The invention provides an imprinting jig for transferring a pattern onto a thermoplastic sheet. The imprinting jig is provided with: a first die having a surface with a pattern; a die holder for supporting the first die; an elastic member placed between the first die and the die holder; and a second die opposing to the first die. The thermoplastic sheet is placed on the surface with the pattern of the first die. The imprinting jig optionally includes an adhesion reducing means between the elastic member and the first die or between the elastic member and the die holder.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an imprinting jig for putting a thermoplastic sheet therebetween and an imprinting apparatus. Particularly it relates to the imprinting jig and apparatus used for a thermal imprinting process for transferring or printing a fine pattern onto the thermoplastic sheet by heating and applying pressure.
(2) Related Art
Professor Stephen Y. Chou et al. of, Princeton University have made a number of reports on a nano-imprinting process which prints a fine pattern having a high aspect ratio at a moderate price. The nano-imprinting process includes mainly an optical nano-imprinting process in which ultraviolet curing resin is used for printing a pattern, and a thermal nano-imprinting process in which heat and pressure are applied to a thermoplastic substance to print a pattern. Especially the latter process has been attracting attention since the process can produce flat panel displays, electronic cards and the like at a low cost since a sheet material is used (hereinafter, this process will be referred to as "sheet thermal nano-imprinting process").
In the field of recording media, attention has been paid to a technique in which an optical disk pattern is transferred onto a thin polycarbonate (PC) sheet such as an optical disk substrate through the sheet thermal nano-imprinting process, and the thin PC sheet is directly used as a recording medium, thereby recording capacity per unit volume is dramatically increased. For example, JP-A-2003-91970 proposes a mass storage record reproduction system configured to combine a thin optical disk having a thickness not greater than 100 μm with a stabilizer for stably rotating the thin optical disk with little run out of its surface.
A substrate of an optical disk is generally produced by injection molding. When the thin substrate as described above is produced by injection molding, however, resin cannot be filled in a gap between a mold and a first die (hereinafter, referred to as "stamper"), since the gap is extremely narrow. Thus, it has been technically difficult to apply the injection molding process to producing a thin substrate. In addition, the technique for patterning a thin substrate by a 2P method is expensive although it is possible to produce the thin substrate. On the contrary, the sheet thermal imprinting process, which directly print a pattern on a thin sheet substrate, is remarkably advantageous technically and in cost in relation to the conventional techniques described above.


There is described a polycarboxylic acid or a salt thereof obtained by oxidation of a polysaccharide containing an anhydrous glucose as a constituent unit, wherein the carboxyl group content thereof is high and the weight average molecular weight thereof is not less than 2000. This polycarboxylic acid is suitable for use as a builder for detergent because the amount of an alkali required to perform neutralization titration of the polycarboxylic acid is not less than 435 mg in terms of sodium hydroxide and because the chelate force thereof to a polyvalent cation is high.. The polycarboxylic acid is produced by oxidizing a polysaccharide with an oxidizing agent in the presence of a transition metal catalyst.

Polycarboxylic acids such as polyacrylic acid, copolymer of acrylic acid and maleic acid, etc. are used as is a dispersant, a chelating agent or a flocculant. It is generally known that, when these polycarboxylic acids are used as the chelating agent, the effect is influenced by the content of carboxyl groups and molecular weight and, furthermore, the larger the content of carboxyl groups and molecular weight, the better the effect to be exerted. When a chelating capacity of these polycarboxylic acids is measured by the method shown in the Examples described hereinafter, the polyacrylic acid exhibits a Ca ion sequestration capacity of about 300 mg/g. The copolymer of acrylic acid and maleic acid exhibits a Ca ion sequestration capacity of about 370 mg/g.
However, it is also well known that it is very hard to perform biodegradation of the polycarboxylic acid obtained by polymerizing a monomer having a vinyl group, such as polyacrylic acid, copolymer of acrylic acid and maleic acid, etc., using microorganisms. Therefore, for the purpose of obtaining a chelating agent which is useful as a builder for detergent, there has been made a trial of oxidizing polysaccharides as a natural polymer to obtain a polycarboxylic acid whose biodegradation is expected, or a salt thereof, heretofore.
JP-B-49-1281 discloses that a polycarboxylic acid is obtained from various polysaccharides by a two-stage oxidation method using periodic acid and chlorite or a single-stage oxidation method using a hypochlorite. However, an amount of carboxyl groups in the polycarboxylic acid obtained by the method disclosed in this gazette does not exceed two on average per monosaccharide unit, excluding a special example. As the special example wherein the content of carboxyl groups exceeds 2 per monosaccharide unit, Example 78 discloses the example of previously producing a monocarboxylated corn starch and further oxidizing the monocarboxylated corn starch and Examples 79 and 80 disclose the example using sodium arginate as polysaccharides. However, in these Examples, there is no description about the molecular weight of the resulting polycarboxylic acid and, therefore, these Examples do not suggest a polycarboxylic acid having a structure wherein both content of carboxyl groups and molecular weight are clearly defined. In the production method described in these Examples, a large amount of acetic acid is used when the formed dialdehyde derivative is oxidized with sodium hypochlorite to form a dicarboxylic acid. However, it is well known that, under these acidic conditions, polysaccharides are hydrolyzed and the molecular weight is drastically lowered. Besides, this method has a problem that the production process becomes complicated because the monocarboxylated starch is once produced and further oxidized. On the other hand, when arginic acid is used as a raw material, the method has an economical problem. JP-A-60-226502 discloses a method of oxidizing polysaccharides using a hypochlorite as an oxidizing agent under controlled reaction conditions to obtain a polycarboxylic acid. The polycarboxylic acid obtained by this method has sufficiently high molecular weight, but the content of the carboxyl unit is 81% at most and the content of carboxyl groups is less than 2 on average per monosaccharide unit. Therefore, it is not a polycarboxylic acid having a structure which simultaneously satisfies the content of carboxyl groups and the molecular weight.
JP-A-62-247837 discloses a method of oxidizing polysaccharides using a metal catalyst such as Pd in combination with an accelerator such as Bi to obtain a polycarboxylic acid. However, this method is characterized by oxidizing the reducing terminal end of polysaccharides and the content of carboxyl groups does not also exceed 2 on average per monosaccharide unit.
JP-A-4-175301 discloses a method of oxidizing polysaccharides in the presence of a hypobromite or a hypoiodite. This gazette does not disclose data which suggest the structure of a polycarboxylic acid as a product. However, since there is a description "it is understood in this specification that the term `dicarboxy polysaccharides or polycarboxy saccharides` used herein mean polysaccharides wherein almost all of C2-C3 diol functional groups are respectively converted into two carboxyl groups by means of ring opening" in the specification, the amount of carboxyl groups contained in the polycarboxylic acid of this gazette is considered to be 2 at most as an average value per monosaccharide unit.
JP-A-4-233901 discloses a method of oxidizing an enzyme hydrolysate of starch or dextrin with a hypochlorite or a periodate. In this gazette, there is no description about a structure of a polycarboxylic acid obtained after the oxidation reaction, particularly content of carboxyl groups. Also, a clear measurement example about the molecular weight is not disclosed. Even if the molecular weight is calculated based on a distribution of a glucoside unit disclosed in Example 5 assuming that a decrease in molecular weight does not arise at the time of the following oxidation reaction and three carboxyl groups are introduced per unit after the maximum reaction, a weight-average molecular weight is 915 at most. When using, as a raw material, starch or dextrin from which a higher molecular weight material may be obtained, as shown in Comparative Example 1, a Ca ion sequestration capacity of the resulting polycarboxylic acid is still low, e.g. 200 and 225, which shows that the content of carboxyl groups in the oxidation reaction product is low.
JP-A-08-500626 discloses a method of oxidizing potato starch suspended in carbon tetrachloride with dinitrogen tetraoxide, followed by oxidation with oxygen. The carboxyl group content of the polycarboxylic acid obtained by this method is very low, e.g. about 1 in average number of carboxyl groups per glucose unit.
As described above, those wherein the content of carboxyl groups exceeds 2 per anhydrous glucose unit and the weight-average molecular weight is not less than 2000 are not known with respect to a polycarboxylic acid obtained by oxidizing polysaccharides containing an anhydrous glucose as a constituent unit, or a salt thereof.

Process for making polycarboxylic acid derived from polysaccharide composed of anhydrous glucose units and salts thereof


A method and system are provided to support a decentralized distributed ledger in which transactions are recorded by parties to the transactions without the use of a blockchain. A distributed ledger system provides a protocol framework that supports the development of protocol flows. A protocol flow is computer code that controls the performance of a transaction by the party or parties to the transaction. Protocol flows can be developed for different types of transactions. The distributed ledger system allows transactions to be proposed, accepted, and notarized by a notary and stored without the use of a blockchain ledger. The distributed ledger system can avoid the expense of the computational and storage resources needed to redundantly verify a transaction and store evidence on the many nodes of a blockchain distributed ledger.

The bitcoin system was developed to allow electronic cash to be transferred directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution, as described in the white paper entitled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" by Satoshi Nakamoto. A bitcoin (e.g., an electronic coin) is represented by a chain of transactions that transfers ownership from one party to another party. To transfer ownership of a bitcoin, a new transaction is generated and added to a stack of transactions in a block. The new transaction, which includes the public key of the new owner, is digitally signed by the owner with the owner's private key to transfer ownership to the new owner as represented by the new owner public key. Once the block is full, the block is "capped" with a block header that is a hash digest of all the transaction identifiers within the block. The block header is recorded as the first transaction in the next block in the chain, creating a mathematical hierarchy called a "blockchain." To verify the current owner, the blockchain of transactions can be followed to verify each transaction from the first transaction to the last transaction. The new owner need only have the private key that matches the public key of the transaction that transferred the bitcoin. The blockchain creates a mathematical proof of ownership in an entity represented by a security identity (e.g., a public key), which in the case of the bitcoin system is pseudo-anonymous.
To ensure that a previous owner of a bitcoin did not double-spend the bitcoin (i.e., transfer ownership of the same bitcoin to two parties), the bitcoin system maintains a distributed ledger of transactions. With the distributed ledger, a ledger of all the transactions for a bitcoin is stored redundantly at multiple nodes (i.e., computers) of a blockchain network. The ledger at each node is stored as a blockchain. In a blockchain, the transactions are stored in the order that the transactions are received by the nodes. Each node in the blockchain network has a complete replica of the entire blockchain. The bitcoin system also implements techniques to ensure that each node will store the identical blockchain, even though nodes may receive transactions in different orderings. To verify that the transactions in a ledger stored at a node are correct, the blocks in the blockchain can be accessed from oldest to newest, generating a new hash of the block and comparing the new hash to the hash generated when the block was created. If the hashes are the same, then the transactions in the block are verified. The bitcoin system also implements techniques to ensure that it would be infeasible to change a transaction and regenerate the blockchain by employing a computationally expensive technique to generate a nonce that is added to the block when it is created. A bitcoin ledger is sometimes referred to as an Unspent Transaction Output ("UXTO") set because it tracks the output of all transactions that have not yet been spent.
Although the bitcoin system has been very successful, it is limited to transactions in bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies. Efforts are currently underway to use blockchains to support transactions of any type, such as those relating to the sale of vehicles, sale of financial derivatives, sale of stock, payments on contracts, and so on. Such transactions use identity tokens, which are also referred to as digital bearer bonds, to uniquely identify something that can be owned or can own other things. An identity token for a physical or digital asset is generated using a cryptographic one-way hash of information that uniquely identifies the asset. Tokens also have an owner that uses an additional public/private key pair. The owner public key is set as the token owner identity and when performing actions against tokens, ownership proof is established by providing a signature generated by the owner private key and validated against the public key listed as the owner of the token. A person can be uniquely identified, for example, using a combination of a user name, social security number, and biometric (e.g., fingerprint). A product (e.g., refrigerator) can be uniquely identified, for example, using the name of its manufacturer and its serial number. The identity tokens for each would be a cryptographic one-way hash of such combinations. The identity token for an entity (e.g., person or company) may be the public key of a public/private key pair, where the private key is held by the entity. Identity tokens can be used to identify people, institutions, commodities, contracts, computer code, equities, derivatives, bonds, insurance, loans, documents, and so on. Identity tokens can also be used to identify collections of assets. An identity token for a collection may be a cryptographic one-way hash of the digital tokens of the assets in the collection. The creation of an identity token for an asset in a blockchain establishes provenance of the asset, and the identity token can be used in transactions (e.g., buying, selling, insuring) of the asset stored in a blockchain, creating a full audit trail of the transactions.
To record a simple transaction in a blockchain, each party and asset involved with the transaction needs an account that is identified by a digital token. For example, when one person wants to transfer a car to another person, the current owner and next owner create accounts, and the current owner also creates an account that is uniquely identified by its vehicle identification number. The account for the car identifies the current owner. The current owner creates a transaction against the account for the car that indicates that the transaction is a transfer of ownership transfer, indicates the public keys (i.e., identity tokens) of the current owner and the next owner, and indicates the identity token of the car. The transaction is signed by the private key of the current owner and the transaction is evidence that the next owner is now the current owner.
To enable more complex transactions than bitcoin can support, some systems use "smart contracts." A smart contract is computer code that implements transactions of a contract. The computer code may be executed in a secure platform (e.g., an Ethereum platform, which provides a virtual machine) that supports recording transactions in blockchains. In addition, the smart contract itself is recorded as a transaction in the blockchain using an identity token that is a hash (i.e., identity token) of the computer code so that the computer code that is executed can be authenticated. When deployed, a constructor of the smart contract executes, initializing the smart contract and its state. The state of a smart contract is stored persistently in the blockchain. When a transaction is recorded against a smart contract, a message is sent to the smart contract, and the computer code of the smart contract executes to implement the transaction (e.g., debit a certain amount from the balance of an account). The computer code ensures that all the terms of the contract are complied with before the transaction is recorded in the blockchain. For example, a smart contract may support the sale of an asset. The inputs to a smart contract to sell a car may be the identity tokens of the seller, the buyer, and the car and the sale price in U.S. dollars. The computer code ensures that the seller is the current owner of the car and that the buyer has sufficient funds in their account. The computer code then records a transaction that transfers the ownership of the car to the buyer and a transaction that transfers the sale price from the buyer's account to the seller's account. If the seller's account is in U.S. dollars and the buyer's account is Canadian dollars, the computer code may retrieve a currency exchange rate, determine how many Canadian dollars the seller's account should be debited, and record the exchange rate. If either transaction is not successful, neither transaction is recorded.
When a message is sent to a smart contract to record a transaction, the message is sent to each node that maintains a replica of the blockchain. Each node executes the computer code of the smart contract to implement the transaction. For example, if 100 nodes each maintain a replica of a blockchain, then the computer code executes at each of the 100 nodes. When a node completes execution of the computer code, the result of the transaction is recorded in the blockchain. The nodes employ a consensus algorithm to decide on which transactions to keep and which transactions to discard. Although the execution of the computer code at each node helps ensure the authenticity of the blockchain, it requires large amounts of computer resources to support such redundant execution of computer code.
The term "contract" has been used to describe the computer code of a contract under the UXTO model of bitcoin and the computer code of the "smart contracts" model of the Ethereum platform. The "contracts" under these models are, however, different. In the UXTO model, the distributed ledger is a set of immutable rows keyed by (hash: output index) values. The "hash" is a hash of the transaction that generated the output represented by the row, and the "output index" identifies which one of the possibly many outputs of the transaction that the row represents. A UXTO contract is deterministic and performs no processing other than validating the inputs to the transaction. In the "smart contract" model, the computer code of the smart contract is an instantiation of the computer code that is maintained by every node that stores the block chain. A "smart contract" can perform virtually any type of processing such as receiving messages, sending messages, accessing external databases, and so on.


Embodiments of devices and methods distribute power in a remote pumping system to avoid charge imbalances in energy storage devices of an array. These embodiments identify certain energy storage devices in the array in which the output voltage is less than or equal to a threshold value. In one example, power from a plurality of power sources is directed to the non-performing energy storage devices to expedite re-charging of these energy storage devices.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to power management and distribution and, in one particular implementation, to power management in pump systems that operate at remote locations.
Extraction of natural resources (e.g., oil, natural gas, etc.) occurs in locations throughout the world. These locations are often found in remote regions, far from cities and towns and, likely, far removed from common sources of power, e.g., electrical power supplied by a power grid. Power is essential, however, to operate equipment (e.g., pumps) necessary to move resources from below the ground to pipelines and tanks for transport to other locales. At some sites, for example, pump systems inject chemicals (e.g., corrosion inhibitors) into wells to prevent pipeline corrosion, which can lead to leaks that discharge effluent at significant environmental and financial costs.
These pump systems make use of alternative power sources to operate pumps and other components in lieu of the electrical power supply via connection with the power grid. Although combustion-based devices (e.g., gas generators) may be used, preference is given to alternative energy sources (e.g., solar panels and wind turbines) to avoid fuel costs and hydrocarbon emissions. Some locations may also include storage devices to store energy from the alternative energy sources. The storage devices can supplement output from the alternative sources, e.g., during low-sun and/or low-wind conditions.
Batteries are one common type of storage device. Pump systems may utilize a number of batteries that form a system or an array. Examples of the array connect the batteries in parallel to meet the discharge and storage needs at each remote sight. However, batteries are known to discharge at slightly different rates. This characteristic can lead to voltage imbalances that impact the amount of current that is drawn from each battery found in the array. As a result, stronger batteries with charge levels that are relatively larger than the charge levels of weaker batteries in the array may tend to carry the weaker batteries when driving a load (e.g., the pump). Operation of the array in this manner can reduce the life-span of the batteries, which in turn will require maintenance at greater frequency to replace dead and/or under-performing batteries at the remote sight.
Solutions exist to avoid these discharge problems. The array may incorporate elements (e.g., diodes) to isolate common contact points. This solution can prevent stronger batteries from charging weaker batteries in the array. In other configurations, the array may include a DC/DC converter at each battery to maintain uniformity of the voltage levels at the common contact points. However, operation of the DC/DC converters and like devices draw power from the batteries, which reduces the total charge available to operate the pump system.

Device and method for distributing power at a remote pumping system


Methods and apparatus for lexicographically sorting cyclic data are disclosed. In one illustrative example, a method of lexicographically sorting data includes the acts of receiving a set of N cyclic shifts of N characters identifiable by an array of indexes {0, 1, 2, . . . , N−1}; sorting the set of cyclic shifts based on a comparison of a first character of each cyclic shift; and for an nth sorting iteration of the set of cyclic shifts, where n=1, 2, 3, . . . , up to 2n>N: sorting at least a subset of the cyclic shifts which are identifiable by a subset array of indexes in the array in accordance with a previous sort of cyclic shifts associated with the subset array of indexes plus 2(n−1)*modulo(N); and repeating the sorting for a next nth sorting iteration as necessary until the set of cyclic shifts are lexicographically sorted.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of data compression, and specifically to a multi-stage block-wise adaptive statistical data compressor that includes a lexicographical sorting stage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data compression (or compression) refers to the process of transforming a data file or stream of data characters so that the number of bits needed to represent the transformed data is smaller than the number of bits needed to represent the original data. The reason that data files can be compressed is because of redundancy. The more redundant a particular file is, the more likely it is to be effectively compressed.
A known block-wise adaptive statistical data compressor adapts its data model on a block-by-block basis. The data model generated by the adaptive statistical data compressor consists of a plurality of super-character codewords that correspond to a plurality of super-character groups, wherein each super-character group contains data regarding the frequency of occurrence of one or more individual characters in an applicable character data set. The use of these super-character codewords and groups to model the data in a particular block minimizes the amount of model data that must be included with the compressed data block to enable decompression.
A multi-stage data compressor that includes the block-wise adaptive statistical data compressor as one stage is also known, and includes a clustering stage and a reordering stage, which, together, reformat data in a data block so that the frequency distribution of characters in the data block has an expected skew. This skew is then exploited by selecting certain super-character groupings that optimize the compression ratio achievable by the block-wise adaptive statistical stage. The clustering stage in such a multi-stage compressor may be implemented using the Burrows-Wheeler Transform ("BWT"). A BWT clustering stage includes a stage of using a known generic sorting algorithm, such as the radix sort or the quick sort, to sort cyclic shifts. These sorting algorithms are generic in that they can sort any data, and are not specifically suited to sorting cyclic shifts.


This invention relates to a trilobal filament having at least one axially extending void, preferably one axially extending void in each lobe, wherein each lobe has a composite curve profile having a first arm angle .alpha. and a second arm angle .beta., the cross-section has a modification ratio of 2.4 to 5.0, and the total cross-sectional area is 5 to 15 percent void. In a further aspect, this invention is a spinnerette for producing a filament comprising at least one bore group, wherein the bore group has three legs divergent from each other by 130.degree. to 150.degree. and each leg includes two substantially parallel capillary sections and one nipple capillary section which extends to the outermost point of each leg.

This invention relates to a hollow trilobal cross-section filament for use as carpet yarn, and to a spinnerette for its manufacture.
Trilobal filaments with at least one axially extending hole are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,493,459, 4,001,369, 4,648,830 and 4,770,938. U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,938 describes a trilobal filament having an axially extending hole in each lobe. The total cross-sectional area of the filament is 5 to 12 percent void, the filament cross-section has a modification ratio of 2 to 3 and an arm angle of 15.degree. to 45.degree.. U.S. Pat. No. 3,493,459 describes a trilobal filament having an axially extending hole at the center of the filament and smaller axially extending holes in each lobe.
Although the prior art hollow filaments are said to provide improved sparkle or luster and bulk when used as a carpet yarn, there exists a need for further improvement in these properties. In addition, it would be advantageous if hollow filaments could improve the cover of carpet yarns.


A heat exchanger assembled from multiple heat exchanging tubes. Each of the multiple heat exchanging tubes is formed as a flattened tube of 0.5 mm in thickness by press work or bending work of a stainless steel plate member having a thickness of 0.1 mm. Each of the multiple heat exchanging tubes is structured to have multiple lines of sequential wave crests and multiple lines of sequential wave troughs formed on each of flattened faces of the heat exchanging tube. The multiple lines of the sequential wave crests and the multiple lines of the sequential wave troughs are arranged to have a preset angle γ relative to a main stream of an air flow. The lines of the sequential wave crests and the lines of the sequential wave troughs are symmetrically folded back about folding lines arranged at a preset interval W along the main stream of the air flow.

One proposed structure of the heat exchanger has multiple tubes arranged to make circulation of a refrigerant between a refrigerant inlet tank and a refrigerant outlet tank and thereby perform heat exchange with the outside air (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-167782). In the heat exchanger of this prior art structure, as the refrigerant introduced into the inlet tank flows in the multiple tubes and reaches the outlet tank, the refrigerant is cooled down by heat exchange with the outside air flowing between the multiple tubes in a direction substantially perpendicular to the multiple tubes. Cooling fins are provided between the multiple tubes to enhance the efficiency of heat exchange.
Another proposed structure of the heat exchanger has multiple small-diameter tubes arranged to make circulation of a refrigerant between two headers formed as an inlet and an outlet of a refrigerant and thereby perform heat exchange with the outside air (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-218969). In the heat exchanger of this prior art structure, as the refrigerant flows in and between the multiple small-diameter tubes, the refrigerant is cooled down by heat exchange with the outside air.
Still another proposed structure of the heat exchanger has multiple flattened hollow tubes of a flattened cross section, in order to increase an effective area of heat transfer. This prior art heat exchanger is constructed as a finless heat exchanger with no cooling fans, in order to lower a potential pressure loss of a fluid flowing between the flattened tubes and attain size reduction of the heat exchanger.


Disclosed embodiments provide improved communication between a caller and multiple parties. A caller performs a call spray operation on a group of contacts using an electronic communication device such as a mobile telephone. The call spray operation attempts to contact an electronic device associated with each contact in the group of contacts. If one of the contacts answers and is deemed to be a live user, then the remaining contacts that did not answer each receive a message on their associated electronic device indicating which of the contacts answered the caller with a live user. In this way, a group of people can be conveniently contacted and kept up to date with the status of the communication with the caller.

This disclosure relates generally to telephony, and more particularly, to multiple party call acknowledgment. Smartphones and other personal electronic devices allow users to save contact information of a multitude of people. These people may be friends, family, colleagues, or coworkers, etc., of the user. In various situations, a user may wish to call all, or a subset of, the contacts in his/her contact lists. This can sometimes cause confusion amongst the recipients of the calls. Thus, there exists a need for improvements in multiple party calling.

International Business Machines Corporation


Embodiments are disclosed of a patronage incentive system in which a monetary award is made to a customer's retirement account as incentive for the customer to participate in a transaction with the sponsor for the sponsor's goods or services. The system includes a means for identifying the customer, a means for inputting the identification information and other information about the transaction into a computer data storage, a computer data processing device which uses a software program along with the transactional information to calculate an incentive award amount a means for transferring the monetary funds equal to the incentive award amount from an incentive award pool to the customer's retirement account, and a means of reporting the incentive award amount to the customer and to the sponsor. Embodiments of a method of conducting a patronage incentive system of the present invention are also disclosed comprising the steps of inputting transactional information into a computer data storage device, calculating the incentive award amount through the use of a computer data processing device, transferring monetary funds equal to the incentive award amount from an incentive award pool to the customer's retirement account, and reporting the incentive award amount to the customer and to the sponsor.

a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a patronage incentive award system incorporating monetary incentive awards made to a retirement account. More specifically, the present invention relates to a patronage incentive award system in which a computerized system calculates and transfers to a customer's retirement account a monetary incentive award for each transaction conducted with the sponsor of the incentive award. The present invention also relates to a method for operating a patronage incentive award system whereby a monetary incentive award is transferred to the customer's retirement account.
b) Description of the Related Art
Patronage incentive systems have long been used to provide added impetus for customers to enter into transactions with the sponsors who employ the incentive systems. Patronage incentive systems, like all incentive systems, endeavor to stimulate a targeted subject to engage in a type of behavior desired by the person employing the incentive system. In the case of patronage incentive systems, the targeted subject is a customer--either actual or potential--and the person employing the incentive system is the sponsor. The sponsor is usually a provider of goods or services who utilizes the patronage incentive system to stimulate the customer into engaging in transactions with the sponsor for those goods and services.
Patronage incentive systems, again like all incentive systems, seek to stimulate the subject to perform an act desired by the sponsor by providing the subject with the opportunity to obtain something that the subject wants to have. In other words, a patronage incentive system provides stimulus to a customer to enter into a transaction with the sponsor by giving the customer some type of an incentive award that the sponsor thinks the customer will want. Examples of incentive awards of prior art patronage incentive award systems include free merchandise, discounted prices, cash refunds or credits, and the opportunity to win prizes such as merchandise, services, or vacation trips. However, an incentive award is sometimes as simple as the opportunity to participate in a transaction with the sponsor which has features the customer may find beneficial to him.
One of the simplest forms that a patronage incentive system can take is that of the sponsor advertising to customers the possible benefits of entering into a transaction with the sponsor. Usually, the transaction is a sale of goods or services and the benefits advertised are the particular advantages of the goods or services that the sponsor would like to sell. The sponsor may also advertise the benefit of his price for the goods or services relative to the price his competitors would charge. Such advertisements are made by many means including newspapers, magazines, television, radio, billboards, mailers, and other forms of public or private communication. The amount of incentive provided by advertising is related to many factors including the benefits advertised, the persuasiveness of the sponsor's advertisements, the prominence of the advertisements, the media selected for advertisement, and the amount of money invested in the advertisements. A drawback to conventional advertising as a patronage incentive system is that the advertising must be paid for prior to any transactions realized from the advertising. Another drawback is that the advertising must be paid for whether or not the advertising produces any transactions at all.
Another type of patronage incentive system involves the sponsor issuing coupons which customers can use beneficially in a transaction with the sponsor. The coupon-based patronage incentive system often is used in conjunction with advertising. The coupons may allow the customer to pay a lower price for the good or service or to obtain additional merchandise or services. However, drawbacks of coupon-based patronage incentive systems include the fact that the management of the system requires the designing and issuance of the coupons as well as the collection, verification, redemption, handling, storage, and final disposal of the coupons. Another disadvantage is that redemption of the coupons at the time of the transaction can significantly prolong the time the transaction takes to occur thereby consuming valuable time of the sponsor, the customer, and other customers who are in line behind the customer who is redeeming the coupons. Another disadvantage is that the finding, cutting out, sorting, organizing, and carrying activities accompanying the redemption of coupons provide countervailing disincentives to the customer to participate in a coupon-based patronage incentive system.
Another type of patronage incentive program uses the award of merchandise selected from a catalogue as an incentive award to the customer to engage in transactions with the sponsor. In this type of patronage incentive system, the customer is awarded a number of points for a transaction. The number of points awarded may depend on the monetary value of the transaction. The number of points awarded may also depend upon the frequency of transactions the customer has with the sponsor or the time period in which the transactions are conducted. Various means have been used to keep track of and to validate the number of points accumulated by each customer. Examples of such tracking and validation means include stamps, stickers, tickets, and punch cards. However, catalogue merchandise-based patronage incentive systems have many drawbacks. Among these drawbacks are the need for the sponsor to select merchandise that will be awarded and to design, publish, and distribute catalogues. Other drawbacks include the need for the sponsor to obtain, warehouse, and distribute the incentive award merchandise, and to deal with faulty award merchandise, overstocked and understocked award merchandise conditions.
Another type of patronage incentive system involves the sponsor allowing the customer to participate in a game of chance to which the sponsor supplies the prize awards. Drawbacks of this type of incentive system include the need for the sponsor to design the rules of the games in accordance with applicable legal restrictions and to design, publish, and distribute the playing pieces of the game to the customers. Another drawback is that the sponsor must select the incentive award prizes and figure out a convenient way to award the incentive award prizes to the winners. Another further drawback is that the awarding of prizes may be required regardless of whether any transactions were made with the customer and regardless of the value of transactions that were in fact made. Other disadvantages include problems associated with the validation of winning game pieces, disputes over eligibility and winning, and problems related to the presentation of the incentive awards such as unavailability of or damage to the prizes before presentation occurs.
Still another type of patronage incentive system involves the sponsor awarding a credit to the customer that may be used by the customer toward later transactions with the sponsor. The amount of the credit awarded may depend on the monetary value of the transaction, the frequency of transactions, or other transactional characteristics such as the specific goods or services involved in the transaction. This type of patronage incentive system has the drawback that the customer is restricted to redeeming the credit award only as part of a transaction with that particular sponsor, thereby reducing the attractiveness of the incentive award to the customer.
In another type of patronage incentive system, the sponsor awards a flat cash payment to the customer when the customer attains certain goal that is related to transactions the customer has with the sponsor. A drawback to this type of patronage incentive system is that the cash award may be quickly spent leaving nothing to remind the customer of the incentive award or of the sponsor.
Some patronage incentive systems use trips to vacation spots as incentive awards. There are drawbacks to the use of vacation trips as incentive awards. One drawback is that the cost of vacation awards usually preclude the possibility of making such an award to each customer for each transaction with the sponsor. Another problem is the difficulty in selecting the location, duration, means of travel, and accommodations for the vacation trip.
From the above examples it is apparent that prior art patronage incentive systems tend to focus on providing a short term benefit to the customer as an incentive for the customer to patronize the sponsor of the patronage incentive system. However, customers also have long term needs. The fulfilment of a long term need, like the fulfilment of any need, can act as an incentive to encourage a customer to patronize a sponsor. One such long term need is the need the customer has to provide for his retirement security. Increased life expectancies along with predictions of the insolvency of the Social Security system in the near future have heightened the awareness in many people about the need to accumulate funds for their retirement years. Prior art patronage incentive systems have not utilized as an incentive the fulfilment of customers' long term need to provide for their retirement security. Thus, it is clear that what is lacking in the art is a patronage incentive system which, while overcoming many of the drawbacks of prior art patronage incentive systems, utilizes the fulfilment of a customer's long term need of providing for his retirement security as an incentive for the patronage of a sponsor.

Patronage incentive award system incorporating retirement accounts and method thereof


An electroplating method by transmitting electric current from a ball side is provided. In the electroplating method, the circuit layer is firstly formed on the bump side of the IC board, and the electric current is transmitted to the portion of the circuit layer uncovered by the insulating layer formed on the bump side from the electroplated metal layer on the ball side to form the protective layer (the electroplated gold layer) on the portion of the circuit layer. In such a way, the electroplated gold layer cannot be formed under the insulating layer formed on the bump side (attached with the chip) because the electroplated gold layer is formed after the insulating layer has been formed, and thereby the fall-off of the insulating layer from the electroplated gold layer will not happen. Therefore, the reliability of the products is enhanced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an electroplating method, and in particular to an electroplating method by transmitting electric current from a ball side.
2. The Prior Arts
Due to environmental concerns, the electronics industry is moving rapidly to develop the lead-free and even the halogen-free materials. The lead-free soldereing processes require a higher reflow temperature than tin/lead applications. An increased level of heat resistance for the IC board is required to meet the requirements for the reliability of it when lead-free solder material is used. Therefore, the problems caused by the high temperature process should be solved by the product packaging manufacturer.
In order to improve the electrical properties and reduce the noise, the Bus less technology was applied to the IC board. However, the electroplated nickle/gold layer in the wire bonding region is still needed to achieve good adhesion. Although the nickle/gold layer can be formed by the electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) technology in the wire bonding region, the reliability of it is not good. Therefore, the electroplated the nickel/gold layer can be formed in the wire bonding region by the gold plating process (GPP) without the plating lines. However, the solder mask will cover the electroplated nickel/gold layer because the nickel/gold layer has been formed by electroplating process before the solder mask application. However, the material property of the solder mask greatly differs from that of the gold layer, and thereby the adhesion between the solder mask and the gold layer is potentially poor. Therefore, when the demand for reliability and heat resistance of the IC board becomes stringent, the conventional manufacturing method is not sufficient.
Moreover, for the non-plating line (NPL) process, the drawbacks of it is that the process is complicated; the specific equipment is needed to electroplate a thin copper layer; and the etch parameters are difficult to be controlled after electroplating the thin copper layer, which can cause micro short problem.
Therefore, the present invention provides a method in which the solder mask application is done before electroplating the nickel/gold layer without the plating lines in order to solve the problems set forth above.

Electroplating method by transmitting electric current from a ball side


The present invention provides a tissue cutting device and a method for accurately cutting tissue into tissue leaflets for autologous tissue heart valves in a minimal amount of time. The device includes a flexible backing pad located between a rotatable rotary table and a puck which houses several sharpened blades. The tissue to be cut is located on the flexible backing pad adjacent to the blades. The rotary table includes a hemispherically shaped raised cutting bar on the upper surface. When the rotary table is rotated, the cutting bar pushes the tissue against the blades in the puck, cutting the tissue into the desired shape.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cutting device, in particular to tissue cutting dies for cutting tissues to a particular configuration, especially for the fabrication of tissue leaflets for preparation of an autologous heart valve.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several types of heart valves are presently available for use in replacing diseased or malfunctioning heart valves in humans.
One form of heart valve is constructed from animal tissue, typically from bovine or porcine aortic valve tissue. The valves constructed from animal tissue typically have short lifetimes. The short lifetimes are caused by two factors. First, there is an antigenic reaction by the body to the animal tissue which causes the tissue to calcify, making it inflexible and more susceptible to failure with time. Second, the tissue is often stored in glutaraldehyde before implantation to try to decrease the antigenic reaction. The aldehyde tends to tan the tissue to a leather-like consistency, which makes the tissue wear out from the repeated stress of opening and closing.
Thus, although heart valves containing animal tissue are widely used, most have to be replaced after about five to ten years. Replacing these valves poses risks to the patient, because a second open heart operation is required, with the attendant possibility of problems during the operation.
Mechanical heart valves are also available. The mechanical valves are made of hard, non-biological materials such as metals or ceramics. Although the mechanical heart valves are durable, the hard, non-biological surfaces on the valves tend to cause blood clots. The blood clots can cause heart attacks or strokes, and, as a result, patients with mechanical heart valves must take anticoagulant drugs. These drugs can lead to hemorrhagic complications.
Another type of heart valve, the autologous tissue valve, is constructed with the patient""s own tissue, minimizing the chances of the patient""s body rejecting the implanted tissue. A number of patents for autologous tissue heart valves and methods of making autologous tissue heart valves have issued to Autogenics, assignee of this application, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,163,955, 5,326,371, and pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/161,809.
If the patient""s own tissue is used to construct the heart valve, the valve must usually be assembled in the same surgical procedure in which the patient""s damaged or diseased valve is removed. The valve assembly must be completed quickly to minimize the risk to the patient.
When constructing an autologous heart valve, the patient""s tissue is typically mounted on a stent or other type of frame. In one conventional method, valve leaflets are cut from a piece of tissue and are sewn or attached to the frame. In another method, a single piece of tissue is attached to the frame, and the excess tissue is removed. Both methods are time-consuming, causing risk to the patient. In order to reduce the time required to shape the tissue into a form which can be attached to the frame more quickly, tissue cutting dies have been designed.
Two forms of tissue cutting dies are described in the ""955 patent. In both forms of the dies, the tissue is cut into the desired shape by pressing a die with embedded blades against a piece of tissue, cutting the tissue in a manner similar to a cookie cutter. Another tissue cutting die is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,741. An actuator with a raised ridge is drawn through a slot in the die. The raised ridge forces the tissue against the blade. A tissue cutting die with a rotatable cutting pad was described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,600.
The present invention provides an improved apparatus and method for cutting a piece of tissue into tissue leaflets for use in autologous tissue heart valves. A significant factor of the invention is that the tissue cutting die is a rotary tissue cutting die that requires less force to operate than previous tissue cutting dies.
The rotary tissue die includes a flexible backing pad for holding the tissue, a housing containing a plurality of blades with a sharpened edge, and a rotary table with a raised cutting bar on the top surface. The cutting bar forces the flexible backing pad against the sharpened edge of the plurality of blades in the housing when the rotary table is rotated, so that the tissue between the flexible backing pad and the housing is automatically cut through.
The flexible backing pad, the housing containing a plurality of blades, and the rotary table are contained in a generally cylindrical body with an end cap. A shaft on the rotary table is connected to a handle. The flexible backing pad is preferably made of polytetrafluoroethylene. Advantageously, the rotary table is made of stainless steel, and the housing containing the plurality of blades is made of polycarbonate.
The blades, the blade housing, and the backing pad are disposable. The cylindrical body and the end cap can be sterilized and reused.
The tissue cutting die of the present invention is used in the following manner. First, a roughly sized piece of tissue is placed on the surface of the flexible backing pad. The plurality of blades with a razor sharpened edge housed in the housing are placed into contact with the tissue. The end cap and the cylindrical body are aligned and secured together. When the handle is turned to rotate the rotary table, the raised cutting bar forces the flexible backing pad against the razor sharpened edge of the plurality of blades in the housing, so that the tissue between the flexible backing pad and the housing is automatically cut through.