An electrocoagulation treatment method wherein voltage is applied to selected reaction plates to create an electrical field within the electrocoagulation chamber. The plates are arranged vertically with respect to the chamber which induces a vertical flow of liquid through a device. Gases formed in the electrocoagulation process are allowed to rise to the top of the liquid line and can be vented to the atmosphere. The voltage and amperage of the electrical field within the reaction chamber may be adjusted as necessary by placing selected reaction plates in electrical contact with the voltage source. The incoming line voltage itself may be kept at a constant which eliminates the need for a separate transformer. The reaction plates are easily removed from the reaction chamber and may be replaced individually or as a set.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for treating a liquid and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for electrocoagulation of liquids by electrolytic treatment to cause impurities in the liquid to be removed or separable.
It is known in the art to electrolytically treat liquids to allow separation of a broad range of contaminants including metals, solids, pathogens, colloids and other undesirable substances. Electrolytic treatment involves the use of an electrical field which is applied to a liquid contained in a chamber in order to coagulate and otherwise to allow for removal of impurities found in the liquid. One example of a prior art device and method for electrolytic treatment is disclosed in PCT Publication No. WO 9640591. According to this invention, a waste stream is first passed through a polarizing means having an electrical potential that is different than ground potential, and then passed through an electrocoagulation chamber including a plurality of elongate electrodes or electrocoagulation blades which have different electrical potentials in comparison to one another. A plurality of holes are provided in the electrodes to cause turbulence in the waste stream which, in turn, increases the efficiency of the electrocoagulation. Although this device may be adequate for its intended purpose, one disadvantage of this device is that the torturous flow path of the waste stream as it passes through the device requires the electrodes or electrocoagulation blades to be of a high strength to withstand the high water pressure which must be used in order to keep the waste stream from clogging. Because the blades of these devices have to be significant in size and strength, a limited number of them can be used in a specified volume which reduces the actual surface area available for electrocoagulation treatment. Additionally, these coagulation blades require higher input line voltages in order to obtain the desired amperage between the blades in the electrical field because their surface area is limited by the high pressure. Smaller plates can withstand higher pressures, but the ability to maintain a desired amperage is sacrificed because available blade surface area within an electrocoagulation device is directly related to the amperage which can be maintained. Additionally, the torturous path also causes problems due to trapped gases produced by the electrolytic reaction in the chamber which further increases the pressure upon the blades. Accordingly, a high powered pump must be used to overcome the natural tendency of the waste stream to clog within the chamber. This PCT publication encompasses the same subject matter as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,907 to Herbst, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,962 to Herbst, and further includes subject matter not found in these other patents.
Other examples of electrolytic treatment devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,400 to Liggett and U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,959 to Herbst, et al. These devices utilize electrodes in the form of metal tubes or pipes but require great effort in repairing or replacing the tubes. This amount of down time is unacceptable for many commercial applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,050 to Herbst discloses flat electrodes used within a coagulation chamber; however, in order for the apparatus of this invention to be used, the edges of the coagulation chamber must be tightly sealed. After long periods of use, the seals are difficult to maintain.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,176 to Okert discloses the use of a plurality of electrode plates for electrolytic treatment of liquids. However, these plates are not intended to be removed either as a whole or individually. Furthermore, the device disclosed in this reference cannot be powered in a series electrical connection which is desirable in many circumstances.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,273 to Kemmerer discloses an ionic reaction device including a tubular housing with multiple circular electrode plates for the treatment of a fluid. Because of the torturous path utilized in the reaction chamber of this device, high pressures are required to move the liquid through the device, and the device appears susceptible to clogging and excessive gas buildup.
One shortcoming of all of the foregoing prior art references is that there is no means by which to transform the input line voltage to the voltage and amperage necessary to optimize the electrocoagulation treatment without having to use a separate transformer. In other words, the electrocoagulation chambers themselves do not have the capability to transform the input line voltage to a desired voltage and amperage within the electrical field of the electrocoagulation device.
Another shortcoming of the prior art which utilizes a torturous flow path is that the electrodes or electrocoagulation blades require precision holes to be cut to allow gaskets to be bolted between the blades in order to withstand the pressure created by the torturous path. Additionally, the blades have to be laser cut with extreme precision in order to maintain the exact desired path. Deviation from a predetermined path can result in clogging due to buildup of coagulated solids bridging between misaligned blades. These manufacturing requirements greatly add to the cost of building an electrocoagulation device.
Another shortcoming of the prior art, which includes many of those discussed above, is that the blades are not easily removable for replacement or cleaning. Particularly for those chambers utilizing a tortuous path, a great number of bolts and gaskets are required to keep them in alignment. Accordingly, these pieces of hardware must be removed in order to replace the blades.
Each of the foregoing disadvantages are overcome by the apparatus and method of this invention. Additionally, the apparatus and method of this invention achieve other advantages discussed more fully below.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for electrocoagulation of liquids is provided. In its simplest form, the device or apparatus includes a housing defining a reaction chamber, and a plurality of spaced reaction plates/blades which are oriented in a vertical position within the reaction chamber. An inlet is provided to allow a desired flow of liquid into the reaction chamber and into the gaps or spaces between the blades. An outlet is provided at an elevation higher than and downstream of the inlet for allowing the liquid to flow from the chamber after the liquid has been treated in the chamber. Selected blades connect to electrical leads which carry an input line voltage. An electrical field is created in the chamber between the electrically connected blades. The electrical leads may be attached to selected blades in order to provide the reaction chamber with the desired voltage and amperage to optimize the electrocoagulation of the particular liquid. The ability to vary voltage and amperage within the electrical field of the chamber can be achieved without the use of a separate transformer. The liquid stream flow is in an upward direction through the reaction chamber in the gaps between the plates/blades. Accordingly, the outlet is positioned at the higher level above the inlet. A pump may be placed upstream of the inlet in order to provide additional head for the flow of liquid passing through the apparatus. A series of prefilters or other preconditioning means may be placed in line with the pump and also upstream of the inlet in order to remove solids or other materials which may otherwise clog the reaction chamber. A control unit rectifies the incoming AC line voltage to a DC voltage. Electrical leads interconnect the blades to the DC voltage made available by the control unit. In addition to rectifying the incoming line voltage, the control unit may incorporate a number of other functions which helps to control the apparatus, such as a means to control the speed of the pump and a voltmeter and ammeter to monitor the conditions within the chamber. However, the control unit does not need a transformer as the electrical connections made with the blades allow the desired voltage and amperage therein to be adjusted, as further discussed below. Additionally, the control unit can be in the form of a programmable logic controller which could not only monitor status condition inputs, but also produce outputs to control the electrocoagulation process. For example, the voltage polarity of the electrical leads extending from the control unit can be reversed based upon a timing sequence controlled by the controller. As a further example, the control unit can measure the flow rate of the liquid stream and adjust it accordingly by either manipulating the pump speed, or adjusting the flow rate through a valve positioned upstream of the inlet. After the liquid stream has been electrolytically treated, the liquid stream may be passed through a development chamber and/or through secondary separation treatment in order to remove the bulk of the contaminants which still remain in the liquid stream. It is the intent of the electrocoagulation device of this invention to remove the bulk of contaminants in secondary separation treatment. Although some contaminants will fall out of the liquid stream to the bottom of the reaction chamber, it is desirable to treat the liquid within the reaction chamber and then by force of the liquid stream, move the contaminants to a downstream secondary separation treatment point. If the bulk of the contaminants were allowed to settle out of the liquid stream within the reaction chamber, then the reaction chamber would have to be cleaned and serviced more frequently. Secondary separation treatment can be achieved with a number of devices placed downstream of the reaction chamber. For example, secondary separation can be accomplished with clarifiers, filters, centrifugal separators, or centrifuges. Each of these devices can be used within secondary separation as referred to herein, and any one or a combination of these devices may be used depending upon the type of liquid stream treated.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for electrocoagulation by electrolytically treating a liquid stream. The method may include the steps of passing the liquid stream through a prefilter and pump, and then through the reaction chamber in an upward flow direction. The method further contemplates the steps of passing the liquid stream through an outlet of the reaction chamber and then through a development chamber and/or secondary separation. Additives can be introduced to the liquid stream in order to target the electrocoagulation of a specific contaminant.
The electrocoagulation chambers in all of the embodiments have the ability to transform the power of the rectified incoming line voltage to the voltage and amperage in the electrical field within the reaction chamber to optimize the electrocoagulation treatment. These transforming electrocoagulation chambers therefore allow the same power supply provided to the electrocoagulation chamber to be used over a wide range of the incoming line voltages. Accordingly, a separate transformer is not required which greatly saves in the cost of implementing an electrocoagulation device. Also, the ability to transform the power grid voltage or incoming line voltage enables the invention to be used in many countries which have differing standard power grid or line voltages.
According to another aspect of the invention, the chamber can be operated under a vacuum. By operation under a vacuum, the gas created by the electrocoagulation process will be removed from the chamber faster. Furthermore, the use of a vacuum upon the chamber will reduce the amount of dissolved air within the liquid stream. There are circumstances in which entrained air impedes the electrocoagulation process, depending upon the type of liquid treated and the contaminants to be removed. Additionally, subjecting the liquid stream to vacuum also enables beneficial gases to be dissolved more efficiently in the liquid stream before or after coagulation. For example, if the amount of oxygen dissolved in the liquid stream needs to be increased, the liquid stream can be passed through a vacuum to remove the dissolved air, then oxygen or ozone can be added back to the liquid stream through a venturi. As another example, carbon dioxide could be added to lower the pH of the liquid stream or ammonia can be used in the same way to increase the pH of the liquid stream. Although a vacuum may be utilized, the apparatus can be operated at atmospheric pressure.
Another benefit of operating the chamber under a vacuum is the removal of volatilized gases and compounds which would normally remain in the liquid stream under higher ambient pressure conditions.
According to another aspect of the invention, a vacuum may be applied to the apparatus of this invention by a vacuum hood which is placed over the reaction chamber or, alternatively, the entire reaction chamber may be placed within a sealed container or pressure vessel which communicates with a source of vacuum. If a pressure vessel is used, not only can a vacuum be applied, but the chamber may be kept in a pressurized state. A pressurized reaction chamber would be advantageous in situations in which the apparatus is placed in line with a municipal water source which is already under pressure. Accordingly, no pump or other external pressure means would be required to move the liquid stream through the device.
In another aspect of the invention, the amperage and voltage within the chamber can be adjusted by placing a non-conductive blade or shield between electrically connected blades. Such a non-conductive blade or shield can be made of plastic or PVC and can be removed or added to the chamber in the same manner as the conductive blades. The voltage and amperage within the electrical field may also be modified by adjusting the surface area of an electrically connected blade in contact with the liquid stream. This is achieved simply by raising or lowering an electrically connected blade in the liquid stream. Thus, the amount of blade surface area exposed is directly related to the amperage that will transfer in the electrical field and through the liquid stream.
In another aspect of the invention, turbulence of the liquid stream may be increased by providing a hydrocyclone or diaphragm-type pump upstream of the reaction chamber. Turbulence increases the efficiency of the electrolytic process. Turbulence may also be increased by injecting air into the liquid stream upstream of the inlet of the reaction chamber.
According to a first preferred embodiment, the device of this invention may be configured for use in the home. Alternatively, the size of the first embodiment may be increased to a greater scale in a second embodiment to handle more industrial-type uses which require greater amounts of treated liquid. In a third preferred embodiment, the apparatus of this invention may be modified in a much smaller scale for portable use. In a fourth preferred embodiment, the apparatus of this invention may be incorporated within a pressure vessel which is able to pressurize or depressurize the environment in which the electrolytic treatment takes place. The third embodiment differs from the other embodiments in that no flow occurs through the device. Rather, a static amount of liquid is treated and then removed for consumption.
For each of the embodiments of this invention, the electrocoagulation chambers do not utilize a torturous flow path. The elimination of a torturous flow path of the liquid stream allows thinner blades to be used because the pressure within the chamber is less. The use of thinner blades allows an increased number of blades to be used within a chamber. By increasing the number of blades within the chamber, the surface area of the blades in contact with the liquid stream is increased which enhances the electrolytic treatment of the liquid stream. In other words, the chemical reactions which take place within the chamber occur on the surfaces of the blades; therefore, increasing the number of blades within a set volume ensures that greater electrolytic treatment takes place. Also, because there is no torturous flow path, gases which are produced in the electrolytic process will not create air locks which could otherwise distort the blades and the chamber, and increase the pressure required to pump a constant liquid stream through the chamber. The simple flow path between the blades from the bottom to the top of the chamber allows the gases created by the electrolytic process to rise as bubbles, as a result of their natural buoyancy, which may then freely escape into the atmosphere or be drawn off by a source of vacuum. Also, the bubbles move in the direction of liquid flow which further prevents clogging and reduces the amount of pressure needed to move the liquid through the device.
Because the total surface area of the blades within the chamber is increased, the electrocoagulation unit can be operated at a minimum power consumption. In general, electrocoagulation treatment is dependent on the amperage in the electrical field which is in contact with the liquid stream. If the voltage is maintained within the electrical field at a threshold level greater than 2 volts, the electrolytic reaction will take place wherein metal ions from the blades are added to the liquid stream causing the blades to be consumed over time. Voltage within the electrical field is usually only a concern if it cannot be maintained above the 2-volt level. The total surface area of the blades within the chambers of each of the embodiments is increased sufficiently to maintain the minimum 2-volt threshold while also maintaining the amperage necessary for effective treatment. In other words, the apparatus of this invention can be operated at lower voltages than the prior art which results in reduced power consumption. There is a direct relationship between the voltage which can be maintained in the electrical field for a given amperage based on the available surface area. An increased surface area allows a specified amperage to be maintained at a lower voltage. For example, if 1 amp were required to effect treatment of the liquid and, if the larger surface areas of the blades of this invention allow the 1 amp to be maintained at 2 volts, then the power used is only 2 watts. If a prior art blade having a smaller surface area, say by tenfold, requires a voltage of 20 volts to maintain the 1 amp, then the power consumption would increase to 20 watts. As discussed above, the surface area available in the device of this invention is much greater than many prior art blades. Typically, prior art blades require precision manufacturing and, therefore, are expensive to make. Furthermore, these prior art blades had to be kept at a minimum size in order to withstand pressure within the reaction chamber. Overcoming this size limitation cannot be solved simply by making the blades thicker as this would in turn decrease available blade surface area within the reaction chamber. Making the prior art blades larger or wider without increasing thickness would require less pressure in the reaction chamber which could result in massive clogging or complete flow disruption. Accordingly, the size of such prior art blades had to be kept at a minimum.
The apparatus of this invention is capable of treating many types of liquids to include, without limitation, water, oil and antifreeze.
The foregoing discussed advantages along with others will become apparent from a review of the description which follows in conjunction with the corresponding FIGS.

Method for electrocoagulation of liquids


A master clock signal for an image capture device and a light emission device is accessed. The master clock signal is divided to generate a high frequency clock signal. A frame timer is used to measure a frame time of the image capture device based on cycles of the high frequency clock signal. Based on an exposure timing signal from the image capture device, estimating an exposure start time for the image capture device; is estimated. Based on the estimated starting time, the light emission device begins emission of a positional tracking pattern at the estimated starting time and for a duration determined by the measured frame time of the image capture device.

Virtual reality ("VR") devices enable users to view and interact with virtual environments. For example, a VR device might enable a user to explore a virtual environment. Augmented reality ("AR") devices enable users to view and interact with virtual objects while simultaneously viewing the physical world around them. For example, an AR device might enable a user to view the placement of virtual furniture in a real-world room. Devices that enable both VR and AR experiences might be referred to as mixed reality ("MR") devices. VR devices, AR devices, and MR devices are also commonly referred to as a near-eye device ("NED") or head-mounted device (HMD). The HMD may interface with a handheld controller and/or other handheld peripheral objects, e.g., as parts of a gaming system. To make a gaming experience more immersive, the poses of an HMD and a handheld controller may be tracked as the devices are moved through space by a user to provide inputs to control a user interface of the HMD. Such pose tracking also may be used for other computing device interactions than gaming.
In order to track a user's positional movements, or the movements of a separate controller for the HMD, some HMD devices utilize optical sensors such as cameras that detect LED markers that are illuminated in the vicinity of the HMD. When using such LED markers, it may be necessary to synchronize timing between LED emission and camera exposure. In particular, in 6 degree of freedom (DoF) AR/VR controllers with LED constellation-based tracking systems, the timing synchronization between the LED emitting time and the camera exposure window is important for image quality, accuracy, and power consumption. Bluetooth classic or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) typically have 10 ms or longer packet latencies and uncertainties that are not practical for LED emitting time control. Additionally, the camera module and Bluetooth chip on the HMD may run from different clock sources which can result in clock drift. These issues can make LED and camera timing synchronization a challenging task.
Inaccurate synchronization can lead to poor image quality and accuracy, which can lead to issues with controller tracking and thus negatively impact the user experience. Additionally, inaccurate synchronization can lead to unnecessary use of computing resources and excessive power consumption.
It is with respect to these and potentially other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.

LED synchronization for virtual and augmented reality devices


An improvement in a thermal vapor disposition apparatus having an enclosure with a gas inlet, a gas outlet, side walls, a susceptor, gas flow means for causing a flow of gas from the inlet to the outlet and heating means for heating the susceptor, where a temperature gradient is imposed on the susceptor and/or a temperature control means controls the temperature profile of the side walls.

The present invention is concerned With a vapor deposition apparatus. As known in the art, such apparatus is used for depositing a film from vapor onto a substrate. For example, the substrate may be a wafer, such as a silicon wafer, and a film of deposited vapor on that substrate is used in the manufacture of semiconductors and other like devices. Alternatively, such an apparatus can be used for causing the uniform evaporation of a film from a substrate, such as a wafer, and this can be used in an etching process by choosing the chemical reaction between the reactants and the film.
In such an apparatus, it is necessary to have an enclosure such that the vapor flows through the enclosure and contacts a very hot susceptor disposed therein so that the desired deposition or evaporation may take place. The temperature of the susceptor is set for particular vapors and wafers and can vary according to those parameters, which are well known in the art. While the specific arrangement of such an enclosure can vary considerably, these enclosures, as major components, include a first end wall with a vapor inlet therein, a second end wall with a vapor outlet therein, side walls, a top wall, a bottom wall, a susceptor having a top surface, gas flow control means for causing a flow of the vapor from the inlet to the outlet, and heating means for heating the susceptor to high temperatures required for specific vapors/wafers. The present apparatus has those same major components.
There are two main types of vapor deposition apparatus. The first is the so-called "horizontal" type, and the second is the so-called "vertical" type. In the horizontal type apparatus, the susceptor is disposed horizontally within the enclosure and the vapor flows parallel to the susceptor. In the vertical type, the susceptor is also disposed horizontally, but the vapor flows transverse thereto, e.g. from a top portion with an inlet, along the side walls, to and along the susceptor, and out an outlet on a bottom portion.
In both of these types of apparatus, the vapor flow through the enclosure may be entirely the chemical compound which is intended to be deposited, or it may be a combination of the vapor of that compound and a carrier gas. Generically, whether the flow is entirely of the chemical compound or mixed with a carrier gas, the flow is referred to as the "gas flow", and that term will be used hereinafter.
However, these conventional devices have a substantial disadvantage in that the very hot susceptor, placed on the bottom wall, of, for example, a "horizontal" type apparatus, necessarily causes thermal convection flows of the gas within the enclosures. These convection flows, coupled with the main gas flow through in the enclosure, causes stable gas rolls in the flow of the gas, such that the temperature near the susceptor or, for example, a wafer thereon, is never horizontally uniform, even though the temperature of the susceptor itself is uniform. This vertical temperature non-uniformity may be referred to as a vertical temperature gradient, i.e. a gradient extending vertically from the susceptor or wafer thereon. Since the mass flux of the vapor onto the wafer is strongly dependent on the temperature gradient vertical to the susceptor or wafer, the growth of a deposited film, therefore, becomes non-uniform.
In order to achieve a more uniform growth of the film, the prior art has considered it necessary to exercise some control of the gas flow, and various prior art approaches have been suggested for this purpose. One suggested method is that of rotating the susceptor so as to smooth out the local temperatures near the susceptor or wafer, i.e the vertical temperature gradient, and, hence, smooth out deposition rates across the susceptor, but this approach considerably complicates the apparatus. Another suggested method is that of reducing the pressure inside the enclosure, but this even further complicates the apparatus and involves vacuum pumping systems.
A recent and important suggestion is that of suppressing the stable gas rolls by controlling the temperature of the side walls of the enclosure (see laid open Japanese Application No. 137620/1989). This approach uses special heaters along the side walls. As a result, the gas flow becomes unsteady, and hence no stable gas rolls are possible. When the so-called "horizontal" apparatus is so controlled, a time-average horizontal uniformity of the vertical temperature gradient of gas at the susceptor is achieved, however, only when the vapor flow is within certain Reynolds numbers (Re) and Grashof numbers (Gr). Further, this approach can achieve uniform growth of the film only in the direction of the susceptor which is transverse to the direction of the gas flow and cannot achieve uniform film growth in the direction of the gas flow. This is because the concentrations of the vapor to be deposited from the gas flow decrease as the gas flow proceeds through the enclosure, since the deposited vapor depletes the vapor content in the gas flow.
In order to improve this situation, it has been suggested to reduce the cross-sectional area of the enclosure near a downstream portion thereof so as to increase the flow speed of the gas. With this, the concentration of the vapor per unit volume can be increased. However, the optimum geometrical shape of such an enclosure, for this purpose, is not simple, and the apparatus becomes very complicated.

Univ. of Electro-Communications, Dept. of Mechanical and Control Engineerin g


A method of calibrating a sound restitution assembly for a multichannel sound signal, which includes a plurality of loudspeakers. The method includes: obtaining multidirectional impulse responses of the loudspeakers to reproduction of a predetermined audio signal; analyzing the multidirectional impulse responses obtained, in a domain of spatio-temporal representation, over at least one time window encompassing the instants of arrival of the first reflections of the audio signal reproduced to determine a set of characteristics of the first reflections; comparing the amplitude of each of the reflections with a predetermined perceptibility threshold and identifying imperceptible reflections for which the amplitude is below the predetermined threshold; modifying the impulse responses obtained to obtain perceptive impulse responses, by deleting the reflections identified as imperceptible; and determining a filtering matrix on the basis of the perceptive impulse responses for an application of this filtering matrix to the multichannel audio signal before sound restitution.

The particular playback systems in question are sound playback systems of multi-channel type (5.1, 7.1, 10.2, 22.2, etc.) or ambisonic type (ambisonics in the literature or higher order ambisonics (HOA)).
To allow good quality playback of multi-channel signals, present-day devices for calibrating the acoustics of the listening site are based on a general method of "multi-channel equalization" type in which the impulse responses of each loudspeaker in the playback system are measured using one or more microphones at one or more points at the listening site and frequency equalization filtering is carried out on each loudspeaker, independently, by inverting all or part of the impulse response measured for the loudspeaker in question.
The inversion aims to correct the response of the loudspeaker in such a way that said response comes as close as possible to a "target" curve generally defined in the frequency domain in order to improve the delivery of the tone of the sound sources.
Such a method is described in the document titled "Digital Filter Design for Inversion Problems in Sound Reproduction", by Kirkeby and Nelson, in JAES 7/8, pp. 583-595, 1999, for example.
This type of calibration or correction focuses on correction of the frequency aspect of the response of the playback system at the listening site without making use of temporal information such as reflection phenomena and notably early reflections of the sound signals.
However, early reflections of sound signals have a non-negligible effect on the auditory perception of the reproduced sound signal.
In addition, the analysis of the impulse responses carried out in existing calibration methods is of monophonic type, i.e. it does not take into account the spatial information of the reflections, such as the direction of incidence, either.
The absence of temporal and spatial data for the reflections does not allow consideration of the role of these reflections in the perception of the direct wave of the sound signal by a listener, and thus adjustment of the correction according to their specific effect. The quality of the sound signal played back and perceived by the listener is then less than optimum.
The techniques of the prior art are based on the application of corrective filters to each of the channels of the multi-channel signal, i.e. each loudspeaker in the playback system is corrected individually without taking into account the whole array of loudspeakers.
There is therefore a need to optimize the calibration carried out on systems for playing back multi-channel audio signals, firstly to take into account the temporal and spatial properties of the sound reflections that affect the auditory perception of the direct waves, in order to adjust the processing endeavor according to the perceptibility of degradation and thus to limit the audible artefacts liable to be generated by the excessively constrained processing carried out in existing calibration methods, and secondly to use the various loudspeakers jointly, in order to distribute the processing endeavor between all the loudspeakers.

Optimized calibration of a multi-loudspeaker sound playback system


A system and method for transforming a legacy device into a virtualized environment, comprising includes analyzing the profiling data for at least one application to determine usage frequency and resource requirements of the at least one application. Captured user events are benchmarked to simulate a user workload for the at least one application to determine how resource utilization and execution times scale from a legacy environment to a virtualized environment. The legacy device is transformed into the virtualized environment in accordance with a provisioning plan.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to network services and systems, and more particularly to systems and methods for transforming legacy devices from a legacy environment to a virtualized cloud environment.
Description of the Related Art
Traditional desktop delivery models are based on a large number of distributed PCs executing operating system and desktop applications. Managing traditional desktop environments is incredibly challenging and costly. Tasks like installations, configuration changes, security measures, etc. require time-consuming procedures and dedicated deskside support. These distributed desktops are typically underutilized, resulting in low return on investment for these assets. Further, the distributed computing model for desktops also creates a security concern as sensitive information could be compromised with stolen laptops or PCs.
Desktop virtualization, which moves computation to a data center, allows users to access their applications and data using stateless "thin-client" devices and therefore alleviates some of the problems of traditional desktop computing. The basic concept of desktop virtualization is based on moving an operating system (OS) and application execution from local (at the user) device to a remote data center. The end user device becomes a lightweight computer that handles only a keyboard, a mouse and a monitor (as well as locally attached devices such as scanners and printers). Connectivity between the end-user device and desktop OS executing in the data center is handled using remoting protocols.
Enterprises can now leverage the flexibility and cost-benefits of running users' desktops on virtual machines hosted at the data center to enhance business agility and reduce business risks, while lowering total cost of operations (TCO). Recent research and development of the cloud computing paradigm opens new possibilities of mass hosting of desktops and providing them as a service.
Cloud computing is becoming an attractive option for providing desktop as a service. Some of the advantages include more economical, less operational expense, less risk of technology becoming obsolete, more access from anywhere from any devices, better data security (data on the server), and no management cost. However, there are existing legacy desktops that have applications, user personalization and data that have to be assessed and migrated to the new desktop in the cloud. Transformation of legacy systems to desktop clouds as well as proper capacity provisioning is a challenging problem. The desktop cloud needs to be appropriately designed and provisioned to offer low response time and a good working experience to desktop users while optimizing back-end resource usage and therefore minimizing provider's costs.
In cloud computing, services and computing resources are delivered to customers over the Internet from a service provider who owns and operates the cloud. Some of the characteristics of a cloud offering include dynamic scaling of infrastructure based on application needs, flexible usage based pricing, rapid service provisioning, multiple tenants coexisting on the same infrastructure and standardized offering capable of being subscribed to by a service offering catalog. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a cloud delivered service that includes resources delivered as a service including servers, network, memory, CPU, storage, etc. Desktop as a Service (DaaS) is a natural evolution of virtual desktop paradigm whereby desktops would be delivered as a service from a Desktop Cloud. DaaS provides benefits without the costs or risks of owning and managing physical resources and the added benefit of accessing desktops and desktop applications from any device at any location.
Customers who need a large number of desktops for their employees are no longer required to provision all of the required resources, such as servers and storage, but can transfer this task to a desktop provider and focus on business critical tasks instead. A desktop provider uses the concept of cloud computing to deliver a large number of desktops to its customers. A desktop cloud is simply a set of physical resources (such as storage, servers, networking gear, etc.) together with virtualization, connection brokering, and management software allowing for remote access to large numbers of desktops (potentially tens or hundred of thousands).
Desktop virtualization has several advantages over the typical "fat-desktop" approach. Management costs of the solution are significantly lower because operating system images, applications, and data are no longer installed on a large number of distributed systems but in a well controlled data center. This improves manageability of the system as well as data and application security. Moreover, since the local device is stateless it is very easy to troubleshoot and replace thus on-site labor is significantly reduced. The new desktop delivery model offers significant advantages. Due to effects of the economies of scale, the desktop cloud provider can optimize resource usage among large numbers of customers and therefore minimize unit cost of desktop delivery. Customers minimize exposure to rapid technology changes since they are subscribing to a desktop delivery service rather than purchasing technology.
Full realization of this paradigm requires further research. Important challenges still remain and include development of management approaches for scalable hosting of a very large number of virtual machines. Since the number of desktops is very large, standard management techniques developed for virtualized systems with server workloads are not directly applicable. Another challenge is efficient graphics remoting which is a prerequisite to remote desktop access over wide area networks. In addition, transformation of legacy desktops to the cloud paradigm is an extremely difficult task. This is due to the scale and ubiquity of desktops in the enterprise as well as due to the significant complexity of desktop applications.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for transforming legacy desktop environments to a virtualized desktop model

International Business Machines Corporation


A method for implementing a virtual network interface, which is applicable for the embedded device without a physical network interface equipped, including that: the embedded device encapsulates the to-be-transmitted IP data packet as the data frame which is able to be identified by the universal interface on the device and carries a virtual network port identifier, transmits the data frame through the universal interface; after the embedded device receives the data frame from the universal interface, the embedded device delivers the IP data packet parsed from the received data frames to the application layer when determining that the received data frame carries a virtual network port identifier. An embedded device for implementing a virtual network interface is also provided, the device includes a universal interface, a determining module, an encapsulating/decapsulating module, and a sending/receiving module.

In view of actual application, one or more types of the universal interfaces, such as Ethernet/UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter)/HDLC (High-Level Data Link Control)/I2C (Inter Integrated Circuit)/SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface), are configured in lots of embedded systems, while network interfaces are not configured in some application environments in view of cost and miniaturization.
There are higher demands on the low cost, miniaturization and low power consumption of a communication device with the continual maturity of IT technology and daily fierce competition. The simplification of up and down service interface need to be considered, and some unnecessary hardware need to be discarded during the product global design. For example, with regard to ordinary single board, the requirement may be satisfied simply by preserving parallel interfaces for debugging without any network interfaces, thus, not only the hardware cost can be reduced, but also the wiring can be reduced and the size of printed board can be reduced. However, the network interfaces may offer more services of application layer, e.g. FTP (File Transfer Protocol)/HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)/TELNET (TCP/IP terminal emulation protocol)/NFS (Net File System) compared to series interfaces, these application services could not by applied without configuring the network interfaces.

Method for implementing virtual network port and embedded device for implementing virtual network port


A high-voltage transistor device has a substrate, an isolation structure, a source, a gate, a drain, a plurality of doped regions, a plurality of ion wells, and a first dielectric layer disposed on the substrate. The high-voltage transistor device further has a first conductive layer and a plurality of first field plate rings. The first conductive layer is electrically connected to the drain and at least one of the first field plate rings.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a high-voltage MOS transistor device, and particularly, to a high-voltage MOS transistor device having a plurality of first field plate rings. A voltage is applied upon the first field plate rings to maintain a constant electric field within the high-voltage MOS transistor device and prevent breakdown of the high-voltage MOS transistor device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Current power systems provide an alternating current having a variety of frequencies ranging from 50 to 60 Hz, and a voltage ranging from 100 to 240 volts (V). Every electrical device has a particular working voltage and frequency condition, and therefore, electrical devices and related passive elements utilized in the electrical devices, such as inductors, capacitors, resistors and transformers, act as a switch to determine the value of the voltage and the type of the current thereof. For example, a conventional air conditioner utilizes a power supply providing a low-voltage current for the inner facilities. The power supply switch reduces the voltage provided by the outer power system to an appropriate voltage for the inner facilities. In addition, the power supply switch has the characteristics of high efficiency, low weight, small size and reduced power consumption.
High-voltage metal-oxide semiconductors may function as switches and are broadly utilized in CPU power supplies, power management systems, AC/DC converters, LCD/plasma TV drivers, automobile electronic components, PC peripheral devices, small DC motor controllers, and other consumer electronic devices. The power source supplied by the outer voltage source is an AC power. The usual waveform of an AC power circuit is a sine wave, and a 240V AC power may alter its voltage from −300V to +300V. The voltage may over 600V in an instant. This is greater than the breakdown voltage of most HV MOS transistor devices in the field and leads to HV MOS transistor device damage. Therefore, an HV MOS transistor device capable of withstanding high-voltages is required.


A battery connector mounted on a printed circuit board which has an insulating housing having a top surface, a bottom surface, a front surface, a rear surface and two side surfaces. The front surface defines a plurality of terminal grooves. The rear surface defines two first fixing grooves and two second fixing grooves. A plurality of conductive terminals fixed in the terminal grooves each has a soldering portion for soldering on the printed circuit board. A pair of fixing elements each has a first fixing slice secured in the first fixing groove. The first fixing slice is bent perpendicularly to form a soldering slice for soldering with the printed circuit board. A connecting portion extends perpendicularly from the first fixing slice for being attached on the rear surface. A distal end of the connecting portion is bent frontward to form a second fixing slice fixed in the second fixing groove.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery connector, and particularly to a battery connector fixedly mounted on a printed circuit board.
2. The Related Art
A battery working as a power supply is often assembled in the portable electronic products to provide electricity for the portable electronic products, such as mobile phone, portable computer, digital camera and so on. Correspondingly, in order to meet the requirement of transmitting electricity from the battery to the portable electronic products, the portable electronic products usually has a printed circuit board mounted therein and a battery connector fixed on the printed circuit board.
Refer to FIG. 1, a conventional battery connector comprises an insulating housing 41 and at least one conductive terminal 42 fixed in the insulating housing 41. The conductive terminal 42 further comprises a contacting portion 43 extending beyond the insulating housing 41 from a side of the insulating housing 41 for contacting with an outer battery 45, and a soldering portion 47 exposed out of the insulating housing 41 for soldering with a printed circuit board 44. However, the battery connector is mounted on the printed circuit board 44 only by means of soldering the soldering portions 47 with the printed circuit board 44, so the battery connector is apt to break off from the printed circuit board 44 when the outer battery 45 is mated with the battery connector. As a result, an electrical connection between the battery connector and the printed circuit board 44 would interrupt. Therefore, a battery connector capable of overcoming the foregoing problem is required.


Techniques for applying segment conditions to measure results are presented. Row and column segment data is acquired from a database according to row and column definitions. A measure calculation is applied against the intersecting row and column segment data. Next, one or more combinations or conditions derived from the row and column definitions are used as a filter to produce filtered results.

Enterprises are increasingly capturing, storing, and mining a plethora of information related to communications with their customers. Often this information is stored and indexed within databases. Once the information is indexed, queries are developed on an as-needed basis to mine the information from the database for a variety of organizational goals: such as planning, analytics, reporting, etc.
Often an analyst associated with an enterprise has a business problem to solve or business question to answer that entails analyzing information from the enterprise's database. Acquisition of selective information is probably a first and cursory step in the overall analytical process that the analyst needs to follow in order to solve the business problem or answer the business question. The selective information may itself be queried and mined for certain predefined characteristics or attributes. Once these results are obtained, the analyst may want to further perform some calculation against the data that conforms to the predefined characteristics. Yet, modern database interfaces do not permit such fine-grain calculations to be achieved in an automated manner for the analyst. Consequently, an analyst may have to enlist the services of a programmer or may have to manually calculate items of interest before a desired business question can be properly answered.
Thus, it can be seen that improved mechanisms for applying calculations within a database environment are desirable.

Applying segment conditions to measure results


A processor system presented here has a plurality of execution cores and a plurality of stack caches, wherein each of the stack caches is associated with a different one of the execution cores. A method of managing stack data for the processor system is presented here. The method maintains a stack cache manager for the plurality of execution cores. The stack cache manager includes entries for stack data accessed by the plurality of execution cores. The method processes, for a requesting execution core of the plurality of execution cores, a virtual address for requested stack data. The method continues by accessing the stack cache manager to search for an entry of the stack cache manager that includes the virtual address for requested stack data, and using information in the entry to retrieve the requested stack data.

A central processing unit (CPU) may include or cooperate with one or more cache memories to facilitate quick access to data (rather than having to access data from the primary system memory). Memory latency, relative to CPU performance, is ever increasing. Caches can alleviate the average latency of a load operation by storing frequently accessed data in structures that have significantly shorter latencies associated therewith. Moreover, memory subsystem performance can be increased by storing the most commonly used data in smaller but faster cache memories. For example, "stack data" (i.e., frequently used and/or recently accessed data) may be cached in small stack caches that are distinct from the traditional and typical cache memory hierarchy of a processor system.
In a typical multicore processor system, stack data is "owned" or accessed by only one execution core at a time. In other words, stack data is usually private in nature. That said, there are certain situations where stack data is shared between different execution cores. Consequently, stack caches in a multicore processor system should be kept coherent and should be managed in an efficient and effective manner.

Stack cache management and coherence techniques


A motor vehicle (100) on which a vehicle engine (1) is mounted is described, the vehicle engine (1) including: an exhaust purification system (70) housing a GPF device (73) for purifying exhaust gas; and an EGR passage (52) connected to a portion of the exhaust purification system located downstream of the GPF device, and the engine is mounted in an engine compartment (R) defined in a front portion of a vehicle body. The exhaust purification system is located forward of a dash panel (103) constituting the engine compartment, and is positioned to extend toward a tunnel portion (T) of the dash panel. An upstream end portion (52c) of the EGR passage is connected to a lower portion of the exhaust purification system in a vertical direction of the vehicle.

Patent Document 1 discloses, as an example of a vehicle engine, an engine including a purification unit (three-way catalyst) that purifies exhaust gas, and an EGR passage (EGR passage) that branches off from a portion of an exhaust passage downstream of the purification unit to be connected to an intake passage.
In the engine configured in this manner, burned gas returns to the intake passage after passing through the purification unit, and thus, a deposit component in external EGR gas can be reduced.

Motor vehicle on which a vehicle engine is mounted


A fuel burner includes a tube extending from a first end to a second end and including a central passage and fluid directing structure for directing a mixture of air and combustible fuel radially through the tube. The fluid directing structure collectively defines a total flow area. A blocking member is axially movable within the central passage between a first condition blocking a first percentage of the total flow area and a second condition blocking a second percentage of the total flow area different from the first percentage to control the flow of the mixture of air and combustible fuel through the fluid directing structure from the first end to the second end of the tube to be ignited.

Some combustion/heating systems benefit from burners that can operate properly over a wide range of Btu inputs. These are often referred to as "high turndown" burners. One example would be a heater that takes in outside air and heats it up to a desired temperature before discharging it into the conditioned space. The outside air could be just a few degrees below the heating set point, to sub-zero temperatures or anywhere in between. The amount of heat required to raise the air to the desired discharge temperatures, however, will vary greatly between these different conditions.
Burners are typically designed to work well at a single, specific Btu input. Most burners will operate within some range above and below the nominal, but this range tends to be rather limited. Operating too high above the nominal can cause flame lifting and poor combustion (high carbon monoxide). Operating too far below the nominal can cause overheating of the burner. These undesirable operating characteristics are caused by the relationship between port velocity and flame speed. As the input increases, the volume of the gas/air mixture increases, which in turn causes the gas/air mixture port exit velocity to increase. When the port velocity decreases (flame speed remains the same), the flame gets closer to the burner surface, which can potentially cause overheating.


A liquid crystal display comprises a liquid crystal display panel; a light source to provide light to the liquid crystal display panel; and a light controlling assembly disposed between the light source and the liquid crystal display panel, the light controlling assembly comprising at least one first light controlling member, at least one second light controlling member disposed on the first light controlling member and an light curing agent disposed on an edge part between the first light controlling member and the second light controlling member to adhere the first light controlling member and the second light controlling member to each other, the first light controlling member and the second light controlling member having an air layer therebetween.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a light controlling assembly, a fabrication method of the same and a liquid crystal display having the same, and more particularly, to a light controlling assembly to improve brightness and to be readily employed in an automated process, a fabrication method of the same and a liquid crystal display having the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) typically comprises an LCD panel which has a TFT substrate, a color filter substrate and a liquid crystal layer disposed therebetween. The LCD panel does not emit light by itself. Thus, a backlight unit is disposed behind the LCD panel for providing light.
A backlight unit for an LCD panel typically comprises a light source to provide light to the LCD panel and a light controlling member disposed between the light source and the LCD panel which collects and diffuses light from the light source to be provided to the LCD panel. The light controlling member comprises a diffusing plate diffusing light which is to be enhanced in uniformity, a collecting film allowing the light passing through the diffusing plate to progress perpendicularly to enhance the brightness of the light and a reflective polarizing film which reflects and polarizes the light. However, the collecting film and the reflective polarizing film are usually thin, and thus it may difficult to treat them in an automated process. Thus, to avoid the above-mentioned difficulties which may be encountered in connection with automated processes, each element of the light controlling member should be adhered to each other by an adhesive agent such that the light controlling member is provided as a single body or unit, and then subsequently treated.
However, even with the above design for the light controlling member, the brightness of the light passing through the light controlling member may still decrease due to the adhesive agent disposed between the elements of the light controlling member.
Thus, there is a need for a light controlling assembly which may improve the brightness of light and which may be readily employed in an automated process. There is also a need for a fabrication method of the same and an LCD having the same.

Fabrication method of light controlling assembly and liquid crystal display device


A tunneling optimization is described in which packets are forwarded from a home agent to a mobile device by co-locating a foreign agent corresponding to a mobile device at the mobile device. When a mobile device acquires a new foreign agent, the mobile device notifies the home agent as to the corresponding foreign agent address. A packet received at the home agent having the mobile device as a packet header destination address is parsed and the foreign agent address is substituted for the mobile device address, and the packet is forwarded to the foreign agent. The foreign agent, upon receiving the packet, removes the foreign agent address and replaces the mobile device address as the packet header destination address. The packet is then forwarded to the mobile device.

The present invention relates to the Internet and other packet-based networks and more particularly to methods for wireless access to packet-based networks by mobile devices.
Support for wireless access between a correspondent node and a mobile device over the Internet is outlined in an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) proposal entitled xe2x80x9cIP Mobility Support,xe2x80x9d C. E. Perkinsxe2x80x94Editor, Request for Comments 2002 (October, 1996; hereinafter xe2x80x9cMobile IPxe2x80x9d). By utilizing Mobile IP, each mobile device is identified by a fixed home address and associated home agent, regardless of its current point of attachment to the Internet. Packets sent to a mobile device, from a correspondent node, are directed to the home agent. If the mobile device is away from home, the home agent tunnels packets to a foreign agent associated with the mobile device.
An IP packets typically limited in size with 40 bytes of the packet utilized as the IP packet header. The IP header includes a source address and a destination address. The correspondent node is set as the IP header source address and the mobile device is set as the IP header destination address. The remainder of the limited packet size is available for data payload. When received at the node hosting the home agent, and when the mobile device is away from home, the home agent intercepts the IP packet and encapsulates the IP packet with appended IP header destination and source addresses, and forwards the encapsulated packet in an IP-in-IP tunnel to the foreign agent. The encapsulated packet is comprised of the original 40 byte IP header, a ten byte appended IP header source address designated with the home agent""s IP address, and a ten byte appended IP header destination address designated with the foreign agent""s IP address, with the remainder of the limited packet size available for data payload. The data payload portion of an encapsulated packet is therefore 20 bytes less than that available for data payload in a packet which is not encapsulated for tunneling. The encapsulated packet is then tunneled to the foreign agent. The foreign agent strips the appended IP header source and destination addresses and delivers the remainder of the packet to the mobile device for processing.
Inclusion of the encapsulating addresses used for tunneling causes at least two undesirable effects. The first effect, as noted above, is a reduction in the available data payload portion size since the addition of the encapsulating header addresses decreases packet transmission efficiency due to additional included packet overhead. Second, when a packet of maximum size is intercepted at the home agent for tunneling to the mobile device, the home agent returns an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) error message back to the correspondent node to indicate that the addition of a tunneling header would require fragmentation. The correspondent node then limits the data payload size of the packet and retransmits. Therefore, an additional round trip for packets conveyed from the correspondent node to the home agent is required. This effect may be especially noticeable when utilizing the Mobile IP tunneling scheme for a web transfer from a correspondent node to a mobile device, resulting in an additional delay of 500 milliseconds or more, since each web page transfer may require a plurality of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) downloads to complete the transfer.
Packet delay and tunneling overhead are reduced when packets are forwarded from a home agent to a mobile device""s foreign agent by substituting the packets"" destination addresses at the home agent, rather than encapsulating each packet with an additional source and destination address. In an embodiment of the invention, the foreign agent is co-located with the mobile device. When a mobile device acquires a new foreign agent, the mobile device notifies the home agent as to the address corresponding to the foreign agent. Packets received at the home agent having the mobile device as a packet header destination address are not encapsulated with additional source and destination addresses. Rather, the packet header is parsed, the foreign agent address is substituted for the mobile device address, and the packet is forwarded to the foreign agent. The foreign agent, upon receiving the packet, removes the foreign agent address and replaces the mobile device address as the packet header destination address. The packet is then forwarded to the mobile device.
Interchanging the packet header destination addresses as described provides two beneficial effects. First, since encapsulating header addresses are not required nor used, the packet header size for packets forwarded from the home agent to the foreign agent is not increased. Therefore, packet transmission efficiency is improved when compared to the scheme utilized for Mobile IP tunneling. Second, since the packet payload size is not reduced for packets forwarded from the home agent to the foreign agent, the home agent does not return an ICMP error message to the correspondent node and therefore does not require retransmission of a packet having a reduced data payload size.

Packet tunneling optimization to wireless devices accessing packet-based wired networks


A wireless USB hub for connecting a plurality of remote peripheral devices to a computer for communication therewith without the need to physically connect the peripheral devices to the hub via a cable connection. The wireless USB hub includes a receiver for receiving wireless data transmissions from one or more remote peripheral devices. The wireless USB hub further includes a hub controller for passing appropriate peripheral device information to a USB upstream port and then to a computer.

The present invention relates to a wireless data input device and more particularly to a Universal Serial Bus (hereinafter USB) hub having wireless data communication with remote wireless peripheral devices.
A personal computer system comprises a computer, a display such as a CRT or flat panel display, and other peripheral devices communicating with the computer for entering data, printing data or controlling the computer. The peripheral devices require a connection to the computer which will enable them to communicate with the computer. Typically, most peripheral devices communicate with the computer over a connection cable.
Wireless communication between the computer and peripheral devices without a cable connection therebetween is known. Typical wireless systems replace the connection cable with radio frequency signals, ultrasonic signals or infrared light signals to enable the remote peripheral wireless devices to communicate with the computer.
The USB hub provides a convenient central data connection point for attaching multiple peripheral devices to a computer. The hub relays data from the computer to all enabled devices coupled to the data hub, and relays data from the enabled devices to the computer. This data relay is performed without any data storage or significant delay. The USB hub is connected to the computer via a single USB upstream connector. The USB hub also includes a plurality of downstream ports for connecting the peripheral devices to the hub. The USB hub uses a standardized connector at the downstream ports to provide universal connectivity between peripheral devices and the computer. USB hubs currently require peripheral devices to be physically connected to the hub using cable connectors. It is desirable to provide a USB hub with capability to communicate with a plurality of remote wireless peripheral devices without the need to physically connect the peripheral devices to the hub with a cable connection.

Universal serial bus hub with wireless communication to remote peripheral devices


A method and apparatus for decomposing halogenated hydrocarbons are provided. The halogenated hydrocarbon is mixed with solvating agents and maintained in a predetermined atmosphere and at a predetermined temperature. The mixture is contacted with recyclable reactive material for chemically reacting with the recyclable material to create dehalogenated hydrocarbons and halogenated inorganic compounds. A feature of the invention is that the process enables low temperature destruction of halogenated hydrocarbons.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus and a method for decomposing halogenated compounds, and more specifically to apparatus and a method for the low temperature destruction of halogenated hydrocarbons.
2. Background of the Invention
The persistence of halogenated compounds in the environment continues to pose ecological and health problems. These compounds are of both the aliphatic and aromatic variety and are associated with aspects of electronic component fabrication, dielectric applications, metal finishing industries, paint production, plastics production/recycling, oil production industries, and other industrial applications. Such compounds include the polyhalogenated aromatic- and polyaromatic-compounds (e.g., the polychlorinated biphenyls) and the alkyl halides (e.g., polyhalogenated ethylene, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, methylene chloride, and others).
A myriad of disposal techniques have been studied in attempts to degrade or otherwise isolate these compounds, including burial, incineration, photodecomposition, adsorption, and chemical degradation. Generally, methods to degrade halogenated materials into innocuous products have had limited success due to stringent operating parameters associated with those methods. For example, the addition of alkaline solutions into a mixture containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) with alcohol dispersing agents, has been attempted to decompose halogenated material (U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,978). This technique, which utilizes Raney catalysts, requires establishing and maintaining alkaline conditions so as to maintain the reactive capabilities of the catalyst. The technique also requires the addition of gaseous hydrogen to effect substitution of the halogen moieties. Another process (U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,167) requires the use of Lewis acid catalysts in anhydrous conditions, and at temperatures in excess of 300.degree. C.
Thermal degradation is the method allowed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for fluids which contain more than 500 parts per million (ppm) polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs). However, much criticism has been directed towards thermal incineration as an uneconomical means of destroying these materials. The many shortcomings of utilizing typical incineration methods include high capital costs of constructing large-bed reaction zones, and the high operating costs of maintaining molten salt systems and incineration systems at 1100.degree. C. and 2600.degree. C., respectively. The need for large beds and long residence times to effect conversion of halogenated materials to innocuous salts or gaseous decomposition products is directly related to the high costs of these processes. Limited incinerators currently exist for disposing of halogenated waste so that toxic chemicals must be stockpiled prior to disposal.
A need exists in the art for a low cost, highly efficient alternative technology to conventional halogenated hydrocarbon incineration. Such technology should operate at relatively lower temperatures, be able to economically dispose of hazardous waste, and use recyclable reaction materials. Also, these recyclable materials should be commercially available. Such a system would ameliorate the problems and costs associated with stockpiling halogenated waste material and would also facilitate bench-top disposal capability so as to allow disposal of toxics where they are normally produced, used, or discarded.

Method and apparatus for low temperature destruction of halogenated hydrocarbons

Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company


A skimmer guard for a pool skimmer is provided. The skimmer is attached to either the inner or outer periphery of the faceplate via cooperating male/female connectors on the skimmer guard and inner or outer periphery of the faceplate at the opening for fluid passage from the pool to the skimmer housing and filter assembly. The skimmer guard includes cut out portions sized such that leaves, bugs and other pool debris can enter the skimmer housing but block larger amphibious objects, such as toys, floating candles, chlorine dispensers, etc., from entering the skimmer housing and obstructing normal skimming operation. The cut out portions may be diamond shaped. The skimmer guard may include a ring tab or other member extending from the outer periphery thereof for ease of removal of the guard.

In recreational pools, such as swimming pools, spas or whirlpools, it is typical to use a pool cleaning apparatus that employs a skimmer. The skimmer housing is mounted to an outside surface of the sidewall of the pool and includes a filter means for cleaning the water within the pool after it is drawn through the skimmer. A faceplate is mounted to the inside surface of the pool and has a generally large opening that is sealed with respect to the inside surface of the pool wall and is generally located at the surface water level. The skimmer includes means for creating a vacuum within the housing so that the surface water continuously flows from the pool surface into the housing and then through the pool filtering equipment and then back into the pool by means of another opening or outlet port generally located below the surface level of the water.
The skimmer housing assembly is mounted behind the pool wall and the faceplate is fastened to the opposite surface of the pool wall, such as by screws that pass through the faceplate and the pool wall, and is threaded into the skimmer housing assembly. A gasket may be positioned between the faceplate and the pool wall for an additional watertight seal. In this manner, a seal is provided between the faceplate, the pool wall, and the skimmer housing.
During initial construction of the skimmer assembly, it is not uncommon for the screws that mount the faceplate to the pool to become loose a short time after initial installation. Periodically, the owner of the pool must retighten these fasteners in order to maintain the seal and to prevent leakage of water behind the skimmer faceplate and housing. Typically, this retightening procedure must occur during the winter months in the North, for example, when the pool has been covered-over for the winter months. Moreover, in order to prevent water from freezing within the skimmer assembly and damaging the typically plastic components due to expansion of the ice within the skimmer, the skimmer assembly must be evacuated to prevent the build-up of ice within the skimmer. Additionally, within many pools, it is important to maintain the level of water within the pool so as to provide support for the walls of an in-ground pool, for example.
In order to close off the opening of the skimmer, closure assemblies have been developed to cover the faceplate prior to the evacuation of water from the skimmer so that the level of water within the pool remains generally consistent with the level of the faceplate. However, the re-tightening procedure necessitates the owner removing the cover from the pool and accessing the screws around the outer periphery of the skimmer faceplate. Examples of such closure assemblies are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,913,810, 5,285,538 and 5,937,453. However, if the pool owner needs to retighten the screws around the faceplate, for example, if a leak occurs between the faceplate and pool wall, these cover assemblies need to be removed in order to access the screws. Since these cover assemblies fit over the faceplates, and hence over the screws, it is necessary to remove the faceplate to access the screws. This then allows water to flow into the skimmer assembly during the cold winter months and requires re-evacuation of the skimmer.
What is needed, then, is a pool skimmer faceplate cover that completely seals off the skimmer, while allowing access to the screws for retightening by the pool owner.
Additionally, objects such as water toys which float may often be left in the pool and may get hung up in the skimmers opening and strainer basket housing, which in turn obstructs the skimmers normal skimming action. What is needed then is a pool skimmer faceplate that allows leaves and bugs to enter the skimmer but prohibits larger amphibious objects from entering and obstructing the skimmer.
The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the above-mentioned problems.


Disclosed is a method for preparing a no fat or low fat cheese product from a culture medium prepared by combining from about 50 to about 94 wt. % whole milk, from about 0 to about 45 wt. % water, and from about 0.2 to about 1 wt. % of at least one food grade, polyanionic gum. The culture medium is inoculated with at least one lactic acid- or heteroacid producing bacterium to form a cultured mixture. The cultured mixture is then combined in a vat with skim or low fat milk to form a cultured milk. The cultured milk is ripened, sufficient rennet added to form a coagulum, the coagulum cut to form curd in a whey solution, and the curd cooked while in the whey solution. The cooked curd is transferred to a means for draining the whey solution where the whey is separated from the curd and the curd salted. After salting, the curd is further processed to produce a no fat or low fat cheese.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the chemical arts. In particular, it relates to a culture medium and a cultured milk used to make no fat or low fat cheese products and to a method for making such cheese products.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In recent years, for health as well as cosmetic reasons, there has developed an increasing concern with diet which has focused on reduced fat consumption. Low fat foods which look and taste like their higher fat counterparts have been eagerly sought by the public. To this end, food researchers have concentrated on developing food products which are nutritious and palatable, but which contain substantially reduced levels of fat. This is particularly true in the dairy industry where such reduced fat products as skim milk and yogurt have been successfully marketed. However, the successes in these areas have not carried over to methods for preparing no fat or low fat cheeses having high consumer acceptance.
Attempts have been made to use skim or low fat milk in conventional cheese making processes, to produce no fat or low fat cheeses. Unfortunately, the body, texture and flavor of the resulting no fat or low fat cheese products have not been entirely satisfactory for ordinary consumer use. The cheeses tend to be extremely hard, leathery and tough, and are often almost completely devoid of flavor. Therefore, it is a desideratum for a process which results in the preparation of no fat or low fat cheese products having similar body, texture and flavor when compared to their full fat counterparts.
Typically, in the manufacture of no fat or low fat cheese, raw or pasteurized skim or low fat milk is placed in a vat and heated to an appropriate temperature. Bacteria, such as S. cremoris, S. lactis, S. citrovorous, S. thermophillus, L. bulgaricus, L. casei and L. heleveticus,are approved lactic acid- and hetero-acid-producing cultures that when added to the milk begin to produce lactic acid and other products, such as fatty acids, butyrates and octanoates, which effect the body, texture and flavor of the final cheese product. To aid in their production, the acid bacteria are often combined with a culture medium before addition to the milk.
After addition of the bacteria, the milk is allowed to ripen until a desired degree of acid has been produced. The milk at this stage is known as cultured milk. Rennet is added to the cultured milk to form a coagulum. When the coagulum has reached a desired degree of finnness, it is cut to form curd in a whey solution. The vat is then heated to between about 95.degree. F. and 120.degree. F. and held at a temperature in this range for a period of time sufficient to cook the curd, causing the curd to continue firming and the bacteria to continue producing lactic acid and other products which effect the body, texture and flavor of the final cheese product. The whey solution is then drained, leaving a firm, resilient curd. The disposal of whey can be a problem and it is desirable to be able to recycle the whey to the greatest possible extent. Consequently, it is also a desideratum to maximize the amount of recyclable whey that can be recovered from a no fat or low fat cheese making process.
After the vat is drained of the whey solution, the curd is salted. In certain conventional processes, salting cannot occur until after bacteria have produced sufficient acid to cause the curd to have a pH of less than 5.5. The addition of salt has the affect, inter alia, of significantly decreasing the bacterial activity, thereby lessening production of additional lactic acid and other products. After salting, the cheese is typically further processed, such as by aging which allows additional development of lactic acid and other byproducts effecting the final body, texture and flavor of the desired cheese product. Because the salting step slows down the production of lactic acid and other products, aging can be a time-consuming process requiring from several weeks to several years.
It can be appreciated from the above description that the cheese making process is time-consuming, particularly because of the time required for the pH and flavor of the curd to develop before salting and because of the time required to ripen the cheese after it has been salted. Therefore, it is also a desideratum to minimize the time required to manufacture no fat or low fat cheese with desirable attributes and thereby increase the efficiency of the cheese making process.
Accordingly, there has existed a definite need for an improved method for preparing no fat and low fat cheese products having a more similar body, texture and flavor when compared to their full fat counterparts. There has existed a still further need for an improved method for preparing no fat or low fat cheese products minimizing the time required to produce a final cheese product, while maximizing the amount of recyclable whey. The present invention satisfies these and other needs and provides further related advantages.

Cheese culture medium and method for preparing no fat and low fat cheese products


A method to improve a system's signal performance may comprise: generating a first signal, transmitting the first signal, receiving the first signal, and generating a second signal. The method may further comprise: identifying signal distortions generated by at least one of, a transmitter hardware that transmits the first signal and a receiver hardware that receives the first signal, modifying the second signal based upon the identified signal distortions, correlating the first signal and the second signal by a correlator to generate a correlated signal, and outputting the correlated signal.

A pulsed Doppler radar system that may be used to determine a detected object's range relies upon a signal, such as a compressed waveform. The signal is transmitted and received back by the radar system; i.e. the compressed waveform echoes back from contact with the detected object. The received signal is then correlated against a reference waveform, where the reference waveform is substantially identical to (or sometimes the complex conjugate of) the transmitted waveform. Hardware that is part of the radar's transmission and receiving components can degrade the transmitted and/or received (echoed) signal. This degradation may manifest itself in terms of increased integrated or peak range side lobe levels and other amplitude and phase distortions. The degradation further results in difficulty by the system to correlate the transmitted/received signal to the reference waveform.
To compensate for this problem, radar hardware generally had to be very carefully designed and manufactured to remove the inherent hardware impairments, which is very costly to design and manufacture. Accordingly, improved signal resolution may be attained if the reference waveform were modified based upon the known and/or identifiable hardware errors that degrade the transmitted/received signal.

Hardware compensating pulse compression filter system and method


A vehicle wheel speed sensor of the type using permanent magnets to generate a magnetic field having a magnetic path which is conducted through a plurality of teeth on a rotor into a plurality of teeth on a stator with relative motion therebetween where the frequency of the change in the magnetic reluctance varies at a frequency proportional to the wheel speed. The stator is mounted to the end of the axle spindle by way of a securing bolt so that the stator can be easily removed for service without disturbing the axle bearings. As a part of the stator assembly, a locating plate is provided which allows the operating gap between the rotor and the stator to be easily established upon assembly of the hub cap to the wheel hub by allowing the rotor to contact the locating plate when the hub cap securing bolts have been loosened and the axle is supported.

Prior art wheel speed sensors for vehicles have generally fallen into two broad categories, those employing either active or passive sensors. Active sensors require a power signal to be fed to a sensor component, whereas passive sensors need no outside power and usually consist of a coil surrounding a magnet material which is positioned in close proximity to a circular shaped element having a plurality of teeth which rotates with the wheel hub. The coil and magnet are mounted to a stationary part of the vehicle or axle assembly and the relative motion of the teeth in the rotor passing over a magnetized pole piece induces a change in reluctance which can be detected in an electronics package which is connected to the coil. A device of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,605, the disclosure which is expressly incorporated herein by reference, where a pulser and sensor unit are located inside the wheel hub mounted on the axle spindle in close proximity to a rotor connected to the wheel hub having a series of rectangular teeth.
Another type of passive wheel speed sensor is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,046 and describes a sensor having a stator and a rotor where the stator is mounted on an axle and includes an electrical coil of wire surrounding the axle where the coil sets in a metal carrier having pole pieces and a plurality of magnets angularly disposed where the pole pieces are in close proximity to a multi-segmented rotor which is mounted to a hub cap which turns with the wheel hub.
A problem with these type of wheel speed sensors is that they require precision fabrication of the components so that, upon assembly, the limited clearance of the pole pieces to the rotor is maintained throughout the rotation of the wheel hub and hub cap assembly so that the signal due to the passing of the rotor teeth over the pole pieces is maximized.
Also, another problem with devices of this type is that the mounting of the stator piece is secured by the axle mount and is piloted on the outside diameter of the axle spindle which results in a large and complicated mounting system for the stator disc. If service of the stator is required, the prior art systems require that the spindle retention nut be disturbed which complicates the servicing process. Another problem occurs upon reassembly where the clearance between the rotor and the stator pole pieces is difficult to set and poor sensor performance is the potential result of that difficulty.

Vehicle wheel speed sensor employing a locating plate


A flowing electrically-conductive fluid is controlled between an upstream and downstream location thereof to insure that a convection timescale of the flowing fluid is less than a thermal diffusion timescale of the flowing fluid. First and second nodes of a current-carrying circuit are coupled to the fluid at the upstream location. A current pulse is applied to the current-carrying circuit so that the current pulse travels through the flowing fluid to thereby generate a thermal feature therein at the upstream location. The thermal feature is convected to the downstream location where it is monitored to detect a peak associated with the thermal feature so-convected. The velocity of the fluid flow is determined using a time-of-flight analysis.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fluid flow measurements. More specifically, the invention is a system and method for determining the velocity of an electrically conductive fluid.
2. Description of the Related Art
Measuring the velocity of a moving fluid is important or required for a variety of applications. Some applications require a high-degree of measurement precision. For example, the flow velocity of liquid metal propellants (e.g., molten bismuth) in an electric propulsion system must be measured/determined with a high-degree of mass-flow resolution. Further, the system for making such a velocity measurement/determination must be able to withstand temperatures of the liquid (i.e., molten) metal.

System and method for determining velocity of electrically conductive fluid

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


A milling insert includes a polygonal tubular insert body which has: rake faces on one polygonal surface thereof, flanks composed of circumferential surfaces adjacent to the polygonal surface, and cutting edges defining a ridge line where the rake faces and flanks intersect each other as cutting edges. The rake faces have serrations where mount portions and valley portions are arrayed alternately to intersect the cutting edges. The ridge line has a waveform shape when the flanks are viewed from above. Bottom portions and top portions of the waveform are formed into concave circular arc portions and convex circular arc portions, respectively, and are alternately repeated. Both of the concave and convex circular arc portions are a ¼ circular arc or more to a ⅓ circular arc or less. Each of the concave circular arc portions is unevenly located between the convex circular arc portions adjacent thereto.

Heretofore, in milling, an indexable face milling cutter has been used, in which inserts having cutting edges formed thereon are made exchangeable by being detachably attached to a tip end portion and circumferential portion of a body (shaft body) of a rotational cutting tool to be rotationally driven.
In the rotational cutting tool as described above, the cutting edges of the inserts are formed into a waveform shape in order to reduce cutting resistance and enhance chip control (Patent Literature 1).

Milling insert and milling tip-replacement-type rotary cutting tool

MITSUBISHI HITACHI TOOL ENGINEERING, LTD.