A technique for bypassing a local exchange carrier ("LEC") so as to reduce or eliminate the access charges typically payable by an interexchange carrier ("IXC") to a LEC, and, in turn, payable by the subscriber to the IXC, for originating long distance calls. A hardwire connection is provided between the IXC and/or a Central Office operated independent of the LEC and the customer premises by purchasing analog facilities from the LEC which originate at the Central Office and connecting these facilities directly to a multiplexer. The terminating end of the analog facilities are installed at the subscriber premises. The voice interface modules typically used in the multiplexer are replaced by Foreign Exchange Subscriber (FXS) modules which perform A/D conversion of the analog voice data provided over the analog facilities from the customer premises. The terminating end of a T1 or higher capacity digital facility is terminated on the multiplexer and on a K01 digital electronic cross-connect system (DEXCS) frame at the LEC Central Office. A T1 is also ordered from the LEC to connect the DEXCS either directly to the IXC or to the independent Central Office. Each of the channels of the T1 lines are configured by the customer using a network reconfiguration service with FXS Loop Start signaling.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a telecommunications system for providing a central office which is independent of the local exchange carriers and, in particular, to a system which bypasses and thus does not require the involvement of a local service provider with respect to vertical and call control features and functions and, which instead, uses existing tariffed data network services to provide the central office functions to a subscriber.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The divestiture of American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) in 1984 resulted in the creation of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies ("RBOCs"). AT&T remained as a purely long distance carrier, and the business of providing local telephone services came under the control of these seven RBOCs. Because the seven RBOCs owned all of the expensive infrastructure to provide local telephone services and were not required to freely allow competition for local telephone service in the local markets, to date no company has been successful in entering the estimated $90 billion Local Exchange Carrier ("LEC") market in the United States on a large scale. Therefore, regarding the provision of local telephone services across the United States, the AT&T divestiture in 1984 basically replaced a national monopoly (AT&T) with seven geographic monopolies (RBOCs). The passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the purpose of which was to effect significant competition in the LEC markets, was supposed to change all of this. However, the existing RBOCs, due to their overwhelming size and their ownership of the existing infrastructure, have tc date been successful in inhibiting any significant competition in the LEC market since any new entrant into the market has only two options for the provisioning of local telephone services: (1) building new infrastructure which is prohibitively expensive, or (2) successfully negotiating contracts with the incumbent LECs which require the payment of fees to the incumbent LECs in order to utilize their infrastructure to provide local telephone services.
For these reasons, to date no technology has been proposed which would enable a company independent of the RBOCs to provide local telephone services at a ccst which is less than current LEC market pricing. There is thus a great need in the art for a system and method which would enable a company independent of the RBOCs to provide cost competitive local telephone services, and hence meaningful competition to the incumbent RBOCs in the LEC market, without requiring a cost prohibitive infrastructure investment. Embodiments of the present invention have been designed to meet these great needs in the art.
As a result of the divestiture of AT&T in 1984, numerous long distance companies have emerged as viable competitors to AT&T in the long distance carrier market. However, most long distance calls must be originated through the LEC infrastructure (i.e., the LEC switch), and all calls are terminated by the LEC switch as well. Therefore, access charges continue to be incurred. Specifically, with respect to outgoing calls placed from a subscriber location, the LEC switch serving the subscriber's customer premises equipment senses an off-hook condition and extends dial tone. When the dialed digits are received in the LEC switch, any features associated with the originating subscriber, such as speed dialing, are applied to the call, and the call is then routed to the desired destination. If the call is a long distance call that is routed to a long distance or interexchange carrier (IXC), then the IXC will pay originating end and terminating end "access charges" to the LEC for servicing the call, and the subscriber will, in turn, pay the IXC for the total cost of the call.
Currently, the access charges paid to LECs by the IXCs for the use of carrier common line service vary by LEC but can, depending on a call's duration and cost per minute, constitute upwards of 40% of the overall cost of the call. Accordingly, eliminating the stranglehold the LECs have on the local market and their claims to the originating end access charges could save a significant percentage of the cost of a long distance call. Bypassing the LEC and the associated originating end access charges could save the IXCs a significant portion of their service costs for providing long distance calls and, once the associated savings are passed on to their subscribers, potentially save their subscribers billions of dollars each year in long distance charges. Payment of such access charges remains a key issue in the telecommunications industry since the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and is the primary obstacle to enhanced competition between the LECs and other potential entrants into the local telecommunications marketplace. As a result, any long distance service provider who can bypass the LEC and avoid payment of the originating end access charges will be at a substantial competitive advantage. Not unexpectedly, the RBOCs are utilizing every possible means to protect their access charge monopoly, and hence, have currently tied up the implementation of certain provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in district court litigation.
The inventor is aware of only three prior art techniques by which to complete a long distance call without paying the access charges to the LEC.
The first prior art technique known to the inventor for bypassing the LEC is to provide a separate communications system which provides the subscriber with access to the unregulated long distance telephone carriers through an alternative transmission path besides telephone lines into the subscriber's premises. For example, Baran describes in U.S. Pat. No. 5,550,820 a bi-directional communications system which bypasses the LEC by conveying voice and data over cable television lines from the customer premises to a switching unit that has the functionality of a Class 5 central telephone office switch and is connected to the public switched telephone network. In the system described by Baran, special terminal units are provided at the customer premises, and the signals from the terminal units are converted by a relay transceiver bi-directionally between the signal format of the terminal units and fixed length compliant asynchronous transfer mode ("ATM") cells. These ATM cells are then transmitted via the cable television bandwidth to a cable television hub where the ATM cells are bi-directionally converted by a transmission interface unit into time division multiplexed signals in the upstream direction away from the terminal units for connection to a cellular telephone switch, and from time division multiplexed signals into fixed length compliant ATM cells in the downstream direction towards the terminal units.
While the system described by Baran does indeed bypass the LEC, it still encumbers the subscriber and long distance carrier with many of the same problems as the conventional telephone system. In particular, since the cable television lines are typically owned and operated by a cable television company, access charges are still payable to the cable television company. Also, additional equipment, namely, the terminal units, is required at the customer premises, leading ultimately to additional cost to the subscriber.
The second prior art technique known to the inventor for bypassing the LEC is to create a virtual piped connection over the conventional telephone lines using specialized customer premises equipment at the subscriber location and a specially configured call control platform in the IXC network to originate and receive calls using in-band signaling techniques. Such a technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,111, where Schlanger describes a system utilizing a specialized multiplexer to create a virtual piped connection by converting an analog trunk signal into a usable in-band digital carrier. The virtual pipe is established through an initial call made from the specialized customer premises equipment, while in a conventional mode, to the call control platform. Once the virtual pipe is established, the specialized customer premises equipment operates in a bypass mode such that calls made by the subscriber using the specialized customer premises equipment "bypass" the LEC. As long as the virtual pipe exists, the IXC can provide vertical and call control features and functions for incoming and outgoing calls using in-band signaling, while the call control functions typically provided by the customer premises equipment using out-of-band signaling, such as call origination, off-hook, on-hook, and ringing, are provided using in-band signaling. However, conventional out-of-band signaling may still be used to provide conventional LEC features such as call waiting. The virtual pipe to the call control platform may be used for a plurality of calls without being disconnected since the customer premises equipment is prevented from generating a conventional out-of-band mode disconnect signal until breakdown of the virtual pipe is requested by the subscriber. As a result, a subscriber can make one call and pay for one access connection via the LEC and then use that single access connection indefinitely to produce calls across that "virtual" channel.
While the in-band signaling technique described by Schlanger can greatly reduce the amount of access charges paid by the subscriber and long distance carrier, such a technique is disadvantageous in that specialized customer premises equipment is required that must be carried around by the subscriber. Such equipment adds greatly to the cost for the subscriber and is also a very inconvenient way to implement LEC bypass for the subscriber.
The third prior art technique known to the inventor for bypassing the LEC is for the subscriber to lease a T1 line to provide direct switch to switch access to the IXC. However, this approach is prohibitively expensive to all but those companies with very high call volumes sufficient to justify the cost of a T1 line. Leasing a T1 line is quite impractical for companies or individuals with relatively small call volumes where the leasing costs of the T1 line alone would be greater than the amount otherwise paid in originating end access charges.
Accordingly, a LEC bypass technique is desired that does not require specialized customer premises equipment and which is thus more cost competitive. A LEC bypass technique is also desired which extends the benefits of direct T1 access to smaller volume callers without the associated costs of leasing an entire T1 line. Further embodiments of the present invention have been designed to meet these great needs in the art.

Method and apparatus for bypassing a local exchange carrier to permit an independent central office to provide local calling services


In a vehicle, a gusset is provided at a lower end portion of a front pillar, a body wall portion of the gusset is joined to the front pillar, and a bottom wall portion of the gusset is joined to an upper wall portion of a rocker outer reinforcement. Thus, when the front pillar is about to collapse rearward, the upper wall portion supports the bottom wall portion of the gusset from below the vehicle. Therefore, the front pillar is restrained from collapsing. Besides, the rocker outer reinforcement receives, on a surface thereof, a load input from the gusset. Therefore, the load input to the rocker outer reinforcement is dispersed, so the load can be restrained from concentrating.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle side structure around a front end portion of a rocker.
2. Description of Related Art
In the case where a vehicle undergoes a frontal collision (so-called a small overlap collision) with a collision body in a region outside a front side member in a vehicle width direction, a front wheel that has moved rearward in the vehicle front-rear direction hits a front pillar and a front end portion of a rocker, so the front pillar is about to collapse rearward in the vehicle front-rear direction.
In contrast, with a lateral vehicle body structure for a vehicle described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2013-001226 (JP-2013-001226 A), a first reinforcement member (a gusset) is provided inside a lower end portion of a front pillar. Therefore, the front pillar is restrained from collapsing at the time of a small overlap collision. Incidentally, related vehicle side structures are described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-342869 (JP-11-342869 A) and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-059218 (JP-10-059218 A).
However, with the aforementioned lateral vehicle body structure for the vehicle, when the front pillar collapses rearward in the vehicle front-rear direction, a moment is generated in the first reinforcement member, and a downward load with respect to the vehicle is input to a rocker from a lower end portion at a rear end portion of the first reinforcement member. Therefore, the load input from the first reinforcement member to the rocker concentrates, and the rocker may bend (the cross-section thereof may collapse).


A method and apparatus for detecting a zero crossing or desired phase angle of a power line signal having a variable amplitude uses a ratio between a peak amplitude of the power line signal and the amplitude of the power line signal at a desired phase angle for a known amplitude version of the power line signal to detect when a variable amplitude version of the power line signal is at the desired phase angle or zero crossing. The detection of the phase angle is used to determine if a notch is present in the power line signal. A substantially constant width pulse is generated if a notch is detected regardless of the amplitude of the power line voltage or current. The invention is particularly useful in a lighting system for generating and detecting pulses used to communicate information from a power line communication controller to a series of electronic ballasts over a power line used to power the ballasts. The information can be used to control a dimming function of the ballasts.

Circuits that produce a pulse based upon a notch detected in an AC power signal have been described in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,580,230 teaches a dimmer circuit with a phase detector which monitors the phase angle difference between voltage and current applied to a gaseous discharge device. Changes in the phase angle between the power voltage and current are used to produce a pulse that is in turn used to transfer information to a plurality of ballasts that use the received voltages as a power supply. The circuit of the '230 patent uses a fixed reference point, such as a zero crossing, to determine a phase angle difference between the voltage and current. Using this method of data transmission, the width of a pulse created based upon the zero crossings varies dramatically with changes in the input voltage. Thus, when a pulse is created based upon the detected phase difference between the line voltage and current, the width of the pulse will vary for a low input line voltage, such as 108 V, and a high input line voltage, such as 305 V. This is important due to the fact that many modern electronic devices are designed to be used with either a 120 V or 277 V input line voltage that has a tolerance of plus or minus 10%. The primary disadvantage of using the prior art zero crossing detection circuit is that when the generated pulse width changes due to changes in the input voltage, detection of the pulses produced becomes more difficult and the output of the detection circuit is difficult to interpret. This makes the transmission and reception of data complicated and unreliable.
Therefore, what is needed is a receiver circuit for detecting data bits represented by notches in an input power voltage that generates a constant output pulse width irrespective of the input line voltage.

Zero crossing detection of line voltage/current of variable amplitude


A bracket assembly of a universal motor comprises: a bracket composed of a base portion formed as a certain shape and coupled to a motor stator, a plurality of supporting portions extendingly formed at the base portion with a certain length, a bearing mounting portion extendingly formed at an end of the supporting portions with a certain shape and for inserting a bearing thereto, a plurality of holder portions extendingly formed at the base portion with a certain shape and having a heat emission insertion hole therein for inserting a brush and emitting heat, and a plurality of spring mounting portions; brushes respectively inserted into the bracket holder portions; and springs respectively coupled to the spring mounting portions of the bracket, for elastically supporting the brush. In the bracket assembly of a universal motor, the number of components constituting the motor is reduced thereby to greatly reduce the fabrication cost. Also, the number of assembly processes is reduced thereby to enhance assembly productivity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a universal motor, and more particularly, to a bracket assembly of a universal motor capable of reducing the number of components and facilitating an assembly operation.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
Generally, a universal motor is being widely used as a motor for a washing machine or a motor for a cleaner since a driving torque is great, an rpm in a no-load state is high, a fast rotation is easy, and both a direct current and an alternating current are used as a power source.
The universal motor is largely divided into a housing type and a frame type according to an appearance thereof. The former shields a penetration of foreign materials by installing a stator in a housing, and the latter enhances a light emitting effect by exposing a stator to outside.
FIG. 1 is a partially-cut perspective view showing one example of a universal motor in accordance with the conventional art.
As shown, the universal motor comprises: a stator 100 having a winding coil therein; a rotor 200 rotatably inserted into the stator 100; a rotation shaft 300 penetratingly-coupled to the rotor 200; a front bracket 400 formed as a certain shape and coupled to a front surface of the stator; a rear bracket 500 formed as a certain shape and coupled to a rear surface of the stator 100; a commutator 600 coupled to the rotation shaft 300 so as to be positioned at the rear bracket 500, for converting a phase of a supplied current; a brush assembly 700 mounted at the rear bracket 500, for supplying a current to the commutator 600; bearings 310 respectively mounted at the front bracket 400 and the rear bracket 500, for supporting the rotation shaft 300; and a tachometer 800 mounted at the rear bracket 500, for detecting a rotation speed of the rotation shaft 300.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the rear bracket, a brush assembly mounted at the rear bracket, and a tachometer.
As shown, the rear bracket includes: a base portion 510 of a plate shape having a certain area; a bearing mounting portion 520 protruded in the base portion 510 as a cylindrical shape, for insertion-fixing the bearing 310 thereto; mounting portions 530 extension-protruded at one surface of the base portion 510 with the same interval as a certain shape; and reinforcing portions 540 protruded at one surface of the base portion 510 as a certain shape. A plurality of first screw holes 550 for coupling the stator 500 are formed at the edge of the base portion 510, and second screw holes 560 for mounting the brush assembly are formed at both sides of the bearing mounting portion 520. Two second screw holes are formed per one side, so that the total number of the second screw holes 560 is 4. Also, a through hole 570 is formed in the middle of the bearing mounting portion 520, and an extension portion 580 of a certain shape is respectively formed at both sides of the bearing mounting portion 520. The extension portion 580 is respectively provided with third screw holes 590 for mounting the tachometer.
The rear bracket 500 is formed of Al, a non-conductive material, and is fabricated by a molding.
The brush assembly 700 includes: a brush holder 710 having fixing portions 712 extendingly formed at both sides of a square holder body portion 711; a brush 720 inserted into the brush holder 710; a spring 730 inserted into the brush holder 710 and supporting the brush 720; and a cover 740 coupled to the brush holder 710 and supporting the spring 730.
The brush assembly 700 is fixed as the fixing portion 712 of the brush holder is positioned at the base portion 510 of the rear bracket and screws 750 are respectively coupled to the screw holes 713 formed at the fixing portion 712 and the second screw holes 560. The brush 720 is in contact with the commutator 600 coupled to the rotation shaft 300 by an elastic supporting of the sprig 730.
Two brush assemblies 700 are mounted at the rear bracket 500.
The tachometer 800 includes: a body portion 810 of a certain shape; fixing portions 820 respectively extended at both sides of the body portion 810; and screw holes 830 respectively formed at the fixing portions 820.
The tachometer 800 is fixed to the extension portion as the fixing portion 820 is positioned on an upper surface of the bearing mounting portion 520 in a consistent state with the extension portion 580 and screws 840 are respectively coupled to the screw holes 830 formed at the fixing portion 820 and the third screw holes 590 formed at the extension portion 580.
Operation of the universal motor is as follows.
First, when a power source is supplied to the motor, a current is applied to the brush 720 of the brush assembly through a stator winding coil. While a phase of the current applied to the brush 720 is continuously changed by the commutator 600, the current is applied to a rotor winding coil. By an interaction between a flux formed by the current applied to the stator winding coil and a flux formed by the current applied to the rotor winding coil, the rotor 200 is rotated. A rotation force of the rotor 200 is transmitted to another component through the rotation shaft 300.
The bearings 310 mounted at the front bracket 400 and the rear bracket 500 support the rotation shaft 300, and a rotation speed of the rotation shaft 300 is detected by the tachometer 800.
In fabricating the universal motor, it is important to maximize the motor efficiency and to optimize the structure thereof. When the motor efficiency is increased, a consumption power is decreased. Also, when the structure of the universal motor is optimized, the number of components is reduced and a fabrication process is simplified thereby to reduce a fabrication cost.
However, in the conventional universal motor, the brush assembly 700 mounted at the rear bracket 500 is composed of the brush holder 710, the brush 720, the spring 730, and the cover 740, and the brush assembly 700 is mounted at the rear bracket 500 by two screws 750. According to this, the number of components is relatively great and the structure is complicated. Also, the number of processes for mounting the brush assembly 700 to the rear bracket 500 is great, thereby lowering an assembly productivity and increasing a fabrication cost.
Also, when the tachometer 800 for detecting a rotation speed of the rotation shaft 300 is mounted at the rear bracket 500, the extension portion 580 has to be provided to the rear bracket 500 and the tachometer 800 has to be coupled by two screws 840. According to this, the structure is complicated and the number of assembly processes is relatively great, thereby lowering an assembly productivity and increasing a fabrication cost.
Additionally, when the rear bracket 500 is coupled to the stator 100, it is difficult to make a concentricity between the inner hole of the stator 100 for inserting the rotor 200 and the bearing mounting portion 520 of the rear bracket for coupling the bearing 310 be consistent with each other. According to this, an assembly productivity is significantly lowered.
Besides, heat generated from the brush 720 constituting the brush assembly 700 is not quickly emitted to the outside, thereby lowering the motor efficiency.


A method and apparatus for floor-plan region creation and placement is provided. Design information may be received. Module area may be estimated for each module in an integrated circuit. Individual module may be selected for regioning, and region size and dimensions for module may be determined. Region parameters may be adjusted prior to final placement and placement may be verified.

Integrated circuit design planning is typically accomplished utilizing a variety of design tools. These tools enhance the creation of a workable layout so that integrated circuits may be fabricated using semiconductor fabrication equipment and techniques. One type of integrated circuit which requires a significant amount of labor in the development of a functional layout is the Application Specific Integrated Circuit or ASIC. ASICs are chips containing an array of hardware logic devices configured by a system designer to execute a certain function. One problem with the creation of such complex ASICs is the ability of the integrated circuit designer to determine the optimal location of components on the die for accomplishing desired performance goals.
The process of integrated circuit design, including ASIC design, usually consists of the design and logical layout of an integrated circuit followed by physical design, or the creation and proper placement of a routable circuit. Creation generally consists of the positioning of the various components of a circuit design according to the desired performance goals within a confined area of a die layout, usually referred to as a "floor-plan". For example, the circuit may be created from register transfer level (RTL) code and positioned on they die to meet the objectives of the design RTL code. A floor-plan is typically created by a design tool known as a planner. The floor-planning stage generally consists of defining the size of the integrated circuit, developing I/O pad locations, and creating groups and regions.
Placement generally consists of the placing cells in desired locations. Placement may be conducted by a design tool commonly referred to as a "placer". Properly placed designs are those that meet the design rules of the target silicon technology and are routable by a detailed router. Typical placement methods for achieving this goal include generating one or more initial placements and modifying the placement or placements using optimization methodologies such as simulated annealing, genetic algorithms (i.e. simulated evolution), and force directed placement. Each of these techniques involves iterative applications of the respective algorithms to arrive at an estimate of the optimal arrangement of the cells. Errors in this stage often manifest themselves as problems such as timing violations, placement congestion, or routing congestion later in the physical design process. An incorrect placement of certain fixed cells such as mega cells or I/O cells can spatially constrain placement of non-fixed cells such as logic cells or flip-flop cells. This may result in the placement of non-fixed cells into sub-optimal locations, reducing performance capabilities and functionality.
Physical design has been accomplished if a circuit achieves the performance goals of a design. If a design fails to meet performance goals, such as realistic timing objectives, a timing closure problem arises. Timing closure is generally known in the art as the breakdown in the predictable timing relationship between logical and physical design. A physical designer must often resolve timing closure by utilizing various optimization tools and manually adjusting the layout until timing issues may be resolved. Timing closure is especially problematic for ASIC performance oriented designs because circuit delays in the deep submicron (DSM) arena are dominated by net delays, and influenced primarily by cell placement. Further, traditional methods for estimating interconnect delay during physical design, such as fan-out based wireload modeling, are highly inaccurate at DSM levels, creating timing unpredictability between post design and post layout results.
When physical design tools cannot automatically resolve timing closure failure on a design, a physical designer may examine the placement generated by a design tool and recognize that the timing can be closed on the design if certain design portions are clustered in a particular location on the die. The designer may then utilize a variety of floor-planning tools to create a region for a module in the design and place the region. Typically, a physical designer must manually determine appropriate area, dimensions and placement of the region. For example, a designer must determine physical area allocable to each synthesizable module in a design, the physical location of each synthesizable module, physical locations of RAM, ROM, IP and other non-synthesizable blocks in the design and I/O pad locations. These initial design parameters are generally either rough estimates, or may be determined through detailed analysis of the design, which can often be time consuming.
Another disadvantage to known creation and placement techniques is that several iterations are usually required to obtain correct region area. Specifically, ensuring that region dimensions and placement are compatible with platform-based or standard cell ASICs may require multiple iterations through physical synthesis. It is often the case that several iterations are necessary to achieve performance goals, particularly in instances where performance goals are rigorous, or if they are subject to rigid time constraints. These iterations may be additional passes through the process by which design tools create a properly placed and routable circuit, generally referred to as physical synthesis. Multiple passes through physical synthesis are generally necessary to determine region utilization. A region's area may then be modified based on the utilization information obtained by physical synthesis. Region area modification, however, often requires a designer to reconstruct a floor-plan and repeat the process of physical synthesis until an acceptable chip is produced. As a result, the manual floor planning and cell placement optimization process requires an inordinate amount of time because the process requires manual iteration between running floor-plan tools and placement tools. Also, the time and effort required increases as design size increases, further frustrating region creation and refinement. For many designs, multiple iterations can be very resource consuming as well, making chip design undesirably expensive.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for automatic creation and placement of a floor-plan region.

Method and apparatus for automatic creation and placement of a floor-plan region


Methods and systems for determining fracture and matrix permeability of a subsurface formation. The system includes two upstream reservoirs and two downstream reservoirs, and a sample cell connecting to the reservoirs with valves. The sample cell has a confining pressure (CF) from a fluid. A horizontal plug sample with sleeve is placed in a measurement cell with the confining fluid (CF). A pressure gauge is connected to the small upstream reservoir, and a pressure gauge is connected to the small downstream reservoir. The results provide two sets of effective-stress-dependent permeability values (including fracture permeability and matrix permeability, respectively) for characterizing the reservoir properties.

Permeability of a material is a macroscopic property of the material which characterizes the ease with which a fluid can be made to flow through the material by an applied pressure gradient. Thus, permeability is the fluid conductivity of the material. Porosity is the fraction of the bulk volume of the material that is occupied by voids. The total fractional volume of pores in the material can be referred to as total porosity; the fractional volume of only those pores in the material which, under given conditions, are interconnected is known as effective porosity. Permeability measurements of ultra-low permeability (in the range of hundreds of nanoDarcies to 100 milliDarcies) microporous materials present challenges, particularly, in heterogeneous unconventional reservoir rocks.
Unconventional reservoirs such as shales (mudrocks) and coals may exhibit an ultra-low matrix permeability (<0.001 md), challenging conventional laboratory-based methods for permeability measurement. Small-diameter core plugs or crushed-rock samples, combined with unsteady-state methods, are currently favored to reduce measurement times for 'tight' rocks. For core plug analysis, unsteady-state pressure pulse-decay (PDP) or steady-state (SS) methods are commonly employed in commercial laboratories, with the core plug sample subjected to confining stress. Analysis times, particularly for SS methods, may be excessive for ultra-low permeabilities in the nanodarcy range. Another limitation of both PDP and SS experiments applied to core plugs is that they do not represent the boundary conditions typically used to produce hydrocarbons from unconventional reservoirs in the sub-surface through wells.
Rate-transient analysis (RTA) is a technique used to quantitatively analyze production data from wells drilled into unconventional reservoirs to extract reservoir (e.g. permeability, hydrocarbons-in-place) and hydraulic fracture (conductivity, fracture length) properties. Multi-fractured horizontal wells (MFHWs) producing from low-permeability reservoirs commonly exhibit the flow-regime sequence of transient linear flow, where hydrocarbons flow through the reservoir orthogonal to hydraulic fractures or the horizontal well, followed by boundary-dominated flow caused by pressure interference between adjacent hydraulic fractures or wells. Transient linear flow may be analyzed using RTA methods to extract fracture or well-length (if permeability is known); the end of linear flow can be used to estimate permeability of the reservoir, and boundary-dominated flow to estimate hydrocarbons-in-place.


The present invention relates to a steam sample concentrator and conditioning (SSCC) system. The SSCC finds use in concentrating impurities carried in steam (e.g., used in power generation and other industrial processes) and facilitating steam analysis. A device for determining steam purity includes an isokinetic flow control device that maintain isokinetic flow of a steam sample stream through a nozzle, and a pump that prevents the steam sample stream from becoming superheated after the isokinetic flow control device. A contactor condenses the steam sample stream, and a separator that separates a condensate sample stream from a residual steam stream sample. A flowmeter measures a flowrate of the condensate sample stream and an analyzer is configured to measure impurities.

Steam used in fossil fuel, nuclear and geothermal power plants contains impurities such as silica, sodium, chloride, iron and solid particles which can cause corrosion, scaling and erosion of power plant equipment, especially steam turbines. Steam used in other industrial processes such as enhanced oil recovery (e.g., steam flood injection), heating, cooling, food processing and medical sterilization applications may also contain impurities detrimental to the processes. Impurities are present as dissolved species in liquid water droplets entrained in the steam, or as solid particulate material. Volatile silica and chloride may exist in high-temperature saturated steam or in superheated geothermal steam produced from geothermal wells that tap deep high-temperature reservoirs of water and/or steam. Determining the amount of these impurities in steam is important for process control and for successfully implementing mitigation measures to improve the steam purity and prevent equipment damage.
Impurities carried in liquid droplets or as solid particles have a much higher density than the surrounding gaseous steam phase. Isokinetic sampling is required to obtain representative samples followed by specialized analytical techniques for low-level detection in the presence of various interfering species in the steam condensate sample. Geothermal steam contains H2S and CO2 which cause severe interferences in most analytical methods required for laboratory and on-line analysis of steam impurities. Typically, measurement down to 10 ppb or less in steam for sodium, silica, chloride and iron is required to prevent scaling, erosion and corrosion in steam turbines and other process equipment. Detection at these levels can be very difficult, especially in the presence of interfering species. Commercial Analyzers may be able to reach these detection limits in ultra-pure steam condensate free of dissolved gases, but not reliably in process steam and never in raw geothermal steam.
On-line measurement of steam purity is a well-established technique that is considered critical to power generation and other industrial processes utilizing steam. Conventional techniques involve 100% condensation of the steam sample, typically collected isokinetically. The steam is fully condensed, and the resulting liquid condensate is sub-cooled (below the water vapor saturation temperature at the condensing pressure) in a continuous single-step process through a helical tube heat exchanger with the steam flowing through the inside of the tubing (tube side) and cooling water on the outside of the tubing (shell side). The concentration of impurities by mass measured in this fully-condensed steam condensate is the same as in the bulk steam flow in the pipeline or process from which it was extracted. There are no corrections required for dilution or concentration of the condensate sample impurity concentrations by mass back to the original steam.
In the process of fully condensing the steam sample and sub-cooling the condensate, a two-phase mixture of liquid steam condensate and noncondensable gas is produced. The noncondensable gases dissolve into the condensate through the condensing apparatus in proportion to their partial pressure and solubility constant at the condensate outlet temperature, which is typically 20 to 30 C (well below the boiling temperature at 1 atm). Under these conditions, H2S and CO2 are highly soluble. Efforts have been made in geothermal applications to remove these gases from the condensate after they have dissolved in the conventional condensing processes described above, by purging the sub-cooled condensate with nitrogen, reheating the condensate (below boiling) and/or passing the condensate through a degassing membrane where dissolved gases permeate through the membrane to a flowing gas stream of higher purity gas such as nitrogen. Of critical importance to the success or failure of impurity measurement in geothermal steam, particularly silica measurement, is the effective removal of H2S when there is NH3 present in the steam. Conventional techniques are insufficient to fully remove H2S and prevent analytical interferences in the presence of NH3. This is because the dissolution of highly soluble NH3 gas raises the pH of the condensate, resulting in ionization of H2S to bisulfide ions:NH3+H2O→NH4+OH−OH−+H2S→H++HS−
The bisulfide ions cannot be purged or degassed out of the condensate because they are ions and have no vapor pressure. The only means possible to completely purge H2S from condensate after the conventional condensation process is to lower the pH to 3.0 or less through the addition of acid, converting all bisulfide back to H2S:H++HS−→H2S.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Steam sample concentrator and conditioner for on-line steam purity analysis


A system that interacts with objects in a user interface of a computer system. During operation, the system receives a selection of an object displayed within the user interface from a user, wherein the selected object contains a plurality of sub objects. In response to the selection, the system determines whether the user is moving the selected object with a specified motion. If so, the system performs a transformation on the selected object, wherein the transformation is associated with the specified motion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for interacting with objects in a user interface. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus that facilitates disengaging sub-objects from an object within a user interface.
2. Related Art
Advances in semiconductor technology have led to the development of more powerful graphics co-processors. These more powerful graphics co-processors provide advanced graphics capabilities that can quickly render complex two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) objects. By taking advantage of these advanced graphics capabilities, a rich user interface (UI) can be developed. For example, some existing UIs use 3D-rendering techniques to present objects in 3D. In these UIs, objects such as windows or icons can be rotated in three dimensions to make room for other objects being displayed in the UI. Another example involves using 3D-animation effects, such as rotating an icon about one of its axes, to indicate that an application associated with the icon requires attention from the user.
3D objects are often represented by scene graphs. A scene graph typically comprises a tree data structure which is used to represent a set of graphical objects. Scene graphs are often used in 2D-rendering systems, but are becoming more popular in advanced 3D-rendering systems.
Moreover, scene graphs provide a mechanism to represent a hierarchy of sub-objects, which are grouped together to form composite objects. For example, a car object can be composed of a frame, doors, hubs, tires, and lug nuts. Similarly a tire, a hub, and lug nuts can be grouped together to form a wheel object. These scene graphs are described in more detail below.
One problem with existing UIs that manipulate hierarchies of graphical objects is the ambiguity that arises when a user places a cursor on top of an object that contains multiple sub-objects. In this case, the user may be expressing a desire to select one of many sub-objects or group of sub-objects for the object. For example, consider a model for a car. If the user places the cursor over one of the tires, it can mean the user wants to select: (1) the entire car, (2) the tire, (3) the hub, or (4) the exact lug nut to which the cursor is pointing on the tire.
3D-modeling applications typically provide a mechanism that allows the user to select a sub-object or a group of sub-objects. For example, sub-objects or a group of sub-objects can be selected by using a combination of keyboard and mouse operations. (Note that selecting the specified sub-object or a group of sub-objects in the UI implicitly involves selecting a sub-tree of the scene graph that corresponds to the sub-object or the group of sub-objects.) However, performing such a combination of keyboard and mouse operations is burdensome.
Hence, what is needed is a method and an apparatus for interacting with a user interface without the problems described above.

Method and apparatus for interacting with objects in a user interface


A transparent simulation disk for measuring flying height of a magnetic head (i.e., distance between a magnetic head and a magnetic disk such as a hard disk of a computer) in place of a magnetic disk is made of a SiO.sub.2 --R.sub.2 O (where R is Li, Na or K) glass or glass-ceramic having electric resistivity of 10.sup.8 -10.sup.14 .OMEGA.cm and abrasion of 90 or below.

This invention relates to a transparent simulation disk used in place of a magnetic disk for measuring flying height, i.e., distance between a magnetic head and an information storage magnetic disk such as a hard disk or a removable disk for a computer.
In the semiconductor industry, there has recently been a rapid increase in recording density of a magnetic disk used as a hard disk. The increase in the recording density necessitates reduction in flying height of a magnetic head, i.e., distance between the magnetic head and the disk and nowadays the flying height is approaching a range of about 25 nm to 50 nm. Manufacturers of magnetic disks and manufacturers of hard disk drives conduct measurement of flying height by employing a method measuring interference of incident beam or by other method, using a transparent simulation disk instead of a magnetic disk. This transparent simulation disk consists merely of a substrate made of glass or quartz glass and, therefore, it has a high electric resistance and tends to be charged with electricity. As the accumulated charge increases, the Coulomb's force acting between the magentic head and the simulation disk (in this case the attraction force) increases as shown by the equation F=k.times.q.sub.1 .times.q.sub.2 /r.sup.2 (where F represents the Coulomb's force, k proportional constant, q.sub.1, q.sub.2 amount of electric charge, and r distance). By the Coulomb's force, an error tends to occur in the measured flying height and further increase in the electric charge causes even crash of the magnetic head against the surface of the simulation disk. If the magnetic head is brought into contact with the transparent simulation disk during a flying height test, the electric charge on the simulation disk flows as a current into the magnetic head and Joule heat generated by this current causes damage to the magnetic head which prevents continuation of the flying height test.
As described above, the recent tendency toward a high recording density of a magnetic medium demands a lower flying height. Since the Coulomb's force acting between the magnetic head and the simulation disk is in inverse prorpotion to the square of distance between the magnetic head and the simulation disk, there is an increasing tendency to occurrence of an error in measurement of flying height and crash of the magnetic head caused by the Coulomb's force produced by the electric charge accumulated on the simulation disk. Reduction of the electric charge therefore is a serious problem to be solved in the simulation disk.
In a prior art device disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 3-3177, for example, flying height of a magnetic head is measured by utilizing ultraviolet ray or visible ray. Since electric resistivity of a transparent simulation disk of this device is about 10.sup.15 -10.sup.16 .OMEGA.cm or over, electric charge is accumulated on the transparent simulation disk and damage of the magnetic head used in the flying height test is caused by charging of the accumulated charge. Since, moreover, voltage at the charging tends to decrease as the flying height decreases, damage rate of the magnetic head tends to increase. This problem is considered to be caused by the fact that the prior art transparent simulation disk has a very high value of electric resistance.
For reducing electric resistance of the surface of a simulation disk, it is proposed to form a conductive thin film on the simulation disk by employing a thin film forming technique including CVD, PVD, sputtering and vacuum deposition. This method is effective in reducing accumulation of electric charge by grounding this conductive thin film and thereby reducing damage to the flying height testing magnetic head occurring due to current flowing when the magnetic head comes into contact with the disk. This method is effective also for preventing accumulation of dust on the disk. This method, however, is disadvantageous in that the thin film reduces light transmittance and also the border between the thin film and the glass substrate exercises an adverse optical effect and, accordingly, an error in measurement tends to occur. Moreover, the thin firm is likely to come off when the magnetic head comes into contact with the disk.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a transparent similation disk for measuring flying height of a magnetic disk having sufficient conductivity in the substrate of the simulation disk and thereby being capable of preventing accumulation of dust and damage to the magnetic head caused by flow of current due to accumulated charge when the magnetic head comes into contact with the disk, having also transmittance and homogeneity equal to prior art transparent simulation disks (which have no conductive thin film) and a high resistance to abrasion.

Simulation disk for measuring flying height of a magnetic head


Embodiments of the invention relate to a time-division multiplexed neurosynaptic module with implicit memory addressing for implementing a neural network. One embodiment comprises maintaining neuron attributes for multiple neurons and maintaining incoming firing events for different time steps. For each time step, incoming firing events for said time step are integrated in a time-division multiplexing manner. Incoming firing events are integrated based on the neuron attributes maintained. For each time step, the neuron attributes maintained are updated in parallel based on the integrated incoming firing events for said time step.

Embodiments of the invention relate to neuromorphic and synaptronic computation, and in particular, a time-division multiplexed neurosynaptic module with implicit memory addressing for implementing a neural network.
Neuromorphic and synaptronic computation, also referred to as artificial neural networks, are computational systems that permit electronic systems to essentially function in a manner analogous to that of biological brains. Neuromorphic and synaptronic computation do not generally utilize the traditional digital model of manipulating 0s and 1s. Instead, neuromorphic and synaptronic computation create connections between processing elements that are roughly functionally equivalent to neurons of a biological brain. Neuromorphic and synaptronic computation may comprise various electronic circuits that are modeled on biological neurons.
In biological systems, the point of contact between an axon of a neuron and a dendrite on another neuron is called a synapse, and with respect to the synapse, the two neurons are respectively called pre-synaptic and post-synaptic. The essence of our individual experiences is stored in conductance of the synapses. The synaptic conductance changes with time as a function of the relative spike times of pre-synaptic and post-synaptic neurons, as per spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP). The STDP rule increases the conductance of a synapse if its post-synaptic neuron fires after its pre-synaptic neuron fires, and decreases the conductance of a synapse if the order of the two firings is reversed.

Time-division multiplexed neurosynaptic module with implicit memory addressing for implementing a neural network

International Business Machines Corporation


A dual-band antenna (1) includes a first antenna (2) and a second antenna (3). The first antenna includes a u-shaped first dipole half (11) and an n-shaped second dipole half (12). The first dipole half is disposed above the second dipole half with a space therebetween and the two dipole halves are mirror imaged. The second antenna includes a u-shaped third dipole half (21) and an n-shaped fourth dipole half (22). The first and the third dipole halves are crossly connected with each other at bottom. The second and the fourth dipole halves are crossly connected with each other at top.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an antenna, and more particularly to a dual-band dipole antenna. The instant application relates to a contemporarily filed application having the same title, the common applicants and the same assignee with the invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) products under IEEE 802.11a/b/g and Bluetooth standards, such as WLAN cards for computers are gaining popularity in wireless communication market. Wherein, IEEE 802.11b/g and Bluetooth standard is suitable for working at 2.4–2.5 GHz frequency band, while IEEE 802.11a standard is suitable for working at 5–6 GHz frequency band. Many of said WLAN products want to be use under both IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11b/g/Bluetooth standards benefit from dual-band antennas.
For achieving dual-band effect, a dual-band dipole antenna is one of the most mature dual-band antennas in both design and manufacture.
A conventional multi-band dipole antenna is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,024 B1. Said conventional multi-band dipole antenna comprises at least a first antenna having two lower dipole halves, a second antenna having two higher dipole halves and a coaxial cable feeding the first and the second antenna. Each of the dipole halves is formed from an electrically conductive cylindrical tube. Wherein, each upper lower dipole half and corresponding upper higher dipole half are interconnected at a closed top plate. The other lower dipole half and the other higher dipole half are interconnected at a closed bottom plate. The lower dipole halves are jointly operated at a lower frequency band range, while the higher dipole halves are jointly operated at a higher frequency band range. However, the cylindrical tube configuration seems to be complex in structure and must result in a higher cost. Furthermore, the feeder point of the antenna is arranged on the top plate, which is adjacent to the corresponding bottom plate with only a small space remained therebetween. When manufacturing, an inner conductor of the coaxial cable is welded on the bottom plate using a brand iron. The brand iron is so hard to be inserted into the small space that the welding is difficult to be finished.
Hence, in this art, a dual-band dipole antenna with simple structure and low cost, and easy to be manufactured to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art will be described in detail in the following embodiments.


A process for producing a molded product of propylene resin which includes melting and kneading at least a part of the following component (a), adding to the resulting melt the following component (b) or the component (b) and the remainder of the component (a) and kneading the resulting mixture to prepare a resin composition having a melt flow rate of 1 to 100 g/10 min, and then molding the resin composition into a molded product in which the breakage rate of the component (b) is 30% by weight or less: (a) 100 parts by weight of a crystalline propylene polymer having a melt flow rate of 1 to 300 g/10 min and (b) 3 to 80 parts by weight of a filler in the form of hollow particles having a mean particle density (true density) of 0.1 to 0.9 g/cm.sup.3, as measured according to ASTM-D2840, a mean particle diameter of 7 to 100 .mu.m and a 10%-by-weight breakage pressure resistance of 100 kg/cm.sup.2 or more, as measured according to ASTM-D3102.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for producing molded products of propylene resin which are light in weight and excellent in strength, and are suitably used in the fields of industrial parts, especially, automotive parts, domestic electrical appliance parts and containers, packages or the like.
2. Background Art
So far, propylene resins, especially because of their excellent mechanical strength and processibility, have been widely used in the fields of industrial parts such as automotive parts.
Especially for those industrial parts which are required to have high rigidity and heat resistance, propylene resins have been used in composite with inorganic fillers such as glass fibers. Such propylene resin compositions have been practically used for automotive parts, more specifically, interior trim parts such as trims and instrument panels, exterior trim parts such as bumpers and functional trim parts such as fan shrouds.
A problem with the conventional propylene resin compositions is that since the compositions used are in composite with large amounts of inorganic fillers such as talc or glass fibers, which are much higher in density than propylene polymers, their own densities become too large, thus providing molded products of too much weight. In order to overcome this problem, molded products made from propylene resin compositions filled with light-weight fillers having a very low true density have been proposed in the art. Among others, particular interest is given to injection-molded products made from propylene resin compositions filled with fillers in the form of hollow particles.
For instance, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 51-82367 teaches the technique of foam molding hollow filler-containing resins by injection molding.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 1-294751 has proposed to use propylene polymer compositions containing fillers in the form of hollow particles having a very high pressure resistance.
However, the propylene resin compositions with such fillers in the form of hollow particles, e.g., hollow glass spheres, have the drawback that the hollow particles are likely to be broken during kneading and molding processes whereby it is difficult to attain considerable reduction in weight of mold products, especially injection-molded products.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a process for producing molded products of propylene resin compositions containing fillers in the form of hollow particles, which effectively prevents the hollow particles from being broken during molding processes and can provide molded products light in weight and excellent in strength.

Process for producing molded products of propylene resin

Mitsubishi Petrochemical Company Limited


The invention relates to a method for producing a trench wall in the ground and which is penetrated by an obstacle, lateral trench wall recesses being sunk on either side of the obstacle and below the obstacle is produced a lower trench wall recess by laterally pivoting in a soil-removing trench wall apparatus from at least one of the two trench wall recesses. The invention also relates to a trench wall.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for producing a trench wall in the ground. The invention also relates to a trench wall in the ground.
2. Related Art
Trench walls are more particularly seals made perpendicularly in the ground and which serve to prevent water in the ground penetrating a zone surrounded by trench walls. They are produced in that a trench is made in the ground and into said trench is introduced a suspension which hardens to the trench wall.
If there are obstacles in the ground, such as e.g. supply lines, pipes, mast bases, etc., according to the prior art they have to be removed and relocated prior to trench production. This involves considerable economic losses.

Trench wall in the ground and method for the production thereof


Circuits, methods, and apparatus that detect whether a soft error that occurs in stored configuration data is a false positive that can be ignored such that reloading configuration data or other remedial measures are not unnecessarily performed. One example provides an integrated circuit including an error detection circuit and a sensitivity processor. The error detection circuit detects the presence of errors. The sensitivity processor determines whether a detected error can be ignored, or whether remedial action, such as providing an error flag, reconfiguring the device, or correcting the error, should be commenced. The sensitivity processor may make this determination based on whether the error occurred in a memory cell that configures unused circuitry. The sensitivity processor may make use of an error log to track known errors that may be ignored, so that this determination does not need to be done each time the configuration data is checked.

The present invention relates generally to programmable devices, and more particularly to systems and methods for detecting configuration errors in programmable devices. Programmable devices typically include thousands of programmable logic elements that are made up of logic gates or look-up tables that can be configured to perform user-defined logic functions. Programmable devices often also include a number of specialized circuits adapted to specific functions, such as adders, multiply and accumulate circuits, phase-locked loops, and memory. These programmable logic elements and specialized circuits can be interconnected using programmable interconnect lines. The programmable interconnect lines selectively route connections among the programmable logic elements and specialized circuits. By configuring the combination of programmable logic elements, specialized circuits, and programmable interconnect lines, a programmable device can be adapted to perform virtually any type of information processing function.
The configuration of a programmable device is typically controlled by configuration data stored in a set of configuration RAM (CRAM) cells or configuration memory. Typically, the data in CRAM cells includes entries for look-up tables, control signals for multiplexers included in programmable logic elements, values that control the programmable interconnect lines, and values that control other aspects of a programmable device, such as modes of operation for the programmable device.
The configuration data is typically stored in a non-volatile memory, such as flash memory or ROM that is within the same chip package as the programmable device or on an external configuration device connected to the programmable memory device. At power-up, reset, or other appropriate conditions, this configuration data is loaded from the flash memory into the CRAM cells of the programmable device to configure the programmable device.
Each new generation of programmable devices are made up of transistors that are smaller than their predecessors due to advances in manufacturing processes. As the physical dimensions of CRAM cells decrease, they become more susceptible to spontaneous "soft errors." Soft errors may be induced by background radiation, such as alpha particles or cosmic rays, and result in CRAM cells spontaneously changing state from "0" to "1," or vice versa. Soft errors are so named because erroneous information in a memory cell can be corrected by reprogramming, as opposed to hard errors where a memory cell is permanently nonfunctional. Since the function of a programmable device is determined by data stored in CRAM cells, even a single change in a CRAM cell's state can change or disable the function of the programmable device. Additionally, as programmable devices become more complicated, additional CRAM cells are required to store configuration data. This further increases the frequency of soft errors.
Previous methods to correct soft errors include the use of error detection circuitry that reads configuration data and from CRAM cells and determines the presence of errors. Upon the detection of an error, the error detection circuitry typically raises an error signal that causes the programmable device to reload its configuration data and be reconfigured for correct operation. In another approach, error correction circuitry that can correct known errors is also included on a device. This circuitry can be used to correct configuration data in the CRAM without reloading the entire set of configuration data.
Many applications running on a programmable device do not use large portions of the device's circuitry. For example, a typical application might only use one-half of the included circuitry, meaning only approximately half of the CRAM cells are needed to configure the operation of programmable logic elements, specialized circuits, and programmable interconnect lines that are used by the application. The remaining CRAM cells, which may be set to some known logic value, do not affect the functions of the programmable device. The CRAM cells that control programmable logic elements, specialized circuits, and programmable interconnect lines that are unused by the application are referred to as unused CRAM cells. Soft errors in unused CRAM cells are insignificant and can often be ignored.
Because error detection circuitry does not distinguish between used and unused CRAM cells, programmable devices employing convention techniques generally reload configuration data upon detection of any error in the CRAM cells. However, as large portions of the CRAM may be unused by applications of the programmable device, many of these soft errors are "false positives" that have no effect on the functionality of the programmable device. Thus, programmable devices often unnecessarily reload configuration data due to false positives, which diminishes the performance of the programmable device—due to downtime during the loading of configuration data—and increased power consumption—due to unnecessary loading and storing of configuration data.
Therefore, what are needed are circuits, methods, and apparatus that detect false positive soft errors so as to avoid unnecessary remedial activities such as error correction or device reconfiguration.

Soft error location and sensitivity detection for programmable devices


A quality assurance program for consistently producing high quality meat products broadly comprises selecting a plurality of calves that meet a set of standards and managing the calves according to a set of protocols. The standards are used to cull out low quality calves that are expected to yield low quality meat products. The protocols ensure the calves are properly nurtured so that they may yield high quality meat products by dictating how the calves are fed and treated. For example, the protocols preferably dictate what and when vaccines are given to the calves. The program may be broken down into three growth phases, such as an initiation phase in which the calves are managed during their first weeks, a growth phase in which the calves are managed during their growth, and a finishing phase in which the calves are managed leading up to slaughter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to quality assurance programs and methods. More particularly, the present invention relates to a quality assurance program and method for consistently producing high quality meat products.
2. Description of Prior Art
Today's meat products suffer from several disadvantages. One is that most meat products are treated as commodities and their price is largely market driven. Market forces tend to reduce the quality of meat products and lead to other disadvantages, such as inconsistency.
Inconsistency and poor quality can both be traced to current methods of livestock breeding and meat production. For example, cattle currently used in meat production typically have inconsistent genetics, since they are commonly bred from a diverse cattle population. Additionally, there may be little consistency in how cattle are fed and treated, since different cattle owners commonly follow different protocols and procedures. Furthermore, cattle typically have inconsistent physical characteristics, such as size and weight, which commonly results from the above described variations. Inconsistent new born calves combined with inconsistent feeding and treatment inherently leads to inconsistent meat products.
Each time consumers experience poor quality in other types of foods and products, those consumers are driven to avoid certain brands for their next purchase. However, the same cannot be done with meat products because meat products are typically not branded. Therefore, consumers currently have no way of gauging quality of current meat products until after they have been purchased and prepared. Thus, consumers have no reason to seek specific brands.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved quality assurance program that overcomes the limitations of the prior art.

Quality assurance program and method for meat production


A sand control screen assembly includes a base pipe having openings through its thickness, and a mesh layer having mesh material sections coupled to safe edges, or connectors, for connecting sections together. The safe edges include areas of thinning to provide flex joints that yield when exposed to high stresses. The mesh layer may be a drainage layer or a filter medium of the sand control screen assembly.

Sand exclusion screen assemblies are employed in wellbores during the production of hydrocarbon fluids from subterranean formations. Conventional sand screen assemblies typically include a perforated base pipe, a drainage layer, a filter medium, and a protective jacket or shroud. Other layers may be included and labeled by differing vernacular as is deemed by those skilled in the art. Such screen assemblies are designed to filter out particles, such as formation sand or placed gravel/proppant, while facilitating the passage of hydrocarbon fluids into the wellbore. In some instances where mesh materials are used for the filter medium and/or the drainage layer, sections of the mesh material are coupled together to achieve a desired length by utilizing connectors (or safe edges) that are welded together. One drawback in the deployment of such screens is that the connection points between the mesh material and connectors may experience different stresses because the connectors are generally stronger than the mesh material of the filter medium and/or drainage layer. As a result of the differences in strengths, the mesh material typically deforms differently than the connectors, thus potentially leading to rupture of the mesh material.
Accordingly, a need has arisen for an improved method of manufacturing a safe edge that is welded to the filter medium and/or drainage layer for a sand control screen assembly that is capable of withstanding stress concentrations.

Sand control screen assemblies and associated methods of manufacturing


A dermatoglyph test system examines dermatoglyph of fingers, big toes and palms comprising at least an image capture device to capture images of testers' all fingers, big toes and palms dermatoglyph, a recognition unit to recognize the features of dermatoglyph and an output unit to output the features of the dermatoglyph in characters.

I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a test system and, more specifically, to a dermatoglyph test system that tests skin ridge of human fingers, palms and thenars.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, it is known that human skin comprises epidermis and derma. Derma forms many papillaries toward epidermis aligned in parallel, such protruding stripes are called ridge, many furrows are between two ridges, these ridges and furrows constitute human finger prints and palm prints.
The ridges and furrows of human skin develop from 13 years old and complete around 19 years old; once completed, they will not change for life; Marer in 1788 had the theory that no two persons have the same ridges and furrows.
In 1823, a Czech physiologist Phkinje published a thesis over ridges; he states the shapes of ridges are in Loop, Whorl and Arches.
In 1926, two American anatomist Cammis and Midlo reported peculiar dermatoglyph characters of Down Syndrome patients, 20 years later a French hereditist and cytologist Lejeuhca found that peculiar dermatoglyph have close relation with extraordinary chromosome.
At present time, dermatoglyph test became a very important clinical diagnosis method; further more a very effective test to be applied to public as a general examination and prediction.
Following describes the dermatoglyph characters of normal people:
The dermatoglyph shapes are in Loop, Whorls and Arches. The Loop, as shown in FIG. 1, is the dermatoglyph go from one side to another side with curve in between; the Whorls, as shown in FIG. 2, is the dermatoglyph bend from one side, curve upward then return to the origin, a triangle shape is under the top, the center is called Triadius; the Arches, as shown in FIG. 3, has two forks, besides that, a special character as Ridge count shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, is to have a straight line from the center of the Loop or the Whorl to the Triadius then count the numbers of the dermatoglyph along this straight line. Since the Arches do not have the Triadius, the Arches have no Ridge count.
As shown in FIG. 6, palm prints are classified in five parts: nar area 10 beneath thumb; Hypothenar area 12 beneath little finger; interdigital area 11, 12, 13, 14; Triadius a, b, c and d are on the base of index, middle and ring fingers; line A, B, C and D are stretched out from each of the Triadius; Triadius t are on the center of base of palm. Besides these, an angle called ∠atd, as shown in FIG. 7, formed by Triadius a and Triadius d to Triadius t, this angle is measured to indicate the locations of Triadius, the angle of normal people is 41° and the angle of Down Syndrome patients is 64°.
The only dermatoglyph of the big toe of Thenar prints has sufficient research and clinical meaning up till now, as sown in FIG. 8 to FIG. 14, dermatoglyph of big toe can be categorized in 7 types: from FIG. 8 to FIG. 14, they are far-side Whorl, Loop, off-center Whorl, off Whorl, near-side Arches, side Arches and off side Arches.


A space photovoltaic generation system including a plurality of power satellites arranged in space, each of which converts electrical energy, into which sunlight has been photoelectric-converted, into a microwave, and transmits the microwave to an electric power base. The system can thus transmit a microwave of high power to the electric power base. Each of the plurality of power satellites modulates the generated microwave so as to generate an incoherent microwave before transmitting it to the electric power base, thus reducing the power density of the electric power transmitted to the electric power base on the earth and hence a loss in the total amount of energy transmitted to the electrical power base on the earth.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a space photovoltaic power generation system for receiving sunlight in space so as to generate electric power, for transmitting the electric power to an electric power base via space by converting the electric power to a microwave, and for storing the electric power in the electric power base so as to allow the use of the electric power, and a power satellite and an electric power base for use with the system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A solar cell is known as a small-size power generation system which utilizes sunlight. Furthermore, a photovoltaic power generation panel or the like, which can be set up on a building, is known as a power generation system intended for the home which utilizes sunlight. Such a photovoltaic power generation system built on the earth is not necessarily efficient fundamentally because of the attenuation of sunlight in the earth""s atmosphere and the alternation between shade and light caused by the alternation between day and night. A solar panel, which can be installed in a satellite, is known as a photovoltaic power generation device intended for space. Satellites can thus achieve missions by privately generating necessary electric power for observation and communications, etc. by using a solar panel. In either of the prior art power generation systems, specific equipment connected to the solar cell by cable is adapted to use the energy generated by the solar cell.
On the other hand, as the communication technology progresses according to results of recent space development works and the construction technology to construct a large-scale space structure progresses, research and development of a system that receives sunlight in space, generates electric power, and transmits the generated energy to a specific place such as a specific location on the earth or in space has been actively conducted. There can be provided an example of such a space photovoltaic power generation system including a plurality of power satellites arranged in space, each of which can focus sunlight to a number of solar panels, photoelectric-convert the incident sunlight so as to generate electric power, and then generate a microwave based on the generated energy and transmit the microwave to an electric power base built on the earth. The electric power base built on the earth includes a receiving antenna for receiving incident microwaves. The electric power base converts the received microwaves into DC signals and then combines DC electric power.
To improve the power generation capability of the prior art space photovoltaic power generation system constructed as above, a large number of power satellites each for transmitting a microwave towards the ground by a transmission antenna thereof should be arranged in space. A problem is, however, that the microwaves transmitted, via the transmission antennas of the plurality of power satellites, from the plurality of power satellites interfere with one another. It can be assumed that the group of transmission antennas is a single huge phased array antenna for transmitting microwaves. A problem is, however, that as the number of power satellites is increased to improve the power generation capability of the space photovoltaic power generation system, the area of the array antenna defined as the group of transmission antennas is increased and the beam width of the microwave transmitted via the array antenna is therefore narrowed greatly, and this results in an increase in the per-unit-area electric power received on the earth.
The present invention is proposed to solve the above-mentioned problem. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a space photovoltaic power generation system capable of reducing the power density of electric power transmitted from a group of power-satellites each for generating electric power from sunlight received to an electric power base on the earth and hence a loss in the total amount of energy transmitted to the electric power base on the earth, and a power satellite and an electric power base for use with the system.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a space photovoltaic power generation system comprising: a plurality of power satellites each for generating electrical energy from sunlight in space, for generating an incoherent microwave from the generated electrical energy, and for transmitting the incoherent microwave; and an electric power base located at a remote site for receiving a plurality of incoherent microwaves transmitted from the plurality of power satellites, and for generating electric power from the plurality of incoherent microwaves received.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each of the plurality of power satellites includes a condensing and power generating unit for focusing sunlight in space and for converting the focused sunlight into electrical energy, and a transmission unit for generating a microwave based on the electrical energy from the condensing and power generating unit, for modulating the microwave so as to generate an incoherent microwave, and for transmitting the incoherent microwave to space. Each of the plurality of power satellites can include a plurality of condensing and power generating units each for focusing sunlight in space and for converting the focused sunlight into electrical energy, and a plurality of transmission units each for generating a microwave based on the electrical energy from the plurality of condensing and power generating units, for modulating the microwave so as to generate an incoherent microwave, and for transmitting the incoherent microwave to space.
In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the electric power base includes a receiving unit for receiving the plurality of incoherent microwaves transmitted from the plurality of power satellites, a microwave-to-DC conversion unit for converting the plurality of incoherent microwaves received by the receiving unit into DC electric power, and a transmission unit for transmitting the DC electric power obtained by the microwave-to-DC conversion unit.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a power satellite comprising: a condensing and power generating unit for focusing sunlight in space and for converting the focused sunlight into electrical energy; and a transmission unit for generating a microwave based on the electrical energy from the condensing and power generating unit, for modulating the microwave so as to generate an incoherent microwave, and for transmitting the incoherent microwave to space. Preferably, the power satellite can include a plurality of condensing and power generating units each for focusing sunlight in space and for converting the focused sunlight into electrical energy, and a plurality of transmission units each for generating a microwave based on the electrical energy from the plurality of condensing and power generating units, for modulating the microwave so as to generate an incoherent microwave, and for transmitting the incoherent microwave to space.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electric power base comprising: a receiving unit for receiving a plurality of incoherent microwaves transmitted from a plurality of power satellites; a microwave-to-DC conversion unit for converting the plurality of incoherent microwaves received by the receiving unit into DC electric power; and a transmission unit for transmitting the DC electric power obtained by the microwave-to-DC conversion unit.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Space photovoltaic power generation system, power satellite, and electric power base


A differential voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) employed in a frequency synthesizer used as a local oscillator of a wireless communication on-chip transmitter/receiver is provided. More particularly, a differential current negative feedback VCO equipped with a current-current negative feedback circuit that suppresses low- and high-frequency noise is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a low phase noise differential LC tank voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) with current negative feedback, in which a phase noise characteristic is improved by mounting a current negative feedback circuit on a typical differential emitter-degeneration VCO.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A conventional differential LC tank cross-coupled pair VCO when combined with a phase-locked loop constitutes a frequency synthesizer, and is widely employed in a wireless transceiver integrated circuit. The differential LC tank cross-coupled pair VCO has an excellent noise characteristic compared with other oscillators due to a filtering function of an LC tank 100, however further reduction of noise is required.
Accordingly, the differential LC tank VCO increases a Q factor of an inductor in the LC tank 100 to reduce phase noise, or uses an LC filter to eliminate noise from a current source. Since phase noise in the differential LC tank VCO is caused largely by up-conversion of 1/f noise and thermal noise of a cross-coupled pair, efforts have been made to thoroughly reduce the influence of 1/f noise and thermal noise using a low-frequency negative feedback circuit. Recently, a differential emitter-degeneration cross-coupled pair VCO has been developed in order to upwardly adjust an oscillation frequency of the conventional differential LC tank cross-coupled pair VCO, reduce phase noise, and expand a frequency modulation range.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional differential capacitive-degeneration LC tank VCO 10. As illustrated in the VCO circuit 10 of FIG. 1, when a resistor 121 or a capacitor CP 125 is connected to an emitter of an oscillation transistor 111, a negative resistance range moves to a higher frequency. Accordingly, at the higher frequency, the VCO oscillates with larger amplitude and has an expanded frequency modulation range and reduced phase noise. Input impedance in a cross-coupled pair of the capacitive-degeneration LC tank VCO 10 is given by Equation 1.
                              Z          in                =                              -            2                                          (                                          Z                E                            +                              1                                  g                  m                                            +                              s                                                                                C                      π                                                                                r                      b                                                                            g                    m                                                                        )                                              [                  Equation                                                              1                ]
In Equation 1, ZE=RE//(1/sCP), CP denotes base-emitter capacitance, rb denotes base resistance, and gm denotes transconductance. As shown in Equation 1, negative resistance of the input impedance seen from collector nodes of oscillation transistors 111 and 112 is increased by parallel connection of emitter resistors 121 and 122 and capacitors 125 and 126. And, the third term in Equation 1 has an inductance character, which shows that the frequency modulation range is also widened.
In the capacitive-degeneration LC tank VCO 10 of FIG. 1, Vnf denotes a low-frequency noise source corresponding to 1/f noise and thermal noise in a base of each transistor, Vnbe denotes base-emitter voltage of a cross-coupled pair 111 and 112 induced by the low-frequency noise source, Intail denotes tail current noise, IE denotes emitter current, ΔIE denotes a range of fluctuation in the emitter current due to low-frequency noise, Vam denotes a low-frequency amplitude modulation (AM) signal of oscillation frequency, that is, carrier frequency, due to low-frequency noise, Vcm denotes a common-mode level, and ΔVcm denotes a range of fluctuation in the common-mode level due to low-frequency noise.
Elements affecting phase noise in the differential LC tank VCO 10 of FIG. 1 are the Q-factor of an inductor, low-frequency noise of a cross-coupled pair transistor, and low- and high-frequency noise of current source transistors 127 and 128. In the differential LC tank VCO 10 of FIG. 1, the base-emitter voltage Vnbe is induced by the low-frequency noise source Vnf at bases of the oscillation transistors 111 and 112, and the emitter current changes by as much as ΔIE due to the base-emitter voltage Vnbe. After the low-frequency amplitude modulation of a carrier signal by the change in emitter current, a mean capacitance value of a varactor changes due to the amplitude modulation signal Vam, and the carrier frequency fluctuates, thereby generating jitter, which contributes to phase noise.
Also, the IE is modulated by low-frequency noise of tail current, thereby causing Vcm to fluctuate by as much as ΔVcm. This fluctuation in turn causes variation in varactor bias voltage, which causes the carrier signal to fluctuate, thereby generating jitter, which contributes to phase noise.
Also, in the differential LC tank VCO 10 of FIG. 1, the base-emitter voltage Vnbe of the oscillation transistors 111 and 112 induced by the low-frequency noise source and the carrier signal get mixed due to nonlinear characteristics of the oscillation transistors 111 and 112, and thus the mixed noise contributes to noise around the carrier signal.
In the differential LC tank VCO 10 of FIG. 1, low- and high-frequency noise of the tail current induced by low-frequency noise sources and the carrier signal become mixed due to nonlinear characteristics of the oscillation transistors 111 and 112, and the mixed noise contributes to noise around the carrier signal.

Low phase noise differential LC tank VCO with current negative feedback

Abstract: A differential current negative feedback VCO includes a resonator determining oscillation frequency, and an oscillator generating negative resistance. In the oscillator of the differential current negative feedback VCO, transistors Q1 and Q2 form a cross-coupled pair, and negative resistance is generated by positive feedback of the cross-coupled pair. And, transistors Q1 and Q3 together with an emitter resistor and a capacitor form a current negative feedback part, and transistors Q2 and Q4 together with an emitter resistor and a capacitor form another current negative feedback part which is disposed opposite to a resonator. Thus, the VCO operates differentially.

Abstract: In the oscillator of the differential current negative feedback VCO, emitter noise currents generated by base noise voltages of Q1 and Q2 induced by low- and high-frequency noise sources in the bases of Q1 and Q2 are sampled by emitter resistors, amplified through bases of Q3 and Q4, and thus return to the bases of the Q1 and Q2 and suppress the base noise voltages. Measurement of the phase noise of the differential current negative feedback VCO reveals a phase noise reduction of approximately 25 dB compared to a conventional differential VCO.

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


An apparatus for controlling the opening/closing of a mechanism for clamping a work machined by a numerically controlled machine tool, comprising a driver for the clamping mechanism. The apparatus controls the opening/closing of the clamping mechanism on the basis of measured data on the distance of a main shaft provided in the machine body from the origin position of the machine, measured data on the moving speed of the main shaft, coordinate values of a clamp pawl of the clamping mechanism and data on a region where the clamping mechanism is opened.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for controlling the automatic opening and closing of a work clamping mechanism in conjunction with a tool post in a machine tool which processes potentially elongated workpieces, and may be used in profilers, horizontal boring machines, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many workpieces machined in a profiler to provide parts of an airplane, etc., are made of a soft material such as an aluminum alloy. They are often made of a long rectangular material by grinding. Generally, many successively disposed clamping devices are used to clamp a workpiece.
In order to attach the workpiece using these clamping devices, the operator sets a plurality of clamping devices on a table to clamp the work.
When the workpiece thus clamped is machined, a tool is fed to machine the workpiece except at the clamped portions of the work. Then, the clamping positions are changed and those portions of the workpiece which are not subjected to machining are then machined.
Since the process in which a workpiece is temporarily clamped and machined and then the clamping positions are changed and the workpiece is again machined provides a low machining efficiency, the following process is employed in an effort to improve the machining efficiency. A plurality of identical workpieces which are clamped at different positions are prepared. Each time machining one of the workpieces is completed, another work set on a new jig is machined while the next preparation is being made.
When the first machining of all the workpieces is completed, the clamping positions are changed and the next scheduled workpiece is then machined. Thus, the availability of the machine tool itself and hence the machining efficiency are improved.
However, attaching a workpiece using conventional clamping devices consumes much time and labor into preparation because individual clamps must clamp the workpiece. In addition, the operator is required to attach a workpiece by tightening many clamps manually, so that the clamping forces can vary from one to another. If the workpiece is made of a thin soft aluminum alloy, the accuracy of finish may be adversely affected by the material of the work.
Machining is made on the workpiece except at the clamped portions of the work, so that the machining speed and hence the machining efficiency are undesirably low.
After machining all but the clamped portions, the clamping positions must be changed and the workpiece remachined. Therefore, the arrangements are troublesome. It is difficult to have a highly accurate finish for the machined portions of the workpiece.
The process is which a plurality of workpieces clamped similarly, are prepared and, when machining all the workpieces is completed, the clamping positions are changed and the next workpieces are machined requires a lot of preparation and the use of many clamps. Therefore, managing the clamps is troublesome and a reduction in the machining accuracy due to changing the clamping positions is not solved.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for controlling the opening and closing of a workpiece clamping mechanism in a numerically controlled tool machine which reduces the amount of preparation required for a workpiece and hence improves the machining accuracy.
Other objects, features and characteristics of the present invention, as well as the methods of operation and functions of the related elements of the structure, and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings all of which form a part of this specification, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the various figures.

Apparatus for controlling the opening and closing of a work clamping mechanism in a numerically controlled machine tool