An inclined trough assembly (10) for conveying, by gravity, formable gobs of glass at an elevated temperature to a section of a glass container forming machine of the I.S. type, the trough assembly having a trough member (12) configured, in cross-section, generally corresponding to that of an upwardly facing V and a manifold (14) at least partly underlying the trough member and having a configuration, in cross-section, generally corresponding to that of an upwardly facing U. The trough member 12 is inserted into the manifold partly to the bottom thereof, and the manifold has a compressed air inlet (14a) for receiving compressed or fan air to flow along the manifold in cooling contact with the trough member to cool the trough member and thereby reduce the coefficient of friction between the gobs of glass flowing through the trough assembly and the trough member thereof. The trough member has an opposed pair of legs (12a, 12b) joined at the bottoms thereof in a bight (12c), the upper free ends of the legs being spaced apart a greater distance than the width of gobs of the largest size in a wide range of sizes of gobs to be passed through the trough assembly, the bight having a radius greater than the width of gobs of the smallest size in the range of sizes. The trough member has a plurality of apertures (12e) extending therethrough, to permit compressed or fan air flowing in the manifold to flow into the trough member, to thereby further cool the trough member and at least partly levitate the gobs in the trough member to further reduce frictional forces acting on the gobs as they flow through the trough assembly.

This invention relates to a relatively fixed device for transferring gobs of molten glass from an oscillating gob scoop to a blank mold of one of a plurality of side-by-side sections of a glass container forming machine of the individual section (I.S.) type. More particularly, this invention relates to a downwardly inclined device of the foregoing character, which is usually referred to as a trough, through which gobs pass in series enroute from the oscillating gob scoop to an I.S. machine section blank mold.
Most bottles and jars and other types of glass containers are now formed on an I.S. machine, which typically is made up of a multiplicity of like side-by-side container forming sections, for example eight or ten or even twelve such sections. Further, in higher productivity versions of I.S. machines, a multiplicity of like containers are simultaneously formed at each I.S. machine section, for example, two or three or even four such containers, by processes often described as the double gob process, the triple gob process or the quad process, respectively. In any case, each container formed by an I.S. machine section is formed from a gob of formable, molten glass in a two-step process. In the first of these steps, a preform of the container, which is often described as a blank or a parison, is formed in a first mold, often referred to as a blank mold, by blowing or pressing. The blank or parison, which is formed in an inverted position, that is, with its upper opening positioned beneath its bottom, is then transferred, by a 180xc2x0 turning motion in a vertical plane, to a second mold, usually referred to as the blow mold, where it is blown into its final configuration, while in its normal upright orientation, after which the container along with the other containers simultaneously formed at such I.S. machine section are transferred out of the I.S. machine for further processing.
A delivery system for delivering gobs of molten glass from an oscillating gob scoop to an I.S. machine blank mold is made up of a pair of devices that are fixed, though adjustably so, these devices being a straight, downwardly inclined trough that receives gobs from the oscillating gob scoop and a downwardly inclined deflector, which has a downwardly curved portion, that receives gobs from the trough and directs them to an I.S. machine section blank mold. This general arrangement is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,431 (Mumford), which is assigned to a predecessor of the assignee of this application, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Gob delivery troughs of the type described above typically have a cross-section of an upwardly facing U, with the spacing between the legs of the U being determined by the size of the gobs to be passed therethrough Thus, it has been necessary to replace gob delivery troughs for each I.S. machine section blank mold when it is desired to form containers of a substantially different size from the containers previously formed by such machine, which requires that the size of the gobs being delivered to the machine be increased or decreased accordingly. Heretofore, the replacement of troughs and deflectors has been frequently required for I.S. machines used to produce a wide variety of types and sizes of containers, and each such replacement is labor intensive, and therefore expensive, and time consuming, during which no containers are being produced by the I.S. machine.
It has also been determined that the time required for each gob to travel through a trough on its travel from an oscillating scoop to a blank mold can vary depending on the temperatures of the trough, because the coefficient of friction between the gob and the trough is higher when the temperatures of the trough are higher. This effect is more pronounced in I.S. machines with a relatively large number of sections, for example, ten or twelve sections, because the gob travel distances are longer to the blank molds of the outboard sections of the machine than to the interior sections of the machine. This phenomenon indicates the desirability of positively cooling the troughs and the deflectors of an I.S. machine, or at least those leading to the outboard sections of the machine, but the capital cost of doing so when a plurality of sets of troughs is required for each I.S. machine to accommodate a variety of gob sizes to be processed by the machine is a major deterrent to the use of positive cooling of troughs.
Another problem associated with prior art gob troughs arises from the fact that liquid coolant of the type used to cool shear devices that are used to shear gobs from streams of molten glass tends to flow downwardly through the troughs and tends to undesirably overcool or chill any portion of the gobs that may contact the bottom of the trough as they flow through the trough.
The aforesaid and other problems associated with prior art glass gob delivery troughs, are solved by glass gob delivery troughs according to the present invention. Illustratively, a gob delivery trough according to the present invention has a cross-section of an upwardly facing V with a space between its opposed legs greater than that required for the largest gob to be passed therethrough The space between the opposed legs of the V varies from a greater space at the top or open end of the V to a substantially lesser space at the bottom or closed end of the V, the space at the top or upper end of the V being greater than the width of the largest gob to be passed through the trough, and the space at the bottom or closed end of the V being greater than the width of the smallest gob to be passed therethrough This ensures that all gobs over a wide size range can be passed through the trough without the need to replace the trough to accommodate gobs of various sizes within the range, while also ensuring that no gob within the size range will be in contact with the bottom of the trough, and, therefore, out of contact with any liquid coolant flowing through the trough Further, a trough according to the present invention can be provided with an underlying air manifold for introducing compressed or fan air into the trough, through openings in the trough, to equalize trough to trough temperatures within the various troughs used on any given I.S. machine, and thereby provide more uniformity in the arrival times of the gobs at the various sections of the I.S. machine, notwithstanding inherent variations in the lengths of the troughs of an I.S. machine. This cooling air, if desired, can also be used to partly levitate the glass gobs in the trough, to speed up the travel of gobs through the trough.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved trough for conveying gobs of molten glass from an oscillating gob scoop to a blank mold of an I.S. glass forming machine. More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a trough of the foregoing character that is capable of handling a wide range of sizes of gobs, to eliminate the need for frequent replacement of troughs on an I.S. machine when the machine is converted to the manufacture of glass containers of a different size, from glass gobs of a different size. Even more particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a trough of the foregoing character that is shaped to ensure that gobs passing therethrough will be maintained out of contact with any liquid coolant that may be flowing through the trough at the bottom thereof.
For a further understanding of the present invention, and the objects thereof, attention is directed to the drawing and the following brief description thereof, to the detailed description of the preferred embodiment and to the appended claims.

Apparatus and method for conveying gobs of glass to a glass container forming machine


A disk system which, when a variable-length disk is emulated using a fixed-length disk, makes it unnecessary to perform extra disk accesses at the time of performing a reading/writing operation the fixed-length disk. The disk system includes an upper system that accesses data with the use of a variable-length formatted form, a disk control unit emulating the variable-length disk and performing control of the fixed-length disk, and a fixed-length formatted disk unit. A storing region in the disk unit is separated into two regions. Count areas in all CKD records are stored into one of the regions, and key areas and data areas in all the CKD records are stored into the other region. The count areas in all the CKD records, which have been stored in the one of the storing regions, are stored into a cache memory in the disk control unit. When an access is executed from the upper system to the disk unit, the count areas stored in the cache memory are referred to so as to search an object record. This allows an access to the disk unit to be executed only to the objective record thus searched.

The present invention relates to a method and system for controlling a disk control unit in a variable-length formatted disk system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an emulation technique that effectively allows an upper system employing a variable-length disk to perform high-speed access to an objective data using a fixed-length disk unit and the disk control unit including a cache.
In a conventional technique, when the variable-length disk is emulated using the fixed-length disk unit, a plurality of blocks in the fixed-length disk are assigned to a capacity equivalent to one track in the variable-length disk. Then, within the plurality of blocks thus assigned and for each record in the variable-length disk, a format information area and a data area are located and stored in accordance with a certain rule.
When performing an access to a record in such a system, data in the entire tracks to be accessed, first of all, had to be read into a buffer or the cache existing within the disk control unit. Then, after analyzing formats therein and determining a position of the object record, the access has to be executed.
In such a conventional technique, even when a single record within a track is read out, the data in the entire tracks have to be read out once, and then, after the data are analyzed within the disk control unit, the object record has to be transmitted up to the upper system.
Also, when executing a writing toward the disk, in order to determine a writing position before the writing process, the data in the entire tracks need to be read out, and after that, the writing is executed into the disk. Namely, it turns out that, in the one input/output process, the two accesses have to be performed to the disk unit.
In this way, when executing the emulation of the variable-length disk, the loads onto the disk operation are increased. This has become a problem on the performance thereof.
It is an object of the present invention to make it unnecessary to perform, when the variable-length disk is emulated using the fixed-length disk unit, the extra disk accesses at the time of reading/writing to the fixed-length disk unit.
In order to accomplish the above object, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk system including a disk control unit connected to an upper system and emulating a variable-length formatted disk with the use of a fixed-length formatted disk, the upper system using the variable-length formatted disk that employs as its access unit a variable-length record including a format information area and a data area, the fixed-length formatted disk employing a constant-sized block as its access unit, and a fixed-length formatted disk unit controlled by the disk control unit, wherein said disk unit includes a format information area storing a region in which the format information areas are stored, and the disk control unit has means, for separating the format information areas which exist in the variable-length formatted records, from all the records and storing all the separated format information areas into the format information area storing region in the disk unit.
Also, the disk control unit includes a cache memory, means for storing the format information areas, which are stored in the format information area storing region in the disk unit, into the cache memory at the time of a reset processing of the disk system, and means for referring to the format information areas in the cache memory so as to search an object record when an access is executed from the upper system to the disk unit, thereby allowing an access to the disk unit to be executed only to the target record thus searched.
Also, the format information area has an identifier establishing a search condition for a record, block number indicating a storage position within the disk unit, and data length information indicating size of the data area.

Emulation technique for variable-length disk system to access data in a fixed-length disk system


A drive system comprises a pair of racks provided in a first direction, a pair of travellers, each of which is capable of moving in the first direction alongside each rack, a connecting member provided in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, each end of the connecting member is fixed to each traveller, a pair of pinions, each of which engages with each rack and rolls thereon in the first direction, the pinions coaxially connected by a shaft, and a first motor for driving at least one of the travellers in the first direction, wherein the first motor is not mounted on the travellers and the connecting member. With this structure, the movable parts of the drive system are lightened so that high speed operation is made possible.

The present invention relates to a drive system, more precisely relates to a drive system having a rack-pinion mechanism.
Drive systems having a rack-pinion mechanism have been known. For example, European Patent Gazette EP-265-855-A disclosed a drive system having a rack-pinion mechanism. The system has a pair of pinions which are coaxially connected by a shaft. The shaft is rotatably pierced through a moving body. The pinions are respectively engaged with a pair of racks, which are provided in a first direction in parallel, and the pinions are rotated by a motor attached to the one end of the shaft. When the motor is driven, the shaft is rotated together with the pinions. Rotating pinions roll over the racks, so that the moving body moves in the first direction. In the above described drive system, since the pinions are engaged with the parallel racks and connected to the shaft, the positioning accuracy of the moving body can be quite high.
However, in the drive system, the motor moves together with the moving body, the shaft, etc., so that the weight of the motor, which is relatively quite heavy, becomes a load oh the motor. The heavy load causes disadvantages such as greater energy consumption and an obstacle to high speed operation.

c/o Kabushiki Kaisha Mechanic Sekkei Jimusho, 5175-1

Ooaza Toyoshina, Toyoshina-machi, Minamiazumi-gun, Nagano-ken


Restoring an image is achieved by restoring a block by executing at least one first restoring function and at least one second restoring function. The first restoring function may be implemented using software, and the second restoring function may be implemented using hardware. By assigning restoring functions to be either first restoring functions or second restoring functions, even an image having high resolution can be restored and reproduced in real-time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to image reproduction, and more particularly, to moving image reproduction that restores a compressed moving image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, more image data is required to represent a moving image than is needed to represent a static image, an audio signal, or textual data. Accordingly, moving images are generally compressed and encoded prior to being transmitted or stored.
Moving image reproduction, as generally used herein, refers to reproducing the transmitted or stored moving images. That is, moving image reproduction generally refers to restoring compressed moving images.
Moving image reproduction is typically performed in a series of processes. For example, when the moving image reproduction is performed according to the H.264 standard of ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector) or MPEG4-AVC (Moving Picture Experts Group, Version 4-Advanced Video Coding) of ISO/IEC (International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission) JTC1 (Joint Technical Committee 1), the series of processes may include entropy decoding, inverse quantization, inverse discrete cosine transformation, motion compensation, etc.
An apparatus that performs such a series of processes to recover an image using software, such as a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) or the like, has been in use for many years. However, such a general use apparatus is typically very large and consumes a significant amount of power, and is thus not commercially viable as a single purpose image restoration device.
Accordingly, an apparatus that performs the series of processes to recover an image using hardware has been introduced. However, in these types of devices, images cannot be restored in real-time due to the frequent access to a certain memory required. Such a problem is serious when the image to be restored is intended to be of high quality.


A program, method and system for embedding a programmable packet filter into an application to protect the application against malicious network packets are disclosed. Traditional packet filtering techniques to protect against malicious packets designed to exploit defects in applications, based on external packet filtering devices create a bottleneck in network traffic and present a large overhead cost. In addition, when security vulnerabilities in applications are discovered, traditional application updating methods lack a fast enough turn-around time to protect the application and users data from attack. These problems can be overcome by embedding a programmable packet filter into the application itself. The application can use the filter to discard malicious network packets. Furthermore, the filter can be updated via configuration files downloaded from the application vendor to update the application's embedded programmable packet filter without having to update the entire program code of the application.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer network security. Particularly, this invention relates to protecting computers in a network from malicious network traffic using programmable packet filters.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most large software applications written in languages such as C or C++ have a number of potential security flaws in them. In many cases, malicious packets crafted by a remote attacker can either crash the application or, as is becoming more common, take over the application and allow the hacker to execute his own malicious code. The latter is facilitated by a number of freely available frameworks enabling this form of attack.
In response, the conventional wisdom among application developers is to review their code to try and reveal dangerous programming practices that may allow maliciously crafted packets to overflow buffers and to test for this type of vulnerability. Another technique uses "fuzzers" which semi-randomly create packets to try and expose programming errors in handling such packets. However, both these activities are imperfect, as they are susceptible to human error allowing vulnerabilities in the software to remain.
In addition, there is an increasing demand that application vendors respond rapidly with patches when such vulnerabilities arise. However, this can be difficult, as the time to fix an application, test the fix and then deploy it can be excessive and provide a window for hackers to exploit the vulnerability. To help cover this period of vulnerability, an industry has emerged that provides specialized firewalls for all traffic to pass through, prior to reaching the application. These firewalls are programmable hardware devices that can typically be configured on the fly to identify potentially dangerous packets and discard these packets before they reach the application. However, these specialized devices have some shortcomings.
All network traffic has to be routed through such firewalls and thus they present a network bottleneck. Care must also be taken that all key application servers are positioned behind such firewall devices. This can be a particular problem if one is trying to protect a large number of servers in branch offices, for example.
In addition, such firewall devices are expensive to procure as a service contract is usually also required to update these boxes with the digital signatures of malicious packets. Moreover, users pay for the protection they provide to hundreds of different applications, even if in a particular installation only employs one or two applications. For example, a user may pay for the overhead of companies such as ISS, TippingPoint or iDefense to collect information on all vulnerabilities across all enterprise products.
Finally, such firewall devices are typically only implemented as a stop-gap solution between the time when a vulnerability is detected and when an application vendor releases a true fix and it is deployed by their customers after suitable regression testing. Whenever a vulnerability is detected in a product the vendor and customers have to go through the time and expense of putting a new version of the product into service.
FIG. 1A illustrates a system of computers 100 that uses the current method of protecting against malicious packets. The computers 102A-102C each contains multiple applications 104A-104I that are accessed via a wider network, identified as the internet 106. Between the applications 104A-104I and the internet 106 is the firewall device 108. The firewall 108 is the tool used to protect the applications from malicous packets designed to crash or exploit the applications security vulnerabilities. The protective nature of the firewall 108 is represented by the broken border pattern. All of the computers 102A-102C are connected to the firewall 108, and the firewall 108 connects to the internet 106. The described bottleneck is illustrated as there are connections to the firewall 108 from the computers 102A-102C and only one connection on the opposite side to the internet 106. Some different security techniques for protecting computers from connections to unprotected networks have been developed.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0256716 by Caci, published Nov. 16, 2006, discloses an electronic communication control device suitable for embedding into a network interface card or a line card of a switch or router. The electronic communication control device is capable of communications in multiple protocols. The processing architecture of the electronic communication control device may be adapted for any communications protocol and may be well suited for Internet protocol. The electronic communication control device may perform protocol translation, for example, between IPv4 and IPv6. An exemplary embodiment of the electronic communication control device includes a parallel processing chipset operating on multiple busses with embedded software. The electronic communication control device provides a hardware architecture upon which embedded software may operate to provide services, such as, for example, system control, packet analysis, packet filtering, translation services, switching, routing and/or multiplexing control.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0253902 by Rabadan et al., published Nov. 9, 2006, discloses a method, system and apparatus for filtering data packets through an integrated network security device. Various security operations are performed on the data packets belonging to a network connection while they pass through the integrated network security device in a communication network. A classification engine is applied to the first packet of the connection. The result of this filtering is stored in a per-connection control key, and determines which of the security operations must be applied to each of the data packets of the connection. These security operations may be prioritized and re-ordered, based on the rate at which they detect and drop malicious data packets.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0206936 by Liang et al., published Sep. 14, 2006, discloses that in one embodiment, a network security appliance includes a logic circuit, a network processing unit, and a general purpose processor to protect a computer network from malicious codes, unauthorized data packets, and other network security threats. The logic circuit may include one or more programmable logic devices configured to scan incoming data packets at different layers of a multi-layer protocol, such as the OSI-seven layer model. The network processing unit may work in conjunction with the logic circuit to perform protocol parsing, to form higher layer data units from the data packets, and other network communications-related tasks. The general purpose processor may execute software for performing functions not available from the logic circuit or the network processing unit. For example, the general purpose processor may remove malicious code from infected data or perform malicious code scanning on data when the logic circuit is not configured to do so.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0108434 by Witchey, published May 19, 2005, discloses a method and embedded system for connecting a legacy device to a network are provided. The system includes a firewall module that can be configured by embedded system firmware to filter data packets when data packets do not match pre-determined rules; determines if data is intended for an allowed port; and discards data if data is not for an allowed port or an allowed address. If address and data port are allowed, then data is transmitted to the network. The method includes, determining if a data packet is from an allowed address, wherein an embedded system coupled to the legacy device uses a firewall module to filter data packets when data packets do not match pre-determined rules; determining if data is intended for an allowed port; and discarding data if data is not for an allowed port or an allowed address.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0143751 by Peikari, published Jul. 22, 2004, discloses a method and apparatus for increasing the security of data processing devices that use embedded operating systems (embedded devices). This invention utilizes an "embedded firewall" that improves security of the device by selectively filtering communication directly on the embedded device itself, rather than relying on an external firewall. In a preferred embodiment, this is achieved by (1) entering the desired filter specification at the user layer using an embedded user interface (UI) program or an imported specification file, (2) compiling the specification to be subsequently used by the embedded filtering engine, (3) using an embedded dynamic link library (DLL) as an intermediary to isolate the user program from the lower kernel level, thus providing a system-independent interface, (4) communicating the specification to the kernel layer using the embedded DLL, (5) monitoring packets in the kernel level as they enter from the lower network level using an embedded packet driver, (6) filtering packets at the kernel level using the embedded filtering engine and the previously defined filter specification, (7) reporting the results from the kernel level back up to the user level through the embedded DLL.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0059943 by Marquet et al., published Mar. 25, 2004, discloses a packet filter for filtering data packets in a communications network. The packet filter has input and output ports for receiving and transmitting respective data packets. A data filter selectively passes packets from the input port to the output port in accordance with filtering policies. A policy manager determines filtering policies and controls operation of the data filter. The policy manager is independent of its implementation and not related to any particular operating system. This independence allows for a generic path of managing policies across devices implementing a system and for more flexibility in the implementation of packet filters. Flexibility may be enhanced by implementing the policy manager in system-on-chip technology.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for systems and methods to protect applications from received malicious packets that operate efficiently without creating a network bottleneck. Further, there is a need for such systems and methods to provide protection for computer applications that receive packets without having to develop a new version of the application. There is also a need for such systems and methods to be quickly updated to protect against new threats. These and other needs are met by the present invention as detailed hereafter.

Application protection from malicious network traffic

International Business Machines Corporation


In a high-voltage PMOS transistor having an insulated gate electrode (18), a p-conductive source (15) in an n-conductive well (11), a p-conductive drain (14) in a p-conductive well (12) which is arranged in the n-conductive well, and having a field oxide area (13) between the gate electrode and drain, the depth (A′-B′) of the n-conductive well underneath the drain (14) is less than underneath the source (15), and the depth (A′-B′) of the p-conductive well is greatest underneath the drain (14).

The manufacture of high-voltage transistors in integrated circuits, which is known per se, generally produces optimized transistors for the desired voltage range. This range can extend from more than 10 volts to 150 volts and beyond. A typical application is automobile engineering in which, in addition to its logic circuit elements, switches for the battery voltage levels and for coping with interference pulses (bursts) also have to be provided. These high-voltage transistors can basically be manufactured with processes such as are used for CMOS circuits with application ranges from 3.3 volts to 5 volts. However, this manufacture is costly and expensive because a multiplicity of additional masks and process steps are necessary and/or there is a resulting large space requirement for the high-voltage transistor.
Vertical high-voltage transistors are usually produced in an epitaxy layer whose thickness and concentration has to be optimized for the desired voltage range. The layer thicknesses can quickly be 10 μm or more, which can be implemented only by using complex epitaxy deposition. The necessary buried layer, its doping and formation of contacts with it through the epitaxy layer (sinker) require a number of process steps which are specifically necessary for the high-voltage transistor. In order to optimize the transistor area, i.e. its lateral extent, the thickness of the epitaxy layer has to be adapted to the desired voltage level.
The attempt to manufacture high-voltage transistors as lateral transistors in conjunction with a low-voltage process for logic transistors gives rise to other difficulties. For example, the electrical field strengths have to be allowed for in such a way that a breakdown, which can lead to malfunctions or to the destruction of the integrated circuit, does not occur at the points of maximum field strength concentration. As a rule, this requirement means that a large amount of space is required for the high-voltage transistors, and thus leads to high manufacturing costs.
EP 0 973 205 A2 describes a high-voltage MOS transistor with a drain extension in which the embedding n well has a lower depth underneath the drain extension than underneath the drain which is provided. The depth of the p-conductive well is greater in the area of the drain extension than underneath the drain which is provided. The points of least depth of the n well and greatest depth of the p well are offset with respect to one another.
Document R. Stengi and U. Gösele: "Variation of Lateral Doping—A New Concept to Avoid High Voltage Breakdown of Planar Junctions", International Electron Devices Meeting, Technical Digest, 1 to 4 December 1985, pages 154 to 157 (XP002013050) describes a masking in order to manufacture a p-conductive well in which additional covers are provided in certain sections between the central area and the edge area of the well which is to be produced.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,455,893 B1 discloses a lateral high-voltage transistor which requires a smaller amount of space because the electrical field strength occurring at the highly doped drain is reduced by means of a drain extension and a field plate with less strong doping. The described transistor can also be used for CMOS processes with less than 1 μm structure width. However, the document indicates that the dielectric strength of the transistor is restricted because the retrograde implantation profile in the edge areas of the drain extension leads to a less suitable doping pattern.


In an electroconductive contact unit including a pair of needle members projecting from either end of a holder arrangement, and an electroconductive compression coil spring interposed therebetween for resiliently urging the needle members away from each other, the compression coil spring comprises a normally wound segment and a coarsely wound segment. When the contact unit is applied to an object to be contacted, the adjacent turns of the coil wire of the normally wound segment are brought into contact with each other so that the electric path between the needle members is substantially straight along the length of the coil spring with the coarsely wound segment. Therefore, by selecting the number of turns and the coil pitch of the coarsely wound segment of the compression coil spring, it is possible to minimize the electric impedance and the electric resistance of the compression coil spring while meeting the requirements of the compression coil spring for providing a required resiliency to the needle members.

Various types of contact probes have been used for electrically testing printed circuit boards and semiconductor devices. The electroconductive contact unit used in such conventional contact probes typically comprises a compression coil spring retained in a holder, and a pair of needle members received coaxially in the holder and resiliently projecting from either end of the holder. Normally, the needle members are electrically connected to the compression coil spring by soldering so that an electric signal received from one of the needle members is transmitted to the other needle member involving a relatively small electric resistance.
However, when the signal to be transmitted consists of a high frequency signal, the electric signal is required to be conducted by the compression coil spring, and the electric inductance of the coil spring may cause an undesired impedance to the electric signal.
Recently with the increase in the frequency of the signals that are required to be processed by semiconductor devices, it has become customary to use high frequency signals of up to several hundred MHz for testing semiconductor devices and printed circuit boards. As a result, there has been an increasing demand for the capability of such electroconductive contact units to handle such high frequency signals. In other words, the inductance and resistance of such electroconductive contact units are required to be reduced more than before.
Also, such electroconductive contact units are required to be compact in size so as to be arranged extremely close to each other, and to be provided with a sufficient resiliency so as to accommodate any irregularities in the surface states of the parts to be contacted.

Electroconductive contact unit having compression spring with normally and coarsely wound segments


An apparatus and method for self diagnosing a plurality of engine component operation controlling systems applicable to an internal combustion engine in which when predetermined diagnostic conditions to start respective self diagnoses are simultaneously established for the respective engine component operation controlling systems, one of the self diagnoses having a higher priority is executed.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for self diagnosing an integrated microcomputer system having an architecture of a plurality of engine component operation controlling systems applicable to an internal combustion engine to determine a presence or absence of failure in any one or each of the controlling systems.
(2) Description of the Background Art
In the internal combustion engine of an automotive vehicle, a failure in an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system, deterioration in a catalytic converter, and/or failure in an evaporated fuel processing system using a canister are self diagnosed by their integrated control unit. When any one or some of the failures is detected, a previously proposed self-diagnosing apparatus uses an alarm unit on an instrument panel to warn of occurrence of the failure in the corresponding engine component controlling system using a memory in a remote control unit.
As another example, a Japanese Patent Application First Publication No. Showa 62-51746 published on Mar. 6, 1987 exemplifies another failure diagnosing apparatus for the exhaust gas recirculation system of the engine. In the disclosed failure diagnosing apparatus, an exhaust gas recirculation control valve of the EGR system is forcefully opened and closed when the engine falls in a predetermined operating region. A change in intake air pressure in an engine intake air passage is monitored to diagnose an operation of the exhaust recirculation system.
A Japanese Patent Application First Publication No. Showa 63-205441 published on Aug. 24, 1988 exemplifies another previously proposed self-diagnosing system in which air-fuel mixture ratio sensors or 0.sub.2 sensors are disposed in an exhaust passage of upstream or downstream sides of the catalytic converter. With both output signals derived and monitored from the 0.sub.2 sensors, the deterioration of the catalytic converter is diagnosed.
A Japanese Patent Application Second Publication No. Showa 58-11067 published on Mar. 12, 1981 exemplifies a previously proposed evaporated fuel processing having a canister which prevents flow out of the vaporized fuel generated in a fuel tank toward the external. The field of the evaporated fuel processing system demands such a self diagnosing system as described above, the self diagnosing system carries out the diagnosis such that a temperature change and air-fuel mixture ratio change are monitored after the start of discharge of, e.g., purge gas.
Although it is necessary to execute various types of self-diagnosis under particular engine operating conditions, various diagnostic conditions, in other words, engine loads and engine revolution speeds required to start respective diagnostic operations are often overlapped according to contents of the self-diagnosis,
Hence, while any one of the self diagnosis is being executed, a diagnosis condition for the self-diagnose is simultaneously established.
In this case, If the self diagnosis currently being executed is continued without stop and with a high priority and the other self diagnosis whose diagnostic condition is thereafter established is not currently executed, the substantive self diagnosis for the exhaust gas recirculation system whose diagnostic condition is relatively difficult to be established could not be executed any more.
Conversely, If the self diagnostic currently being executed is suspended and the other self diagnosis whose diagnostic condition is thereafter established is started, an effective frequency of the self diagnostic operations is remarkably reduced since it is necessary to sufficiently adsorb an evaporated fuel component onto the canister in the case of the self diagnosis for the evaporated fuel processing system.

Apparatus and method for self diagnosing engine component controlling systems according to predetermined levels of priority


A system and method for measuring sound is described. In one embodiment frequency-banded-noise samples, which collectively cover at least a portion of a spectrum, are sequentially generated at different points in time, and a baseline sound-pressure-level reading for each of the frequency banded noise samples is received. Using data received from a microphone, a sound pressure level reading is generated for each of the frequency banded noise samples. Calibration data is then produced for the microphone as a function of a difference between each of the baseline sound-pressure-level readings and a corresponding one of each of the generated sound pressure level readings for each of the frequency banded noise samples.

There are several known disorders that adversely affect the speech of many people. For example, Parkinson disease (PD) multiple sclerosis, strokes, ataxic dysarthria, aging voice, and vocal fold paralysis impact the speech of many persons. Traditional neuropharmacological and neurosurgical treatments have been of limited help in improving these problems with conventional wisdom being that speech disorders are resistant to medical treatments and efforts at traditional speech therapy have been considered ineffective.
The landscape, however, has changed recently, and experimental data from a focused program of specialized speech therapy has been shown to provide significant benefits, which may include improved speech intelligibility, motor functions and neural functioning. These treatment effects have been shown to be relatively long lasting without additional treatment and have been considered the first Type 1 evidence for speech treatment for PD.
Speech treatment is an immediate, practical, and relatively inexpensive intervention for improving behavior. There is no requirement for FDA regulation, and an efficacious treatment is available, easily delivered and highly acceptable to patients with minimal, if any, negative side effects.
Speech treatment may be effectively carried out in a clinical setting with sophisticated hardware and speech analysis equipment. But these clinical locations may be inconvenient, unavailable and/or too expensive for many patients to take advantage of. Although microphones and rudimentary speech analysis software are available, typical consumer-grade microphones are currently not able to accurately measure one or more important characteristics of the user's voice. For example, measurements of the sound pressure level and fundamental frequency of a user's voice are often too inaccurate with many affordable microphones to provide the type of analysis desired for speech therapy purposes.


Messages are received at a server and processed to generate data that may include a call back number, envelope information or contact information. Generated data is transmitted to a device that displays a visual notification that includes some of the generated data. The notification may be displayed on the device even if the device is unable to retrieve the message over a data channel. The notification alerts the user that a message is waiting for the user. If the device is subsequently within a data network, the device automatically retrieves the message over a data channel. The device can also establish a voice call with a message server to retrieve the message and can record the message. The device can establish the voice call with the server at a call back number and/or issue a DTMF message request to directly access the message without requiring menu navigation.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to voice message systems. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to systems and methods for delivering voice messages over voice channels to communication devices.
2. The Relevant Technology
Subscribers of voice messaging services typically receive visual notifications of new messages waiting on their communication device. These notifications are often limited to an indication of the number of messages that are waiting in a subscriber's inbox. In some cases, the communication only contains an indication that the inbox contains at least one voice messages, but no indication of the exact number of voice messages, leaving the user with the uncertainty as to how much time will be spent reviewing their voice messages, or even misleading the user into thinking that only one voice message is waiting. The subscriber may be entirely unaware of who left the message and when it was left.
Furthermore, listening to and learning the content of a voice message often requires establishing a network connection to the message server, a process which can take several seconds or more to complete, and which often requires navigating through the message server's menu before finally being able to listen to a message. In addition, the use of a conventional voice mail system requires the user to access his or her messages sequentially in the order they were received. Even when a user is listening to previously played and/or saved messages, the user is typically required to skip messages until the desired message is located. Also, conventional voice mail systems do not provide a way for users to determine who a message is from until the content of each message is played. Thus, in order to reach and play a desired message, the user may be required to listen to at least a part of every received message in the queue prior to reaching the desired message.
One solution to the lack of instantaneous access to voice messages is to automatically deliver each message in its entirety to a communication device while connected with a communication network, as can be done with Multimedia Messaging Service ("MMS") messages. For example, when an MMS message is created using an MMS client, it is submitted to a home MMS Center ("MMSC"), and then sent by the home MMSC to the recipient MMSC. The recipient MMSC sends a notification (e.g., an SMS message via a control channel) to the recipient's wireless device, and the MMS client on the recipient's wireless device automatically retrieves the MMS message from the recipient MMSC after receiving the notification. MMS voice messages, besides being delivered automatically, have the additional advantage of being stored locally on both the sending and receiving wireless device so that either the sender or the receiver can forward the voice message to other devices and have instant access to the voice message as long as the message is stored on the users' device.
One problem with conventional MMS systems is that MMS messages can only be retrieved by the recipient MMS client via a data channel (e.g., in a data network), even though the notification is often sent to the recipient device via a control channel (e.g., a control network). While data networks can be coextensive with control networks, this is not always the case, for example when roaming on another operators network. Thus, a recipient device can receive a notification via the control channel and nevertheless be unable to retrieve the corresponding message if the recipient device is outside the data network. In some cases, the recipient device cannot retrieve the message and does not alert the device user that a message is waiting until the message is actually retrieved from the data channel. Consequently, the user remains unaware of the message and, even if made aware of the message, could not access the message until the recipient device is located in the data network. Thus, when using the MIMS delivery system, there is an issue when the user is not in data coverage. This creates the problem that retrieving messages is now less reliable than with conventional voice mail systems since the user can call his voice mail while roaming. This creates a tradeoff between the better experience of MMS, but poorer reliability of message retrieval.
Further, MMS systems do not address issues relating to different voice mail systems having varying capabilities. For example, people often have multiple voice mail systems (e.g., home voice mail, work voice mail, cellular voice mail, etc.), and the ability to listen to messages on a particular voice mail system requires the user to call that specific system and navigate the menu system of that specific system in order to retrieve any voice mail messages stored therein. Potentially, a person would be required to learn two or more different and independent voice mail navigation systems. In other words, a person who has multiple voice mail systems is typically unable to retrieve all messages from multiple systems simultaneously. Even if the user's voice mail systems forward the messages to a single messaging system, the user still experiences those challenges mentioned above with regard to navigating menus and accessing voice messages sequentially. As a result, the user still spends substantial time maneuvering through their voice messaging system.
Accordingly, there currently exists a need in the art for improving voice message systems and providing alternative means for users to access received voice messages.

Visual voicemail when mobile device is out of data coverage


A system for pointing a device at a given target has a sensor for sensing a number of positional information points of the target with the sensor relaying the positional information points to a controller. The controller is for computing a directional control information based on the relayed positional information points. The system also has an adjustment device for moving the device in a direction that bears a predetermined relationship to the target in response to the computed direction control information. The target moves and the sensor senses the positional information of the target and the sensor relays the positional information to the controller with the controller computing the directional control information to control the adjustment device. The adjustment device points the device at the target.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus that automatically points a device in a direction toward a target. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus that automatically senses a location of the target, and of the device to be pointed and based upon those locations moves a searchlight using an adjustment device in the direction toward the target.
2. Description of the Related Art
Technology exists for manual remote control for positioning a searchlight through mechanical, wired and wireless electrical means. Such known patents include U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,649 to Persha, U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,046 to Gohl, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,989 to Gohl, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,435 to Hamilton, et al. Hamilton discloses a controller that can be set in one of several positions relative to a heading of the searchlight platform. Another device sold under the name of Jabsco under Product 63022-0012. Jabsco discloses a searchlight that can be manually directed by a user, then set to sweep back and forth to illuminate a path of about 20 degrees wide.
The devices described by the above references are deficient in their operation. All such devices have a searchlight that maintains or sweeps a light beam's position in a heading that is fixed relative to a heading of a searchlight platform. However, this is not helpful in the art as very few applications for searchlights involve platforms that are fixed in position. Instead such platforms are dynamic and move.
Additionally, targets may be moving in relation to a fixed or mobile searchlight platform. Searchlight controllers of the prior art can only position the beam on the target briefly under these conditions and require constant manual adjustment from the user. This is time consuming and distracts the user from other important tasks.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system for pointing a device in a direction toward a target that eliminates one or more of the aforementioned drawbacks and deficiencies of the prior art.

Apparatus for automatically pointing a device at a target


An additive, the additive being for an electrolyte for a lithium secondary battery and represented by Chemical Formula 1:

1. Field
An additive for an electrolyte, an electrolyte including the additive, and a lithium secondary battery including the electrolyte are disclosed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Batteries transform chemical energy generated from an electrochemical redox reaction of a chemical material in the battery into electrical energy. Such batteries are classified as a primary battery, which should be disposed after the energy of the battery is all consumed, or a rechargeable battery, which can be recharged and discharged many times.
The rechargeable battery can be charged/discharged many times based on the reversible transformation between chemical energy and electrical energy.
Recent developments in high-tech electronics have allowed electronic devices to become small and light in weight, which leads to an increase in the portability of such electronic devices.
As a power source for such portable electronic devices, the demand for batteries with high energy density are increasing and research related to lithium rechargeable batteries is briskly under progress.
A lithium secondary battery is fabricated by injecting an electrolyte into a battery cell, which includes a positive electrode including a positive active material capable of intercalating/deintercalating lithium and a negative electrode including a negative active material capable of intercalating/deintercalating lithium.
An electrolyte may include an organic solvent in which a lithium salt is dissolved, and may include additional compounds in order to improve electrolyte performance.

Additive for electrolyte and electrolyte and lithium secondary battery

Abstract: R1 to R4 each independently being hydrogen or a non-polar hydrocarbon group, is disclosed. An electrolyte, the electrolyte being for a lithium secondary battery and including: a non-aqueous organic solvent; a lithium salt; and the additive is also disclosed. A lithium secondary battery including: a positive electrode; a negative electrode facing the positive electrode; and a separator between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, the separator being impregnated with an electrolyte including the additive, is also disclosed.


A photoreceptor drum is disclosed with a charge transport layer comprising a substituted terphenyl diamine having the structure of Formula (I):

The present disclosure, in various exemplary embodiments, relates generally to electrophotographic imaging members and, more specifically, to a photoreceptor drum having a charge transport layer comprising a substituted terphenyl diamine.
Electrophotographic imaging members, i.e. photoreceptors, typically include a photoconductive layer formed on an electrically conductive substrate. The photoconductive layer is an insulator in the dark so that electric charges can be retained on its surface. Upon exposure to light, the charge is dissipated.
An electrostatic latent image is formed on the photoreceptor by first uniformly depositing an electric charge over the surface of the photoconductive layer by one of the many known means in the art. The photoconductive layer functions as a charge storage capacitor with charge on its free surface and an equal charge of opposite polarity on the conductive substrate. A light image is then projected onto the photoconductive layer. The portions of the layer that are not exposed to light retain their surface charge. After development of the latent image with toner particles to form a toner image, the toner image is usually transferred to a receiving substrate, such as paper.
A photoreceptor usually comprises a supporting substrate, a charge generating layer, and a charge transport layer ("CTL"). For example, in a negative charging system, the photoconductive imaging member may comprise a supporting substrate, an electrically conductive layer, an optional charge blocking layer, an optional adhesive layer, a charge generating layer, a charge transport layer, and an optional protective or overcoat layer. In particular, the supporting substrate is in the form of a drum.
The charge transport layer usually comprises, at a minimum, charge transporting molecules ("CTMs") dissolved in a polymer binder resin, the layer being substantially non-absorbing in a spectral region of intended use, for example, visible light, while also being active in that the injection of photogenerated charges from the charge generating layer can be accomplished. Further, the charge transport layer allows for the efficient transport of charges to the free surface of the transport layer.
When a charge is generated in the charge generating layer, it should be efficiently injected into the charge transport molecule in the charge transport layer. The charge should also be transported across the charge transport layer in a short time, more specifically in a time period shorter than the time duration between the exposing and developing steps in an imaging device. The transit time across the charge transport layer is determined by the charge carrier mobility in the charge transport layer. The charge carrier mobility is the velocity per unit field and has dimensions of cm2/V·sec. The charge carrier mobility is generally a function of the structure of the charge transport molecule, the concentration of the charge transport molecule in the charge transport layer, and the electrically "inactive" binder polymer in which the charge transport molecule is dispersed.
The charge carrier mobility must be high enough to move the charges injected into the charge transport layer during the exposure step across the charge transport layer during the time interval between the exposure step and the development step. To achieve maximum discharge or sensitivity for a fixed exposure, the photoinjected charges must transit the transport layer before the imagewise exposed region of the photoreceptor arrives at the development station. To the extent the carriers are still in transit when the exposed segment of the photoreceptor arrives at the development station, the discharge is reduced and hence the contrast potentials available for development are also reduced. The transit time of charges across the charge transport layer and charge carrier mobility are related to each other by the expression transit time=(transport layer thickness)2/(mobility×applied voltage).
It is known in the art to increase the concentration of the charge transport molecule dissolved or molecularly dispersed in the binder to decrease the transit time. However, phase separation or crystallization sets an upper limit to the concentration of the transport molecules that can be dispersed in a binder. Increased concentration of charge transport molecule also decreases the mechanical strength of the layer, increasing wear and reducing the lifetime of the photoreceptor drum.
One charge transport molecule known in the art is N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis(3-methylphenyl)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-4,4′-diamine (TPD). TPD has a zero-field mobility of about 1.38×10−6 cm2/V·sec at a concentration of 40 weight percent in polycarbonate. Zero-field mobility μ0 is the mobility extrapolated down to vanishing fields, i.e., the field E in μ=μ0·exp(β·E0.5) is set to zero. In general the field dependence expressed by β is weak.
There continues to be a need for an improved photoreceptor drum having a charge transport layer with increased wear resistance to extend the intrinsic life of the photoreceptor device. Such an imaging member with increased transport mobility would allow for increases in the speed of imaging devices such as printers and copiers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Abstract: wherein R1 and R2 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl having from 1 to 10 carbon atoms, halogen, and phenyl; and wherein at least one of R1 and R2 is not hydrogen.


A bonnet assembly for a blowout preventer uses a seal carrier that is removable so as to allow for efficient and easy seal replacement. The seal carrier has: a recess adapted to at least partially embed a seal for sealing the bonnet assembly to a body of the blowout preventer; and a first connecting rod coupled to and extending from an inner surface of the seal carrier, where the first connecting rod has a fastening structure proximal to a distal end of the first connecting rod, where the fastening structure is adapted to engage with a first fastening device, and where the seal carrier is removable from the bonnet assembly when the first fastening device is disengaged from the fastening structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to blowout preventers used in the oil and gas industry. More particularly, the present invention relates to a removable seal carrier for a blowout preventer bonnet assembly.
2. Background Art
Well control is an important aspect of oil and gas exploration. When drilling a well in, for example, oil and gas exploration applications, devices must be put in place to prevent injury to personnel and equipment associated with drilling activities. One such well control device is known as a blowout preventer (BOP).
Blowout preventers are generally used to seal a wellbore. For example, drilling wells in oil or gas exploration involves penetrating a variety of subsurface geologic structures, or "layers." Generally, each layer is of a specific geologic composition such as, for example, shale, sandstone, limestone, etc. Each layer may contain trapped fluids or gas at different formation pressures, and the formation pressures increase with increasing depth. The pressure in the wellbore is generally adjusted to at least balance the formation pressure by, for example, increasing a density of drilling mud in the wellbore or increasing pump pressure at the surface of the well.
There are occasions during drilling operations when a wellbore may penetrate a layer having a formation pressure substantially higher than the pressure maintained in the wellbore. When this occurs, the well is said to have "taken a kick." The pressure increase associated with this "kick" is generally produced by an influx of formation fluids (which may be a liquid, a gas, or a combination thereof) into the wellbore. The relatively high pressure "kick" tends to propagate from a point of entry in the wellbore uphole (from a high pressure region to a low pressure region). If the "kick" is allowed to reach the surface, drilling fluid, well tools, and other drilling structures may be blown out of the wellbore. These blowouts often result in catastrophic destruction of the drilling equipment (including, for example, the drilling rig) and in substantial injury or death to rig personnel.
Because of the risk of such blowouts, blowout preventers are typically installed at the surface or on the sea floor in deep water drilling water arrangements so that "kicks" may be adequately controlled and circulated out of the system. Blowout preventers may be activated to effectively seal in a wellbore until active measure can be taken to control a "kick." There are several types of blowout preventers, the most common of which are annular blowout preventers and ram-type blowout preventers.
Annular blowout preventers typically use annular elastomer "packers" that may be activated by, for example, inflation, to encapsulate drillpipe and well tools and completely seal the wellbore. The second type of common blowout preventer is the ram-type blowout preventer. Ram-type blowout preventers typically are formed by a body and at least two bonnet assemblies disposed on the body and opposite of each other with respect to a circumference or perimeter of the body.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a ram-type blowout preventer 10. The blowout preventer 10 is formed by a body 12 and oppositely disposed bonnet assemblies 14. The blowout preventer 10 further includes a plurality of side openings 20 that are each adapted to be coupled to a bonnet assembly 14.
FIG. 1 shows a bonnet assembly 14 that may be secured to the body 12 using a radial lock mechanism to allow for maintenance access. A radial lock mechanism for blowout preventers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,247, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. FIG. 1 also shows bonnet assemblies 14 that are coupled to the blowout preventer body 12 by a slidable coupling. A slidable coupling is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,510,897, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Alternatively, in other typical blowout preventer designs, bonnet assemblies are generally secured to a body of the blowout preventer about the circumference of the body with, for example, bolts.
Inside of a bonnet assembly is a piston actuated ram. The rams may either be pipe rams, which, when activated, move to engage and surround drillpipe and well tools to seal the wellbore, or shear rams, which, when activated, move to engage and physically shear any drillpipe or well tools in the wellbore. The rams, whether pipe-type or shear-type, are typically located opposite of each other and typically seal against one another proximate a center of the wellbore in order to completely seal the wellbore.
As with any tool used in drilling oil and gas wells, blowout preventers must be regularly maintained. For example, a blowout preventer uses high pressure seals between bonnet assemblies and the body of the blowout preventer. FIG. 2 shows a prior art bonnet assembly 100. The bonnet assembly 100 includes a face 103 that is engaged with a corresponding face of a blowout preventer body (e.g., 12 in FIG. 1) when the bonnet assembly 100 is installed on the blowout preventer. The bonnet face 103 includes a face seal 105 that seals the high pressure inside the blowout preventer body (e.g., 12 in FIG. 1) and the bonnet assembly 100.
The high pressure seals in many instances are elastomer seals. The elastomer seals must be regularly checked to ensure that the elastomer has not been cut, permanently deformed, or deteriorated by, for example, chemical reaction with the drilling fluid in the wellbore. Moreover, it is often desirable to replace seals to ensure that the bonnet will be properly sealed in the event of a kick. Therefore, it is important that the blowout prevent bonnet include components that are easily removable so that seals may be easily accessed, checked, maintained, and replaced.

Removable seal carrier for blowout preventer bonnet assembly


A system that includes a plurality of IoT devices associated with ground equipment items, a plurality of gateways to receive data from the IoT devices, and an application that receives the data from the IoT devices, is used to manage mobile ground equipment within an airport and track flight data to match available, working equipment with turnarounds and/or flights based on flight data requirements, predicted turn time, gate position, required special needs equipment, and working/failed equipment.

One aircraft is often used for multiple flights each day. As such, when the aircraft completes one flight, the aircraft is then readied for the next flight. This process is often referred to as gate turnaround and the amount of time required to deplane, board the plane, and prepare the aircraft for departure is referred to as turnaround time. The gate turnaround process occurs at a gate of a terminal. With gate availability often being limited, if the gate turnaround time exceeds a target turnaround time, then flight delays can result for the turnaround or next flight and other downstream flights. A gate turnaround involves multiple activities completed by a wide variety of entities and requires multiple pieces of ground equipment. Some activities are dependent upon the completion of another activity. For example, the passengers must deplane before the new passengers are boarded. When a piece of ground equipment that is required for the passengers to deplane, such as a wheelchair lift, is delayed, the boarding of new passengers is also delayed. As such, delays to the completion of one activity can cause delays to "downstream" activities.
Conventionally, the ground equipment required for each turnaround is obtained via a visual inspection of the surrounding areas by a crew chief or other airline employee. Often, the crew chief walks through the terminal searching for a piece of ground equipment without knowing whether the equipment is in the vicinity or not. This process prolongs the time required to obtain the necessary ground equipment and can cause the target turnaround time to be exceeded.
Moreover, submitting a maintenance request associated with a mobile ground equipment item is currently not streamlined and results in large amounts of memory and processing for computers that are processing the maintenance requests. Often, the application used to create and/or submit the maintenance request is different from the application used to manage and track maintenance requests. As such, reformatting and/or reconfiguration of the maintenance request is required before entering the request in the maintenance management and tracking application, which requires additional memory and processing load.

Mobile ground equipment location monitoring systems and methods


A watch formed by a mechanical movement incorporating a mechanical resonator, including a display displaying the actual time, a correction device formed by a device for detecting the passage of at least one hand through at least one reference time position and by an electronic correction circuit allowing an overall time error for the display to be determined, and a device for braking the mechanical resonator. The correction device is arranged such that it can correct the actual time displayed as a function of the overall time error (loss or gain) previously determined. For this purpose, the correction device is arranged such that the braking device can act on the mechanical resonator during a correction period to vary the running of the drive mechanism of the display, in order to correct the actual time displayed.

In the field of mechanical watches, the conventional manner for correcting the actual time indicated by the display thereof is to use the conventional stem-crown which is generally arranged to act, in the protruding position, on a wheel set for driving the hours indicator and the minutes indicator, thanks to friction provided in the kinematic chain between these indicators and the escape wheel. Thus, in order to set a mechanical watch to the actual time, the user or a robot must generally pull out the stem-crown and actuate same such that it rotates to bring the hours and minutes indicators into the desired respective positions, in particular by visual comparison with a reference clock, as can be found, for example, in train stations, or with a digital time provided, for example, by a computer.

Timepiece provided with a mechanical movement and a device for correcting a displayed time

The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd


A photo classifying method for digital photo frame (DPF), includes recording a creating date of the photo and a current date of the DPF, and presetting at least one reference browsing rate, calculating the total browsing time of the photo, calculating the browsing rate of the photo by dividing the difference between the creating date of the photo and the current date of the DPF into the total browsing time of the photo, comparing the calculated result of the browsing rate of the photo with the reference browsing rate and classifying the photo into a corresponding photo grade according to the compared result, and recording the photo grade in a property information of the photo.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to classifying systems and methods and, more particularly, to a classifying system and method for photos stored in a digital photo frame (DPF).
2. General Background
A digital photo frame (DPF) may be used for conveniently browsing photos. However, when many photos are stored in a DPF, it may become difficult and inconvenient to locate desired photos. One arrangement includes arranging photos according to creation time or name before browsing. However, such arrangement does not provide users with the capability to quickly locate the desired photos.
What is needed, therefore, is a method for helping users to conveniently classify and manage photos stored in a DPF.

Photo classifying system and method for digital photo frame

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A method for file conversion includes obtaining an original file including content, that includes objects. The method further includes rendering each object of the multiple objects into a page description language (PDL) format to obtain rendered objects, and extracting, from the original file, a tag for an object of the multiple objects. The method further includes generating object composition metadata based on a composition rule corresponding to the tag. The object composition metadata includes a description of a composition of the object in the original file, and is added with the rendered objects to a PDL file.

Electronic documents are used by computing device users to store, share, archive, and search information. Such documents are stored, temporarily or permanently, in files. Many different file formats exist. Each file format defines how the content of the file is encoded. In other words, based on the file format, the content of the file may be read and displayed.
While many different file formats exist, page description languages (PDLs) file formats are common for sharing and archiving data. To generate a PDL file (i.e., a file in a PDL file format), a user will often first create the document in a different file format, such as the file format of a word processing program. Then the user converts the file having the document to the PDL file.
During the conversion process, the content corresponding to text may be maintained to allow string searches on the text in the new format. Further, file metadata may be generated to describe the file as a whole, such as authorship, creation time, edit time, and other such data describing the entire file. However, other information from the original file is not transferred in the conversion process and, therefore, not searchable.


Service data is received by a server and from a client computing device, where the service data includes a unique identifier and a variable identifier stored in a local secure storage of the client computing device. The server parses the service data to obtain the unique identifier and the variable identifier as parsed data. The server determines whether the unique identifier and the variable identifier in the parsed data are identical to a unique identifier and a variable identifier associated with the client computing device and recorded by the server as recorded data. If the result of the determination is not identical, the server indicates that the local secure storage of the client computing device is under a copy attack, and performing a predetermined response action. If the result of the determination is identical, the server transmits a new variable identifier to the client computing device.

The rapid development of the Internet and information technologies increases dependence on mobile devices such as a mobile phone and a tablet in daily life. An application (APP) related to user property is usually installed on a mobile device of the user, for example, a mobile wallet, a mobile bank, an investment application, or a financial management application. How to protect a user terminal device from a hacker attack, avoid a user property loss, and effectively improve user property security has become an important subject of current terminal information security.
Currently, the APP of the mobile device usually uses soft secure storage for secure data storage. The soft security storage generally means that an anti-cracking method is added to software running on a device system such as an APP running on ANDROID, to provide security for local secure data storage. Usually, it is difficult for hacker to crack data and algorithms stored in the software. However, currently, hacker can easily figure out a copy attack method. To be specific, a hacker copies data and a user environment, and can directly simulate user equipment. As a result, the hacker can easily counterfeit the user by using the user data in the device to steal user information. The hacker can directly run a user account on a machine through copy attack, instead of forcefully cracking the data and algorithm in the software. Existing methods for preventing a copy attack are generally to bind with user equipment information. If it is determined that a device is not the previously bound device, the device is considered to be insecure. The existing methods can be easily cracked by hackers because device environment information is obtained by using an API of the system. A hacker can invoke the API of the system by using a more accurate algorithm through a hook to obtain the device environment information, and simulate the device information by using the API, to make the software misrecognize the device as the previously bound device, thereby cracking device binding protection and entering the user account.
Therefore, in the existing technology, simply perform soft secure storage of data on a client is still relatively insecure, and it is difficult to prevent a copy attack. In addition, device information bound to a user is usually inherent; therefore, once an attacker (such as a hacker) successfully launches a copy attack, the user can suffer from an inestimable loss.

Processing method for preventing copy attack, and server and client


A sample holder apparatus and method for reducing the energy of charged particles entering an annular-acceptance analyzer includes use of an electrically isolated sample support member having a sample receiving surface configured to receive a sample and electrically connect the sample to the sample support member (e.g., wherein the sample support member is configured for application of a retarding bias potential). A grounded sample aperture member defining an aperture relative to the sample support member but electrically isolated therefrom is provided such that the aperture is proximate the sample receiving surface to expose at least a portion of a surface of a sample received thereon to be analyzed (e.g., wherein applying a retarding bias potential to the sample support member produces an electrical retarding field about the aperture that reduces the energy of emitted particles from a sample before they enter an annular-acceptance analyzer).

The disclosure herein relates generally to analyzer systems and methods, e.g., annular-acceptance analyzer systems. More particularly, the disclosure herein pertains to sample holder apparatus for such systems and methods (e.g., that may be mounted on an analyzer instrument stage).
It has long been recognized that the energy resolution of a cylindrical mirror analyzer (CMA), or other analyzers with annular acceptance (whether full 360-degree azimuthal acceptance or partial, that is, less than 360 degree azimuthal acceptance), is determined by the geometry of the analyzer. In such an instrument, (ΔE)/E is equal to a constant determined by the geometry of the instrument (where E is the kinetic energy of electrons passing through the analyzer in electron·volt (eV) and ΔE is the energy width (i.e., the analyzer "slit width") or the range of electron energies passed by the analyzer around and at E). Furthermore, it has been recognized that if the energy of electrons entering an annular-acceptance analyzer (such as a CMA) is reduced, the effective resolution of the instrument is increased.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,699,331, entitled "Double Pass Coaxial Cylinder Analyzer with Retarding Spherical Grids," discloses a device and method for reducing the energy of electrons entering a CMA using a retarding grid assembly constructed of two concentric spherical sections. One disadvantage of this approach is the loss in transmission due to two effects. First, the physical transparency (typically 60-90% each) of the grids limits the number of electrons transmitted. Second, when an electric field terminates on a grid of finite mesh, the equipotential surfaces are rippled close to the grid. Each grid opening acts as a lens which causes the transmitted electrons to be scattered from their original trajectory. The effect of grid scattering is to reduce transmission. A second disadvantage of this approach is the aberrations introduced by the non-sphericity of the fine grids (which are easily distorted during manufacture and assembly) and the non-concentricity of the two grid sections. A third disadvantage of this approach is the possibility of grid contamination and consequent need for grid replacement. A final disadvantage of this approach is the necessity of electrically floating the CMA, electron detector, and associated electronics.
Japan Pat. Appl. No. JP2006-302689A, entitled "Auger Electron Spectral Analysis Device and Auger Electron Spectral Analysis Method," discloses a method that applies positive bias voltage to a sample electrode holder and alleges that, with this, kinetic energy of Auger electrons is reduced and high-resolution spectra are obtained.
There exists a need to reduce the energy of electrons entering a CMA without incurring the disadvantages caused by the use of grids for pre-retardation.

Sample holder apparatus to reduce energy of electrons in an analyzer system and method


The present invention provides a shampoo composition effective for control of ectoparasites, particularly for extermination of lice. The shampoo composition may contain 0.001% to 5% by weight of pyriproxyfen, 10% to 70% by weight of an anionic surfactant, 0.5% to 20% by weight of a polyhydric alcohol, and optionally 1% to 8% by weight of a pyrethroid compound.

In recent years, mass occurrence of lice has been reported from various places of the country, which causes public discussion and calls for establishment of an effective method for extermination of lice.
For extermination of lice, insecticidal dust formulations or shampoos have been used so far. It cannot, however, be said that satisfactory extermination is achieved in every case. There has been a demand for development of a more effective method for extermination of lice.


The present invention provides a resource and admission control method applied to nomadicity and wholesale scenarios, which clarifies an interaction process between a PD-FE of a NGN home operator/NGN retail service provider and a PE-FE of a NGN home operator/NGN retail service provider, puts forward a resource request process, resource modification process and resource release process of the resource and admission control method applied to the nomadicity and wholesale scenarios, and solves problems existing in the related art.

At present, the next generation network (NGN), which is one of hotspot research subjects in the current communication standard field, uses the Internet protocol (IP) packet technology as a bearer network technology and integrates with fixed communication and mobile communication so as to provide more abundant multimedia services, such as emerging services having real-time requirements (IP television, video conference, multimedia distance education, video on demand, etc.), which require that a communication network should be able to provide support for high efficient end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS). Meanwhile, users' requirements for network Quality of Service are higher and higher. Therefore, how to provide the end-to-end QoS will be one of core problems of the NGN.
The International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), which is the telecommunication standardization sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), has constituted a standard regarding to resource and admission control. In the latest resource and admission control function (RACF) draft published by the ITU-T, a function frame of the RACF is provided, as shown in FIG. 1. The RACF is comprised of two portions, a policy decision functional entity (PD-FE) and a transport resource control functional entity (TRC-FE). The TRC-FE interacts with a transport function through an Rc interface and interacts with a transport resource enforcement functional entity (TRE-FE) through an Rn interface; whereas the PD-FE interacts with the TRC-FE through an Rt interface, interacts with a customer premises network (CPN) through an Rh interface, interacts with a policy enforcement functional entity (PE-FE) through an Rw interface, interacts with a service control function (SCF) in a service layer through an Rs interface, interacts with a network attachment control function (NACF) through an Ru interface, and interacts with other next generation networks through an Ri interface.
In addition, the PD-FE is independent of both the transport technology and the SCF, and makes a final decision of resource and admission control based on network policy rules, service information provided by the SCF, transport layer subscription information provided by the NACF and resource availability decision results provided by the TRC-FE.
The TRC-FE is independent of services, but is associated with the transport technology. The TRC-FE is responsible for collecting and maintaining transport network information and resource state information. After receiving a resource request from the PD-FE, the TRC-FE performs resource-based admission and control based on the QoS, priority requirements, resource availability information and transport-related policy rules.
The transport layer is comprised of a policy enforcement functional entity (PE-FE) and a transport resource enforcement functional entity (TRE-FE). The PE-FE performs policy rules sent down by the PD-FE. The PE-FE, which is a packet to packet gateway, may be located between a customer premises network (CPN) and an access network, between an access network and a core network, or between different operator networks, and is a key node for supporting dynamic QoS control, port address translation control and network address translation (NAT) traversal. The TRE-FE performs transport resource policy rules sent down by the TRC-FE, and their scope and functions and the Rn interface remain to be further studied and are not within the research scope of the R2 stage.
At present, in order to support application of nomadicity, a diagram of a RACF nomadicity scenario is given, as shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, a SCF belongs to a NGN home operator and interacts with a PD-FE of the NGN home operator. The PD-FE of the NGN home operator interacts with a PD-FE of a NGN visit operator through an Ri interface; PD-FE interacts with PE-FE and TRC-FE in its network through an Rw interface and an Rt interface, respectively.
In order to support application of wholesale, a diagram of a RACF wholesale scenario is given, as shown in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, a SCF belongs to a NGN retail service provider that is generally an actual service provider. A PD-FE of the NGN retail service provider interacts with a PD-FE of the NGN wholesale service provider that is generally a network operator through an Ri interface. In the wholesale scenario, the network operator uses a network level as infrastructure for opening to multiple service providers in a wholesale way and does not provide services; whereas the service provider provides various services. When users are in this scenario, they access networks via a network of the network operator to visit the networks and enjoy the services provided by the service providers.
It can be seen from the two scenarios described above that RACF network configurations of nomadicity and wholesale are same and corresponding resource and admission control methods are consistent as well. Hereinafter, PD-FEs of the NGN home operator and the NGN retail service provider will be denoted by PD-FE(H); PE-FEs of the NGN home operator and the NGN retail service provider will be denoted by PE-FE(H); PD-FEs of the NGN visit operator and the NGN wholesale service provider will be denoted by PD-FE(V); PE-FEs of the NGN visit operator and the NGN wholesale service provider will be denoted by PE-FE(V); and TRC-FEs of the NGN visit operator and the NGN wholesale service provider will be denoted by TRC-FE(V).
In the existing nomadicity/wholesale scenario, the interaction between the PD-FE(H) and PR-FE(H) is not considered. FIG. 4 is a flow chart of resource request in the related art, which comprises the following steps:
401, A user initiates a service request and sends a request message to a SCF to trigger the SCF to generate a resource initialization request.
402, The SCF determines QoS requirement parameters (e.g., bandwidth, service type, etc.) of the services to be requested and then sends the resource initialization request message (reservation) containing media stream description and the QoS parameters to a PD-FE(H) to request the RACF to authorize and reserve QoS resources.
403, The PD-FE(H) inspects for authorization the resource initialization request, including verifying whether the requested QoS resources are consistent with local operator policy rules and user subscription information from the NACF; if the check for authorization is passed, the PD-FE(H) makes initial policy decision for the service request based on the user subscription information, the local operator policy rules and service information.
404, Since the PD-FE(H) does not have transport layer resources requested, the resource initialization request message is further sent to PD-FE(V).
405, The PD-FE(V) inspects for authorization the resource initialization request, including verifying whether the requested QoS resources are consistent with the local operator policy rules.
406, The PD-FE(V) decides (i.e., selects) an access network and a core network which the requested QoS resources are involved with and then sends the resource initialization request message (availability check) to a corresponding TRC-FE(V) based on the decision result to inspect resource availability of the involved network.
407, The PD-FE(V) makes final admission decision based on the authorization check result in step 405 and the check result of the resource availability in step 406; if the requested QoS resources are rejected, the PD-FE(V) sends a resource initialization response message containing the reason for rejection to the PD-FE(H).
408, If the final decision policy is required to be installed in the PE-FE, the PD-FE(V) sends the resource initialization request message to the PE-FE(V) to install the final decision policy.
409, The PE-FE(V) installs the final decision policy from the PD-FE(V) and sends the resource initialization response to the PD-FE(V).
The step 408 and 409 are optional.
410, The PD-FE(V) sends the resource initialization response to the PD-FE(H).
411, The PD-FE(H) sends the resource initialization response to the SCF.
It can be seen from the above that there is no interaction between the PD-FE(H) and PR-FE(H) in the existing nomadicity/wholesale scenario. Since it is equivalent to being located between the access network and the core network for the PE-FE(H) in this scenario, it implements a core boundary gateway function and has functions, such as NAT traversal, port address translation control, gating, QoS marking and resource synchronization, all of which are required to be completed under the control of the PD-FE(H). If there is no interaction between the PD-FE(H) and PE-FE(H), the corresponding functions of PE-FE(H) cannot be implemented such that service requests from users can not be satisfied.