Baked, corn-based, chip-like snacks having a plurality of surface bubbles comprising air pockets extending both above and below the substantially unleavened, adjacent portions of the snack are obtained with a pregelatinized waxy starch, a pregelatinized corn flour and baker""s bran. The pregelatinized waxy starch forms the skin of the bubble. The pregelatinized corn flour aids in production of bubbles during baking and enhances corn flavor in the baked snacks. The baker""s bran provides the baked corn-based chip-like snack with a rough appearance characteristic of tortilla chips. The pregelatinized waxy maize starch may be used in an amount of from about 5% by weight to about 25% by weight, the pregelatinized corn flour may be used in an amount of from about 5% by weight to about 20% by weight, and the baker""s bran may be used in an amount of from about 0.1% by weight to about 10% by weight each based upon the weight of a corn flour having a degree of gelatinization of less than about 60%. Reduced fat, low-fat, and no-fat baked products, as well as full-fatted baked products, may be produced with a bubbled surface, and a crispy, crunchy, non-mealy, chip-like texture, but with a corn tortilla flavor.

The present invention relates to the production of baked corn-based snacks having a chip-like crispy texture and surface bubbles.
The production of traditional fried corn snacks generally involves a prolonged steeping step of about 10 to 20 hours. Whole kernels of corn are steeped in a hot lime solution to soften the outer hull and partially gelatinize the starch in the endosperm. The degree of gelatinization is generally about 10%. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,679 to Lee, III, et al., both white and yellow corn of the dent type are added to a vat containing heated water and a proportionate amount of lime. The mixture is heated to the boiling point, the heat is cut off, and the contents of the vat are allowed to stand undisturbed for 10 to 20 hours. The lime loosens the pericarp from the endosperm so that water can reach the starch and so that the pericarp can be removed. If the pericarp remains, dough made from the steeped whole grains becomes excessively sticky. The corn kernels generally have a moisture content of at least about 50% by weight by the end of the steeping step. The heating and steeping steps result in hydration and partial hydrolysis of the corn hulls. The corn hulls are removed from the steeped kernels by washing. The washing may be performed with jets of water which also remove any remaining lime. The washed kernels are then ground in a stone mill into a dough containing about 50% or more moisture, known as masa.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,548 to Willard, the masa may be formed into thin pieces by extrusion, and the dough may be permitted to fall directly into hot cooking oil in a deep fat fryer. The oil replaces the water in the product resulting in a fried product having an undesirably high, for example at least 35% by weight, fat content and a hard and brittle texture. In another method, it is disclosed, a similar freshly ground masa is sheeted between rollers, cut into pieces, and baked to reduce the moisture content from about 35% to as low as about 20% before frying. According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,548 the dough should have a moisture content of about 50% for effective sheeting. Reducing the moisture content of the baked dough pieces reduces the fat content of the fried product to about 20% to 25%. However, according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,528 the fried pieces tend to have an uneven expansion, with large blistered areas and a hard, chewy texture. The same uneven structure, it is disclosed, is also found in the extruded masa-based snacks. Also, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,679, the conventional process of producing corn chips has the disadvantages of producing chips which are gritty and do not easily melt in the mouth.
In the process of U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,679, hydrated corn having a moisture content of about 30% to about 40% is comminuted, and then admixed with a comminuted hydrated starch material selected from dehydrated potatoes, tapioca starch, corn starch, and mixtures thereof. However, the hydrated corn is still made by cooking raw corn kernels in water and lime, steeping until the hulls are softened, and washing the corn to remove the hulls. In a preferred embodiment the hydrated cut corn having a moisture content between about 30% and 40% is further hydrated by steeping it in water at a temperature of about 150xc2x0 F. to about 170xc2x0 F. for about 24 to about 48 hours to obtain a moisture content of about 60% to about 70%.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,548, dried masa flour has been used for the production of corn snacks and other Mexican food specialties, such as tortillas and taco shells. The dried masa flour is generally made by grinding the lime-treated corn and then dehydrating it to a stable form. A dried masa flour may then be rehydrated with water to form a dough for extrusion or sheeting. Whole corn kernels may be partially cooked, without lime treatment, that is without removing the outer hull, then dry-milled to obtain partially cooked, dry-milled whole corn flours. Dough for making a fried snack may be produced by mixing the whole corn flour with water. However, according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,548 fried snacks made from whole corn flours are hard and brittle and retain too much fat because of the low water absorption of the flours. In the process of U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,548, extruded expanded fried cereal-based snack products are produced using one or more raw or partially gelatinized cereal flours such as whole corn flour, masa flour, corn flour, barley flour, bulgur flour, cracked bulgur, oat flour, rye flakes, rye flour, and soy flour. The low water-absorbing component is admixed with a high water-absorbing component such as a pregelatinized cereal starch or flour or dehydrated potatoes. In addition, a starch component comprising one or more extraneously added ungelatinized starches is included. The three components, it is disclosed, are critical at the time of frying to obtain a controlled expansion into a well expanded, uniformly porous fried snack which differs from fried corn chips. The high water absorbing component, it is disclosed, retains the water in the formed dough piece as the temperature increases during frying. Sufficient water is therefore present at the gelatinization temperature to allow the other two components to absorb water when the dough reaches the gelatinization temperature and to cause formation of an expanded, uniformly porous fried snack.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,931,303 and 4,994,295 to Holm, et al. disclose that in the production of fabricated snack products having controlled surface bubbling, the dough sheet must have cohesive properties which permit the surface or surfaces of the dough or preform to stretch relatively uniformly when forming bubbles during frying. The highly cohesive, non-adhesive dough, it is disclosed, can be made by adjusting the quantity of free gelatinized starch, the degree of retrogradation of the starch (thereby affecting the water absorption of a given quantity of the starch) and the concentration of any starch-complexing emulsifiers present. In the Holm, et al. process, a dough may be formed comprising, e.g. potato solids or corn solids, raw or pre-gelatinized starches, modified starches, flavorings, oils, and the like. Dough pieces are subjected to case hardening by direct impingement gas-fired drying ovens, steam-heated conveyer dryers, infrared ovens or microwave ovens to promote surface bubbling during subsequent frying. It is disclosed that doughs containing less than about 30% moisture are generally too dry even after the Holm, et al. drying step to create adequate bubbles. In the Holm, et al. process, substantial moisture reduction of the dough is achieved by frying. During frying, the dough moisture content of about 30% to about 55% is reduced to obtain a fried product with a moisture content of about 1-2%. The product does not possess a light, crunchy texture.
German patent publication no. 4,137,161 (published May 13, 1993) to Reeg and corresponding Canadian patent publication no. 2082602 (published May 13, 1993) disclose the preparation of a maize dough for producing snack foods much as tortillas or taco shells by heating a mixture of ground corn, and water to 50-65xc2x0 C. which is just over the gelling point of the starch. Heating may be applied by friction from the mixing equipment or by passing steam into the mixture. The mixture is cooled while the starch is only partly gelled. The mixing of the ingredients to a homogeneous mass is preferably completed at room temperature. The mixture also contains sufficient calcium hydroxide to give a pH of 9-11.
Production of corn-based products including reduced fat, low-fat, and no-fat chips, taco shells, soft tortillas, and soft tacos is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,409 to Gimmler et al. The disclosed process uses ground corn products thereby eliminating the need for prolonged steeping times associated with the production of fried corn products conventionally made from whole corn kernels. Chip-like snacks having a crisp texture and chip-like appearance are produced from coherent, machinable, sheetable dough without using a frying step for substantial moisture reduction of the dough thereby resulting in products having low-fat content. The products possess a masa flavor and appearance which are comparable to those of products made using a traditional steeping process. However the product does not have surface bubbles and surrounding crisp, thin regions.
Baked hollow expanded snacks in the form of a figure such as an animal or vehicle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,493 to Moriki are produced from a farinaceous raw mixture. The raw mixture is prepared by mixing from 60-95 parts by weight of at least one low swelling-capacity farinaceous material and 40-5 parts by weight of at least one high swelling-capacity farinaceous material. The low swelling-capacity material may be a non-glutinous cereal such as wheat, rye, maize, non-glutinous rice, sago, sorghum, triticale, millet and beans, or starches separated from these sources. The high swelling-capacity material may be potato, taro, tapioca, arrowroot, sweet potato, glutinous rice, waxy corn, or starches derived from these sources having their cell walls broken. The farinaceous raw mixture is partly gelatinized prior to rolling into a smooth sheet by the addition of hot water or by the action of steam, so as to raise the temperature of the farinaceous raw mixture to 65xc2x0 C. to 90xc2x0 C. According to Moriki, upon baking, the starch in the surface of the dough pieces is gelatinized, thereby forming a skin having good gas-holding capacity and excellent stretchability. Water and volatile materials in the dough pieces push the skin outward upon heating, so that the dough pieces expand and are internally split into two layers or shells, forming a hollow space therebetween.
The filled crackers of U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,968 to Szwerc et al. are produced from a dough containing proteolytic enzymes. The enzymes hydrolyze proteins of the flour, which relaxes the dough and thereby permits a hollow center to be formed, rather than a cellular center, as the cracker expands under the influence of the leavening agent during baking. This, it is disclosed, strengthens the shell of the cracker and permits the cracker to be filled by means of an injection needle piercing the surface of the cracker.
The production of chip-like, starch-based snacks having a crispy texture and surface blisters from starch-based compositions which have little or no gluten, such as potato flour or corn flour, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,873,093 and 4,834,996 to Fazzolare et al. and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,429,834 and 5,500,240 to Addesso et al. Starch-based compositions which have little or no gluten, when mixed with water, do not form a dough that is cohesive at room temperature and continuously machinable or sheetable. Machinability of dough made from ingredients having little or no gluten may be improved by forming a dough under elevated temperature conditions, such as by steaming the ingredients, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,873,093 and 4,834,996 to Fazzolare et al.
In the process of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,429,834 and 5,500,240 to Addesso et al, use of a pregelatinized waxy starch provides for the production of cohesive, extensible, continuously machinable dough from starchy materials or ingredients having starch with no or low gluten. These machinable dough may be formed at room temperatures without the need for steaming or heat treatment to develop cohesiveness, extensibility, and machinability.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,569 to Ivers discloses that in the production of a dough-based fried food product, a processed starch in either gelatinized or ungelatinized form is frequently added when a low-starch flour or flake is employed. Water, it is disclosed, is required to soften the flour, and depending upon the protein content of the flour, to form a network of protein (gluten), which is the framework of the product. According to Ivers, starch, which is present in flours, is used as a binder and is required for the unleavened product to expand upon frying. Dough stickiness and hardness of the cooked product may be controlled by the addition of oil to the dough to control the extent of the protein framework. The dough is prepared by adjusting the ratios of components and the mixing time to allow it to sheet uniformly at the desired thickness without sticking or tearing. According to Ivers, addition of a small amount of a lecithin-in-water suspension to the formulation of the dough-based fried snack foods improves the transfer, sheeting and cutting, and significantly reduces clumping during frying, without the rapid buildup of free fatty acids and without significant darkening of frying oil, normally associated with the frying of foods containing lecithin.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,967 to Carey et al discloses production of wheat-based baked snacks containing a pregelatinized starch in the dough to create surface bubbles tends to result in a styrofoam-like or compressible texture, rather than a highly crisp, crunchy texture. Also, if the pregelatinized starch is not sufficiently hydrated prior to baking, bubbles created during baking tend to collapse.
In the present invention, corn-based, chip-like snacks having a crisp, crunchy chip-like texture and bubbles distributed over their surfaces are produced from cohesive, machinable, sheetable dough, without using a frying step for substantial moisture reduction of the dough, thereby resulting in products having low fat content. Surface bubbles comprising air pockets which extend from opposing surfaces are created and maintained during baking. The bubbles are maintained in portions of the baked dough, even though surrounding or adjacent portions of the dough have been dockered or punctured before baking. A pregelatinized waxy starch provides an extensible surface film prior to baking, which helps to temporarily trap moisture below the expandable film surface upon baking. Pregelatinized corn flour substantially improves corn flavor, and small amounts of baker""s bran provides the chip-like product with an appearance of roughness on the surface without deleteriously affecting bubble formation or retention. In addition, the machinable, continuously sheetable, corn-based dough may be produced at low temperatures. Sufficient hydration of the pregelatinized waxy starch and pregelatinized corn flour may be achieved by premixing them with hot water or by providing sufficient dough lay time for hydration to occur. The crispy, bubbled, corn-based snacks of the present invention include reduced fat, low-fat, and no-fat baked products, as well as full-fatted baked products.
The present invention provides a baked, corn-based, chip-like snack having surface bubbles comprising air pockets extending both above and below the substantially unleavened, adjacent portions of the snack. Dockering or piercing of the dough prior to baking results in localized unleavened or thinned areas and does not prevent the attainment of a plurality of discrete bubbles. Reduced fat, low-fat, and no-fat baked products, as well as full-fatted baked products, may be produced on a mass- production, continuous basis in accordance with the present invention. They are produced by admixing corn flour or corn meal, a film-forming pregelatinized waxy starch, a bubble-producing, flavor enhancing, pregelatinized corn flour, and a baker""s bran with water to hydrate the starch and flour materials and produce a machinable dough. Pregelatinized waxy maize starch is the preferred pregelatinized waxy starch. The pregelatinized corn flour is at least substantially completely pregelatinized corn flour. In addition to forming bubbles, it also improves and intensifies the corn flavor in the baked snack and enhances crispiness and crunchiness of the baked corn-based snacks. The corn flour or corn meal is preferably a partially gelatinized corn flour with a degree of gelatinization not exceeding about 60% and it is substantially different in functionality from the bubble-producing pregelatinized corn flour.
Use of the corn flour or corn meal, film-forming amounts of the pregelatinized waxy starch, and bubble-forming amounts of the pregelatinized corn flour provides for the production of a cohesive, non-sticky, extensible, continuously machinable dough. In embodiments of the invention, additional flavor ingredients, such as toasted corn germ, may be used along with the pregelatinized corn flour to enhance corn flavor of the final chip-like product. Also, baker""s bran may be used to provide the surface of the chip-like product with a rough appearance, characteristic of fried corn tortilla or fried corn chips.
The machinable dough of the present invention may be formed at room temperatures, without the need for steaming or heat treatment to develop cohesiveness, extensibility, and machinability. The dough may be machined using conventional cracker-dough technology, involving sheeting, dough-sheet lamination, dough-sheet thickness reduction, and cutting of the dough sheet into pieces.
In embodiments of the present invention, the dough pieces have a moisture content of from about 20% to about 50% by weight, preferably from about 25% by weight to about 45% by weight, more preferably from about 28% by weight to about 40% by weight. The moisture content of the dough pieces is reduced from these high levels to less than about 10% by weight, preferably less than about 5% by weight, most preferably less than about 3.5% by weight, by baking the pieces. This moisture reduction by baking results in baked pieces each having a plurality of surface bubbles distributed throughout their surfaces. The pieces may also include blisters interspersed with the bubbles. In embodiments of the present invention, frying may be performed subsequent to baking. The avoidance of frying for substantial moisture reduction of the dough pieces permits the attainment of crisp, chip-like snacks having a vegetable shortening or oil or fat content less than 20% by weight of the finished product.
In preferred embodiments of the present invention, a baked, corn-based, chip-like snack having surface bubbles and the texture and appearance of a corn chip, with the taste or flavor of tortilla products, may be produced without a leavened, mealy texture or a diluted, low intensity corn flavor.
The baked corn-based snacks may be produced by admixing: 1) corn flour or corn meal, which is only partially gelatinized, 2) pregelatinized waxy starch in an amount of from about 5% by weight to about 25% by weight, preferably from about 10% by weight to about 20% by weight, based upon the weight of the corn flour or corn meal, 3) at least substantially completely pregelatinized corn flour in an amount of from about 5% by weight to about 20% by weight, preferably from about 8% by weight to about 15% by weight, based upon the weight of the corn flour or corn meal, 4) from 0.1% by weight to about 10% by weight, preferably from about 0.5% by weight to about 5% by weight, of the baker""s bran, based upon the weight of the corn flour, and 5) water to hydrate said flours and starches and to form a machinable dough having a moisture content of preferably from about 28% by weight to about 40% by weight.
The dough may then be laminated upon itself, reduced in thickness to form a thin sheet, and then cut into pieces. The dough pieces are heated to reduce their moisture content and to obtain chip-like products having a bubbled appearance and a crisp texture and which make an audible crunching sound upon mastication.

Production of crispy corn-based snacks having surface bubbles


The inner peripheral side radial direction surface of the fixing portion of the dust cover is abutted to the outer peripheral side radial direction surface of the flange portion of the ball seat, and the end portion of the fixing portion is abutted to the side surface of the outer peripheral side of the ball seat. The outer peripheral side radial direction surface of the fixing portion is pressed toward the flange portion by the radial direction surface pressing portion of the die member, and the fixing portion of the dust cover is held by the radial direction surface pressing portion of the die member and the flange portion. The pressing by the radial direction surface pressing portion is appropriately performed to withstand an injection molding pressure of the resin injection.

A stabilizer is a ball joint part connecting a suspension apparatus and a stabilizer apparatus. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic structure of front side wheel of vehicle. Each suspension apparatus 10 is provided at left and right tires 30 and has an arm 11 and a cylinder 12. A lower end portion of the arm 11 is fixed at a bearing supporting a shaft of the tire 30. The cylinder 12 is elastically movable relatively to the arm 11. A bracket 13, to which a stabilizer link 200 is mounted, is provided at the arm 11. The suspension apparatus 10 supports the weight of vehicle body that is applied to the tire 30. A stabilizer apparatus 20 is equipped with a bar 21 which is approximately U-shaped, and the stabilizer apparatus 20 is mounted to the vehicle body via bushes 22. The stabilizer apparatus 20 secures roll stiffness of vehicle.
The stabilizer links 200 are provided at the bracket 13 of the suspension apparatus 10 and at the end portion of the bar 21 of the stabilizer apparatus 20. The stabilizer links 200 are connected to each other by a support bar 500. The stabilizer link 200 transmits a load, which is generated when the suspension apparatus 10 receives an input from a road surface, to the stabilizer apparatus 20.
FIG. 2 is a side sectional diagram showing a portion of structure of specific example of the stabilizer link 200. The stabilizer link 200 is equipped with a stud ball 201, a ball seat 301, a housing 302, and a dust cover 401. The stud ball 201 has a stud portion 210 and a ball portion 220 which are integrally formed.
The stud portion 210 has a tapered portion 211, a straight portion 212, and a screw portion 213. The tapered portion 211 is formed at an upper end portion of the ball portion 220. A flange portion 214 and a projection portion 215 are formed at an upper end portion and a lower end portion of the straight portion 212. A lip portion 411 of upper end portion of the dust cover 401 abuts between the flange portion 214 and the projection portion 215 at the straight portion 212 so as to be fixed therebetween. The screw portion 213 of the stabilizer link 200 proximate to the suspension apparatus 10 is fixed at the bracket 13 of the arm 11 by screw fastening, and the screw portion 213 of the stabilizer link 200 proximate to the stabilizer apparatus 20 is fixed at the bar 21 by screw fastening.
The ball seat 301 and the housing 302 form a pivot support member which universally supports the stud ball 201. The ball portion 220 of the stud ball 201 is press-fitted into the ball seat 301. Thermal caulking portions 323 are formed at a bottom portion of the ball seat 301. The housing 302 holds the ball seat 301 therein. Each thermal caulking portion 323 projects through a hole 302A of bottom portion of the housing 302, and leading end portion of the thermal caulking portion 323 engages with a lower surface portion of the housing 302, so that the ball seat 301 is fixed at the housing 302. A fixing portion 412 of lower end portion of the dust cover 400 is held between flange portions 321 and 311 of the ball seat 301 and the housing 302 (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
Production for stabilizer link 200 is performed by the processes shown in FIGS. 3A to 3E. FIGS. 3A to 3E are side cross sectional views of portions of structures showing each process of a production method for the stabilizer link 200. In FIGS. 3A to 3E, the screw portion 213 is not shown. First, as shown in FIG. 3A, the lip portion 411 of the dust cover 401 is inserted and held between the flange portion 214 and the projection portion 215 so as to closely contact the straight portion 212 of the stud ball 201. Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the ball portion 220 of the stud ball 201 is pressed into the ball seat 301. In this case, the fixing portion 412 of the dust cover 401 is disposed at the outer peripheral surface side (upper surface side in FIG. 3) of the flange portion 321 of the ball seat 301. Reference numeral 322 is a pin portion formed at a surface (surface which is opposite to a surface into which the ball portion 220 is pressed) of the ball seat 301.
Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, the housing 302 and the support bar 500, which are integrally formed, is mounted to the ball seat 301. In this case, the fixing portion 412 of the dust cover 401 is held between the flange portions 321 and 311 of the ball seat 301 and the housing 302, and the pin portions 322 project from the holes 302A of the housing 302 to the outside. Next, as shown in FIG. 3D, the pin portions 322 of the ball seat 301 are deformed by heating using a thermal caulking machine 350, so that the thermal caulking portions 323 are formed. Thus, the ball seat 301 is fixed at the housing 302, so that the stabilizer link 200 is obtained as shown in FIG. 3E.
In stabilizer links, in the conventional techniques, iron was used as a material for the housing and support bar. In recent years, in order to reduce the weights of stabilizer links, for example, aluminum is used as a material of housing and support bar as proposed in, for example, Patent Documents 3 and 4, and resin is used as a material for the housing and support bar as proposed in, for example, Patent Document 5.
For example, in the techniques of Patent Documents 3 and 4, first, a ball seat made of resin is formed at a ball portion of a stud ball by injection molding. Thus, a subassembly having the ball portion and the ball seat is obtained. Next, the subassembly is inserted into a die as a core, melted aluminum alloy is injected into the die, and die casting is performed. A housing and a support bar, which are integrally formed, are obtained by this insert molding using the subassembly as a core. Next, after a stud portion is connected to the ball portion of the subassembly, a dust cover is mounted to the subassembly, so that a stabilizer link is obtained.
For example, in the technique of Patent Document 5, a housing and a support bar, which are made of resin, are integrally formed, and the housing and the support bar, which are integrally formed, are used for the production of the above stabilizer link 200. The housing and the support bar are used as the housing 302 and the support bar 500 which are integrally formed as shown in FIG. 3C, and the housing and the support bar are mounted to the ball seat 301. The process shown in FIG. 3D is performed, so that a stabilizer link is obtained.
Patent Document 1 is Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 6-117429, Patent Document 2 is Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 7-54835, Patent Document 3 is Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-316771, Patent Document 4 is Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-265134, and Patent Document 5 is Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-257507.

Stabilizer link and production method for same


The present invention achieves the wideband operation of a bolted Langevin-type echo sounder transducer by enabling low frequency operation with securing a sound pressure level above a certain level without changing the external dimensions of the echo sounder transducer. This is an echo sounder transducer includes a Langevin-type vibrator having a front mass and a rear mass, and a cylindrical active vibrator which is sandwiched between the front mass and rear mass, a bend vibrator constituted of a diaphragm arranged in an acoustic radiation surface section of the front mass of the Langevin-type vibrator, and a disc type active vibrator fixed to the diaphragm. This has such structure that a slit, communicating from an outer peripheral side face toward an axial center, is provided on the circumference in the side of the lower portion of the front mass of the Langevin-type vibrator toward the rear mass.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an echo sounder transducer which emits an acoustic wave underwater by electroacoustic transduction, and in particular, to an echo sounder transducer suitable for the wideband operation of a Langevin-type echo sounder transducer which enables low frequency operation with securing a sound pressure level beyond a certain level without changing the external dimensions of the echo sounder transducer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a Langevin-type echo sounder transducer is known as an echo sounder transducer which emits an acoustic wave underwater by electroacoustic transduction.
The Langevin-type echo sounder transducer is equipped with a bolted Langevin-type vibrator as vibration generating means, and emits an acoustic wave in a predetermined frequency band by applying a compressive stress to a piezoelectric ceramic stacked body sandwiched between a front mass and a rear mass by bolting.
Then, in such the Langevin-type echo sounder transducer, the wideband operation of the echo sounder transducer is achieved without changing the size of a Langevin-type vibrator by further providing bend vibration structure in an acoustic radiation surface side of the front mass of the Langevin-type vibrator, and superimposing a bend vibration mode on a longitudinal vibration mode of the Langevin-type vibrator (refer to patent document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-148896 (page 3 to 4, FIG. 1), and patent document 2: Japanese Patent No. 3005611 (page 3 to 4, FIGS. 1 and 2)).
Hereafter, such a conventional Langevin-type echo sounder transducer will be described with reference to drawings. FIG. 11 is a schematic perspective view showing the appearance of the Langevin-type echo sounder transducer, and FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of the Langevin-type echo sounder transducer in which the bend vibration structure conventionally proposed is provided.
As shown in FIG. 11, a Langevin-type echo sounder transducer 100 is equipped with a Langevin-type vibrator 3 constituted of an active vibrator 9 which is constituted of a piezoelectric ceramic stacked body formed cylindrically and is sandwiched between the front mass 6 and rear mass 7. As shown in FIG. 12, by fastening bolt 8 which combine the front mass 6 and rear mass 7, a compressive stress is applied to the active vibrator 9, and hence, the vibration at a predetermined frequency occurs.
A bend vibrator 2 is installed on a front section of the front mass 6 of the Langevin-type vibrator 3, that is, in an acoustic radiation surface side thereof. The bend vibrator 2 is equipped with a diaphragm 5 which has a cavity therein and can perform bend vibration, and a disciform active vibrator 4 fixed to a back side (front mass 6) of the a diaphragm 5, and by applying a drive voltage, the active vibrator 4 vibrates and the diaphragm 5 performs bend vibration.
In addition, a phase shifter 10 is connected to the cylindrical active vibrator 9 of the Langevin-type vibrator 3, and the disciform active vibrator 4 of the bend vibrator 2 through leads 30, and phase control is performed so that the bend vibration mode of the bend vibrator 2 may become an opposite phase to the longitudinal vibration mode of the Langevin-type vibrator 3.
According to such the conventional Langevin-type echo sounder transducer 100, it is possible to use not only the longitudinal vibration mode of the Langevin-type vibrator 3 but also the bend vibration mode of the bend vibrator 2 by providing the bend vibrator 2 in front of the front mass 6 of the Langevin-type vibrator 3. Hence, it is possible to operate the echo sounder transducer at a low frequency, that is, a bend vibration resonance frequency lower than a longitudinal vibration resonance frequency of the Langevin-type vibrator 3.
In addition, it becomes possible by superimposing the bend vibration mode of the bend vibrator 2 on the longitudinal vibration mode of the Langevin-type vibrator 3 to widen the bandwidth of the echo sounder transducer to achieve wideband operation.
Furthermore, in order to achieve further wideband operation in such a Langevin-type echo sounder transducer, an echo sounder transducer which is formed by dividing a bend vibrator, which is provided on a front section of a front mass of a Langevin-type vibrator, into a plurality of sectors is also proposed (refer to patent document 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-032771 (page 3 to 4, FIGS. 1 and 2)).
According to such an echo sounder transducer, since a plurality of bend vibrators which are divided into sectors respectively are set to have resonance frequencies different from each other and the bend vibration mode generated by the plurality of these bend vibrators is superimposed, further wideband operation of the echo sounder transducer is achieved.
Nevertheless, in a conventional Langevin-type echo sounder transducer like the above, there arose a problem that, first, in the case of the conventional echo sounder transducer shown in FIG. 12, since the coupling of vibration modes arose because of integral structure of the Langevin-type vibrator and bend vibrator, it was not possible to achieve wideband operation with securing a sound pressure level beyond a certain level.
In the Langevin-type echo sounder transducer being equipped with the bend vibrator, in a vibration mode between two resonance frequencies (in an intermediate area) in the bend vibration mode and longitudinal vibration mode, the bend vibration mode of the bend vibrator and the longitudinal vibration mode of the Langevin-type vibrator occur concurrently, and the two vibration modes are superimposed.
FIGS. 13A to 13C are explanatory diagrams showing schematically the states in respective vibration modes of the conventional echo sounder transducer shown in FIG. 12, and FIG. 13A shows the bend vibration mode, FIG. 13B shows a superimposed vibration mode, and FIG. 13C shows the longitudinal vibration mode. As shown in these figures, in the conventional echo sounder transducer 100 shown in FIG. 12, since the front mass 6 of the Langevin-type vibrator 3 and the diaphragm 5 of the bend vibrator 2 are coupled integrally in a joint 60, the whole bend vibrator 2 vibrates in a longitudinal direction in the form of being combined with the vibration of the Langevin-type vibrator 3 in the longitudinal vibration mode.
For this reason, although the bend vibrator 2 performs the bend vibration in the superimposed vibration mode, as shown in FIG. 13B, a fulcrum in the bend vibration mode moves from reference position ∇ to ▾ in a minus direction. Hence, a portion of vibrating in a positive direction and a portion of vibrating in a negative direction existed in a vibrating surface of the bend vibrator 2 with a neutral surface of acoustic radiation as a border (refer to hatched portions in this figure), as a result, positive and negative acoustic radiation pressures cancelled each other for a transmission level to drop remarkably (refer to "f4" in FIG. 3 described later).
In this way, in the conventional Langevin-type echo sounder transducer, the coupling of vibration modes arose because of integral structure of the Langevin-type vibrator and bend vibrator. Hence, the fulcrum in the bend vibration mode shifted reversely to an amplitude direction of the bend vibrator in the bend vibration mode by the longitudinal vibration mode of the Langevin-type vibrator, that is, in the minus direction largely rather than a reference position. Therefore, there arose a problem that acoustic radiation could not be performed.
For this reason, a sound pressure level in a frequency band (intermediate area) between a resonance frequency of the bend vibrator in the bend vibration mode and a resonance frequency of the echo sounder transducer in the longitudinal vibration mode dropped remarkably, and hence, it was not possible to widen the frequency band so that the sound pressure level beyond a certain level could be obtained.
On the other hand, in the case of the echo sounder transducer which was formed by dividing a bend vibrator into a plurality of sectors, and which is disclosed in patent document 3, the bend vibration mode of a sector-like bend vibrator is generated in a frequency higher than a resonance frequency of a Langevin-type vibrator in the longitudinal vibration mode. Hence, it was possible to widen a frequency band toward a high frequency.
However, in this echo sounder transducer, since the order of a resonance mode being generated became the order from the longitudinal mode to the bend mode, it was necessary to upsize the echo sounder transducer so as to widen the frequency band toward a low frequency.
The present invention is proposed so as to solve the problems which the above conventional technology has, and aims at providing an echo sounder transducer which can widen a using frequency band of the echo sounder transducer from a low frequency to a high frequency while securing a sound pressure level beyond a certain level without changing the external dimensions of the echo sounder transducer by separating the vibration modes of the Langevin-type vibrator and bend vibrator by forming a slit in a front mass of the Langevin-type vibrator.


A bit breaker for making or breaking a connection between a drill bit and a drill string, and the bit breaker includes a support structure that has a bit aperture through which a portion of the drill bit may pass. The support structure also includes basket apertures positioned circumferentially around the bit aperture. The bit breaker also includes a flexible member that passes through the basket apertures of the support structure to form a basket extending from one side of the support structure that can receive a drill bit. Relative rotation between the support structure and the flexible member causes the flexible member to tighten to make or break the connection between the drill bit and the drill string.

In a drilling operation, a drill string includes a drill bit that rotates to penetrate the Earth's surface. The harsh operating parameters including high temperatures, weight on bit, rotation, and complex drilling dynamics create a large amount of wear on the drill bit. Drill bits must therefore be replaced periodically. It is common for multiple drill bits to be consumed in the process of drilling a single well.
Because of rotational and other forces acting on the drill bit, a high torque is generally applied to a drill bit when coupling it to the drill string. Drill bits typically have slots that engage with a breaker plate to apply torque to the drill bit while making or breaking a connection between the drill bit and the drill string. All of the torque may be applied along the slots, which produces stress concentrations in the drill bit. Further, different drill bits may have different sized or different shaped slots, and therefore necessitating multiple breaker plates.


A calendar slide includes a hanger that is secured to the slide during the tinning or crimping process in which the slide is secured to the calendar. The hanger has a hole for hanging the calendar or other work piece tinned with the slide and hanger. Advantageously, according to this invention, the hanger does not need to be riveted or staked to the slide for secure attachment. The slide may include at least one through slot into which a leading edge of a roll of hanger material is inserted. The leading portion of the hanger material is severed or cut from the remainder of the roll while it is positioned in the hanger. An edge of the calendar or work piece is inserted between the spaced legs of the slide and initially crimped between the spaced legs. The hanger is severed from the roll either prior to the initially crimping operation, during the initial crimping operation or immediately there after. The crimping of the slide onto the edge of the calendar or work piece securely positions the hanger to the slide and calendar prior to the completion of the tinning process.

This invention relates to document slides. More specifically, this invention relates to an improved hanger for a document or calendar slide and the associated method and system for binding a document with such a slide and hanger.
Slides for binding a margin of a calendar, poster, and the like are well known. A slide is generally an elongate strip of metal which may be folded or crimped one or more times onto the margin of an item, such as a calendar or poster. Examples of slides are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,906,024 and 2,042,912, each of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The vertex of the elongated V-shaped strip of sheet metal separates the two sides or legs of the V-shaped strip. Typically, one leg of the V-shaped strip is shorter or narrower, and the other leg is longer or wider. The slide also typically contains a hanger which may be a separate piece attached to the V-shaped sheet metal strip or is an eyelet stamped into the V-shaped sheet metal strip. The hanger of the first type is typically made out of plastic and is staked or attached at the approximate longitudinal center of the metal strip by one or more sheet metal burrs or rivets. The V-shaped strip of sheet metal is attached to a calendar by folding or crimping it onto the margin of the calendar. The hanger can then be used to hang and display the calendar at a desired location, e.g., a wall. The surface of the slide that is visible when it is displayed is often painted to prevent oxidization and for aesthetic purposes.
Attaching a slide to the margin or edge of a calendar, poster, or the like, is commonly referred to as "tinning". Tinning calendars is an economical means for finishing calendars that are commonly used by companies for advertising purposes. Also, it is advantageous to tin other hanging documents, such as posters, maps, and training guides, so that they may hang neatly and be easily moved from one location to another.
Certain known machines for tinning have been manual, fully automatic or semi-automatic so that large numbers of slides per hour may be applied to individual calendars. Such tinners are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,707,194; 6,042,319 and 6,698,988, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. A calendar is fed into the folded metal strip, whereafter the metal strip is cut to the width of the calendar to form the slide. The slide is then crimped upon the calendar to sandwich the calendar therein. Thereafter, the slide is folded a second time to produce a second bend which is then crimped back upon itself to complete the tinning process.
There are a number of problems with these prior art slides. First, the slides with a separate plastic hanger that is staked or riveted to the slide require added effort to accurately position and stake the plastic hanger to the slide. The rivets or stakes used to secure the hanger may snag or scratch items, including adjacent slides when arranged in stack or magazine of similar slides. Moreover, slides of this type require special handling during the tinning process as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/321,413, filed Dec. 17, 2002 and Ser. No. 10/369,408, filed Feb. 18, 2003, each of which is assigned to the assignee of this invention and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Another problem with known slides of the type in which the hanger is formed of an eyelet stamped from the metal of the slide itself is the difficulty a user encounters when hanging the calendar or other workpiece. One such problem is the opening in the eyelet is too small and not configured to accept the head of a nail, hook or other wall hanging device there through.
A further problem is that the user can not conveniently and easily access the eyelet hanger to bend it into place for use relative to the remainder of the slide. Typically, after the tinning process the hanger remains in place on the associated leg of the slide and juxtaposed to the back face of the calendar or workpiece. The hanger must then be bent or folded relative to the remainder of the slide so that it projects upwardly from the top edge of the slide and calendar and is accessible for hanging. However, known eyelet hangers stamped into the slide can be very difficult to access and bend relative to the slide once the slide is tinned onto the calendar.
As such, an improved calendar slide and hanger and associated system and method of tinning are needed that overcomes these and other problems with known slides and hangers of this type.


A system and method for substantially reducing oscillation produced by a network amplifier. An exemplary method includes receiving a cellular signal at a first antenna of a network amplifier and applying a first amplification factor to the cellular signal. The resultant amplified cellular signal is transmitted to a target destination via a second antenna. A first signal level of the cellular signal is measured while the first amplification factor is being applied to the cellular signal. Then, a second amplification factor that is less than the first amplification factor is applied to the cellular signal, during which a second signal level of the cellular signal is measured. If the second signal level is significantly less than the first signal level, the first amplification factor is reduced by a predetermined amount.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cellular network amplifiers. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for dynamically controlling a network amplifier to provide an optimal gain level and to minimize amplifier oscillation.
2. The Relevant Technology
In recent years, cellular ("cell" or "mobile") telephones have dramatically increased in popularity. A growing number of people are relying exclusively on cell phones, and are abandoning their traditional land line telephone services in favor of the convenience of the mobility of cell phones. This increase in cell phone reliance has resulted in the need for reliable cellular signal coverage over a wider area.
Use of cell phones in areas having a weak signal often result in dropped calls which can be annoying for the cell phone user and expensive for the wireless service provider. Dropped calls typically result when the signal between the cell phone and the base station is lost. A loss of signal may occur for a number of reasons, including interference due to buildings or mountains, or an increase in distance between the cell phone and the base station. Therefore, a particular need exists to increase the reliability of cell phones near large buildings and in vehicles driving long distances in remote areas.
Attempts have been made to increase the reliability of cell phones through use of cell phone signal boosters, also known as cellular network amplifiers. Cellular network amplifiers receive the cellular signal sent from a base station, amplify the signal, and retransmit the signal to one or more cell phones. Similarly, the cellular network amplifier receives the signals from one or more cell phones, amplifies the signals, and retransmits the signals to the base station.
Cellular network amplifiers are typically placed in relatively close proximity to one or more cell phones, and serve the purpose of increasing the level of the signals being transmitted to and from the cell phones so that the cell phones can communicate with base stations that would otherwise be out of range. Some amplifiers are configured to be integrated with the cell phone itself or with a cell phone cradle. Alternatively, other amplifiers are configured to be placed in a separate location from the cell phone itself For example, a cellular network amplifier may be placed in a user's vehicle, or in or near a building that would otherwise have poor reception.
Conventional cell phone signal boosters apply constant gain levels to the signal passing through the amplifier. In general, signal boosters typically increase signal power to the maximum allowable power as permitted by the relevant governing agency. Producing this maximum regulatory allowable power can often be beneficial where the signal booster is located a long distance from the base station. However, if the signal booster is located within close proximity to a base station and the amplifier gain is too high, the signals transmitted from the signal booster may cause interference to be introduced in the surrounding cellular network by overloading the base station. Furthermore, over-amplification may also result in an unstable amplifier, causing unwanted oscillation. Both of these conditions will likely cause harmful interference to the base station and the cell phones connected to it.
The tendency for many cell phone signal boosters to cause interference creates a significant problem for wireless service providers by causing degradation to the overall quality of their service. Since wireless service providers often evaluate and approve cellular network amplifiers before they are used in the providers' systems, the providers are unlikely to approve signal boosters that cause interference.

Detection and elimination of oscillation within cellular network amplifiers


This invention relates to a method and apparatus for selecting carriers to be measured by a subscriber unit (301,303, 501). The subscriber unit (301, 303, 501) is served by a communication system and is operable to measure carriers in a frequency band, which typically belongs to a different communication system. The apparatus comprises a performance processor (329) for determining a measuring performance characteristic of the subscriber unit (301, 303, 501) related to the measurement performance of the subscriber unit (301, 303, 501) when measuring in the frequency band. The apparatus furthermore comprises a carrier subset selector (331) for selecting a subset of carriers in the frequency band to be measured by the subscriber unit. The subset of carriers is selected dependent on the measuring performance characteristic. The invention is applicable to dual 2nd and 3rd generation cellular communication systems such as GSM/UMTS.

In a cellular communication system, each of the subscriber units (typically mobile stations, communication terminals, wireless devices, user equipment, remote terminals etc) communicates with a fixed base station. Communication from the subscriber unit to the base station is known as uplink, and communication from the base station to the subscriber unit is known as downlink. The total coverage area of the system is divided into a number of separate areas or cells, each predominantly covered by a single base station. The cells are typically geographically distinct with an overlapping coverage area with neighbouring cells. FIG. 1 illustrates a cellular communication system 100. In the system, a base station 101 communicates with a number of subscriber units 103 over radio channels 105. In the cellular system, the base station 101 covers users within a certain geographical area 107, whereas other geographical areas 109, 111 are covered by other base stations 113, 115. Some overlap areas 117 can be covered by more than one cell.
As a subscriber unit moves from the coverage area of one cell to the coverage area of another cell, the communication link will change from being between the subscriber unit and the base station of the first cell, to being between the subscriber unit and the base station of the second cell. This is known as a handover. Specifically, some cells may lie completely within the coverage of other larger cells.
All base stations are interconnected by a fixed network. This fixed network comprises communication lines, switches, interfaces to other communication networks and various controllers required for operating the network. A call from a subscriber unit is routed through the fixed network to the destination specific for this call. If the call is between two subscriber units of the same communication system, the call will be routed through the fixed network to the base station of the cell in which the other subscriber unit currently is. A connection is thus established between the two serving cells through the fixed network. Alternatively, if the call is between a subscriber unit and a telephone connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) the call is routed from the serving base station to the interface between the cellular mobile communication system and the PSTN. It is then routed from the interface to the telephone by the PSTN.
Traditional traffic in mobile cellular communication systems has been circuit switched voice data where a permanent link is set up between the communicating parties. In the future, it is envisaged that data communication will increase substantially and typically the requirements for a remote terminal to transmit data will not be continuous, but will be at irregular intervals. Consequently it is inefficient to have a continuous link set up between users. Instead a significant increase in packet based data traffic is expected, where the transmitting remote terminal seeks to transmit the data in discrete data packets when necessary. An example of a packet based system is the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) introduced for the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM). Further details on data packet systems can be found in 'Understanding data communications: from fundamentals to networking, 2nd ed.', John Wiley publishers, author Gilbert Held, 1997, ISBN 0-471-96820-X.
A cellular mobile communication system is allocated a frequency spectrum for the radio communication between the subscriber units and the base stations. This spectrum must be shared between all subscriber units simultaneously using the system.
One method of sharing this spectrum is by a technique known as Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). In a TDMA communication system, the frequency spectrum is typically divided into a number of separate frequency channels or carriers and for each of these carriers a plurality of subscriber units are served by being allocated distinct time intervals. Thus in the example of the IDMA communication system GSM, the frequency spectrum is divided into 200 kHz frequency channels each of which is divided into eight separate time slots. A subscriber unit is allocated a specific time slot on a given frequency channel for communication with the serving base station. Further details of GSM can be found in 'The GSM System for Mobile Communications', Bay Foreign Language Books, authors Michel Mouly and Marie-Bernadette Pautet, 1992, ISBN 2950719007.
Another method of sharing cellular spectrum is by a technique known as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). In a Direct Sequence CDMA (DS-CDMA) communication system, the signals are multiplied by a high rate code whereby the signal is spread over a larger frequency spectrum. A narrowband signal is thus spread and transmitted as a wideband signal. At the receiver, the original narrowband signal is regenerated by multiplication of the received signal with the same code used to spread the signal in the transmitter. A signal which has been spread by use of a different code will not be de-spread by the receiver but will remain a wide band signal. It will then be removed by filtering after the de-spreading operation. In the receiver, the majority of interference from signals in the same frequency spectrum as the wanted signal can thus be removed by filtering. Consequently, a plurality of subscriber units can be accommodated in the same wideband spectrum by allocating different codes for different subscriber units. Codes are chosen to minimise the interference caused between subscriber units typically by choosing orthogonal codes when possible. A further description of CDMA communication systems can be found in 'Spread Spectrum CDMA Systems for Wireless Communications', Glisic & Vucetic, Artech house Publishers, 1997, ISBN 0-89006-858-5. Examples of CDMA cellular communication systems are IS 95 and the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS).
Currently many cellular communication system operators are in the process of rolling out UMTS or other 3G communication systems. It is typically intended that these 3G systems will interoperate with the 2G communication systems such as GSM. Specifically, it is expected that UMTS communication systems will initially be rolled out in separate islands of coverage, and consequently most of the initial release mobiles will be dual mode UMTS/GSM mobiles, in order to enable use outside areas of UMTS coverage. Effective handover between UMTS and GSM is thus imperative when mobiles roam in and out of UMTS coverage.
UMTS and GSM standards are being written in a way to enable implementation of two types of multi-RAT (Radio Access Technology) mobiles, namely single receiver and dual receiver mobiles. Dual receiver mobiles can simultaneously receive both GSM and UMTS signals, so these mobiles can quickly perform measurements necessary for inter-system handover during active calls. However, single receiver mobiles can only measure other systems during idle periods, when the receiver of the subscriber unit is not active in receiving a call. In order to permit single receiver subscriber units to measure during an active UMTS call a compressed mode of operation has been standardised. In this method, the information of the active call is transmitted at increased data rate, thereby freeing up a time interval during which GSM measurements can be made. Single receiver mobiles in active GSM calls can perform UMTS measurements during GSM idle frames (the mobile synthesizer switching time does not allow UMTS measurements during idle GSM time slots). This results in long inter-RAT synchronisation times, e.g. a single receiver mobile in an active GSM call may require 1 second to synchronise to one UMTS cell under good channel conditions and 5–16 seconds under poor channel conditions. This is a highly unacceptable delay, which will result in decreased handover performance and an increased number of dropped calls.
Hence, the current schemes for measuring carriers result in unacceptable delays and degraded handover performance and there is thus a need for an improved system for measuring carriers.

Method and apparatus for selecting carriers


Graphene quantum dots are functionalized by covalently bonding a corrosion inhibitor molecule thereto. In a useful method, a corrosion inhibitor compound is blended with a graphene quantum dot-tagged corrosion inhibitor compound, and the blend is applied to a metal surface, such as the interior of a carbon steel pipe. The blend inhibits corrosion arising from contact with produced water generated by hydrocarbon recovery from one or more subterranean reservoirs. The produced water having the blend dispersed therein is irradiated with a source of light having a selected first range of wavelengths, and the luminescent emission of the graphene quantum dot-tagged corrosion inhibitor is measured at a selected second range of wavelengths, thereby providing for real-time measurement of corrosion inhibitor concentration within the pipe.

Water sources are injected into the earth and/or recovered from the earth during subterranean hydrocarbon recovery processes such as hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and tertiary oil recovery. In one or more such processes a water source called "injectate" is injected into a subterranean formation. Injectates include water and a selected amount of dissolved solids or solvents therein. In one or more such processes a water source called "produced water" is recovered, i.e. flows back from the subterranean formation and is collected. Produced water includes one or more of injectate, connate (native water present in the subterranean formation along with the hydrocarbon), sea water, and anywhere from about 0.001 wt % to as much as 95 wt % hydrocarbon liquids or solids entrained (dispersed, emulsified, or dissolved) in the produced water. One or more of the injectate and the produced water can include salts and/or other dissolved solids, liquids, or gasses that cause corrosion of the metal pipelines used to transport the water sources toward, into, out of, or away from a subterranean formation. As a result, almost all operators in the oil and gas industry employ corrosion inhibitors to reduce internal corrosion in metal pipelines contacted with produced water.
The physical and chemical properties of produced water vary considerably depending on the geographic location of the field, the geological formation with which the produced water has been in contact for thousands of years, and the type of hydrocarbon product being produced. Produced water properties and volume can even vary throughout the lifetime of a reservoir. If water flooding operations are conducted in connection with tertiary oil recovery, produced water properties and volumes vary even more dramatically as additional injectate is injected into the formation.
A suite of laboratory tests under simulated field conditions are conventionally conducted to identify corrosion inhibitor dosage to reach the operator's various performance requirements before field deployment. When used in the field, corrosion inhibitors are added to a pipe carrying an injectate or a produced water at a rate to initially target a laboratory determined concentration of corrosion inhibitor. Ideally, because of differences between the laboratory and field environments, the corrosion inhibitor addition rate is further optimized in the field based on corrosion monitoring, which is assumed to be representative of the system. The corrosion monitoring is further complemented with corrosion inhibitor residual analysis, that is, measurement of residual corrosion inhibitor concentration at the end of a pipe. However, in systems lacking means of corrosion monitoring, operators often rely solely on residual monitoring—particularly in the case of produced water—to ensure that the corrosion inhibitor concentration is within a targeted range.
Residual analysis of corrosion inhibitor concentration in produced water sources is conventionally conducted in the field using colorimetric techniques. Such field methods are advantageous in that results can be rapidly gained and appropriate corrosion inhibitor dose adjustment can be made fairly quickly. However, these approaches are unable to independently identify and quantify individual active components of corrosion inhibitors due to both the presence of more than one corrosion inhibitor, and/or the presence of one or more additives, and/or the presence of residual hydrocarbon products entrained in the produced water.
For greater accuracy and speciation, a sample can be sent to the laboratory for more advanced techniques such as liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LCMS) analysis. However, LCMS analysis takes much longer than simple colorimetric techniques employed in e.g. field monitoring.
Thus, improved residual analysis techniques for corrosion inhibitors are needed. Specifically, there is a need in the industry to provide compositions and methods for rapid corrosion inhibitor concentration measurement in injectate and produced water sources. There is a need for such compositions and methods to useful on-demand and in the field during subterranean hydrocarbon recovery processes. There is a need for such compositions and methods to provide rapid results that enable such measurements to be made in real time. There is a need for such compositions and methods to provide resolution of one or more distinct corrosion inhibitor species from other corrosion inhibitor species, from other additives present in the water source, and from hydrocarbon products entrained in the water. There is a need for non-polluting, nontoxic, environmentally friendly compositions for such purposes.
Fluorescence "tagging", that is, bonding a fluorescent molecule to a corrosion inhibiting molecule, is a potential method for providing such a means of quantifying a single species of corrosion inhibitor in a water source. In such an embodiment, an operator in the field could simply irradiate a water sample with a selected range of wavelengths of light, specifically within the excitation range known to cause fluorescence of the fluorescent tagged corrosion inhibitor, and measure the resulting amount of fluoresced light generated by the fluorescent tagged corrosion inhibitor. However, major roadblocks exist in implementing such imaging technologies due to the presence of intrinsic background fluorescence emitted by hydrocarbons entrained particularly in produced water. Further, fluorescent molecules selected have different photophysical properties that further can be significantly affected by bonding the fluorescent molecule to the corrosion inhibitor. In some cases, fluorescence is reduced below a useful level or is even destroyed by bonding a particular corrosion inhibitor to the fluorescent molecule.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Compositions and methods for corrosion inhibitor monitoring


The system operates with a signal transmission/reception apparatus such as a receive antenna, or a coaxial system or the like, while the antenna is receiving information signals and it operates by injecting a low power pseudo-noise digital signal into the antenna and detecting reflected energy, the magnitude of which depends on the condition of the antenna. The reflected signal is processed and compared with the original test signal to produce a digital number representing the condition of the antenna. The digital number is compared with a table of numbers in a processor to determine the condition of the antenna.

The present day extensive use of wireless communications, for example with cellular telephones, presents new problems in system maintenance. With the large number of antennas necessary to meet the present and growing demand for coverage, even the routine inspection of antennas becomes costly and time consuming. Because of coverage needs, many antennas are placed in remote locations and in locations which are relatively difficult to access and this increases the difficulty for regular inspections needed for system maintenance.
Normally, antennas are impedance matched to the connected transmitter or receiver to provide maximum power transfer to and from the antenna. When an antenna is damaged it becomes mismatched and power is reflected from the connection. For a transmit antenna, power is reflected back to the transmitter. This reflected power is generally large and can be detected by special hardware to determine that the antenna is mismatched and possibly damaged.
For a receive antenna with a mismatch, the amount of power transferred to the receiver is reduced. Thus the receiver does not have a direct indication of its antenna's mismatch. Power can be transmitted to the receive antenna and the reflected power measured to determine a mismatch. However, up to the present time, because received communication signals have low power, the receiver would always have to shut off during the measurement process since the transmitted power of the measurement system would interfere with the low power received communication signals.

System for testing signal transmission/reception apparatus


In a method for controlling transmission power in a cellular communication system which utilizes a technique for canceling multiple access interference, and in which a receiver controls the transmission power of a transmitter on the basis of a received signal, power control is carried out on the received signal after the received signal has been subjected to interference cancellation.

The invention relates to a method for controlling transmission power in a cellular communication system in which some method for cancelling multiple access interference is utilized and in which a receiver controls the transmission power of a transmitter on the basis of a received signal.
When data transmission systems are designed and implemented, it is endeavored to maximize the number of simultaneous users on an available frequency band without compromising the quality of the transmission. An essential problem is simultaneous transmission and reception of the signals of several simultaneous users, so that the signals cause as little interference to each other as possible. Owing to this fact and the available transmission capacity, several different transmission protocols and multiple access methods have been developed, the most common of which in particular in mobile communication are the FDMA and the TDMA methods, and lately also the CDMA method. The present invention is suited for use in particular in CDMA cellular communication systems.
CDMA is a multiple access method, which is based on the spread spectrum technique, and which has been applied recently in cellular communication systems, in addition to the prior FDMA and TDMA methods. CDMA has several advantages over the prior methods, such as the simplicity of frequency planning and spectral efficiency, which results in a large capacity, i.e. the number of simultaneous users on a given frequency band.
In CDMA, the narrow-band data signal of the user is multiplied to a relatively wide band by means of a spreading code having a remarkably broader band than the data signal. Bandwidths used in known test systems are e.g. 1.25 MHz, 10 MHz and. 25 MHz. In connection with the multiplication, the data signal spreads onto the whole of the band used. All users transmit simultaneously by using the same frequency band. An individual spreading code is used on each connection between the base station and the mobile station, and the signals of the users may be distinguished from each other in the receivers on the basis of the spreading code of each user. An attempt is made for choosing the spreading codes so that they are mutually orthogonal, i.e. they do not correlate with each other.
Correlators or adapted filters in CDMA receivers implemented in a conventional way are synchronized with the desired signal, which is identified on the basis of the spreading code. The data signal is returned in the receiver onto the original band by multiplying it by the same spreading code as in the transmission phase. The signals which have been multiplied by some other spreading code neither correlate nor return to the narrow band in an ideal case. They thus appear as noise from the point of view of the desired signal. The aim is thus to detect the signal of the desired user among several interfering signals. In practice, the spreading codes are not completely non-correlated, and the signals of other users complicate the detection of the desired signal by distorting the received signal. This interference caused by the users for each other is termed as multiple access interference.
The mutual interference caused by simultaneous users for each other described above is the decisive factor for the capacity of the CDMA cellular communication system. The interference may be reduced e.g. by attempting to keep the transmission power levels of the mobile stations as low as possible by means of accurate power control. The power control may be based on some parameter measured or calculated from a received transmission, such as the received power, the signal-to-noise ratio or other quality parameter.
It is advantageous from the point of view of the capacity of the CDMA system if the base station receives the signal from all mobile stations with the same power. However, accurate and fast power control has been difficult to implement, and active reception methods based on interference cancellation thus have also been developed for reducing the interference. Such methods include, for example, interference cancellation methods (IC) and the multiuser detection (MUD). From the point of view of the present invention, the above mentioned reception methods are equal, and in the following they will be generally termed as interference cancellation methods.
In the solutions disclosed above, power control and interference cancellation are discussed as separate solutions. Conventional power control does not take into account the interference cancellation methods which are possibly used in the system, and which also improve the quality of the signal in the receiver, and conventional power control has thus resulted in an under-optimal result, in which case the available capacity has not been successfully utilized in the best possible way.

Power control method in a cellular communication system, and a receiver


An airbag system includes an airbag, a retainer for retaining the airbag, a module cover having a vertical wall for covering an outer periphery of the airbag and capable of moving forward to approach the retainer and moving backward to return to an initial position, and a plate spring member mounted under the retainer and having an upper outer periphery portion for supporting the vertical wall of the module cover and for urging the module cover in a backward direction. A moving contact of a horn switch is provided to the module cover and brought into conduction when the module cover moves forward.

The present invention relates to an airbag system including a horn switch, and more specifically, to an airbag system in which only a module cover moves to turn on the horn switch when the module cover is pushed.
A driver-seat airbag system mounted on a steering wheel of a car includes a retainer (base plate); an airbag disposed in the retainer in a folded state and having a gas inlet with periphery mounted to the retainer; a module cover covering the folded airbag; and a gas-generating inflator (gas generator) provided at an outer periphery side of the retainer in a radial direction. When the inflator is activated to generate gas, the airbag expands to tear open the module cover, so that the airbag deploys in a vehicle cabin to protect an occupant in a driver seat. A steering wheel generally has a function of blowing a horn (warning horn) in addition to a function of steering a car.
A driver-seat airbag system has been proposed in which a horn switch is turned on to blow the horn when a module cover is pushed (refer to Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-114057). The airbag system is constructed such that the retainer is fixed to the steering wheel and only the module cover moves. Specifically, the retainer has a sidewall extending vertically from an outer periphery thereof, and a vertical wall of the module cover is supported on the outer periphery of the retainer sidewall to be movable vertically. A fixed-side contact is disposed on a fixed-side contact support section projecting from the outer periphery of the retainer sidewall, and a moving-side contact facing the fixed-side contact is disposed on a bracket provided on the outer periphery of the vertical wall of the module cover.
When an operator pushes the module cover, the module cover moves downwardly toward the retainer, so that the moving-side contact contacts the fixed-side contact to turn on the horn switch, thereby blowing the horn. When the module cover is released, the module cover is urged upwardly by a coil spring provided between the fixed-side contact and the moving-side contact (between the fixed-side contact support section and the bracket) to return to an initial position.
In the conventional airbag system, the fixed-side contact, the moving-side contact, and the coil spring for urging the module cover in the opposite directions are disposed at the outer periphery side of the airbag and the retainer. Accordingly, the entire airbag system inevitably becomes large in the radial direction, thereby making it difficult to reduce the size thereof.
In view of the problem described above, an object of the present invention is to provide an airbag system in which only a module cover moves to turn on a horn switch when pushed, thereby reducing a size of the airbag system.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.


Communication endpoints, software update servers, and related methods are disclosed. A communication endpoint includes a data storage device including a boot loader partition, a boot loader settings partition, and a plurality of combo image partitions. A method includes receiving an update package including a new combo image and one or more repair modules configured to diagnose and repair at least one of a boot loader, boot loader settings, and a file system of the communication endpoint. The method also includes replacing a combo image stored on one of the plurality of combo image partitions with the new combo image, and executing at least one of the one or more repair modules. A software update server includes a data storage device including the update package, and communication elements configured to transmit the update package to the communication endpoint.

Systems including software elements, such as, for example, communication systems for audibly impaired people (e.g., deaf, hard-of-hearing, and speech impaired people) rely heavily on software updates to maintain reliability of software, and to incorporate new technological advances into existing devices. Conventionally, a great deal of time and effort has been required of software developers to work out issues arising from confusion between multiple different versions of the same software. For example, a first software product may have dependencies on certain versions of other software products. If the correct versions of the other software products are not used or available, the first software product may not function correctly.
As another example, a new software version may not be compatible with a system executing a predecessor software version. If the software is updated to the new version, the new version may not function properly.


A lead frame for manufacturing a semiconductor device has at least one set of substantially parallel leads having inner ends for connection to a semiconductor chip, outer ends for external connection and central portions therebetween and an outer tiebar interconnecting the outer ends and having an elongated guide hole therein, the longer dimension of the guide hole being parallel to the leads. A lead bending die has a locating pin respectively corresponding to and received in sliding engagement in each guide hole. The die maintains a center portion of them lead frame in a first plane and, with each locating pin remaining in sliding engagement within the respective, elongated guide hole, bends the central portions of the leads thereby to dispose the respective outer ends of the leads in a second plane, displaced from the first plane. The outer tiebar and the sliding engagement of the locating pin in the guide hole serve to prevent undesirable deformation of the leads as a result of the bending operation. The central surface portion of the die further includes a recess for receiving at least a part of a package which seals a semiconductor chip therewithin. The lead frame may include plural sets of substantially parallel leads with corresponding outer tiebars and associated guide holes extending from respective, plural edges of the package.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lead frame having a plurality of leads, a semiconductor device made by the use of said lead frame, a lead bending die for bending the leads of the lead frame, and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many semiconductor devices have been manufactured by mounting a semiconductor chip to a lead frame, bonding the semiconductor chip to the leads of the lead frame, and then forming a package by sealing the semiconductor chip with plastic molding or the like. There are several types of semiconductor devices, classified by the arrangement of the leads (pins). Semiconductor devices are often used with leads bent substantially perpendicular to a plane of the semiconductor chip, and for this purpose, the manufacturing process includes the step of bending the leads after packaging.
Recently, electronic equipment tends to be constructed with increased packaging density, and thus it is required that individual semiconductor devices be small in size or the number of leads per semiconductor device be increased. This requires that the width of each lead and the gap between adjacent leads be narrowed. However, a problem arises if the width and the gap are narrowed, in that troubles such as undesirable deformation occurs in the leads, for example, during the bending of the leads. Accordingly, it is desired to solve this problem.
Leads of lead frames are often made by etching, thereby the width of the lead and the gap between adjacent leads are narrowed. Also, leads of lead frames are sometimes made during a punching step.
The requirements to minimize the pitch of the leads are increasing limitlessly and, recently, the width of the leads has been narrowed to such a degree that the same corresponds to the thickness of the leads. FIGS. 7A to 7C of the attached drawings show cross-sections of typical leads for illustrating that the narrow lead tends to transversely coolapse. The lead 1 shown in FIG. 7A has a width greater than the thickness thereof, and the lead 2 shown in FIG. 7B has a width substantially equal to the thickness thereof. As will be apparent, if the width of the lead is narrowed, an unstable deformation occurs in the lead. For example, the lead 1 having a large width will not tend to deform if a transverse force F is applied to the lead 1, but the lead 2 having a small width will tend to deform widthwise (transversely) if a transverse force F is applied to the lead 2; the lead 2 of FIG. 7B thus may be deformed into the shape of the lead 3 shown in FIG. 7C. Therefore, in the step of bending the leads 2 after the step of forming a semiconductor package 5, the leads 2 shift widthwise (transversely) from their predetermined bent positions, as shown in FIG. 8, and it is difficult for such a semiconductor device to be accurately mounted on a circuit board.

Lead frame and method of manufacturing a semiconductor device


The present invention relates to a method for readjusting the reference frame of a three-dimensional image of a patient on the reference frame of this patient placed in a operating chamber, including the step of placing on the patient a device having a predetermined position relation with the patient""s anatomic structure. The present invention also relates to various devices applicable to a wide series of patients and having a predetermined relation with the patient""s anatomic structure. Thus, a device applicable to a patient""s head includes an element including three anatomic bearings to bear against the forehead and the root of the nose, and a holding bar coupled to the patient""s ears.

The present invention relates to the field of medical imaging applicable to computer-assisted surgery.
A conventional equipment used for computer-assisted surgery, or more specifically computer-assisted surgical acts, includes a three-dimensional localization system that determines the positions an spatial orientations of marking means mounted on instruments, pointers, sensors, or anatomic structures, which localization system may be optical, magnetic, mechanical, ultrasonic, inertial, etc.
In this type of surgical intervention, three-dimensional images of the patient to be operated on are performed prior to the intervention. These images can be performed several days before the intervention and they are performed in the room where the medical imaging equipment (scanner, magnetic resonance MRI, etc.) is. During the surgical intervention, the pre-recorded images and the position of an intervention tool acting on the patient are desired to be simultaneously observed. The pre-recorded images thus have to be transposed to the operating reference frame. In other words, the reference frame of the pre-recorded images has to be readjusted on a reference frame linked to the patient.
For this purpose, conventionally, specific points of the patient or material structures are made to correspond with the same points or structures repeated in the pre-recorded images. Further, once this correspondence has been established once, it is desired to be able to recover it if the patient moves, if he is displaced or upon another intervention. For this purpose, a reference body, the motions of which, followed by a localization system, are determined and used to readjust the pre-recorded images on the patient, is attached to the patient.
Various reference body fastening means are possible.
In neurosurgery and in brain radiotherapy, known systems use a ring placed around the skull and on which are installed tags visible in the localization system. These generally are relatively light so-called stereotactic frames, which are attached by tightening around the head or by fastening in the cranium.
In ENT surgery, known systems use a flexible helmet that encompasses the patient""s head and that is globally tightened around the head, as well as systems using a nasal bearing and pins that are placed in the ears. These two types of systems do not provide a good stability along time and can generate significant inaccuracies, especially if they are disassembled and assembled back on the patient.
In orthopedic surgery, it is known to place in the operated bone rods with screws on which the marking means are then fastened; more specifically, in spine surgery, pliers with jaws that are tightened on the spinal crests of the operated vertebras are generally placed. The marking means are then installed on these pliers. Such fastenings are rigid and invasive.
None of these fastening devices brings the reference body to come to a predetermined position with the patient""s anatomic structure and, to readjust the reference of the pre-established three-dimensional images on the reference frame of the marking means, the position of the reference body with respect to the patient first has to be found, and the patient""s anatomic structures then have to be readjusted on the reference frame of the reference body. This has the disadvantage of requiring localization of anatomic points of the patient and can be a source of errors. Further, if for any reason, the fastening device has to be removed from the patient, it will be necessary to resume this localization of anatomic points of the patient to determine the new relation between the position of the new location of the fastening device and the patient""s anatomic structure.
Besides, fastening devices are known that follow the shape of anatomic structures.
Thus, in general radiotherapy, anatomic mattresses that follow the shape of the patient""s body have been used; such mattresses, for example thermo-inflatable mattresses, in addition to the discomfort that they cause, in practice only provide a poor accuracy.
The use of made-to-measure moulds or templates for each patient such that they coincide with the external shape of an anatomic structure defined on medical images of this structure is also known. This solution has the disadvantage of requiring formation of an individualized template for each patient, which is heavy to implement and increases costs.
Dental castings to be fastened on the patient""s jaw or mandible have also been used; marking means are attached on these dental castings and enable the localization system to find the position of the castings. Here again, this solution has the disadvantage of requiring an individual casting for each patient. Further, a disadvantage of this system is that the dental casting must be pressed against the teeth all along the system use and, besides, the bulk of such castings can be disturbing for certain types of surgery (oral surgery, for example) or for the placing of breathing pipes.
To perform the readjustment, prior art uses three methods.
Thus, in known methods, the reference body is placed on the patient at the time of the imaging examination. This reference body may be one of the devices described hereabove, like the nasal bearing including pins placed in the ears, or material structures, such as screws, balls, rings, stuck against the skin or inserted in a patient""s bone. This reference body is easily found on the obtained images, for example by application programs. The position of the reference body must not vary and these methods have the disadvantage of having to leave, on the patient, the reference body between the imaging examination and the surgical intervention. In practice, it is often necessary to perform a new imaging examination just before the intervention.
In other known methods, the reference body is not placed on the patient during the imaging examination. These methods use a readjustment by means of a number of specific anatomic points of the patient. Upon intervention, an operator or a surgeon points at specific points of the patient with a sensor to find them with respect to the localization system. Application programs find these specific points on the images, which enables readjustment of the pre-recorded image during the intervention. The major disadvantage of such methods is that the finding of anatomic points necessarily is somewhat inaccurate. This can cause significant errors, especially in rotation.
Other more accurate methods use application programs having clouds of points belonging to two surfaces match together. A cloud of points (20 points, for example) is located by the surgeon on an anatomic surface of the patient and the readjustment between this surface and the homologous surface located on the images is performed by application programs using iterative convergence algorithms. Such methods have the disadvantage of requiring long computation times or of being rather unreliable if they do not start from an initial position close to the solution.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for readjusting the reference frame of a three-dimensional image of a patient on the reference frame of a patient which is easy to implement.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for readjusting the reference frame of a three-dimensional image of a patient on the reference frame of a patient, which is reliable and allows displacements of the patient.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method that does not require the step of finding, in the operating reference frame, the position of several anatomic points of a patient.
An object of the present invention is to provide a reference body fastening device which can be located by a localization system and which is easily installed.
An object of the present invention is to provide a device that can apply to a large series of patients.
An object of the present invention is to provide a device which has a good stability all along the intervention.
An object of the present invention is to provide a device which has a substantially determined position with respect to the anatomic structure on which it rests.
To achieve these objects, the present invention provides a method for readjusting the reference frame of a device placed on a patient during an intervention with respect to the reference frame of a pre-recorded three-dimensional image of this patient. The method includes the steps of:
a) placing on the patient a device applicable to several patients and having a predetermined position relation with the patient""s anatomic structure;
b) finding the position of said device with respect to a localization system; and
c) by means of the localization of said device and of the predetermined position relation of the device with the patient""s anatomic structure, determining a relation between the reference frame of the device and the reference frame of said image.
According to an embodiment, the step of determining the relation between the reference frame of the device and the reference frame of said image includes the steps of:
determining, with respect to said device, the position of points belonging to the patient""s anatomic surface,
using iterative readjustment algorithms to determine in the pre-recorded image the position of this anatomic surface, these algorithms using the predetermined position relation of the device with the anatomic structure to begin their search, and
determining a transfer array defining the relation between the reference frame of the device and the reference frame of said image.
According to an embodiment, in the case where the patient keeps a substantially stable position during the imaging, the readjustment algorithms use, whoever the patient, a single initial transfer array determined once and for all by means of said device.
According to an embodiment, the readjustment algorithms use a set of initial transfer arrays limited to the space of translations.
According to an embodiment, the readjustment algorithms use an initial transfer array and, in the case where said device enables determining the three rotation parameters of the initial transfer array, the three rotation parameters of the array are defined by choosing an arbitrary point on the patient""s surface defined on the three-dimensional image, displaying this point according to cross-section and projection views, and asking an operator to designate this point in the reference frame of the device by means of a sensor.
According to an embodiment, the readjustment algorithms use an initial transfer array and, in the case where said device enables determining certain parameters of the initial transfer array, the other parameters are defined by performing a fine readjustment based on the admissible positions so calculated and only keeping the best relation.
The present invention also provides a fastening device that can apply to a wide series of patients and support a marking means; this device includes at least three bearings intended for resting upon an anatomic structure of the patient so that a predetermined position relation between the device and the anatomic structure can be established.
According to an embodiment, the device includes:
an element including a first V-shaped bearing intended for resting upon the nasion and two other bearings intended for resting upon the forehead above the eyebrows;
first and second moulds following the shape of the patient""s ear conchas, intended for being respectively placed in one or the other of the patient""s ears;
a holding bar for holding said element in a stable position, said holding bar including a central portion intended for resting upon the element and two branches intended for being coupled to said first and second moulds.
According to an embodiment, the device further includes sliding rings having rods for coupling said branches to said first and second moulds.
According to an embodiment, said element has a multiple-position notch system located between the first bearing and the two other bearings, the notch system being intended for receiving the central portion of the holding bar and for enabling setting of the device hold pressure.
According to an embodiment, the marking means includes two lateral plates oblique with respect to each other exhibiting reference elements.
According to an embodiment, the marking means further includes a front triangular plate having at least three holes and/or at least one calibration pin.
According to an embodiment, the device, applicable to a lumbar vertebra, includes two bearings intended for being placed on the back edge of the spinal crest and pliers with a jaw perpendicular to the straight line passing through said two bearings.
According to an embodiment, the device, applicable to a thoracic vertebra, includes two bearings intended for being placed on the back edge of the spinal crest and pliers with a jaw forming, with respect to the straight line passing through the two bearings, a predetermined angle defined by the level of the vertebra.
The present invention also provides a reference pin, usable in the method of the present invention or in cooperation with the device of the present invention; the reference pin includes:
a cylindrical tip having a given diameter D, intended for inserting into a hole drilled in a bone and substantially having the same diameter D,
a flange supported by the cylindrical tip, and
a marking means enabling localization of a reference point of the reference pin.

Method for readjusting medical images on a patient and associated device


A wall element for emitting high-frequency radiation for an aircraft comprises an antenna device. The antenna device is adapted for emitting high frequency radiation. Furthermore, the antenna device is integrated in the wall element.

The present invention relates to a wall element and to a method for emitting high-frequency radiation, to a cabin module for an aircraft, to the use of a wall element in an aircraft, as well as to an aircraft comprising a wall element.
In the modern multimedia world it is necessary, in particular for business travellers, to have access to networking facilities or communication facilities while travelling. There is thus a demand for providing contactability, by radio telephony networks or by internet access, even during air travel.
However, it has been shown that data transmission by high-frequency radiation in an aircraft may interfere with the on-board electronics. In today's commercial aircraft, safety directives thus require deactivation, during the entire flight duration, of mobile telephones and other radio connections such as WLAN etc., so as to prevent causing electromagnetic interference to the on-board electronics.