In a high-load/low-vehicle velocity range that requires a torque-up effect of a torque converter (4) and shock absorption effect during transmission, the converter range is selected, and a lockup clutch (36) is fully released. On the other hand, in a low-load/high-vehicle velocity range that does not so require a shock absorption effect, the lockup range is selected, and the lockup clutch 36 is fully locked up to improve the mileage of an engine (3). Furthermore, in a low-load/low-vehicle velocity range, the slip range is selected, and the slip control for controlling the slip amount of the lockup clutch (36) to converge to a predetermined target slip amount is done, thus balancing between the torque-up effect, shock absorption effect, and the like, and the mileage, and the like.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lockup force control apparatus for a fluid coupling in a vehicle with an automatic transmission.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, an automatic transmission equipped in an automobile is built by combining a torque converter as a kind of fluid coupling, and a transmission gear mechanism, and switches the power transmission route by selectively controlling lockup and release of a plurality of friction elements such as clutches, brakes, and the like that constitute the transmission gear mechanism, thereby automatically changing gears to a desired shift range. In recent years, the torque converter comprises a lockup clutch that directly couples an input element from an engine, and an output element to the transmission gear mechanism.
More specifically, the torque converter comprises a pump (input element) which is coupled to the engine output shaft and rotates together with the engine output shaft, a turbine (output element) disposed to oppose the pump, and a stator interposed between the pump and turbine to increase torque. The torque converter transmits the rotation of the pump to the turbine via hydraulic oil, and outputs the transmitted rotation to the transmission gear mechanism via a turbine shaft coupled to the turbine. In addition to these components, a lockup clutch as a friction element is interposed between the pump and turbine. Upon locking up the lockup clutch, the pump and engine output shaft as the input side of the torque converter are directly coupled to the turbine and turbine shaft as the output shaft, and they can be rotated together.
An automobile equipped with the lockup clutch pre-stores a characteristic map pertaining to the lockup state of the lockup clutch set up with traveling conditions such as the degree of throttle opening, vehicle velocity, and the like as parameters. By substituting the current traveling conditions of the automobile into this characteristic map, the lockup state of the lockup clutch suitable for the current traveling conditions is determined.
For example, when the traveling conditions of the automobile fall within a high-load/low-vehicle velocity range (converter range), since the torque-up effect of the torque converter, the shock absorption effect during transmission, and the like are required, the lockup clutch is fully released, and is set in a converter state (release state). On the other hand, when the traveling conditions fall within a low-load/high-vehicle velocity range (lockup range) that does not so require severe transmission shock absorption effect or the like, the lockup clutch is fully locked up and is set in a lockup state (full lockup state) so as to enhance the power transmission efficiency of the torque converter and to improve the mileage or the like of an engine.
When the traveling conditions of the automobile fall within a low-load/low-vehicle velocity range (slip range), the lockup clutch is set in a slip state so as to balance between the torque-up effect, shock absorption effect, and the like obtained in the converter state and the mileage and the like obtained in the lockup state.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-99763 discloses slip control for converging the slip amount of the lockup clutch to a predetermined target slip amount in the slip range. In this slip control, the actual slip amount of the lockup clutch is calculated on the basis of the difference between the engine rotational speed (that of the engine output shaft) and the turbine rotational speed (that of the turbine shaft), and the lockup force of the lockup clutch is feedback-controlled so that the actual slip amount converges to the target slip amount which is set in advance or calculated in correspondence with the traveling conditions at that time.
During the slip control, the lockup clutch is set in the slip state, and the slip amount is controlled to converge to the predetermined target slip amount. Upon examining the torque converter state at that time in terms of the torque-up effect, for example, when the driver has pressed the accelerator pedal and the engine rotational speed has risen, since the actual slip amount deviates in a direction to become larger than the target slip amount, the torque converter state relatively approaches the converter state, and the torque-up effect becomes larger as compared to the case wherein the actual slip amount has converged to the target slip amount. On the other hand, when the actual slip amount has converged to the target slip amount again under the slip control, since the torque converter state relatively approaches the lockup state, the torque-up effect becomes smaller as compared to the case wherein the actual slip amount has deviated in a direction to become larger than the target slip amount. Hence, the driver feels acceleration or deceleration during such control, and recognizes the magnitude of such acceleration or deceleration as drive feeling in correspondence with accelerator pedal operation by driver oneself while the automobile is traveling on a flat road.
When the automobile has reached an upward slope after the flat road and the driver has additionally pressed the accelerator pedal to maintain the current vehicle velocity, the following problem may be posed. More specifically, the engine rotational speed rises in correspondence with the driver's accelerator pedal operation. In addition, since a drive load arising from the upward slope acts on the automobile, the turbine rotational speed drops. Hence, the actual slip amount deviates from the target slip amount beyond the driver's accelerator pedal operation, and the driver feels larger acceleration than the drive feeling that the driver recognized so far in correspondence with accelerator pedal operation by driver oneself on the flat road. Also, when the actual slip amount has converged to the target slip amount under the slip control, the driver feels larger deceleration than the expected drive feeling. When the driver has pressed the accelerator pedal deeper since the driver has felt larger deceleration than the drive feeling of the driver, the traveling conditions shift from the slip range to the converter range, as indicated by an arrow a in FIG. 4, and a larger torque-up effect is given after the shift timing. Hence, the driver feels larger acceleration again, and also feels busy, i.e., unnatural, since larger acceleration and deceleration than those the driver expected frequently repeat themselves.

Lockup force control apparatus for fluid coupling in vehicle with automatic transmission


A radio receiver comprises a first amplifier to amplify a received radio signal; a quadrature demodulator to demodulate the radio signal amplified by said first amplifier and thereby generate a baseband signal; a second amplifier to amplify the baseband signal; a demodulator to demodulate the baseband signal amplified by said second amplifier; and a gain controller to control timing of a change in a gain of said second amplifier, in case that changing the gain of said first amplifier and the gain of said second amplifier, on the basis of a gain of said first amplifier before and after the change.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radio receiver and a radio signal processing method.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, radio communication devices have widely spread. As a result, it is increasingly demanded to reduce the number of components and the manufacture cost for a radio circuit and manufacture the radio circuit as a monolithic IC. In order to cope with this demand, the direct conversion scheme is adopted for the radio circuits.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a conventional receiver adopting the direct conversion scheme. An antenna 10 receives an RF (Radio Frequency) signal, and an LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) 20 amplifies this RF signal. A quadrature demodulator 30 multiplies the amplified RF signal by an LO (Local Oscillator) signal supplied from a local oscillator (not illustrated). As a result, the RF signal is directly converted to a baseband signal. An LPF (Low Pass Filer) 40 conducts waveform shaping on the baseband signal, and a VGA (Variable Gain Amplifier) 50 amplifies this baseband signal. In addition, a demodulator 70 demodulates this baseband signal to a digital signal. In this way, the receiver using the direct conversion scheme converts the RF signal to a digital signal, and then demodulates it by using digital signal processing.
The baseband signal amplified by the VGA 50 is input not only to the demodulator 70 but also to a gain controller 60 and a DC offset canceller 94. In the gain controller 60, a signal strength detector 80 measures the strength of the baseband signal. A gain selector 90 decides whether to switch the gain of the LNA 20 and the gain of the VGA 50 on the basis of the measured value of the baseband signal. A gain control signal generator 92 outputs a gain control signal to the LNA 20 and the VGA 50 to switch the gain in accordance with the decision made by the gain selector 90. In this way, the gain controller 60 effects feedback control on the strength of the baseband signal.
The DC (Direct Current) offset canceller 94 removes a DC offset component from the baseband signal amplified by the VGA 50, and feeds back this to the VGA 50. By the way, problems concerning the DC offset component are described in "Research development tendency of mixer for direct conversion receiver ("Mission Impossible ? A Review of Mixers for Direct-Conversion Receivers")" written by Hiroshi Tanimoto, The Transactions of the Institute of Electronics, Information, and Communication Engineers, section C, Vol. J84-C, No. 5, pp. 337–348, May 2001.
FIGS. 9A and 9B are graphs showing gains of the LNA 20 and the VGA 50, respectively. FIG. 9C is a graph showing a transient response component of a DC offset in the output of the VGA 50. The gains of the LNA 20 and the VGA 50 are simultaneously switched.
When the LNA 20 is switched from a high gain to a low gain at a point t1 in time, the VGA 50 is switched simultaneously from a low gain to a high gain. In some cases, therefore, DC offsets of both the LNA 20 and the VGA 50 overlap each other, and a very large transient response component occurs, resulting in a degraded reception performance. This is because the LNA 20 is disposed in a stage in the radio circuit preceding the VGA 50, and consequently the transient response component of the DC offset generated in the LNA 20 is amplified by the high gain obtained after the change in the VGA 50.

Radio receiver and radio signal processing method with controlling gain


A switch has at least two switching elements and a drive member for moving at least one of the switching elements relative to the other switching element for opening and closing the switch. The at least one switching element is fixedly connected to the drive member and the drive member is a solid-state energy converter.

The present invention relates to a switch, especially a relay, with at least two switching elements. One of them is movable by a drive member relative to the other switching element for opening and closing the switch.
In known relays, the switching element are contact springs which are connected to one another by a slide. The slide is brought into its initial position by the contact springs whereby in the initial position the slide rest at the drive member which is the armature of a solenoid. When the relay is supplied with current, the armature is moved so that an opener of the relay opens and/or a closing element is closed. As soon as the relay opens, the slide, in general, is returned by the spring bias of the contact spring or by an additional spring into the initial position. The armature itself is biased by a spring force so that when the relay opens it is returned into the initial position. When fusing of the contact pieces connected to the contact springs occurs, the slide remains in its moved position while the armature is returned by the spring force into the initial position. Such a relay is constructively complicated and expensive because a plurality of contact springs and optionally additionally a return spring must be provided. This requires a large constructive size of the relay and results in considerable movable masses and thus increased switching times.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to embody a switch of the aforementioned kind such that it is comprised only of a few components, requires only a minimal constructive size and has minimal switching times.


Voltage controlled oscillator (“VCO”) circuitry includes LC tank or ring VCO circuitry and frequency divider circuitry that divides the frequency output by the oscillator circuitry by a selectable integer factor that is at least 2 in the case of a ring oscillator or at least 4 in the case of an LC tank oscillator. This arrangement allows the oscillator circuitry to operate at frequencies that are higher than the desired final output frequencies, which has such advantages as reducing the size and power consumption of the oscillator circuitry, and allowing the circuitry as a whole to have a wide range of operating frequencies while reducing the frequency range over which the oscillator circuitry may be required to operate.

This invention relates to voltage controlled oscillator ("VCO") circuitry and to methods of operating such circuitry.
Frequently desired attributes of VCO circuitry include (1) ability to operate over a wide range of frequencies (sometimes including frequencies that are quite high (e.g., in the gigahertz range)), (2) low phase noise ("jitter") at all operating frequencies, (3) low power consumption, and (4) small area requirement on an integrated circuit. To limit a VCO's power consumption, it is typical to operate it at a frequency equal to the desired output frequency (no frequency division of the VCO signal) or at half the desired frequency when quadrature outputs are used for half-rate architectures. Again, this preference to operate at the lowest frequency possible is justified by a desire to limit the oscillator's power consumption. However, low frequency operation may inconsistent with the above-mentioned possible objective of small integrated circuit area being required for the VCO.
Known VCO circuits that employ LC (inductor/capacitor) tank circuits tend to have relatively low phase noise, but are operable over only quite narrow frequency ranges. LC tank circuits that operate at relatively low frequencies are especially large users of area on an integrated circuit. Known VCO circuits that employ ring oscillators may be operable over somewhat wider frequency ranges. However, these VCOs tend to have relatively high phase noise.

Voltage controlled oscillator circuitry and methods


A device for writing data into a memory and a method thereof. The memory comprises a plurality of memory arrays. Each of the memory arrays comprises a plurality of memory cells. The data is divided into a plurality of segments. The segments are written into first memory cells of the memory cells of the memory arrays in sequence. The segments are written into second memory cells of the memory cells of the memory arrays when the first memory cells of the memory cells of the memory arrays are full, and so forth till the operation of writing the segments into the memory is completed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices for writing data into a memory and methods thereof, and in particular relates to devices for writing data into a memory in a DMB-TH system and methods thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Memory space of SDRAMs is usually divided into four Banks, which are Bank0, Bank1, Bank2 and Bank3 respectively. While writing data into an SDRAM, consequential data is saved in the four Banks respectively. Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 shows the internal recording structure of an SDRAM. The internal part of the SDRAM is divided into four memory arrays, Bank0˜Bank3. Each of the memory arrays comprises a plurality of memory cells. In conventional operational processes, while saving data in an SDRAM, the data is usually written into the memory arrays in sequence, from Bank0 to Bank3. Specifically, the memory array Bank1 would not be used until the memory array Bank0 is full. The data is written into the SDRAM completely in the aforementioned sequence.
However, according to the characteristics of an SDRAM, writing data from Bank0 to Bank3 requires a plurality of buffers to support the large number of data registering while reading and writing the data. Therefore, increased hardware is required, and data reading and writing efficiency is less than desired. Thus, a more novel method of writing data into an SDRAM more efficiently is desired.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Device for writing data into memory and method thereof


A structure for packaging an interior part such as a shelf and a door guard to prevent the interior part from being damaged due to impact and friction during transportation of a refrigerator is provided. Each of the shelf and the door guard may be accommodated in a shock-absorbing member in a state of being separated from each mounting portion to be fixed within a storage chamber. The shock-absorbing member coupled with the shelf or the door guard may be packaged by a package member and be fixed to a shelf mounting portion of an inner case.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a package structure which packages an interior part such as a shelf or a door guard such that the interior part is not damaged during transportation of a refrigerator.
2. Description of the Related Art
A refrigerator is generally a home appliance which may keep food fresh by including a storage chamber able to store the food and a cold air supply device to supply the storage chamber with cold air.
The refrigerator includes a shelf which is mounted to a shelf mounting portion provided in an inner case, and interior parts such as a door guard which is mounted to a door guard mounting portion provided at the rear of a door.
These interior parts are mounted to the respective mounting portions in an individually plastic-packaged state so as to prevent foreign matter such as dust from adhering thereto, and are then fixed by shock-absorbing members, each of which is made of a corrugated board or a Styrofoam material, so as to prevent damage due to impact during transportation of the refrigerator.
However, individually packaging the interior parts makes packaging and releasing operations cumbersome as well as being uneconomical. In addition, fixing the shelf in a state of being mounted to the shelf mounting portion of the inner case may cause a poor external appearance such as a scratch due to friction with the shelf mounting portion.


A process is described for preparing aromatic carbonates by transesterification of aliphatic carbonates with phenolic compounds in the presence of titanium compounds known per se, in which, before work-up, the transesterification mixture is cooled to a temperature below 120.degree. C., during which the mixture must remain liquid, the titanium-containing precipitate which is deposited is separated off, and the aromatic carbonate is then obtained by methods which are conventional per se.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for preparing aromatic carbonates by transesterification of aliphatic carbonates with phenolic compounds in the presence of titanium compounds. In this process, before work-up, the transesterification mixture is cooled to a temperature below 120.degree. C., during which the mixture must remain liquid, the titanium-containing precipitate which is deposited is separated off, and the aromatic carbonate is obtained by methods which are conventional per se.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that alkyl aryl carbonates and diaryl carbonates can be obtained by transesterification of dialkyl carbonates with phenolic compounds, suitable catalysts being titanium compounds. Such catalysed transesterifications are described for example in German Offenlegungsschrift 2 528 412 and German Offenlegungsschrift 2 552 907. Although titanium compounds per se are very suitable catalysts, the selectivity, particularly at long reaction times and high temperatures, leaves something to be desired, as is confirmed for example in EP 879.
It is therefore expedient not to set the degree of conversion at too high a level, since this would require long times at high temperatures; instead, the aim is to work up the transesterification mixture after achieving relatively low to medium degrees of conversion, as is also described in the aforementioned German Offenlegungsschriften.
Such transesterification mixtures have to be worked up in order to obtain the aromatic carbonates. This can be performed for example by distillation or crystallisation. Crystallisations of such mixtures are however complex operations, particularly since a substantial removal of the catalyst must be ensured. A distillative working-up is therefore preferred on account of this requirement. Since high boiling point compounds are to be separated from one another, the whole reaction mixture that is to be worked up again comes within the range of high temperatures combined with long residence times, resulting in secondary reactions, which is just what the low degrees of transesterification were intended to avoid. If on the other hand efforts are made to reduce the distillation temperatures under a very high vacuum, large gas volumes and correspondingly large apparatus combined with high investment must be expected.
The aforementioned difficulties could be avoided if the catalyst responsible for the secondary reactions could be removed from the transesterification mixture before the working-up.

Process for preparing aromatic carbonates


An LED package structure includes a lower substrate, an upper substrate disposed on the lower substrate and having a though hole exposing a portion of the upper surface of the lower substrate; an individual LED unit disposed within the through hole in the upper substrate, a conductive pattern layer disposed on the upper substrate, a conducting wire interconnecting electrically the LED unit and the conductive pattern layer, and an encapsulating body disposed on the conductive pattern layer in such a manner that the encapsulating body hermetically encloses the LED unit, the through hole in the upper substrate and an inner peripheral portion of the conductive pattern layer surrounding the through hole. The lower and upper substrates are separately formed.

Employment of an LED within an electronic device or industry is prevalent day by day. Every electronic device is targeted to produce in compact size. Since the power cost for generating light by the LED is much lower than that of the conventional fluorescent lamps and due to its compact size, the utility of LED within the electronic devices can cause the latter objects to be produced in the compact size too.
Referring to FIG. 1, a fragmentary sectional view of the conventional LED package structure 10 is shown to include a support member 14 disposed on a dielectric member 11, an LED unit 12 disposed within a recess 15 formed in the support member 14, an addressing pattern layer 16 disposed around the recess 15, connecting wires 18a, 18b electrically interconnecting the LED 12 and the pattern layer 16, and an encapsulating body 20 enclosing hermetically the LED 12, the recess 15 in the support member 14 and the inner peripheral portion of the addressing pattern layer 16 except two electrodes 22a, 22b for connection purposes.
Note that the recess 15 in the support member should have sufficient depth in order to receive an individual LED therein. The depth of the recess 15 and the planar elevation of the bottom of the recess 15 are important factors in determining the reliability of LED package structure. Uneven of the bottom surface of the recess 15 in the support member 14 can greatly affect the light emitting stability of the conventional LED package structure.
Since the conventional LED package structure is mass-produced by using an automatic process, it is somewhat difficult to maintain the uniform depth of the recess 15 in the support member 14. Even depth of the recess 15 and evenness of the bottom surface in the recess 15 are two main factors that can greatly affect the light emitting reliability of the conventional LED package structure.
For each of the LED 12, unevenness at the bottom surface of the LED 12 may lead to unstable balance on the support member 14. Moreover, unevenness at the bottom surface in the recess 15 and the LED 12 can result in displacement of the bonding wires 18a, 18b with respect to the LED unit 12, thereby greatly affecting the light emitting reliability of the conventional LED package structure.
Presently, there is urgently in need of a method to remedy the aforesaid two main factors that affect the light emitting reliability of the conventional LED package structure. The support member 14 itself has a relatively small thickness, automatically boring a precise depth in each of the recesses 15 is troublesome. Therefore, it is the main object of the present invention is to find a way improve the light emitting reliability of the conventional LED package structure.

LED package structure and mass production method of making the same


An optical fiber connector includes a fixing module, an optical fiber ferrule positioned at an end of the fixing module, and an optical fiber gripped in the fixing module. The optical fiber ferrule axially defines a through hole. An end surface of the optical fiber includes an arc surface. The optical fiber is received in the through hole of the optical ferrule.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to connectors, particularly to an optical fiber connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fiber To The Home (FTTH) is widely used in communications field, and many optical fiber connectors are needed for connecting the optical fiber. An optical fiber connector generally includes an optical ferrule with an optical fiber stub already terminated in the optical ferrule, an optical fiber holder, and a clamp sleeve sleeved on the optical fiber holder to fasten a field optical fiber. In order to improve the quality of optical coupling and minimize Fresnel losses of the optical fiber connector, there are two manners of treating a joint between the optical fiber stub and the field optical fiber. In a first manner, a matching liquid is injected in the optical fiber holder. However, the matching liquid evaporates easily. In a second manner, the optical fiber stub and the field optical fiber are joined together by melting them together. However, it is not convenient or precise to exactly join the optical fiber stub and the field optical fiber together.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

HONG FU JIN PRECISION INDUSTRY (ShenZhen) CO., LTD.


A method of validating that a user is human. A user question is generated using a computerized device. The user question is output to a user. A user response to the user question is received from the user. The user response is validated as having been provided by a human.

The present disclosure relates to question answering (QA) systems, and more specifically, to validation that a user of a QA system is human.
Conventional technologies provide challenge systems for use with computer platforms to verify that a user of the computer platform is a human and not an automated response script. Typically, an audio or visual CAPTCHA device may be used for authentication or to prevent automated software from performing actions that are undesired. A CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is generated by a person instead of by an automated device. The process usually involves a computer asking a user to complete a simple test that the computer is able to recognize. The test is designed to be easy for a computer to generate, but difficult for a computer to solve. Therefore, if a correct solution is received, it can be presumed to have been entered by a human. A common type of CAPTCHA requires the user to type letters or digits from a distorted image that appears on the screen. Such tests are commonly used to prevent unwanted automated programs from accessing a computer platform.

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of executing an instruction set having a first instruction and a second instruction, includes: reading the first instruction; determining whether the first instruction is integral with the second instruction; reading the second instruction; when the first instruction is integral with the second instruction, interpreting a first operator field of the second instruction to represent a first operator; and when the first instruction is not integral with the second instruction, interpreting the first operator field of the second instruction to represent a second operator, wherein the first operator is different to the second operator.

This invention relates generally to instruction set computing. In particular the invention relates to a method of executing an instruction set, and an execution processor for executing the instruction set.
Reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors typically have a fixed bit-width instruction size. Common sizes are 16-bits and 32-bits. 32-bits give flexibility in expressing instructions and operands but at the expense of typically larger code size than the 16-bit instruction sets.
A problem with the short (16-bit) instruction sets is that they have a restricted number of bits for expressing operators. Some processors (for example those operating the reduced instruction set computer architecture MIPS) make use of prefixes. A prefix is an instruction which is associated with another instruction. A prefix contains the same number of bits as the instruction with which it is associated. For example, the MIPS architecture uses short instructions each having 16 bits. Both an MIPS prefix and the MIPS instruction with which it is associated have 16 bits.
Prefixes have been used to signify that a field in an instruction is to be interpreted as having the same meaning but in a different location in the instruction. In a simplified example, FIG. 1a illustrates an instruction in which field A is in location 1, field B is in location 2, field C is in location 3, and field D is in location 4 of an instruction. FIG. 1b illustrates a prefix which precedes the instruction of FIG. 1a and indicates that the fields in locations 1 and 3 of the instruction are to be interchanged. FIG. 1c illustrates the interpretation that the executing processor is left with of the instruction of FIG. 1a as a result of the prefix of FIG. 1b. The operands in locations 1 and 3 have been interchanged. Now field C is in location 1, field B in location 2, field A in location 3, and field D in location 4. This example is a simplified illustration. In a real situation the prefix would be used to carry out other functions as well as indicating that the operands in locations 1 and 3 of the instruction are to be interchanged.
The example of FIGS. 1a, 1b and 1c illustrates a change in the relative location of operators within the instruction. However, short 16-bit instructions are limited compared to long 32-bit instructions in that the number of operators available for use in the short instructions is significantly reduced compared to the number of operators available for use in the long instructions due to the length of the instructions. The method illustrated in FIGS. 1a, 1b and 1c does not increase the number of operators available for use in a short instruction.
There is therefore a need for a method of executing a reduced instruction set which increases the number of operators available for use in the instruction.

Executing an instruction set using a prefix to interpret an operator field as either a first or a second operator field


A hand held exerciser includes a ball body having a resilient cover and a putty filler. The putty is preferably a tacky, water based material which is relatively freely compressed but generally does not flow in a liquid-like manner. The cover can be made with a plurality of elastomeric balloons around the putty. An outer opening in an outer balloon of the cover either is covered by a durable seal member or by attachment hardware having an attached object such as a key. The putty enables the ball to conform more exactly to one's hand grip, while allowing good resistance, weight and resiliency. The putty filler also helps to reduce unwanted spillage of filler material, and provides additional benefits not found in existing devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hand exercisers and, in particular, to hand exercisers made with an elastic outer shell having a filler material therein.
2. Description of the Background Art
A variety of hand exercisers are known in the art, such as those made of solid rubber and those made of elastomeric balloons filled with particulate material. Typically, such exercisers are used for physical exercise as well as for mental relaxation and therapeutic use.
Exemplary filled balloon type hand exercisers are the SHARPER IMAGE DEADBALL (TM) and the exerciser described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,342 (Scatterday). The SHARPER IMAGE DEADBALL (TM) is similar to that of Scatterday and was on sale prior to the filing date thereof. Scatterday '342 shows an exerciser which is made with a plurality of latex layers 6-14. As discussed on column 3 of the reference, construction of the device involves the following: "P! articulate material and lubricant that make up the core are initially inserted through hole 20 of the first latex layer 6 . . . This procedure is then repeated with the remaining layers . . . Once the core has been inserted in the final layer, glue is placed around the perimeter of hole 20 of layer 14 to fix the latex surrounding the hole to the underlying layer."
Among other problems, the Scatterday type device has problems pertaining to the filler used. Column 3, lines 10 et seq., of Scatterday states: "In practice, seeds such as millet have been used as the particles. As an alternative, the particles can be hard plastic or silicon beads or any other matter that is similar in size and shape to millet and that is hard enough to withstand compressive pressures . . . "
However, seeds such as millet disintegrate over time, damaging and/or altering the functioning thereof. Further, millet has a relatively large size such that its shape is seen through the stretched balloon layers imparting a pocked, or pimpled, appearance to the exerciser.
In addition, millet typically has a tear-like shape and sharp ends which can puncture the balloons. The use of such irregularly shaped particles can damage the balloons. Due to the thinness and the high elasticity of the balloon layers, known balloon filled exercisers have had a tendency to prematurely break or rupture--resulting in the release of particulate material therefrom.
In addition, the prior filler materials have undesirable squeezing characteristics for exercise, therapeutic uses and the like.

Hand exerciser and method of use thereof


A backlight source and a manufacture method thereof, a display device are provided. The backlight source includes a base substrate, the base substrate is divided into a plurality of light emitting regions, and at least one of the plurality of light emitting regions comprises a plurality of light emitting elements, a first common polar line, and a second common polar line. Light emitting brightness of at least one of the light emitting regions is adjustable independently.

As a flat panel display device, the TFT-LCD (Thin Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display) has characteristics of small volume, low power consumption, no radiation, and relatively low manufacture cost, and so on, and is used increasingly in the field of high performance display.
Arrangement manners of a backlight assembly of the TFT-LCD comprise a direct type and an edge type. Currently, in the direct type backlight assembly (BLU), a light emitting element arranged on a flexible printed circuit (FPC) or a printed circuit board (PCB) is provided.

Backlight source and manufacture method thereof, display device

BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


Techniques for sensor based attack reflection are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for sensor based attack reflection comprising detecting an attack at a sensor, identifying a portion of memory associated with the attack, redirecting at least the identified portion of memory to a secure network using an access point, extracting data associated with the attack on the secure network, redirecting a response to the attack from the secure network to the sensor, transmitting the response from the sensor to a network location associated with the attack, receiving a subsequent attack communication based on the response at the access point, redirecting the subsequent attack communication to the secure network, and analyzing the subsequent attack communication.

Sensors such as, for example, honeypots, may traditionally be deployed external to a firewall (e.g., on a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) network). However, more sophisticated attackers may have sufficient information to determine that network information (e.g., addresses and ports) associated with a DMZ network are not the intended targets. This may render honeypots or sensors ineffective for detecting attacks. Furthermore, some attacks may initiate from inside an internal network and may be directed towards a separate portion of an internal network. For example, a contractor or disgruntled employee with access to a corporate engineering LAN may attempt to access an accounting LAN of the corporation. Sensors located external to an internal network are ineffective to detect such attacks. Additionally, a sensor located on an internal network may have a limited or no ability to perform diagnostic actions during an attack because of a risk of exposing an internal network to malware or other threats.
In view of the foregoing, it may be understood that there may be significant problems and shortcomings associated with current sensor based attack management technologies.


A filter is formed from a laminate of two sheets having a layer of adsorbent material and a layer of flavor enhancing material in the form of a flavor or supplement layer sandwiched between the sheets. Preferably, the adsorbent layer and the flavor or supplement layer are applied by a printing process.

Filters are known for use with various fluids to remove impurities from the fluids. It is also known to enhance the flavor of fluids or to provide some addition to the fluid by passing the fluid through some flavor enhancing or supplemental material. It would be desirable if a combined structure could be provided which would both function as a filter to purify the fluid and also to enhance the flavor of or supplement the fluid. Such structure could be used for making coffee or tea or could be used with other types of fluids.

Flavor/supplement enhancing filter and method of forming and using same


A network system for implementing a cloud platform within a network to which at least one device defining a computing environment for a user has access comprises an application management module, a community management module, and a user enrollment portal. The application management module enables access to an abstract application, wherein the abstract application is associated with a concrete application defining an implementation of the abstract application for the computing environment. The community management module manages a community, wherein the community comprised of at least a user credential and the abstract application, wherein the community defines at least one of said following: a policy, a management process, and a service, under which the abstract application can be accessed by the user. The user enrollment portal supports an enrollment of the user in the community from the device, and to orchestrate a policy management mechanism to support an enforcement of the policy under which the user has access to the concrete application from the device.

A cloud infrastructure or cloud platform delivers computing as a service to one or more clients. For example, cloud platform may deliver an infrastructure (e.g. storage media), or provides software or makes particular computing platforms available to the clients. Therefore, by using cloud platforms it becomes possible to delegate setting up and the maintenance of computing systems to an external provider and therewith to increase significantly the efficiency of the IT (information technology) infrastructure.
Therefore, a cloud platform does not merely connect various components as in conventional networks, but provides instead computing services and infrastructures, which are independent of the devices used by the clients (or user). For example, a user may operate in various contexts, wherein in each of them the user may play a different role and have different responsibilities. These different roles might relate to the personal life of the user or the role of a consumer or of a parent or of a family member. On the other hand, in the working lives, a user may act as an employee or a contractor or a customer or supplier. Within these various contexts, the user may use different client devices (personal computers, mobile phones, tablets, etc) or client devices that utilize remote processing capability (e.g. applications hosted on a web site or a virtual machine hosted in a data center). Different computing environments might be installed on the client devices with local processing capabilities (e.g. different operating systems, virtual software environments, Web application, native application, container, BIOS/API, etc) to interact with the cloud platform. This lack of predetermined hardware/software poses a number of problems to be solved.

Network system for implementing a cloud platform

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


An electronic device includes: an electronic component; and a mounting member on which the electronic component is mounted. A center of gravity of the electronic component is at a position separated from the mounting member. The electronic device further includes: a rigid member having a frame shape, which is fixed to the mounting member and surrounds the electronic component in a direction perpendicular to a direction from the center of gravity of the electronic component to the mounting member; and a connecting member which connects the electronic component to the rigid member on a side opposite to the mounting member with respect to the electronic component.

An electronic device including an electronic component and a printed circuit board on which the electronic component is mounted is used for various purposes. The types of the electronic component mounted on the printed circuit board include an electronic component of a surface mount type and an electronic component of an insertion mount type.
The electronic component of the surface mount type is also called a surface mount component, a surface mount device (SMT), or a chip component and includes a main body portion and a connecting portion such as a terminal and an electrode exposed from the main body portion and connected to the printed circuit board. In the electronic component of the surface mount type, for example, the main body portion is disposed on a surface of the printed circuit board, and the terminal and the electrode are connected to a land or the like provided on the surface of the circuit board by solder or the like.
The electronic component of the insertion mount type is also called a lead component or a through-hole component, and includes a main body portion and a connecting portion such as a lead terminal protruding from the main body portion and being connected to the printed circuit board. In the electronic component of the insertion mount type, for example, the main body portion is disposed on the surface of the printed circuit board, and the lead terminal is connected to the printed circuit board by solder or the like in a state where the lead terminal is inserted in a through-hole formed in the printed circuit board.
Generally, the electronic component of the insertion mount type is larger than the electronic component of the surface mount type, and a height of the main body portion from the printed circuit board is high in a mounted state. In addition, a center of gravity of the electronic component is within the main body portion separated from the printed circuit board, and the main body portion is supported by the lead terminal having a smaller sectional area than the main body portion. Therefore, in a case where external force such as vibration and impact is externally applied to the electronic device, the main body portion of the electronic component of the insertion mount type is likely to oscillate, and stress is generated in the electronic component. Accordingly, there is a possibility that the soldered part of the lead terminal and the lead terminal may be damaged. In addition, such a problem is likely to occur even in the electronic component of the surface mount type in which the center of gravity is within the main body portion separated from the printed circuit board. Accordingly, various vibration prevention structures for the electronic component have been proposed.
For example, in JP-U-S52-20564, a rectangular parallelepiped main body portion of a lead component (indication plate) disposed on an upper surface of a circuit board is surrounded from three sides by a synthetic resin attachment body fixed to the upper surface of the printed circuit board. The elastic tongue piece provided on the attachment body is brought into contact with the main body portion of the lead component, and the buffer body is interposed between the main body portion of the lead component opposite to the elastic tongue piece and the attachment body. Accordingly, the main body portion is elastically supported, and the external vibration is absorbed by the buffer body.
Further, in JP-U-S64-30851, a main body portion of a lead component (power transistor) is connected to a metal housing of an electronic device via a thermally conductive adhesive, an insulation sheet, or a heat sink. A lead terminal of the lead component is connected to a printed circuit board via a wire.
Further, in JP-U-S63-174492, a main body portion of a lead component (a capacitor, a transistor, or a resistor) is separated from an upper surface of a printed circuit board. A soft and elastic vibration prevention material is interposed between the main body portion and the printed circuit board, or the entire main body portion is covered with the vibration prevention material.
Further, in JP-A-H06-275471, lower portions of a plurality of electrolytic capacitors are elastically supported by a rubber plate placed on an upper surface of a circuit board. In addition, upper portions of the plurality of electrolytic capacitors are elastically supported by the rubber plate disposed above the circuit board via a support. Terminals provided on the upper portions of the plurality of electrolytic capacitors are connected to a bus bar disposed above the circuit board via the support and a damper.


Preforms for producing annular parts of composite material are produced by inding a strip (1) of fibrous material around an elliptical mandrel (10) to produce an elliptical sleeve which can be cut obliquely, cutting taking place either before or after one or more densification steps. The cutting plane is inclined relative to the right cross section of the elliptical sleeve, and the inner and outer portions of the cut rings are machined to obtain circular elements. Such elements can produce annular parts of composite material having a reduced tendency to delanination under circumferential stress. The superposed layers are needling together during winding. A uniform needling density per unit area can be obtained by controlled displacement of the needle board (5) and of the elliptical mandrel (10) relative to each other as the mandrel turns, to compensate for the eccentricity of the cross section of the mandrel. These methods are particularly suitable for producing brake disk preforms.

The invention relates to methods and to apparatuses for producing annular parts of composite material and preforms for such parts, and also to the parts and to the preforms themselves. More particularly, the invention relates to methods and apparatus for producing preforms by winding a fibrous strip on a mandrel, the wound layer assembly being intended to be cut into rings either before or after densification by a matrix.
Conventional methods of producing preforms for composite material parts consist in stacking flat layers of fibrous material, cutting or machining the assembly to obtain a preform with the desired shape, and then densifying the preform. When the part to be produced is a brake disk or some other annular part, about half of the weight of the material is lost when producing annular preforms from an assembly of stacked layers.
A number of proposals have been put forward to reduce such waste. One proposal consists in assembling an annular preform to be densified from layers of fibrous material each in the form of juxtaposed sectors, the layers then being stacked. Such a method reduces waste but does not avoid it.
A further proposal made in French patent application FR-A-2 506 672 is described below with reference to FIGS. 1A to 1D. Annular or cylindrical elements are produced by winding a fibrous strip on a cylindrical mandrel (FIG. 1A) to produce a cylindrical sleeve (FIG. 1B). During winding, the superposed layers are connected together by needling. The cylindrical sleeve can be cut perpendicularly to its axis to obtain annular preforms to be densified (FIG. 1C).
A method similar to the above has also been described in French patent application FR-A-2 584 107.
That method avoids wasting material, but the parts made from preforms produced by that method have disadvantageous features which come to light during service. Brake disks are subjected to shear stresses in a tangential direction during use. The stresses are particularly high in the notches formed in the inner or outer border (FIG. 1D) to connect the disk with a moving or a fixed portion. Such shear stresses E can cause the part to delaminate, i.e., it is destroyed by the layers in the preform separating.

Methods and apparatus for making ring-shaped parts out of a composite material, as well as preforms therefor

Societe Nationale D'Etude et de Construction de Moteurs D'Aviation


A food cooking surface for a cooking appliance, a method of producing that surface and a method of cooking food with a cooking appliance having that food cooking surface. The food cooking surface is made of a metal alloy of zirconium and of at least another metal, the zirconium content is not less than 75 wt %. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the alloy contains less than 10 wt % of elements added to zirconium.

The present invention relates to the field of articles intended for the preparation and the cooking of food and more particularly the cooking surface of these articles in contact with food to be treated.
For many years, significant efforts have been developed in order to facilitate the daily preparation of meals. Among the notable progress, coatings based on fluorocarbonated polymers as nonstick coating in kitchen utensils quickly developed since the end of the 1950's. Such coatings is universally known since the process presented in the patent FR 1120749 allowed a reliable attachment of such coatings on various metals, such as aluminum.
However, such coatings remain fragile. Thus, clever ways were developed in order to mechanically reinforce the layer on its support. Many improvement patents describe methods and means allowing the scratch resistance of such coatings to be increased, by acting on the coating and/or the substrate. Despite everything, such coatings remain sensitive to the repeated use of sharpened or pointed metallic materials, such as knives or forks.
In parallel, developments were carried out on mechanically resistant surfaces on which attempts were made to improve the ease of cleaning. Metal deposition, such chromium plating on stainless steel, quasi-crystals, or nonmetallics (silicates, . . . ) thus appeared.
Quasi-crystals are a phase or metal compound presenting, at the crystallographic level, symmetries of axial rotation of the order of 5, 8, 10 or 12, like the isocahedral and decagonal phases. Such coatings are in particular described in the patent EP 0 356 287 and have the qualities of scratch resistance, even of anti-adherence in certain cases.


A liquid electrophotographic reproduction machine including an image bearing member movable along a process path; latent image means mounted along the process path for forming a latent image electrostatically on the image bearing member; a development unit mounted along the process path and containing liquid developer material including a liquid carrier and dispersed charged toner particles for developing the latent image to form a toner image; a pre-transfer station for increasing adhesiveness of the toner image, the pre-transfer station includes an applicator member which applies a cohesion increasing (Cl) solution on the toner image; and a transfer station for transferring the toner image onto a receiving substrate.

This invention relates generally to liquid ink development of images in an electrostatographic printing machine, and more particularly, concerns a method for improving transfer of develop images onto receiving substrates.
Generally, the process of electrostatographic copying is initiated by exposing a light image of an original document onto a substantially uniformly charged photoreceptive member, resulting in the creation of a latent electrostatic image of the original document on the photoreceptive member. This latent image is subsequently developed into a visible image by a process in which developer material is deposited onto the surface of the photoreceptive member. Typically, this developer material comprises carrier granules having toner particles adhering triboelectrically thereto, wherein the toner particles are electrostatically attracted from the carrier granules to the latent image for forming a developed powder image on the photoreceptive member.
Alternatively, liquid developing materials comprising a liquid carrier having toner particles immersed therein have been successfully utilized to develop electrostatic latent images, wherein the liquid developing material is applied to the photoconductive surface with the toner particles being attracted toward the image areas of the latent image to form a developed liquid image on the photoreceptive member. Regardless of the type of developing material employed, the toner particles of the developed image are subsequently transferred from the photoreceptive member to a copy substrate, either directly or by way of an intermediate transfer member. Thereafter, the image may be permanently affixed to the copy substrate for providing a xe2x80x9chard copyxe2x80x9d reproduction or print of the original document or file. In a final step, the photoreceptive member is cleaned to remove any charge and/or residual developing material from the photoconductive surface in preparation for subsequent imaging cycles.
The above described electrostatographic reproduction process is well known and is useful for light lens copying from an original as well as for printing applications involving electronically generated or stored originals. Analogous processes also exist in other printing applications such as, for example, digital laser printing where a latent image is formed on the photoconductive surface via a modulated laser beam, or ionographic printing and reproduction where charge is deposited on a charge retentive surface in response to electronically generated or stored images. Some of these printing processes develop toner on the discharged area, known as DAD, or xe2x80x9cwrite blackxe2x80x9d systems, as distinguished from so-called light lens generated image systems which develop toner on the charged areas, also known as CAD, or xe2x80x9cwrite whitexe2x80x9d systems. The subject invention applies to both such systems.
The use of liquid developer materials in imaging processes is well known. Likewise, the art of developing electrostatographic latent images formed on a photoconductive surface with liquid developer materials is also well known. Indeed, various types of liquid developing materials and liquid based development systems have heretofore been disclosed with respect to electrostatographic printing machines.
Liquid developers have many advantages, and often produce images of higher quality than images formed with dry developing materials. For example, the toner particles utilized in liquid developing materials can be made to be very small without the resultant problems typically associated with small particle powder toners, such as airborne contamination which can adversely affect machine reliability and can create potential health hazards. The use of very small toner particles is particularly advantageous in multicolor processes wherein multiple layers of toner generate the final multicolor output image.
Further, full color prints made with liquid developers can be processed to a substantially uniform finish, whereas uniformity of finish is difficult to achieve with powder toners due to variations in the toner pile height as well as a need for thermal fusion, among other factors. Full color imaging with liquid developers is also economically attractive, particularly if surplus liquid carrier containing the toner particles can be economically recovered without cross contamination of colorants.
Liquid developer material typically contains about 2 percent by weight of fine solid particulate toner material dispersed in the liquid carrier, typically a hydrocarbon. After development of the latent image, the developed image on the photoreceptor may contain about 12 percent by weight of the particulate toner in the liquid hydrocarbon carrier. However, at this percent by weight of toner particles, developed liquid images tend to exhibit poor cohesive behavior which results in image smear during transfer. In addition, partial image removal, or so-called scavenging, is problematic during successive liquid development steps, particularly in image-on-image color processes. In order to prevent image scavenging and to improve the quality of transfer of the developed image to a copy sheet, the liquid developing material making up the developed liquid image may be xe2x80x9cconditionedxe2x80x9d by compressing or compacting the toner particles in the developed image and removing carrier liquid therefrom for increasing the toner solids content thereof. The liquid toner image may be conditioned on the surface of a development member, before developing the electrostatic image on the photoreceptor; on the surface of the photoreceptor, after development; and/or on the surface of an intermediate transfer member. We will generally provide examples of conditioning on the photoreceptor surface, but it should be understood that these methods may also be used to condition the image on other surfaces. Liquid ink conditioning greatly improves the ability of the toner particles to form a high resolution image on the final support substrate or an intermediate transfer member, if one is employed.
Various devices and systems are known for effectively conditioning liquid developing materials in electrostatographic systems. In one exemplary system particularly relevant to the present invention, a device and method for increasing the solid content of an image formed from a liquid developer is provided, wherein an absorptive blotting material is contacted with the developed liquid image. A vacuum source is coupled to the blotting material so that absorbed liquid dispersant is drawn through the blotting material. The absorptive blotting material is preferably provided in the form of a covering on a porous conductive roller which is biased with an electrical charge having a polarity which is the same as the charge of the toner particles in the developing material, such that the resulting electric field repels the toner particles from the absorptive blotting material for transferring so that minimal toner particles adhere thereto.
Although various systems have been developed for conditioning an image in liquid based electrostatographic printing systems, some problems and inadequacies remain with respect to known electrostatically based systems. In particular, notwithstanding blotting rolls add additional equipment, thus increasing the cost and complexity of the marking engine. This additional cost and complexity is even greater if vacuum is used. And the blotting may disturb the image: some toner particles may transfer to the blotting roll; the high pressure from the roll and from the roll""s electrical bias may push some toner laterally on the surface of the photoreceptor.
The present invention is directed toward liquid electrophotographic reproduction machine including an image bearing member movable along a process path; latent image means mounted along the process path for forming a latent image electrostatically on said image bearing member; a development unit mounted along the process path and containing liquid developer material including a liquid carrier and dispersed charged toner particles for developing the latent image to form a toner image; an intermediate transfer member and a transfer station for transferring the toner image from the photoreceptor to the intermediate transfer member; a pre transfer station for increasing the cohesiveness of the toner image on the intermediate transfer member; a transfix station for transferring and fixing the toner image to the final copy substrate (e.g., paper, transparency, canvas, cloth); and a cleaning station for removing untransferred toner from the photoreceptor. The pre-transfer station may include an applicator member that applies a cohesion increasing (Cl) solution on the toner image and it may include a corona producing member that increases the cohesion of the toner layer.

Liquid developer system employing a pretransfer station


A portable device is connected to a host system that operates according to a first industry standard architecture (e.g., a personal computer built according to the IBM Personal Computer standard). The user initiates a session in the host system using the software and data in the portable device. The user suspends the state of the session, the state is stored in the portable device, and the user disconnects the portable device from the host. The user later connects the portable device to a second host that operates according to a second industry standard architecture (e.g., Apple Macintosh™ computer). The second host boots an autoconfiguring host operating system stored in the portable device and starts a virtual machine layer also stored in the portable device. The user then resumes operation of the suspended virtual machine layer session.

Information storage capacities (e.g., disk capacities) are increasing rapidly and it is becoming possible to add large capacity disk storage to several portable devices such as the iPod™ music player or any of several personal digital assistant (PDA) form factor devices. The power consumption of disk drives has also been reduced to the point that the disks may be powered by batteries that are part of the portable devices themselves. For devices where energy is a more critical resource, it is also possible to have disk storage present in a piggy back manner, where the disk is accessible only when the portable device is connected to another device that supplies power to the portable device, for example through a USB (universal serial bus) connection. This trend has made it possible for a user to store, in a portable storage device (PSD), a processing session begun in a first host computer and to resume the session in a second host computer. However, when the first and second host computers operate according to different industry standard architectures (e.g., IBM personal computer and Apple MacIntosh™, a user may encounter difficulty or find it impossible to resume a suspended session in the second host computer. Therefore, there is a need for a solution to this shortcoming.

Method for carrying multiple suspended runtime images


When the destinations of local electrical signals are local computers, the local electrical signals are transmitted to the corresponding destination local computers via the keyboard video mouse (KVM) switch directly. When the destinations of the local electrical signals are remote computers, at least one network packet having multiple data sections for correspondingly storing the local electrical signals is generated by the current KVM switch referring to the local electrical signals. A communication is established among a plurality of the KVM switches using a network protocol, for communicating the network packets thereof. At least one remote electrical signal is obtained from another network packet transmitted by another KVM switch, and then is transmitted to the corresponding destination local computer.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a computer switching device and, in particular, to a computer switch for multiple chaining and the transmission method thereof.
2. Related Art
With the rapid development in information technology, computers and their peripherals become very popular. Computer users often use the mouse and keyboard to control the computers. Through the monitors or speakers, the computer users can monitor the state of the computers. Sometimes a user may have more than one computer to process different types of things. Traditionally, each computer is equipped with one set of input/output (IO) peripheral devices, including the keyboard, mouse, monitor, and speakers. However, this is a waste of money and space if one has several computers.
On the other hand, large system businesses or enterprise internal networks often involve tens to thousands servers. Each server needs a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse to for management. In practice, one rarely needs to manipulate these devices. Most of the time, the servers do not need to be controlled by the manager. In this situation, it is totally unnecessary, costly, and wasting the space to have a set of IO peripheral devices for each server.
Therefore, a keyboard video mouse (KVM) switch is proposed to use at least one set of operation device to manage several computers. Using the KVM switch does not only solve the cost problem, it simultaneously solves the problems of equipment and space. It may also conquer the compatibility problem among different interfaces.
Currently, most of the single or multiple KVM switches on the market use the CAT5, personal system/2 (PS/2) or universal serial bus (USB) interface for transmissions. Moreover, it is not easy to connect conventional KVM switches together. When several manipulating devices simultaneously access multiple computers, the signal of each operation device has to be sent out in order. Therefore, it is likely to have the signal delay problem, seriously reducing the efficiency of the whole system.
The above-mentioned two drawbacks cause a lot of inconvenience for the users. For large system businesses or the internal networks of mid-size enterprises, in particular, if the KVM switches cannot simultaneously support a large number of manipulating devices and computers, they do not only increase the costs for constructing and maintaining the system but also reduce the communication efficiency of the whole network.

Keyboard video mouse switch for multiple chaining and the method thereof


Messages including encrypted data and having the form of XML documents are exchanged within an information technology network according to Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). Each message includes a session key (encrypted to the public key of the party receiving the message) within the XML document containing the encrypted data, meaning that each message is interpretable in a “stand alone” condition, without reference to some shared state (such as the session key for instance) between the parties involved in the messaging. Tags are used to generate modules within the document, and enable easy and convenient separation of elements of the document for distribution by the SOAP gateway protocol handler to the relevant application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the exchange of messages containing encrypted data between different locations within a network, and in particular to structures of such messages which facilitate handling of the messages in an expedient manner.
Increasingly, services which were at one time only available by post or in person, such as banking services for example, are being offered either by telephone, or via an information technology network such as the internet. The provision of such services via these new media raises issues both in relation to authentication of the identity of the sender of a message, and security of the information passed in the message. In recent years, these problems have both been addressed by the widespread adoption of public key encryption technology, typically in combination with a secret, symmetric key.
This works in the following manner: Sensitive data within a message is encrypted using what is known as a session key. The session key is symmetric and, therefore, functions in the same manner as a traditional secret key, i.e., possession of the key enables decryption of a message encrypted using it, because the same key is used for encryption and decryption, the decryption process simply being the reverse of the encryption process. Consequently, both encryption and decryption processes with a symmetric key require only relatively small levels of computing power. The session key is then encrypted using what is known as the "public key" of the party for whom the encrypted message is intended. The encrypted session key and the message encrypted with the session key are then sent to the receiving party. The public key is, as its name suggests, freely available in the same way that a telephone number may be in a telephone directory. However, the public key is an asymmetric key, meaning that a different key to the public key, known as a private key (which is secret to the receiving party), is required for decryption; the process of decryption is, therefore, not the inverse of the encryption process. The encrypted session key cannot, therefore, be decrypted by a party who is only in possession of the public key used to encrypt it, meaning that the message is secure. The process of asymmetric decryption using a private key requires a relatively high level of computing power. However, because the private key is only used to decrypt the session key (which is usually small is size compared with the body of the message), and the decrypted session key is then used to perform symmetric decryption on the body of the message, this technology may be adopted by any private user with a standard desktop computer. The present invention is concerned, inter alia, with the structure of such messages and the manner in which such messages are handled.
2. Description of Related Art
An existing approach, used within the context of providing services via the internet or worldwide web, is known as "Secure Sockets Layer" protocol (SSL), according to which shared state, such as the session key, must be maintained between messages for the duration of the interaction between, for example, a provider of services and a consumer. Inherently this is a somewhat inflexible approach, since it requires, for example, that each pair of messages conform to a criterion (such as the session key) laid down in a previous message. SSL protocol is described in more detail at http://www.netscape.com/eng/ss13/draft302.txt.

Message exchange in an information technology network

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A device for securing a tool includes a punch or die having a recess disposed within an exterior surface for mating with an engagement member. Another aspect of the present invention provides an engagement member with a partially spherical external surface.

This invention relates generally to a device for securing a tool to a fixture and specifically to a retainer which engages a recess within a punch or die assembly.
Within the equipment, tool and die making industries, it is common to provide various fastening means between machinery components. For example, sheet metal stamping and injection molding dies are typically fastened to their respective die plates by bolts extending through countersunk holes within the die. These bolts have a head which engages the die and a threaded shank which enmeshes with a receiving hole in the die plate. Typically four or more bolts are required to retain each die.
Other conventional die holding devices are known which employ a plurality of gooseneck clamps, dog clamps, wedge bevels or the like. Examples of such devices are disclosed within U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,961 entitled "Structure for Securing a Die to a Bolster Plate" which issued to Brown on Apr. 3, 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 3,269,168 entitled "Die Apparatus" which issued to Anderson on Aug. 30, 1966, U.S. Pat. No. 2,028,354 entitled "Adjustable Die Holder" which issued to Roe on Jan. 21, 1936, U.S. Pat. No. 1,778,339 entitled "Die Holder" which issued to Rafter on Oct. 14, 1930, Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-50732 entitled "Upper Die Clamping Device in Forging Press" to Sumitomo Jukikai Kogyo K.K. (May 8, 1981), Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-158944 entitled "Die Clamping Mechanism for Punching Press" to Murata Mach Ltd. (Jun. 2, 1992), Soviet Union Patent No. 161209 entitled "Device for Securing Hammer Blocks on Radial-Forging Machines" to Reznikov (Apr. 9, 1964,) and D. Eary and E. Reed, Techniques of Press Working Sheet Metal: An Engineering Approach to Die Design, Second Edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc. (1974) at pages 323-333. However, all of these conventional devices require multiple fasteners for each tool, are not well suited for engagement with cylindrically-shaped tools, appear to be too inaccurate for use with small tools (e.g., having an outer diameter of approximately 10 mm) and are prone to loosening in the highly vibration prone work environment thereby leading to inaccurate tool placement, premature tool failure and poor quality processed parts.
In accordance with the present invention, the preferred embodiment of a device for securing a tool includes a punch or die having a recess disposed within an exterior surface for mating with an engagement member. Another aspect of the present invention provides an engagement member with a partially spherical external surface and an internal passageway for receiving a threaded shank of a screw. In a further aspect of the present invention, the recess has an undercut section, a generally flat middle section and a partially spherical section, wherein the partially spherical external surface of the engagement member mates with the partially spherical section of the tool recess. In yet another aspect of the present invention, the tool is a sheet metal joining punch. In still another aspect of the present invention, the tool is a sheet metal joining die. A method of securing a tool to a fixture is also provided.
The present invention is advantageous over traditional devices in that the present invention secures a tool to a fixture by use of a single retainer. This leads to extremely quick tool changeover which promotes higher productivity and lower set up costs. The shape of the recess and engagement member have also proven extremely advantageous over conventional devices since they cause a highly secure wedging action upon affixation or enmeshing so as to accurately and repeatedly locate and maintain the tool in the desired position. This reduces premature failure and breakage of mating punches and dies while also improving processed part-to-part tolerances and repeatability throughout prolonged usage in the typically harsh plant environment. The directional forces caused by the engaged interaction of the fixture, tool and retainer also promote accurate and secure retention. Additional advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


Various arrangements for selecting a function to be executed on a mobile device are presented. A processor may receive proximity data that indicates the mobile device is proximate to a user. The processor may receive acceleration data that indicates a direction of acceleration. In response to receiving the proximity data indicating that the mobile device is proximate to the user, the processor may identify a position of the mobile device in relation to the user using the acceleration data. In response to identifying the position of the mobile device in relation to the user using the acceleration data, the processor may select a function to be executed.

Mobile devices, such as smartphones, have become ubiquitous in many people's lives. Such mobile devices are being used to store, access, and/or interact with vast quantities of locally and remotely stored information. To store, access, and/or interact with such information, a user of a mobile device makes use of various functions (e.g., applications) of the mobile device. For example, in order to set a reminder, the user may use a voice memo application installed on the mobile device in order to record an audio memo to be played back at a later time, and in order to place a call, the user may use a different function of the mobile device. Typically, in order to select a function for use, the user may need to perform a sequence, such as: activate a display of the mobile device, select the appropriate function using the display, and then interact with the function.
At least some users may desire an alternative or additional way to activating a function of a mobile device that is desired to be used.

Mobile device function selection using position in relation to a user


A refrigeration system including a direct expansion evaporator with a substantially vertical header through which a fluid mixture of a refrigerant and oil is pumped, a compressor for compressing the refrigerant, and a suction tube in fluid communication with the header and the compressor through which a stream of a first fluid mixture is drawn substantially in a first direction from the header by the compressor. The first fluid mixture exerts a first fluid pressure in a second direction substantially opposite to the first direction. A second fluid mixture is located in the header and subject to a second fluid pressure substantially greater than the first fluid pressure to create a pressure differential. The system also includes an extraction apparatus with a passage subject to the pressure differential, through which passage the second fluid mixture is drawn into the suction tube.

Many different types of refrigeration units are available. As is well known in the art, in a refrigeration unit, a compressor pumps a refrigerant in a circuit to a condenser, then through an expansion valve, next to an evaporator, and then back to the compressor. Different types of evaporators are known in the art. One of the more commonly used types is the direct expansion evaporator.
Typically, lubrication oil is required to be used in the compressor. Invariably, lubrication oil from the compressor becomes mixed with the refrigerant as the refrigerant passes through the compressor. The result is that a refrigerant/oil mixture circulates through the circuit. It has been recognized that, in certain types of refrigeration units, the oil has tended to separate from the refrigerant and to accumulate in the evaporator. It is also well known that the accumulation of oil in the evaporator adversely affects the efficiency of the entire refrigeration unit. For these types of evaporators, various methods have been proposed for removal of the accumulated oil from the evaporator. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,131 (Merryfull) discloses a refrigeration unit which includes a flooded evaporator with a surge drum(s). Oil which accumulates in a lower portion of the drum is removed through an oil pick-up tube (35). However, in a "flooded" evaporator, the rate at which the refrigerant/oil mixture flows through the evaporator (and exits therefrom) is generally much lower than the flow rate of the refrigerant/oil mixture upon exiting a direct expansion evaporator.
In the prior art, it is generally thought that the rate at which the refrigerant/oil mixture flows through a header of the direct expansion evaporator (i.e., when exiting the direct expansion evaporator) is sufficient to prevent any significant accumulation of oil in the evaporator. This is because, in a direct expansion evaporator, substantially all of the refrigerant/oil mixture is vaporized at the outlet of each evaporator tube, i.e., at the intersection of each evaporator tube with the header. After discharge into the header, the refrigerant/oil mixture moves through the header and exits from the header (i.e., exits from the direct expansion evaporator) into a suction tube, which leads from the evaporator to the compressor.
Accordingly, it has generally been thought that the vaporization of substantially all of the refrigerant/oil mixture at each evaporator tube outlet in a direct expansion evaporator results in an increase in velocity of the mixture which is sufficient to prevent accumulation of oil in the evaporator. For instance, the following excerpt is from the ASHRAE Refrigeration Handbook (2002) (pp. 2.16–2.17):                . . . flooded evaporators can promote oil contamination of the evaporator charge because they may only return dry refrigerant vapor back to system.        . . . in general, direct-expansion . . . system evaporators have fewer oil return problems than do flooded system evaporators because refrigerant flows continuously at velocities high enough to sweep oil from the evaporator.
However, contrary to the generally accepted view, it has been determined that oil does accumulate in a direct expansion evaporator, as will be described.
There is therefore a need for an extraction apparatus for extracting oil which has accumulated in a direct expansion evaporator.

National Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Canada Corp.


Techniques for using a proxy model to encapsulate one or more telecommunications (telecom) functionalities are provided. The techniques include generating a proxy model, wherein the proxy model comprises at least one of a representation module, an implementation module, a metadata module, one or more utility snippet modules, one or more unit test code modules and a module linking to one or more blogs, and using the proxy model to encapsulate one or more telecom functionalities. Techniques are also provided for creating a telecom service using the proxy model.

The ability to bring new value-added services to the marketplace quickly and by differentiation (that is, with increased quality and lower manageability) is advantageous for telecommunications (herein after "telecom") service providers because of, for example, decreasing revenue from voice calls. Telecom operators are aggressively looking at newer sources of revenue such as, for example, partnerships with third-party providers to offer alternate services such as gaming applications, news, ring-tones, etc. In recent years, however, such services are facing strong competition from similar technologies and applications provided by internet content providers. Applications can be accessed through a browser-enabled phone, while paying only for the connectivity charges, and thereby adversely affect revenues from the paid-for services hosted on the telecom operator portal. Examples of such services include voice over internet protocol (VoIP), telephony conferencing services and various content services (for example, maps, ring-tones, etc.).
Telecom operators, however, have an advantage over internet service providers in terms of their still unmatched core functionalities of location, presence, call control, etc., characterized further by carrier-grade quality-of-service (QoS) and high availability.
As such, a potential channel exists for telecom operators to increase revenue by offering these functionalities as services to developers for creating new applications. However, telecom service composition is a challenging problem.
Many of the building blocks of a telecom infrastructure (for example, location registries (home location registers/visitor location registers (HLR/VLR)), accounting and billing services, etc.) are already in place to support basic operations such as voice and short-message service (SMS). However, these elements are not easily utilizable in new applications because they are not exposed using standardized frameworks and component models. Towards this, telecom operators in existing approaches are adopting service-oriented architecture (SOA) that would let developers access these services without knowledge of the underlying platform implementation.
Web services, as an instantiation of SOA, have received much interest due to their potential in facilitating seamless business-to-business or enterprise application integration. For example, the Parlay consortium defined a standard, called Parlay-X, which exposes web service interface for core telecom functionalities. In another example, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) provides a reference framework to expose these functionalities as services to web-engineered systems using session initiation protocol (SIP).
Although efforts like Parlay-X and IMS are a step in the right direction, rapid development of applications that utilize telecom functionality still faces a number of challenges in a realistic setting. For example, one needs to provide interfaces that shield the application developer from different telecom protocols (for example, Parlay-X, SIP, etc.), including the legacy ones. Also, one needs to package the telecom functionalities so that they can be readily used in different programming styles (for example, Java, HTML/JavaScript, etc.) other than pure web service based composition (for example, Business Process Execution Language (BPEL)). Additionally, one needs to encapsulate the invocation of telecom functionality with various coordination rules
Existing approaches include the creation of web processes using web service technology. Web service technology allows a developer to create an abstract process, based on enterprise and process constraints, and then to generate an executable process. Such an approach attempts to reduce the service composition problem to a constraint satisfaction problem.
Existing approaches also include automating the discovery and selection of a service, ensuring semantic and data-type compatibility, and presenting a framework to facilitate automated service composition using semantic web technologies. Additionally, existing approaches include graphical composition environments that allow the reuse of existing components to build an application.
Another existing approach includes an experimental software repository system that provides organization, storage, management, and access facilities for reusable software components. Such an approach, intended as part of an application development environment, is aimed at developing an integrated reuse-centered application development and support environment based on object-oriented techniques.
Also, existing approaches include defining a visual composition tool for constructing application programs using pre-existing software components. Another existing approach includes a service creation environment for composing web services by providing a higher level of abstraction and guiding developers in creating valid compositions. Such an approach also attempts to use the concept of aspect-oriented programming for cross-cutting concerns.
Existing approaches also include a graphical web service composition tool that allows users to construct complex workflows using pre-existing services transparently, and thereby insulating them from the complexity of interacting with numerous heterogeneous services. Such an approach also includes graphical web service discovery, composition and invocation framework. Users can graphically create complex service compositions and share the composite service as a business process execution language for web services (BPELWS) graph, or expose it as a service in a one-click manner. Also, users can catty out a "what-if" analysis by altering existing workflows, and users can record provenance data for a workflow and execute the composed graph on a grid or a peer-to-peer (P2P) network
Many of the existing approaches allow the reuse of existing services and other software components to create an application. Other existing approaches focus on automatic selection of services and automatic generation of composition based on semantic web technologies. In practice, however, the end-user needs a composition environment that helps him or her identify the required service in given context (perhaps, for example, semi-automatically), and rarely needs the automatic service composition features.
Within existing approaches, additional challenges exist in the creation of telecom services. For example, there is the challenge of protocol heterogeneity, wherein there exists multiple, heterogeneous telecom protocols (for example, parlay-X (location), session initiation protocol (SIP) (presence), short message peer-to-peer protocol (SMPP) (short-message service (SMS)) to be supported in a telecom application. Also, there can be a need to hide protocols from service developers.
Additionally, there can be a need to provide interoperability among different protocols (for example, SMS connects to presence). Also, there exist challenges when a service can be accessed in multiple ways (for example, via the web, multiple mobile devices, etc.). Further, challenges may arise when no unified ecosystem exists for multiple players involved in the creation of telecom workflows. These players can include, for example, cellular providers offering SMS, location, availability, etc., third-party providers offering video, music, maps, and service developers using existing services to compose new ones.
Also, challenges exist in the need for a unified view cutting across different players, such as, for example, a view offering simple, effective mechanisms for "advertise," "lookup," "select," and "bind" of different telecom functionalities, to be utilized effectively in creating a telecom application. Additionally, there can be a need for a unified view cutting across different categories of programmers such as, for example, Java, JavaScript, representational state transfer (REST), business process execution language (BPEL), and asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX).
As such, developers may not be aware of telecom protocols (for example, Parlay-X, SIP, Corba), and there may be a need to enable services for multiple devices, platforms and access modalities. Rapid service composition environments are advantageous for service providers to reduce the time-to-market of new services and address increasing competition.

System and computer program product for creating a telecommunications application


A a lid for sealing a container. The lid adheres to the container by no more than a vacuum formed within the container. The lid is formed of a substantially circular panel having a flanged perimeter and a concave depression on an upper side of the circular panel. A pressure release hole extends through the concave depression of the circular panel and sanitary varnish is disposed on a lower side of the circular panel. A first adhesive material is applied to the lower side of the lid by fusion to the sanitary varnish to form a thin film over the release hole, and a second adhesive material is disposed in the concave depression on the upper side of the lid to form a removable seal. The second adhesive material has the same properties as the first adhesive material.

This metal lid, for which a new process to make the pressure release hole was created, with a removable seal, the removal of which allows the easy opening of the container, by the elimination of the internal vacuum of the container, is formed by a metal lid of the common, known type, usually made of aluminium or iron sheet plate, constituted by a circular panel with a downward turned rim, having, along its inner peripherial circumference, a circular groove containing a sealing gasket, made of a resin-like material, such as "plastisol" or other similar material, used to create a type of seat on the rim of the glass or of the other glass container, with said metal lid not being part of this invention.
This type of metal lid has been used, normally, to seal glass containers to pack different foodstuff, and the sealing being achieved by beading and by the use of special clamps, with such a system requiring the use of thick-walled glass containers, and, also, such containers having a beading in its rim, in order to co-operate with the downward rim of the lid, during the beading process, a process that, besides being uneconomic, due to the use of larger quantities of material for the containers, harms its visual aspects, due to the heavy appearance, which is not proper for the later use of the container as a common water glass, a use which is a sale promotion for the product.
With the improvement and evolution of such type of packings, namely, those containers formed by glass tumblers, their sealing has been normally achieved by vacuum, in other words, the vacuum formed within the packing container is used as a sealing element and lid fixing element, for its air-tight sealing, therefore excluding the use of clamps and beading machines, this being a considerable improvement for such glass containers, mainly those shaped as tumblers, for they were not subject to the pressure and impact of beading clamps any more, and with the containers being made with relatively thin walls, eliminating the need of a heavy rim or bead at the open mouth, offering them a better look and the best possibility of being used as domestic drinking glasses, with the same conditions of the glass tumblers made for drinking purposes.
However, even considering the new sealing system of a metal lid as more economic and offering a better look to the packed products, offering the opportunity of a later use of the glass container as a drinking glass, it still requires, for the opening or removal of the lid, the use of a pointed instrument, such as a pointed knife, to be introduced under said rim or skirt of the metal lid, in order to achieve the elimination of vacuum and the total opening or removal of the lid, and such an operation not only makes it difficult to open the packings, but may create a possible hazard to the operator's hands.

Process to form a pressure release hole with removable seal, for easy opening, on metal lids for vacuum sealing of glasses and other glass containers used to pack foodstuff


A CMOS analog switch is provided that can handle negative input polarity. The semiconductor substrate wherein the analog switch is formed has a substrate area of n-conductivity type. First and second p-channel transistors are formed in the n-conductivity substrate area and each have a gate, a source connected to the input terminal and a drain connected to the output terminal. The analog switch further has a comparator for comparing a voltage level at the input terminal with ground level, a switch driven by an output of the comparator to selectively connect the n-conductivity area with the signal input terminal for a positive input voltage level or to ground for a negative input voltage level, and control circuitry providing gate control signals for the first and second p-channel transistors. The inherent substrate diodes are effectively kept from becoming conductive.

Conventional analog switches in CMOS technology include n-channel transistors formed in a semiconductor substrate of p-conductivity type. Due to the inherent existence of a diode between the transistor's drain and substrate and another diode between the transistor's source and the substrate (the "substrate diodes"), the analog switch using n-channel transistors cannot handle negative input voltages. With a negative input voltage, the substrate diodes of an n-channel switch become conductive, thereby causing a high input current and/or clamping the input signal.