Through the use of feedback in determining frequency domain equalization, intersymbol interference can be reduced. Specifically, the determined constellation point closest to the determined received point can be fed back to aid in determining one or more other closest constellation points.

1. Field of the Invention
The systems and methods of this invention generally relate to communication systems. In particular, the systems and methods of this invention relate to equalization using decision feedback.
2. Description of Related Art
In multicarrier modulation, a transmission channel is partitioned into a multitude of sub-channels, each with its own associated carrier. In implementations of multicarrier modulation known as discrete multitone (DMT) transmission, or orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), the generation and modulation of the sub-channels is accomplished digitally, using an orthogonal transformation on each of a sequence of blocks, i.e., frames, of the data stream. A receiver performs the inverse transformation on segments of the sampled waveform to demodulate the data. In the implementation of DMT used as the signaling standard for asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSL), the transforms used for demodulation and modulation are the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and its inverse, respectively. Further information regarding the asymmetric digital subscriber line standard can be found in the article Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) Metallic Interface, ANSI T1E1.4/94-007R8, 1994, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
In another implementation, referred to as discrete wavelet multitone (DWMT) transmission, a discrete wavelet transform and its inverse are employed as discussed in M. A. Tzannes et al, "The DWMT: A Multicarrier Transceiver for ADSL Using M-Band Wavelets," ANSI Standard Committee T1E1.4 contribution 93-067, March 1993, M. A. Tzannes, "System Design Issues for the DWMT Transceiver," ANSI Standard Committee T1E1.4 contribution 93-100, April 1993 and M. A. Tzannes et al, "DMT Systems, DWMT Systems and Digital Filter Banks," Proc. ICC 1994, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Thus, in a multicarrier system, a communication path having a fixed bandwidth is divided into a number of sub-bands having different frequencies. The width of the sub-bands is chosen to be small enough to allow the distortion in each sub-band to be modeled by a single attenuation and phase shift for the band. If the noise level in each band is known, the volume of data sent in each band may be optimized by choosing a symbol set having the maximum number of symbols consistent with the available signal to noise ratio of the channel. By using each sub-band at its maximum capacity, the amount of data that can be transmitted in the communication path is maximized.
In practice, such systems are implemented by banks of digital filters which make use of Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT). In the case in which a single data stream is to be transmitted over the communication path is broken into M sub-bands, during each communication cycle, the portion of the data stream to be transmitted is converted to M QAM symbols chosen to match the capacity of the various channels.
The time domain signal to be sent on the communication path is obtained by selecting a QAM point on each sub-carrier and then adding the modulation carriers to form the signal to be placed in the communication path. This operation is normally carried out by transforming the vector of M symbols via the inverse Fourier transform to generate N, where N represents the size of the transform, time domain values that are sent in sequence on the communication path. At the other end of the communication path, the N time domain values are accumulated and transformed via a Fourier transform to recover the original M symbols after equalization of the transformed data to correct for the attenuation and phase shifts that may have occurred in the channels.
One type of problem encountered in transmission systems is intersymbol interference (ISI). When the time domain values are transmitted, the values are spread over time by the impulse response of the system. Often, a guard band is included to prevent previous frames from interfering with subsequent frames, but these guard bands are often too small to be sufficient on their own. Also, values from within the same frame can interfere with each other to cause ISI, sometimes referred to as intersubchannel interference. The time domain equalizer works to shorten the overall length of the impulse response but usually does not remove all of the ISI.
Therefore, the symbol decoded by the subscriber will include interference from other symbols in other sub-bands and/or earlier or later symbols transmitted in the subscriber's sub-band. This type of interference is further aggravated by the high side lobes in the sub-bands provided by the Fourier transform. Further information regarding multicarrier transmission systems can be obtained from U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,246 entitled "Multicarrier Transmission System," incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Systems and methods for multicarrier modulation using multi-tap frequency-domain equalizer and decision feedback


A planet carrier, which, as a whole, is constructed as a one-piece sheet metal pressing, comprising a cage ring with one receiving bore respectively for one pin and respectively of mounting pins, at least one cage arm part with one receiving bore respectively for the respective other pin end, and connection means for a transmission member. Furthermore, the sheet metal pressing comprises at least one connecting arm between the cage ring and the cage arm parts having the connection means.

The present invention relates to a planet carrier, and a method of making a planet carrier, and, more particularly, to a planet carrier in an epicyclic gear train comprising a central free cage ring having mounting holes which are axially parallel to the cage ring axis for receiving one end respectively of mounting pins; cage arm parts, each of which has a mounting hole which is axially parallel to the cage ring axis for receiving the other end respectively of the mounting pins; connection structure joined for movement with the cage arm parts, for connecting the planet carrier to a transmission member concentric to the cage ring axis; and connecting arms, disposed axially parallel to the cage ring axis, for connecting the free cage ring for movement with the cage arm parts joined to the connection structure, wherein the free cage ring and the connecting arms are formed as a one-piece sheet metal pressing.
Planet carriers of the type shown, for example, in Automobil-Industrie 4/79, p. 46, FIG. 13 are well known and are, in particular, used in motor vehicle automatic transmissions. In these known planet carriers, a basket-like planet carrier part, which is produced by stamping from a sheet blank followed by deep-drawing, and which consists of the cage ring and the connecting cage arms, is connected, generally by welding, to a flange part which combines not only the cage arm parts provided with the mounting holes but also the connection for the transmission part and may as desired be produced by stamping, forging or sintering.
DE 21 48 937 A1 also shows a planet carrier, in which, in contrast to planet carriers made of cast or pressed steel, the ends of the shafts of the planet gears are supported by holes which lie opposite one another. The holes are provided, on one hand, in a circular flange and, on the other hand, in the bottom, parallel thereto, of a cover whose peripheral part is welded to the periphery of the flange and which has cut-outs for the passage of the teeth of the planet gears. The flange and its cover are made of deep-drawn sheet metal.
DE 26 05 230 B1 discloses a different type planet carrier which is in one piece and consists of two side discs and a plurality of cage arms connecting the latter together. The planet carrier is provided with machined holes disposed entirely within the inside diameter of the cage arms and with axial stop faces which are raised in relation to the plane surface surrounding them and which completely surround the holes, for mounting the planet gears. In order to be able to manufacture this planet carrier, including its stop faces, at low cost, the stop faces are machined throughout, e.g. by turning, to a finished diameter smaller than the inside diameter of the cage arms and larger than the largest diameter of the stop faces in the region free from arms.
An object underlying the present invention consists essentially in reducing the cost of manufacture of a planet carrier. This object has been advantageously achieved by providing that the one-piece sheet metal pressing comprises not only the cage arm parts but also the edge portions thereof constituting the connection structure.
The planet carrier according to the present invention is brought into the desired shape, in its entirety and in one piece, by stamping a shaped flat sheet metal blank from a sheet blank and then folding it twice. On one side of the cage a stiff, closed cage ring is formed and on the opposite side individual lobes are formed, which can be welded either by their inner edge portions to a transmission shaft or by their outer edge portions to a drum-shaped part of a center gear, so that as a whole a stiff composite construction is once again obtained and transmission of the torque is made possible.


In a comparator circuit comprised of a feedback amplifier and a differential amplifier AMP1, the feedback amplifier includes input transistors Tr1 to Tr4. Gates of the transistors Tr1 and Tr2 are respectively inputted with first and second inverted inputs, and gates of the transistors Tr3 and Tr4 are inputted with first and second non-inverted inputs. First ends of current paths of the transistors Tr3 and Tr4 are connected in common, and ends of current paths of transistors Tr1 and Tr2 are connected in common. Second ends of the current paths of the transistors Tr1 to Tr4 are connected in common to a constant current source. The first and second inverted inputs are supplied with a reference voltage, and the first and second non-inverted inputs are respectively supplied with the non-inverted and inverted outputs of the differential amplifier AMP1. A signal from a connection point common to the first ends of the current paths of the transistors Tr3 and Tr4 is supplied as a feedback output to the differential amplifier AMP1 to control operation of the differential amplifier AMP1. The timing when feedback is performed to stabilize the operating point of the differential amplifier AMP1 is the timing when the non-inverted and inverted outputs of the differential amplifier AMP1 have a small potential difference therebetween or are substantially equal to each other.

The present invention relates to a comparator circuit used for an analog circuit technique and a digital/analog conversion technique.
Conventionally, in a circuit technique such as a differential chopper comparator or the like, an amplifier for feedback is generally used to stabilize an operating point at a certain reference voltage VREF.
FIG. 4 is a circuit configuration of a conventional comparator circuit having a feedback amplifier. Resistor elements R1 and R2 are used to prepare an intermediate voltage Vm between two outputs from a differential amplifier (or comparator) AMP1 as a level detector. A difference between the voltage Vm and the reference voltage VREF is amplified by the feedback amplifier and fed back to the AMP1, thereby to stabilize the operating point of the AMP1.
The structure as described above uses those resistor elements R1 and R2 that occupy a considerably large occupation area among circuit elements. However, if the occupation area is reduced to downsize the resistor elements, the resistance value is reduced and involves a problem that the gain of the outputs from the comparator (or outputs from the AMP1). In order to prevent decreases of the gain of the comparator outputs, the resistance values must be large and the occupation area of the resistors must accordingly be large.
Thus, in a conventional comparator circuit which uses a feedback amplifier for stabilizing an operating point, a feedback amplifier structure uses resistor elements which cause a problem that the occupation area of the resistor elements on a semiconductor chip is enlarged.


An oil-in-water-in-oil emulsion (O/W/O) comprising a first oil-in-water emulsion dispersed in a second oil, and a method of preparing the same. The O/W/O emulsion can be used as a drive fluid in an enhanced oil recovery process. The O/W/O emulsion of this invention may also be used as a lubricant, and has the beneficial property of being resistant to shear forces.

Several different types of oil-in-water or water-in-oil emulsions are known in the art and have various uses. Such emulsions are sometimes used in enhanced oil recovery operations as a drive or pusher fluid to displace the hydrocarbons to a producing well. To be effective, the drive fluid preferably has a viscosity that is about 2 to 3 times the viscosity of the oil being displaced. A benefit of using a water-in-oil emulsion as a drive fluid is that it can be made with readily available materials in a relatively inexpensive manner. However, a 60/40 water-in-oil emulsion (60% water dispersed within 40% oil phase) will exhibit a viscosity in a range that is about 20 to 30 times that of the oil, which is higher than the desired mobility ratio for a drive fluid. Accordingly, there is a need in the industry for an economically affordable fluid with satisfactory viscosity and stability characteristics for use as an enhanced oil recovery drive fluid.
Oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions have also been used in lubrication applications. However, the main drawback of an emulsion lubricant is its instability to shear and its shear-thinning characteristics. Lubrication applications involve contact between moving surfaces, and emulsion instability due to shear will result in emulsion break-up and subsequent loss of ability to function as a lubricant. Accordingly, an emulsion is needed that has improved stability to shear and reduced shear-thinning for use in lubrication applications.


A battery pack is disclosed. An embodiment of the battery pack includes a bare cell, wherein the bare cell comprises a terminal; a circuit module coupled with the bare cell, wherein the circuit module comprises a protective device; and a cover disposed over the circuit module and coupled with the bare cell; wherein the circuit module comprises a through-hole, the cover comprises a protrusion, the protrusion engages with the through-hole, and the through-hole enables welding of the protective device of the circuit module to the terminal of the bare cell through the through-hole.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a battery pack, and more particularly, to a battery pack including a battery and a circuit.
2. Description of the Related Technology
As the technology of mobile devices, such as cellular phones and notebook computers, has become remarkably developed and production thereof has increased, the demand for secondary batteries as an energy source for mobile devices has rapidly increased. Recently, much research into secondary batteries as an alternative energy resource for fossil fuel used in electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles has been conducted.
In general, such secondary batteries are used in the form of a battery pack integrated with a circuit for controlling charging and discharging operations. In order to secure stability of secondary batteries including flammable materials, the battery pack typically has a circuit for controlling abnormal operating environment of overcharging, over-discharging, over-current, or the like. The circuit mounted on a battery typically has an upper cover. Conventional battery packs do not include an assembling structure for aligning the upper cover at the right position on the battery and assembling the upper cover with the battery, and consequently, time loss increases during the assembly of the upper cover, and defects caused by misalignment also increase.


The present invention provides a carrying device for semiconductor wafers. By using a simply constructed stage, the semiconductor wafers can be precisely positioned and rotating semiconductor wafers can be reliably supported and, only one kind of wafer stage needs to be provided for semiconductor wafers of different diameters, allowing more flexibility. The carrying device for loading a semiconductor wafer into a wafer carrier or taking the semiconductor wafer from the wafer carrier includes a carrier station for receiving wafer carrier, carrying arms for carrying semiconductor wafer, and a wafer stage for receiving the wafer. The wafer stage has a supporting shaft and four supporting arms. The supporting shaft is horizontally rotatable and is elevatable. Each supporting arm is upwardly curved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carrying device for carrying semiconductor wafers from a wafer carrier to a sampling inspection device or loading the inspected semiconductor wafers into the wafer carrier.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, in order to reduce labor expenses and increase throughput, surface inspection of processed wafers has been automated, and therefore many carrying devices for carrying wafers from a wafer carrier to a sampling inspection device or loading the inspected wafers into the wafer carrier have been developed. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, a prior art wafer carrying device consists of an elevatable carrier station 3a for receiving wafer carrier 30, a carrying arm 2a for a carrying semiconductor wafer 5, a horizontally rotatable wafer stage 8 for receiving the wafer 5 and a guide 9 mounted at the periphery of the wafer stage 8 for determining the position of the wafer 5. When the wafers 5 is to be placed on the wafer stage 8, the positioning of each wafer is then determined by the guide 9, and the wafer 5 is placed on a plurality of protrusions 81 which are provided on the periphery of the wafer stage 8.
However, if the wafer 5 loaded into the carrier 30 or the wafer 5 placed on the wafer stage 8 from other carrying devices (not shown) can not be positioned precisely, they will drop from the wafer stage 8.
In particular, the influence of inertia exists when a semiconductor wafer is not precisely positioned on the rotating wafer stage. As diameter of the semiconductor wafer is increased, the influence of inertia is larger. To improve this, in Japanese Patent Laid Open 7-273171, a "handling device for discal objects" is proposed. According to this device, by providing a centering guide shoe for positioning the semiconductor wafer and an sucking stand for sucking a bottom surface of a semiconductor wafer to a rotating stage, the rotating wafer is not moved and firmly supported.
However, according to the above-mentioned "handling device for discal objects", although the rotating semiconductor wafer can be firmly supported on the stage, the structure of the stage inevitably becomes complicated, and thus leading to such problems as the device is large and the fabrication cost is high.
Moreover, when carrying semiconductor wafers of different diameters, a change of different stages or the equipping of a plurality of carrying devices for carrying semiconductor wafers of different diameters is required in order to match with semiconductor wafers of different diameters.

Carrying device for semiconductor wafers


A joint support and subchondral support system and method of use of same for providing structural and dampening support to damaged subchondral bone adjacent to a body joint are disclosed. The joint support and subchondral support system and method of use of same are applicable to many parts of the joint as any area with cartilage disease has an adjoining subchondral component.

Isolated articular cartilage defects and generalized cartilage disease, athroses and arthritis, respectively, in human and animal joints have certain surgical treatment options, which attempt to mimic or recreate normal anatomy and joint mechanics and/or relieve symptoms of discomfort, instability, or pain. Isolated disease often progresses to generalized disease, or arthritis—the process is a continuum. Generalized arthritis may also develop without known prior isolated disease. Arthritis may be present as a uni-, bi-, or tri-compartmental disease.
Uni-compartmental arthritis is typically less amenable to surgical options used for smaller isolated articular defects. With advanced cartilage degeneration and joint space narrowing, there is typically increased axial deformity and misalignment. Surgical options include osteotomy or uni-compartmental replacement. Options for bi- or tri-compartmental arthritis are combined procedures or total knee replacement.
Cartilage disease has been previously addressed by various means of replacing or substituting the damaged cartilage. Microfracture or abrasionplasty is a form of irritating exposed bone to create replacement fibrocartilage, but the resultant material is inferior to native cartilage. Osteochondral transplant replaces plugs of diseased cartilage and accompanying subchondral bone with grafts from either the patient or human cadaver. Small discrete lesions work well, but larger lesions, bipolar disease, and diffuse disease are not well addressed. Chondrocyte implantation harvests the patient's cartilage cells, grows them, and re-implants them on the bony bed, and covers them with a periosteal patch. Each of the aforementioned techniques work best for small contained lesions, unipolar defects (i.e., one side of joint), and primarily femoral condyle lesions. Less optimal results occur with patellofemoral joint disease, and tibial sided disease.
A further method of treating cartilage disease is to realign the joint with an osteotomy. This relieves an overloaded compartment, transferring stress to a less diseased compartment. Success of this method involves avoiding non-union and other complications, and requires prolonged non-weight bearing activity and eight to twelve months to realize clinical benefits. Only patients with mostly uni-compartmental disease are candidates. Osteotomy also complicates latter joint replacement.
Arthroscopy is used to treat other causes of pain from arthritis, namely, loose bodies, loose or frayed cartilage, meniscus tears, and synovitis. These are temporizing measures.
The end stage of cartilage disease is to perform total joint reconstruction. This type of procedure presents a prolonged recovery time and surgical risks. Because total joint prostheses are fabricated of metal and plastic, revision surgery for worn-out components is fraught with much higher complications than primary surgery, and is inevitable if the patient lives much beyond ten years.
Not much is known about the cause and progression of arthritis. With current diagnostic techniques such as MRI and bone scintigraphy, more has been elucidated about the disease process. In particular, the subchondral bone plays an important role in the initiation and progression of arthritis. Arthritis is a disease of not just the cartilage, but the underlying subchondral bone as well. Most of the clinical research to date is focused on cartilage regeneration/replacement and not on the underlying bone health.
Traditionally, cartilage has been viewed to be avascular, with diffusion of nutrients occurring from within the joint. Studies have confirmed, however, that subchondral bone is a from the subchondral bone diminishes, allowing arthritic disease to progress. Namely, the inability of the bone to adequately repair itself as increasing damage occurs starts a cycle of further destruction, interfering with cartilage vascular supply and structural support.
As cartilage wear occurs, the primary functions of cartilage—to provide a low-friction bearing surface and to transmit stresses to the underlying bone—are diminished. Bone is most healthy when resisting compressive stresses. The shear stresses from the joint are partially converted to compression and tension via the architecture of the cartilage baseplate, the layer between the cartilage and underlying bone is undulating. Further, by virtue of the ultra low friction surface of cartilage on cartilage (20× lower friction than ice on ice), shear stresses are mostly converted to longitudinal. The subchondral bone is the predominant shock absorber of joint stress. Via its arch-like lattice-work of trabecular bone, stresses are transmitted to the outer cortices and ultimately dissipated. Cartilage itself does very little shock absorption secondary to its shear thickness and mechanical properties.
Bone is the ultimate shock absorber, with fracture being the endpoint of force attenuation. Trabecular microfractures have been shown to occur in locations of bone stress in impulsively loaded joints. Every joint has a physiologic envelope of function-when this envelope of function is exceeded, the rate of damage exceeds the rate of repair. As cartilage disease progresses, subchondral bone is less able to dissipate the stress it encounters, i.e., shear-type stresses. The attempts of subchondral bone to heal and remodel are seen as arthritis progresses-osteophyte formation, subchondral sclerosis, cyst formation, and subchondral MRI-enhanced changes, and increased signal on bone scintigraphy. Joint deformity from these changes further increases joint reaction force. Cartilage homeostasis is compromised-structural, vascular, neural, and nutritional.
Clinical success of current cartilage surgery is limited as it generally only works for small, uni-polar (one-sided joint) lesions of the femoral condyle. No current treatment exists for bone edema or osteonecrosis of the knee.
It would be desirable to have a minimally invasive joint support and subchondral support system and method of use of same that specifically addresses the subchondral bone in arthritic disease process and progression, and relieves the pain that results from diseased subchondral bone and the spectrum of symptoms that result from arthritis, including pain, stiffness, swelling, and discomfort. It would be further desirable to have a joint support and subchondral support system and method of use of same that provides as follows: (1) a treatment specifically for bone edema and bone bruises and osteonecrosis that has previously not existed; (2) structural scaffolding to assist in the reparative processes of diseased bone next to joints; (3) shock absorbing enhancement to subchondral bone; (4) compressive, tensile, and especially shear stress attenuation enhancement to subchondral bone; (5) a means to prevent further joint deformity from subchondral bone remodeling such as osteophyte formation; (6) assistance in the healing of or prevention of further destruction of overlying cartilage by maintaining and allowing vascularity and nutritional support from subchondral bone; (7) assistance in the healing of or prevention of further destruction of overlying cartilage by providing an adequate structural base; (8) a minimally invasive alternative to total joint reconstruction that also does not preclude or further complicate joint reconstruction; (9) a treatment for subchondral bone disease in its role in arthritis and delay or halt further progression; (10) an implant for arthritis that is minimally subject to loosening or wear, as it is integral to the trabecular framework it supports; (11) an alternative for tibial sided, patellofemoral, and bipolar disease (tibial-femoral) that is relatively easy to perform, as an adjunct to arthroscopy, and as an outpatient procedure with minimal downtime for the patient; (12) a treatment for arthritis that allows higher lever of activity than that allowed after joint resurfacing or replacement; (13) a cost effective alternative to joint replacement with less issues about the need for revision and surgical morbidity, especially in countries with less medical resources; and (14) a treatment option in veterinary medicine, specifically in equine arthroses and arthritides, among other desirable features, as described herein.

Joint support and subchondral support system


A depth-measurement is disclosed for highly accurately measuring the depth (step difference) of depressions in a pattern in which depressions and protrusions periodically repeat, as in, e.g. a fine groove pattern. The depth measurement method is also for optically measuring the depth of depressions in a pattern formed so that depressions and protrusions periodically repeat in a specified direction on a substrate. The depth of the depressions is calculated based on photoelectrically converted signals of an integrated light flux of a first and second light beam obtained when an interference pattern is formed on the pattern by shining a first and second coherent light beam onto the pattern, and on the wavelengths of the first and second light beams. To highly accurately measure the depth (step difference) of the depressions in such a pattern formed so that depressions and protrusions periodically repeat in a specified direction, the depth of the depressions is calculated based on photoelectrically converted signals of the integrated light flux of the first and second light beams obtained for each of the multiple wavelengths, and on the multiple wavelengths.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a depth measurement method and a depth measurement apparatus for measuring depth or step difference of a depression in a pattern in which depressions and protrusions periodically repeat, and is specifically suited for use, e.g., when measuring the depth or step difference of fine groove patterns, such as the trench structure or alignment marks in a semiconductor element, and the like.
2. Related Background Art
For example, semiconductor elements are formed by layering multi-layered circuit patterns in specified positional relationships onto a wafer, and in the lithographic process for forming the circuit pattern for each layer, the pattern image of a reticle, which acts as a mask, is transferred onto a photoresist layer on the wafer at a specified magnification by an exposure device. And, when the reticle patterns are transferred onto the second and subsequent layers of the wafer by the exposure device, the location of the alignment marks formed on the wafer in the preceding processes is detected, and once the reticle pattern and the pattern already formed on each shot field on the wafer have been aligned with each other based on the results of this detection, so-called "overlay exposure" is performed.
The alignment marks on past wafers have usually been patterns in which depressions and protrusions periodically repeat formed on the wafer at a specified pitch along the direction of measurement. Below, these three-dimensional patterns which are thus periodically arranged in a specified direction will also be referred to as "groove patterns", and the fine patterns with small three-dimensional pitches within these groove patterns will be referred to as "fine groove patterns." When detecting alignment marks comprising this kind of fine groove pattern with, e.g., a photographic alignment sensor which uses an illumination light of a specified bandwidth, the parts in the image of the alignment mark which correspond to the boundaries between the protrusions and depressions may be a dark line, for example, making it possible to detect the dark line. There are also alignment sensors which perform position detection based on diffracted light in a specific direction from the fine groove pattern, such as the laser step alignment type (LSA type), which shines a light beam, such as a laser beam, onto alignment marks comprising a diffraction grating-shaped fine groove pattern, detects the diffracted light from that pattern and perform position detection based on the intensity of the diffracted light, or the two-beam interference type (LIA type) which shine coherent light beams from two directions onto the pattern, and perform position detection based on the phase of a beat signal obtained by photoelectrically converting a pair of diffracted lights exiting parallel to each other from the pattern.
For example, when performing position detection in this way, based on light diffracted in a specific direction from the fine groove pattern in this way, the intensity of the emitted diffracted light varies greatly, and in some cases the SN ratio of the resulting detection signal deteriorates, depending on the depth of the pattern depressions, i.e., with the step difference between the depressions and the protrusions. Consequently, it is necessary to control the manufacturing processes so that the depth of these patterns remains within a specified range, and for that it is necessary to precisely measure the depth of the patterns.
In addition, when it is necessary to precisely control the depth of a groove pattern other than alignment marks on a wafer, it is assumed that it will be necessary to measure their depth accurately. From the past, the method used for measuring the depth (or step difference) of a fine groove pattern has been to shine light fluxes of multiple wavelengths onto and around that fine groove pattern and calculate the depth from the spectral distribution of the normal reflected light.
This exploited the fact that reflected light from the bottom (depression) of the fine groove pattern and the reflected light from the upper surface (its surroundings) would interfere with each other, and that the reflected light of specific wavelengths would be stronger or weaker due to the phase difference which accompanies the difference in the light paths of the two reflected lights (2.times. the depth).
However, there was a problem in the prior art as described above in that the SN ratio of the obtained signal was not very good since detection was performed dependent on the intensity of the reflected light from the depressions in the groove pattern and from the are surround them. There was also the problem that, when the material of the groove pattern is one which gives rise to variations in the reflecting power within the wavelength band of the detection light, the variations in reflecting power for a wavelength peculiar to a material had an effect on the variations in reflecting power that accompanied the aforementioned depth variations, drastically reducing the accuracy of depth detection.

Method and apparatus for measuring depth of a depression in a pattern by light interference from crossed light beams


A process is defined for the rapid definition of new animation parameters for proprietary renderers. The process accommodates the peculiarities of proprietary models. In a first step, a proprietary model is animated in a standard modeler and the animated models are saved as VRML files. A converter is used to extract the meaning of a newly defined animation parameter by comparing two or more of the VRML files. Thus, the output of this process is the model and a table describing the new animation parameter. This information is read by the renderer and used whenever the animation parameter is required. The process can easily be used to generate new shapes from the original model.

The present invention generally relates to the field of computer animation and more particularly, is directed to a method for defining animation parameters for an animation definition interface.
In recent years, advances in personal computer hardware has made it possible to process audio and digital images on the desktop. These advances were aided by the development of sophisticated formats and standards for coding audio-visual information, such as movies, video, music and the like, in digital compressed formats. Such formats allow large amounts of audio/video data to be processed with relatively low cost equipment.
Under the direction of the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the International Electro-Technical Commission (IEC), the xe2x80x9cMoving Picture Experts Groupxe2x80x9d (xe2x80x9cMPEGxe2x80x9d) was established to development the MPEG suit of standards for coding moving pictures and audio. The major advantage of MPEG over other video and audio standards is said to be much smaller file size for the same quality due to the efficient compression techniques employed.
MPEG encoded video files are typically xe2x80x9cplayedxe2x80x9d on a PC, Mac or other consumer electronics device using an MPEG video player and MPEG audio files are xe2x80x9cplayedxe2x80x9d using an MPEG audio player. Such players are readily available to PC users and the number of MPEG encoded video and audio files is steady growing.
As the need for more demanding and varied encoding schemes for video and audio content continue to increased, MPEG has been derived into the following categories:
MPEG 1xe2x80x94Coding of moving pictures and associated audio for digital storage media at up approximately 1.5 Mbit/s;
MPEG 2xe2x80x94Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information; and
MPEG 4xe2x80x94Coding of audio-visual objects.
Along with the development of MPEG, real-time animation on the desk top also has gained popularity in recent years. Many real-time animation programs, including upcoming MPEG-4 terminals with face and body animation capabilities, can be used to run a proprietary renderer using a proprietary face or body model. Usually, animation of a proprietary model is not compatible with MPEG-4 requirements. Furthermore, the current implementation and modification of animation parameters, like smiles or eyebrow movement, with these renderers is cumbersome and time consuming. Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved method of processing animation parameters.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to obviate the above-noted shortcomings and disadvantages of real-time animation processes known in the prior art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an animation definition interface for an MPEG renderer which can be easily and inexpensively implemented allowing for animation of arbitrary downloaded models in the MPEG-4 terminal.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive and easily followed method for real-time animation.
The above mentioned disadvantages of prior art real-time animation with MPEG compliant renderers can be eliminated or substantially reduced by the present invention. In accordance with the invention, a method is provided that allows the rapid definition of animation parameters for proprietary models downloaded from an MPEG-4 encoder and their inclusion into proprietary real-time rendering software that might also be MPEG-4 compliant. The proprietary model can be read into any commercially available modeler. The modeler is then used to define the behavior of different animation parameters. For each animation parameter, a modified model is created and stored. Model analysis software, known as an animation definition interface, compares the original model with the animated model and extracts the essential animation parameters which represents the differences between the original and modified models. These parameters are stored in tables and are used by the real-time animation program to generate the desired expressions.

Method for defining MPEP 4 animation parameters for an animation definition interface


An improved grain cart is able to hold more grain with reduced field compaction to derive greater yield from a farm field. The grain cart includes a frame which supports a grain hopper and is supported by a plurality of wheels, some of which are steerable so the cart also has an acceptable turning radius.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to grain carts used in harvesting grain crops. More specifically, the present invention relates to improvements to grain carts to increase the capacity of the grain cart and, at the same time, reduce compaction of the soil of the farm field in which the grain cart is used.
II. Description of the Prior Art
One of the factors that affect the yield of a farm field is the degree to which the soil in the field is compacted. The higher the degree of compaction, the lower the yield. The use of heavy farm equipment in a farm field can cause such compaction resulting in an adverse impact on the yield of the field.
A study was recently performed at Kansas State University relating to the effect of compaction resulting from farm equipment traversing a field. The results of the study suggests that if the farm equipment applies pressure to the soil in excess of 18 pounds per square inch, there is an adverse impact on the field""s yield of up to 10% the next year.
Yield is, of course, only one factor that can be used in evaluating the efficiency of a farm operation. Another significant factor is the time it takes to plant a field, treat the field, and harvest the crop. In the past 50 years, the size and weight of farm equipment has grown significantly. Ideally, such equipment will be designed not only to reduce the time it takes to plant, treat or harvest a field, but also to reduce compaction of the field.
One important piece of equipment used in harvesting grain is the grain cart. Many grain carts made today include a single axle and a pair of wheels. These carts are typically designed to hold 500 to 800 bushels of grain. Other grain carts include a single axle and four wheels mounted to the axle. These carts are designed to hold up to 975 bushels of grain. There are two problems with such grain carts. First, they do not have a large enough capacity. Second, depending upon the load carried by the cart and the wheel size, the pressure applied by the cart to the field can be in the range of 25 pounds per square inch. This pressure exceeds that typical of tractors and various other equipment. The compaction created by such pressure is certainly great enough to adversely effect field yield.
The present invention provides a grain cart with an increased hauling capacity. At the same time, the grain cart of the present invention is designed to reduce the degree of compaction of the field by reducing the pressure applied by the cart to the field. Carts incorporating the present invention can have a capacity of up to 1500 bushels, and thus hold in excess of 50% more grain than prior art carts. At the same time, carts incorporating the present invention provide a maximum pressure to the field in the range of 13 to 15 pounds per square inch. Thus, carts of the present invention provide less compaction force than a typical tractor and less than the 18 pounds per square inch threshold referenced in the Kansas State University study.
The benefits of the present invention discussed above result from the use of either a tandem or tridem axle arrangement. In the tandem axle arrangement, the weight is distributed over two axles and four tires. In the tridem axle arrangement, the weight is distributed over three axles and six tires. In the tandem axle arrangement, the wheels on the back axle pivot so as to be steerable. The wheels on the front axle are not steerable. In the tridem axle arrangement, the wheels on both the front and back axles are steerable and the wheels on the center axle are not steerable. These arrangements allow the cart to have a turning radius approaching that of a single axle cart without the risk of damaging the axles, hubs, wheels and tires while turning. The steerable wheels steer in a controlled fashion. In one embodiment, this steering effect is the result of ground pressure. In another embodiment, a hydraulic power steering system is provided.


A telecommunications network for mobile users of the third generation has a user subsystem and a transport subsystem, associated with an access subsystem, which has a general user-access communication interface and a transport-access communication interface facing them, respectively, able to ensure information flow between the subsystems. The user subsystems can connect to the access subsystem through telecommunications cables.

The present invention relates to a telecommunications network for mobile users, said telecommunications network for mobile users (UNET) comprising a user subsystem (STU) and a transport subsystem (STT) associated by means of an access subsystem (STA), which has a user-access communication interface (Uu) and a transport-access communication interface (Iu) respectively facing the subsystem (STU) and the transport subsystem (STT), being apt to ensure exchange of information flows (TS) between said subsystems.
Based on many tests, a strong increment of the quantity of information exchanged between the users provided with terminals for mobile radiocommunications and the networks of the providers of such services is predicted within a short term.
In view of this future requirement, several national and international organizations operating for the ruling of the radio frequencies and relevant standards for signal treatment, modulation and multiplexing (ITU, ETSI, FCC, etc.), have agreed on the definition of a standard (or families of standards, such as IMT2000) in order to ensure a significant increase of the data exchange rate between the network and the mobile telephone terminal and vice-versa. The family IMT2000 includes, e.g,. the new standards called CDMA2000 and UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) or 3G (third generation), which will ensure performance of video-conferences and compatibility with the protocols of Internet networks (such as Ipv6) with other networks of the same family, such as DECT and with the wireless telephone networks of previous standards (2G), such as GSM and PCS and relative improvements, such as GPRS, EDGE, etc. (usually indicated with 2.5G).
Therefore, there is reason to believe that diffusion of new terminals in a position to ensure efficient connection to Internet, visualize video-films and reproduce data, voice, musicals and television files downloadable from Internet, will entail a significant increase of the amounts of data in transition in the terrestrial radio networks for the mobile telephony of the next generation.
By way of example, according to UMTS standard the mobile systems of the third generation are designed for multi-medial communications. With these systems, communications from individual to individual can be improved with quality images and/or video and access to information or services on private and public networks can benefit of the highest data rate available and of the higher communication flexibility of such systems.
Moreover, these systems have the following features:                variable Bit Rate for providing a band width compatible with the required service (ranging from 16 kbps for vocal communication to 2 Mbps for "High Multimedia" services);        multiplexing services with different quality requirements in one single connection;        delay requirements for traffic in real time;        quality requirements ranging from 10% frame error to 10−6 bit error rate;        co-existence with second generation systems (e.g. GSM) and inter-systems handover for better traffic coverage and balancing;        asymmetric traffic support for uplink (from user to provider) and downlink (from provider to user);
As a result, the most important features of the network according to UMTS standard are a high bit-rate for the user, compatibility with Internet standards, managing capacity of multi-medial files and connecting capacity of the terminal in "always on" mode.
It is also logically predictable that upon starting the use of UMTS networks the traffic will mainly consist of voice and Internet contents, whereas the portion of multi-medial data traffic is going to increase later.
Since requested information will often be available on the Internet network, it is important to develop an efficient TCP/UDP/IP traffic management in the UMTS network.
Therefore, in order to be successful, UMTS network will have to execute a wide range of applications with different performance requirements and service quality.
Consequently, the terminals apt to perform this wide range of services will also incorporate typical features and functions of portable personal computers. As a result, it is predictable that in the future the telecommunications performances required for connection to the networks for mobile services of the third generation will also be integrated in portable personal computers.
In particular, personal computers are quite suitable instruments for performing services (or applications) that make use of communications with a higher bit-rate.
In conclusion, wireless network providers will have to undertake continuous investments for their network capacity to equal the increasing demand and ensure an acceptable quality service to clients.
Capacity problems on both the transport and access networks may arise in the event of a high request for new services on mobile networks. In order to increase transport capacity, also the capacity of the various connections will have to be increased; these increases have no theoretical limits, as the limits are only of financial nature. The access capacity, on the contrary, is limited by the frequency band assigned to each provider; the capacity increases may be managed reducing the size of the coverage cells, i.e. increasing their number; however, it is a solution involving technical and bureaucratic problems, and this operation has anyway a limit if pushed to the extreme.
As to its architectural development, UMTS network consists of a set of logical network elements, each one having a specific function. At its standard level, both the logical elements and interfaces open to each other are defined, so that also the physical network elements will be automatically identified.
The presence of open interfaces, in particular in the access network called UTRAN (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network), allows interconnection to the UMTS network also with modes not expressly provided by the present standards.
Concerning the detailed description of the standardized (or in course of definition) services and performances for the mobile telecommunications networks 2.5G and 3G, reference is made to the documentation produced by the groups 3GPP and 3GPP2 (3rd Generation Partnership Project and 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2), also available in synthesis from publications, such as "WCDMA for UMTS" Holma and Toskala, 2000 John Wiley & Sons, whereas the annexed FIG. 1, to be described hereafter, is representing some elements of the UMTS network, which are required for describing the inventive idea.
Therefore, FIG. 1 is representing a block diagram of the highest level architecture of a telecommunications network for mobile users UNET according to UMTS standard, comprising three main subsystems interconnected to each other:
User subsystem STU, indicated in the standard as User Equipment. This user subsystem represents the user terminal system, i.e. a portable terminal, such as a mobile telephone. Said user subsystem STU is interconnected to the telecommunications network for mobile users UNET, in particular to an access subsystem STA, through a user-access interface Uu, through which a data and voice signal TS is received and transmitted. Said user-access interface Uu is a radio interface; as already mentioned above, it is an open type for operating in association to a large number of terminal of different trade-marks. The user subsystem STU comprises a user identification module USIM, similar to the so-called SIM card of GSM standard, and a mobile equipment ME, i.e. the body of the mobile terminal, communicating through a special equipment interface Cu;
Access subsystem STA: this access subsystem STA represents the access network for the UMTS standard, the system UTRAN previously mentioned, and connects to a transport subsystem STT through a transport-access interface Iu;
Transport subsystem STT: this transport subsystem STT, identified as Core Network in the UMTS standard, represents the transport network of the UMTS system. Said transport subsystem STT, besides being interconnected to the access subsystem STA through the transport-access interface Iu, must be able to interconnect to all other existing networks (external networks, PSTN, ISDN, B-ISDN Internet, etc . . . etc.), identified in FIG. 1 by means of a block EXTNET. This transport subsystem STT comprises information switching means, which are peculiar of common mobile telephone systems, i.e. a commutation centre MSC (Mobile services Switching Centre), a database HLR (Home Location Register) and a database VLR (Visitor Location Centre) mainly used for mobility management, an interconnection node (or Gateway) GMSC (Gateway Mobile Switching Centre), a node for managing packet switching SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node) or GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node).
In FIG. 1 some radio base stations SRB can be noticed inside the access subsystem STA, corresponding to the base stations defined as Node-B in the UMTS standard, i.e. the radio stations spread over the territory identifying the cells of the mobile telephony system. Therefore, their main function consists in exchanging the data and voice signal TS with the user subsystems STU through the radio interface Uu. Said radio base stations SRB also manage the main radio resources, such as inner power control. Inside the access subsystem STA a network radio controller CRR is comprised, called Radio Network Controller in the UMST standard. Said network radio controller CRR has complete control of all radio resources of its area, i.e. the radio base stations SRB connected to it through an appropriate controller-stations interface Iub.
The network radio controller CRR controls operation of one or more radio base stations SRB, manages the setting of the radio channels (connections activation and release), frequency-hopping, inner handovers and other functions, communicating with the transport subsystem (STT). A large number of radio base stations SRB existing in a large town area is controlled by a smaller number of network radio controllers (CRR).
Each radio base station (SRB) can manage connection in the network (UNET) through the user-access interface (Uu) of all the user subsystems (STU) located in the surrounding area of the radio base station (SRB); this area, managed by one radio base station alone (SRB), is called a cell. The radio base stations (SRB) are located over the territory in a way to determine a plurality of cells for continuous coverage of the territory itself, minimizing the surfaces where no sufficient radio coverage is available. The purpose is to ensure continuous connection of the moving user subsystems (STU) to the network (UNET).
Due to the predictable increasing requests of multi-medial information, the network UNET described in FIG. 1 will have an increasing traffic from the external networks EXTNET to be let through the transport/access interfaces Iu and access/user interfaces Uu, in both directions. As said above, in order to ensure acceptable quality service to the clients the providers of UMTS networks and wireless network in general will have to undertake continuous investments for equalling their networks capacity to the increasing demand.

Fixed access network for mobile telecommunications services and apparatus


A moisture drying mattress comprises a cover that encloses an air cell mattress and a plurality of air channel mats. The cover has a top portion that is vapor permeable and liquid impermeable. The air cell mattress has a plurality of apertures between the air cells. The plurality of air channel mats have a base and are positioned beneath the air cell mattress and within pockets located in the interior of the cover on a bottom portion of the cover. The air channel mats have a plurality of projections extending upwardly from the base that support the air cell mattress in a spaced relation from the air channel mat base. The air channel mats communicate with an air pump that is selectively controlled by a controller to selectively supply a flow of air to any of the air channel mats. The air flow to the air channel mats flows over the base of the air channel mats between the projections and upwardly through the plurality of apertures in the air cell mattress and through the cover top portion to remove moisture from the mattress and from the interface between a user of the moisture drying mattress and the top cover.

(i) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to cushioning devices, in particular to a mattress comprised of an air cell mattress with a plurality of apertures extending through the base of the air cell mattress, a plurality of air channel mats residing beneath the air cell mattress, a top and bottom cover, and an air pump with a controller. The air pump communicates with the air channel mats to provide a flow of air to the bottom of the air cell mattress which flows upwardly through the plurality of apertures and through the top cover to remove moisture. These cushioning devices are typically used in a hospital setting for users that are severely disabled or debilitated and readily cannot move.
(ii) Description of the Related Art
Over the years various mattresses for use in therapeutic care and the prevention of pressure ulcers on the user of the mattress have been developed. Pressure ulcers are red areas or open sores on the skin, often accompanied by indications that the skin and surrounding tissue is in the process of dying and decomposing. Pressure ulcers are caused by restricted blood flow causing damage to the body""s soft tissue in areas where bone is close to the skin. Pressure ulcers, also known as bed sores, can occur over any boney part of the body such as the heels, hips and back. Users who are severely disabled, diabetic or debilitated and cannot move are ideal candidates for developing pressure ulcers. These users are apt to lie or sit motionless in one position for long periods of time (hours). The major causes of pressure ulcers include (1) oxygen and nutrient starvation of the soft tissue; (2) pressure; (3) friction and skin shear; (4) excess moisture or moisture build-up at the skin; and (5) heat build-up in the tissue. Pressure at the user-mattress interface can constrict capillary blood flow due to soft tissue deformation and starve body tissue of oxygen and nutrients. The starvation of the tissue causes the tissue to began to die and decompose, causing the formation of a pressure ulcer.
While the interface pressure is very important, other factors also contribute to developing pressure ulcers. Friction and skin shear forces intensify the damaging effects of interface pressure. Friction results in abrasion damage to the skin surface. Skin shear is the horizontal force between the user and the mattress surface that produces tearing forces within deeper tissues. Skin shear can occur when a user is positioned or slides on a bed surface, stretching and damaging skin, connective-tissue, muscle and blood vessels. Excess moisture or moisture build-up at the user-mattress interface can be absorbed through the skin and possibly result in over-hydration of the skin. Over-hydration of the skin dramatically reduces soft tissue strength and increases the potential for friction/shear damage. Excess moisture on the mattress also raises the drag friction of the user-mattress interface due to liquid surface tension and can greatly increase friction and shear damage. Another factor contributing to the development of pressure ulcers is heat build-up in the tissue. Elevated tissue temperatures increase cellular metabolism and the subsequent need for oxygen and nutrients. Typically, the prior art mattresses designed to prevent pressure ulcers employ some type of air cell mattress wherein the individual air cells communicate with one another so as to evenly distribute the supporting force over the body of the user of the mattress. While the use of mattresses that provide a uniform supporting force reduces the possibility of developing pressure ulcers, other factors need to be addressed in order to further diminish the possibility of a user developing pressure ulcers.
For example, excess moisture or moisture build-up at the user-mattress interface can result in over-hydration (or maceration)of the skin along with an increase in the friction and skin shear forces experienced by the user, which greatly enhance the potential for developing pressure ulcers. To overcome the excess moisture build-up, prior art mattresses have employed methods of providing a flow of air through the mattress and along the user-mattress interface to remove any built-up moisture and minimize the potential for moisture to build-up. These mattresses included the use of an air pump to supply a flow of air to an air distribution member residing beneath the mattress which flows between the air distribution member and the mattress and then upwardly through the mattress to the user-mattress interface. These prior art mattresses use a single air distribution member to provide the flow of air to the mattress. However, these mattresses had a drawback in that, the use of a single air distribution member does not provide the flexibility to custom tailor the flow of air to different parts of the mattress to provide different levels of comfort and moisture removal for the user of the mattress.
Typical prior art mattresses also employ a single air pump to supply air to both the air cells and the air distribution member. The use of a single pump to provide air to the air cells of the air cell mattress and to provide a flow of air to the mattress air distribution member to remove moisture increases the complexity and cost of the air supply system and prevents the use of other manufacture""s air cell mattresses. The complexity of the air supply system for both the mattress air cells and the air distribution member may also be difficult for a user to understand and control.
Some prior art mattresses utilize air from the air cells to provide a flow of air from the mattress to remove moisture. A typical mattress of this type uses low air loss air cells wherein the air cells are constantly venting a small amount of air out of the air cells as new air is being continuously pumped into the air cells. The air venting from the air cells provides the air flow to the mattress to remove the moisture. Additionally, other mattresses systematically inflate and deflate some of the air cells of the air cell mattress in order to relieve pressure on the user of the mattress. The deflation of the air cells provides an exhaust flow of air that is routed from the mattress to remove moisture therefrom.
Some prior art mattresses also utilize drainage holes in the mattress to remove large amounts of liquid that may be excreted by a user of the mattress, such as urine. While this aids in the removal of the liquid moisture, it does not remove moisture vapor and allows for a potentially unsanitary and non-hygenic mattress.
The use of this type of mattress requires the mattress to be cleaned and disinfected after having been contaminated.
The present invention overcomes shortcomings of prior art mattresses by providing a cushion that provides a uniform supporting force over a large area, an air channel mat for supplying air to the mattress to dry moisture vapor, and a cover that provides a smooth surface for the user to lay on that is vapor permeable and liquid impermeable. Furthermore, the present invention provides for a plurality of air channel mats that are supplied with a flow of air from an air pump that can selectively control which parts of the mattress are supplied with a flow of air to dry moisture vapor.
An effective therapeutic mattress that minimizes the possibility of pressure ulcers will (1) distribute pressure as evenly as possible along a user""s body minimizing or eliminating the potential of soft tissue deformation; (2) have a low friction user-mattress interface that minimizes the skin shear forces; and (3) actively removes excess user-mattress moisture.
The moisture drying mattress is comprised of at least one cushion that has opposite top and bottom surfaces and a plurality of apertures that extend through the cushion from the bottom surface to the top surface. An air channel mat is positioned below the cushion. The air channel mat is adapted and dimensioned to fit beneath the cushion and support the cushion bottom surface in a spaced relation above a bottom base of the mat to thereby form an air channel between the cushion and mat through which air can flow. An air pump is provided for selectively supplying a flow of air to the air channel mat. A controller is provided to control the flow of air to the air channel mat. A cover encases the air channel mat and the cushion.
In the preferred embodiment, the cushion is an inflatable air cell mattress comprised of a plurality of air cells. The air cells are interconnected to permit air flow between the air cells and are preferably cubic in shape with a domed top. The inflated air cell mattress provides a uniform supporting force for the user of the mattress to minimize the pressure concentrations on the user. The distribution of the supporting force helps to prevent the occurrence of pressure ulcers. A plurality of apertures are provided in the cushion that extend through the base sheet and top sheet of the air cell mattress but do not communicate with the air cells. The apertures provide a path through which air can flow from the air channel mat upwardly through the apertures and between the air cells and through the cover to remove moisture or dry the moisture vapor.
In the preferred embodiment, the air channel mat is a plurality of air channel mats that are each dimensioned and adapted to fit beneath a portion of the cushion and support the cushion bottom surface in a spaced relation above the base of the air channel mat. The air channel mats each have a peripheral edge separating opposite top and bottom surfaces of the base. An air supply connector is connected to each air channel mat along its peripheral edge. A plurality of projections extend upwardly from the base top surface of each air channel mat and engage with the cushion bottom surface to support the cushion bottom surface in a spaced relation above the base top surface and create a channel into which air can flow between the air channel mat base and the cushion bottom surface. Preferably, each air channel mat is also provided with a skirt that extends along a portion of the air channel mat peripheral edge. The skirt extends over the air supply connector and along a portion of the peripheral edge on both sides of the air supply connector. The skirt extends inwardly from the peripheral edge to cover a portion of the top surface of the base and the projections that extend upwardly from the base. The skirt serves to secure the air supply connector to the air channel mat and prevents the flow of air to the air channel mat from escaping along the portion of the peripheral edge with the skirt.
In the preferred embodiment, the air pump has a plurality of air outlets, with each outlet being controlled by a valve that is selectively positionable between opened and closed positions. The outlets are connected with the air supply connectors of the air channel mats, with each outlet being associated with one air channel mat and providing a flow of air from the air pump to the associated air channel mat when in the opened position. When the valves are in the closed position they prevent a flow of air from the air pump outlets to their associated air channel mats. The valves thereby allow a user to selectively choose which air channel mats receive a flow of air from the air pump.
In the preferred embodiment, the air pump includes an air supply controller that controls the valves and the air pump and has a plurality of selectively adjustable inputs, the inputs controlling the opening and closing of the valves and the operation of the air pump. The inputs control a cyclic opening and closing of the valves for predetermined periods of time. The selectively adjustable inputs thereby enable a user to custom tailor the air flow to the mattress and the subsequent moisture removal.
In the preferred embodiment, the cover is dimensioned and adapted to enclose the cushion and the air channel mats. The cover has a top sheet with a peripheral edge and a bottom sheet with a peripheral edge. The top and bottom sheets are connected together along portions of their peripheral edges, leaving an opening between the peripheral edges that provides access to an interior of the cover between the top sheet and bottom sheet.
Preferably, the bottom sheet has opposite top and bottom surfaces. The bottom sheet top surface has a plurality of pockets dimensioned and adapted to receive the air channel mats. The pockets are comprised of a U-shaped frame having an outer peripheral edge, an inner peripheral edge, and a margin extending between the outer and inner peripheral edges. The outer peripheral edge is secured to the bottom sheet top surface and the frame margin of the pocket overlaps a portion of the top of the air channel mat, thereby holding the air channel mat in the pocket. A portion of the air channel mat beneath the frame opening is exposed to the cushion bottom surface so that the mat projections engage with the cushion bottom surface to support the cushion bottom surface in a spaced relation above the air channel mat base.
Preferably, each pocket separates each of the air channel mats and forms a seal between the pocket and the cushion bottom surface. The seal directs the flow of air from the air pump through the air channel mat and then upwardly through the apertures in the portion of the cushion that is above the air channel mat, enabling the flow of air to be directed to the desired portion of the cushion.
In the preferred embodiment, the top sheet of the cover has a top surface, upon which the user will interface with the mattress, that is both vapor permeable and liquid impermeable. The top sheet is comprised of a nylon sheet laminated to a urethane sheet. The nylon sheet is above the urethane sheet so that a user of the mattress will interface with the nylon sheet and the urethane sheet is positioned between the nylon sheet and the cushion top surface. The laminated top sheet allows moisture vapor to permeate both into and out of the cover and prevents liquid on the top surface of the cover from entering the mattress and contaminating the cushion and air channel mats. The use of a nylon sheet as the interface between the mattress and the user reduces the friction between the cover and the user and thereby minimizes the possibility of the user developing pressure ulcers from friction or skin shear. Additionally, by utilizing a flow of air through the cover top sheet to remove the moisture vapor from the mattress-user interface, the user""s skin is less likely to over-hydrate (maceration) and as a result the soft tissue is strong enough to reduce the potential for friction and/or skin shear damage.
The moisture drying mattress of the present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art. The use of a plurality of air channel mats that can be selectively supplied with a flow of air from an air pump allows the user to selectively choose which portions of the mattress receive the air flow The use of a cover having a top surface upon which the user will interface that is made of a nylon sheet laminated to a urethane sheet keeps liquids out of the mattress while allowing the air flow within the mattress to flow through the cover and remove moisture. The nylon surface provides a smooth, low friction surface upon which the user interfaces with the mattress and reduces the risk of damage to a user""s skin. Additionally, the removal of moisture from the user-mattress interface will also remove heat from the user""s skin via evaporative cooling and, accordingly, reduce the risk of developing pressure ulcers. The use of an air mattress that distributes a supporting force over the entire portion of the user""s body that is in contact with the mattress minimizes or eliminates the potential of soft tissue deformation and further reduces the possibility of developing pressure ulcers.

Moisture drying mattress with separate zone controls


A wall panel, a masonry wall system, and a method are described. Masonry units are used with wall panels to make a masonry wall. The wall panel has a back face and a front face. The front face has multiple ribs which engage the masonry units, where each rib has top and bottom sides. The bottom sides of the ribs have multiple compressible projections with cavities which can be deformed so as to retain the masonry unit in the panel. Each masonry unit has a body with a front face, a back face, and top and lateral faces. The back face and top lateral face form a back peripheral edge, and the top lateral face has at least one tooth for securing the masonry unit in the panel. In operation, the tooth compresses the projections of the horizontal ribs, thereby securing the masonry unit in the panel.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,857,248 and 7,658,050 in the name of the Applicant teach panels made of compressible material with depressions for receiving masonry units. The panels described in these patents include resilient projections for holding the units in place in the depressions. U.S. Pat. No. 7,658,050 also teaches a masonry unit having a tooth projection from a side or lateral face which thrusts into a corresponding compressible rib of the panel when the masonry unit is inserted into a depression. The locking interference between the compressed rib and the masonry unit holds the masonry unit in the depression until mortar can be applied, thus eliminating the need for a mixture of adhesive or cement to temporarily retain the masonry unit in the depression.
The following documents provide other examples of wall construction using panels and/or masonry units: U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,339,489; 3,238,589; 3,350,827; 3,435,577; 3,496,694; 3,521,418; 3,712,825; 3,884,737; 3,908,326; 4,433,518; 4,510,729; 4,589,241; 4,656,722; 4,858,410; 5,009,387; 5,228,937; 5,232,608; 5,232,646; 5,232,646 (re-examined); 5,386,963; 5,459,938; 5,501,049; 5,570,551; 5,632,922; 5,836,572; 5,839,251; 5,855,075; 5,894,676; 6,041,567; 6,164,037; 7,617,646; 7,871,054; US patent applications 20040065035; 20090007515; 20120085052; 20120117904 and PCT published application WO201316820.
Artificial masonry units are manufactured according to standard dimensions so as to tightly fit in a corresponding depression or channel of a panel. However, it is not uncommon to have units with dimensions varying from about +/−3 mm, and sometimes up to +/−5 mm from the standard dimensions. This situation can result from the wear of the molds used for manufacturing the units. In the case where the units are larger than the standard dimension, they tend to deform the ribs of the row, which in turn makes it difficult to install rows of units above or below the deformed row of depressions or channels. In the case where the units are smaller than the standard size, the interlocking of the units with the ribs is not sufficient enough to retain the units in the panel.
In light of the above, there is a need for panel and/or for a masonry wall system which facilitates insertion of artificial masonry units having dimensions which may vary from a standard dimension.

Panel with compressible projections and masonry wall system including the panel


An enclosure for improving padlock security is provided. The enclosure includes a sleeve component that has openings at the left and right for receiving the padlock, cutouts at the top to access the shackle holes and a key slot at the bottom for accessing the padlock. The sleeve component containing the padlock is inserted into a tubular component. The tubular component has an opening at the bottom for receiving the sleeve component and padlock, one or more stoppers, capable of contacting the body of the padlock preventing further insertion of the padlock, while allowing the shackle to continue past, cutouts on the front and back sides of the enclosure beginning at the stoppers and proceeding upward and an opening at the top for accessing the shackle.

A conventional padlock consists of a lock body, a shackle (commonly U shaped) operatively locked in or unlocked from the lock body, and a key-operated locking device formed in the lock body for operatively unlocking the shackle from the padlock by using a key. A padlock, if provided with a key-operated locking mechanism therein, should be unlocked only by a key.
Lock picking is the practice of unlocking a lock by manipulating the components of the lock device without the key. This is generally done by accessing the keyhole with various lock picking tools, such as torque and tension tools or a rake, but can also include bobby pins, safety pins, and paperclips. In the modern era, with so much information available to the public, more and more individuals are learning how to pick a lock with new and improved methods. The Lock Picking Lawyer, an internet personality, regularly shows the ease at which locks can be picked and that virtually no lock is pick proof. Other online resources provide information on how to pick locks with tools as common as bobby pins and paperclips.
The purpose of a lock is to prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to any area which has been closed and locked. Locks range from securing the side gate of a person's yard to something as serious as the trigger lock on a person's gun from access by an intruder or a child. A parent or guardian may want to prevent a child or teenager from accessing items like a lock include a laptop, legal drugs, money. However, a child or teenager is now very capable of picking a lock. Since lock picking runs afoul of this purpose, there is a need for new methods to thwart lock picking.


In a pressure sensing system comprising a tactile pressure sensor with an opaque cylindrical body disposed in a tube and having axial passages extending between its opposite end faces, an electroluminescent foil is disposed at one end face and a support body which includes light collecting means is disposed at the other end face so that light emitted by the luminescent foil and passing through the passages--dependent on the pressure applied to the one end face--is conducted to an imaging device for determining the pressure distribution applied to the one end face of the cylindrical body.

The invention relates to a system including a tactile pressure sensor with an opaque cylindrical body which consists of an elastomer and has several axially extending bores, and an image receiving apparatus with a data processor. The pressure sensor responds to a pressure applied to its tactile part with a light intensity change. This light intensity change is transmitted, by way of a light transmission structure, to an image receiver and is recorded. A data processor connected to the image receiver controls the image receiver and reads the intensity-relevant data. The pressure effective on the pressure sensitive surface can then be displayed or control signals can be transmitted to associated operating equipment or sensing devices.
Such pressure sensors have various applications. They may be used for example as touch-sensitive devices in the robot technology. They can be used for sensing surface conditions. In the medical field, tissue areas or organs can be probed.
A company "Interlink" utilizes a pressure array in a laparoscopic grasping clamp in order to obtain pressure data. The sensor comprises a semi-conductive polymer, which changes its resistance when subjected to external pressure. These pressure data which are suitable only for a dynamic pressure determination are, after a graphic display on a PC monitor, returned to a tactile system (see Fischer, H. et al, "Messungen der Greifkrafte chirurgischer Zangen mit FSRTM-sensors" internal report, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, HIT, 1994). The semi-conductive polymer has the disadvantageous property that it ages very rapidly if used frequently, exhibits a very high creep behavior and is therefore not suitable for static pressure measurements since the inference regarding the pressure generated becomes incorrect.
Very common are tactile capacitive foil sensors. They generally consist of two copperstrips which are disposed crosswise on top of each other and are separated by a dielectric elastomer such that they form a condenser matrix (see J. Seekircher et al. "Improved Tactile Sensors", selected papers from the 2.sup.nd IFAC symposium, Pergamon 1989, p. 317-322). The pressure on the sensor is transformed to a capacity change. However, such an arrangement is very susceptible to electric fields since the signal value is very small because, with a layer thickness of 30 .mu.m, the capacity changes of 0.6 pF at d/d=10% are very small.
DE 32 36 435 C2 discloses a fiber optic sensor, wherein light is conducted through a tube whose open width is pressure dependent and determines the intensity of light conducted through the tube to a receiver. With such a sensor, however, no layer arrangement can be provided since it is different in principle.
A pressure intensity transmission arrangement, which permits the construction of tactile sensors of small dimensions and with high resolution for the installation into a finger of a robot clamp is described by D. H. Mott et al. FIG. 1 on page 181 shows the principle of the conversion of the pressure intensity into light intensity in ROBOT SENSORS, Volume 2, Tactile and Non-Vision, edited by Prof. A. Pugh, Springer Volag Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Tokyo, 1986 in the contribution "An Experimental Very High Resolution Tactile Sensor Array", on pages 179 to 188.
The tactile part includes a transparent acrylic plate on which, separated by an air space, a foil in the form of a resilient membrane is disposed. From the side, light is radiated into the acrylic plate, which passes through the plate when there is no load on the plate. The light is reflected on the side walls and exits at the opposite front wall. If the membrane is pressed by outer pressure inputs at any place into contact with the acrylic plate the light reflection in the contact area becomes diffuse because the fraction index changes and light radiates out through the side wall.
The image of the light which is reflected from the tactile sensor in a diffuse manner is directed, by means of optical equipment onto the entrance surface of a CCD chip with a lens disposed in front thereof and is then further processed in a data processor connected to the chip for the display of the video signals or for the generation of control signals for the robot clamp. Also, the CCD camera is controlled and operated by the data processor. Only video images are produced which are generated by a lens system disposed in front. The force applied cannot be determined with this system.
The video images normally produced with CCD chips generally need to be subsequently analyzed by expensive image recognition methods since very large amounts of data are available with for example 486 923 pixels. If PC analyzing units are utilized, the large amount of data which are generated during translation movement in serial cut sections can be used. However, with the hardware utilized in the CCIR standard (international TV standard), there is no data reduction. Such reduction has to be implemented during later processing by expensive software programs. As a video unit the total system is fast but the data processing between the intensity measurement of the light distribution on the CCD chip requires a lot of time. Standard CCD processing provides only visual images without coordination in the form of a voltage signal of the pressure, or respectively, the light intensity effective on the sensor. They serve generally for the visual recognition of objects (textures, outlines).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,908 discloses a pressure sensor with a cylindrical body of an elastomer, which includes several axially extending bores. In this sensor, the light is coupled by way of wave guides into the sensor and is reflected at the pressure sensitive end of the sensor in a pressure dependent manner.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a sensor with which static and dynamic pressure distributions on bodies or other objects can be measured in a small surface area in an absolute and dynamic way. A system should be utilized for this purpose comprising a pressure sensor and an imaging device with a data processor. With this system, it should be possible to represent the "finger tip feel" graphically on a monitor. Furthermore, such a system should be suitable for controlling actuators.


A method and system are provided for opportunistic request-grant switching. If an ingress has no granted payload segment to send, and a flow exists which requires a request to be sent, an opportunistic payload segment is sent including a request and a payload segment related to the request. If an opportunistic payload segment is sent and the payload is dropped, the request is kept and is then treated as a regular request-grant request. The ingress port consequently only has to transmit the payload a maximum of twice. Ingress ports can thus opportunistically exploit the low latency available when egress ports are not contended for, and yet fall back on the strong fairness and quality of service (QoS) assurances of request-grant semantics. Buffering in the switch core can optionally be implemented to extend performance gains, but fairness and QoS are not dependent on this buffering.

The design of switch fabrics for applications in telecom, datacom, and many related applications is a long-standing problem, with a long history of solutions. This section presents a general definition of the problem.
1) There are N nodes in a system which require the ability to exchange messages with each other. Each node is attached to one of N switch ports on a switch fabric. Generally any port can send a message to any other port; there are thus N2 possible ingress-to-egress flows (or Nx(N−1) if self-to-self flows are ruled out).
2) In any (unicast) message exchange, one port acts as an ingress port, or source of the message, and one port acts as an egress port, or sink for the message.
3) The messages are generally transmitted as payload segments, which may be of small fixed length (e.g., ATM cells of 53 bytes), or of variable length, possibly extending up to thousands of bytes (e.g., TCP/IP packets).
4) Where messages are longer than payload segments, some component of the ingress port must segment the message into multiple payload segments. Some component in the egress port must then reassemble the message from the payload segments.
5) Switches generally support multiple classes of traffic. In such systems, each payload segment carries a class identifier. Packets of differing classes may have differing switching priorities. In a switching system with N ports and C classes, there are N2*C distinct flows (flows have distinct sources, sinks, and classes).
6) Most switching systems have some policy of quality of service (QoS). In general, QoS means that higher priority (or higher priority class) payload segments should take priority over lower priority segments, but there are many possible QoS policies. Priorities are associated with classes.
7) Most switching systems have some policy of fairness. In general, fairness means:
a. within each priority class, ingress ports should fairly distribute their offered traffic over all egress ports, and
b. within each priority class, egress ports should accept offered traffic evenly from all ingress ports.
8) Switches, in general, are subject to contention. There may be more payload segments addressed to some egress port than that egress port can consume. Such over-subscription may be short lived or long lived.
9) Ideally, switches should support their QoS and fairness policies even when presented with congesting traffic loads. In fact, many switches fail to accomplish this requirement.
10) Switches should minimize the amount of ingress port to switch core and switch core to egress port bandwidth that is consumed by control information (headers and other control segments).
11) Switches should be work conserving in the sense that egress ports should be kept full whenever there is offered load anywhere on the ingress side.
12) Switches should complete the transmission of payload segments from ingress ports to egress ports with minimal latency.
There is a large variety of applications of switch fabrics. In the more general solutions, there are traffic management (TM) devices connected to each port of the fabric. These TM devices may provide buffering in the ingress and egress paths (to and from the switch core). Independent of TM buffering, there may be buffering in the switch core itself. Our present focus is on the presence or absence of buffers in the switch core, independent of the presence or absence of buffering in TM devices or other devices attached to the ports of the switch fabric. Many switch fabric designs do require core buffering; this is a significant cost which must be considered in the design of switch cores.
There have been many tradeoffs in the design of switch fabrics. It is possible to build centrally buffered fabrics which fairly enforce a defined quality of service (QoS) and achieve minimal switching latency when possible. Central buffering has severely limited the maximal size of switching fabrics, as the physical realization of these buffers (or access to these buffers) has been limited by properties of underlying technologies such as CMOS. Fairness and/or QoS have often been compromised when full central buffering is abandoned to gain scalability.
Consider a buffering switch with N ports and C traffic classes. How many central buffers does it require to avoid a buffer starvation situation that could compromise either fairness or the QoS policy? Recall that this switch has N2*C flows. Now consider the latency of the switch as any single flow runs at 'wire speed'. This number (L), rounded up to the next highest integer is the number of buffers required by the flow to maintain wire speed transmission. In most buffered switch designs, L is at least two, as one buffer is being filled while another is being emptied. Each buffer requires X bits.
The worst case fabric buffering requirement for this scenario is N2*C*L*X bits: a full set of wire speed buffers for each flow. Even a modest reduction in this buffer count can lead to a compromise of fairness or QoS enforcement (depending on the QoS definition). It turns out that the probability of maintaining fairness and QoS with a varying number of buffers asymptotically approaches certainty with many fewer than N2*C*L buffers. But there are always corner cases which can lead to fairness or QoS failures when there are fewer than N2*C*L buffers. Whether a small probability of failure matters is a function of the application, but there are many applications in which customers will not accept any probability of QoS failure. Often this insistence is more due to a reluctance to write control software to deal with the failure than due to the existence of the failure itself. But it is easy to imagine applications in which the possibility of failure is completely unacceptable (e.g., medical systems, flight control systems, or weapons control systems).
The key issue is that the number of buffers required for complete flow isolation (and fairness/QoS assurance) scales quadratically with the number of ports, N. In many applications, a large N is important, and this N2*C*L*X buffering cost comes to dominate the cost and even the feasibility of the switch core. The problem is much worse for applications that transfer very large payload segments (e.g., TCP/IP packets), as each payload segment requires a buffer.
There are two bodies of prior art in the area of switching technologies that are worth considering in this discussion: 1) the general area of virtual output queue (VOQ) switches, and 2) the area of request-grant switch fabric interface design.
The general concept of VOQ switches is that ingress ports maintain separate queues for each output, and that these various queues compete through the switch fabric for access to one 'virtual' output queue in each egress. The concept of VOQ switching is well known to those of skill in the art.
Request-grant protocols are one way to implement portions of VOQ switches. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,212,182 and 6,515,991, both entitled "Combined Unicast and Multicast Scheduling" and assigned to Cisco Technology Inc., relate to request-grant semantics, though they relate particularly to the issue of multicast traffic. Both of those patents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The advent of request-grant switch interface semantics and virtual output queue switch design represent a significant advance in the art of switch fabric design. The key ideas of this approach are:
1) All buffering of payload contents should take place in the ingress ports, not in the switch fabric itself. This avoids the concentration of buffering costs in the critical switch fabric, where buffering costs have either increased the cost or reduced the scalability of earlier switch fabric designs. It is possible to provide full wire-speed per flow buffering when the buffering is divided into N separate portions and placed in the N ports, as each port requires only N*C*L*X bits.
2) Ingress ports send requests to the switch core. Requests carry the information that one (or more) payload segment(s) is(are) to be transferred through the switch from the ingress port which submitted the request to an egress port named in the request, at a class named in the request. The ingress port holds the associated payload segment until the switch core returns a grant to the ingress port.
3) The switch core stores received requests as counts. Each supported flow (<ingress port, egress port, class>) in the switch core has its own count.
4) The switch core treats non-zero flow counts as bids for output ports.
5) The switch core arbitrates among all bids fairly by class for access to egress ports.
6) The switch core notifies the ingress ports associated with winning bids of their success by sending them grant control segments, which indicate which flow can accept a previously requested payload segment.
7) The ingress port responds to grants by sending the payload segment associated with the grant (also associated with the earlier request). All ingress ports receive their grants in a nearly synchronous batch, and reply with their granted payload segments in a nearly synchronous wave. The switch core temporally aligns this wave of arriving payload segments (using small internal FIFOs) for synchronous switching through the internal, synchronous, switching paths. This method of switching is most efficient when all payload segments are of one common size.
8) The switch core forwards the payload segment received from the ingress port to the appropriate output port. This forwarding may be done in a cut-through manner, or in a store-and-forward manner.
FIG. 1 illustrates a standard request-grant message/time diagram. From left to right, the diagram shows an ingress port 10, a switch core 12, and an egress port 14. The left-to-right arrows represent control and/or payload messages. The top to bottom direction corresponds to increasing time. Flow number 16 indicates that the ingress port 10 sends a Request control segment to the switch core; the Request is from ingress port I, to egress port E, at class C. The switch core 12 responds by incrementing the corresponding request count, for <I, E, C>. The switch core 12 begins to consider this request count (now certainly greater than zero) in its regular arbitrations for output ports. At some time this request, <I, E, C>, wins the arbitration for egress E. At flow number 18, the switch core 12 then sends a Grant control segment containing <E, C> to port I. Ingress port I then returns, as part of flow number 20, the next payload segment destined for the flow <E, C>. The switch core forwards, as part of flow number 22, the received payload segment to egress port E. The forwarding may begin as soon as the segment begins to arrive in the core (cut-through), or may wait until the entire segment arrives (store and forward).
The primary benefits of this scheme are: 1) Payload segments need not be stored in the core (except possibly one segment per ingress port (I) during the process of forwarding the segment to the intended egress port (E)); and 2) As the switch core has a representation of every request in the form of a non-zero flow request count, the switch core can make as fair a decision as desired regarding which requests to honour during the next segment transfer time. Thus QoS can be enforced, with maximal fairness.
So, it can be seen that request-grant semantics are a development which avoids central buffering, so buffers can be distributed over the numerous ports. This allows the technology scaling problem to be avoided. At the same time, request-grant semantics preserve fairness and QoS.
However, the request-grant protocol introduces additional latency to the process of passing payload segments through the switch core. Even in the presence of an otherwise idle input and egress port pair, the transfer of a payload segment must wait for a request, a successful arbitration, a grant, and the time it takes the ingress port to retrieve the payload segment to be forwarded. Added latency is undesirable in many applications, especially those in which two (or more) processes communicate very frequently in a ping-pong fashion, and only one process or the communications channel can be active at any time.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an approach that retains the advantages of request-grant semantics, while also supporting minimal latency when egresses are idle.

System and method for opportunistic request-grant switching