A DMT modem (40) is disclosed, in which a combined time domain equalizer and per-tone equalizer is applied to a received DMT signal. The combined equalizer includes a first FFT function (44) that is applied to a set of samples in a time-domain signal after the application of a time domain equalizer (42). The first FFT function (44) produces an initial FFT result, that is accumulated with a sliding FFT (46) performed upon difference values in the time domain samples. The sliding FFT results are applied to a per-ton equalizer (48) which applies a set of complex coefficients determined in training of the modem. A simple 1-tap FEQ (50) then can recover the signal. The combined equalizer enables per-tone equalization, in a manner that is compatible with conventional DSL training standards. According to a second embodiment, the per-tone equalization is performed only on selected tones of the multitone signal.

This invention is in the field of communications, and is more specifically directed to multicarrier modulation communications, such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) communications.
An important and now popular modulation standard for DSL communication is Discrete Multitone (DMT). According to DMT technology, the available spectrum is subdivided into many subchannels (e.g., 256 subchannels of 4.3125 kHz). Each subchannel is centered about a carrier frequency that is phase and amplitude modulated, typically by Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM), in which each symbol value is represented by a point in the complex plane. The number of available symbol values for each subchannel, and thus the number of bits in each symbol communicated over that subchannel, is determined during initialization of the DMT communications session. The number of bits per symbol for each subchannel (i.e., the "bit loading") is determined according to the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the subchannel frequency, which is affected by the transmission channel noise and the signal attenuation at that frequency. For example, relatively noise-free and low attenuation subchannels may communicate data in ten-bit to fifteen-bit symbols, represented by a relatively dense QAM constellation with short distances between points in the constellation. On the other hand, noisy channels may be limited to only two or three bits per symbol, allowing a greater distance between adjacent points in the QAM constellation. Indeed, the SNR of some subchannels is so poor that these subchannels are unloaded, carrying no bits. DMT modulation thus maximizes the data rate over each subchannel, permitting high speed access to be carried out even over relatively noisy and attenuated twisted-pair lines.
DMT modulation also permits much of the signal processing to be carried out in the digital domain. Typically, a serial digital datastream to be transmitted is arranged into symbols, one for each subchannel, with the symbol size depending on the bit loading, as noted above. Reed-Solomon coding and other coding techniques are typically applied for error detection and correction. Modulation of the subchannel carriers is obtained by application of an inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) to the encoded symbols, producing a discrete modulated time domain signal having signal components at each of the subcarrier frequencies. This modulated signal is then serially transmitted. All of these DMT modulation operations can be carried out in the digital domain, permitting implementation of much of a DSL modem, and particularly much of the processing-intensive operations, in a single chip such as a Digital Signal Processor (DSP).
The discrete output time domain signal from the modulation is converted into a time-domain analog signal by a conventional digital-to-analog converter, and is communicated over the transmission channel to the receiving modem, which reverses the process to recover the transmitted data. Ideally, the DMT subchannels in the received signal are orthogonal so that the signal can be demodulated by a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT).
However, the non-ideal impulse response of the transmission channel distorts the transmitted signal. The signal received by the receiving modem can be considered to be a convolution of the transmitted analog signal with the impulse response of the transmission channel. One may express the time-domain signal y(n) at the receiver, based on a transmitted time-domain signal x(n), as:y(n)=x(n){circle around (×)}h(n)This expression simply states that the received signal y(n) is the time-domain convolution of the input signal x(n) with the channel impulse response h(n). In the ideal case, this time-domain expression can be expressed in the frequency-domain as:Y(n)=X(n)·H(n)where X(n), H(n), and Y(n) are the respective frequency-domain representations of time-domain signals x(n), h(n), y(n). Considering that the transmitted signal x(n) is the IDFT of the symbol sequences at their respective subchannel frequencies, the frequency-domain spectrum X(n) corresponds to the symbols themselves. According to the DMT modulation technology, the receiver can therefore retrieve the symbols X(n) by removing the channel response H(n) from the DFT of the frequency-domain received signal Y(n). Conventionally, this is performed by a single-tap frequency domain equalizer.
However, time domain convolution corresponds to frequency domain multiplication only if the input sequence is infinitely long, or if the input sequence is periodic. Because the number of subchannels is finite, however, the number of real-valued time-domain samples at the output of the transmitter IDFT (i.e., the "block" length) is also finite. Accordingly, it is useful to make the transmitted signal appear to be periodic, at a period on the order of the block length. A well-known technique for accomplishing this is to include a cyclic prefix with each transmitted block in the datastream. The cyclic prefix is generally defined as a number P of samples at the end of a block of samples in the output bitstream. These P samples are prepended to the block, prior to digital-to-analog conversion, so that the transmitted signal appears periodic. This apparent periodicity in the input sequence permits the use of a DFT to recover the modulating symbols in each subchannel, so long as the impulse response of the transmission channel, commonly referred to as the channel length, is less than the length of the cyclic prefix.
In effect, the cyclic prefix eliminates inter-symbol interference (ISI) between adjacent data frames, and inter-carrier interference (ICI) among subchannels. ISI generally arises from distortion and spreading of the transmitted signal over the channel, causing the end of one DMT symbol to overlap into the beginning of the next DMT symbol. ICI affects the independence of the subcarriers, resulting in loss of orthogonality among the subchannels, which in turn prevents separation of the modulating data on these subchannels at the receiver.
In order for the input sequence to appear periodic, so that ISI is contained within the redundant prefix of the block, the cyclic prefix must be longer than the channel length. However, this causes the effective data rate of the transmission to be reduced accordingly. In the case of a signal with a block length of N samples and a cyclic prefix of P samples generated by prepending a copy of the last P samples of the block, the data rate is reduced by the factor:
  N      N    +    P  This presents a tradeoff between interference and data rate in conventional DMT communications.
FIG. 1 functionally illustrates an example of a conventional DSL communication system. In the system of FIG. 1, only one direction of transmission (from transmitting modem 10 over transmission channel H to receiving modem 20) is illustrated. It will of course be understood by those skilled in the art that data will also be communicated in the opposite direction, in which case modem 20 will be the transmitting modem and modem 10 the receiving modem.
Transmitting modem 10 receives an input bitstream that is to be transmitted to receiving modem 20. This input bitstream may be generated by a computer at the same location (e.g., the central office) as transmitting modem 10, or alternatively and more likely is generated by a computer network, in the Internet sense, that is coupled to transmitting modem 10. The input bitstream is a serial stream of binary digits, in the appropriate format as produced by the data source.
Bit-to-symbol encoder function 11 in transmitting modem 10 groups the bits of the input bitstream into multiple-bit symbols, according to the bit loading assigned to each subchannel in the initialization of the communication session. These symbols will modulate the various subchannels of the DMT signal. Optionally, error correction coding, such as Reed-Solomon coding for error detection and correction purposes, or trellis coding, may also be applied at encoder 11 for additional signal-to-noise ratio improvement.
The symbols generated by encoder function 11 are typically complex symbols, including both amplitude and phase information, and correspond to points in the appropriate modulation constellation (e.g., quadrature amplitude modulation, or QAM) for each subchannel, as determined upon initialization. The encoded symbols for each block are then applied to inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) function 12. IDFT function 12 associates each input symbol with one subchannel in the transmission frequency band, and generates a corresponding number of time domain symbol samples according to the Fourier transform. These time domain symbol samples are then converted into a serial stream of samples by parallel-to-serial converter 13. Typically, if N/2 complex symbols are presented to IFFT function 12, IFFT function 12 outputs a block of N real-valued time domain samples. Those skilled in the art having reference to this specification will readily recognize that each of functions 11 through 13 may be carried out, and preferably actually are carried out, as digital operations executed by a digital signal processor (DSP).
In function 14, the cyclic prefix (CP) is then added into the signal, typically by prepending the last ν samples of each frame to the beginning of that frame, as discussed above. Digital filtering function 15 then processes the datastream, by interpolating to increase the sample rate, digital low pass filtering to remove image components, and digital high pass filtering to eliminate POTS-band interference. The digitally-filtered datastream signal is converted to analog by digital-to-analog converter 16, and low-pass filtered by analog filtering function 18, prior to transmission. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,226,322, commonly assigned herewith and incorporated herein by this reference, digital filter function 15, digital-to-analog converter 16, and analog filter function 18 are preferably implemented in a conventional codec circuit, such as a member of the TLV320AD1x device family available from Texas Instruments Incorporated.
The output of analog filter 18 is then forwarded to transmission channel H and in turn to receiving modem 20 by conventional line driver and receiver circuitry, such as the THS7102 line driver/receiver available from Texas Instruments Incorporated, and by a conventional hybrid circuit. In the case of ADSL communications, transmission channel H is physically realized by twisted-pair wire. The significant distortion and noise added to the transmitted analog signal by transmission channel H is represented by its impulse response h(n), as described above.
The downstream transmitted signal is received by receiving modem 20, which, in general, reverses the processes of transmitting modem 10 to recover the information of the input bitstream. As shown in FIG. 1, analog filter function 21 processes the received signal prior to analog-to-digital conversion function 22, which converts the filtered analog signal to digital. Conventional digital filtering function 23 is then applied to augment the function of the analog filters. The combination of analog and digital filter functions 21, 23 also preferably includes some frequency band filtering to isolate the received signal from signals currently being transmitted upstream by modem 20.
In this conventional arrangement, time domain equalizer (TEQ) 24 is preferably a finite impulse response (FIR) digital filter, designed to effectively shorten the length of the impulse response of the transmission channel H, taking into account the filtering performed by functions 21, 23. The design of this digital filter is realized by the selection of the particular coefficients of the FIR implementing TEQ function 24 during initialization, or "training", of the combination of modems 10 and 20 as the communications session is established. The cyclic prefix is then removed by function 25. Serial-to-parallel converter 26 converts the filtered datastream into a number of samples for application to Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) function 27. Because the received signal is a time-domain superposition of the modulated subchannels, DFT function 27 will recover the modulating symbols at each of the subchannel frequencies, reversing the IDFT performed by function 12 in transmitting modem 10 to produce a frequency domain representation of a block of transmitted symbols, multiplied by the frequency-domain response of the effective transmission channel. The cyclic prefix of the data frame is at least as long as the channel response h(t), shortened by TEQ function 24. Based on this assumption, frequency-domain equalization (FEQ) function 28 divides out the frequency-domain response of the effective channel, and recovers an estimate of the modulating symbols. Symbol-to-bit decoder function 29 then resequences the recovered symbols, decodes any encoding that was applied in the transmission of the signal, and produces an output bitstream that is an estimate of the input bitstream upon which the transmission was based. This output bitstream is then forwarded to a client workstation or other recipient.
As noted above, time domain equalizer (TEQ) function 24 shortens the effective channel length of the transmission channel, to ensure that the length of the cyclic prefix is at least as long as the channel response, so that the transmitted signal can be successfully recovered by FEQ function 28 without significant ISI and ICI. In conventional modem training sequences, performed upon initiation of a DSL communications session, the TEQ coefficients are optimized to reduce the channel response as much as possible. While the channel response is necessarily frequency dependent, conventional TEQ optimization is performed simultaneously over all channels. As a result, conventional TEQ optimization is not suited for optimizing the signal-to-noise performance of the subchannels. As such, conventional TEQ training does not result in optimum bitloading capacity for the DSL communications session.
It is known to define the equalization for DMT receiver systems on a per-tone basis, as described in Van Acker et al., "Per-tone Equalization for DMT-Based Systems", IEEE Trans. on Comm., Vol. 49, No. 1 (IEEE, January 2001), pp. 109–119. This per-tone equalization improves the overall performance of the system, because the equalizer is defined based on the channel response for each subchannel individually. Theoretically, the per-tone equalization design can optimize the capacity of each subchannel, while still also ensuring that the channel response is minimized.
By way of further background, the theory behind the per-tone equalization described by Van Acker et al. will now be summarized. If one considers vector y to be a perfectly aligned DMT frame of N samples, with a cyclic prefix of length ν samples:y=[y0, y1, . . . , yN+ν−2,yN+ν−1]Referring back to FIG. 1, the receipt of the frame y by receiving modem 20 is accomplished by applying TEQ function 24 to frame y. DFT function 27 demodulates this signal, and FEQ function 28 recovers an estimate Z of the originally transmitted signal. This process can be expressed by:
      [                                        Z            1                                                ⋮                                                  Z            N                                ]    =            [                                                  D              1                                            0                                ⋯                                                0                                ⋰                                0                                                ⋮                                0                                              D              N                                          ]        ·          F      N        ·          (              Y        ·                  w          teq                    )      where wteq=[w0, w1, . . . , wν−1]T and is the real-valued ν-tap TEQ function 24. In this representation, matrix Y is the set of frames of time domain samples for the inputs of ν FFTs associated with a time t, ν being the length of the cyclic prefix and at least as large as the combined impulse response of the transmission channel and TEQ function 24:
  Y  =            [                        y                      t            ,            0                                                                              y                      t            ,            1                                                                    …                                                            y                      t            ,                          v              -              1                                          ]        =          [                                                  y              v                                                          y                              v                -                1                                                          ⃛                                              y              1                                                                          y              v                                            ⋰                                ⋰                                              y              2                                                            ⋮                                ⋰                                ⋰                                ⋮                                                              y                              N                +                v                -                1                                                                        y                              N                +                v                -                2                                                          ⋯                                              y              N                                          ]      The matrix FN is the N×N FFT matrix of DFT function 27, and the coefficients Di constitute the complex 1-tap FEQ function 28. This expression applies a single FFT operation FN·(Y·wteq), as known in the art. Van Ackel et al. state that one can reorder this representation of the receiver demodulation, combining the TEQ and FEQ operations:Zi=Di·rowi(FN)·(Y·wteq)=rowi(FN·Y)·wteq·Di for each tone Zi. In effect, by moving the FEQ Di to the right of this expression, a combined complex ν-tap FEQ for the ith tone is derived as:wteq·Di=(wfeq,i)ν×1 However, this approach requires the ν FFTs represented by FN·Y. According to this approach, each tone i has its own, optimized, TEQ function that is implemented in the form of a ν-tap FEQ. This optimized TEQ can be determined by considering the ν FFTs of FN·Y as:
                              Y          FFT                =                              ⌊                                          y                                  fft                  ,                  0                                                                                y                                  fft                  ,                  1                                                                                …                                                                                y                                  fft                  ,                                      v                    -                    1                                                                        ⌋                    =                                    F              N                                    Y                                                            and:                                                                                W            f                    =                                    [                                                                                w                                              feq                        ,                        0                                            T                                                                                w                                              feq                        ,                        1                                            T                                                                                ⋮                                                                                w                                              feq                        ,                                                  N                          -                          1                                                                    T                                                                                ]                        =                          [                                                w                                      f                    ,                    0                                                                                w                                                            f                      ,                      1                                                                                …                                                                                w                                      f                    ,                                          v                      -                      1                                                                                ]                                          In this approach, yfft,i is an N×1 vector corresponding to the FFT of the ith column of matrix Y. The equalizer coefficient vector wf,i is an N×1 vector of the ith equalizer coefficients for all tones.
As noted above, this approach, as described in Van Acker et al., requires v FFTs per symbol, rather than only a single FFT operation as in the conventional approach of FIG. 1. Van Acker et al. describe, however, that the Toeplitz structure of matrix Y permits the ν FFTs to be calculated efficiently as a sliding FFT, requiring the calculation of only one full FFT, with the other ν−1 FFTs calculated by:
      y          fft      ,      m        =                    y                  fft          ,                      m            -            1                              ⊗      p        +                            [                                                    1                                                                    ⋮                                                                    1                                              ]                          N          ⨯          1                    ·              (                                            y                              t                ,                m                                                                (              0              )                                -                                    y                              t                ,                                  m                  -                  1                                                                                (                              N                -                1                            )                                      )            where {circle around (×)} is a component-wise multiplication and where matrix p is:
      p    =                  [                              α            0                                                                                α            1                                                                        …                                                                          α                          N              -              1                                      ]            T        ,            for                                      α        =          ⅇ              -                  j2π                                (                          1              N                        )                              and for m=1, . . . , ν−1. The difference of yt,m(0)−yt,m−1(N−1) is the difference between the first and last elements of yt,m and yt,m−1, respectively. As a result, for each tone i, all relevant FFT elements can be derived as linear combinations of the ith component of the FFT of the first column of matrix Y and the ν−1 difference terms yt,m(0)−yt,m−1(N−1) for m=1, . . . ,ν−1.
This per-tone approach is intended to optimize the signal-to-noise ratio, and thus the bit-loading, of each tone in the DMT signal. With each tone optimized for SNR, this approach theoretically optimizes the equalization and capacity performance of the entire DMT modem communications session. Simulations have been performed, in connection with this invention, that indicate that this theoretical potential can be realized.
However, it has also been observed, in connection with this invention, that the per-tone equalization approach described by Van Acker et al. is subject to several significant limitations when realizing this approach in actual DMT modems for DSL communications. A large amount of memory is required to store all of the intermediate FFT results and also the per-tone equalizer coefficients, and a high memory access bandwidth is necessary to access all of these values at a reasonable clock rate. The computational complexity for computing the ν−1 sliding FFTs, especially during a DSL session in which the equalizer taps ought to be updated to account for channel variation, is also a limitation on this approach.
While the memory capacity, memory access bandwidth, and computational power constraints may become less of an issue as time passes, an insurmountable constraint is presented by the current ITU communications standards, including the G.dmt and G.dmt.bis standards (ITU-T, G.992.1 : Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) Transceivers; ITU-T, Draft G.dmt.bis: Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) Transceivers). According to these and previous standards, the TEQ coefficients are established early in the DSL training sequence, typically in the "Reverb" sequence that immediately follows the pilot tone, as the TEQ coefficients must be established before the "Message Exchange" sequence can be successfully performed. However, the derivation of the per-tone equalizer coefficients according to the Van Acker approach described above requires a pseudo-random sequence, which is not initiated under current standards until the "Medley" sequence, which is after the "Reverb" and "Message Exchange" sequences. As a result, per-tone equalization according to known technology is not available for DSL receiver modem architectures under current standards.

Combined equalization for DMT-based modem receiver


A charge pump for a DC-DC converter includes an input terminal receiving an input voltage, an output terminal outputting an output voltage, a plurality of charge pumping stages connected in series between the input terminal and the output terminal, and a voltage level shifter shifting voltage levels of first and second gate clock signals so that received first and second gate clock signals have a predetermined amplitude. Therefore, the charge pump can increase power efficiency by maximizing a magnitude of VGS. A DC-DC converter using the charge pump can also be applied to a portable device, for minimizing power consumption, and a method for improving power efficiency of the DC-DC converter is provided.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charge pump, a DC-DC converter, and a method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a high efficiency charge pump, a DC-DC converter including the charge pump, and a method of improving power efficiency of the DC-DC converter.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A digital circuit within a driving chip of a flat panel display is a low voltage circuit that operates with a voltage of about 3V, which is a supply voltage of a chip. However, an analog output stage of a scan driving circuit and a data driving circuit for driving a panel of an organic light emitting device ("OLED") is composed of a high voltage circuit. A voltage of about 10 to 20V is applied, depending on characteristics of the display panel. Therefore, a DC-DC converter, which receives a supply source voltage of about 3V and generates a high voltage required for output stages of the data driving circuit and the scan driving circuit, is required. Specifically, the DC-DC converter requires low-power and high efficiency of design technology because it is used in a portable instrument.
The DC-DC converter may be divided into a switching type and a charge pump type. A charge pump type of DC-DC converter having high power efficiency is generally used in a display device for a portable instrument.
However, when the charge pump type is used, a voltage drop is generated due to a threshold voltage of charge transfer transistors constituting the charge pump. Accordingly, in a structure in which power consumption is generated and a high voltage and a high current are output, there is a problem that power loss is further increased and thus efficiency is reduced.

Charge pump, DC-DC converter, and method thereof


A method for heating a cargo on a watergoing vessel using an energy source (such as a heat source) on another watergoing vessel. The vessels may be underway. The energy may be transferred to the cargo via energy umbilicals configured to carry energy in a transfer fluid. The transfer fluid may be circulated in a cargo heat exchanger configured to move energy into the hot cargo. The energy source on the another watergoing vessel may be a propulsion motor, exhaust heat, or non-propulsion heat source. The method may include heating the hot cargo. The method may also include switching between heat sources when both vessels are configured to heat the hot cargo.

1. Field of Disclosure
This disclosure primarily relates to a complete integral tank double-hull containment vessel for the transportation of hot cargo. This disclosure also relates to heating the hot cargo on the containment vessel using heat from a tug boat using an umbilical.
2. Description of the Art
Conventional cargo transport vessels include inland barges transport on inland waterways and ocean going on oceans and limited inland. Inland cargo transport vessels typically transport cargo relatively short distances over inland waterways. Ocean-going cargo transport vessels typically transport cargo relatively long distances over oceans.
A conventional single-hull cargo transport vessel includes a single hull that provides a boundary between the operating environment of the vessel and the cargo. The hull includes a bottom side structural member, a starboard side structural member, a port side structural member, and a topside deck that are connected to form the exterior of the vessel. The hull also includes transverse and longitudinal bulkheads to provide strength, support, and stability to the hull. A cargo carrying volume is formed by the bottom side structural member, starboard side structural member, port side structural member, and topside deck of the vessel. If the hull is breached, cargo may be exposed to the outside environment and/or the outside environment may be exposed to the cargo. In these instances, contamination of the outside environment, the cargo, or both may occur. To address environmental concerns related to the breach of conventional single-hull cargo transport vessels, governmental regulations now require the use of double-hulls for designated vessels in United States waters.
In accordance with these regulations, a conventional double-hull cargo transport vessel, as approved by current United States Coast Guard and International regulations and standards includes a primary hull and a partial secondary hull that forms a double-hull with respect to the bottom, port, and starboard sides of the vessel. A cargo carrying volume is formed by the bottom side structural member, starboard side structural member, and port side structural member of the partial secondary hull and the topside deck of the primary hull. As such, only the portion of the conventional double-hull cargo transport vessel that is in contact with the operating waterline depth environment of the vessel is double-hulled to prevent the leakage of cargo in the event the primary hull is breached.
Hot cargo vessels are typically heated using heat sources (such as boilers) disposed on the vessel. On barges that carry hot cargo, heating the hot cargo requires the burning of fuel to generate heat on a vessel that is not configured for self-propulsion. What is needed is a system that allows heat from a second vessel to supply heat to the hot cargo vessel using an umbilical.

Heating a cargo barge using recovered energy from another vessel using an umbilical


One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for improving graphics rendering efficiency by processing pixels in a compressed format whenever possible within a multi-sampling graphics pipeline. Each geometric primitive is rasterized into fragments, corresponding to screen space pixels covered at least partially by the geometric primitive. Fragment coverage represents the pixel area covered by the geometric primitive and determines the weighted contribution of a fragment color to the corresponding screen space pixel. Samples associated with a given fragment are called sibling samples and have the same color value. The property of sibling samples having the same color value is exploited to compress and process multiple samples, thereby reducing the size of the associated logic and the amount of data written to and read from the frame buffer.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to computer graphics and more specifically to color-compression using automatic reduction of multi-sampled pixels.
2. Description of the Related Art
A graphics rendering engine used to generate computer graphics images commonly includes a set of processing engines organized in a dataflow-style pipeline. Such images are conventionally composed of geometric primitives such as, for example, triangles.
To render a computer graphics image, each triangle is transformed into a screen-aligned coordinate system, referred to as "screen space." Manipulation of the geometric primitives up to and including the transformation into screen space are typically performed in the graphics rendering engine by a geometry processing unit, which passes results to a rasterization unit. The rasterization unit decomposes each geometric primitive into fragments for further processing, where there is a fragment associated with each screen space pixel either fully of partially covered by the geometric primitive. The coverage of a particular fragment (referred to herein as the "fragment coverage") indicates the portion of the screen space pixel corresponding to the fragment that is covered by the geometric primitive. Each fragment may also have associated data, including, without limitation, depth and color values. The depth value of a fragment is compared to a previous depth value to determine the visibility of that fragment. If the fragment is visible, the color value of the fragment either contributes to or uniquely determines the color of the corresponding pixel. When a fragment is found to be visible, its corresponding fragment data, including, without limitation, depth and color values, are written to a frame buffer memory.
Depth values and color values may each undergo read, write and read-modify-write operations with respect to the frame buffer memory. The graphics rendering engine and the frame buffer memory are commonly in different chips, requiring all frame buffer accesses to be conducted over a chip-to-chip interconnect. The data bandwidth between the graphics rendering engine and the external memory devices making up the frame buffer is called memory bandwidth, and is commonly one of the most significant factors limiting system performance.
As is well known, the quality of a rendered image is significantly improved with anti-aliasing. Super-sampling and multi-sampling are two common anti-aliasing techniques known in the art. Super-sampling involves generating multiple samples within a pixel, where each sample is independently computed for coverage and shading. The shaded samples are stored within a frame buffer and blended together for display. While super-sampling produces a very accurate and high quality image, super-sampling is quite expensive because each pixel within a rendered image requires the computational processing of multiple fully shaded samples, and shading is typically the most expensive operation within the graphics rendering engine.
Multi-sampling is a less expensive technique that uses one fully shaded color value and a coverage mask, rather than multiple fully shaded samples, to generate the multiple samples stored in the frame buffer that are ultimately blended together to produce a pixel within a rendered image. Multi-sampling is commonly used because of the substantial cost-versus-performance benefit that is typically achieved without a significant loss in overall image quality. Although multi-sampling saves shader processing relative to super-sampling, multi-sampling still requires a frame buffer with a sample per pixel and the attendant bandwidth, which can limit application performance. Some techniques exist for compressing multi-sampled color data by identifying situations in which all samples for a pixel have identical color values and can be represented by a single "reduced" color value per pixel. By storing reduced color values per pixel, rather than independent color values per sample, frame-buffer bandwidth can be substantially reduced. Reducing samples saves off-chip bandwidth. As screen resolutions and sample rates become higher, it becomes expensive and impractical to expand fragment colors into samples in the graphics rendering pipeline when many such fragments will ultimately be reduced, as described above.
As the foregoing illustrates, what is needed in the art is a technique that achieves the processing and bandwidth advantages of reduction throughout the entire graphics rendering pipeline.

Color-compression using automatic reduction of multi-sampled pixels


A method for coating a surface with a coating jet containing coating particles includes forming the coating jet from at least two partial jets. The method also includes forming one of the exit channels as a spray channel for a first gas stream containing the coating particles. The method also includes forming the other of the exit channels as a control channel. In case of a deviation of the ascertained spray angle (α) from the predetermined target spray angle, the method also includes increasing the volume flow of a first partial jet of the at least two partial jets, and decreasing the volume flow of a second partial jet of the at least two partial jets.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method for coating a surface by means of a coating jet containing coating particles, in which the coating jet is directed by a spray device at a spray angle onto the surface. Other embodiments relate to a device for coating a surface by means of a coating jet containing coating particles, in which the coating jet is directed by a spray device at a spray angle onto the surface, as well as to a surface coated in accordance with the inventive method.
The method of this kind may be used for the coating of a surface, in which the coating jet containing coating particles is directed by a spray device at a predetermined spray angle onto the surface being coated.
In the coating of structural parts, especially in a thermal coating process, one constantly strives for a uniform surface homogeneously coated in its quality. This applies in particular to the interior coating of cylinders of a piston and cylinder assembly, such as are provided for example in internal combustion engines. A critical quality criterion in such a coating process, especially a thermal coating process, is the angle of incidence of the coating jet on the surface being coated and optionally also the velocity of the coating particles of the coating jet. Due to wear, installation errors, confusion of parameters or incorrect operation it may be possible that the desired angle of incidence of the coating jet on the surface being coated is not correctly realized, even though all process and spray parameters have been set correctly. But as soon as the angle of incidence of the coating jet on the surface being coated lies outside predetermined limits, the quality of the surface coating is changed, since the impinging coating particles impinge on the surface at an unsuitable angle or with an unsuitable velocity. Such errors may result in the coated part being judged as a "reject" in the quality inspection, even though the process and spray parameters have been correctly set.
DE 199 10 892 A1 teaches to create a coating on the surface of a substrate by means of a thermal coating process, wherein at least one feature of the thermal spraying process which influences the quality of the spray layer is detected, controlled and/or monitored by means of a digital camera.
DE 198 20 195 A1 discloses and describes a method and a device for thermal spraying in which a powder being sprayed is admitted from above in a substantially horizontally extending plasma jet. A camera is used to monitor whether the powder introduced from above into the plasma jet has melted at the center of the plasma jet or—which is undesirable—has not penetrated into the plasma jet or has been blown through the plasma jet. The picture detected by the camera is used to adjust an optimal blowing of the powder into the plasma jet. No deflection of the plasma jet occurs in this case. However, it is mentioned in general that a digital camera can be used to detect, control and/or monitor at least one feature of the thermal spraying process influencing the quality of the spray layer, also mentioning incidentally as one such feature influencing the quality of the spray layer, among others, the spray angle as the angle between the spray jet and the substrate surface.
US 2006/0198944 A1 also discloses and describes a device for plasma spraying in which powder particles are admitted from the side into a plasma jet directed horizontally at a deposition surface. Owing to this sloping injection of the powder particles into the plasma jet, the powder particles which are melted in the plasma jet are sprayed at an angle onto the surface which deviates from the horizontal direction of the plasma jet.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,612 A likewise discloses and describes a plasma spray device in which powder particles being deposited on a surface are injected at an angle of 90° into a plasma jet directed horizontally onto the deposition surface. A camera is directed at the deposition surface and detects the powder deposited on the deposition surface.
US 2004/0245354 A1 discloses and describes a method for monitoring a spray process, wherein the particle distribution of a spray jet containing particles is determined by means of a particle analyzer.

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


A stabilized amrubicin hydrochloride composition which comprises 3 to 8 wt. % water and 92 to 97 wt. % amrubicin hydrochloride; and a method of storing amrubicin hydrochloride.

(7S,9S)-9-Acetyl-9-amino-7-[(2-deoxy-β-D-erythro-pentapyranosyl)oxy]-7,8,9,10-tetrahydro-6,11-dihydroxy-5,12-nephthacenedione hydrochloride represented by the formula (1):
(hereinafter, referred to as amrubicin hydrochloride) has been known to be produced by, for example, the process described in JP 3-5397 B. In addition, amrubicin hydrochloride has been known to have several crystalline forms, a specific crystalline form of which is excellent in heat stability (JP 11-222497 A). However, sometimes, this compound generates as degradation by-products a desaccharification product represented by the formula (2):
and a deamination product represented by the formula (3):
during handling thereof including drying, storage and transfer, though the amounts thereof are slight. In view of medical application, it is of very importance to further suppress the generation of these degradation by-products. In particular, since the deamination product forms insolubles during a production process of a pharmaceutical preparation, suppression of generation thereof is required more than that of the desaccharification product. In view of the above, it has been desired to further develop stabilization and storage methods.

Stabilization of amrubicin hydrochloride


The present invention provides a one-pot process of synthesis of phenyl naphthalene compounds that are employed as heat transfer agents. More particularly, the present invention provides a process of preparation of 1-phenylnaphthalene and 2-methyl-1-phenylnaphthalene using refinery spent catalyst. These molecules are known for application as synthetic heat transfer fluids that deliver outstanding performance and thermal stability at continuously high operating temperatures. The reaction is carried out in aqueous medium using a spent catalyst which is a palladium based charcoal catalyst as obtained from various refinery processes. Further, the present invention provides a heat resistant formulation using the synthesized polyhydrocarbons, wherein the formulation is optimized with a free radical scavenger.

Heat transfer fluids have been identified as one of the crucial components used to improve the efficiency of concentrated solar power plants. Synthesis of poly-hydrocarbon molecules has been a subject of great interest, as it has wide application as heat transfer fluid in solar thermal application. These molecules also serve as important intermediates for synthesis of cyclo lignans for their active physiological properties. Few reports have been found on the synthesis of 1-phenylnaphthalene & 2-methyl-1-phenylnaphthalene.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,210,434 revealed the preparation of 1-phenylnaphthalene from benzene and naphthalene. The process ends up with the formation of both 1-phenylnaphthalene and 2-phenylnaphthalene in a certain ratio at a very high temperature (range 1400-1600° F.). The best conversion was obtained when the benzene/naphthalene are taken in the ratio of 3:2. But they obtained very low yields of 1-phenylnaphthalene and 2-phenylnaphthalene.
J. R. Bell et. al (Web site: http://www.osti.gov/bridge) described in a report ORNL/TM-2012/118 of Oak Ridge National Laboratory that 1-phenylnaphthalene could be used as a heat transfer fluid for concentrating solar power system. This report has shown the synthesis procedure for 1-phenylnaphthalene by a modified Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction of 1-Bromonaphthalene with phenyl boronic acid in the presence of palladium acetate & tri-(o-tolyl)phosphine catalyst and potassium carbonate additive in n-propanol to yield 1-phenylnaphthalene in 99% purity by GC.
In Organic Synthesis Collective Volume, it is reported that 1-phenylnaphthalene can be synthesized in multistep process. In the first step α-tetralone undergoes Grignard reaction with phenylmagnesium bromide followed by dehydration using acetic anhydride to generate 1-phenyldialin. In the second step 1-phenyldialin is dehydrogenated in the presence of sulphur at 240-270° C. to produce 1-phenylnaphthalene. The product is finally purified by distillation.
Further, 1-Phenylnaphthalene has been prepared by the Grignard reaction of cyclohexanone with α-bromonaphthalene. The dehydrogenation of the reduced naphthalene has been accomplished by the use of sulfur, bromine, platinum black, or selenium.
Deo et al (Asian Journal of Chemistry, Vol. 22, No. 5, 2010, pp. 3362-3368) have described a method for the synthesis of 1-phenylnaphthalene system for use as an important intermediate for synthesis of cyclo lignans. At first α-arylidene β-benzoyl propionic acid is converted to its ester by diazomethane (CH2N2) to generate methyl α-arylidene β-benzoyl propionic acid which is further cyclized by polyphosphoric acid (PPA) and concentrated sulfuric acid (H2SO4) to 1-phenylnaphthalene and its derivatives.
Taherpour et al. (J. Chem. Sci. Vol. 127, No. 9, 2015, pp. 1523-1530) reported a one-pot solvent-free catalytic dimerization of phenylacetylene to 1-phenylnaphthalene by Cu/C catalyst in darkness and at room temperature. The report discloses the reaction of a mixture of phenylacetylene in presence of the catalyst Cu/C carried out in a dried tube with a small magnetic stirrer bar. The tube was sealed and then stirred overnight at room temperature and in darkness to obtain the catalyst.
Ruchardt and Merz demonstrated the Gomberg-Bachmann (Tetrahedron Lett. No. 36, 1964, pp. 2431-2436) process for the preparation of 1-phenyl naphthalene in a very low yield (<40%). In this process naphthylamine reacts with sodium nitrite and hydrochloric acid in benzene. This process was rejected because of the safety aspect of explosive diazo-salt which is the intermediate of this reaction.
Garg and coworkers (J. Am. Chem. Soc. Vol. 130, No. 44, 2008, pp. 14422-14423) reported the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling of naphthyl pivalates with phenylboronic acid in the presence of an air-stable Ni(II) complex for the preparation of 1-phenyl naphthalene.
DE2003915A1 discloses a process for preparation of 1-phenyl-naphthalene and 1-phenyl-4-(1′-phenylethyl) naphthalene or mixtures by heating styrene trimer in the presence of dehydrogenating catalysts at 70-600 degrees. Styrene trimer is a by-product of styrene polymerisation. Generally, at lower temperatures 1-phenyl-4-(1′-phenylethyl) naphthalene is produced, while at higher temperatures 1-phenyl-naphthalene is produced. Further, suitable catalysts include metals e.g. Pt, Pd, Ni, Cu, oxides; Zn, Al, Cr, Mo, W, tungsten (IV) sulphide, Cu chromite.
CN1133667C discloses a method of preparation and the application for phenylnaphthalene polymer. The phenylnaphthalene polymer is prepared from naphthalene and benzene in mole ratio of (5-12000):1 in the presence of anhydrous CuCl2 and anhydrous AlCl3 catalyst in mole ratio of (2-8):(8-2). The reaction mixture was stirred in reactor under inert condition at 25-50° C. for 1 to 5 hrs.
Rajdiputane et al. (International Journal of Advances in Science Engineering and Technology, ISSN: 2321-9009 Special Issue-1, June 2015) disclosed a green approach for the synthesis of 1-phenyl naphthalene from β-benzoyl propionic acid. It is a three step reaction process. In the first step synthesis of α-arylidine-γ-phenyl δ, β-butenolide performed by Perkin reaction, in second step synthesis of α-arylidine β-benzoyl propionic acid performed by cleavage using alcoholic sodium carbonate and in third step synthesis of 1-phenyl naphthalene carried out by cyclization using PPA (polyphosphoric acid), H2SO4 (sulphuric acid), sulphamic acid. The structure of 1-phenyl naphthalene has been confirmed by spectral and elemental analysis.
The prior arts available for synthesis of thermal fluids viz. 1-phenylnaphthalene & 2-methyl-1-phenyl naphthalene having following shortcomings:                Catalysts used in the literature are costly and non-recyclable in nature.        Different types of organic solvents are used for the preparation of this molecule as reported in the literature which create complexity in the final work up process and adds additional cost to the production.        One of the reported processes involves requirement of very high reaction temperature (1400-1600° F.).        Multistep synthesis of 1-phenylnaphthalene is also reported that involves tedious reaction process which is time consuming.
Accordingly, there is a need for an approach that resolves problems of the state of the art in order to provide efficient heat transfer agents for thermal application. Many organic molecules are reported to be used as thermal fluids, but most of them are not stable at high temperature (>400° C.) application. Most of the inventions in this field heretofore known suffer from the disadvantage of complexity of reaction process, high reaction temperature and use of costly catalysts. So, developments of cost effective thermal fluids based on organic molecules are highly desired for high temperature solar thermal application.

Process for synthesis of polyhydrocarbons as heat transfer agents


Disclosed is a vibration damping and isolation apparatus having a passive damping mechanism. The passive damping mechanism includes an outer tubular member and an inner member. The inner and outer members are linearly movable relative to one another upon application of forces to the damping apparatus. The inner member is spaced from the outer member by a fluid shear gap that is filled with a viscous fluid. Fluid pressure of the viscous fluid remains constant while the viscous fluid dissipates the forces by direct fluid shear upon relative linear movement of the outer and inner members.

This invention relates to the field of vibration damping and isolation. In particular, the present invention is a passive damping and isolation system that uses direct shear of a viscous fluid to dampen vibration energy.
A precision structural system carrying a load, such as a telescope, is susceptible to disturbances that produce structural vibrations. Such vibrations may be contributed to the structural system by components or assemblies of the system itself. For example, reaction wheel assemblies used to point the telescope. Since such a precision structural system tends to have little inherent damping, these vibrations can lead to serious performance degradation. Therefore, an efficient means of damping and isolating, in a controlled manner, the load carried by a precision structural system is of considerable importance.
Typically, to minimize performance degradation caused by vibrations, passive damping and isolation systems (otherwise known as "fluid dampers") have been used for damping and isolating the load carried by a precision structural system. Present fluid dampers operate by displacing a viscous fluid from one fluid reservoir to another fluid reservoir through a restrictive passage. Shearing of the viscous fluid as it flows through the restrictive passage provides a damping force that is proportional to velocity. This requires that the restrictive passage be relatively long with respect to its cross-section so that the damping force is proportional to velocity, and not due to restrictive passage entrance and exit fluid pressure drops or turbulent to laminar flow regimes. In addition, the mass of the viscous fluid within the restrictive passage must be minimized to prevent non-linear fluid surge effects.
To function properly, one of the fluid reservoirs must be pressurized with respect to the other fluid reservoir to force the viscous fluid to flow from one reservoir to the other through the restrictive passage. This pressurization must be contained by the fluid damper structure for the fluid damper to operate consistently over its useful life. To prevent leakage of the viscous fluid, hermetic seals must be used. These hermetic seals must be designed to withstand the internal fluid pressure of the damper, and may add volumetric compliance to the damping and isolation system. This volumetric compliance may be beneficial in isolation systems but reduces the performance of pure dampers. In addition, since typical rubbing type, hermetic seals add undesirable stiction to the damper, non-stiction hermetic seals, such as bellows, must be incorporated into the fluid damper. These bellows see an internal fluid pressure proportional to velocity making them susceptible to failure under high shock loads. All of these concerns (i.e., viscous fluid flow considerations related to the restrictive passage, fluid seal considerations related to pressurization of the viscous fluid and non-linearities due to fluid mass effects) often drive the design of the damping and isolation system requiring additional system size and weight and/or system complexity.
There is a need for improved damping and isolation systems. In particular, there is a need for a damping and isolation system that will virtually eliminate system design concerns related to the damping force provided by the flow of viscous fluid through the restrictive passage. Moreover, there is a need for a damping and isolation system that will essentially eliminate system operation concerns of viscous fluid leakage related to pressurization of the viscous fluid during operation of the damping and isolation system. The damping and isolation system should surmount these concerns while maintaining a weight, size and complexity efficient structure.


A connection apparatus and associated method are provided. The connection apparatus is configured to be connected to a guide line and a conduit so that the conduit can be pulled through a structure by the guide line. In this regard, the apparatus can include a body member that extends between first and second ends and defines a connector for engaging the guide line and an engagement portion for engaging the conduit. In some cases, a second connector is provided to engage a cable, such as an electrical wire, that is disposed in the conduit. Thus, the apparatus can be used to pull the conduit by a leading end thereof, and the apparatus can additionally pull the cable through the structure with the conduit, i.e., without requiring separate operations. The body member can also define a tapered outer contour, such as a frustoconical shaped end, to facilitate the passage of the apparatus and conduit through the structure.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for disposing conduits, wires, and the like through structures, for example, in connection with the placement of electrical wires through a wall to an outlet or switch.
2) Description of Related Art
The wires of an electrical system for a building structure are typically housed in tubular conduits. The tubular conduits can extend through walls, attics, basements, and crawlspaces, between floors and ceilings, and the like. In order to position the tubular conduits in an existing building, such as during a retrofitting of the electrical system of the building, the conduits are often inserted through the structure via a limited number of access points.
For example, in one typical installation, flexible metal conduit is inserted at the top of a wall to extend between the two parallel faces of the wall down to an electrical outlet or switch positioned on the wall. In order to install the conduit in this configuration, a long electrical snake or guide line is fished between the two access points. For example, a first end of the guide line can be inserted into a hole in the wall at the location of the outlet or switch and pushed in a direction toward the top of the wall until the first end emerges from the top of the wall. Importantly, the guide line is long enough to extend entirely through the wall with at least an equal length of the guide line disposed outside the wall. Thus, with the guide line positioned in the wall, the first end of the guide line can be inserted through a first end of the conduit, completely through the conduit, and out of a second end of the conduit. The first end of the guide line is hooked onto the conduit. The guide line is then pulled back through the wall by its second end so that the first end of the guide line, which now trails at the end of the guide line, pushes the conduit into position, i.e., between the two access points. The guide line, which is still disposed in the conduit, can be unhooked from the conduit and instead hooked to a wire or pull string so that the wire or pull string is pulled into the conduit as the guide line is removed therefrom. If a pull string is used, the pull string can then be connected to a wire and used to pull the wire into the conduit.
As the guide line and conduit are pulled through the wall, because the first end of the guide line is hooked to the back (i.e., the trailing end) of the conduit, it pushes the conduit and, in some cases, compresses and reduces the length of the conduit. For example, conduit formed of corrugated metal tubing can be compressed and shortened by 25% of more during installation. Thus, in some cases, the conduit must be provided with a length that is about ⅓ longer than the distance between the access points so that the conduit reaches between the access points after it is compressed during installation. This generally requires a greater amount of conduit for a given installation. In addition, the conventional installation requires separate operations for installing the conduit and the wiring. That is, as described above, the conduit is first positioned in the structure between the two access points, and then the guide line or a pull string is used to pull the wire into the conduit.
Thus, there exists a need for a device and method for installing tubular conduit, wire, and the like in a structure. The device should be capable of connecting a snake or guide line to the conduit so that the conduit can be pulled into position without significant compression of the conduit. Further, the device should be capable of connecting to the conduit and/or the wire without the guide device being disposed through the entire conduit.

Apparatus and methods for disposing conduits, wires, and the like through structures


An optical fiber and a method of fabrication thereof. The optical fiber includes a core; a cladding surrounding the core; a primary metal coating surrounding the cladding and including a noble metal having a melting point of at least 500 degrees Celsius; and a secondary metal coating surrounding the primary coating and having a melting point higher than the melting point of the primary metal coating, a thickness of the primary metal coating being greater than a thickness of the secondary metal coating.

The amount of light that is lost (the "attenuation" of light) as a signal travels through an optical fiber is central to the utility of the optical fiber. The lower the attenuation, the more useful the optical fiber is for long distance or bend-sensitive applications. However, signal attenuation is common in metal-coated optical fibers, especially following thermal cycling. Specifically, optical fibers can demonstrate large increases in signal attenuation following thermal cycling because the coefficient of thermal expansion of metal is much higher than that of glass, and the inelastic deformation of the metal causes microbends in the fiber. In addition, metal-coated optical fibers can cold weld to a protective metal tube, which also increases attenuation within the optical fiber due to the expansion/contraction of the protective metal tube. Moreover, if there are multiple metal-coated fibers in a tube, the metal-coated fibers can cold weld to each other, further increasing attenuation within the optical fiber.
A variety of solutions to alleviate this problem of cold welding in metal-coated fibers have been suggested. For example, one solution involves coating the metal-coated optical fiber with a layer of copper metal. However, copper is a corrodible metal that is easily oxidized. Oxidized metals such as copper are brittle and easily breakable, resulting in a brittle and breakable optical fiber coating. Alternative solutions include coating the metal-coated optical fiber with an oxidation-resistant metal layer, such as gold. However, when a metal tube is placed around a gold coated optical fiber, the gold coating can easily adhere to the tubing when heated, causing further attenuation within the optical fiber. Some solutions have attempted to circumvent this problem of gold sticking to surrounding tubing by coating the metal-coated optical fiber with a powder (e.g., talc powder) prior to enclosure in the tubing. However, this solution is rudimentary and sometimes ineffective because the powder is easily displaceable.
Therefore, improved solutions for reducing or eliminating cold welding of metal-coated optical fibers during thermal cycling, and thus to reducing cold welding-induced attenuation in metal-coated optical fibers, are needed.

Optical fibers with two metal coatings surrounding the cladding


The invention relates to a portable appliance charging system, comprising an adapter unit and a power supply unit, comprising means for coupling the power supply unit to an electrical device, and normal mains coupling means, current being supplied to the electrical device when the power supply unit is coupled to the mains power supply. The adapter unit comprises means for electrically coupling the adapter unit to the mains coupling means of the power supply unit, and adapter mains coupling means for electrically coupling the adapter unit to the mains power supply. The power supply unit and the adapter unit also comprise corresponding releasable connection means for physically securing said adapter unit to said power supply unit to ensure continuous electrical contact therebetween. Preferably, the adapter mains coupling means comprises an adapter pin arrangement which is a conventional pin arrangement specific to a is standard plug socket. Preferably, there are provided a number of interchangeable adapter units, together comprising a set of adapter units, each adapter unit having a pin arrangement corresponding to a different regional standard. The invention has the advantage of providing a charging system which can be used in a number of different countries or regions of the globe.

Commonly, portable cellular radio telephones are provided with removable batteries as their current source. Typically, these batteries are rechargeable Nickel-Cadmium (Ni--Cd) batteries.
To recharge the battery, the battery is left attached to the cellular radio telephone and is recharged in situ by means of a charging unit. In use, the charging unit is coupled to a mains alternating current supply via a conventional plug arrangement, for example, in the United Kingdom this is a conventional 3-pin plug arrangement well known to persons skilled in the art. The charging unit is coupled to the rechargeable battery by means of a multi-conductor cable which terminates, at its free end, in an electrical connector which is arranged to contact matching contacts on the telephone. The charging unit, typically, may be a simple transformer/current generator or switch mode supply. Such charging units are well known to persons skilled in the art. In use, the charging unit is plugged into the mains supply using the plug provided on the unit and the pin is plugged into the telephone. The rechargeable battery is left plugged into the charging unit until the battery is recharged.
The portable appliance charging units are usually supplied with the plug arrangement for the country in which the charging unit is sold. However, as is well known, different regions of the globe have adopted different mains plug and socket arrangements. For example, the United Kingdom, continental Europe, the USA, and Australia all have different arrangements. This is, of course, extremely inconvenient for the traveller, who must purchase an adapter to allow the unit to be used in the country to which that person is travelling. These adapters commonly do not always provide continuous coupling between the mains supply and the unit because the pins are held loosely in the adapter, which can lead to incomplete recharging--particularly so, when the device is left unattended.
A known power supply unit is supplied with a number of interchangeable plug adapter units, each with a different arrangement of pins. The plug adapter unit with the correct pin arrangement for use in a particular region is selected and then clipped onto the power supply unit to allow it to be plugged into the mains.


A card edge connector for mating with an electronic card includes an elongated housing, a number of contacts and a retainer retained to the housing. The housing has a pair of side walls, a central slot between the side walls and a fitting section upwardly extending at one end thereof. The fitting section defines a first U-shaped cavity downwardly extending from a top end thereof and a mounting slot upwardly extending from a lower end thereof and located at outside of the first cavity. The first cavity communicates with the central slot along a length direction of the housing to receive the electronic card. The retainer is retained in the mounting slot and has a locking projection protruding into the first cavity to lock with the electronic card. The mounting slot does not extend through the fitting section to make the retainer hidden in the fitting section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to card edge connectors, more particularly to card edge connectors with an improved retainer.
2. Description of Related Art
Card edge connectors are employed widely in computers to receive a memory card, graphic card, network interface et al. The card edge connector usually have an elongated housing, a plurality of contacts retained in the housing for electrically connecting a corresponding mating card, and at least a retainer at one end thereof for locking the mating card. The housing has a pair of side walls, a central slot between the side walls for receiving the mating card, and a fitting section at one end thereof. The fitting section defines a mounting slot extending therethrough along an up to down direction and a pair of limiting walls at two sides of the mounting slot. The retainer is upwardly assembled to the mounting slot and upwardly extends beyond the fitting section. The retainer has a retaining portion at a lower side thereof and a flexible arm portion upwardly extending from the retaining portion. The retaining portion is wider than the arm portion, and the mounting slot is formed with a step portion at inner side thereof to limit the retaining portion moving upwardly. The arm portion has a guiding portion upwardly and sidewardly extending beyond the fitting section at an upper side thereof for guiding the electronic card being inserted into the central slot and a locking projection inwardly extending to lock with the electronic card.
In an insertion process of the electronic card, a side edge of the electronic card downwardly moves between the limiting walls along the guiding portion, at this time, the electronic card sidewardly resists the arm portion; when the electronic card is fully inserted into the central slot, the arm portion rebounds to make the locking projection lock with the electronic card for preventing the electronic card from moving upwardly.
However, because the arm portion is flexible, the electronic card can be pushed to move along a length direction when an electrical device which is mounted with the card edge connector and the electronic card is vibrated, an electrical connection between the card edge connector and the electronic card would be affected to be unstable; besides, the fitting section is only formed with the step portion to prevent the mounting portion of the retainer from moving upwardly, while there is not any other structure to prevent the retainer from moving downwardly, therefore, the retainer can be pushed downwardly out of the housing when the electronic card downwardly presses the guiding portion in the insertion process of the electronic card.
Hence, an improved card edge connector is desired to overcome the above problems.

Card edge connector with an improved retainer


A visual-acoustic device is provided that contains an acoustic detector to produce sound waves in communication with a moiré pattern generator that produces moiré patterns corresponding to the sound waves. The device includes a rigid plate having a first repetitive pattern and a flexible plate spaced from the rigid, plate and having a second repetitive pattern corresponding to the first repetitive pattern. The sound waves induce movement of the flexible plate such that the second repetitive pattern moves with respect to the first repetitive pattern to produce the moiré pattern. The visual-acoustic device can be arranged as a visual-acoustic stethoscope.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to acoustic devices. In particular, the present invention is directed to diagnostic medical equipment such as stethoscopes.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Auscultation is the act of listening to the sounds from internal organs of the body. These sounds are used to diagnose abnormalities or disorders in the internal organs for the purpose of prescribing appropriate treatments. The instrument commonly used for auscultation is the acoustic stethoscope, which is one of the most utilized instruments of health care providers. In order to use the stethoscope, an acoustic bell is placed on the body over the organ of interest. The sounds received by the bell are conveyed through a tubular line to ear pieces that are inserted into a physician's ears. Because a stethoscope is a non-invasive means for auscultation, it is an invaluable tool for the medical diagnosis of abnormalities, particularly cardiac, lung and vascular disorders.
The effectiveness of a stethoscope depends on both the ability to conduct body sounds to the ear and the skill and hearing ability of the user. A conventional acoustic stethoscope acts as a low-pass filter. Therefore, the higher frequencies associated with the internal body sounds are filtered out. In addition, a user with poor hearing is less likely to be able to interpret the body sounds delivered through the tubular line. The frequency range for audible sounds is from about 10 Hz to about 15500 Hz; however, most people are not able to hear sounds across the entire audio frequency range. Age and ear disorders cause a decrease in the sensitivity of the ear, in particular to higher frequencies. These limitations can cause a physician to have a distorted or inadequate impression of the sounds originating from the internal organ, which could lead to a misinterpretation of the medical significance of these sounds.
Attempts at overcoming the limitations of conventional acoustic stethoscopes involve amplifying the sounds obtained by the acoustic bell and providing visual indicators of the sounds or functions of internal organs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,975 is directed to a stethoscope that includes an electronic device that produces an image of an expanding and contracting heart. The image of the expanding and contracting heart either does not represent actual heart activity of a patient and instead only serves the purpose of entertaining the patient or is formed in correspondence with the heart beats of a patient. The contracting and expanding heart is represented by light emitting diodes or a liquid crystal display, and the image is not limited to a heart-shaped image. The disclosed stethoscope, however, requires a multitude of electronic components including batteries, microphones and other circuitry. All of these components add size, weight, cost and complexity to the stethoscope. Also, the visual image is directed specifically and solely to an indication of patient heart rate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,813 is directed to an electronic sound amplifying stethoscope with visual heart beat and blood flow indicator. The amplification circuitry includes a battery, a microphone and a speaker. A light emitting diode (LED) light source is inserted in series with the amplifier circuit, a switch and the battery. The current flow to the amplifier circuit also energizes the LED such that the intensity of the LED is directly proportional to the volume of sound amplified. The current flow through the LED is responsive to the current fluctuations or power surges in the amplifier and speaker. This stethoscope contains electronic circuitry that requires a power source and adds to the complexity, weight and cost of the stethoscope. Also, although the intensity of the LED changes, it is not clear how this intensity indicates a particular type of body function or any particular qualities of a body function. The LED intensity only indicates the intensity of the audio signal that is being amplified.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,453 is directed to a transducer enhanced stethoscope that measures skin temperature and heart rate in addition to amplifying the sound that is transmitted through the stethoscope. The stethoscope includes a pickup head having a top face that includes a pair of semi-circular temperature sensors capable of measuring skin temperature and displaying it on a top readout screen. The bottom face of the pickup head has a semi-circular pulse sensor that uses a transducer to determine the pulse of the body, displaying this information on a bottom readout screen. A battery is housed within the pickup head. This stethoscope requires rather complex electronics and a power source such as a battery that add to the size and cost of the stethoscope. In addition, the electronics are selected to measure and display two specific body measurements, temperature and pulse rate. No visual indication of the heart rate or any other body sound is provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,429 is directed to a portable, viewable and audible stethoscope for visually and audibly monitoring vital life signs such as heart beat, lung respiration, artery pulse and intestinal sounds. The stethoscope includes sound absorbing cups in contact with an output device that includes a microphone that converts the sounds coming from the absorbing cups into electrical signals. The output device includes an oscilloscope and an electronic circuit assembly for displaying the electrical signals as graphs on the oscilloscope. In order to create a visual indication of the monitored functions, a completely separate assembly that includes an oscilloscope with a picture screen and the necessary control circuitry is used. The oscilloscope is likely to have a significant power demand and associated cost. Therefore, this solution is complex and has a high associated cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,396,931 is directed to an electronic stethoscope with diagnostic capability that provides means for comparing a stethoscope sound and oscilloscope image with a typical sound and identified image that has been prerecorded on a magnetic memory disc. Various heart and lung sounds are prerecorded along with a very short diagnosis of the defect causing the sound. If a technician suspects any disorders, that technician presses an appropriate button and adjusts a sliding switch to the location at which matching sounds are heard and seen from a prerecorded diskette. This system is not simply amplifying the sounds of a stethoscope or providing a visual analogue of the sounds. The system is a complex diagnostic tool that requires prerecorded comparisons that a skilled technician can use to determine if the sounds that are heard correlate to a specific condition.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2001/0030077 is directed to a stethoscope with ECG monitor for monitoring and displaying heart sounds and heart electrical activity. The system uses an electronic stethoscope head combined with a standard stethoscope air tube headset assembly. The stethoscope head includes an electrode assembly that conducts electrical signals to a display module that is mounted on the stethoscope body. The display module includes a housing containing an electrical signal processor, a battery power supply and a view screen. The view screen presentation includes a waveform presentation of the heart electrical signal. Other sensor and diagnostic features can also be included such as a blood hemoglobin oxygen saturation sensor and blood sugar detectors. Again, this device requires various electronic components and a power supply, adding complexity and cost to the stethoscope. In addition, the visual information presented is not simply a visual indication of the audible information detected by the stethoscope but is additional diagnostic information that is provided by separate sensors that are specifically arranged and selected to provide a particular type of information.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2002/0071570 is directed to a hybrid stethoscope that enables a physician to hear sounds emanating from an internal region and to concurrently see an analogue waveform of these sounds. The hybrid stethoscope includes a self-sufficient battery-powered visual display module attached to the rear end of the acoustic bell. The display module is provided with a liquid crystal display (LCD) or similar device to exhibit an analog waveform of the audible sounds impinging on the diaphragm of the bell and conveyed to the ears of the physician. This is an electronic system that requires power, a microphone, a liquid crystal display, integrated circuits and other electronic components. The output is a waveform that needs to be related to the body system being monitored and the sounds impinging on the bell.
Therefore, the need exists for a stethoscope that is capable of monitoring sounds produced by internal organs and of simultaneously delivering an audible output of these sounds and a corresponding visual indication. The combined audible and visual output can be used for any type of internal organ and does not require complex or expensive electrical components that have a significant power demand.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


An LCD device and a method for manufacturing the same is disclosed, to prevent a sealant from being coagulated or disconnected at a predetermined portion, the method comprising preparing lower and upper substrates; dispensing a sealant on any one of the lower and upper substrates by a dispenser; dispensing liquid crystal on any one of the lower and upper substrates; and bonding the lower and upper substrates to each other, wherein the process of dispensing the sealant includes sequential steps of dispensing a first dummy sealant in the periphery of a main sealant pattern, dispensing the main sealant pattern after forming the first dummy sealant, and dispensing a second dummy sealant pattern in the periphery of the main sealant pattern after forming the main sealant pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sealant dispensing method of a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, and more particularly, to a sealant dispensing method of an LCD device by a liquid crystal dispensing method.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Among various ultra-thin flat type display devices, which include a display screen having a thickness of several centimeters, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device can be widely used for notebook computers, monitors, aircraft, and etc. since it has advantages of low power consumption and portability.
The LCD device is manufactured by steps of preparing a lower substrate having a thin film transistor and a pixel electrode on a transparent substrate; preparing an upper substrate having a black matrix layer, a color filter layer, and a common electrode on a transparent substrate; and forming a liquid crystal layer between the lower and upper substrates.
At this time, the method for forming the liquid crystal layer between the lower and upper substrates is classified into a liquid crystal injection method and a liquid crystal dispensing method.
In the liquid crystal injection method, a sealant is dispensed in a pattern having an inlet on any one of lower and upper substrates, and the lower and upper substrates are bonded to each other. Then, liquid crystal is injected to a space between the lower and upper substrates through the inlet of the sealant.
In the liquid crystal dispensing method, a sealant is dispensed in a pattern having no inlet on the lower substrate, and liquid crystal is dispensed on the lower substrate. Then, the lower and upper substrates are bonded to each other.
In case of the liquid crystal injection method, it may take a long time to inject the liquid crystal into the space between the lower and upper substrates, thereby decreasing the production yield. For example, if manufacturing a large-sized LCD device by the liquid crystal injection method, it takes a long time for injection of liquid crystal. To this end, the manufacturer of large-sized LCD devices has become generally performed using the liquid crystal dispensing method.
The method for dispensing the sealant of the pattern having no inlet by the liquid crystal dispensing method is classified into a screen printing method and a dispensing method using a dispenser. If applying the screen printing method, the screen may come into contact with a substrate, whereby it may damage an alignment layer of the substrate. In this respect, the dispensing method is used generally.
Hereinafter, a related art dispensing method will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a sealant dispensing method using a dispenser according to the related art.
First, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the related art dispenser is provided with a syringe 10 and a nozzle 20.
The syringe 10 has a sealant 15 therein. The nozzle 20 is connected to a lower end of the syringe 10 to supply the sealant 15 to a substrate 1.
The dispenser moves along a direction (as indicated by the arrow in the figure) from a starting point (s) of the substrate 1, and then returns to the starting point (s) of the substrate 1, forming a closed sealant path. As the dispenser moves along the substrate, the sealant 15 is discharged to the substrate 1 through the nozzle 20. Accordingly, the sealant 15 of the pattern having no inlet is dispensed to the substrate 1.
However, the related art sealant dispensing method has the following disadvantages.
First, because the sealant 15 has a particular viscosity, the sealant 15 may coagulate in the end of the nozzle 20 of the dispenser. Thereafter, when the sealant material is supplied to the starting point (s) of the substrate 1 through the nozzle 30, the coagulated sealant is discharged to the starting point (s) of the substrate 1. In addition, because the dispenser moves along the arrow direction from the starting point (s) of the substrate 1, and then turns back to the starting point (s) of the substrate 1, the coagulated sealant 15 may be excessively dispensed to the starting point (s) of the substrate 1. In this case, when bonding the two substrates to each other, the sealant 15 spreads to the inside of the substrate 1 in which the liquid crystal is formed. Thus, the liquid crystal dispensed on the substrate 1 may be contaminated due to the spread of sealant.
Second, to prevent the sealant 15 from being coagulated at the starting point (s), the dispenser may be stopped before the starting point (s). In this case, the sealant 15 can be disconnected. That is, the liquid crystal flows to the outside through the portion of the sealant.

Liquid crystal display device and method for manufacturing the same


The present invention provides a forearm-encircling sleeve for attenuating impact-induced shock and for ameliorating the effect of that shock on the elbow joint. The device made in accordance with the present invention provides energy-attenuating viscoelastic means that are positioned distally of the elbow joint and of the common tendon origins of the medial and lateral epicondyle heads of the humerus for attenuating impact-induced shock The energy-attenuating viscoelastic means are placed in force-receiving relationship with the forearm musculature responsible for extension and flexion of the wrist and, preferably, also that responsible for the extension and flexion of the fingers and the pronation and supination of the forearm. Means may be provided for applying a counterforce to these energy-attenuating viscoelastic means.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sleeve device for ameliorating the effect of impact-induced shock on the human elbow joint.
2. Description of the Related Art
A number of supports and braces have been proposed for the treatment of "tennis elbow" such as the application of restrictive pressure against expansion of the proximal forearm (U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,842), a fluid-filled pad (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,905,997 and 4,905,998) or shock absorbing elements placed directly over the lateral and medial epicondyle of the humerus (U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,913). These approaches are inadequate to the task of attenuating impact-induced shock along the path that force is transmitted through the muscletendon complexes before that shock reaches the elbow joint.

Forearm sleeve device for attenuating impact-induced shock and ameliorating the effect of said shock


An incontinence device and applicator therefor. The incontinence device comprises a generally tubular, soft latex bag which tapers to an opening at an upper end thereof. An area adjacent said opening is adapted to be adhesively attached to the tissue overlying the anal sphincter of a patient. The applicator is adapted to fit within the incontinence device. It includes an elongated handle and a head attached thereto, the head being configured to fit against the anal area of the user and bring the attachment of the device to bear against the anal tissue for adhesive attachment thereto. The head includes an oval, ring-shaped bearing surface and means for adjusting the size of the bearing surface so that the device may be used on patients displaying a wide range of anatomical variation. A method of making the incontinence device by vacuum molding is also disclosed.

The field of the invention pertains to medical appliances and, in particular, to devices that can be attached to the exterior skin of a person about or in an opening with the purpose of accepting and containing any solid or liquid material flowing from the opening. Such devices require a means of attachment that does not damage the skin but is reasonably secure.
Lognion, U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,356, discloses an anal excretion collection rectal catheter that is insertable beneath the sphincter muscles about the opening. The Lognion device comprises a collecting tube open at one end with a resilient ring that fits within the rectal opening.
Wade, U.S. Pat. No. 2,564,773, discloses a therapeutic agent comprising a thimble and latex bag insertable into a bodily opening for the collection of fluids. The bag folds within the thimble before use and may be attached to the thimble with an adhesive. The thimble includes an opening for the admission of fluids and is directly insertable into the bodily opening.
Wayne, U.S. Pat. No. 2,448,938 and Swiss Patent No. 113 453 each disclose a sanitary protective appliance of similar structure to receive bodily fluids and semi-solids from infections and incisions. The appliances comprise soft thin rubber tubes of accordion like shape with an opening of relatively large diameter. On the inside surface adjacent the opening is an adhesive ring to enable the device to be adhesively attached to the skin about the body opening from which there is a discharge.
Chen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,460 and Allen, Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,817 both disclose adhesives suitable for attaching appliances such as ostomy devices to the skin about a body opening. Such adhesives must be secure, reasonably fluid tight but nevertheless easy to remove without damage to the skin.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,522,807 discloses an incontinence bag that has a pleated arrangement about the anus to expand and contract with the opening and closing of the anus. The overlapping leaves of the pleats do not provide for complete adhesive attachment to the skin thus permitting leakage and providing a difficult attachment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,898 discloses a foam backed skin barrier attachment and incontinence bag. The skin barrier is disclosed as soft, pliable, stretchable and contractible foam backed plastic 0.080 to 0.400 inches thick. Plastic backed by foam has limited stretchability of less than 25% which limits the expandability of the anal hole in the skin barrier to an amount less than needed for most patients. In such cases, the anus can not open sufficiently, thereby causing severe pain, or the adhesive fails and the bag detaches and leaks.
Devices insertable within body openings have been found to cause permanent damage to the sphincter muscles after prolonged use. With a view toward overcoming and avoiding damage to the sphincter muscles of the anal opening but nevertheless providing a secure receptacle for bodily waste that does not damage the skin surrounding the anus, is sufficiently elastic (an elastic limit of about 200% or more) to accommodate the full opening of the anus and is easy to install, the herein named inventor developed the incontinence devices and applicators disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,986 and PCT/US89/019601.
The devices disclosed therein have proven to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art noted above in that they provide an incontinence bag for holding body fluids which may be securably attached to, for example, the anus of a fecally incontinent person by means of the applicator disclosed therein. The bag remains securely attached during use, and attachment and removal are relatively simple. However, many fecally incontinent persons have hemorrhoids or other pathological conditions which limit the usefulness of the incontinence device. It is too uncomfortable to the user to adhere anything to hemorrhoidal tissue, which is unusually sensitive. Therefore, a bag with a larger hole must be used so that the bag may be attached to the tissue around the hemorrhoidal tissue. However, my previously disclosed applicators are primarily used to attach a bag having a standard size hole directly onto the skin overlying the anal sphincter.


An exemplary system includes a media content processing subsystem configured to provide a program guide graphical user interface (“GUI”) to a display for presentation to a user, the program guide GUI including a portion of a program guide. The media content processing subsystem is further configured to provide at least one navigation tool to the display for presentation in the program guide GUI, the navigation tool including a plurality of selectable options for navigating the program guide. The media content processing subsystem is further configured to detect a user selection of one of the selectable options and initiate a navigation to a location in the program guide based on the selected option. In certain embodiments, the navigation tool includes at least one of a time-based navigation tool and a channel navigation tool.

The set-top box ("STB") has become an important computing device for accessing media content services and the media content within those services. An STB is usually configured to provide users with access to a large number and variety of media content choices offered by a provider. For example, a user may choose to experience a variety of broadcast television programs, pay-per-view services, video-on-demand programming, Internet services, and audio programming via an STB.
The large number of media content choices offered by providers can make it difficult for a user of an STB to find and select desired media content. On-screen program guides have alleviated this problem to some degree. A user of an STB is able to scroll through a conventional program guide to search for a desired media channel or program.
As television service providers have expanded and continue to expand the services available to users (e.g., more channels), however, conventional tools for navigating through program guides have become inefficient and less effective. For example, it is a time-consuming task to scroll through a conventional program guide having hundreds of channels in search of a particular media channel or program.

Program guide navigation tools for media content access systems and methods