A system (10) is provided for maintaining continuity of hydraulic power from an aircraft engine-driven hydraulic pump (28) to a first set of propulsion control hydraulic loads for controlling the aircraft engine (30). The engine-driven hydraulic pump provides hydraulic power to a second set of airframe hydraulic loads. The engine-driven hydraulic pump has a pump suction (26) having a first pressure and a pump discharge (34) having a second pressure that is greater than the first pressure. The system includes an accumulator (16) coupled to the engine-driven hydraulic pump suction, and the accumulator is chargeable at a third pressure that is less than the first pressure. A relief valve (18) is coupled to the engine-driven hydraulic pump suction, and the relief valve has a relief setpoint at a fourth pressure that is greater than the second pressure. An isolation valve (12) has first ports (36, 38) coupled to the first set of propulsion control hydraulic loads, second ports (46, 50, 54) coupled to the second set of airframe hydraulic loads, and third ports (24, 32) coupled to the hydraulic pump. The isolation valve has a first state and a second state. The isolation valve places the third ports in fluid communication with the first and second ports when the isolation valve is in the first state. The isolation valve isolates the second ports from the third ports when the isolation valve is in the second state, and the isolation valve maintains the first ports in fluid communication with the third ports when the isolation valve is in the second state. The present invention thus maintains a supply of hydraulic fluid to the first set of propulsion control hydraulic loads when the second set of airframe hydraulic loads has been isolated.

Aircraft hydraulic systems supply numerous hydraulic loads that are critical for flight control and safety. In general, aircraft hydraulic systems supply two major hydraulic load centers--airframe hydraulic loads and propulsion control hydraulic loads. Airframe hydraulic loads include loads such as: the nose landing gear extension and retraction; the main landing gear extension and retraction; the main landing gear brakes; the high lift devices on the wing leading edge and trailing edge; the ailerons; the flaperons; the spoilers; the rudder; the horizontal stabilizer; and the elevators. Propulsion control hydraulic loads include loads such as: the thrust reverser; the engine inlet bypass door; the engine variable geometry inlet; and the engine variable geometry nozzle. In order to reduce maintenance requirements and weight constraints, it is well known to integrate propulsion hydraulics with airframe hydraulics by supplying propulsion control hydraulic loads and airframe hydraulic loads with the same engine-driven hydraulic pump. Accordingly, integrated hydraulic systems are desirable in supersonic aircraft.
Casualty control considerations are major factors in the design of integrated aircraft hydraulic systems. For example, in the event of an engine fire, it is important to stop the supply of hydraulic fluid into any compartment where ignition sources are present, such as to an engine mounted hydraulic pump. To that end, known systems are configured for preventing the flow of hydraulic fluid from an aircraft hydraulic system from feeding an engine fire. Such a known system includes a firewall shutoff valve located in the hydraulic pump suction line. The shutoff valve is normally open, but can be closed to prevent hydraulic fluid from the hydraulic system from feeding an engine fire. Another known system includes a reservoir level sensor, and first and second switches at first and second reservoir levels. When the reservoir level sensor senses a drop in reservoir level to the first level, the first switch actuates and isolates one-half of the hydraulic loads in the hydraulic system. If the reservoir level continues to drop to the second level, the second switch actuates. This restores to service the hydraulic loads previously isolated, and isolates the remaining half of the hydraulic loads of the hydraulic system. Such a system does not maintain a continuous supply of hydraulic fluid to propulsion control hydraulic loads.
It is important to maintain a continuous supply of hydraulic fluid to propulsion control hydraulic loads in the event of a hydraulic system failure. In known integrated hydraulic systems, a failure, such as a leak in the airframe hydraulic loads, may be controlled by closing the firewall shutoff valve. This results in an unnecessary loss of propulsion control hydraulics. Further, failures within a hydraulic system that cause leaks result in loss of operation of the entire hydraulic system. A majority of these failures occur in components outside the engine-installed hydraulic equipment.
The loss of propulsion control hydraulics especially impacts engine control in supersonic aircraft. Typically, supersonic aircraft engines include two sets of engine inlet controls. Each set of engine inlet controls is generally supplied by a separate engine-driven hydraulic pump. The engine inlet controls are necessary for containing the sonic shock wave generated during supersonic operation within the engine inlet, and preferably maintaining a normal shock wave position within the engine inlet. If both sets of engine inlet controls are lost due to a loss of the propulsion control hydraulic systems, the normal shock wave cannot be contained within and maintained at the proper position within the engine inlet. The engine must then be operated in a transonic or subsonic mode. Therefore, in a supersonic aircraft having an integrated hydraulic system, it is desirable to maintain hydraulic power to both sets of engine inlet controls for controlling the engine.
A dedicated propulsion control hydraulic system that is separate from an airframe control hydraulic system can be provided to maintain continuity of propulsion control hydraulics in the event of a failure of airframe control hydraulics. However, a dedicated propulsion control hydraulic system greatly increases maintenance requirements and adds considerable weight. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an integrated aircraft hydraulic system with a system for maintaining a continuous supply of hydraulic power to propulsion control hydraulic loads, including engine inlet controls, in the event of a failure in the airframe hydraulic loads. However, no current integrated aircraft hydraulic systems are known to provide a system for maintaining continuity of hydraulic power to propulsion control hydraulic loads.

Airacraft hydraulic system for improved reliability of integrated hydraulic propulsion controls


A method and a device for determining parameters of a rinsing process for a milking system, wherein a rinsing fluid circulates in a circuit to be rinsed in the rinsing process by filling a storage container with a fluid up to a predefined filling level; circulating the fluid from the storage container, via the circuit to be rinsed and back into the storage container; refilling the storage container during the circulation of the fluid up to the predefined filling level, determining a necessary fluid volume; and determining parameters of a subsequent rinsing process based on the determined fluid volume.

The invention relates to a method for determining parameters of a rinsing process for a milking system, wherein, in the rinsing process, a rinsing liquid is circulated and flushed in milk lines of the milking system. The invention furthermore relates to a device, using which the method can be carried out.
Milking systems are regularly rinsed to remove milk residues and, if necessary, other contaminants. For this purpose, a storage tank for rinsing liquid is provided, from which a rinsing line leads to the individual components of the milking system. Branches of the rinsing lines lead to the individual teat cups of the milking system, which are brought into a special cleaning position for this purpose. In the cleaning process, the rinsing liquid is conveyed through the teat cups and all of the milk lines connecting thereto, including interposed valves, wherein a circuit is provided at least for a certain time, so that the rinsing liquid circulates through the system made up of storage tanks, rinsing lines and milk lines multiple times. Subsequently, the rinsing agent is flushed from the system, if necessary in turn with multiple circulation.
The storage tank can in this case be provided expressly for the rinsing liquid. In an alternative embodiment, it is known that a milk collecting tank—in which during operation of the milking system, the milked milk is collected and pre-cooled and filtered in a cooling and filtering circuit—is additionally used as a storage tank for the rinsing liquid. In such a layout of the milking system, to circulate the rinsing agent through the milking lines of the milking parlors, the cooling and filtering circuit is also additionally cleaned, starting from the storage tank, by circulating and flushing the rinsing agent.
The sequence of the cleaning process can be configured by means of a plurality of parameters. These parameters relate to times, for which certain valves are opened and closed, so that certain liquid quantities flow into the system, circulate in the system and are drained from the system. An important fundamental system variable in this case, from which a multiplicity of the parameters mentioned can be derived, is the volume of the rinsing liquid, which is located in the system to be cleaned, including the rinsing lines, during the circulation. This volume specifies the quantity of rinsing liquid which must be available in the storage tank at least, in order to carry out the circulation without air being sucked into the system to be cleaned. Ideally, the storage tank can accommodate this volume. Possibly, the storage tank is smaller. In this configuration, missing rinsing liquid is added during the cleaning process.
In large milking systems, for example milking carousels with several 10s to 100s of milking parlors, several 100 liters of rinsing liquid are required in the cleaning process. If too much rinsing liquid is provided regularly, this leads to an enormous excess consumption of water and rinsing agent, which is added to the rinsing liquid, which is disadvantageous from a financial and ecological viewpoint. Too little rinsing liquid, by comparison leads to a rinsing result which is unsatisfactory and unacceptable for reasons of hygiene. To some extent, rinsing steps of the rinsing process are also carried out at an increased temperature of the rinsing liquid. Too great a quantity of rinsing liquid is therefore additionally disadvantageous with regards to an unnecessarily high energy consumption of the rinsing process.

Method and device for determining parameters of a rinsing process for a milking system


A compact zoom lens system includes, when viewed from an object side, a first lens group with positive refractive power and a second lens group. The magnification of the system can be changed by varying a distance between the first lens group and the second lens group, wherein the following condition is satisfied: EQU Lt/ft<0.78. wherein:. Lt is the distance between the surface of lens closest to the object and the image plane; and PA1 ft is the focal length of the zoom lens system.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zoom lens system, and more particularly, to a zoom lens system which is compact in size while providing exceptional optical performance.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Lens shutter cameras, video cameras, etc. are becoming increasingly smaller, requiring short zoom lens systems.
Zoom lens systems for compact cameras typically include, when viewed from an object, a first lens group with a positive refractive power and a second lens group with a negative refractive power. The magnification of the zoom lens system is varied by changing the distance between the first lens group and the second lens group.
Such zoom lens systems are disclosed in Japanese Publications Nos. Hei 2-190812, Hei 5-134180, Hei 6-130298, Hei 6-281861, Hei 7-120675, and Hei 8-219542, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,290.
The zoom lens system of Japanese Publications No. Hei 2-190812, Hei 6-130298 and Hei 8-21954 have a viewing angle between 53.degree. and 58.degree. and a focal length greater than 39 mm at the wide-angle position. This increases the focal length at a telephoto position, making it difficult to reduce the total length of the zoom lens system.
The zoom lens system of Japanese Publication No. Hei 2-190812 has a first lens group with five lenses and a second lens group with four lenses; the zoom lens systems of Japanese Publications Nos. Hei 2-134180 and Hei 7-120675include a first lens group with five lenses; and the zoom lens system of Japanese Publication No. Hei 6-281861 includes an aperture positioned inside of a first lens group.
In the above mentioned zoom lens systems, the lens groups are divided into forward and rear lens groups based on their position relative to the aperture. The lens groups are simultaneously moved to adjust the focus while the aperture remains stationary. Accordingly, this operation of the lens system is complicated and difficult to control, and the complexity of the mechanism increases the overall manufacturing costs.
Also, such zoom lens systems have a telephoto ratio of 0.9, making it difficult to reduce the total length of the system.


A key activation system for use in a handheld communication device is provided. The system comprises an activation mechanism associated with a key in the system, a first feedback system and a second feedback system. The activation mechanism is associated with the key activation system and provides a first feedback sense when the activation mechanism has triggered the first activation condition. The second feedback system provides a second feedback sense indicating when the key triggers the second activation condition. In the system, the second feedback system operates independently from the activation mechanism and the first activation condition is triggered before the second activation condition when the activation mechanism is initially engaged. An activation mechanism may be centrally located for a set of keys.

A conventional handheld electronic device, such as a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and a wireless telephone, includes a keyboard/keypad, a display and a system printed circuit board (PCB) disposed within a common housing. The display is typically provided as a reflective, transmissive or transreflective LCD display panel.
In a typical keypad, aural and tactile feedback is provided to the user as he presses onto a key in the keypad, usually as an audible "click" and a positive movement of the depressed key. One known method of generating the audible feedback is to insert a separate, compressible dome in the keypad assembly which compresses and temporarily collapses as sufficient downward pressure in exerted against the dome by an element in the keypad assembly. The dome assembly is also used to complete an electrical circuit associated with the key.
Although the use of a separate dome in a keypad assembly is effective in providing feedback to the user, its use in an electrical circuit affects the cost of the build of materials for the device.
There is a need for an alternative key system which operates as a traditional key and provides feedback to a user.


A dietary food supplement for weight reduction formed of a mixture of a sugar based confectionary containing therapeutic amounts of chitosan, kava and a fat burning nutriceutical which may include choline/inusital, chromium picolinate, beta-hydroxy-beta-methyl butyrate, L-carnitine and pyruvate or any combination thereof.

It has been well documented that chitosan, when eaten within a half-hour before a meal, acts electrostatically to attract part of the fat that is consumed during a meal and carries it through the body. However effective chitosan may be in removing fat, it does not function as a deterrent to the amount of food or fat which one may ingest during a meal.


Cyclododecanone (CDON) is prepared by epoxidizing cyclododecene (CDEN) to epoxycyclododecane (CDAN epoxide), and rearranging the CDAN epoxide to CDON to obtain a mixture comprising said CDON and CDEN, wherein CDEN is separated from the CDON-containing mixture and sent to the epoxidation to CDAN epoxide in step a.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for preparing cyclododecanone, to a process for preparing laurolactam and to a process for preparing nylon-12.
Discussion of the Background
Cyclododecanone (CDON) is used for the synthesis of laurolactam. The lactam in turn is suitable for the preparation of nylon-12.
The preparation of CDON may proceed from cyclododecatriene (CDT). First of all, a selective hydrogenation of cyclododecatriene (CDT) to cyclododecene (CDEN) may be undertaken. This is followed by an epoxidation of CDEN to epoxycyclododecane (CDAN epoxide) and the rearrangement of CDAN epoxide to cyclododecanone (CDON). Proceeding from CDEN, the CDON synthesis comprises the following steps:                a. epoxidizing cyclododecene (CDEN) to epoxycyclododecane (CDAN epoxide) and        b. rearranging the CDAN epoxide to CDON to obtain a mixture comprising CDEN.
The mixture (CDON-containing mixture) which is obtained from the rearrangement thus comprises at least CDON and CDEN.
In this process for preparing CDON, the problem occurs that significant amounts of CDEN can arise. This problem is aggravated by the ageing of catalysts which may be used. The amount of CDEN obtained may be more than 5 by weight, based on the resulting CDON-containing mixture from the rearrangement.
The high proportion of CDEN may have adverse effects on the downstream reactions such as the preparation of laurolactam. In addition, small product yields are comparatively uneconomic.


A detecting apparatus and method for detecting deformation of a fixed mold plate of an injection molding machine. The apparatus includes a mounting member and an elastic member that is received in the through hole of the mounting member and generally positioned at the center thereof. The apparatus also has a contacting member that is received in the through hole and positioned near or at the first end surface, and a sliding member that is slidably received in the through hole near or at the second end surface. A blocking member is attached to the second end surface of the mounting member. A pressure sensor is fixed between the blocking member and the contacting member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a detecting apparatus for detecting deformation of a fixed mold plate of an injection molding machine.
2. Description of related art
Generally speaking, an injection molding machine uses force to engage the nozzle against a sprue bushing of a fixed mold plate during use. The engagement provides a sealed connection between the nozzle and the sprue bushing preventing leakage of molten resin. A movable mold plate is clamped on the fixed mold plate during injection. Thus, the nozzle and the movable mold plate respectively resist against opposite sides of the fixed mold plate. After injection, the movable mold plate is moved away from the fixed mold plate, but the nozzle still resists against the corresponding side of the fixed mold plate, which may deform the fixed mold plate. If deformation isn't timely detected and action taken to correct it, life of the nozzle and sprue bushing may be reduced.
What is desired, therefore, is a detecting apparatus which can detect deformation of a fixed mold plate of an injection molding machine.


A visual guidance system is presented. The system includes a vehicle with an implement connected thereto. The vehicle has a windshield through which the operator looks while steering the vehicle. A guidance image is displayed in the operator's sight path and provides a point of reference for the operator that indicates the outer most position of the implement. The position of this guidance image is calculated by a control system and the image is displayed by a display unit. As the operator steers the vehicle, the operator positions the guidance image at the border of the field or road. This allows the user to precisely control the vehicle and the implement in a convenient and efficient manner.

Implements are often pushed in front of or pulled behind various vehicles in various industries for various reasons. Countless examples of just such an arrangement exist within the agricultural industry and include a tractor pulling a planter, cultivator, sprayer, spreader or similar device. Countless other examples exist within the construction, earth moving and maintenance industries such as a snow plow, bulldozer, grater, paver or similar device which pushes or pulls various blades or other implements to move or remove material. Other examples exist wherein the attached implement is a trailer or other object or device connected to the vehicle that has wide berth that provides similar problems to those related to vehicles with other implements. Examples of these vehicles include airplanes with their wide wings, large boats or barges, and specialty vehicles such as wide construction equipment, large mining equipment, oversized hauling equipment, and the like. Throughout this disclosure, the term vehicle shall be used to describe any type of vehicles without limitation; and the term implement shall be used to describe any type of implement or attachment connected to these vehicles that must be accounted for when steering the vehicle.
To improve efficiency, over time the size of vehicles has grown as has the width of implements. As an example, to plant more seeds in a single pass, the width of planters has grown from 6 rows, to 12 rows, to 24 rows to now even 48 rows. To till more ground in a single pass, the width of tillage devices has similarly grown. To spray more ground, the width of sprayers has similarly grown. To carry more passengers and cargo, the width of airplanes wings has similarly grown. To plow or grate a larger area, snow plows, graters and snow blowers have grown in width.
While this increased width provides the advantage of covering more ground in a single pass, wider implements have their disadvantages. Namely, as the width of vehicles and/or implements have grown, it has become more difficult for operators to control these vehicles and implements. This is because the operators have difficulty predicting where the outside edges of the implements will be. This is especially true when the vehicles have to follow borders of a field or road within close tolerances. If the operator misjudges where the outside edge of the implement will travel this can cause the implement to strike buildings, fences, terraces, rocks, utility poles, irrigation equipment or the like. Or alternatively, miscalculation can cause the operator to not cover ground, leaving piles of snow or untilled or unplanted ground, which can cause safety hazards or loss of profits. Further safety hazards exist when traveling on roads used by pedestrians and other vehicles as a miscalculation can cause injury or an accident.
Therefore a need exists in the art to provide a visual guidance system that addresses these problems.
Thus it is a primary object of the invention to provide a visual guidance system that improves upon the state of the art.
Another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that helps provide the operator with a point of reference to help guide the vehicle and implement.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that is easy to use.
Another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that can serve as a back-up or double check to GPS guidance systems.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that does not require GPS.
Another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that predicts the position of an outside edge of an implement in the direction of travel thereby providing a reference point for steering.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that is reliable.
Another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that is inexpensive.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that is adjustable.
Another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that adjusts for the position of an operator's head.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that is robust.
Another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that can be easily seen.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that is simple and does not distract the operator.
Another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that can be adjusted for various implements and applications.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that is robust and durable.
Another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that can be used in a wide variety of applications.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that reduces collisions with the implement.
Another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that reduces overlap between passes.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that maximizes the amount of ground covered.
Another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that improves operator efficiency.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that reduces strain on an operator.
Another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that makes the vehicle easier to control.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that improves safety.
Another object of the invention is to provide a visual guidance system that adjusts for the orientation of an operator's head or more specifically for the orientation of the operator's eyes.
These and other objects, features, or advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the specification, drawings and claims.


A belt tongue for a safety belt having a connecting plate for connecting the belt tongue with a buckle, a tongue main body being rigidly connected to the belt tongue and a clamping element with a bending edge. The clamping element is mounted in the tongue main body in such a way that it rotates in relation to the tongue main body if the force in the belt exceeds a defined force. The clamping element forms a concave outer surface. In order to be able to achieve a low weight of the belt tongue and in particular of the bending element, the clamping element is supported on the tongue main body by means of its outer surface.

In a three-point safety belt system, the belt extends from a top to a bottom point. A belt tongue, which can be connected with a belt buckle and divides the belt webbing into a lap belt section and an upper body or shoulder belt section, is located on the belt webbing. For this purpose, the belt tongue forms a tongue main body with an eye, through which the belt webbing runs.
It has become clear that in case of an accident, it can be advantageous to separate the lap belt section of the belt webbing from the shoulder belt section, i.e. to block the belt webbing in the tongue main body of the tongue.
In this connection, generic patent DE 198 22 473 C2 proposes a belt tongue in whose tongue main body has a bending and clamping element arranged so as to be rotatable around an axis. In a load-free condition this clamping element is in a first position, in which the belt webbing runs over a bending edge of the bending and clamping element. If the force in the belt webbing exceeds a predetermined value, the clamping element swivels around its axis and clamps the belt webbing with a clamping edge against a clamping cheek of the tongue main body. The clamping element has a shaft which having a rotation axis and which is supported in the tongue main body. The rotation axis passes through the shaft.
It is basically very important that occupant restraint systems in a motor vehicle react quickly if accidents occur. It is also desirable to form the belt tongue so as to be as light as possible, in order that the necessary retractor forces for the belt webbing retraction do not have to be increased.


An extendable leg rest assembly (20) having a footrest device (26) for a wheelchair including a mounting assembly (22) for mounting the leg rest assembly (20) to a frame (10) of the wheelchair. An elongated shaft (40) is pivotally coupled to the mounting assembly (22) to enable pivotal movement of the shaft (40) about a first pivotal axis (45) between a lowered position and a raised position. An elongated extension member (50) is telescopically mounted on the shaft (40) for reciprocating movement relative thereto. Pivotally coupled between the mounting assembly (22) and the elongated extension member (50) is a linkage (28). The linkage (28) pivots about a second pivotal axis (75) on the mounting assembly (22) spaced forwardly from the first pivotal axis (45). Upon pivoting of the shaft member (40) upwardly about the first pivotal axis (45), the linkage (28) causes the extension member (50) to slide outward on the shaft member (40 ) away from the mounting assembly (22) in response to the pivotal movement of the linkage (28) about the second pivotal axis (75).

In recent years, considerable effort has been directed towards wheelchair design in an attempt to make them more portable, as well as lighter in weight. Typically, these wheelchairs are foldable or collapsible to enable portability for transportation purposes. The wheelchair frames are usually formed from high-strength, lightweight, tubular materials such as aircraft-grade aluminum or graphite composites. Moreover, many of the subcomponents are extendable and/or detachable. Leg rest assemblies, for example, are often movably and/or detachably mounted to the wheelchair frames for increased portability.
Some of these leg rest assemblies even provide elevational movement so that a footrest device, which support the user's feet, may be selectively oriented between a raised position and a lowered position. Typically, these leg rest assemblies include a mounting support member mounted to the wheelchair frame, a footrest support member having a footrest device mounted on the distal end thereof, and a pivotal joint coupling the mounting support member to the footrest support member. The pivotal joint axis, or leg rest pivotal axis, typically is horizontally oriented, which permits the footrest device to be raised or lowered relative to the mounting support member. These leg rest assemblies are particularly desirable because the extension of the user's knee and/or legs may be adjusted for therapeutic purposes or for comfort.
Structural limitations often prevent coincidental placement of the leg rest pivotal axis with the pivotal axis of the user's knee. Thus, depending on the location of the leg rest pivotal axis, the distance between the knee and the footrest device may be decreased as the footrest support member is pivotally moved to a raised position. Accordingly, upon pivotal movement of the footrest support member to an elevated position, the footrest device can jam or compress the user's feet, legs or knees. Typical patented, prior art, pivotally-elevated, leg rest assemblies may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,968,051 to Luo; 4,966,379 to Mulholland; 4,893,827 to Gay et al.; and 4,333,681 to Nelson.
This problem has been overcome by providing a footrest support member which is extendable along a longitudinal axis of the footrest support member when the support member is pivotally raised from the lowered position to the elevated position. Accordingly, as the footrest support member is pivotally moved from a lowered position to an elevated position, the distance between the footrest device and the pivotal joint axis is increased. Such wheelchair leg rest assemblies are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,793 to Quintile; and 4,486,048 to Meyer.
While such prior art, extendable, leg rest assemblies have been able to effectively eliminate jamming or cramping of the feet upon extended elevation, often other problems are inherent in the linkage assemblies employed which extend the footrest devices. These assemblies are often bulky and awkward to operate. Most current commercially available, extending, leg rest assemblies require additional linkages and mechanisms which are disposed adjacent to the mounting and footrest support members. These linkages are often exteriorly exposed which presents potential safety hazards for the user during operation.
The Quintile patent, for example, discloses a leg rest assembly which includes a mounting support member, a footrest support member, and cooperating gear members which permit pivotal movement. Further, an extendable strut, including a footrest device on one end, is mounted on the opposite end to the footrest support member. An exteriorly exposed linkage assembly, which is operably coupled between the gears and the extendable strut, extends the strut in reaction to the pivotal movement of between the cooperating gears. As the linkage assembly moves relative to the pivotally mounted footrest support member, there is the possibility that an accident may occur. A person of impaired physical ability could easily pinch their appendages and/or get their clothing caught in the linkage or mechanisms during pivoting. Moreover, the Quintile linkage assembly is inherently complex, does not provide smooth transitional extension of the strut and, most importantly, has an exposed linkage mechanism which can endanger the user.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an extendable leg rest assembly which provides extension of a footrest device when raised to an elevated position.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an extendable leg rest assembly which reduces the exposure to injuries during operation.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an extendable leg rest assembly which facilitates portability of a wheelchair.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an extendable leg rest assembly which is durable, compact, easy to maintain, has a minimum number of components, is easy to use by unskilled personnel, and is economical to manufacture.
The apparatus of the present invention has other objects and features of advantage which will be more readily apparent from the following description of the Best Mode of Carrying Out the Invention and the appended claims, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

Extendable leg rest assembly for a wheelchair


There is provided a magnetic memory with using a magnetoresistive effect element of a spin-injection magnetization reversal type, in which a multi-value operation is possible and whose manufacturing and operation are simple. A preferred aim of this is solved by providing two or more magnetoresistive effect elements which are electrically connected in series to each other and by selecting one of the series-connected elements depending on a direction of a current carried in the series-connected elements, a magnitude thereof, and an order of the current thereof for performing the writing operation. For example, it is solved by differentiating plane area sizes of the respective magnetoresistive effect elements which have the same film structure from each other so as to differentiate resistance change amounts caused by respective magnetization reversal and threshold current values required for respective magnetization reversal from each other.

In recent years, expectation for a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) as a memory having non-volatile characteristics and achieving high speed, high integration, low power consumption, and high reliability has been increased. A basic element of the MRAM has a structure called magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) in which an insulating film used for tunnel barrier is interposed between two ferromagnetic layers. The information is recorded by using tunnel magneto-resistance (TMR) effect that a resistance of the element is significantly different depending on either a parallel direction or a non-parallel direction in magnetization of these two ferromagnetic layers. More particularly, by a (spin-injection magnetization reversal type) method of rewriting the magnetization direction by bi-directionally carrying a current in the TMR element so as to inject spin-polarized electrons which are different depending on the magnetization of the ferromagnetic layers, a writing current can be reduced in accordance with microfabrication, so that the high integration and the low power consumption are possible in accordance with scaling of a semiconductor device. Also in such a memory, a multi-value technique capable of storing a lot of information in one memory cell has been studied for achieving a low bit cost.
Here, Patent Document 1 describes a magnetic memory in which the multi-value technique is achieved by connecting a plurality of TMR elements in series to each other. Also, Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3 describe a magnetic memory in which a storage element of a memory cell is formed by arranging a plurality of TMR elements in parallel to each other with using a spin-injection magnetization reversal element.

Magnetic memory, method of manufacturing the same, and method of driving the same


A collapsible eyeglass structure includes a frame bilaterally provided with two temples. The frame has two ends, each having an inner side formed with a through hole. Each through hole has an entrance end with a beveled rim and an opposite end connected to an inwardly expanding receiving space. Each receiving space has a predetermined shape and an upper wall formed with plural teeth. Each temple has a pivotal connecting portion outwardly extended with a post. Each post has a convex tip and is notched so as to be pushed resiliently into the corresponding through hole of the frame. Each post further has an upper periphery formed with a tooth. When the posts are pushed into the receiving spaces in the frame respectively, the tooth of each post meshes with the corresponding teeth in the corresponding receiving space to allow angular adjustment or downward collapse of the temples.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a collapsible eyeglass structure. More particularly, the present invention relates to a collapsible eyeglass structure wherein a frame mounted with a lens has two ends, each end having an inner side formed with a cavity of a predetermined configuration, and wherein each of two temples is outwardly extended with a toothed post corresponding in position to and insertable into one of the cavities such that the temples can be adjusted angularly for normal use or be folded downward into the inside of the frame when not in use.
2. Description of Related Art
Nowadays, eyeglass assemblies for different uses come in a variety of configurations. In particular, the structure between the lens(es) and the frame, between the lens-mounted frame and the temples, or between the lens-mounted frame and a strap is specifically designed to achieve the intended functions. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,755,523 B1 issued on Jun. 29, 2004 and entitled "GLASSES" discloses a pair of glasses wherein a lens-mounted frame has two ends each having an inner side penetrated by a hole, and wherein each of two temples has a pivotal connecting end extended with a notched projection. The notched projections can be pushed resiliently into and positioned securely in the corresponding holes of the frame such that the two temples can be folded downward into the inside of the frame when not in use. U.S. Pat. No. 7,144,109 B2 issued on Dec. 5, 2006 and entitled "GLASSES" discloses another pair of glasses, wherein a lens-mounted frame has two ends each having an inner side formed with a projection, and wherein each of two temples which are respectively and pivotally connected to the two ends of the frame has a plurality of teeth for meshing with the corresponding projection, so as to enable angular adjustment of the temples.


An image enhancing apparatus is described that includes a filter. The filter enhances the sharpness of an original image in accordance with a sharpening parameter. A sharpening parameter selection system is coupled to the filter. The sharpening parameter selection system determines the sharpening parameter for the filter such that the frequency distribution of a sharpened image of the original image by the filter is similar to that of a low resolution image of the original image. In addition, a method of sharpening an original image is also described.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to image enhancement. More particularly, this invention relates to an apparatus and a method for determining the appropriate amount of sharpening for an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known, image sharpening improves the appearance of a digital image. Using this technique, an image can be made to appear sharper by increasing the high frequency components of the image to emphasize edges and textures of the image. There are generally two different approaches for image sharpening, which are typically referred to as global sharpening and adaptive sharpening. The global sharpening approach typically applies the same amount of sharpening over the entire image, usually using a linear or nonlinear filter. The adaptive sharpening approach typically applies different amounts of sharpening to different image regions of the image. The amount of sharpening for an image region is based on the image properties in that region.
There have been a number of known adaptive sharpening methods. Some choose the sharpening filter from a set of directional sharpening filters on a pixel by pixel or region by region basis in accordance with local image data characteristics. Others adjust the sharpening filter adaptively based on the output of an edge detector that looks at local spatial features in the image. Still others propose to apply the singular value decomposition to blocks of image data and modify the singular values to improve the image sharpness. The adaptive sharpening approach is typically more complex than the global sharpening approach. This is due to the fact that the adaptive sharpening adaptively adjusts the amount of sharpening across an image.
A typical implementation of the global sharpening approach first produces a blurred version of the original image to be sharpened. The blurred image is then subtracted from the original unsharpened image to isolate the high frequency components of the original image. These high frequency components of the original image are then weighted and added back to the original image to produce a sharpened image S. The sharpened image S can therefore be written as a function of the original image I and a blurred image B according to the following equation EQU S=I+.lambda.(I-B)
wherein .lambda. is a scalar parameter.
The above sharpening operation is typically implemented by a linear filter, such as an unsharp masking filter. The scalar parameter .lambda. is used in the filter to weight the high frequency components. As can be seen from the equation, the greater value the scalar parameter .lambda. has, the sharper the sharpened image becomes.
The determination of the scalar parameter .lambda. is key to the global image sharpening. If the scalar parameter .lambda. is exceesively high, the image may be over-sharpened. When this occurs, the sharpened image becomes a noisy image having many sharp edges. If the scalar parameter .lambda. is undesirably low, the image may be under-sharpened. When this occurs, the sharpened image is still a blurred image that requires further sharpening.
Prior proposals have been made to determine the appropriate value of the scalar parameter .lambda. in order to determine the appropriate amount of sharpening based either on aspects of the original image or the desired use of the image. One such proposal selects the parameter value based on the local contrast values of the image pixels such that the maximum local contrast value of the sharpened image meets a predetermined target and all other local contrast values to an amount proportional thereto.
Disadvantages are, however, associated with such prior art technique. One disadvantage is that it requires non linear calculation at every pixel location. This typically involves a large amount of non standard computation which requires dedicated hardware. Another disadvantage is that it is sensitive to noise. This is because the technique increases the maximum local contrast to a predetermined target value.

Apparatus and method for determining the appropriate amount of sharpening for an image


A contact sensor includes a base, a wall device securely attached to the top face of the base and having a hole defined in the wall device to correspond to the top contacts so as to allow the top contacts of the base to be exposed and a chip receiving space defined to communicate with the hole, a sensing chip received in the chip receiving space and having a sensing area formed on top of the sensing chip and contacts formed thereon to electrically connect to the top contacts of the base and a cover received in the hole to enclose the contacts of the sensing chip and the top contacts of the base yet still allowing the sensing area exposed for application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact sensor and the method for making such a contact sensor, and more particularly to the contact sensor manufacturing method to avoid breakage of the sensing chip during encapsulating process in a mold.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional contact sensor normally is applied to a computer screen, a mouse, a fingerprint identification device . . . etc. and has a base with a conductive element mounted on the ground of the base, a sensing chip securely adhered to the base to have electrical connection to the base via wires and an encapsulation encompassing the combination of the base, the conductive element and the sensing chip but still allowing the sensing area of the sensing chip as well as the conductive element to be exposed for potential application.
With this kind of configuration, it is noted that during the encapsulating process, the combination of the base and the sensing chip is placed into a mold for encapsulation. In order to prevent the sensing chip from being contaminated by the encapsulation due to overflow, it is necessary to apply a force to the mold to constrain the encapsulation from overflowing. Because the sensing chip is very fragile and thin, the force applied to the mold will easily damage the sensing chip, which causes unusual high product defect rate.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide an improved contact sensor to mitigate the aforementioned problems.

Contact sensor and method for making the same


A circular saw blade has a rotary axis and a flat annular body arranged therearound. The annular body has a periphery being provided with teeth. The annular body is of hollow conical shape. For manufacturing the circular saw blade, an initially flat annular body is bolted into a concentric conical support element, thereby deforming the annular body into a hollow conical shape.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a circular saw blade with a rotation axis and a flat annular element, arranged around the rotation axis, which is provided with teeth on its outer edge.
The invention further concerns a process for the production of a circular saw blade using a plane, flat annular element that is provided with teeth on its periphery.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A circular saw blade of the aforesaid type is generally known, for example from WO 88/02683.
The known circular saw blade is, like other known circular saw blades, designed so that it is thickened in the region near the axis, and is flatter at its periphery. Known circular saw blades generally have a plane radial defining surface, but occasionally they are also symmetrical with respect to a radial center plane, and thus become thicker on either side of the radial center plane.
It is generally desirable in saw technology, however, to make saw kerfs as narrow as possible in order to maximize wood yield by minimizing the volume of sawdust. This is especially true if a plurality of thin boards is to be cut out of a piece of lumber, since then the kerf width is an important factor in the wood yield.
The demand for the thinnest possible kerf necessarily leads to especially thin circular saw blades. One the one hand, however, circular saw blades cannot be made arbitrarily thin, since otherwise there would be stability problems, especially if one simultaneously wishes to have high feed speeds or cutting speeds in order to cut the largest possible quantity of wood products in a certain period of time. Specifically, as the feed or cutting speed is raised, the radial load on the circular saw blade simultaneously increases, with the result that the ensuing stability problems become greater, the thinner the circular saw blade.
On the other hand, it has been proposed in the aforesaid WO 88/02683 that circular saw blades be used together with "separator elements." This is understood to mean an element that is stationary with respect to the rotating circular saw blade, that extends to a point close to the teeth of the circular saw blade, and that bends the separated side board out of the separation plane immediately after passage of the teeth, and removes it from engagement with the circular saw blade.
With circular saw blades of this kind that have a separator element, it is indeed possible to reduce further the mechanical stress on circular saw blades, but this again comes close to the limits of feasibility.

Circular saw blade and process for the production thereof

Wurster u. Dietz GmbH u. Co. Maschinenfabrik


A method of analysing nucleic acid sequences comprises measuring by surface sensitive detection technique the binding interaction between a first nucleic acid sequence and a second nucleic acid sequence, one of the first and second nucleic acid sequences being immobilized to a solid phase surface, to determine the affinity or an affinity related parameter for the binding reaction as indicative of the extent of complementary between the first and second nucleic acid sequences. The method is characterized in that the measurement of the binding interaction is performed at annealing conditions adjusted such that the dissociation rate constant for the binding interaction corresponding to full complementarity between the first and second nucleic acid sequences is greater than about 10.sup.- per second, thereby permitting equilibrium for the interaction to be rapidly attained.

The generation of DNA sequence information has dramatically increased due to the large programs for sequencing of the human genome. Today that work is mainly done by traditional gel electrophoretic separation of DNA fragments terminated at different positions, either enzymatically (dideoxy chain termination method according to Sanger et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 74: 5463-5467 (1977)) or chemically (chemical degradation method according to Maxam and Gilbert, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 74: 560-564). These systems are, however, both time- and labour-intensive.
There is therefore a general need for more effective methods for de novo sequencing of DNA as well as for repeated sequencing of known sequences for analysis of mutations, such as point mutations. The mutation analysis will increase as more information will be gathered about the correlation between different diseases and mutations and also due to the need to verify deliberately introduced mutations in biotechnology work.
Sequencing by hybridization (SBH) (see e.g. Drmanac et al., Genomics 4: 114; Strazoski et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88: 10089 (1991); Bains and Smith, J. Theoretical Biol. 135: 303 (1988); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,231) has become an interesting alternative to traditional sequencing with a potential for higher through-put of information. This type of system utilizes the information obtained from multiple hybridizations of the polynucleotide of interest, using short oligonucleotides to determine the nucleic acid sequence. However, there are several technical problems associated with this technology. For example, while today there are ways to build arrays of oligonucleotides on a chip based on the synthesis of oligoprobes and photolitographic techniques, it is still complicated to provide on a chip the large set of oligonucleotide probes required for determining a random nucleic acid sequence. Further, the detection of interaction of labelled target DNA is normally done by fluorescent or radioactivity measurements. Such detection is dependent on washing of the chip to get rid of residual labelled target molecules and the oligoprobes must therefore bind rather strongly to the target molecules. There are also problems with the binding of oligoprobes with a single base mismatch in combination with the different sensitivity to washing conditions dependent on base pair composition, G:C being more stable than A:T. One attempt to overcome such problems is to use tetraalkylammonium salts that eliminate the difference in stability of G:C and A:T base pairs.
Even if differences in base composition can be compensated for, the whole SBH procedure is based on interaction, washing, and detection of hybridized target DNA and oligoprobe. The conditions for the hybridization thus have to be adjusted for a stable hybridization which can be detected only after several washing cycles. Dependent on the position of the mismatch of single bases, base composition, oligoprobe length and temperature, there will be several hybridizations of oligomers that will show up as weaker binding and such interactions will be problematic to determine. Temperature and salt gradients elution have been suggested but are difficult to elaborate technically.
Due to the conditions needed for hybridization there is also always a potential risk for the target DNA to hybridize to itself due to complementary regions of the DNA.
A major disadvantage of SBH is, however, that the information is exclusively based on short-range information and the fact that overlaps are unique. Success is dependent on whether or not there are repeated sequences in the nucleic acid to be analysed. The need and importance of repeated sequences are known from several situations, not least in the analysis of genes like, for example, the gene for Huntington's disease where repeated sequences and the amount of repeats have clinical relevance.
For the analysis of known sequences or of a particular site, mutation analysis may be advantageous. An example of this is the mutation dependent tumour frequency found for proteins such as p53. Binding of p53 to DNA is crucial for a correct control of cell growth and mutation dependent methods for therapy are likely to be developed. Furthermore, the kind of mutation detected may affect the treatment and aid in selecting the appropriate drug.
Label-free real-time measuring techniques, such as those based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR), have been used to study the hybridization of DNA and oligomeric probes (oligoprobes). Attempts have also been made to analyse the kinetic information of the hybridization to determine the degree of hybridization, e.g. to detect mutant sequences, as described in Biosensor Application Note 306, 1994, Pharmacia Biosensor AB, Sweden. It has, however, been found that such analyses are difficult to use for obtaining relevant mismatch information as the kinetics for hybridization is complex under the conditions for hybridization normally used, which result in the formation of relatively stable hybridization complexes with long half-lives.
WO 93/25909 discloses the use of label-free techniques mentioned above in combination with immobilised receptors, specifically antibodies, which are selected or designed to have a high dissociation constant, or "off-rate", for the binding of analyte to the receptor. Such a detection system will rapidly respond to changes in the analyte concentration and regeneration of the sensing surface supporting the receptor will not be required. Typically, the receptor is selected such that the dissociation rate constant (k.sub.off or k.sub.diss) for a particular analyte of interest is higher than 10.sup.-2 per second.
WO 95/00665 discloses a method of providing the sequence of a single stranded nucleic acid molecule, which when hybridized to a complementary single stranded molecule results in a double (duplex) structure having a preselected value for a free energy parameter, such as ligand binding, melting temperature or affinity for a target sequence. Thereby nucleic acid molecules may be produced which are tailored for specific applications, e.g. nucleic acid molecules with a defined affinity for a ligand which binds to the DNA and regulates the expression of a protein encoded by the nucleic acid.

Surface-sensitive detection of hybridization at equilibrium


A method for performing memory diagnostics using a programmable diagnostic memory module provides enhanced testability of memory controller and memory subsystem design. The programmable diagnostic memory module includes an interface for communicating with an external diagnostic system, and the interface is used to transfer commands to the memory module to alter various behaviors of the memory module. The altered behaviors may be changing data streams that are written to the memory module to simulate errors, altering the timing and/or loading of the memory module signals, downloading programs for execution by a processor core within the memory module, changing driver strengths of output signals of the memory module, and manipulating in an analog domain, signals at terminals of the memory module such as injecting noise on power supply connections to the memory module. The memory module may emulate multiple selectable memory module types, and may include a complete storage array to provide standard memory module operation.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to processing system memory subsystems, and more particularly, to a diagnostic method using a memory module that provides programmable functionality to observe and/or alter memory module behavior.
2. Description of the Related Art
Memory subsystems in present-day computer systems include multiple memory modules that provide system memory. During design and manufacture of such computer systems and their elements such as processor blade units or motherboards, and in particular, dedicated memory controller units and processors incorporating a memory controller unit, it is desirable to evaluate features such as error detection and error correction, as well as design margins for memory performance such as read cycle delay and write cycle timing margins.
However, performance of an actual memory device is typically fixed by design and therefore techniques for testing the error detection/correction mechanisms have traditionally been limited to methods such as using "known bad" modules, or techniques such as forcing parity errors by disabling parity information. Software has long been available for performing system memory tests, but such tests are performed on memory implementations that are fixed by design, or are externally manipulated in a laboratory environment. Timing margins have been evaluated by changing external loads or terminators, but such techniques are time-consuming and provide only a crude evaluation of the actual timing margins. Furthermore, such methodologies do not reveal information describing behavior internal to a memory module, but only the behavior of the memory module when influenced by external loading.
Load devices that can be directly inserted in a standardized memory module socket have provided some simplification of memory controller and system design evaluation, in that test points can be provided while still providing a nominal load equivalent to an actual memory device. However, such test modules typically have fixed signal loading values and replace a memory device with only passive loads and test points, in which the passive loads approximate the loading of an actual memory module. In order to change the loading, the inserted load device would have to be removed and another load device with different loading characteristics would have to be inserted. The test points provided are also not located at the exact location of storage that can be written to and read from, and therefore only provide for measurement of external memory bus signals. Further, testing error detection/correction mechanisms using such a device is still limited to techniques such as externally loading a test point until a fault occurs.
It is therefore desirable to provide a method and apparatus for evaluating memory controller and memory subsystem designs that provide flexible manipulation of the memory subsystem behavior and information about signal behavior at the actual location of the storage. It would further be desirable to provide information about signal behavior internal to a memory module.

Method for performing memory diagnostics using a programmable diagnostic memory module

International Business Machines Corporation


An apparatus is provided for continuous and regular liberation of active constituents into domestic water supplies. The apparatus comprises a receptacle having a body portion which is impermeable to water and to the active constituent. The receptacle is provided with an aperture closed by a membrane which is permeable to water and to the active constituent. An operculum surrounds the membrane to secure the membrane to the receptacle. The active constituent is provided into the receptacle and is released through the membrane in a controlled manner over an extended period of time. Preferably, the membrane has a mean pore diameter greater than 0.05 microns.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for continuous and regular liberation of active constituents into water. It relates more particularly to a method and apparatus for continuous liberation of vitamin A into wells and boreholes which provide a source of drinking water.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is estimated that at present several tens of millions of persons have a vitamin A deficiency. This deficiency can result in xerophthalmia, blindness, lowered resistance to infection, and an increase of mortality. The parts of the world which are most affected are Africa, Asia and Latin America. Among these, the zones of the Sahel and the Southern Sahel, namely Benin, Burkina, Faso, Mali and Mauritania, are most gravely affected.
One of the actions being carried out at present by the World Health Organization is distribution of oral doses of 200,000 international units of vitamin A in capsule form twice a year. However, it is difficult to distribute the necessary dose of vitamin A biannually to each inhabitant of the effected areas. Therefore, it would be preferred to provide each inhabitant with vitamin A in a natural manner by means of drinking water. This requires a system for continuous liberation of vitamin A which is easy to implement and allows regular delivery of the vitamin A over prolonged periods. The apparatus used to supply the vitamin A should not need to be changed more than 3 or 4 times per year. This minimizes the number of times a person must visit water points which are often widely dispersed in these desert zones.
There exist numerous patents describing the regular liberation of active constituents, among them vitamins, in the human or animal body. Such patents include, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,946,734 and 3,977,404, and European Patent Nos. 40,457 and 262,422. These patents are not directed to the problem which the present invention attempts to solve.
There also exist patents which disclose an apparatus for regular liberation of active constituents into the surrounding medium. Such patents include, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,300,558 and 4,618,487, European Patent No. 40,457 and British Patent No. 2,182,559. These patents disclose an apparatus which establishes an osmotic difference between the interior of an apparatus, which contains the active constituent to be diffused and a mineral salt, and the exterior of the apparatus. The large quantity of salt attracts water from the exterior environment which enters through the wall of the apparatus. This water, along with the dissolved salt and the active constituent, escape through an orifice made in the wall of the apparatus. The exterior wall is generally permeable to water and impermeable to the active constituent.
Such an apparatus is disadvantageous because it requires the manufacture of a delivery system made of a semi-permeable material. It is also disadvantageous because it requires the use of a large quantity of mineral salt which will inevitably be liberated with the active constituent. In the case of the addition of an active constituent, such as vitamin A, to drinking water, it is desired to liberate the minimum amount of salt in order not to modify the taste of the water.

Method for continuous liberation of active constituents into water


Techniques are provided which may be implemented using various methods and/or apparatuses to determine time difference of arrival of signals from two base stations as received at a mobile device, to use the time difference of arrival to determine differential forward link calibration for at least two base stations, and also to determine location using the differential forward link calibration for at least two base stations, determined using the time difference of arrival of signals from at least two base stations as received by a mobile device.

1. Field
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to electronic devices, and more particularly to methods and apparatuses for use in or with location determination of a mobile device using observed difference of time of arrival (OTDOA) techniques that employ forward link calibration (FLC) values.
2. Information
In particular cellular communication networks such as 4G or long-term evolution (LTE) networks, a receiving device may estimate its location using OTDOA techniques by measuring times of arrival of signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRSs)) transmitted by base stations (e.g., eNodeBs). The accuracy of estimating a location using this technique relies in part on the accuracy with which times of the transmission of the signals is known. A receiver device may measure times of arrival of a signal for use in OTDOA according to a time reference such as a time reference obtained from a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). However, if an internal processing delay for measuring times of arrival of signals is unknown, an error may be introduced. Unfortunately, it is expensive and time consuming to calibrate an internal processing delay for each mobile receiver device.

Determination of differential forward link calibration in LTE networks for positioning


A memory cell array includes local input/output logic configured to access memory cells in memory banks. The memory cell array includes inner memory banks disposed in either direction from the local input/output logic. The memory cell array includes outer memory banks disposed beyond the inner memory banks in either direction from the local input/output logic. The memory cell array further includes local bitlines that run in a lower metallization layer of each of the memory banks. The local bitlines of the outer memory banks connect to the local input/output logic via an upper metallization layer across regions of the inner memory banks.

Memory devices typically include an array of memory cells that are accessed on a grid of rows and columns. For semiconductor memory architectures such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) and Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), rows and columns are referred to as wordlines and bitlines, respectively. To decrease capacitance on the bitlines and thereby improve performance of the memory device, a memory cell array may be divided into memory banks that limit the number of rows in each bank. However, previous solutions require a local input/output (I/O) circuit specific to each bank which increases the area overhead of the memory device. Subsequent solutions dispose local I/O circuitry between memory banks so that up to two memory banks, but not more, may share the same I/O circuitry.

Memory banks with shared input/output circuitry

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


An implantable prosthetic device comprises a remotely detectible component disposed in the body forming the device for allowing the device to be detected by x-ray, ultrasonic, or MRI imaging. By disposing at least two remotely detectible components in the body of the device, the effective flow diameter provided by the device can be monitored. A method for monitoring a patient having a damaged or dysfunctional vascular pathway includes the steps of implanting in the patient the disclosed prosthetic device and monitoring the patency of the device by x-ray, ultrasonic, MRI, or other form of remote imaging.

One type of implantable device is a synthetic vascular graft such as is commonly used to replace damaged or dysfunctional arterial or venous pathways, for example at the site of an aneurysm or occlusion. Bypass grafts are often used to divert blood flow around damaged regions to restore blood flow. Another use of vascular prostheses is for creating a bypass shunt between an artery and vein, specifically for multiple needle access, such as is required for hemodialysis treatments. Following multiple percutaneous invasions into a vein, the vein may either collapse along the puncture track or become aneurysmal, leaky or fill with clot, causing significant risk of pulmonary embolization. Vascular prostheses have been used for many years as an alternative to patients' own veins for vascular access during hemodialysis.
Materials research has led to the development of some synthetic materials for use in artificial vascular prostheses. For example, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), a polymeric material which may be stretched to a specific length and expanded to a specific thickness, is often used to fabricate single lumen artificial veins and arteries. Typically, however, PTFE vascular grafts cannot safely be used to withdraw blood until they have been in place in the body for a minimum of 14 days after surgery and have become surrounded by fibrotic tissue. This is because bleeding occurs at the site of a needle puncture in PTFE grafts if fibrotic tissue is absent. Complications which can result from early puncturing of PTFE arteriovenous fistulas include a hematoma surrounding the graft, false aneurysm, and graft occlusion.
Various other synthetic materials, in addition to PTFE, have been used for vascular grafts, including Dacron.RTM. brand and other synthetic polyester fibers, mandrel spun polyurethane, and silicon elastomer fibers. Additionally, vascular grafts have been formed using autologous saphenous vein, modified bovine carotid xenograft, and modified human umbilical vein. None, however, has overcome the problems associated with early failure of the graft following implantation.
A problem associated with known vascular grafts stems from their delicate structure making them difficult to handle and position properly during surgery. Due to their circumferentially uniform appearance, the grafts may be twisted during implantation, which can reduce the openness, or patency, of the implanted graft.
Another problem associated with known vascular grafts is that they are transparent to known non-surgical techniques for viewing that are generally used to detect structures in the body. These techniques include x-rays, MRI scanning, fluoroscopy, ultrasound, and nuclear magnetic resonance. As a result, post-implantation examination of known vascular grafts is difficult. If a surgeon suspects that a blockage of an implanted vascular graft has occurred, for example, she must inject radiopaque dye into the patient through the graft. The dye allows the graft to be visible during fluoroscopic examination to determine whether it has collapsed or is satisfactorily transporting blood flow. This process is invasive to the patient and places further burdens on the patient's circulatory system.
Various marking devices have been developed to avoid the need for injecting dye into a patient who has undergone vascular graft implantation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,349 (Jones, May 13, 1980), for example, discloses a radiopaque blood vessel marker for attachment to the side wall of a blood vessel or vascular graft. The marker is a substantially flattened disk which is sutured into place by the surgeon. The Jones vessel markers are not well suited for use with PTFE vascular prostheses because it is difficult to elicit natural occlusion of suture holes in PTFE due to the relative elasticity of the porous PTFE tubing materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,391 (Elefteriades Nov. 29, 1988) discloses a device for the marking the anastomosis, or joining site, of a coronary graft so that the anastomosis can be localized fluoroscopically after surgery. The device includes gold indicators which are arranged on a hemostatic material which is absorbed or dissolved completely in the body during the healing period, leaving the gold markers at the site. This device is useful for marking the area of the anastomosis, but does not allow the vascular graft itself to be viewed during fluoroscopic examination.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a vascular graft having integral diagnostic indicia for determining the patency (openness) of the graft vessel by non-invasive techniques. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a vascular graft having integral radiopaque or MRI markers that do not need to be sutured to the graft. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method for treating a patient having a damaged or dysfunctional arterial or venous pathway using the detectible vascular grafts of the present invention.

Implantable prosthetic device having integral patency diagnostic indicia


Thick film paste composition for applying conductive patterns to automotive window glass comprising finely divided particles of metallic silver, glass frit, and selected transition metal oxides, all of the particulate solids being dispersed in an organic medium.

In recent years automobile manufacturers have offered as optional equipment rear windows which can be defrosted and/or defogged by use of an electrically conductive grid permanently attached to the window. In order to defrost quickly, the circuit must be capable of supplying large amounts of power from a low voltage power source, for example 12 volts. Furthermore, the lines of the conductive grid must be sufficiently narrow in order to maintain visibility through the rear window.
The resistance requirements of conductive patterns is on the order of 2 to 15 milliohms per square, which requirements are easily met by noble metal conductors, particularly silver, which is currently the most widely used conductor material in this application.
Heretofore, the materials used for the preparation of window defogging grids have mostly been thick film silver conductors which are prepared from paste comprising finely divided silver powder particles and glass frit dispersed in an organic medium. In a typical application, a paste containing by weight 70% silver powder, 5% glass frit and 25% organic medium is screen printed through a 180 Standard Mesh Screen onto a flat, unformed glass rear window. The printed composition is dried for at least 2 minutes at about 150 C. and the entire element is then fired in air from 2 to 5 minutes at 650 C. After firing the softened glass is shaped by pressing into a mold and then tempered by rapidly cooling. During the firing cycle the organic medium is removed by evaporation and pyrolysis. The glass and silver are sintered to form a continuous conductive path with the glass acting as binder for the silver particles.
In the manufacture of automotive defoggers, an important criterion has been the appearance of the interface between the glass and conductor pattern--particularly color. By far the most predominant type of glass used in the manufacture of automotive windows is soda-lime glass made by the float glass process in which the molten soda-lime glass is cast upon a long pool of molten tin or tin alloy in a controlled atmosphere. This process produces a glass of nearly perfect flatness and excellent thickness uniformity without the necessity of grinding and polishing. During the float glass process a small amount of tin diffuses into the glass from the bath. This leaves no visible image on the surface of the glass. However, the tin diffusion results in different chemical interactions of the glass with staining metals such as silver and copper and the glass surface is harder.
When silver is used as a conductive material, a naturally dark brown color is produced at the glass-conductor interface even without the addition of colorants when the conductor is printed on the "tin side" of the glass, i.e. on the the side of the glass which was next to the tin in the float process.
In the manufacturing process, it would be preferred to print the conductor on the air side of the glass in order to avoid certain handling difficulties. For example, less yield loss would be incurred from mechanical damage to the glass surface and enamel color could be better controlled. However, when the conductor is printed on the "air side" of the glass. i.e. on the side exposed to the atmosphere, little color development takes place. For this reason, the automotive glass industry usually prints silver paste onto the tin side of float glass after printing an enamel border on the glass. Consequently, formulations of thick film pastes for this use have contained various coloring agents so that they can be printed on the air side of the glass with suitable color development.
Frequently used colorants for printing on the air side have been silver salts such as Ag.sub.2 SO.sub.4 and Ag.sub.2 S, which upon firing take part in ion exchange reactions with components of the glass substrate to form particles of silver at the interface between the substrate and the conductor composition printed thereon. Conductor patterns made by this method do, however, have several disadvantages.
(1) Colorants of the above-described kind have to be used in substantial concentrations in order to get adequate color development: PA1 (2) When substantial concentrations of such colorants are used, the surface is considerably less solderable because it is inadequately wetted by the solder; PA1 (3) Frequently, a transparent yellow color is formed in the areas adjacent to the lines because of the reduction of silver ions: PA1 (4) These particles then form colored agglomerates of Ag by ion exchange with the glass, thereby producing a mobile salt species. After prolonged humid storage, the mobile salt species, such as Na.sub.2 SO.sub.4, forms a salt scale on the silver surface; and PA1 (5) The colors developed by the above-described method tend to change upon firing. PA1 (1) screen printing a pattern of the above-described thick film paste onto the air side surface of the glass; and PA1 (2) firing the glass and thick film pattern at 580-680 C. to effect volatilization of the organic medium from the thick film paste and liquid phase sintering of the silver particles. PA1 1. Decorative enamel paste of either the solvent-based or UV-curable type is screen printed onto a flat glass substrate using a conventional screen, typically 156 or 195 mesh polyester. PA1 2. The printed enamel pattern is dried at 150.degree. C. for 15 minutes or UV cured at 1.2 J/cm.sup.2 depending on the type of enamel. PA1 3. The silver paste is screen printed onto either the airside or tinside of a flat glass substrate or onto unfired enamel using a conventional screen, typically 195 mesh polyester. Other meshes such as 156 and 230 mesh can be used with equal success. PA1 4. The silver is fired or the silver and enamel are cofired in a belt furnace set to reach a peak glass surface temperature of 580.degree. to 680.degree. C.
The invention is therefore directed at reducing the impact of the above referred problems on air-side patterning in the manufacture of automotive window glass.

Automotive glass thick film conductor paste


An axially compliant tool assembly for a programmable position controller is disclosed. Various construction details have been developed which provide a responsive means to make the tool axially compliant to deviations between the programmed path of the tool and the surface being worked upon by the tool. In one particular embodiment, the axially compliant means includes a base, a sleeve axially movable relative to the base, a tool disposed on an internally splined shaft, and a radial bearing disposed between the shaft and the sleeve. The sleeve includes a flange which defines in part two sealed cavities wherein the differential pressure between the two sealed cavities provides a working force for the tool and wherein the flange may move axially within the limits of the sealed cavities.

Programmable position controllers, such as robots, have proven very useful in performing routine and repetitive tasks in the manufacturing area. One such task is the deburring of the edges of machined, metallic objects. A robotic arm may be fitted with a deburring tool and programmed to follow a path around the edge of the metallic object which is to be deburred. An improvement in quality and consistency of the deburring process may result from the use of a robotic deburring.
There are, however, difficulties associated with the use of robotically controlled deburring tools. Since the programmed path of the robotic arm is in essence a series of incremental steps, there are errors in the path of the robotically controlled deburring tool relative to the surface to be machined. In addition, the surface itself may have cavities within and/or protrusions extending from it. These pockets and protrusions interfere with the path and cutting force of the robotic tool. A protrusion will urge the cutting surface of the deburring tool out of its path and cause a consequent increase in cutting force. The increased cutting force may cause and the cutting surface to cut too far into the surface. Additionally, the increased cutting force may cause damage to the cutting surface of the tool. A cavity may cause the deburring tool to separate or diverge from the surface to be machined. The separation of the cutting surface of the tool from the machined surface will prevent the deburring of that portion of the machined surface from being accomplished. The quality of the deburring and of the product being produced will thereby suffer.
A well known solution to the inaccuracy in the programmed path and to the surface variations is to build compliance into the robotic arm. Compliance compensates for errors in the path and variations in the surface by permitting limited movement of the tool while maintaining an acceptable cutting force. In this way, variations in the surface or inaccuracies in the programmed path which are within the limits of the compliance will be accommodated and damage to the cutting surface and the finished product may be minimized.
Several types of compliant tool holders have been disclosed in the prior art. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,775, issued to Hisso Kato, entitled "Industrial Robot Device", compliance is provided by a spring built into the device holding the tool. The spring permits the tool, which is comprised of the cutting surface and the drive means for the cutting surface, to move laterally, relative to the axis of the tool, away from the edge. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,500, issued to Robert Thompson, entitled "Passive Actuator To Maintain A Constant Normal Cutting Force During Robotic Deburring", an air cylinder with a low friction piston is used to provide a zero spring rate compliance. As with Kato, the cutting surface and the drive means of the tool are permitted to move laterally to accommodate path errors and surface variations. A drawback to both types of lateral compliance is that in precision machining there may not be room to permit sideways compliance. For instance, structure adjacent to the edge being deburred may preclude the use of a sideways compliant tool holder. In addition, the sensitivity of the compliance mechanisms has been insufficient for intricate patterns of machining. The weight associated with the prior art compliant tool holders has been too great to provide a tool holder which is responsive to changes in path or to variations in the machined surface. In effect, the momentum of the compliant tool holders results in additional cutting surface path variations.
The above art notwithstanding, scientists and engineers under the direction of Applicant's Assignee are working to develop compliant robotic tool holders.


An apparatus, method, system, and computer-readable medium are disclosed. In one embodiment the apparatus is a processor. The processor includes thread remapping logic that is capable of tracking hardware thread interrupt equivalence information for a first hardware thread and a second hardware thread. The processor also includes logic to receive an interrupt issued from a device, wherein the interrupt has an affinity tied to the first hardware thread. The processor also includes logic to redirect the interrupt to the second hardware thread when the hardware thread interrupt equivalence information validates the second hardware thread is capable of handling the interrupt.

A hardware thread (e.g., an operational core within a processor) may have the capability of entering into a power optimized state, such as a low power sleep or deep sleep state. Input/Output (I/O) traffic may send an interrupt to the hardware thread, which would generally cause the thread to wake out of the low power state to service the interrupt. For example, interrupts requiring the hardware thread to wake up may come from a Platform Component Interconnect (PCI)-Express device, a PCI device, or an input/output advanced programmable interrupt controller (IOAPIC) among others. When these interrupts arrive frequently and each of them requires the hardware thread to wake up, the purpose of putting the hardware thread into a power optimized state is defeated.


Described herein, is a method of dewatering a slurry, the slurry being tailings from bitumen extraction of mined oil sand. The slurry is passed through at least one electro-kinetic thickener having a voltage gradient to separate water from the slurry to produce a dewatered slurry. The electro-kinetic thickener may comprise an auger to move the slurry downstream. The auger has a conductive component in the form of a wire, ribbon or rod as an anode (positive electrode) to attract negatively-charged slurry particles and to repel the positively-charged cations and associated water. The auger is shafted or shaftless. The electro-kinetic thickener may also comprise a porous drum having the auger disposed therein. The porous drum is a cathode (negative electrode) to repel the negatively-charged slurry particles, attract the positively-charged cations and associated water, and allow the water to pass through the porous drum.

Oil sand extraction processes are used to liberate and separate bitumen from oil sands so that the bitumen can be further processed to produce synthetic crude oil. Numerous oil sand extraction processes have been developed and commercialized, many of which involve the use of water as a processing medium. Other processes are non-aqueous solvent-based processes. An example of a solvent-based process is described in Canadian Patent Application No. 2,724,806 (Adeyinka et al, published Jun. 30, 2011 and entitled "Process and Systems for Solvent Extraction of Bitumen from Oil Sands). Solvent may be used in both aqueous and non-aqueous processes.
One water-based extraction process is the Clark hot water extraction process (the "Clark Process"). This process typically requires that mined oil sands be conditioned for extraction by being crushed to a desired lump size and then combined with hot (e.g. 95° C.) water and perhaps other agents to form a conditioned slurry of water and crushed oil sands. In the Clark Process, an amount of sodium hydroxide (caustic) may be added to the slurry to increase the slurry pH, which enhances the liberation and separation of bitumen from the oil sands. Other water-based extraction processes may use other temperatures and may include other conditioning agents, which are added to the oil sand slurry, or may operate without conditioning agents. This slurry is first processed in a Primary Separation Cell (PSC), also known as a Primary Separation Vessel (PSV), to extract the bitumen from the slurry.
An overall bitumen extraction process is depicted in FIG. 1. The water and oil sands slurry 100 is separated into three major streams in the PSC 101: bitumen froth 102, middlings 104 and PSC underflow 106. Further processing of each of these streams is explained below. Also shown in FIG. 1, is the solvent 108 added for froth treatment 110, bitumen 112, TSRU (tailings solvent recovery unit) tailings 114, flotation cells 116, recycle bitumen froth 118, fine flotation tailings (FFT) 120, and an external tailings area (ETA) or tailings ponds 122.
Regardless of the type of water-based extraction process employed, the process will typically result in the production of a bitumen froth 102 that requires treatment with a solvent. For example, in the Clark Process, a bitumen froth stream comprises bitumen, fine particulate solids (also referred to as mineral or inorganic solids) and water. Certain processes use naphtha to dilute bitumen froth before separating the product bitumen by centrifugation. These processes are called naphtha froth treatment (NFT) processes. Other processes use a paraffinic solvent, and are called paraffinic froth treatment (PFT) processes, to produce pipelineable bitumen with low levels of solids and water. In the PFT process, a paraffinic solvent (for example, a mixture of iso-pentane and n-pentane) is used to dilute the froth before separating the product, diluted bitumen, by gravity. A portion of the asphaltenes in the bitumen is also rejected by design in the PFT process and this rejection is used to achieve reduced solids and water levels. In both the NFT and the PFT processes, the diluted tailings (comprising water, solids and some hydrocarbon) are separated from the diluted product bitumen.
Solvent is typically recovered from the diluted product bitumen component before the bitumen is delivered to a refining facility for further processing.
One PFT process will now be described further, although variations of the process exist. The PFT process may comprise at least three units: Froth Separation Unit (FSU), Solvent Recovery Unit (SRU) and Tailings Solvent Recovery Unit (TSRU). Two FSUs may be used, as shown in FIG. 2.
With reference to FIG. 2, mixing of solvent with the feed bitumen froth 200 is carried out counter-currently in two stages: FSU-1 and FSU-2, labeled as Froth Separation Unit 1 202 and Froth Separation Unit 2 204. The bitumen froth comprises bitumen, water, and fine solids (also referred to as mineral solids). A typical composition of bitumen froth is about 60 wt % bitumen, 30 wt % water, and 10 wt % solids. The paraffinic solvent is used to dilute the froth before separating the product bitumen by gravity. Examples of paraffinic solvents are pentane or hexane, either used alone or mixed with isomers of pentanes or hexanes, respectively. An example of a paraffinic solvent is a mixture of iso-pentane and n-pentane. In FSU-1 202, the froth 200 is mixed with the solvent-rich oil stream 201 from the second stage (FSU-2) 204. The temperature of FSU-1 202 is maintained at, for instance, about 60° C. to about 80° C., or about 70° C., while the solvent to bitumen (SB) ratio may be from 1.4:1 to 2.2:1 by weight or may be controlled around 1.6:1 by weight for a 60:40 mixture of n-pentane: iso-pentane. The overhead from FSU-1 202 is the diluted bitumen product 205 (also referred to as the hydrocarbon leg) and the bottom stream from FSU-1 202 is the tailings 207 comprising water, solids (inorganics), asphaltenes, and some residual bitumen. The residual bitumen from this bottom stream is further extracted in FSU-2 204 by contacting it with fresh solvent 209, for instance, in a 25 to 30:1 (w/w) SB ratio at, for instance, about 80° C. to about 100° C., or about 90° C. Examples of operating pressures of FSU-1 and FSU-2 are about 550 kPag and 600 kPag, respectively. The solvent-rich oil (overhead) 201 from FSU-2 204 is mixed with the fresh froth feed 200 as mentioned above. The bottom stream from FSU-2 204 is the tailings 211 comprising solids, water, asphaltenes and residual solvent, which is to be recovered in the Tailings Solvent Recovery Unit (TSRU) 206 prior to the disposal of the tailings 213 in tailings ponds. The recovered solvent 218 from TSRU 206 is directed to the solvent storage 210. Solvent from the diluted bitumen overhead stream 205 is recovered in the Solvent Recovery Unit (SRU) 208 and passed as solvent 217 to Solvent Storage 210. Bitumen 215 exiting the SRU 208 is also illustrated. The foregoing is only an example of a PFT process and the values are provided by way of example only. An example of a PFT process is described in Canadian Patent No. 2,587,166 to Sury.
TSRU tailings stream 213 may comprise both coarse and fine solids and is sent for further treatment or disposed in an External Tailings Area (ETA). In general, coarse solids in TSRU tailings settle relatively rapidly while fine solids tend to remain in suspension. Fine solids concentrate to about 30 wt % solids in about two to three years but only very slowly thereafter, particularly in an ETA. This settled material is termed Mature Fine Tailings (MFT) and may also come from other bitumen processing, for instance naphthenic froth treatment.
As depicted in FIG. 1, from the PSC 101, the middlings stream 104, comprising bitumen and about 20-25% solids, is withdrawn and sent to the flotation cells 116 to further recover bitumen. The middlings 104, comprising bitumen, solids and water are processed by bubbling air through the slurry and creating a bitumen froth 118, which is recycled back to the PSC 101. The fine flotation tailings 120 from the flotation cells 116, comprising mostly solids and water, are sent for further treatment or disposed in an ETA.
As depicted in FIG. 1, the PSC underflow 106 from the PSC 101 is sent to an ETA or tailings pond 122. Tailings going into an ETA or tailings pond may include PSC underflow during regular operation and TSRU tailings and FFT during operation upsets. The PSC underflow 106 predominantly comprises coarse sands and has about 55% solids. Coarse solids settle rapidly while fine solids tend to remain in suspension. The fluid fine solids from all streams concentrate to about 30% mass solids in two to three years but only very slowly thereafter. This material, termed Mature Fine Tailings (MFT), is naturally generated over extended periods of time from streams disposed in an ETA.
It is desirable to dewater tailings (slurries) in order to (a) reuse the recovered water, (b) to have a smaller overall volume of slurry, and/or (c) to have a slurry with higher solids content that meets regulations criteria.


A lot control and part handling apparatus having a base adapted to support the apparatus and a plurality of containers. Each of the containers is shaped to be filled with and retain therein multiple parts having a predetermined cumulative weight. A container support table is mounted on the base for rotation about a generally vertical axis and has a plurality of container support stations on which the containers are removably supported. A motor selectively rotates the container support table to sequentially position each of the container support stations at a fill position at which the parts are loaded into one of the containers. A weighing apparatus is positioned in vertical registry with the fill position and includes a scale with a vertically reciprocating lift member thereon which selectively and sequentially engages an associated one of the containers. A controller is operably connected with the weighing apparatus and motor and rotates the container support table to shift a first, empty one of the containers into the fill position. The lift member is extended to engage the first container, which is located in the fill position, to support the same and any parts therein on the scale until the predetermined cumulative weight is reached. The lift member is then retracted to support the first container and the parts therein on the container support table. The controller then rotates the container support table to shift a second, empty one of the containers into the fill position.

The present invention relates to parts handling apparatus and the like, and in particular to an apparatus that accurately counts piece parts by their cumulative weight.
Small parts, such as nails, screws, rivets and the like are commonly fabricated at very high rates of speed, and are collected and sold in predetermined lot sizes, each lot having a set number of parts. Heretofore, the handling and lot control for such parts has typically been achieved by parts counters which keep track of the number of parts being manufactured by the fabrication machine either by time or actual part count. While such systems do provide lot control, they can have certain drawbacks. For example, if the fabricating machine breaks down, and must be restarted, prior lot control systems can loose accurate count. Also, if certain parts are defective, and are removed from the stream of parts, an accurate lot count cannot be established.
A final step in the packaging process typically includes weighing the package for purposes of determining shipping cost and/or pricing the sale. Since prior parts handling devices normally use an actual parts count for lot control, weighing the final package is an additional step in the shipping process. Therefore, there was a need for an automatic lot control and part handler that is adaptable for use with numerous types of fabricating machines to determine the lot size automatically at the time of manufacture, based on either the weight of the lot or by time-interval, and having capability for unattended operation.