A novel composite high-nitrile fiber in which the polymers are arranged in a sheath core type configuration. One polymer of the composite filament contains a solventless, waterless, melt-processable acrylonitrile olefinically unsaturated polymer and the other polymer of the composite filament contains an organic polymer. Either polymer can be employed as the sheath or the core component of the composite filament.

The invention relates to a novel filament and configuration of such filament, more particularly to a composite high-nitrile filament. Filaments herein mean filaments composed of two or more polymers arranged in a sheath core type configuration wherein the sheath is composed of a polymer that is different than the polymer that makes up the core. In particular, one polymer comprises a solventless, waterless, melt-processable acrylonitrile olefinically unsaturated polymer and the other polymer comprises an organic polymer.
The unique composite high-nitrile filament provides improved dyeabiltiy; and improved resistance to abrasion, solvents, gas and ultraviolet light. The high-nitrile filaments are employed to form high-nitrile composite fibers which, in turn, can be used as knitted, woven or nonwoven objects.
Bicomponent acrylic fibers known in the art are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,547,763, U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,139, and Japanese patent application 61994!-189,463. U.S. Pat. No. 3,547,763 relates to bi-component acrylic fibers having a modified helical crimp. Each component is selected from a group consisting of (1) polyacrylonitrile and (2) copolymers of at least 88% acrylonitrile and 12% of copolymerizable monomers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,139 relates to a process for melt spinning a plurality of eccentric sheath core filaments. The process selects filaments to be converged into a yarn so as to avoid contact between the thin sheath regions of the filament during conversion.
Japanese patent application 61994!-189,463 discloses anti-static acrylic fibers with a sheath core structure made by a solution solvent process. The sheath component consists of an acrylonitrile based copolymer, and the core component consists of an acrylonitrile based copolymer and a multi-functional polyether ester.
Difficulties in the development of composite high-nitrile filaments are due to the fact that polymers of different composition types are often incompatible with each other. The use of two different polymers, even with similar chemical characteristics, in a composite filament often results in the generation of internal stresses, thereby inducing the composite filament to split. Prior art composite acrylic filaments are limited because of poor fiber formation. Additionally, melt spinning composite filaments is problematic because many of the polymers have low resistance to thermal degradation.
It is advantageous to produce a high-nitrile composite fiber wherein one of the polymers employed as the sheath or the core component is a solventless, waterless melt-processable acrylonitrile olefinically unsaturated polymer. Furthermore, the high nitrile composite filaments of the instant invention have improved processability and, in particular, improved spinnabilty. These and other advantages will become apparent as the description of the invention proceeds.

Process of making high nitrile composite filaments


A liquid spillage control apparatus is disclosed having a liquid holding chamber divided by a partition into a liquid transfer portion and a liquid retaining portion. A liquid spill transfer pipe connects the fuel holding chamber with a liquid tank. Overflow liquid passe through the liquid spill transfer pipe and the liquid transfer portion, over the partition and into the liquid retaining portion of the liquid holding chamber. An opening in the liquid holding chamber is connected by a line to an opening in a liquid fill nozzle. Liquid in the liquid holding chamber of a predetermined amount passes from the liquid holding chamber, through the line, and into the liquid fill nozzle to actuate the liquid sensor of the automatic liquid shut-off mechanism of the nozzle in order to terminate liquid flow from the nozzle into the liquid tank.

The present invention generally pertains to fuel spillage control devices. Specifically, this invention pertains to an apparatus for retaining fuel within an enclosed chamber, the fuel emanating from the ventilation opening of a fuel tank.
Fuel storage units commonly employed for residential energy and heating needs include a fuel tank, a fill pipe, and a ventilation opening. To replenish the fuel in these fuel storage units, the nozzle of the filling device (a mobile fuel tanker truck or the like) is inserted into the fill pipe communicating with the fuel tank.
As the fuel tank of the fuel storage unit is filled, air is vented out of the fuel tank's vent opening. When the fuel tank is full and an automatic shut-off switch is present on the nozzle, the fuel will stop flowing out of the nozzle when the fuel fills the fuel fill pipe. However, prior to this automatic shut-off, fuel will flow out of the fuel receptacle's vent opening, thus polluting the environment.
If the nozzle of the filling device does not have an automatic shut-off switch, the fuel attendant shuts off fuel flow manually, often upon observation of the fuel flowing out of the fuel receptacle's vent opening and into the environment.
Fuel receptacles adapted to be attached to the ventilation openings of fuel tanks are generally known. However, these devices suffer from venting of fuel into the environment through their own vent openings, contamination of the fuel in the fuel tank due to dirt and water entering their vent openings, the inability to automatically return fuel in the device to the fuel tank for use, and the inability to separate contaminates from the fuel in the device prior to returning it to the fuel tank.


The invention relates to a dishwasher comprising a cabinet, a door for allowing access to a washing volume inside of the cabinet, and a water tank to be filled with water for washing. According to the invention, the water tank may be positioned within the washing volume inside the cabinet.

In today's society an increasing part of the population live on their own or in small families, often in rental apartments for a limited period of time. Many of them also eat few meals at home such that they generate small amounts of dishes on a daily basis. However, washing up is time consuming which often results in that the dirty dishes will be accumulated, such that their sink may nevertheless be filled up. Moreover, since they often live temporarily in small apartments, the solution to the above problem seldom is to acquire a regular dishwasher since the installation of it requires relatively lot of space, installation by a plumber as well as often permission from the landlord. Also, when it is time to move, the dishwasher will be a burden since regular dishwashers normally are quite bulky and it requires un-installation from the old apartment and reinstallation at the new apartment. On the market are known so called table-top dishwashers, which normally are somewhat less bulky than built-in dishwashers, but the rest of the disadvantages above remains essentially still.
Table-top dishwashers are usually placed on the kitchen bench top to be near the water supply and the drain. Above the bench top there are often wall mounted cupboards for plates, glasses and the like. It is therefore necessary for a table top dishwasher to fit into the space between the bench top and the cupboards and also to make it possible for the user to load and un-load the dishes to and from the dishwasher in a user friendly way.
Accordingly, there is a need for a small size dishwasher, which easily can be installed and uninstalled and which easily can be brought when moving from one place to another. WO 2006/056514 discloses a table-top dishwasher, which do not require any installation from a skilled worker, since it comprises a plug-in contact to be connected to a power outlet, a drain hose to be positioned with one end in a washing-up sink and a water reservoir to be filled manually before operation. However, the water reservoir is positioned on one side of the dishwasher and takes up a lot of space at the same time as it makes it more difficult to design the dishwasher to have a pleasant appearance, inter alia as the dishwasher will have an asymmetrical form due to the water reservoir. Moreover, the water reservoir constitutes a risk for water damage in case the water reservoir or its connection to the inside of the dishwasher should accidentally brake and begin to leak.
Table-top dishwashers like the above has a front opening for the dishes, the opening is closed by a door. The door is opened downward and when loading and unloading the dishwasher the dish rack is slided out from the dishwasher cabinet and rest on the inside of the door. This solution requires that there are space to fold down the door in front of the dishwasher and also usually that the dishwasher is secured to the bench top or is heavy enough so that the dishwasher will not fall if a full loaded disk rack is withdrawn from the cabinet and resting on the folded door. Both of which is a drawback when the dishwasher is to be moved.

Dishwasher and a water tank adapted for a dishwasher

Electrolux Home Products Corporation, N.V.


A steering column for a motor vehicle, with a bracket unit for fastening the steering column to the motor vehicle bodywork, and with at least one steering spindle bearing unit for the rotatable mounting of a steering spindle of the steering column, and with at least one bending clip for absorbing energy during a movement of the steering spindle bearing unit relative to the bracket unit by means of deformation of the bending tab. At least two bending limbs of the bending tab are connected to one another by at least one bent-over portion of the bending tab. One of the bending limbs is fastened to the steering spindle bearing unit, and the other bending limb is fastened or can be fastened to the bracket unit by at least one connecting device which can be released without being destroyed.

The present invention relates to a steering column for a motor vehicle, with a bracket unit for securing the steering column on the body of the motor vehicle and with at least one steering spindle bearing unit for the rotatable bearing of a steering spindle of the steering column and with at least one bending tab for the energy absorption during a movement of the steering spindle bearing unit relative to the bracket unit by means of deformation of the bending tab. At least two bending legs of the bending tab are connected with one another by means of at least one recurvature of the bending tab, and one of the bending legs is secured on the steering spindle bearing unit and the other bending leg is secured or is securable on the bracket unit by means of at least one connecting device which can be detached nondestructively.
Steering columns of this type are known per se in prior art. WO2009/121386 A1 discloses several different implementations of such steering columns. The document already mentions that the bending tab provided for the energy absorption in the event of a crash can be a pure bending tab but also a tearing-open bending tab. In the case of a pure bending tab, the energy absorption during the movement of the steering spindle bearing unit relative to the bracket unit takes place exclusively by means of deformation of the bending tab. In the case of tearing-bending tabs, in addition to the deformation, further energy absorption can be attained thereby that the bending tab is torn out of a frame or the like.
The invention addresses the problem of improving a generic steering column to the extent that it takes up the least installation space possible. It is further to be prevented that the bending tab is raised during the relative movement of the steering spindle bearing unit with respect to the bracket unit in the event of a crash.


A distortion compensation device which compensates for a distortion of an amplifier includes an FIR filter, a calculation unit that calculates an error between a reference signal and a feedback signal from the amplifier, an update unit that updates a coefficient set to the FIR filter on the basis of the error, and a delay unit that, on the basis of a magnitude of the coefficient, delays the feedback signal while controlling a delay of the feedback signal with respect to the reference signal.

A wireless transmission apparatus in a wireless communication system includes an amplifier which amplifies power of a transmission signal. The amplifier in the wireless transmission apparatus is typically operated near saturation in order to increase power efficiency of the amplifier. However, a non-linear distortion is increased when the amplifier is operated near saturation. Now, in order to reduce the non-linear distortion and decrease an adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR), the wireless transmission apparatus includes a distortion compensation device which compensates for the non-linear distortion.
A predistortion (hereinafter referred to as "PD" in some cases) method is a distortion compensation method employed by the distortion compensation device. The distortion compensation device employing the PD method multiplies in advance a transmission signal before being input to the amplifier by a distortion compensation coefficient having an inverse characteristic of the non-linear distortion of the amplifier, thereby increasing the linearity of an output of the amplifier and inhibiting a distortion in the output of the amplifier. A signal generated after multiplying the transmission signal by the distortion compensation coefficient is sometimes called a "predistortion signal (PD signal)". Accordingly, the PD signal is a signal that is distorted in advance according to the inverse characteristic of the non-linear distortion of the amplifier before being input thereto.
It is also known that a phenomenon called a memory effect is generated in the amplifier having high power efficiency. The memory effect is the phenomenon where an output of an input to the amplifier at a certain time is affected by a past input. The memory effect includes an electrical memory effect caused by an electrical transient response of the amplifier and a thermal memory effect caused by a thermal characteristic of the amplifier. In order to compensate for the memory effect of the amplifier as well as the non-linear distortion thereof, there is provided a distortion compensation device which generates the PD signal by using an FIR (Finite Impulse Response) filter. The FIR filter includes a plurality of taps. The FIR filter generates the PD signal by multiplying an input signal, a signal generated by delaying the input signal by a predetermined number of samples, and a distortion compensation coefficient serving as a tap coefficient in each of the plurality of taps and adding a plurality of multiplication results in the plurality of taps.
Related-art examples are described, for example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 06-350403, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-250270, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-197438, International Publication Pamphlet No. WO 2003/103164, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-295440, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-260489, International Publication Pamphlet No. WO 2007/046370, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-352852, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-197284, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-244777, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-152289, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-346759, and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2011-044798.
In the distortion compensation device using the FIR filter in the related art, the number of bits enough to be able to express a sufficiently large distortion compensation coefficient is assigned in advance to each distortion compensation coefficient in order to be able to perform compensation even when the amount of distortion increases. That is, the number of bits enough to be able to express a sufficiently large value is assigned in advance to all the distortion compensation coefficients because it is difficult to predict a value of the plurality of distortion compensation coefficients corresponding to the plurality of taps for the FIR filter adaptively performing the distortion compensation. Therefore, a problem with the distortion compensation device using the FIR filter in the related art is that a circuit is increased in scale.

Distortion compensation device and distortion compensation method


A computer-implemented audio alignment system includes a storage device and a processor. The storage device is configured to ingest and store video files, which each include one or more respective audio soundtracks. The processor is configured to receive an alternate audio file associated with one of the video files. The alternate audio file includes an alternate audio soundtrack with dialogue and non-dialogue audio. The video file includes an original language audio soundtrack with dialogue and non-dialogue audio. The processor aligns the non-dialogue audio from the alternate audio soundtrack with the non-dialogue audio from the original language audio soundtrack and aligns the alternate audio soundtrack with the film based on the alignment of the non-dialogue audio from the alternate audio soundtrack with the non-dialogue audio from the original language audio soundtrack.

There are several different origins of audio in multimedia productions, such as film or video. For example, a film's soundtrack may include dialogue, Foley (i.e., reproductions of everyday/background sounds), sound effects, and music. Foley, sound effects, and music are part of the background audio in a film. Such background audio may play alongside dialogue or it may be used to fill in silences.
Many older, archived films have a single audio soundtrack for all audio in the film. For example, dialogue, Foley, sound effects, and music may all be merged onto one audio track. This is due to the fact that older film technology was only capable of producing and playing a single sound track.
Modern film soundtracks are often made up of layers of several different audio tracks. For example, there may be a separate audio track for each of the dialogue, Foley, sound effects, and music. There are several reasons for keeping the audio tracks separate. As one example, different audio tracks allow a sound mixer to manipulate the different types of audio separately. As another example, different audio tracks make it easier to alter one audio track, for example by dubbing over the audio with alternate audio, without impacting the rest of the audio.
Regardless of the number of audio tracks in the soundtrack, it is important for the entire soundtrack to align with the correct frames of the film. The soundtrack is aligned with the film such that any dialogue matches with the actors' mouth movements and the Foley and sound effects line up with the actions in the film. It is also important for any music to line up with appropriate scenes and edits in a film to provide artistic effect.
Audio dubbing is a post-production process that allows additional or supplemental audio to either be added to or replace original production audio. This process is commonly used to translate a film into a foreign language to create a foreign language version of the original film. Foreign language dubbing replaces the dialogue audio in the original soundtrack with dialogue audio in a foreign language. In some cases, an archived film may be remastered and may require foreign language dubbing to make one or more foreign language versions. In this case, the dialogue may be part of a single mixed audio track, requiring dubbing over portions of the mixed audio track containing dialogue. In other cases, a modern media presentation may require foreign language dubbing. In this case, the dialogue may be available on a separate audio track recorded before mixing such that it can be replaced without altering the other audio tracks.
In order to retain the realistic and artistic integrity of the film, it is important that the soundtrack stay aligned with the film when a foreign language version is made. In the case of foreign language dubbing, the foreign language dialogue is matched to the actors' mouth movements based on its alignment with the original dialogue of the film.
Current foreign language dubbing processes often require that a foreign language audio track first be translated into the original language of the film. The translated audio track may then be compared to the original language audio track and manually aligned so that the translated audio track aligns with the film frames.
This process of creating a foreign language version of a film is tedious and time-consuming. Further, there may be alignment issues due to the manual alignment process based upon the translation. There is a need for a more efficient and accurate process of creating foreign language versions of films. Specifically, there is a need for an easier method to align foreign language audio with the original film.
The information included in this Background section of the specification, including any references cited herein and any description or discussion thereof, is included for technical reference purposes only and is not to be regarded subject matter by which the scope of the invention as defined in the claims is to be bound.

Alignment of alternate dialogue audio track to frames in a multimedia production using background audio matching


A spherical aberration correction mechanism includes a plurality of aberration correction lenses, a movable portion in which the aberration correction lens is held, a fixed portion in which the movable portion is arranged so as to be slidable as well as the aberration correction lens is held, a shaft supporting the movable portion so as to be rotatable about the axis as well as to be slidable in the axial direction, a feed screw having spiral grooves, an engaging portion having convex portions to be engaged with the spiral grooves from one direction and a coil spring fitted to the outside of the shaft, pressing the movable portion in the axial direction. The coil spring has a rotation prevention portion engaged with the fixed portion and a torque biasing portion engaged with the movable portion, and the coil spring is installed in a twisted state in advance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical pickup including an aberration correction mechanism for correcting spherical aberration.
2. Description of Related Art
In an optical disc device, recording/playback of information is performed by irradiating laser light to an optical disc which is a recording medium by using an optical pickup. On a recording surface of the optical disc, grooves called as tracks are formed, and the optical pickup records or plays back information by allowing laser light to converge and irradiating the light to the tracks as a laser spot or by receiving laser light reflected by the tracks.
Since the width of the track is different in CD (Compact Disc) media and DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) media which have larger recording information capacity than the CD media, a diameter of the laser spot at the time of recording and playback is also different. The laser spot has a circular shape, having characteristics that a diameter thereof is in proportion to a wavelength of laser light and is in inverse proportion to a numerical aperture (NA) of an objective lens.
Infrared laser (wavelength: approximately 780 nm) is used for recording/playback of CD media. In DVD media having larger storage capacity, that is, having higher storage density than CD media, the track width is narrow, therefore, red laser (wavelength: approximately 650 nm) having shorter wavelength than infrared laser is used.
In recent years, BD (Blu-Ray Disc) media having larger recording information capacity than DVD media have appeared on the market. Since BD media has higher recording density and a narrower track width as compared with DVD media, a diameter of the laser spot is required to be small. Accordingly, laser light of blue-violet laser (wavelength: approximately 405 nm) having a shorter wavelength than the laser light for DVD is used for the optical pickup performing recording/playback of BD media. Concerning NA of the objective lens, NA of the objective lens for DVD is approximately 0.6, whereas the objective lens having higher NA, namely, approximately 0.85 is used for BD.
When laser light transmits through the objective lens and when transmitting through a transparent layer of a medium, spherical aberration occurs. The spherical aberration increases in proportion to biquadratic of NA of the objective lens and the thickness dimensions of the transparent layer of the optical disc. As the spherical aberration increases, the spot diameter of the laser spot also increases, as a result, it is difficult to read information recorded in the recording surface. In addition, as the spherical aberration increases, light intensity at the center decreases, as a result, it is difficult to record. A cover layer of the optical disc has a prescribed thickness as a standard, however, the thickness of the cover layer through which the laser light transmits is not even due to errors during manufacture or side-runout, and there is a case that the spherical aberration amount varies according to variation of the thickness of the cover layer and it is difficult to record or read stably.
For example, when comparing the objective lens for DVD (NA=0.6) with the objective lens for BD (NA=0.85), the spherical aberration amount when using objective lens for BD will be quadrupled as compared with the case using the objective lens for DVD. The DVD media only a little affected by the spherical aberration and can perform recording/playback of information, however, the above problem is liable to occur in BD media, which causes trouble in recording/playback of information in many cases. Even when using DVD media, in the case of performing recording/playback of DVD media which have upper-and-lower two layers of recording surfaces, the thickness of the transparent layer through which laser light transmits differs, therefore, recording/playback failures due to the spherical aberration are liable to occur as compared with one-layer DVD media.
Accordingly, a spherical aberration correction mechanism correcting spherical aberration by allowing plural aberration correction lenses to come close to or draw away from each other is used, which is arranged at a previous stage of the objective lens. The spherical aberration correction mechanism includes a movable portion holding at least one of the plural aberration correction lenses, which is slid in an optical axis direction of laser light, a feed screw having spiral grooves formed at an outer periphery, which is arranged in parallel to the optical axis of laser light and an engaging portion connected to the movable portion, which is engaged with the feed screw.
In the spherical aberration correction mechanism, when the feed screw is rotated by an electrical motor, the engaging portion moves straight in a direction along the center axis of the feed screw and the aberration correction lens held by the movable portion is slid in the optical axis direction of laser light to adjust the distance between plural aberration correction lenses properly. The laser light transmits through the plural aberration correction lenses, thereby correcting spherical aberration occurring when the light transmits through the objective lens and when the light transmits through the transparent layer of the optical disc. According to this, the optical pickup can make laser light converge accurately and can focus the accurate laser spot on the tracks formed on the recording surface of the media, as a result, recording/playback of information can be accurately executed.
As a method of driving the aberration correction lens, for example, a method disclosed in JP-A-2003-45068 is proposed. In the optical pickup, a lens holder to which a knife edge (engaging portion) is attached is arranged opposite to the knife edge, sandwiching the center axis of a feed screw, and the knife edge attached to the lens holders is engaged with the feed screw. Then, force is added to the lens holder in the axial direction of the feed screw to suppress the formation of a gap between the knife edge and the feed screw.
According to the above, occurrence of backlash can be suppressed, in which timings of rotation of the feed screw and operation of the knife edge do not match each other when the knife edge is pushed by the rotation of the feed screw. Accordingly, when the feed screw is rotated, the knife edge is also slid without delay, which enables the lens holder to move to a correct position at short time.
Additionally, in the optical pickups disclosed in JP-A-2003-45068 and JP-A-2007-18680, the knife edge and the feed screw are engaged with each other without a gap by pushing the knife edge to the feed screw in the diameter direction of the feed screw using a blade spring.
Also in this case, occurrence of backlash can be suppressed, in which timings of rotation of the feed screw and operation of the knife edge do not match each other when the knife edge is pushed by the rotation of the feed screw. Accordingly, when the feed screw is rotated, the knife edge is also slid without delay, which enables the lens holder to move to a correct position at short time.
Furthermore, there exist a technique in which the knife edge itself is formed to be a shape which can demonstrate elastic force, and the knife edge is pushed to the feed screw.
However, in the case that the lens holder has a shape of sandwiching the feed holder, when the lens holder is fixed due to unusual situations such as the movable range is exceeded or a foreign substance is caught, large force acts on both members due to engagement of the knife edge and the feed screw, which may deform and damage the knife edge or the feed screw. In addition, when power continues to be supplied to a motor for driving the feed screw in a state in which the engagement between the knife edge and the feed screw is not disengaged, the load of the motor is increased and the motor is heated, which may fail the motor itself or deform or damage peripheral members.
The blade spring adjusts elastic force by the deflection amount, and when the length of the blade spring is not sufficient, large elastic force is brought out by the small deflection amount. In the aberration correction mechanism, there is not sufficient space in a place where the blade spring is installed and the knife edge is pushed to the feed screw with a short blade spring in many cases. In such cases, the elastic force of the blade spring becomes too large, as a result, friction between the knife edge and the feed screw increases. Accordingly, abrasion of the knife edge and (or) the feed screw occurs in an early stage. In addition, the load of the motor increases or step-out of the motor occurs, therefore, it is necessary to increase the performance of the motor or to use the motor in a low-frequency range, which may lead to the increase of costs or accuracy deterioration of aberration correction.
When the knife edge is formed so that the knife edge itself demonstrates elastic force, the shape becomes complicated, which may decrease reliability such as the strength and the shape of the knife edge itself. In order to manufacture the optical pickup so as to have sufficient reliability, the high accuracy is required for the process, which leads to the increase of costs for manufacture.

Optical pickup having an aberration correction function


A fuel injector includes a valve body moved together with a movable core and opening an injection port, and an elastic-force applying portion being elastically deformable according to a movement of the valve body to apply an elastic force to the valve body in a valve-closing direction. An elastic coefficient of the elastic-force applying portion is set to meet a condition that Ffc−Ffo≦L×K. In this case, a fuel-pressure valve-closing force of when the valve body is closed is referred to as Ffc, and the fuel-pressure valve-closing force of when the valve body is completely opened is referred to as Ffo. A movement distance of the valve body from a time point that the valve body is closed to a time point that the valve body is completely opened is referred to as L. The elastic coefficient is referred to as K.

JP-2011-214536A (US 2013/0087639 A1) discloses a fuel injector that includes a stator core generating an electromagnetic force by energizing a coil, a movable core moved by the electromagnetic force, and a valve body that is moved together with the movable core and opens an injection port. An elastic force of a spring and a fuel pressure are applied to the valve body in a valve-closing direction. When an attractive force (valve-opening force) according to an energization of the coil becomes greater than a closing force corresponding to the elastic force and the fuel pressure, the valve body starts a valve-opening operation.
When the coil is energized to open the valve body, the movable core is moved to and collides with the stator core. When a colliding speed is high, the movable core may rebound from the stator core. In this case, a wave causes at a ti-q line representing a relationship between an energization time ti of the coil and an injection amount q, and a variation in the injection amount is generated. Further, a damage of the movable core or the stator core may occur.

Fuel injector and fuel injection device using the same


The work machine has an operator's cab, an engine hood, an exhaust pipe, a first headlight, and a second headlight. The engine hood is disposed in front of the operator's cab. The exhaust pipe projects upwards from the engine hood. The first headlight and the second headlight are provided at a front part of the operator's cab spaced in a lateral direction and disposed so that optical axes of the first and second headlights are mutually intersect but not to overlap with the exhaust pipe when viewed in a top plan view.

Work machines such as crawler dozers are provided with an engine hood to the front of an operator's cab. An exhaust pipe then projects upwards from the engine hood (refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-344008 (paragraph [0005], FIG. 1)). Work machines where headlights illuminating to the front are provided at the front left and right corners of the engine hood and where the headlights are provided at the front surface of a canopy roof at an upper part of the operator's cab also exist.


The invention discloses a connector and a method for implementing the connector. The connector includes a power source socket, and a power source plug mating with the power source socket, wherein annular or circular electrode sheets are arranged on the power source socket, and one or more pairs of positive and negative terminals are positioned correspondingly on the power source plug, so that when the power source plug is inserted into the power source socket in any direction or at any angle, the positive and negative terminals can come into contact with the annular or circular electrode sheets to thereby electrically connect the power source plug with the power source socket; and in a preferred embodiment, an earphone jack is positioned at the center of the power source socket so that the connector can operate as both the earphone jack and the power source socket to thereby make use of the space effectively so as to lower the number of interfaces via which a device is connected externally, thus making the device simpler in appearance.

An existing connector like power source plug when needed to be connected to a terminal body has to be inserted into a power source socket of the terminal body at a specific angle, and if the power source plug is inserted at another angle, then it may fail to be inserted into the power source socket, thus resulting in low flexibility and poor convenience of the power source plug, which may cause inconvenience for a user to use the power source plug. For example, if there is such low illumination or the terminal is so placed that the user can not see the power source plug clearly, then it often leads to the problem that the power source plug fails to be inserted into the power source socket, and if the user inserts and pulls out the power source plug frequently, then the power source socket in the terminal body and the power source plug may tend to be scratched or worn, thus degrading the service life thereof.

Connector and method for implementing the connector


There is disclosed an image processing apparatus in which an optimum characteristic amount for use in an image processing can constantly correctly be extracted from an object image, an optimum image processing can therefore be performed, and a satisfactory image can be outputted. To achieve this, a first extraction section limits a predetermined area from the object image (X-ray image), and extracts a first characteristic amount from the predetermined area. A second extraction section extracts a second characteristic amount from a fixed area of the object image. A selection section selects a characteristic amount for use in a gray scale conversion processing from the first and second characteristic amounts based on a result of comparison of a difference between the first characteristic amount and the second characteristic amount with a predetermined threshold value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing method of extracting a characteristic amount from a photographed image obtained, for example, by radiation (X-ray or the like) photography, and subjecting the photographed image to a gray scale conversion processing based on the characteristic amount.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, with a progress in a digital technique, for example, a photographed image obtained by X-ray photography is digitized, and the digital image is subjected to an image processing and displayed in a monitor or outputted on a film for X-ray diagnosis.
Examples of the image processing include a gray scale conversion processing for converting a density of the photographed image to a density value at which the image is easily observed in a monitor image, film or another output device.
In the gray scale conversion processing, for example, when the photographed image obtained by photographing a chest with X-ray is outputted onto the film for X-ray diagnosis, first a histogram (pixel value histogram) of all pixels constituting the photographed image is prepared and analyzed. Moreover, a pixel value of a given partial point of the histogram (i.e., a pixel value obtained by subtracting a difference of 5% between a maximum pixel value and a minimum pixel value from the maximum pixel value in a pixel value distribution in the pixel value histogram, or the like) is extracted as the characteristic amount of the photographed image. The pixel value of the photographed image is converted (gray scale conversion) in such a manner that the extracted pixel value (characteristic amount) corresponds to a given density value (density of about 1.9) on the film.
However, in the aforementioned conventional image processing method, when the characteristic amount is extracted by histogram analysis, the pixel value of the given partial point (higher 5% point or the like) of the histogram is extracted as the characteristic amount. However, the pixel value of the given partial point is often a pixel value in an area of a portion different with a photographic subject.
Concretely, for example, a characteristic amount extracted from a predetermined portion in a lung is most appropriate in the photographed image of the chest (the extracted characteristic amount corresponds to the pixel value of the predetermined portion in the lung). However, the characteristic amount is extracted from a higher portion in the lung (corresponds to the pixel value of the higher portion in the lung) or the characteristic amount is extracted from a soft tissue portion (corresponds to the pixel value of the soft tissue portion) depending upon the photographic subject. Moreover, when a plaster cast is added to the photographic subject, the characteristic amount is extracted from another unrelated portion (corresponds to the pixel value of another unrelated portion) in some case.
As described above, in the conventional art, even when the pixel value of the given partial point of the histogram is extracted as the characteristic amount, the extraction area of the characteristic amount differs with each photographic subject. Therefore, even when the gray scale conversion processing is performed based on the characteristic amount extracted from the photographed image, a dispersion of density distribution is generated in each processed image. If the image subjected to the gray scale conversion and having the dispersion in the density distribution is used to perform diagnosis, a diagnosis mistake is possibly caused. This raises a very large problem.

Image processing method, apparatus and program


The speed control apparatus comprises a plurality of Hall sensors, a plurality of switches, a turn-on control circuit, and a gate drive logic. The Hall sensors are configured to detect magnetic rotor sections of a poly-phase brushless DC motor at different positions. The switches apply voltages on a plurality of windings to respectively produce magnetic north or south on stator poles of the poly-phase BLDC motor. The turn-on control circuit generates a conduction time reduction after each output transition of the Hall sensors. The gate drive logic separately turns on or turns off the switches according to different output transitions of the Hall sensors to respectively apply voltages on the windings with the conduction time reduction.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to brushless DC motors. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for controlling the speed of the brushless DC motor.
2. Description of Related Art
Brushless DC (BLDC) motors using permanent magnets are simple in design and rugged in structure. The BLDC motor omits the cumbersome and unreliable commutator and brush structure of the conventional DC motor. A dual-phase and 4-pole design of the BLDC motor is especially popular for low-power (less than 100 W) applications. If the performance and speed control of the BLDC motors keeps improving, the BLDC motors have potential to be prevalent in home appliances, air-conditioning, and machine tools, replacing induction motors and brush DC motors.
A 4-pole BLDC motor requires only one low-cost Hall sensor to operate the motor properly. FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of a typical 2-coil, 4-pole BLDC motor design. The armature (coil assembly) is mounted on stator 102, which has 4 poles, P1, P2, P3 and P4. Both coil 1 and coil 2 are wound on all four poles P1, P2, P3 and P4 in a bifilar fashion. Rotor 104 is made of four sections of permanent magnet (N1, S1, N2, S2) joined together. Hall sensor (HS) 106 is mounted on stator 102 between the poles P1 and P2 to sense the sectional position of rotor 104.
Hall sensor 106, which is slightly shifted toward pole P1, sends out a logic High signal (representing a high logic level) when it detects a positive magnetic flux coming into its sensing surface. Contrarily, when Hall sensor 106 detects a negative magnetic flux or no flux at all, it sends out a logic Low signal (representing a low logic level). It is noted that as a convention, positive magnetic fluxes leave from a north pole and return to a south pole.
Control circuit 108 comprises base drive circuits for driving power transistors Q1 and Q2. When control circuit 108 receives a logic High signal from Hall sensor 106, power transistor Q1 is turned on and power transistor Q2 is turned off, and thus the current flows through the first coil (Coil 1). The current of Coil 1 flows from Vin, sequentially through the poles P4, P3, P2, P1, and returns to the ground via power transistor Q1, creating outgoing magnetic fluxes on the surface of poles P1 and P3. These outgoing magnetic fluxes return to the surface of poles P2 and P4.
In other words, the current flowing through Coil 1 turns the poles P1 and P3 into north poles and turns the poles P2 and P4 into south poles. North pole P1 repels the section N1 and attracts the section S1 of rotor 104, causing rotor 104 to spin clockwise. South pole P2 repels the section S2 and attracts the section N1 of rotor 104, causing rotor 104 to spin clockwise as well. Likewise, poles P3 and P4 all act to coerce rotor 104 to spin clockwise. The mechanical force (shaft torque) developed will continue to spin rotor 104 clockwise until the section N1 is completely positioned under pole P2, and the section S1 is completely positioned under pole P1 and so on. By that time, Hall sensor 106 has engaged with the right edge of the section S1 and detects a negative flux, outputting a logic Low signal. Control circuit 108 turns off power transistor Q1 and turns on power transistor Q2 according to the logic Low signal, and then Coil 2 conducts current.
The current of Coil 2 now flows from Vin, sequentially through the poles P1, P2, P3, P4, and returns to the ground via power transistor Q2. The current flowing through Coil 2 is in a reverse direction from the situation when Coil 1 conducts current. At this moment, poles P1 and P3 become south poles, and poles P2 and P4 become north poles. Pole P1 repels the section S1 and attracts the section N2 of rotor 104; pole P2 repels the section N1 and attracts the section S1 of rotor 104, and so on. This keeps rotor 104 spinning in the clockwise direction.
FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a single-coil BLDC motor, which uses a full-bridge circuit to drive the motor. The full-bridge circuit comprises four power transistors Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. A stator of the motor has only one coil, which is wound on all four stator poles P1, P2, P3, and P4. A Hall sensor (HS) 206 is similarly mounted between poles P1 and P2. When Hall sensor 206 detects a positive magnetic flux, Hall sensor 206 sends out a logic High signal to control circuit 208, directing it to turn off power transistors Q2 and Q3, and then turn on power transistors Q1 and Q4 after a slight delay. This applies a current through the single coil, flowing from Vin, sequentially through power transistor Q1, and poles P4, P1, P2, P3, and returning to the ground via power transistor Q4. The current flowing in this direction turns the vertical poles (P1 and P3) into north poles, and turns the horizontal poles (P2 and P4) into south poles. The magnetic motive force developed on those four poles P1, P2, P3, and P4 coerces the rotor to spin clockwise.
When magnetic rotor section N1 revolves to be completely under pole P2, Hall sensor 206 engages with the right edge of magnetic rotor section S1 and detects a negative magnetic flux. Control circuit 208 receives a logic Low signal from Hall sensor 206 and thus turns off power transistors Q1 and Q4, and turns on power transistors Q2 and Q3. The full-bridge circuit now applies a current through the coil, flowing from Vin, sequentially through power transistor Q2, poles P3, P2, P1, P4, and returning to the ground via power transistor Q3. The current flowing in this direction turns the vertical poles (P1 and P3) into south poles, and turns the horizontal poles (P2 and P4) into north poles. This keeps the rotor spinning clockwise. Accordingly, the overall operation of this full-bridge circuit driving a single-coil motor is very similar to the two-transistor control circuit in FIG. 1 driving a 2-coil motor.
FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a conventional BLDC motor with speed control, which uses a linear regulator to control the input voltage of the BLDC motor. As illustrated in FIG. 3, linear regulator 312 with an adjustable output voltage is connected in between a 12V power source (Vsupply) and an input voltage (Vin) to the motor drive circuit, which comprises two power transistors, Q1 and Q2. A variable resistor VR adjusts the input voltage Vin to run the motor.
In general, the input power (Pin) is proportional to Vin*lin, where lin is the input current. On the other hand, the output power delivered to the motor load, Pout, is equal to the product of shaft torque and rotating speed as follows:Pout=torque*speed=Pin*efficiency
However, for a given Vin, as the rotating speed of the motor increases, the permanent magnetic sectors of the rotor will induce a counter electromotive force (EMF) on the stator windings. The faster the motor spins, the higher magnitude of counter EMF it produces. Therefore, both input current and input power decrease in proportion to the rotating speed of the motor. For a given Vin, the output power as well as the output torque decrease as the rotating speed of the motor increases.
FIG. 4 is a diagram of the shaft torque lines versus rotating speed at different input voltage levels of 12V, 10V, and 8V, of the motor in FIG. 3. It also illustrates a load torque curve of this motor driving a cooling fan. The cooling fan is basically a friction load, and the faster the fan spins, the higher torque it requires. The final rotating speed of the motor is determined by the point where the shaft torque line intersects with the load torque curve. As illustrated in FIG. 4, at 12V input voltage, the fan speed is to be at 1900 RPM; at 10V input voltage, the fan speed is reduced to 1300 RPM; and at 8V input voltage, the fan speed is reduced to 680 RPM. The main drawback of this conventional motor with a linear regulator is very poor efficiency in that the linear regulator tends to dissipate significant power loss.
FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of another conventional BLDC motor with speed control, which applies a pulse-width modulation (PWM) to the base drive current. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the conduction time (Ton) of power transistor Q1 or Q2 is now reduced by an amount proportional to (1−D), where D is the duty cycle. A PWM speed control is equivalent to controlling the conduction time of the motor's driving current. For example, by setting the duty at 0.7, the input current as well as the input power are reduced by 30% from their value at full duty.
FIG. 6 is a diagram of the torque curves versus the rotating speed at different duty cycle values of 1.0, 0.7, and 0.5, of the motor in FIG. 5. The motor runs at 2050 RPM at full duty; the speed of the motor is reduced to 1620 RPM at duty cycle of 0.7; and the speed of the motor is reduced to 1150 RPM at duty cycle of 0.5.
FIG. 7 illustrates the PWM control scheme waveforms of the motor in FIG. 6. FIG. 7(A) illustrates the Hall sensor output; FIG. 7(B) is the base drive current waveform of power transistor Q1 before a PWM is applied; FIG. 7(C) is the base drive current waveform of power transistor Q2 before a PWM is applied; FIG. 7(D) illustrates the torque at full duty. FIG. 7(E) illustrates the base drive current waveform of power transistor Q1 after a PWM is applied; FIG. 7(F) illustrates the base drive current waveform of power transistor Q2 after a PWM is applied; FIG. 7(G) illustrates the torque when the PWM duty is at 0.7 (from T0 to T1), and when the PWM duty is at 0.5 (from T2 to T4).
However, the conventional motor with PWM speed control has some drawbacks. If the duty is set too short, for example, 0.5 or lower, the motor will have a low starting torque such that the motor may not start properly with a pre-applied heavy load. In a situation when the load of the motor fluctuates wildly, such as in a power drill, a sudden application of a heavy load may cause the motor to stall. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the light load torque curve (as the power drill drives into a soft wood) intersects the 50% duty line at 1150 RPM (S3). If the power drill encounters a piece of metal, the load suddenly increases to the heavy load torque curve. Because the shaft torque is smaller than what the actual load demands, the motor will quickly decelerate. But since the new load torque curve (the heavy load torque curve) does not intersect with the 50% duty line, the motor will stall if the control circuit cannot react in time.
Unfortunately, the Hall sensor will send out exactly 4 step signals (rising and falling edges) per mechanical revolution. For example, when the rotating speed is at 120 RPM, the Hall sensor only toggles 8 times per second. The dilemma is, before an impending stall, the rotating speed of the motor quickly decelerates, but the interval for the Hall sensor to regularly send out the step signal becomes longer. In extreme cases, a motor encountering a sudden load increase may stall so abruptly that the last signal from the Hall sensor for the control circuit to determine a motor stall never happens.
Moreover, if the applied PWM frequency is too low (<20 kHz), there will be audible switching noise. On the other hand, if the applying PWM frequency is too high (>20 kHz), there will be extra conduction loss (because the coil's AC resistance is significantly higher at >20 kHz) and higher core loss (because the eddy current loss due to the flux density changes at the higher frequency).


A method and apparatus for operating a screw drive apparatus. The apparatus may include a threaded rod having a helical thread, a nut disposed about the threaded rod and having a load-bearing channel aligned with and radially outward from the helical thread, and a plurality of balls between the helical thread and the load-bearing channel. The apparatus may further include a housing with at least one support bearing having an inner race coupled to the nut and an outer race coupled to the housing and rotatable relative to the inner race. A retaining member is removably and adjustably coupled to the nut to apply an adjustable force against the support bearing in a direction generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the threaded rod.

Screw drive mechanisms for converting rotational motion to linear motion are employed in a variety of applications, including cutting, machining, woodworking, and precision manufacturing, such as in silicon chip fabrication. Screw drives may offer improved reliability, speed, and accuracy over other types of drives, such as belt drives.
Conventional screw drive mechanisms, such as the device 10 shown in partial cross-section in FIG. 1, may include a threaded rod 11 with a helical thread 12 set at a given lead or pitch. Positioned on the threaded rod 11 is a nut 14 having a loadbearing channel 16 opposite the helical thread 12 of the threaded rod 11. A plurality of balls 18 are positioned between the load-bearing channel 16 and the helical thread 12. End caps 20 at the ends of the nut 14 contain ball return passages 22 that are aligned with the load-bearing channel 16. The nut 14 may be rotated relative to the threaded rod 11 (or vice versa) to impart linear motion to either the nut or the threaded rod. As the nut 14 and the threaded rod 11 rotate relative to each other, the balls 18 rotate relative to the nut and the threaded rod to reduce friction therebetween.
Conventional screw drive mechanisms may also include a housing 24 positioned radially outward from the nut 14 and coupled to the nut with support bearings 26, allowing the nut 14 to rotate freely within the housing 24. The support bearings 26 may include an inner race 32 adjacent the nut 14, an outer race 34 adjacent the housing 24 and a plurality of balls 19 between the inner race 32 and the outer race 34. Seals 28 are installed at opposite ends of the housing 24 to contain a lubricant between the housing 24 and the nut 14 for lubricating the support bearings 26. The housing 24 may then be attached to a device that is moved linearly relative to the threaded rod 11. For example, the housing may be attached to a table for positioning a machineable workpiece, or to a support arm for positioning a wate jet cutting nozzle.
Conventional screw drive mechanisms may have several disadvantages. For example, after extended use, the balls 19 and the inner and outer races 32 and 34 of the support bearings 26 may wear, causing these components to fit loosely together and resulting in reduced control over the position of the housing 24 relative to the threaded rod 11. Where the housing 24 is coupled to a waterjet cutting nozzle, the inability to accurately control the position of the housing may result in inaccurate cuts. Another disadvantage of conventional screw drive mechanisms is that it may be difficult to service individual components of the mechanism without disassembling the entire mechanism.
One approach to addressing wear in the components of the nut 14 has been to preload the balls 18. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,381 to Shirai discloses applying a preload force to the balls 18, to eliminate axial gaps between the balls, the helical thread 12 and the load-bearing channel 16. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,164 to Tsukada discloses a preload force for reducing vibration of a sliding member along a rail. However, none of the devices discussed above address the problem of a loose fit between the housing 24 and the nut 14 caused by wear in the support bearings 26. In fact, U.S. Patent No. 5,540,575 to Takuno et al. discloses that preloading face-to-face angular contact bearings may heat the bearings, causing them to seize.


An electromechanical module is comprised of an electronic component that is attached to a substrate which is bendable. Multiple springy contacts touch respective I/O pads on the substrate. A compressing mechanism compresses the springy contacts against the I/O pads with forces that bend the substrate. The bending of substrate is reduced by including contacts of a first type, each of which exert a relatively small force against its respective I/O pad; and contacts of a second type, each of which exert a substantially larger force against its respective I/O pad.

This invention relates to integrated circuit modules and subassemblies of the kind which include springy contacts that are compressed to make electrical connections between two components.
In the prior art, an example of an integrated circuit module that uses compressed springy contacts to make electrical connections is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,023 which is entitled "High Density Low Reactance Socket." There, in FIGS. 2A and 2B, a springy contact is indicated by reference numeral 15. This springy contact 15 is comprised of a wad of wire that is held by a sleeve 14.
In FIGS. 2A and 2B of patent '023, the springy contact 15 is used to make an electrical connection between an input/output pin 20 on a packaged integrated circuit chip and a signal line 32 on a printed circuit board. This electrical connection is made by inserting the pin 20 into the sleeve 14 and pushing the pin against the springy contact 15.
When the pin 20 is pushed into the sleeve 14, the springy contact 15 is compressed parallel to the axis of the pin; and that causes the springy contact to expand perpendicular to the axis of the pin and press against the side wall of the sleeve 14. This establishes a low resistance electrical connection through the side wall of the sleeve 14 to the signal line 32.
Each springy contact 15 which is compressed exerts an opposing force against its corresponding input/output pin 20. Thus, as the total number of input/output pins 20 on a component increases, the total opposing force which is exerted on the component by all of the springy contacts 15 also increases.
As a numerical example, suppose that a component has one thousand input/output pins and each springy contact exerts an opposing force of two ounces. For that case, the total opposing force against the component is over one hundred pounds.
By increasing the total opposing force with which all of the springy contacts push against a component, a point can eventually be reached where the component will deflect or bend. If that occurs, mechanical stress is generated in the component; and this stress can produce permanent damage. For example, the stress can cause an immediate break in a microscopic signal line in or to the component; or, the stress can weaken a joint in or to the component and thereby cause a long term reliability risk.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved integrated circuit module which uses springy contacts to make electrical connections, and in which the above stress problem is overcome.

Integrated circuit module having springy contacts of at least two different types for reduced stress


A lubrication system is provided for a planetary gear train. The system includes an oil supply that disperses oil to a thrust bearing. The thrust bearing purges the oil radially outward. A strategically placed molded cavity collects and channels the oil from the thrust bearing into the planet bearings. Features in a planet gear carrier and a planet gear face washer can form the oil flow path. The washer can have a further feature for expelling the oil after the planet bearings are lubricated. By using the planet gear end face washer, this arrangement allows for the cavity to be cast rather than machined to thereby reduce the cost of increasing the flow of oil into the planet bearings.

Planetary gear trains are supplied with a lubricant such as oil to reduce friction as well as provide protection from wear of components that come into relative contact such as gear teeth and bearing surfaces. Additionally, the lubricant is an acceptable medium to remove heat from such components. Increasing the cooling by increasing the volume of oil through a bearing increases the maximum speed of the bearing.
In most planetary gear train applications, the planetary gears have the highest rotational speed. Due to this fact, it is most critical to adequately lubricate the rolling elements or planetary bearings to allow the planetary gears to rotate freely. In applications where the planet rotational speed is relatively low, a passive manner of lubricating the planet bearings is adequate. However, when either the relative speed or the load is high, some designs employ a forced lubrication scheme and inject lubricant into the planetary bearings under pressure. Still others employ a combination of the two foregoing techniques by employing channels that collect the oil and then distribute the oil to the planetary gear system by using the centrifugal force on oil leaving a rotating component. Some such prior art designs utilize features to collect and/or distribute the oil that are machined into a carrier for the planet gears.
Any feature that can be cast and not require machining reduces both material and machine time cost. In view of the foregoing, it should be appreciated that it is desirable to provide a lubrication system for collecting and distributing lubricant for planetary gears that utilizes molded oil collection and molded oil channeling or distributing features. This permits a lower system cost than if either or both of these features required machining.
Increasing the amount of lubrication to the planet bearings also enables a reduction in size and weight of the planetary gear set. Furthermore, additional desirable features will become apparent to one skilled in the art from the foregoing background of the invention and the following detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments and the appended claims.

Lubrication system for high speed planet gears


A method of installing piping of a floor heating apparatus according to the present invention relates to a method of installing a floor heating apparatus in which pipes for circulating heat medium liquid are located on a floor base structure and they are covered with a flowable floor substrate material. After an adhesive is applied on a surface of the floor base structure, a tube assembly is positioned on said adhesive so that the lower face of a base plate of the tube assembly is bonded to said floor base structure by means of said adhesive, the tube assembly having a plurality of tubes made of an elastic material and said base plate made of the elastic material which integrally carries said tubes. A self-leveling material is poured and extended on the tube assembly. According to such a construction method, a number of floor heating pipes can be quickly and simply installed on a floor surface and a density of installation of floor heating pipes can be relatively readily increased. Further, a lifting or offsetting of the pipelines can be prevented so that the pipelines are allowed to be uniformly embedded, the thickness of the self-leveling material can be reduced down to approximately 2 cm and a temperature distribution of the floor finish surface can be made even.

Generally, a floor heating system is provided with metallic pipes embedded in a floor structure for circulating heat medium liquid theretrhough, and is arranged to raise a floor surface temperature by means of circulation of the heat medium in its circuit, such as hot water heated to a desired temperature. Such pipes made of a metal are covered with a flowable material, such as concrete or mortar so as to ensure a durability of pipes against a load or impact imposed on the floor, and are embedded in the floor structure by setting or cure of the floor substrate material or floor base material. Further, one type of floor heating system is proposed in Japanese Utility-Model Laid-Open Publication No.63-184834 (Japanese Utility-Model Application No.62-73917 filed by the present inventor) wherein hot water pipes made of elastic material are embedded within a floor substrate material. This type of floor heating system comprises a sheet, such as a heat insulation sheet or a waterproofing sheet provided on a floor slab, e.g., a concrete slab, and elastic pipes for circulating hot water, i,e., heat medium liquid. The elastic pipes are arranged on the aforementioned sheet and a floor self-leveling material is deposited and extended on the sheet and pipes.
In such a conventional floor heating system, however, a buoyancy acts on the floor heating pipes so as to lift or unseat the pipes or cause a deviation of the pipe positions, and therefore, this results in difficulties of construction work for the floor structure. Thus, overwork and complicated steps are required in a construction work, and the thickness of the self-leveling material has to be unnecessarily increased. Especially, since an increment of the thickness of self-leveling material limits an effectively usable room volume or space in a building, any improvement of construction method allowing a reduction of the thickness of self-leveling material has been desired.
Further, a surface of floor structure made in accordance with a conventional construction method may present an unacceptable irregularity or deviation of a temperature distribution owing to an uneven installation of the embedded floor heating pipes. Therefore, an improvement of construction method for relatively easily effecting uniformity in a temperature distribution has been desired.
Still further, a concrete surface or the like, on which floor heating pipes are to be installed, practically has a slight inclination or irregularity. The floor heating pipes on such an inclination or irregularity may present vertical ups and downs, offsetting or slight twist, and for that reason, it is difficult to ensure a uniform covering depth of the self-leveling material covering the pipes. Such an unevenness of the covering depth results in the aforementioned irregularity or deviation of a temperature distribution, and further, it leads to development of cracking or crazing on a floor surface in relation to the temperature variation of the floor structure.
For overcoming those disadvantages, it is an object of the present invention to provide a construction method for installing a floor heating system which can improve the efficiency of construction work and which can reduce the thickness of self-leveling material, and further, which can ensure a uniformity of temperature distribution of the floor surface and prevent cracks or crazes from being developed.

Method of installing a floor heating apparatus


A method for detecting memory leaks with an administrative client begins by transmitting to all of the processes running on at least one computing device, a first command to return memory track information. The administrative client receives memory track information from each of the processes, and combines them into a first system wide memory allocation. The administrative client transmits an instruction to run a test case process, and then transmits, to each of the processes, a second command to return memory track information. The administrative client receives the second set of memory track information and combines it to generate a second system wide memory allocation. To generate a list of potential memory leaks originating from the test case process, the administrative client compares the first system wide memory allocation with the second system wide memory allocation.

Memory leaks are caused by processes with source code which allocates a memory segment, but fails to de-allocate the memory segment after use. This leaves the memory segment unavailable to be accessed by the running code and reduces the amount of memory that can be used in the system. If memory leaks continue being produced without being detected, eventually the process may run out of memory and crash the system. In embedded systems, processes typically communicate with each other. Due to this intercommunication, an operation in one process may lead to a memory leak in another process.


Embodiments protect user data in its entirety from unauthorized access when an authorized user does not access a medium for a predetermined length of time by making encryption key data used to encrypt the user data unavailable. In one embodiment, using a magnetic disk in which a data losing time of an encryption key data recording area is shorter than a user data recording area, recording is performed to the magnetic disk while encrypting user data during recording, and encryption key data for use with encryption is recorded in the encryption data recording area. For reproduction of the user data, the encryption key data is read from the encryption key data recording area, and the user data encrypted during the recording is output while being decrypted using an encryption key generated by the encryption key data, and the encryption key data is overwritten on the encryption key data recording area.

Currently, in an information recording/reproducing device typified by a magnetic disk device (Hard Disk Drive: HDD), as a method of protecting user data to be stored on a recording medium, proposed and utilized is a method of Full Disk Encryption (FDE), for example. With the FDE, user data is recorded on a recording medium after encryption using an encryption key provided by an accessing person at the time of data recording or using seed data for use to generate the encryption key itself. For reading of the data, decryption is performed through supply of, to an HDD by an accessing person, an encryption key or seed data that is known only by an authorized accessing person, and the result is output as user data. In this case, if the accessing person cannot provide the encryption key or the seed data that is used for recording of the user data and is known only by an authorized accessing person, the decryption operation is erroneously made, thereby outputting data entirely different from that at the time of recording. This thus produces the consistent effects of being able to substantially disable any unauthorized access. However, such user data protection has a problem of being vulnerable in terms of security, i.e., any unauthorized accessing person becomes able to read authorized user data only by taking time by so-called Brute force attack of generating an encryption key sequentially to make access attempts in a Brute force manner.
For recording user data, there is also a method of storing an encryption key generated to be different for each HDD into any safe area in a circuit in the HDD device (generally in a nonvolatile memory not accessible from outside) or into any predetermined position on a magnetic recording medium after encryption using another private key. Only when the access is acknowledged as being made by an authorized accessing person through password authentication or others, are these encryption keys extracted, and the data read from the recording medium is decrypted for use as reproduced user data. That is, with this method, when this encryption key cannot be legally used through a user authentication process by a password or others, the user data cannot be extracted. Also when only a circuit portion of a magnetic disk device is exchanged to another of the same type cancelled with the user authentication process, because the encryption key used for encryption and decryption of user data is different for each of the HDDs so that there are consistent effects of being able to prevent access to the user data. However, as this method, when extraction of the encryption key is made through user authentication by a password or others, even if the encryption key for user data encryption is sufficiently long and Brute force attack is practically impossible for the encryption key itself, if any correct encryption key is available for use by breaking the password authentication with much expenditure of time, there is a problem in terms of security level because the user data can be read out.
That is, with an information recording device with such user data protection, the substantial user data exists practically semipermanently on a recording medium, in other words, exists until the physical chemistry life of a recording medium area storing the user data, and no measure is taken to restrict an access attempt period. There is thus a problem that any unauthorized accessing person can read the user data as long as he or she takes a long time for making access attempts.
In order to solve such problems, Japanese Patent Publication No. JP 2004-362278 ("Patent Document 1") describes a technology of performing access determination operation with a nonvolatile storage device provided with a control circuit and a nonvolatile storage circuit. That is, the nonvolatile storage circuit includes a storage area of limitation information applying access limitation with respect to use information, and the limitation information includes access period information and access time information. The control circuit determines whether the use information is allowed to be accessed or not based on the time information provided from outside and the limitation information, and based on the time information, the access time information is updated.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-14079 ("Patent Document 2") describes a technology with a semiconductor recording medium provided with a battery, a clock, a data control section, an address control section, a data storage area, and a bonding pad. With a power supply from the battery, the clock, the data control section, and the address control section are operated, and a setting is made to an effective time for the data to be recorded in the data control section. A match is then always made between the lapse time counted by the clock after the data recording and the effective time thereof, and after the effective time is passed, a command coming from the data control section disables reproduction of the recorded data.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-296031 ("Patent Document 3") describes a technology with a recording medium provided with an IC section at a part of a non-recording area inside of a recording area from which data reading is optically possible. This IC section is provided with an IC interface that is exposedly formed to be able to establish an electrical connection, and a time-varying section that shows a time-varying change with no power supply. This recording media reading/writing device determines whether it is in a period when this medium is available for use by measuring the state of the time-varying section.
However, the technology of Patent Document 1 requires time counting means for providing the time information from outside of the storage device for verification of access rights. At a place where no access is possible to the time counting means, using the data in the storage device is impossible in the first place, thereby resulting in a large problem in terms of usability. Moreover, even when the storage device is used at a place where the time counting means is accessible, there is a problem in terms of security that the time information provided by the time counting means is not generally guaranteed as being accurate. In order to ensure acquisition of the accurate time information from the time counting means, a person who receives benefits through access limitation is required to provide any accurate time counting means, and a user or the person who receives benefits is required to individually establish an encrypted communications path to the time counting means, thereby resulting in a large problem in terms of cost and usability.
Further, with the technology of Patent Document 2, used is a battery whose element life is generally shorter than that of a semiconductor recording medium, and thus the useful life is restricted as an entire storage medium, thereby resulting in a problem in terms of use cost and reliability as a result of limited life of the entire medium. Even if the battery is exchangeable, no technical description is given about the storage of the effective time before and after the battery exchange, thereby resulting in a problem in terms of feasibility or usability. Moreover, the battery is generally utilizing chemical reaction as its operating principles. Therefore, in the low-temperature environment where the chemical reaction is reduced in speed, the electromotive force is reduced, and contrarily in the high-temperature environment, the effective amount of electric power generation is reduced due to internal discharge. As such, there is a large problem in terms of reliability as a storage medium.
With the technology of Patent Document 3, an IC section is attached to a rotating recording medium, and if the attachment is not reliable enough, there is a possibility that the IC section may fall off during rotation. Moreover, for reading/writing of a nonvolatile memory section of the IC section, an interface section of the IC section is required to be connected with an IC connection section, thereby causing a possibility of dust generation at the time of connection. Furthermore, when an IC section is attached to a disk-shaped recording medium rotating at high speed, some displacement between the rotation center and the center of mass causes large vibrations, and there thus is a danger that the device operation suffers from trouble or the rotation mechanism is broken. As a measure thereagainst, there needs to provide a mechanism to the side of a medium driving device for compensating the rotation balance, or provide a balance weight onto a medium for compensating the mass of the IC section, and manage the attachment positions of the IC section and the balance weight with high precision. Therefore, this is considered disadvantageous because the manufacturing cost of an information recording/reproducing device and that of a recording medium are both increased.
Useful is an information recording/reproducing device having a high level of security with respect to any unauthorized access with no need to include time counting means and a power source therefor, and with no need to use any external time information provision means and any safe communications path to reach the time information provision means.

Information recording/reproducing device and information recording medium

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a device for pivoting a surgical retractor with respect to a patient it is being used on. The device includes a bridge having distal and proximal ends wherein a distal coupling is attached to the distal end of the bridge and a proximal coupling is slidably attached to the bridge proximal to the distal coupling. The proximal and distal couplings include a means for releasably attaching itself to a surgical retractor. The device further includes a lifting assembly attached to the bridge proximal to the proximal coupling. The lifting assembly comprises a means for applying an upward force to the proximal coupling, whereby when the device is attached to a surgical retractor, the lifting assembly pivots the retractor upward about the distal coupling.

In traditional methods for performing coronary artery bypass surgery, a segment of a blood vessel is harvested from another portion of the body and is used as an autogenous graft. The graft is typically sutured onto the coronary artery so as to bypass the stenosed area and restore adequate blood flow distal to or downstream from the blockage. Often in such a procedures, the saphenous vein is harvested from the surgical patient's leg and subsequently used as the graft vessel. In a large number of cases, the wound created in the leg is slow to heal and the patient endures considerable pain and irritation. In addition, surgeons have learned that, in general, an artery rather than a vein serves as a better, long term bypass graft.
Many surgeons prefer to use one of the internal mammary arteries (IMA) as the bypass graft. The descending IMA's are located within the thoracic cavity of the patient along each side of the sternum of the rib cage. The IMA is in close proximity to the heart and therefore it is not necessary to completely remove it from the patient. To prepare the IMA, the side branches of the IMA are first hemostatically severed and the main trunk of the vessel is occluded with a clamp. The IMA is then severed at a point just above to the patient's diaphragm so that it is mobilized. However, the IMA is never disconnected from its original blood supply. The freed end of the IMA is then anastomosed to a coronary artery, such as the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery, just distal to the stenosis. This procedure requires significant access and visibility into the upper thoracic cavity for the surgeon. The surgeon must free the IMA from the "ceiling" or wall of the internal thoracic cavity, while at the same time being very careful not to puncture or otherwise traumatize the IMA. The side branches of the IMA must be located and transected, usually by using an electrosurgical device, with minimal blood loss.
The most commonly used method of access to the thoracic cavity for the mobilization of the IMA and the anastomosis of it to the LAD coronary artery is a medial sternotomy. For this procedure, a longitudinal incision is made through the patient's sternum on the midline of the chest. Then a surgical retractor is used to spread and hold apart the left and right rib cages, creating an opening which is about four inches wide. The muscles and other tissues of the chest wall are significantly traumatized by this procedure, and the post-operative healing process for the rejoining of the split sternum is sometimes very slow. As a result, the patient endures significant pain and the recovery time is long. In some cases there are significant complications and occasionally follow-up surgical procedures are required.
In recent years, new methods of access into the thoracic cavity have been developed. One minimally invasive method is called a mini-thoracotomy and involves access through an incision running intercostally (between two ribs) of the left chest wall. A surgical retractor, such as the one used for a traditional sternotomy, is used, but in this case the superior and inferior rib cages of the left chest are only spread apart about two inches, thus resulting in much less overall trauma to the bones, muscles, and other tissues in the chest. Subsequently, the patient endures less pain and irritation following the surgery, and the recovery time is significantly decreased.
The mini-thoracotomy method of access to the thoracic cavity, however, has propagated the need for new surgical tools and methods because the opening into the thoracic cavity is considerably smaller than for the sternotomy. Also, since the IMA is attached to the thoracic cavity wall, the angle of approach the surgeon must use through the opening is very difficult since the inferior rib cage tends to obstruct the manipulation of surgical devices used for the procedure. Many of the new surgical retractors used in thoracic surgery have a rib elevator, which tilts the retractor at an angle so as to give the surgeon better access to the thoracic cavity. However, because of this change in the retractor to thoracic surgery, hospitals must now stock both the new retractors and the traditional retractors used in medial sternotomies.
There has, therefore, been a need for a device that can elevate surgical retractors at angles, but which are separate from and readily attachable to such retractors. In addition, there has been a need for such a device which is adaptable for use with many of the commercially available surgical retractors. Furthermore, there is a need for such a device which is easy and quick to set-up, given the importance of minimizing the length of time of the surgical procedure. Also, considering the high cost of surgical procedures today, it is important that such a device be easy to clean and sterilize for reuse, or that it be low cost and disposable.
Finally, there is a surgical need for a device which can be attached to any of numerous surgical retractors in use today, which can provide another means for support or attachment of other surgical devices used in the procedure. Often the surgeon wishes to hold or stabilize an organ or tissues within the cavity, and attach or support an ancillary holding tool on a fixed structure so that an assistant does not have to maintain the position of the holding tool throughout the procedure. Yet the surgical retractor arms are too far away from the organ or tissue of interest to be used as a platform. What is needed is a bar or bridge that can attach to the arms of the surgical retractor and cross over the opening nearer to the organ or tissue of interest. Then this bridge can be used as a platform for supporting or attaching the ancillary holding device.

Device used with a surgical retractor to elevate body parts


A device for detecting the presence or concentration of an analyte, a method of making the device, and a method of detecting the presence or concentration of an analyte. The invention features one or more supports, such as beads, which carry a thin film of polymer substrate. The polymer substrate has a sensing reagent and a porous matrix. The sensing reagent alters the optical properties of the polymer substrate in the presence of analyte.

Optical sensors for detection of chemicals have been described by several individuals. One type of optical sensor (sometimes referred to as an optrode) is characterized by a porous polymer capable of receiving and interacting with the selected analyte.
Porous polymer sensors offer excellent interaction with analyte along the optical path length. The porous polymer sensors chemically bind the sensor reagent to the polymer to prevent the sensing reagent from washing out, particularly in aqueous phases.
The porous polymer sensors react with the analyte of interest resulting in a change in the optical properties of the polymer. The porous polymer sensors can be used for in situ detection of atmospheric trace contaminants and dissolved gases and chemicals.
However, porous polymer sensors require a diffusion time to equivocate to the concentration of the media in which they are surrounded. Embodiments of the present invention feature a porous polymer sensor having an improved reaction time.


A process cartridge is detachably mounted on an apparatus main body of an image forming apparatus. An embodiment of the cartridge includes a developer bearer arranged to be opposed to an image bearer in a developing device and rotates; a positioning member that supports the image bearer and the developer bearer at respective ends thereof, and fixes a distance between rotating shafts of the image bearer and the developer bearer; a rotating shaft arranged on a rotating member arranged on the developing device, and having a part protruding from an outer surface of a housing frame of the process cartridge; a gear that is arranged at a distal end of the rotating shaft and transmits a rotational driving force transmitted from the apparatus main body; and a bearing that is arranged between the positioning member and the gear, is fixed to the housing frame, and supports the rotating shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process cartridge detachably installed in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, and a plotter, or such as a multifunction peripheral having a plurality of these functions, and also relates to the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In image forming apparatuses such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, and a plotter, or such as a multifunction peripheral having a plurality of these functions, an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoconductor serving as an image bearer or a latent image bearer is subjected to visualization processing using toner in a developer supplied from a developing device. A toner image subjected to visualization processing is transferred to a recording sheet and the like serving as a sheet recording medium and is further subjected to fixing processing to be output as a copy. The developing device used for visualization processing of the electrostatic latent image may be configured to use a one-component developer including only toner. In addition, the developing device may be configured to use a two-component developer including toner and a carrier.
Known examples of the developing device using the two-component developer include a magnetic brush developing device configured such that a magnetic brush is formed on a surface of a developing sleeve serving as a developer bearer incorporating a plurality of magnetic poles by causing the toner in the two-component developer to adhere to a magnetic carrier to be napped. The developing sleeve supporting the magnetic brush on the surface thereof rotates to cause the toner on the supported magnetic brush to be brought into contact with an electrostatic latent image formed on a surface of the photoconductor serving as a latent image bearer. With this configuration, the toner in the developer is transferred to the electrostatic latent image by electrostatic attraction caused between the toner and the electrostatic latent image. Hereinafter, the developing sleeve may also be referred to as a "developing roller". Accordingly, the developing roller functions as the developer bearer.
In a two-component developing process, regarding a toner amount scooped by the developing sleeve for causing a desired amount of toner to adhere to the photoconductor, it has been known that accuracy of a distance between the developing sleeve and the photoconductor set to cause the toner to electrostatically adhere to the photoconductor is important.
The distance between the developing sleeve and the photoconductor is often fixed by a pitch in front and rear face plates arranged as positioning members for positioning a developing roller shaft and a photoconductor shaft in a process cartridge, and is well-known as conventional art.
As to the process cartridge, known is a process cartridge of a cantilever support in which a rotating shaft of a rotating member such as a conveying screw that rotationally conveys the developer protrudes from an outer surface of a housing of the process cartridge and a gear is attached to a distal end of the protruding rotating shaft (for example, refer to FIGS. 5 and 8 in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-047720).
In the process cartridge described above (hereinafter, simply referred to as a "cartridge" in some cases), when the cartridge is mounted on an apparatus main body, the gear meshes with a drive input gear or the like to which a rotational driving force is transmitted from the apparatus main body so as to be rotationally driven. Such a cartridge having the configuration as described above is of a cantilever support type in which the distal end of the protruding rotating shaft is not supported, so that a space in the longitudinal direction (rotating shaft direction) of the cartridge is advantageously secured, which is appropriate for reducing the size of the apparatus.
However, on the front and the rear face plates that couple a photoconductor unit and a developing unit, it is preferable that the developing roller shaft, the photoconductor shaft, and a portion that fixes a posture of the cartridge are on the same plane in terms of accuracy of components and/or the like. For example, driving components such as a gear are inside the face plates (for example, refer to FIG. 8 in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-047720), the face plates should be correspondingly shifted to the outside in the entire area, so that the corresponding space is occupied and the size of the apparatus is undesirably increased.
In view of such a situation, there is a need to provide a process cartridge for preventing the size of the apparatus from increasing.

Process cartridge and image forming apparatus


A new and distinct variety of miniature rose with long lasting, novel pink flowers, and dark green and attractive foliage. It exhibits compact, uniform growth and flowering under greenhouse conditions when grown as a potted floral plant. The new variety propagates well from cuttings and by grafting. This new and distinct variety has shown to be uniform and stable in the resulting generations from asexual propagation.

The new variety of miniature rose plant of the present invention originated from a controlled crossing in a breeding program between 'KORnisecco', a non-patented rose and 'KORanalafi' a non-patented rose.
The two parents were crossed and the resulting seeds were planted in a controlled greenhouse environment. The resulting seedlings exhibited distinctive physical and biological characteristics. The new rose plant was selected as a single plant from the seedling beds due to its superior characteristics for further evaluation. This new and distinctive miniature rose variety is named 'KORpagbel'.

W. Kordes Söhne Rosenschulen GmbH & Co KG


A wet and dry towel dispenser contains and dispenses both dry towels and wet towels (also referred to as towelettes or wipes). The dispenser includes coaxially located compartments for containing the dry towels and wet towels, preferably in a nested arrangement to use space most efficiently within the dispenser. One preferred embodiment of the dispenser has a substantially cylindrical shape and a removable cover on one end to allow the towels to be loaded into the respective compartments.

Dispensers with wet or pre-moistened towels (also referred to as towelettes or wipes) have become common for a variety of uses ranging from personal hygiene (e.g., baby wipes) to cleaning and sanitizing (e.g., in an office, bathroom, kitchen or automobile). These dispensers maintain the moisture content of the wet towels while allowing individual wet towels to be conveniently dispensed. One example of such a dispenser is disclosed in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,002, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Although the wet towels provide a cleaning and sanitizing capability not provided by dry towels, there is often a need to use dry towels together with wet towels. For example, dry towels may be used to dry a surface after the surface has been cleaned with a wet towel. To satisfy this need, dispensers have been designed to hold and dispense both wet towels and dry towels. Examples of such dispensers are disclosed in greater detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,189,730 and 5,803,249 and U.S. patent application Publication Nos. 20010019064 and 20010035416, which are incorporated herein by reference. The existing wet and dry towel dispensers, however, do not provide the wet and dry towels in a convenient package that can easily be packed or stored (e.g., in a diaper bag or in a drink holder of an automobile).
Accordingly, there is a need for a wet and dry towel dispenser in which the wet towels and dry towels are arranged more efficiently in a more convenient container.


A pharmaceutical product comprising at least one phenyl uracil-based pharmaceutically active agent or an agent of related structural type and processes for obtaining such product.

One of the common problems of poorly water-soluble drugs is that they provide low bioavailability and/or higher variability in bioavailability as a result of poor water solubility and slow dissolution. Formation of a soluble salt form for an insoluble compound is often a means to increase drug solubility in an aqueous medium, and hence improve dissolution rate and ultimately enhance bioavailability. In some cases, even a soluble salt of a drug has high bio-variability and/or poor bioavailability. For example, upon exposure to aqueous medium, the salt may undergo a dissolution process during which the solid particle dissolves and then diffuses. However, during the dissolution process, the salt can be dissociated to a non-ionized form. The non-ionized form may achieve supersaturation and then precipitate out either on the exterior surface of the salt particle or in the bulk medium. This prevents further dissolution of the salt, and results in low bioavailability with high variability.
It is also desirable to deliver a pharmaceutical composition to a patient as a tablet or capsule, which may provide greater chemical stability and improved patient convenience compared to semi-solid or solution dosage forms.
There is, therefore, a need for improved formulations of water-insoluble drugs and, in particular, improved formulations of phenyl uracil compounds such as (E)-N-(4-(3-tert-butyl-5-(2,4-dioxo-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-1(2H)-yl)-2-methoxystyryl)phenyl)methanesulfonamide and its salts.