The present invention relates to a carbon dioxide absorbent, and more particularly, to an alkali carbonate-based carbon dioxide absorbent containing added sterically hindered cyclic amines, and to a method for removing carbon dioxide using same. By adding sterically hindered cyclic amines to an alkali carbonate material, the rate of carbon dioxide absorption is increased, renewable energy is reduced, and salt production and phase separation do not occur.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carbon dioxide absorbent, and more particularly, to an alkali carbonate-based carbon dioxide absorbent containing an added sterically hindered cyclic amine that may improve a rate of carbon dioxide absorption, reduce an amount of renewable energy used, and prevent salt production and phase separation, and a method for removing carbon dioxide using the same.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Carbon dioxide, one of six greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming, is an acidic gas that is emitted in large quantities by a plethora of stationary sources. To separate and remove carbon dioxide emissions that may be attributed to energy industries, many studies have been conducted on economically efficient processes for absorbing carbon dioxide through use of an aqueous absorbent.
The most widely used absorption process includes using an aqueous absorbent alkanolamine process (for example, monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, triethanolamine, and the like) and the Benfield process using potassium carbonate may be mentioned.
The alkanolamine process uses 20 to 30 wt % of a solution comprising water and various alkanolamines used to absorb carbon dioxide, and because of rapid carbon dioxide absorption, has been in commercial use since the nineteen seventies.
However, this process has issues of using an excessively high amount of energy in a range of 4.0 to 4.2 GJ/ton CO2, (in the case of, for example, monoethanolamine (MEA)) during regeneration, and corrosion of components made from carbon steel by oxidation reactions of pollutants present in combustion exhaust, such as, for example, O2, SO2, and NOx, and the like.
The most pressing issue of all is high renewable heat. In order to solve this issue, absorbents having steric hindrance have been developed in which steric hindrance occurs by attaching a methyl or ethyl group to a nitrogen atom in an alkanolamine used to remove carbon dioxide via carbamate bonds in order to reduce the bond strength. A representative example is 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP).
This absorbent absorbs carbon dioxide less rapidly than MEA, but has an advantage of using a considerably low amount of renewable energy. Similarly, an absorbent KS-1™ of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. known for using a sterically hindered amine as a major constituent exhibits usage of a very low amount of renewable energy in a range of 2.8 to 3.2 GJ/ton CO2. However, the sterically hindered amine used is mostly alkanolamines, in particular, primary amines with sterically hindering groups.
Advanced carbon capture technologies using sterically hindered amines have been suggested. For example, Japanese Patent Application No. 1994-242915 (registered as Japanese Patent No. 3197173, Jun. 8, 2001) of Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. discloses a method for removing carbon dioxide in combustion exhaust. This art teaches a compound represented by the following chemical formula as a major constituent of an absorbent to improve the CO2, absorption capacity per unit mole and per unit volume of the absorbent, increase the absorption rate, and reduce an amount of renewable energy used. In the following chemical formula, R1 is a lower alkyl group and R2 is hydrogen or a lower alkyl group. Also, this art claims a system containing a sterically resistant piperazine derivative in an aqueous solution wherein the concentration of the piperazine derivative in the aqueous solution is 15 to 65 wt %.

However, when the concentration is 20 or more wt %, an additional material, such as, for example, an alcohol, is required to solubilize the piperazine derivative. Also, this system is merely a binary system in which two constituents, that is, water and the piperazine derivative are simply mixed. Due to an absence of alkali carbonate that tends to promote formation of bicarbonate, this art is unfavorable in that a bicarbonate forming reaction is not dominant over a carbamate forming reaction during CO/absorption reaction.
To capture carbon dioxide that is an acidic gas, processes using liquid-type alkalis, such as, for example, NaOH, Na2CO3, K2CO3, KOH, and the like exist. In this instance, the Benfield process and the Catacarb process may be mentioned as representative examples. The Benfield process adds alkanolamines, such as, for example, mainly diethanolamine (DEA) to improve the reaction rate. The Catacarb process uses potassium carbonate as a major constituent and unknown organics or inorganics as a promoter to improve the reaction rate.
However, because these processes must operate an absorber and a stripper at 120° C. or more under the inlet gas pressure of 10 atmospheres (atm) or more to prevent the production of a salt of potassium bicarbonate, they have a drawback of using a large amount of energy.
Recently, an improved process using potassium carbonate was published in WO 2004/089512 A1 by Dr. Rochelle et al, The University of Texas.
According to this art, an absorbent contains potassium carbonate and piperazine or a piperazine derivative. Here, the piperazine or piperazine derivative serves to improve the absorption rate. Since piperazine is an alkylamine of a cyclic diamine structure and has two amino groups, the absorbent containing potassium carbonate and piperazine can efficiently absorb carbon dioxide and reduce the amount of renewable energy used.
However, it is predicted that this absorbent will have a problem in solubility. Afterwards, Korean Patent Application No. 2005-7018813 discloses the use of piperazine to prevent the salt production and improve the absorption rate, however piperazine is not sterically hindered.
As described in the foregoing, conventional arts using potassium carbonate, as a benefit of potassium carbonate, efficiently use a low amount of renewable energy, and to overcome the drawbacks of low absorption rate and salt production that are caused by the use of potassium carbonate, use a non-sterically hindered piperazine derivative as an additive. However, a verification experiment conducted using the corresponding conditions reveals that a salt is produced and chemical phase separation frequently occurs under certain conditions.

Alkali-carbonate-based carbon dioxide absorbent containing added sterically hindered cyclic amines, and method for removing carbon dioxide removing using same


A computer-implemented method and system useful in creating a device driver of a different architecture, based upon an existing driver of an original architecture. Information concerning an existing device driver is gathered. This information is stored for use by a transformation engine. The transformation engine maps information from the existing driver architecture to a new driver architecture. The transformation engine is used to obtain a description of the old driver in a format specific to the new driver architecture. A source code generation engine then converts the information obtained from the transformation engine into a new driver application layer. Given the base driver with the application layer already developed, a device provider or other driver creator can develop the device protocol layer for the driver.

Within the computing field, drivers are used to control or regulate another device. A software driver or device driver is a device-specific control program that enables a computer to work with a particular device, such as a printer or scanner. The device driver permits the computer system to communicate with the specific device. Because the driver handles device-specific features, the operating system is freed from the burden of having to understand and support the needs of the individual hardware devices. This is particularly important, given the number of different hardware devices currently being utilized.
The device drivers are typically developed based on a standard communication protocol. These protocols define a set of rules or standards upon which the drivers are written. As computer systems evolve, additional and different protocols can develop. The use of one protocol over another to develop a driver may expose or make available additional, desirable features of the device to which the driver pertains. As an example, within the imaging device context, drivers are currently being developed based upon the protocols known as TWAIN (Technology Without An Interesting Name) and WIA (Windows Imaging Acquisition).
For a device provider, such as an independent hardware vendor or IHV, it may be desirable to develop drivers based upon the WIA protocol rather than, or in addition to, the TWAIN protocol. It is often the case that the device provider will already have in place an existing driver based upon one protocol, such as the TWAIN protocol. But it is currently a non-trivial task to port existing drivers built on one protocol to a different protocol. The person tasked with the creation of a new driver based upon a driver from a different protocol must necessarily understand the technology associated with the existing driver. However, it is often the case that the developers of the existing driver are not the same individuals tasked with the creation of the new driver. Therefore, the developer of the new driver must first learn and understand the underlying architecture of the existing driver. At the same time, the developer must also understand the additional or new protocol architecture. Thus, although it is desirable to develop drivers in new architectures based upon existing drivers, it is currently a time-consuming and difficult task.
It is often the case that drivers have at least two layers. The top layer is a Device Driver Interface (DDI) layer, or application layer, and the bottom layer is the device protocol layer. Typically the operating system and/or applications interact with the driver via the DDI layer and the device protocol layer handles communication with the device. When the operating system wishes to communicate with the device, it makes a request via the DDI layer. The DDI layer then forwards this request to the device protocol layer. The device protocol layer converts the request into a device protocol specific request and then sends the request to the device. Similarly, when the device wishes to send an event to the operating system, the device protocol layer receives the event from the device, converts it to a DDI layer event and then forwards it to the DDI layer. The DDI layer is then responsible for notifying the operating system, which in turn notifies the intended recipient application.
It would therefore be beneficial to provide a method and a tool that facilitates the creation of device drivers based upon existing device drivers of a different architecture. A method and tool are needed that can create a base application layer for a device driver, given an existing driver of a different architecture. Given such a base application layer, a device provider can more easily port drivers from one architecture to another.


A new Chrysanthemum plant named ‘Yogrand Rapids’ particularly distinguished by the light yellow ray florets with a greyed-red center, decorative type, fully double flower, medium green foliage, fast flowering response time, good stem strength, and excellent shelf-life.

The present invention comprises a new Chrysanthemum, botanically known as Chrysanthemum×morifolium, and hereinafter referred to by the variety name 'Yogrand Rapids.'
'Yogrand Rapids' is a product of a planned breeding program. The new cultivar has light yellow ray florets with a greyed-red center, decorative type, fully double flower, medium green foliage, fast flowering response time, good stem strength, and excellent shelf-life.
'Yogrand Rapids' originated from a hybridization made in May 2005 in a controlled breeding environment in Salinas, Calif. The female parent was the proprietary, unpatented plant designated 'YB-A9207' with bronze two tone flower color, a 9 week flowering response time, and has a taller growing plant habit.
The male parent of 'Yogrand Rapids' was an proprietary, unpatented plant identified as 'YB-A8021' with red decorative, open centered flowers, an 8 week flowering response time, less vigor, and moderate pollen production.
'Yogrand Rapids' was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in December 2005, grown out doors in a field covered by saran in Fort Myers, Fla.
The first act of asexual reproduction of 'Yogrand Rapids' was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were propagated from the initial selection in March 2006 in a controlled environment in Fort Myers, Fla.


A pacifier locating system including a pacifier with receiver circuitry coupled thereto. Such receiver circuitry includes a speaker adapted to emit an audible alarm upon the receipt of a speaker actuation signal. A receiver is electrically connected to a battery and the speaker. The receiver is adapted to transmit to the speaker a speaker actuation signal upon the receipt of a radio activation signal via free space. Also included is a transmitter housing with an interior space. Finally, transmitter circuitry is situated within the interior space and includes an actuation mechanism for selectively transmitting an electric activation signal. The transmitter circuitry further includes a battery situated within the interior space of the transmitter housing for powering purposes. A transmitter is situated within the interior space of the transmitter housing and electrically connected between the battery and the actuation mechanism. In use, the transmitter is adapted to transmit via free space the radio activation signal upon the receipt of the electric activation signal, thereby allowing the speaker to identify the position of the pacifier.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pacifier locating system and more particularly pertains to determining the location of a lost pacifier.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of locating systems is known in the prior art. More specifically, locating systems heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of ascertaining the location of various objects are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, the prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,873 to Anderson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,653 to Bayer; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 338,532 to Burgess; U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,915 to Owen; U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,657 to Prosser et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,924 to Jekel.
In this respect, the pacifier locating system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of determining the location of a lost pacifier.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved pacifier locating system which can be used for determining the location of a lost pacifier. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


The present disclosure relates to a direct current relay, and more specifically, to a direct current relay having a movable assembly with improved contact pressure. The direct current relay according to an embodiment of the present disclosure comprises a pair of fixed contacts, and a movable contact which is moved vertically by an electromagnetic force to contact or be separated from the pair of fixed contacts, wherein an upper yoke and a lower yoke are respectively provided on the upper and lower portions of the movable contact, a contact spring is provided on the lower portion of the lower yoke, and the lower yoke is pressed by the contact spring to move the movable contact.

In general, a direct current relay or a magnetic switch is a kind of electrical circuit switching device that allows mechanical operation and transmits current signal using principles of electromagnet, and is installed in various industrial facilities, machines, and vehicles.
In particular, electric vehicles such as hybrid vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, golf carts, and electric forklifts are equipped with an electric vehicle relay to supply and cut off power of a battery to a power generating device and an electrical equipment. And, such an electric vehicle relay is one of very important core components in electric vehicles.
FIG. 1 illustrates an internal structure of a direct current relay according to the related art.
The direct current relay includes a case 1, 2 including an upper frame 1 and a lower frame 2, a middle plate 9 provided inside the case, a contact portion 3, 4 and an arc-extinguishing portion 8 both installed above the middle plate 9, and an actuator 7 installed under the middle plate 9. Here, the actuator 7 may be a device that operates by the principles of electromagnet.
At an upper surface of the upper frame 1, a fixed contact 3 of the contact portion 3, 4 is exposed so as to be connected to a load or power source.
The contact portion 3, 4 and the arc-extinguishing portion 8 are provided inside the upper frame 1. The contact portion 3, 4 includes the fixed contact 3 fixedly installed in the upper frame 1, and a movable contact 4 actuated by the actuator 7 so as to be brought into contact with or separated from the fixed contact 3. The arc-extinguishing portion 8 is usually made of a ceramic material. The arc-extinguishing portion 8 is also referred to as an arc chamber. Inside the arc-extinguishing portion 8, there may be filled with extinguishing gas for arc extinguishing.
To effectively control an arc generated when the contact portion 3, 4 is cutoff (or separated), a permanent magnet (not illustrated) may be provided. The permanent magnet is installed around the contact portion to generate a magnetic field to control the arc, which is a rapid flow of electricity, and a permanent magnet holder 6 is provided to fix the permanent magnet.
The actuator is operated using the principles of electromagnet and includes a fixed core 7a, a movable core 7b, a movable shaft 7c, and a return spring 7d. A cylinder 7e surrounds the fixed core 7a and the movable core 7b. The cylinder 7e and the arc-extinguishing portion 8 form a closed space.
A coil 7f is provided around the cylinder 7e, and when a control power is applied, an electromagnetic force is generated around the cylinder 7e. The fixed core 7a is magnetized by the electromagnetic force generated by the coil 7f, and the movable core 7b is attracted by a magnetic force of the fixed core 7a. Accordingly, the movable shaft 7c coupled to the movable core 7b and the movable contact 4 coupled to an upper portion of the movable shaft 7c move together to be brought into contact with the fixed contact 3 so that the circuit is energized. The return spring 7d provides an elastic force to the movable core 7b to allow the movable core 7b to return to its initial position when the control power of the coil is cut off.
However, in the direct current relay according to the related art, an electromagnetic repulsive force is generated between the fixed contact and the movable contact, and thus the fixed contact and the movable contact tend to be separated from each other. In order to prevent unintentional separation due to such an electromagnetic repulsive force, the movable contact 4 receives a contact pressure from a contact pressure spring 5. In other words, a distance between the fixed core 7a and the movable core 7b is set longer than a distance between the fixed contact 3 and the movable contact 4, so that the movable contact receives a contact pressure due to an over travel of the movable core. However, when the electromagnetic repulsive force is stronger than the contact pressure, there is still a risk of separation of the contact portion.


A barrel-type internal combustion engine includes a power output shaft assembly with a sliding joint. A power output shaft has a pair of spaced apart bearing surfaces and a plurality of radial splines between the bearing surfaces. A cam plate has a central hub and a cam track extending therefrom. The central hub has a longitudinal bore for receiving the shaft. The bore has a pair of spaced apart bearing surfaces and a plurality of radial splines between the bearing surfaces. When assembled, the power shaft is received in the bore of the hub, the bearing surfaces are generally aligned and the splines engage such that the shaft and cam plate are coupled for rotation about the rotational axis of the shaft and the cam plate is longitudinally slidable on the shaft.

Internal combustion engines are widely used for driving a variety of vehicles. Internal combustion engines come in a variety of configurations, which are typically aptly named for the particular orientation or arrangement of the reciprocating pistons and cylinders in the engines. One example of an internal combustion engine is a "V" type engine, in which the "V" refers to the arrangement of the cylinders in rows that are angled relative to each other to form a V shape. Another type of internal combustion engine that is most relevant to the invention is a barrel-type engine.
Barrel engines typically include a plurality of cylinders and pistons arranged in the form of a "barrel" in which their axes are parallel to each other and arranged along a circle concentric with the power output shaft. Power is transmitted from the reciprocating pistons to a cam plate via a sliding or roller interface. The cam plate's nominal plane is perpendicular to the piston axes and attached to the output shaft. One variation, commonly referred to as a double-ended barrel engine, typically uses a double-ended piston construction and utilizes pistons that have power cylinders at each end. Another configuration of the barrel engine concept, commonly known as a single-ended barrel engine, only uses power cylinders on one end of the piston.

Sliding joint for variable compression ratio device


Methods, parallel computers, and computer program products for analyzing update conditions for shared variable directory (SVD) information in a parallel computer are provided. Embodiments include a runtime optimizer receiving a compare-and-swap operation header. The compare-and-swap operation header includes an SVD key, a first SVD address, and an updated first SVD address. The first SVD address is associated with the SVD key in a first SVD associated with a first task. Embodiments also include the runtime optimizer retrieving from a remote address cache associated with the second task, a second SVD address indicating a location within a memory partition associated with the first SVD in response to receiving the compare-and-swap operation header. Embodiments also include the runtime optimizer determining whether the second SVD address matches the first SVD address and transmitting a result indicating whether the second SVD address matches the first SVD address.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, parallel computers, and computer program products for analyzing update conditions for shared variable directory information in a parallel computer.
2. Description of Related Art
The development of the EDVAC computer system of 1948 is often cited as the beginning of the computer era. Since that time, computer systems have evolved into extremely complicated devices. Today's computers are much more sophisticated than early systems such as the EDVAC. Computer systems typically include a combination of hardware and software components, application programs, operating systems, processors, buses, memory, input/output devices, and so on. As advances in semiconductor processing and computer architecture push the performance of the computer higher and higher, more sophisticated computer software has evolved to take advantage of the higher performance of the hardware, resulting in computer systems today that are much more powerful than just a few years ago.
Parallel computing is an area of computer technology that has experienced advances. Parallel computing is the simultaneous execution of the same application (split up and specially adapted) on multiple processors in order to obtain results faster. Parallel computing is based on the fact that the process of solving a problem usually can be divided into smaller jobs, which may be carried out simultaneously with some coordination.
Parallel computers execute parallel algorithms. A parallel algorithm can be split up to be executed a piece at a time on many different processing devices, and then put back together again at the end to get a data processing result. Some algorithms are easy to divide up into pieces. Splitting up the job of checking all of the numbers from one to a hundred thousand to see which are primes could be done, for example, by assigning a subset of the numbers to each available processor, and then putting the list of positive results back together. In this specification, the multiple processing devices that execute the individual pieces of a parallel program are referred to as 'compute nodes.' A parallel computer is composed of compute nodes and other processing nodes as well, including, for example, input/output ('I/O') nodes, and service nodes.
Parallel algorithms are valuable because it is faster to perform some kinds of large computing jobs via a parallel algorithm than it is via a serial (non-parallel) algorithm, because of the way modern processors work. It is far more difficult to construct a computer with a single fast processor than one with many slow processors with the same throughput. There are also certain theoretical limits to the potential speed of serial processors. On the other hand, every parallel algorithm has a serial part and so parallel algorithms have a saturation point. After that point adding more processors does not yield any more throughput but only increases the overhead and cost.
Parallel algorithms are designed also to optimize one more resource, the data communications requirements among the nodes of a parallel computer. There are two ways parallel processors communicate, shared memory or message passing. Shared memory processing needs additional locking for the data and imposes the overhead of additional processor and bus cycles and also serializes some portion of the algorithm. Message passing processing uses high-speed data communications networks and message buffers, but this communication adds transfer overhead on the data communications networks as well as additional memory need for message buffers and latency in the data communications among nodes. Designs of parallel computers use specially designed data communications links so that the communication overhead will be small but it is the parallel algorithm that decides the volume of the traffic.
Many data communications network architectures are used for message passing among nodes in parallel computers. Compute nodes may be organized in a network as a 'torus' or 'mesh,' for example. Also, compute nodes may be organized in a network as a tree. A torus network connects the nodes in a three-dimensional mesh with wrap around links. Every node is connected to its six neighbors through this torus network, and each node is addressed by its x,y,z coordinate in the mesh. In a tree network, the nodes typically are connected into a binary tree: each node has a parent and two children (although some nodes may only have zero children or one child, depending on the hardware configuration). In computers that use a torus and a tree network, the two networks typically are implemented independently of one another, with separate routing circuits, separate physical links, and separate message buffers.
A torus network lends itself to point to point operations, but a tree network typically is inefficient in point to point communication. A tree network, however, does provide high bandwidth and low latency for certain collective operations, message passing operations where all compute nodes participate simultaneously, such as, for example, an allgather.
There is at this time a general trend in computer processor development to move from multi-core to many-core processors: from dual-, tri-, quad-, hexa-, octo-core chips to ones with tens or even hundreds of cores. In addition, multi-core chips mixed with simultaneous multithreading, memory-on-chip, and special-purpose heterogeneous cores promise further performance and efficiency gains, especially in processing multimedia, recognition and networking applications. This trend is impacting the supercomputing world as well, where large transistor count chips are more efficiently used by replicating cores, rather than building chips that are very fast but very inefficient in terms of power utilization.
At the same time, the network link speed and number of links into and out of a compute node are dramatically increasing. IBM's BlueGene/Q™ supercomputer, for example, has a five-dimensional torus network, which implements ten bidirectional data communications links per compute node—and BlueGene/Q supports many thousands of compute nodes. To keep these links filled with data, DMA engines are employed, but increasingly, the HPC community is interested in latency. In traditional supercomputers with pared-down operating systems, there is little or no multi-tasking within compute nodes. When a data communications link is unavailable, a task typically blocks or 'spins' on a data transmission, in effect, idling a processor until a data transmission resource becomes available. In the trend for more powerful individual processors, such blocking or spinning has a bad effect on latency.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Analyzing update conditions for shared variable directory information in a parallel computer

International Business Machines Corporation


A transducer type liquid sprayer in that mist can be dispersed widely even when the liquid sprayer is dispersed in a relatively low position. The liquid sprayer contains a storage tank for storing spray liquid that can be easily replaced together with a core for soaking up the spray liquid from the storage tank. The liquid sprayer includes a spray liquid storage unit and a main body for supporting the spray liquid storage unit and a power supply unit. A spray hole is formed in the lid member and a transducer is also disposed inside the lid member and electrically connected to the power supply unit. The transducer is in contact with a front side of a tip end portion of the core with the front face of the transducer oriented forward and upward.

As is known in the art, there are conventional spray cans using propellants as liquid sprayers for spraying liquid fragrance or the like. These spray can type liquid sprayers have safety issues because of the use of flammable gas as a propellant. Therefore, in recent years, transducer type liquid sprayers for spraying liquid fragrance have been developed that use transducers for generating ultrasonic vibration.
Liquid sprayers using a transducer, such as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. JP 2010-7899, include a liquid storage tank for storing spray liquid, a mist producing means for turning the spray liquid into mist, and a spray liquid supply means for supplying the spray liquid in the liquid storage tank to the mist producing means. The spray liquid supply means includes a first liquid retaining body having one end disposed at a predetermined position in the liquid storage tank to absorb the spray liquid in the liquid storage tank, a substantially cylindrical second liquid retaining body brought into contact with the other end of the first liquid retaining body and having a predetermined inside diameter and a predetermined outside diameter, and a third liquid retaining body having one end brought into contact with an outer peripheral face of the second liquid retaining body at a predetermined contact pressure and the other end brought into contact with the mist producing means at a predetermined contact pressure.
However, the claimed liquid storage tank for storing the spray liquid is detached from the liquid retaining body for absorbing the spray liquid in the liquid storage tank and only the liquid storage tank is attached and detached to add the spray liquid. Therefore, if the sprayer is used for a long term, solid components and impurities included in the spray liquid accumulate in the liquid retaining body and the liquid retaining body cannot soak up the spray liquid.
Moreover, the liquid retaining body is housed in an L-shaped casing making it difficult to detach and replace the liquid retaining body.
Further, at least some prior art liquid sprayers have the spray liquid and spray hole positioned such that the spray mist is sprayed in an upward vertical direction, precluding wall mounting high on the wall, as the spray mist will be sprayed onto the ceiling. Furthermore, in these types of sprayers, if they are placed lower to the ground, the mist can become an eye or nasal irritant if it is dissipated in close proximity to someone nearby.
Therefore, there is a need for transducer type liquid sprayers that can be positioned high on a wall as well as be able to easily replace the liquid storage cartridge.


A method for operating a head testing apparatus or, more generally, a host hard disk drive using a mounted hard disk that has had its servo track information pre-written in an external servo-writing apparatus rather than in the head testing or host apparatus itself. The method eliminates repeatable errors and repeatable runout by effectively replacing the pre-written servo tracks, which are eccentric, with new track profiles that are tracked like circular tracks. The problem of repeatable errors is caused by repeatable runout superimposed upon written-in position errors when a disk written in one machine is transferred to another. This problem is eliminated by forming IRON (Iterative Repeatable Runout Nulling) profile tracks from the initially pre-written servo tracks, where the IRON profile tracks are effectively tracked as concentric circular tracks and generate no PES. The IRON profile is formed by an iterative method that starts with the measurement of the PES of one of the pre-written tracks and iteratively forms a new track profile that is effectively circular.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a device for testing magnetic read/write heads and more specifically to such a device in which there is a rotating magnetic disk on which servo information has been written.
2. Description of the Related Art
Before their installation in a conventional direct access storage device (DASD), magnetic read/write heads are first tested in a device specifically designed for the testing process. A magnetic head tester is basically a rudimentary disk drive that includes a drive motor and spindle (called a spin stand), at least one magnetic disk mounted on the drive motor spindle and capable of being rotated thereby, an actuator on which the head to be tested is mounted and an electromechanical system, called a servomechanism (or, equivalently, a servo-control mechanism), for accurately positioning the actuator (and its mounted head) relative to the rotating disk. The testing device also includes a micro-positioner and associated circuitry for writing servo-tracks, to be discussed below, on the magnetic disk, so that the head can be accurately positioned at target locations on the disk.
In order to test the read and/or write capabilities of a head, it is necessary to accurately position the head at various places on a disk mounted within the tester. To insure the accuracy of this positioning process, the disk mounted within the tester is furnished with embedded information, called servo information, which is data stored (as "bursts" of magnetic transitions) within sectors of small angular width that are periodically distributed along radially narrow, concentric, annular circular tracks on the disk. This servo information, which, in the prior art, is written on the disk while the disk is already mounted in the tester, is written using a micro-positioner affixed within the tester and the head already mounted in the tester. The micro-positioner is a device that can incrementally move the head to proper positions at which to write the servo information.
The servo information identifies radial positions within the annular width of the tracks, so that the track center can be accurately located and it also identifies the angular positions of data-free sectors within the tracks, typically adjacent to the sectors containing the servo information, on which data can subsequently be written and read by the head during the testing process. The role of the servo data is of great importance in accurately positioning the head relative to the center of the track and in maintaining that position during portions of the testing process. Thus, servo data supplies both track identifying information and positioning information
When the actuator mounted head seeks a particular position on the disk (the target position), which is typically the radial center of a track at some angular position along the track, the servo information located adjacent to that position is read by the head being tested and used to determine whether the head is actually located where it is supposed to be. This servo information is read immediately before the head reaches the target position and is transmitted to what is called servo-loop circuitry that is an integral part of the servomechanism of the tester. The difference (if it exists) between the intended location of the actuator (the target) and the actual location of the actuator as indicated by the adjacent servo data, generates a position error signal (PES) that is then used to correct the actuator positioning on the track. The PES, which is digital data, is supplied to a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that generates a current proportional to the digital PES and, in turn, activates a voice coil motor (VCM), which is a current carrying coil positioned between permanent magnets. The VCM then responds to the DAC generated current and repositions the actuator.
There are many reasons why the actuator may be positioned incorrectly. Random vibrations can easily move the head slightly from its target, but much of the position error is related to the fact that the typical magnetic disk is slightly warped or generally fails to rotate perfectly on its spindle. Thus, even if the actuator is locked at what should be the fixed radial position of the target track's center line, the projection of the head on the rotating disk is not a circle concentric with the disk center, whereupon the head fails to follow the target track's center line and may, in fact, overlap several tracks.
The servo data, because of the process with which it is written, is presumably located on tracks that are essentially concentric circles of small radial width (circular annuli). Therefore, when the disk rotates improperly, there is a discrepancy between the track followed by the actuator (and mounted head) and a circular track produced by the servo data writing process. Nevertheless, the embedded servo data is supposed to rectify the improper tracking by means of the provided PES.
Writing accurate servo data on the disk is an important, expensive and time consuming task that is done within the head tester itself using an open-loop or closed-loop micro-positioner and the tester's head.
The additional elements within the tester needed to write servo data, including the micro-positioner and its associated circuitry, add greatly to the expense of the tester. In addition, the use of these additional elements, as noted, adds to the time required to complete the testing process. Even with the added time and expense, however, the repeatability of the servo pattern on a plurality of disks is often questionable and it is difficult to verify pattern accuracy. This is because the head testing device is not an optimal device within which to write servo data.
Takano et al. (US Patent Application Publication: US 2002/0018314 A1) describes a magnetic-disk evaluation apparatus in which servo information is both written on a disk and tested for its accuracy. In such a disk-evaluation process, servo information is first written on the disk in a temporary form, often by simply copying it from another disk. If this servo information is of sufficient accuracy, the disk can be tested for compliance with certain industry standards and, if those standards are met, the disk is then mounted within its final hard disk drive where more accurate servo information is written upon it. A problem arises if the temporary information is of insufficient accuracy to permit the disk to be mounted for writing of the permanent information. Takano et al. therefore provide a system in which the temporary servo signals can be evaluated using a measuring device and positioner to determine whether the arm of the evaluation apparatus is displaced from a target position by an unacceptable amount.
The present inventors, therefore, proposed the use of a disk in a head testing apparatus in which embedded servo data has been pre-written outside the testing apparatus within a dedicated servo disk writer. This invention constitutes related patent application, Ser. No. 11/217,872, that is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference.
The sole task of a dedicated servo disk writer is to efficiently, accurately and repeatedly write servo information on disks. Such a device can do the job with much greater accuracy and repeatability than can be accomplished using a head tester with an included micro-positioner as a servo track writer. Moreover, by allocating the task of servo track writing to a device that is designed specifically to perform such a task, the necessity of using the head tester to perform the same task in a less exact, repeatable and efficient manner, is eliminated. Thus, the head tester can be simplified and dedicated to doing what it is meant to do, namely to test heads.
A problem arises, however, when a disk that has its servo tracks written in one apparatus is then transferred to another. The problem is a result of the fact that although servo data is written on circular tracks that are substantially concentric when originally written on the disk, these tracks will generally be eccentric when the disk is rotated by the drive spindle of the apparatus to which it is transferred (the host apparatus). This, of course, will be the inevitable result if the drive spindle of the original servo writer has even the slightest wobble or if the disk itself slips, is warped or off-center, or if the writing apparatus was subjected to thermal or mechanical shocks during the writing process or if the host apparatus has similar problems. Given that present 3.5″ disks have a track pitch of approximately 100,000 tracks per inch (TPI), it can be seen that the radial width of each track is miniscule and that the slightest variations in track concentricity will be exacerbated by variability between machines or external perturbations. Thus, if a dedicated servo writer is to be used to write the servo information on a disk that is then mounted in a head tester, the head tester must have the ability to either eliminate or compensate for the eccentricities of the pre-written servo data.
The lack of track concentricity and other written-in positioning errors encountered by a head testing device attempting to read what were supposed to be concentric circular tracks when they were originally written, become what are called repeatable position errors. Even if the original tracks were perfectly concentric circles, but their concentricity is lost in the host tester, then new writes by the read/write head, even if the head is kept at a substantially fixed radial position, can cross over several tracks and can overwrite previously written data. This phenomenon is called repeatable runout (RRO). It is to be noted that the RRO problem is not restricted to head testing devices, but is also a common problem in the disk drives of actual DASD's themselves. Some key sources of repeatable position errors (including RRO) in following a servo track are the following:                1) RRO due to shift in center of rotation, before and after servo-track write (already discussed above).        2) Uneven track spacing written by the servo track writer.        3) Repeatable error due to position error written-in by the servo track writer.        4) Vibration induced RRO.        5) "Apparent" position error due to media noise, media variations and defects.
Wherever such errors occur, accurate positioning of the read/write head becomes nearly impossible without additional information being present to guide the head to the correct track positions and, when possible, to correct for RRO in some systematic way. This additional information, which is then used to actuate the locating and position-correcting servo-mechanisms within the host drive unit, is the servo information already contained within the tracks themselves.
Along with the RRO type of position error that is associated with off-center drive spindles, as in 1) above, or warped disks, there is the more difficult problem of position errors associated with random mechanical, electrical and thermal perturbations of the drive system and/or disk as included under 4) and 5) above. When such random errors in the pre-written disk are carried over onto a host drive, they show up as repeatable errors. In turn, these repeatable errors cause the servomechanism of the host drive to constantly respond, in an effort to provide a position correction. The associated accelerations of the actuator causes undesirable effects such as uneven track spacing, track encroachment and inconsistent measurements.
In general, the servo data embedded in the disk provides enough information to fully characterize the effects of repeatable position errors and, therefore, it provides enough information to eliminate or significantly suppress those effects. The invention Ser. No. 11/217,872 cited above and incorporated herein by reference specifically addressed the problem of eliminating the effects of RRO in 1), namely RRO caused by an off-center spindle in a disk servo-written on a dedicated servo-track writer. It will be an object of the present invention to address the problem of eliminating other effects of RRO, such as those in 2-5, once the effects of drive spindle eccentricity RRO have been eliminated.
Prior art discloses various attempts to eliminate the effects of RRO. Melkote et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,999,267) disclose a method for determining the PES for each servo sector, to be used in iteratively determining proper compensation for RRO.
Ehrlich (US Published Patent Application 2005/0237645) addresses the misplacement of the head while writing. This problem is resolved by adjusting the width of the servo burst in order to place the servo burst in a correct position to properly locate the head.
Hanson et al. (US Published Patent Application 2003/0112545) teaches computing a coherent RRO by averaging PES over multiple tracks so as to produce a zero acceleration profile.
Unlike the cited prior art, the present invention describes a method to measure and compute the complete written-in position error (errors 1-5 above) so as to provide a reference profile for subsequent track following operations that allows the error to be effectively eliminated as is made evident by a position error signal (PES) of essentially zero amplitude (see FIG. 4). The new track profile now being followed, with the effective elimination of the center-line eccentricities, will be called an "Iterative Repeatable Runout Nulling Profile" or an IRON Profile, since the actuator arm treats the center line as a null position and the head moves only relative to that position with nearly zero acceleration during track following operations.

Iterative repeatable run-out nulling for magnetic head tester


Systems and methods for determining a location of a mobile computing device requesting emergency services are provided. A mobile computing device may receive an indication of a request for emergency services from a user of the mobile computing device. The mobile computing device may receive a first wireless signal from a first device. The wireless signal may include an indication of a first geographic position associated with the first device. The mobile computing device may determine a location associated with the mobile computing device based on the indication of the first geographic position associated with the first device, and may send the determined location to a provider of emergency services.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in the background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Enhanced 911 ("E911") is a system used to automatically provide a caller's location to 911 emergency service dispatchers. Generally speaking, an incoming 911 call is routed to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), which is a call center operated by the local government. At the PSAP, the call is answered by a 911 dispatcher, who receives information from the network service provider associated with the caller about the physical address (for landline calls) or geographic coordinates (for wireless calls) of the caller. This information is used to dispatch police, fire, medical, and other services as needed.
Specifically, when a wireless network user places an E911 call using a mobile computing device, a wireless network service provider must determine the location of the user's mobile computing device at the time of the call so that emergency services may be dispatched to that location. Typically, a mobile computing device will determine its location using a GPS signal, and this GPS-based location is transmitted to the wireless network service provider for use in E911 dispatching. However, in dense urban areas ("urban canyons"), GPS signals can be blocked by tall buildings, leading to less accurate location determination in these areas. Consequently, if a GPS location is used for dispatching emergency services within a dense urban area, emergency service providers may be dispatched to an incorrect location, leading to potentially life-threatening delays in emergency services.

Enhancing location accuracy in dense urban environment


A circuit arrangement for an anti-theft alarm for vehicles which emits optical signals to the outside by means of the driving direction indicator lights of the vehicle and also permits driving direction changes to be displayed. Actuation of the indicator lights is cancelled by the anti-theft alarm for the duration of the direction flashing indication.

The invention relates to a circuit arrangement of an anti-theft alarm for a vehicle which, after an activation of the alarm by signal generator, intermittently emits optical alarm signals in cycles by means of light sources provided on the vehicle. The alarm is controlled by a control unit that contains a separate clock generator for clocking the light sources via lines, in the event of an alarm.
An anti-theft alarm, which usually generates acoustic alarm signals by means of a horn or the like, can be coupled to the hazard warning system of a vehicle so that additionally, intermittent optical alarm signals are generated by means of the vehicle indicator lights. The vehicle issuing the alarm can thus be better located, especially in darkness.
An anti-theft alarm which operates in a corresponding manner is known from German Patent Document DE 38 10 806 Cl. The control unit contains a clock generator which, for an alarm, intermittently operates all the vehicle indicator lights via a control unit double contact relay that is switched over for a limited time. It is not disclosed in this German Patent Document how this device interacts with the normal hazard warning system. The publication also contains no information relating to the relationship of the flashing frequencies in the hazard warning mode and in the alarm mode of the indicator lights, and does not contain information on how the relationship could be adjusted.
One problem in this respect is that specific countries require different flashing speeds for the hazard warning mode and for the alarm mode. This serves above all to distinguish between break-down situations in which the hazard warning system has to be switched on manually and the above described alarm cases in which unauthorized attempts at access are being signalled. In the European Community, doubling the frequency of the hazard warning mode is prescribed for the case of an alarm. In Japan, a single frequency is admissible. Also, Switzerland uses a continuous audible tone while the European community uses intermittent alarm tones.
The alarm state is usully maintained for a limited amount of time (max. 5 minutes) and is continuously retriggered during unauthorized driving. For example, actuating the brakelight switch each time the brakes are actuated or actuating other electrical loads in the vehicle can retrigger the alarm. However, stolen vehicles which are driven with the alarm system activated should be roadworthy. In other words, it must still be possible for the normal driving direction indicator signals and hazard warning signals to be generated. Under certain circumstances, the indicator lights activated by the anti-theft alarm could light up with an undefined rhythm when the normal flashing system is switched on because of two different load-dependent flasher generators whose load-dependent function is disturbed by the externally supplied voltage levels. Other light sources, which, depending on countries' regulations, may also be operated by means of an anti-theft alarm, for example headlights and rear lights, should also be capable of being switched on normally even during unauthorized driving.
A combination driving direction indicator and hazard warning device for motor vehicles is described in German Patent Document DE 36 30 448 Cl. A driving direction indicator signal can be randomly superimposed on the hazard warning mode by the actuation of the driving direction indicator switch, this hazard warning mode having been randomly switched on, for example, when a vehicle is being towed away.
An interrelation with an anti-theft alarm which can also trigger a (modified) hazard warning mode, is not disclosed in the aforesaid publication. In some vehicles, a microprocessor-controlled flasher generator (time function relay) is used to provide different flashing frequencies. With the aid of a special control input on the flasher generator connected to the control unit of the anti-theft alarm, a control signal issued by the unit in the event of an alarm can be appropriately evaluated and can trigger the alarm flashing mode at increased frequency, while in hazard warning mode the usual, series-produced hazard warning switch in the vehicle is used.
Furthermore, a separate clock relay is used in this system on each side of the vehicle for the respective indicator lights so that the superimposition of driving direction indicator signals, already mentioned, is made possible by means of hazard warning signals. The anti-theft control unit here does not contain a separate clock generator, but instead is realized by means of a time function relay.
However, for reasons of cost and assembly it would be advantageous to be able to use a conventional hazard warning system with a simple load-controlled clock generator with a relay for the application outlined above together with an anti-theft alarm without having to provide a special anti-theft input. It is known in conventional systems of this kind to switch the hazard warning mode by connecting all the indicator lights on both sides of the vehicle simultaneously to the clock generator via the hazard warning switch. By means of such a measure, preliminary operations for possible installation of an anti-theft alarm as an optional extra during manufacture of the vehicle can be dispensed with.
The invention has as an object to provide a circuit for an anti-theft alarm in a manner so that even when the alarm is triggered, it is possible to drive in a manner which is safe in relation to the safety of other motorists and with respect to the optical signals emitted.
According to the present invention, a circuit arrangement of an anti-theft alarm for a vehicle has light sources which are activatable via the circuit arrangement and via externally supplied electrical signals. The circuit arranement has a control unit with a clock generator for intermittently and cyclically activating the light sources via lines upon detection of an alarm and with control logic for detecting an externally supplied electrical signal occurring on the lines and for suppressing the cyclical activating of the light sources with the clock generator for a predetermined amount of time.
Although the vehicle light sources provided for this purpose are cyclically clocked by the anti-theft alarm control unit in the event of an alarm, at least in the dark phase of the clock cycles the control unit monitors the lines to the light sources which can also be activated via other switches, in particular the driving direction indicator switch or the hazard warning switch. In the simplest manner (plausibility test), it can be concluded by detecting a positive voltage level occurring in the dark phase of each alarm flashing cycle on a line to the light sources that the voltage level is being externally supplied and thus one of the other switches mentioned has been closed.
If, on the other hand, the lines are continuously monitored, that is to say also in the light phase, by making a comparison between the time of the signal occurring and an alarm-conditioned clocking, which is usually switched by a relay, self-inhibiting of the alarm flashing is excluded. This can be realized by logical connection of electrical signals.
As soon as an externally supplied signal is present, the anti-theft alarm control unit withdraws from the light source circuit for a predetermined time period so that in the interest of safety of other motorists, the other switched-on switch is given priority. In the customary case of optional alarm clocking of the driving direction indicator lights, opposing clocking of two different clock generators is reliably prevented without additional intervention into the driving direction indicator clock generator present being required. The clock generator can thus be of very simple design while the necessary circuit measures can be displaced into the area of the anti-theft alarm which can be supplied as an optional extra.
Of course, other equally valid methods for signal detection can also be applied. For example, a current which flows to the light sources in the dark phase could also indicate externally supplied signals.
With an anti-theft alarm control unit of the type proposed here containing a microprocessor (.mu.P), it is also possible to fulfill the different requirements relating to the flashing frequency of the optical alarm signals without additional hardware. With appropriate programming of the .mu.P, the desired flashing frequency can be stipulated to the microprocessor via a pin set/cable set encoding which is performed externally at the control unit. For example, by means of two terminal pins which optionally remain free or are connected to earth, four different stipulations can be made. At the same time, in the case of possible retrofitting of a vehicle, it is not necessary to carry out any hardware changes in the control unit itself or even to replace it. These features only come to bear in the software of the .mu.P and in an external changing of the code.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Circuit arrangement of an anti-theft alarm


A frequency mixer device is provided with a mixer circuit having an input cell that amplifies an input signal and a switching cell that mixes the amplified input signal with a switching signal and outputs a multiplied signal, and a DC offset compensator that detects the input level of the input signal and outputs a compensation signal based on that detection signal, the compensation signal being supplied to the mixer circuit so as to compensate a DC offset included in the multiplied signal. The compensation signal that the DC offset compensator outputs is added to the output signal of the input cell so as to compensate the DC offset. Low frequency noise included in the compensation signal is converted to a frequency near that of the switching signal, and does not range over the desired waveband of the mixer output.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to DC offset compensation in a frequency mixer device that mixes an input signal and a switching signal, and outputs a multiplied signal. It is particularly related to a frequency mixer device having a DC offset compensating function suitable for compensating DC offset generated when an interfering waveband signal is input when using a direct conversion wireless receiver, and a method for compensating the DC offset.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, technology that uses a direct-conversion system has been proposed in connection with the miniaturization and price reduction of wireless receivers. In this system an input RF (wireless frequency) signal is converted directly to a low frequency baseband signal, and so in comparison to a super heterodyne system that requires a high frequency IF (intermediate frequency) signal, it has the advantage that an intermediate frequency filter becomes unnecessary. A direct conversion system is also referred to as a zero IF system, because the center frequency of the IF signal is DC.
Frequency conversion is performed by mixing (compositing) the frequency of an input RF signal with a local signal having the same frequency using a mixer circuit. However, in a direct conversion system, when the input signal level is large, DC offset occurs in the output baseband signal when second order nonlinear distortion is present in the mixer circuit. This condition will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8.
FIG. 7 shows the spectrum of an input RF signal, with numeral 101 denoting a weak-level desired waveband signal with the center frequency being the same as a local signal frequency fLO, and numeral 102 indicating a high-level interfering waveband signal that is present at a higher frequency fINT. As a result of inputting an RF signal that accompanies this sort of high-level interfering waveband signal to a mixer circuit, the spectrum of the output signal appearing in the mixer output becomes as shown in FIG. 8. Numerals 103 and 104 respectively indicate the components that appear in the mixer output after frequency conversion of the desired waveband signal 101 and the interfering waveband signal 102 of the RF input. Numeral 105 indicates the DC offset generated by the high-level interfering waveband signal when second order nonlinear distortion is present in the mixer circuit.
Accordingly, in a direct conversion system, there is the problem that receiver sensitivity decreases due to the DC offset 105 generated in the frequency range of the desired waveband signal 103 of the mixer output. If the mixer circuit is composed of a differential circuit and the differential balance is completely symmetrical, second order nonlinear distortion will not be present. However, because the components constituting the differential circuit cannot be made completely symmetrical due to manufacturing irregularities, it is not possible to eliminate second order nonlinear distortion. Therefore, technology has been proposed that compensates the DC offset generated by second order nonlinear distortion.
A method for detecting an interfering waveband signal included in the input RF signal and compensating DC offset generated in the mixer output, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,535,725, is explained below with reference to FIG. 9.
In FIG. 9, numeral 106 indicates a mixer circuit, which is composed of a switching cell 107 and an RF input cell 108. The switching cell 107 is composed of bipolar transistors Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. The RF input cell 108 is composed of bipolar transistors Q5 and Q6, and resistors R. The RF signal input from RF input terminals 109 and 110 is amplified by the RF input cell 108. The amplified RF signal is converted to an IF signal by being mixed with a local signal input from local input terminals 111 and 112 in the switching cell 107, and this converted IF signal is output from output terminals 113 and 114.
If all of the transistors Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 constituting the switching cell 107 have exactly the same characteristics, balance as a differential circuit will be completely symmetrical. However, because the bipolar transistors Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 each individually have properties that differ from the ideal properties due to manufacturing irregularities, second order nonlinear distortion is generated when the input RF signal is converted to an IF signal. Therefore, DC offset is generated in the mixer output as shown in FIG. 8. As is well known, because the DC offset is proportional to the square of the input signal strength, the higher the level of the interfering waveband signal included in the input signal, the greater the output DC offset will become.
On the other hand, the circuit shown in FIG. 9 is provided with a DC offset compensator 115. The DC offset compensator 115 is composed of a detector 116, a controller 117, and a correction generator 118. The detector 116 detects an input RF signal and outputs a detection signal. The controller 117 generates a control signal in response to the detection signal. The correction generator 118 generates a compensation signal in response to the control signal from the controller 117 such that it reduces the DC offset of the mixer output terminals 113 and 114. By this operation of the DC offset compensator 115, the compensation signal that the correction generator 118 outputs to the mixer circuit 106 changes in response to the strength of the RF signal input, and the DC offset of the mixer output is cancelled. Further, in the mixer circuit 106, because the second order nonlinear distortion properties of each individual element differ due to manufacturing irregularities, a function of a user interface 119 is also provided in the DC offset compensator 115 in order to adjust the control signal produced by the controller 117.
However, in the method that adds a compensation signal in order to compensate the DC offset included in the mixer output signal, a low frequency noise generated within the DC offset compensator is superimposed on the compensation signal that is used. Therefore, not only the DC offset included in the mixer output signal being compensated, but also a noise signal is newly added in the frequency range of the desired waveband signal. In order to explain this condition, the spectrum of the mixer output after DC offset compensation is shown in FIG. 10. Numerals 103 and 104 respectively indicate the desired waveband signal and the interfering waveband signal appearing in the mixer output after frequency conversion in the mixer circuit, as shown in FIG. 8. A numeral 120 indicates the low frequency noise included in the compensation signal generated by the DC offset compensator, which ranges over the desired waveband. Therefore, the degradation of receiving sensitivity when inputting a high-level interfering waveband signal is not improved even when DC offset is compensated.

Frequency mixer device and method for compensating DC offset


The present invention is directed to methods for preparing sorbose from glucose, said method comprising: (a) contacting the glucose with a silica-containing structure comprising a zeolite having a topology of a 12 membered-ring or larger, an ordered mesoporous silica material, or an amorphous silica, said structure containing Lewis acidic Ti4+ or Zr4+ or both Ti4+ and Zr4+ framework centers, said contacting conducted under reaction conditions sufficient to isomerize the glucose to sorbose. The sorbose may be (b) separated or isolated; or (c) converted to ascorbic acid.

D-glucose is used as a feedstock in the Reichstein synthesis of L-ascorbic acid (a form of vitamin C; ˜105 tons produced annually worldwide) via L-sorbose intermediates. The conversion of D-glucose to L-sorbose currently requires the sequential hydrogenation of D-glucose to D-sorbitol over a nickel-based catalyst and selective oxidation of C2-OH groups in D-sorbitol to L-sorbose using microbiological enzymes. The production of sorbose, among a mixture of several aldohexose and ketohexose isomers, has been observed during reactions of glucose in alkaline media via 3,4-enediol intermediates, and via retro-aldol condensation to glyceraldehyde, isomerization to dihydroxyacetone, and realdolization of these triose intermediates. Heterogeneous base resins (Amberlite XE-48, Amberlite IRA-400) also convert D-(+)-glucose to a mixture of D-(+)-sorbose (˜68%) and L-(−)-sorbose (˜32%), among several other hexose products, via 3,4-enediol intermediates.
Glucose isomerization and epimerization reactions catalyzed by bases are known to proceed via abstraction of α-carbonyl protons to form 1,2-enediol intermediates, which undergo proton-transfer mediated rearrangements to form fructose and mannose (Lobry de Bruyn-Alberda van Ekenstein rearrangements; LdB-AvE). Double-bond isomerization of 1,2-enediols leads to a mixture of 2,3- and 3,4-enediol intermediates that are precursors to psicose, tagatose and sorbose ketohexoses (the C-3, C-4 and C-5 epimers of fructose, respectively) and other aldohexoses. As a result, selectivities to fructose, the preferred product of glucose conversion in alkaline media, decrease with increasing glucose conversion because of sequential 1,2-enediol rearrangements and because monosaccharides undergo retro-aldol condensation and other degradation pathways.
In contrast to base catalysts that initiate glucose isomerization via α-carbonyl abstraction, Lewis acids coordinate with and polarize oxygen atoms (O1) at glucose aldehyde carbons (C1) to enable nucleophilic addition preferentially at electron-deficient C-1 centers over other carbon atoms along the sugar backbone. (FIG. 1A) The ability of a single Lewis acid center to coordinate with glucose via a second oxygen atom located in another hydroxyl group along the sugar backbone, in turn, facilitates intramolecular skeletal rearrangements via migration of nucleophilic moieties to glucose C1 centers. Infrared (IR) and solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies, together with quantum chemical calculations, have shown that Lewis acidic framework Sn centers isolated within zeolite beta (Sn-Beta) mediate glucose ring-opening and coordination with glucose O1 and O2 atoms. In turn, glucose-fructose isomerization occurs via subsequent intramolecular hydride shift from the C2 to C1 carbon atoms on open glucose chains. This isomerization mechanism is analogous to that mediated by two divalent Lewis acid metal centers (e.g., Mg2+ or Mn2+) that are spatially positioned within hydrophobic pockets of metalloenzymes (e.g., D-xylose isomerase) to facilitate glucose binding via O1 and O2 atoms prior to glucose-fructose isomerization.
Sn-Beta can also mediate glucose-mannose epimerization in methanol solvent, and in water in the presence of borate salts, via a Lewis-acid intramolecular carbon rearrangement known as the Bilik reaction. In the glucose-mannose epimerization mechanism, C3 carbon centers bound to C2 atoms behave as nucleophiles and migrate (along with the rest of the covalently bound sugar backbone) to electrophilic C1 centers (FIG. 1B). The mechanisms for framework Sn-mediated glucose-mannose epimerization and glucose-fructose isomerization are similar because they first require bidentate glucose coordination to metal centers via O1 and O2 atoms; they differ, in part, because C3 centers or hydridic species bound to glucose C2 centers respectively act as the nucleophiles that attack electron-deficient C1 centers (FIG. 1B). These intramolecular hydride and carbon shifts occur within glucose only with Lewis acidic framework Sn-Beta and not with base sites on extra framework SnO2 domains, reflecting the requirement of Lewis acid centers to mediate the redistribution of oxidation states between carbon atoms in organic substrates at transition states for intramolecular or intermolecular Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley aldehyde and ketone reduction and Oppenauer alcohol oxidation (MPVO) reactions.


An array substrate, a fabricating method thereof and a display device are provided, and the array substrate comprises: a plurality of gate lines (21), extending in a first direction; a plurality of data lines (22), extending in a second direction and crossed with the plurality of gate lines (21), and the second direction being perpendicular to the first direction; a plurality of pixel units, defined by the gate lines (21) and the data lines (22) crossed with each other and arranged to be a matrix, wherein each pixel unit comprises a pixel electrode (23), a thin film transistor (24) and a common electrode (25), wherein the common electrode (25) comprises a plurality of strip-shaped electrode strips; and at least one first sensing line (26) and at least one second sensing line (27), and the first sensing line (26) and the second sensing line (27) being disposed in an upper layer and a lower layer respectively, the first sensing line (26) being insulated from and parallel to and overlapped with the second sensing line (27), and the first sensing line (26) and the second sensing line (27) both crossed with the electrode strips of the common electrode (25), wherein the upper layer and the lower layer are defined according to a travelling direction of light from a backlight in a depth direction of the array substrate, in the travelling direction of the light from the backlight in the depth direction of the array substrate, the first sensing line (26) is located between a pattern layer where the second sensing line (27) is located and a pattern layer where the common electrode (25) is located, and the second sensing line (27) is electrically connected with the common electrode (25).

With the development of display technology, a touch type display device appears which integrates an input terminal and an output terminal, and with the appearance of a series of products such as a small and light handheld touch device, the demand for the touch type display device increases sharply in the market. In existing touch type display devices, a projection type capacitive touch device has became a main touch device because it can achieve a true multi-point touch and has an advantage of high sensitivity.
FIG. 1 shows a planar perspective view of an array substrate of a mutual inductance type capacitive touch display device among existing projection type capacitive touch devices, as shown in FIG. 1, the array substrate comprises a plurality of gate lines 11, a plurality of data lines 12, and the gate lines 11 are crossed with the data lines 12 to define a plurality of pixel units arranged in a matrix form, wherein each pixel unit is provided with a pixel electrode 13 and a thin film transistor (TFT) 14, the array substrate of the mutual inductance type capacitive touch display device further comprises a strip-shaped common electrode 15 and a sensing line 16 crossed with each other, the sensing line 16 and the data lines 12 are provided in the same layer. The common electrode 15 is time-division driven, and when a touch position is detected, an alternating current voltage is applied to the common electrode, and thus, a coupling capacitance is formed between the common electrode 15 and the sensing line 16. When a finger touches a display screen of a capacitive type display device, a new capacitance is generated between the finger and the common electrode 15 and the sensing line 16, and a position of a touch point can be determined by scanning a capacitance change at a crossing position of the common electrode 15 and the sensing line 16.
For the array substrate in the above touch display device, a sensing line is newly added in the array substrate which is provided in the same layer with the data line, which will cause a lowered aperture ratio of the display device. Further, to achieve the sensitivity of the touch displaying, the sensing line needs to be provided wide enough so as to form a coupling capacitance large enough between it and the common electrode, which further lowers the aperture ratio of the display device.

Array substrate, fabricating method thereof and display device

BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A blood clot filter which is collapsible toward a central longitudinal axis into a collapsed configuration for insertion into a blood vessel and which is radially expandable outwardly from the longitudinal axis to an expanded configuration for contact with the inner wall of the blood vessel at two longitudinal spaced locations. A first plurality of spaced, elongate arms, in the expanded configuration of the filter, curve outwardly away from the longitudinal axis toward the leading end of the filter to form a first filter basket and to center a hub at the trailing end of the filter within the vessel. A second plurality of spaced elongate legs angle outwardly away from the longitudinal axis toward the leading edge of the filter in the expanded configuration thereof to form a second filter basket opening toward the leading end. To prevent longitudinal movement of the filter, the ends of these legs include hooks, at least a portion of which is of a reduced cross sectional area relative to the cross sectional area of the adjacent leg to permit the hooks to bend and straighten in response to withdrawal force.

In recent years, a number of medical devices have been designed which are adapted for compression into a small size to facilitate introduction into a vascular passageway and which are subsequently expandable into contact with the walls of the passageway. These devices, among others, include blood clot filters which expand and are held in position by engagement with the inner wall of a vein. It has been found to be advantageous to form such devices of a shape memory material having a first, relatively pliable low temperature condition and a second, relatively rigid high-temperature condition. By forming such devices of temperature responsive material, the device in a flexible and reduced stress state may be compressed and fit within the bore of a delivery catheter when exposed to a temperature below a predetermined transition temperature, but at temperatures at or above the transition temperature, the device expands and becomes relatively rigid.
Known self expanding medical devices have been formed of Nitinol, an alloy of titanium and nickel which provides the device with a thermal memory. The unique characteristic of this alloy is its thermally triggered shape memory, which allows a device constructed of the alloy to be cooled below a temperature transformation level to a martensitic state and thereby softened for loading into a catheter in a relatively compressed and elongated state, and to regain the memorized shape in an austenitic state when warmed to a selected temperature, above the temperature transformation level, such as human body temperature. The two interchangeable shapes are possible because of the two distinct microcrystalline structures that are interchangeable with a small variation in temperature. The temperature at which the device assumes its first configuration may be varied within wide limits by changing the composition of the alloy. Thus, while for human use the alloy may be focused on a transition temperature range close to 98.6.degree. F., the alloy readily may be modified for use in animals with different body temperatures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,908 to Simon discloses a very effective blood clot filter formed of thermal shape memory material. This filter, like most previously developed vena cava filters, is a permanent filter which, when once implanted, is designed to remain in place. Such filters include structure to anchor the filter in place within the vena cava, such as elongate diverging legs with hooked ends that penetrate the vessel wall and positively prevent migration in either direction longitudinally of the vessel. The hooks on filters of this type are rigid and will not bend, and within two to six weeks after a filter of this type has been implanted, the endothelium layer grows over the diverging legs and positively locks the hooks in place. Now any attempt to remove the filter results in a risk of injury to or rupture of the vena cava.
A number of medical procedures subject the patient to a short term risk of pulmonary embolism which can be alleviated by a filter implant. In such cases, patients are often adverse to receiving a permanent implant, for the risk of pulmonary embolism may disappear after a period of several weeks or months. However, most existing filters are not easily or safely removable after they have remained in place for more than two weeks, and consequently longer term temporary filters which do not result in the likelihood of injury to the vessel wall upon removal are not available.
In an attempt to provide a removable filter, two filter baskets have been formed along a central shaft which are conical in configuration, with each basket being formed by spaced struts radiating outwardly from a central hub for the basket. The central hubs are held apart by a compression unit, and the arms of the two baskets overlap so that the baskets face one another. Devices of this type require the use of two removal devices inserted at each end of the filter to draw the baskets apart and fracture the compression unit. The end sections of the arms are formed to lie in substantially parallel relationship to the vessel wall and the tips are inclined inwardly to preclude vessel wall penetration. If a device of this type is withdrawn before the endothelium layer grows over the arms, vessel wall damage is minimized. However, after growth of the endothelium layer the combined inward and longitudinal movement of the filter sections as they are drawn apart can tear this layer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,657 to Irie is illustrative of a prior art removable filter of this type which requries two removal devices.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a vessel implantable filter of shape memory material having temperature induced austenitic and martensite states which may be easily removed by a single removable device after an extended period of time without injuring the vessel wall.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a blood clot filter of Nitinol which operates in a temperature induced austenitic state to exert a force on the wall of a vessel by means of oppositely disposed legs to maintain the filter in place, but which may easily be removed after the endothelium layer has covered the ends of the filter legs without damage to the vessel wall.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved filter having a group of arms and a group of legs which incline in the same direction from a central axis. The ends of the arms in the group of arms are oriented to engage a vessel wall to orient and center the filter in the vessel, and the ends of the legs of the group of legs are oriented to engage the vessel wall to prevent longitudinal movement of the filter along the vessel. The ends of the legs are provided with hooks configured to be more elastic than the legs to permit withdrawal from the endothelium layer without risk of injury to the vessel wall.
According to the invention, a resilient, longitudinally extanded blood clot filter is inwardly radially collapsible toward its longitudinal axis into a collapsed configuration for insertion into a vein, but is adapted for automatic radial expansion into contact with the inner wall of the vein at two longitudinally spaced peripheral locations therein. The filter has leading and trailing ends and comprises a plurality of wires. The wires, in the normal expanded configuration of the filter, are in the form of a plurality of elongated arms and legs with openings between the wires providing filter baskets opening at the leading end of the filter. The wires have peripheral portions for contact with the inner wall of the vein at two longitudinally spaced peripheral locations. The arms operate to center the filter while the legs terminate in hooks which anchor the filter but which straighten in response to force to facilitate removal of the filter.
To provide a filter that is inwardly radially collapsible from its normally expanded configuration toward its longitudinal axis into a collapsed configuration for insertion into a vein, the blood clot filter is preferably formed from a plurality of wire portions composed of a thermal shape memory material having a first, low-temperature condition and a second, high-temperature condition. The material in its low-temperature condition is relatively pliable (so that the wire portions may be straightened) and in its high-temperature condition is resiliently deformable and relatively rigid, and takes a pre-determined functional form.
In the high-temperature condition of the material, the filter comprises coaxial first and second filter baskets, each filter basket being generally symmetrical about the longitudinal axis of the filter with both filter baskets being concave relative to the filter leading end.


A method, system, apparatus and article of manufacture for producing a customized application. In a preferred method of the invention, a selection of components can be identified which are to be deployed to form the customized application. Within the selection of components, points of variability can be specified which can be assigned values when deploying the selection of components. The identified selection of components and the specified points of variability can be persisted in a template. Subsequently, the template can be processed to deploy the identified selection of components, to prompt for values to be assigned to the points of variability, and to configure the identified selection of components with the values at the points of variability thereby producing the customized application.

1. Statement of the Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of component-based computing and more particularly to automated application construction by configuring a discrete set of application components.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer software applications justify the globally ravenous appetite for expensive computing technology. As the utility of computer software becomes more apparent to the least technically inclined, computing technology becomes more of a natural element of life without which productivity seemingly would grind to a halt much as would be the case without the benefit of telecommunications. Along with enhanced productivity associated with computer software, so too has the demand for more end-user specific applications increased. In this regard, no longer will it suffice that a single embodiment of a computer program solves a general problem. Rather, end-users have come to expect more particular configurations for computer software to address unpredictable end-user problem spaces.
Decades ago, most end-user specific problems had been addressed through customizable spreadsheet, word processing and database applications. Specifically, end-users could customize each of these core office productivity applications using a strategic mix of macros, preformatted document styles and computing formulas embedded within documents. Interestingly, it is well-known that even today, the world's leading personal computer manufacturer manages the complete roll-out of each new product within a single spreadsheet littered with relative references to cells within the spreadsheet. Nevertheless, the utility of a customized "application" formed through the manipulation and configuration of a conventional office productivity suite cannot scale to the enterprise.
The distribution of enterprise-wide computing applications has rested largely upon the shoulders of distributable computing components which once retrieved from a network code base can execute within the virtual environment of the conventional content browsing client. More particularly, applications can be formed through the unique arrangement of discrete application components which can be distributed on demand to client computing devices scattered about the enterprise. To support the on demand distribution of the discrete application components, application servers have formed the backbone of the distributed application and function to manage the arrangement and distribution of application components to form a highly customized enterprise application.
Despite the flexibility of the modern application server, however, the configuration of an enterprise application through the combination of discrete application components can involve a requisite level of computing expertise not prevalent throughout each enterprise. Consequently, the customization of an enterprise application can involve the expenditure of vast sums in order to support the development and maintenance of a customized enterprise computing application. The expenditure of vast sums to support the development and maintenance of a customized enterprise computing application, however, represents a substantial departure from the notion of ages gone by that an application can be customized by an unsophisticated end user through the generation of a document template as had been the case in the venerable spreadsheet. Worse yet, in today's development environment, often those who have the deepest knowledge of the business goals of an application specification, lack the most basic programming skills necessary to customize an enterprise computing application.

Creating customized applications using templates having points of variability


A percussive tool generates a reduced impact at the start of percussive operation following idling operation. The percussive tool has a cylinder containing a piston, an air chamber in front of the piston, and a striker disposed in front of the air chamber. A slide sleeve and a rimmed ring at the rear end thereof are fitted around the cylinder. The cylinder has formed therein an exhaust port and auxiliary ports in front of the exhaust port for placing the air chamber in communication with the atmosphere. When the slide sleeve is retracted, the exhaust port is closed by the rimmed ring. During percussive operation of the percussive tool, the auxiliary ports are always closed by the reciprocating striker and therefore not open to the air chamber. During idling operation, the striker takes an advanced position and opens the auxiliary ports, thereby placing the air chamber in communication with the atmosphere. The distance between the rear end of the striker and the auxiliary ports is set slightly shorter than the distance between the rear end of the ring and the exhaust port in normal operation, so that the auxiliary ports are opened prior to the exhaust port.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electric hammers, hammer drills or other types of percussive tools having an idle strike preventive mechanism. More particularly, this invention relates to such a percussive tool in which the idle strike preventive mechanism incorporates an additional mechanism to lessen the impact at the start of normal percussive operation following idling operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 8 shows Japanese Published Unexamined Utility Model Application No. 62-174887, which discloses an idle strike preventive mechanism for use in an electric hammer. In this mechanism, a cylinder 40 contains a reciprocating piston 41, an air chamber 42, and a striker 43 interlocked with the piston 41 via the air chamber 42. An axially slide sleeve 45 is mounted over the cylinder 40 and urged forward (toward a tool bit 47) by means of a compression spring 44. Also, an exhaust port 48 is formed in the cylinder 40 for connecting the air chamber 42 with the atmosphere. According to this construction, when the tool bit 47 is pressed against the ground or a workpiece, the slide sleeve 45 is retracted to a rear position together with an intermediate member 46 which is disposed between the tool bit 47 and the striker 43. The retracted slide sleeve 45 closes the exhaust port 48, thereby creating an air spring within the air chamber 42 (and pneumatically interlocking the striker 43 with the piston 41). On the other hand, during idle strikes, in which the tool bit 47 is not pressed against the ground or when the tool bit 47 is not mounted at all, the slide sleeve 45 advances together with the intermediate member 46, thus opening the exhaust port 48. The air spring created in the air chamber 47 is lost, eliminating the interlock between the piston 41 and the striker 43.
Notwithstanding the capability to break the interlock between the piston 41 and the striker 43, the prior art idle strike preventive mechanism falls short in the following respect.
While idle strikes are prevented by the mechanism, the tool bit 47, the intermediate member 46, the striker 43 are located in a forward position. To restore normal operation from idling operation, the tool bit 47 is pressed against the ground. In this way, the tool bit 47 and the intermediate member 46 are retracted, pushing back the slide sleeve 45, which then closes the exhaust port 48 to place the air chamber 42 suddenly in a sealed condition. Also, the striker 43 is simultaneously pushed back by the retracted intermediate member 46 to be interlocked with the piston 41. The air spring created in the suddenly sealed air chamber 42 causes an abrupt retraction of the striker 43 at the start of its interlock with the piston 41. The striker 43, being abruptly retraced, causes a strong impact or jolt at the beginning of the subsequent percussive operation. The impact is problematic not only because it lowers the operability of the hammer drill, but also because it causes the tool bit to jump on the workpiece and to chip off the edge of the drilled bore.

Percussive tool having a reduced impact at the start of percussive operation