A mechanical gearbox for aircraft                includes a sun gear with an external toothing,        a ring gear with an internal toothing, and        planet gears which are meshed with the sun gear and the ring gear and which each have a first toothing of average diameter D32 meshed with the toothing of the sun gear, and a second toothing of average diameter D28, different from D32, meshed with the internal toothing of the ring gear. The planet gears are guided by hydrodynamic bearings which each include a first smooth guiding surface extending at least partly under the first toothing, and a second smooth guiding surface extending at least partly under the second toothing.

The prior art comprises, in particular the documents US-A1-2019/011038, DE-A1-102017127874, US-A1-2020/191256, WO-A1-2010/092263, FR-A1-2 987 416, FR-A1-3 011 901, FR-A1-3 041 054, FR-A1-3 058 493, FR-A1-3 066 792, FR-A1-3 069 301, and FR-A1-3 076 336.
The role of a mechanical gearbox is to modify the speed and torque ratio between the input shaft and the output shaft of a mechanical system.
The new generations of multi-flow turbomachines, in particular those with a high dilution ratios, comprising a mechanical gearbox to drive the shaft of a ducted or unducted propeller (also known as "fan"). The usual purpose of the gearbox is to convert the so-called high speed of rotation of the shaft of a power turbine into a slower speed of rotation for the shaft driving the propeller.
Such a gearbox comprises a central pinion, called sun gear, a ring gear and pinions called planet gears, which are engaged between the sun gear and the ring gear. The planet gears are held by a frame called a planet carrier. The sun gear, the ring gear and the planet carrier are planetary gears because their axes of revolution coincide with the longitudinal axis X of the turbomachine. The planet gears each have a different axis of revolution and are equally distributed on the same operating diameter around the axis of the planetary gears. These axes are parallel to the longitudinal axis X.
There are several gearbox architectures. In the prior art of the multi-flow turbomachines, the gearboxes are of the planetary or epicyclic type. In other similar applications, there are so-called differential or compound architectures.                In a planetary gearbox, the planet carrier is stationary and the ring gear is the output shaft of the device which rotates in the opposite direction to the sun gear.        In an epicyclic gearbox, the ring gear is stationary and the planet carrier is the output shaft of the device which rotates in the same direction as the sun gear.        On a compound gearbox, no element is attached in rotation. The ring gear rotates in the opposite direction of the sun gear and the planet carrier.
The gearboxes can consist of one or more gear stages. This meshing is ensured in different ways such as by contact, friction or magnetic field.
In the present application, "stage" or "toothing" means a series of meshing teeth with a series of complementary teeth. A toothing can be internal or external.
A planet gear may comprise one or two gear stages. A single-stage planet gear comprise a toothing that can be straight, helical or herringbone, and whose teeth are located on a same diameter. This toothing cooperates with both the sun gear and the ring gear.
A double-stage planet gear comprises two toothings or two series of teeth that are located on different diameters. A first toothing cooperates with the sun gear and a second toothing cooperates with the ring gear.
In addition, each planet gear is centred and guided in rotation around an axis by a bearing which is carried by the planet carrier. There are several bearing technologies available for this application and the present application relates specifically to the use of hydrodynamic bearings for guiding the planet gears in a mechanical gearbox.
In the present application, "hydrodynamic bearing" means a bearing comprising a body engaged in a planet gear and around which at least one film of oil under pressure is located. In the prior art, a hydrodynamic bearing of planet gear comprises a cylindrical body comprising an external cylindrical surface that extends into an internal cylindrical surface of the planet gear. The pressurized oil film is interposed between these surfaces and allows that there is no contact between these surfaces.
One of the problems of a mechanical gearbox is the risk of misalignment of the planet gears. This problem is amplified in the case of dual-stage planet gears because significant moments are applied to the operating planet gears. These moments are complex to take into account when sizing the bearings, which are likely to brace. The architectures with at least one stage of helical toothings require the use of stops for taking up the axial force. However, the installation of these stops generates a significant axial overall dimension requirement. The overall dimension available under the toothings is not uniform. If there are two toothings on a planet gear, one of these toothings is smaller than the other and imposes a small size on a conventional hydrodynamic bearing.
There is therefore a need to manage the taking up of the moments applied to the bearings of the planet gears, which tend to be difficult to predict and size, and to give rise to risks of over-consumption of oil, and arcing and jamming of the bearings.

Mechanical gearbox for an aircraft turbomachine


A document transmission apparatus reduces troublesome labor of an operator when transmitting document data, inputted from a scanner or the like, by various transmission methods such as electronic mail, facsimile, remote printing and file transfer. An address book containing a receiver and a plurality of transmission methods for transmitting document data to the receiver is generated. Upon transmission instruction, an appropriate transmission method is selected by the receiver, then document data is converted into data of an appropriate data format, and the converted data is transmitted. Further, a notice of transmission indicating that the document data has been transmitted is transmitted to the receiver of the document data by a method different from the transmission method of the document data. Thus, the document data can be reliably delivered to the receiver.

Conventionally, document data or the like, obtained by reading an original by using a scanner or the like, is transmitted to a remote facsimile apparatus via a telephone line, or transferred to a remote terminal via a network.
However, in case of transmitting a common document to various destinations with different data formats, procedures for format conversion for each destination designation have been very troublesome.


Systems and methods for early fixed latency subtractive decoding are disclosed. The subtractive decoding device speculatively acknowledges a bus transaction within a fixed time period that is the same as the time period for positive decoding. Pipelining of a new bus transaction may therefore be accomplished each new time period. A bus transaction may be retried if no acknowledgement occurs within the fixed time period.

A device on a bus may acknowledge and claim a transaction if the transaction corresponds to an address within an assigned address range for that device. Such a device may be said to use active decoding or positive decoding when a check is made of the address with respect to the assigned address range.
In some cases, devices are not all of the same speed. Consequently, a bus protocol may provide for positive decoding of fast devices within a first predetermined time period and for positive decoding of slower devices within a second predetermined time period. One potential drawback of such a scheme is that a bus master must wait for the slower devices if no faster device acknowledges and claims the transaction within the first predetermined time period. Another potential drawback is that it may be desirable to dynamically add devices to the system, yet the added devices may vary in speed and the address ranges for these devices may not be known in advance.
A technique, which may simplify the bus protocol, is to permit one device to acknowledge and claim any transaction if the transaction corresponds to an address that is not acknowledged and claimed by another device. Such a device may be said to use subtractive decoding. For an example, a bridge may be used to connect a PCI (peripheral component interconnect) bus to an ISA (industry standard architecture) bus. On the PCI bus, a PCI device may acknowledge and claim a transaction, for instance, within one to three cycles. Then if no PCI device acknowledges the transaction, a subtractive decoding device may acknowledge and claim the transaction for a slower ISA device without knowing which ISA device may eventually acknowledge the transaction.
The potential drawback of such a technique is that it, too, adds an additional delay for the subtractive decoding beyond the predetermined time period in which all of the positive decoding devices must respond.

System and apparatus for early fixed latency subtractive decoding


A tab/hook like device for hanging posters and charts (or other large graphics) for storage, retrieval and reorganization. One or more flat flexible plastic tabs with holes and slits, acting as easily opened and automatically closing tabs, are attached to the back top edge of the posters or charts to be stored. If multiple tabs are used, then the tabs are separated at a preestablished intervals along the top edge of the poster or chart. (Alternatively one long tab may be used spanning the same distance at the top of the poster or chart.) These tab/hooks holding a poster or chart are snapped onto the rods or rings of a holding rack. Because the posters and charts are hanging they are easy to separate, review and locate; and because the tab/hooks are flexible, individual posters or charts may easily be removed from the rack and placed back again on the rack in any other position within the established sequence of posters or charts. (A variation of this invention for didactic flip charts uses a somewhat more heavy duty flat plastic hook.)

The present invention relates to systems for storage of graphics, charts, maps, posters and similar objects, which are referenced in the following as posters or charts, in the claims refered to as "sheetlike objects", without restricting the objects which can be stored using the present invention to the same. It is particularly applicable for posters and charts ranging from 15" to 30" in width and from less than 10" to more than 40". in height. This invention is of particular importance for use in classrooms where many different didactic and decorative posters and charts are displayed and used as part of an ongoing curriculum. Because they are periodically changed to support the progression of the learning process it is important to have an efficient and easy system for handling and storing these relatively large graphics. This invention provides a new type of tab/hook device for hanging posters and charts or the like in a simple and flexibly fashion and allows to establish an order to organize easy storage and retrieval. Furthermore, a tool is disclosed for attaching tabs/hooks to a poster, chart or the like. In the following disclosure of the present invention the tab/hook device is referenced as a tab without diminishing its feature as a hook for hanging an object on a rack.

Thin snap support tabs for hang storage of posters and charts and a tool for attaching such tabs to said posters and charts


A pivot assembly is provided for attaching a closing wheel frame to a planter. The closing wheel frame has a pair of closing wheels attached at a rear end and a pair of mounting openings formed at a front end. The pivot assembly includes ball bearings having outer races fit loosely within each of the mounting openings of the closing wheel frame. The inner races of the ball bearings are secured to the planter frame using threaded nut and bolt assemblies. The closing wheel frame is pivotal relative to the planter frame during normal operation by relative movement between the inner and outer races of the bearing. Variations of the mounting openings in the closing wheel frame are disclosed, including a tubular part, heavy washer or other annular structure welded to an outside surface of the closing wheel frame, or a bearing housing formed integral with the closing wheel frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to closing wheel assemblies for agricultural planters. In particular, the present invention relates to improved pivot assemblies for mounting closing wheel frames to planters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The first "modern" planter was the John Deere 7000 series planter introduced in 1973. This planter is depicted in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings. This design utilized two opener disks 11 which contact at one point 12 and diverge at a small angle to form a furrow 13 in the ground. The depth of the furrow is determined by the adjustable position of the gauge wheels 14. The seed is dropped into a seed tube 15 and falls into the furrow 13.
A pair of closing wheels 16, which are mounted at an angle and are spring loaded to exert a downward force on the ground, then close the furrow 13 thereby covering the seed with soil. The closing wheels 16 are supported by a closing wheel frame 17. The closing wheel frame 17 was constructed from 0.164″ thick sheet metal for many years until the introduction of the John Deere 1700 series planter.
The closing wheel frame 17 on the original John Deere 7000 series planter was attached to the shank assembly 18 at a pivot point 19. The pivot point 19 on each side of the closing wheel frame 17 consisted of a heat-treated 0.750″ diameter bushing 20 (FIG. 3) clamped to the shank assembly 18 and the support casting 21 by a bolt 29 going through holes 22 in the shank assembly 18 and support casting 21. The outer bearing surface was a slightly larger than 0.750″ hole 23 in the sheet metal of the closing wheel frame 17.
Down pressure for the closing wheels 16 was provided by an extension spring attached at 24 to the support casting 21. The spring pressure was adjusted by a bolt 25. Because the moment arm 26 of the spring about the pivot point 19 was small relative to the moment arm 27 of the wheel reaction 28, the spring pressure was necessarily large. This resulted in high pressure on the bearing surfaces of the bushing 20 and the sheet metal hole 23, which in turn resulted in accelerated wear on both the bushing 20 and the hole 23.
Uneven wear on those components resulted in the closing wheels 16 pulling to one side and prevented them from closing the furrow 13 adequately. To alleviate this problem, John Deere increased the size of the bushing 20 to 1.00″ and changed the holes 22 to horizontal slots to allow the frame 17 to be adjusted to center the closing wheels 16 on the furrow 13. The slots were ineffective because by the time adjustment was needed, the parts obviously were worn which made it impossible to accurately relocate the bushings.
John Deere remedied this situation when they introduced the Model 7200 series planter in 1984. The bearing surface was increased to 1.562″ diameter, and a cam was introduced on the right-hand side. To accommodate these changes the new support casting was attached with two vertical bolts that go through holes in the top of the casting. The above changes did not adequately alleviate the problem and in 1992 John Deere changed the rear hole in the top of the support casting to a lateral slot to allow more adjustment.
With the introduction of the Model 1700 series planters, John Deere improved the closing wheel frame pivot by increasing the frame bearing surface to 0.25″ width and making it a casting. However, the thicker bearing surface and using steel on cast iron has not proven to be a major improvement over the earlier design.
Other manufacturers have experienced wear problems at the closing wheel frame pivot similar to John Deere but have basically stayed with a steel on steel bearing surface and have provided cams for adjustment. Several after-market repair kits have been available in recent years. Montezuma Welding and R K Products Inc. have provided a heat treated 0.250″ thick outer bearing surface along with heat treated cams. May-Wes Manufacturing Inc. markets a bushing kit (PERMA-FIX™) that provides a substantial wear surface as well as the means for lubrication. A&T Enterprises offers a repair kit (PRESS FIX™) that utilizes ball bearings mounted in conventional "flangette" mountings. The flangette mountings allow for misalignment and still allow the bearing outer race to be clamped tightly. The bearing used has a 1.00″ diameter bore that permits the use of a cam adjuster.

Pivot assembly for planter closing wheel frame


Aspects of the embodiments are directed to systems and methods for performing link training using stored and retrieved equalization parameters obtained from a previous equalization procedure. As part of a link training sequence, links interconnecting an upstream port with a downstream port and with any intervening retimers, can undergo an equalization procedure. The equalization parameter values from each system component, including the upstream port, downstream port, and retimer(s) can be stored in a nonvolatile memory. During a subsequent link training process, the equalization parameter values stored in the nonvolatile memory can be written to registers associated with the upstream port, downstream port, and retimer(s) to be used to operate the interconnecting links. The equalization parameter values can be used instead of performing a new equalization procedure or can be used as a starting point to reduce latency associated with equalization procedures.

Serializer/deserializer (SERDES) links are used for communication in computing systems. A SERDES link includes a serializer to serialize outgoing parallel data, such as data from a link, into serial data. The SERDES link also includes a deserializer to deserialize incoming serial data to parallel data. A SERDES link is popular in computing systems employing high speed, power efficient communications.
Interconnects can be used to provide communication between different devices within a system, some type of interconnect mechanism is used. One typical communication protocol for communications interconnects between devices in a computer system is a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI Express™ (PCIe™)) communication protocol. This communication protocol is one example of a load/store input/output (I/O) interconnect system. The communication between the devices is typically performed serially according to this protocol at very high speeds.
Devices can be connected across various numbers of data links, each data link including a plurality of data lanes. Upstream devices and downstream devices undergo link training upon initialization to optimize data transmissions across the various links and lanes.


An axle assembly including a disconnect assembly and an integrated fluid flow system. The disconnect assembly including an axially movable clutch member in selective engagement with at least one shaft to permit a rotation thereof. The fluid flow system includes a fluid flow member and a plurality of fluid passageways to permit a flow of a fluid (e.g. a lubricant) from a fluid source (e.g. a fluid sump of the axle assembly) to various components disposed within a carrier housing of the axle assembly and a return of the fluid back to the fluid source.

Electric drive axles are known of the type which comprises an electric motor, a gear assembly, and an axle assembly. The axle assembly typically includes a carrier housing for storing an amount of lubricating oil therein, a differential rotatably mounted within the carrier housing, a ring gear contained within the carrier housing and mounted on the differential for rotation therewith, and a pair of axle half shafts which extend outwardly to respective wheel ends (i.e. a wheel set). In an all-wheel drive ("AWD") vehicle, a primary wheel-set may be continually connected to a power source of the AWD vehicle while a secondary wheel-set is selectively connected thereto via a disconnect assembly. The disconnect assembly may include a clutch mechanism to selectively disconnect components of the secondary wheel-set and associated driveline, thereby improving a fuel efficiency of the AWD vehicle.
In such axle assemblies as described above, components such as bearing for rotatably supporting the differential within the carrier housing are typically positioned facing an interior of the carrier housing and directly splashed with lubricating oil picked up by rotation of the ring gear. However, other components (i.e. the disconnect assembly) disposed within the axle assembly, and more particularly the carrier housing, may not be splashed with the lubricating oil splashed by the ring gear. It is, therefore, necessary to provide positive lubrication of the other components disposed within the carrier housing so as to ensure durability of the axle assembly.
Conventionally, there have been lubrication systems, wherein an oil supply passage is formed in an upper portion of the carrier housing to receive the lubricating oil picked up by rotation of the ring gear and supply it into an annular space around a drive pinion shaft, and an oil return passage is formed in the bottom portion of the carrier housing to permit the lubricating oil passing through around the drive pinion shaft to return into an interior of the carrier housing. In such arrangements, it is still difficult to supply a sufficient and consistent amount of lubricating oil since the oil supply passage receives the lubricating oil splashed from the ring gear and not a controlled amount.
It would be desirable to produce an axle assembly including a disconnect assembly and an integrated fluid flow system, which enhances durability, efficiency and manufacturability, while a cost and weight thereof is minimized.


A user-wearable illumination assembly comprises a mounting fixture that is adapted to be coupled to a user-wearable device, such as eyeglasses, goggles, face masks, helmets, or other devices. A light guide has a first end that can be coupled to a light source, and a second end coupled to a lens housing that is in turn coupled to the mounting fixture. An optical lens in the lens housing cooperates with the light guide to project light from the light source through the lens. In one embodiment, the lens has a substantially spherical surface facing the second end of the light guide and an aspheric surface facing away from the second end of the light guide. In another embodiment, the mounting fixture comprises articulating portions to permit independent or simultaneous adjustment of the lens housing to direct projected light in a desired direction.

User-wearable illumination devices are known in the art for providing illumination to assist practitioners during the performance of various medical and/or dental procedures. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,291 to Caplan et al. discloses a lightweight, user-wearable illumination assembly that can be removably attached to user-wearable devices, such as eyeglasses, face shields, headbands, or various other devices. U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,291 is commonly owned by the assignee of the present application, and is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The illumination device disclosed therein utilizes a light guide, such as a fiber optic cable, to provide illumination from a remote illumination source.
While prior illumination devices have been developed to overcome various drawbacks of previously available lighting implements, further improvements to such user-wearable illumination devices is desired to make the devices even more compact and lightweight, without sacrificing performance.


Disclosed is a system for maintaining a pretreatment bath containing a pretreatment comprising a Group IVB metal. The system comprises an aqueous reducing agent comprising a metal cation and a latent source of sulfate which, upon reaction with a contaminant in the pretreatment bath, forms a metal sulfate. The contaminant comprises a nitrite source. The metal sulfate salt has a pKsp of 4.5 to 11 at a temperature of 25° C. Also disclosed is a method for maintaining a pretreatment bath containing a pretreatment composition comprising a Group IVB metal. The method comprises supplying the reducing agent to the pretreatment bath in an amount sufficient to reduce a pollution ratio of the pretreatment bath to less than 1:1. Also disclosed are substrates with a pretreatment bath maintained according to the system and method.

The use of protective coatings on metal surfaces for improved corrosion and paint adhesion is common. Conventional techniques for coating such substrates include techniques that involve pretreating the metal substrate with a phosphate conversion coating and chrome-containing rinses. The use of such phosphate and/or chromate-containing compositions, however, imparts environmental and health concerns. As a result, pretreatment compositions have been developed that are either free of chromate and/or phosphate, or that include phosphate at levels that are low enough to avoid the environmental and health concerns raised by conventional coating techniques. Such compositions are generally based on chemical mixtures that react with the substrate surface and bind to it to form a protective layer. For example, pretreatment compositions based on a Group IVB metal compound have recently become more prevalent.

Systems and methods for maintaining pretreatment baths


A method comprises during a frame period finding a first EFT noise influenced sensor of a touch screen panel, determining whether the first EFT noise influenced sensor is located at a last transmitting/driving line of the touch screen panel, designating the frame period as a noise influenced frame period using an absolute value threshold if the first EFT noise influenced sensor is not located at the last transmitting/driving line and designating the frame period as the noise influenced frame period using a percentage threshold if the first EFT noise influenced sensor is located at the last transmitting/driving line.

A variety of touch screen devices including personal digital assistants (PDA), tablet computers, mobile phones, kiosks, handheld gaming consoles and the like have become popular. A touch screen device may comprise a pressure sensitive transparent panel overlaying a display such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen. The pressure sensitive transparent panel is capable of detecting the pressure from a finger touch and forwarding the detected signal to a processor coupled to the panel. The processor may process the detected signal and determine whether there is a finger touch and the location of the finger touch.
The prevailing touch screen technologies may be divided into two categories, namely resistive touch screen techniques and capacitive touch screen techniques. A touch screen system based upon a resistive touch screen technique may comprise two conductive layers, which are separated from each other by an air gap when there is no touch present on the surface of the resistive touch screen. When a finger touches the screen, the pressure may cause two conductive layers to contact each other so that the resistance between the two conductive layers is lowered down as a result. A sensing circuit may detect the resistance variation and determine the location of the finger touch accordingly.
A capacitive touch screen may comprise a plurality of transmit lines TX and receive lines RX arranged in rows and columns. The transmit lines may be coupled to a signal source and arranged in parallel in a first direction. The receive lines may be coupled to a sensing circuit and arranged in parallel in a second direction. The first direction is orthogonal to the second direction. Therefore, the transmit lines may intersect with the receive lines to form a plurality of capacitors. As a finger touches a point of the capacitive touch screen, the capacitance at the point may vary as a result. Such capacitance variation at that point causes a change of the detected signal at the sensing circuit coupled to the receive lines. As a result, the sensing circuit may determine whether there is a finger touch. Furthermore, if a finger touch exists, the sensing circuit may detect the location of the finger touch.
The touch screen devices may be powered by a battery charger when a rechargeable battery of the touch screen device is depleted. However, the battery charger may cause noise interference. In particular, the battery charger is coupled to a utility power line. The noise from the utility power line may penetrate into the touch screen system and contaminate the transmit lines TX through the battery charger. For example, when a battery charger is connected to a touch screen system, intermittent bursts of noise may occur at electrodes of the touch screen. This kind of intermittent bursts of noise is commonly known as electrical fast transient (EFT) noise, which may trigger false finger touches. In order to prevent EFT noise from falsely triggering a finger touch event, a touch screen system may take a variety of EFT noise tests before the design of the touch screen system is finalized. The EFT noise test should be conducted under conditions specified by IEC 61000-4-4.

Apparatus and method for preventing false touches in touch screen systems


A cellular communications network providing multi-hyperband capability comprises a mobile switching center acting as a data administration and call control center for a plurality of cells, each cell divided into one or more sectors. A plurality of communications links connect the mobile switching center to associated cells. Each sector is capable supporting one or more hyperbands. Entities representing sector-specific data are differentiated from hyperband-specific entities. Thus, a sector-related message transmitted via the communications links comprises a cell and sector number key and a plurality of parameters related to the cell and sector number, and a hyperband-related message transmitted via the communications links comprises a hyperband key, wherein the hyperband key corresponds to one of the supported multiple hyperbands, and a plurality of parameters related to the hyperband corresponding to the hyperband key.

Cellular systems perform communications based on the cell unit. A cell is the geographic service area covered by a Base Station Transceiver Subsystem (BTS). In general, a cell is classified as an omni-cell or a three-sector cell. The sector represents the coverage angle of an antenna face, for example 120 degrees for a three-sector cell and 360 degrees for an omni-cell. A mobile station communicates with a base station that supports the cell within which the mobile station is located. The communication is performed via forward and reverse communication channels.
Certain cellular telecommunications networks have traditionally operated in the 824–849 MHz range, also known as the cellular hyperband. A more recent evolution in cellular telecommunications involves the adoption of the 1900 MHz hyperband for use in handling mobile and personal communications. The 1900 MHz hyperband is also known as the Personal Communication Services (PCS) hyperband. Standards that define cellular telephone operations in North America include the intersystem signaling standard IS-41 that is incorporated by reference herein.
Each of the frequency bands specified for the cellular and PCS hyperbands is allocated a plurality of voice or speech channels and at least one access or control channel. The control channel is used to control or supervise the operation of mobile stations by means of information transmitted to and received from the mobile stations. Such information may include, but is not limited to, incoming call signals, outgoing call signals, page signals, page response signals, location registration signals, voice channel assignments, maintenance instructions, short message service (SMS) messages, and cell selection or reselection instructions as mobile stations travel out of the radio coverage of one cell and into the radio coverage of another cell. The voice channel is used to carry subscriber telephonic communications as well as messages requesting mobile station assistance in making hand-off evaluations. The control and voice channels may operate in either an analog mode or a digital mode.
Many wireless service providers are beginning to supplement their existing RF spectrum with additional spectrum purchased from the other hyperband in order to increase network capacity. Legacy cell equipment is designed to support only a single hyperband. New systems simultaneously supporting both current wireless hyperbands (Cellular and PCS) are being designed. This presents the problem of supporting both hyperbands in the same cell, without completely altering the existing infrastructure designed to support cells of a single hyperband. In addition, future spectrum is planned for auction, thus further compounding the problem. Accordingly, the proposed solution should be easily expandable to support additional hyperbands.
Existing cellular telephone networks may have to simultaneously support radio telecommunications on multiple frequency bands. One solution is to have a mobile switching center (MSC) control transmission and reception equipment at one or more geographically coincident base stations to operate one cell in the cellular hyperband and another cell in PCS hyperband. In addition, adjacent exchanges, controlled by different MSCs, may have cells that operate in the cellular hyperband or cells operating in both the cellular and PCS hyperbands. However, the cells serving the cellular hyperband and the cells serving the PCS hyperband, although possibly covering the same area, are typically treated as independent cells. This solution has the disadvantage of artificially increasing the number of cells that must be supported by the wireless infrastructure, and the coordination of handoffs from one sector to another, as a mobile moves from one reception area to another, becomes a more complicated function.
It would be a distinct advantage to have a solution for supporting multiple hyperbands that is easily expandable to support additional hyperbands. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a solution.

Wireless base station supporting multiple hyperbands


A particle extracting device and a hard disk drive including the device are provided. The particle extracting device includes a cover member of the hard disk drive; and an air guiding member disposed on a bottom surface of the cover member and facing a disk, so as to form a flowing path which guides an air flow generated by a rotation of the disk to an outer portion of the disk. In addition, the flowing path formed along an outer circumference of the air guiding member has an air inlet portion having a larger cross-section than a cross-section of an air outlet portion of the flowing path.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to a hard disk drive, and more particularly, to a particle extracting device guiding air, including particles such as dust, on a disk to the outside of the disk, and a hard disk drive including the particle extracting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fine particles such as dust existing on a disk are attached onto a surface of the disk, and thus, operations of a read/write head become unstable. That is, when the read/write head collides with the fine particles existing on the surface of the disk, scratches may be generated on the read/write head by the hard fine particles, and thus, the performance of the read/write head may be degraded. In addition, layers of the disk may be contaminated or damaged by the accumulated fine particles. That is, a lubricant layer or a protective layer of the disk is scratched by the accumulated fine particles, and accordingly, a magnetic recording layer is degraded, and a serious disk error may be generated.
Therefore, the fine particles should be discharged so as not to remain in the hard disk drive, in particular, on the read/write head and the surface of the disk.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional hard disk drive including a filtering device for removing fine particles remaining in the hard disk drive.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional hard disk drive includes a housing 1 having a base member 3 and a cover member 2, a spindle motor 6 installed on the base member 3, one or more data storage disks 4 fixedly installed on the spindle motor 6, and an actuator 5 for moving a read/write head, which reproduces and records data, onto a predetermined position on the data storage disk 4.
In the hard disk drive described above, when the data storage disk 4 rotates at a high speed, the air in the housing 1 flows in the same direction as the rotating direction of the data storage disk 4, that is, in a direction denoted by arrow A of FIG. 1. Some of the flowing air is guided by an air guide 9 formed on an outer circumferential portion of the data storage disk 4, and passes through a filter 7. The fine particles such as dust included in the flowing air are filtered by the filter 7.
In the above hard disk drive of 2.5 inches or larger, since a diameter of the disk is large and the rotating speed is fast (about 5,400 rpm or faster), the air flows sufficiently by the rotation of the disk, and thus, the particles can be discharged easily.
However, in a small and thin type small form factor (SFF) hard disk drive, a diameter of the disk is small, and the rotation speed is slow. Therefore, the air flow occurring due to the rotation of the disk is not sufficient, and thus, the particles on the disk cannot be discharged easily out of the disk. Therefore, the read/write head and the surface of the disk may be physically damaged, or performances of the read/write head may be degraded.

Particle extracting device of hard disk drive and hard disk drive including the same


A punch press includes an upper main shaft (3) vertically movable by means of a hydraulic driving means (2.sub.1, 2.sub.2, 3a) and rotatable for indexing by means of a rotary driving means (7, 8, 9), a lower main shaft (30) positioned below the upper main shaft and rotatable in synchronism with the upper main shaft for indexing, upper and lower dies (23, 45) detachably mounted on the upper and lower main shafts in opposition to each other, and upper and lower clamping devices for clamping the upper and lower dies on the upper and lower main shafts (3, 30) with positioning in phase.

Conventionally, a turret punch press is known as a device for punching and forming of plate form work. In this type of arrangement, a plurality of dies are required to be set in a turret prior to commencing operation.
A plurality of patent applications have been filed with respect to the various components of this type of device.
For example, Japanese Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 54-17973, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 54-6751, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 56-119626, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 60-106630 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 60-106631 disclose technologies for positioning and exchanging of dies.
On the other hand, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-130225, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-130226, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-130227, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-130228, Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication No. 64-3546, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 62-127318 and Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 59-44940 disclose technologies for controlling strokes of upper dies or for rotating turrets.
All of these technologies relate to the turret punch press. The turret punch press includes upper and lower turrets which rotate in synchronism with each other. However, the construction which controls this synchronous rotation is complicated and expensive.


An electronic device is disclosed. The electronic device includes an antenna module having an antenna, and a body chassis storing electronic components. The body chassis, which is made of an electromagnetic shielding material such as metal, has a flat plate with a processor arranged thereon and with a cutout portion formed at an end portion thereof, a rear plate connected to the end portion of the flat plate, and a dent wall connected to the cutout portion and to the rear plate. The antenna module is provided in an antenna section whose front, left, and right sides are enclosed by the dent wall.

An electronic device such as a laptop personal computer (laptop PC) includes a body chassis with a keyboard device and a display chassis with a display. The display chassis is configured to be rotatable via a hinge with respect to the body chassis. A laptop PC is also equipped with an antenna for various wireless communications via a wireless wide-area network (WWAN), a wireless local-area network (WLAN), etc. Conventionally, the antenna is often provided on the frame of the display chassis.
The present disclosure provides an electronic device capable of securing electromagnetic noise shielding and increasing radio wave transmitting and receiving performance for an antenna within the electronic device.


A process for manufacturing flavors from the spent mash of a fermentation mixture is provided wherein the spent mash of the fermentation mixture after distillation is separated into two constituent portions, the thin stillage and the wet distillers' grains. The thin stillage portion is then combined with a base to adjust pH thereof to between about 7 and about 11. The pH-adjusted thin stillage portion is then cooked at a temperature between about 130.degree. F. and about 210.degree. F. for a period of about 4 to about 14 hours. The cooked solution is concentrated in an evaporator until about 30% wt. solids level is obtained. The product is then dried to about 5-about 10% wt. moisture content. The product obtained has different flavors, depending on the base added and the pH of the cooking step. If the base is sodium hydroxide, the product has a bland, sweet or yeasty flavor if the pH is 8.5, maple or caramel flavor if the pH is 9.5, and a cracker or nutty flavor if the pH is 10.5. The product also comprises about 10 to about 28% wt. of total dietary fiber. Instead of the thin stillage, a yeast-containing by-product of beer production, brewers' cream yeast or brewers spent yeast, can be used as the starting material for the process.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention is directed to a process for treating a thin stillage portion of a by-product of a process for producing alcohol, and to products of the process. The invention is also directed to a process for treating a yeast-containing portion of a by-product of beer production. More particularly, the invention relates to the production of flavoring compositions from the thin stillage portion produced during alcoholic beverage distillation, and from the yeast-containing portion of a by-product of beer production.
2. Related Art
It is known that the fermentation of various carbohydrate materials, such as cereal grains, and subsequent distillative separation of volatile products, such as ethanol, provides distillation residues. These residues have been the subject of attempts by researchers to manufacture a food or food supplement which takes advantage of their nutritional attributes. In particular, the spent mash, which includes distillers' grains and solubles, is believed to have considerable nutritional value due to its high protein and fiber content and has been shown to be useful as a supplement for ruminant animal feed. For example, Baeling et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,775, discloses a method of thermally dewatering the liquid stillage residue from the fermentation and distillation of grain raw material to produce an animal feed.
It is also known to produce a human quality food from some by-products of fermentation and distillation of grain raw materials. For example, Rasco et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,846, discloses a food product suitable for human consumption produced from cereal grain residues remaining after alcohol fermentation. The food product is suitable for use as a supplement to baking flours and the like. This product is obtained by controlling between 4.0-5.0 the pH of various enzymatic conversions of starch. The pH is controlled using citric, malic, acetic, lactic, tartaric, fumaric, succinic, nitric or hydrochloric acids. The pH of the slurry residues remaining after the distillation is adjusted to between 5.0 and 8.0 using hydroxides of sodium, potassium or calcium, and the product is dried at a temperature of less than 170.degree. F. Rasco discloses that adjusting the pH of the slurry to below 5.0 results in a product which will be rejected as "too sour," and adjusting the pH of the slurry to above about 8.0 results in a product which will be rejected as "too alkaline" (Rasco, column 4, lines 24-28).
In Thacker et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,497, a method of coproduction of ethanol and a high protein, high fiber food product is disclosed which involves suspending grain in a slurry and liquefying the starch therein. The liquefied starch is separated from the grain solids fraction, and the grain solids fraction is prepared into a solids cake. None of the prospective food product undergoes the fermentation process.
These attempts, however, have not been altogether successful. Many food products made according to these processes have failed to eliminate the bitter taste of the solubles in the spent mash and acquired their unpleasant taste. See for example, Bookwalter et al., "Investigations On The Use Of Distillers' Grains or Fractions Thereof In Blended Foods For The Foods For Peace Program And Other Food Applications," U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Final Report, August 1, 1981-August 31, 1983.
It is also known to produce a flavoring for food from starch-free cereal grains. For example, Sfat, U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,277, discloses a caramel flavoring and a method of preparation of same from a starch-free protein hydrolysate by heating a granular intimate mixture of a protein hydrolysate and a sugar at between 75.degree.-100.degree. C. until a caramel flavor is imparted to the mixture. Rusoff, U.S. Pat. No. 2,887,388, discloses the production of a chocolate base flavor by reacting partially hydrolyzed proteins with reducing sugars and precursors thereof at a temperature which is dependent on the specific saccharide used.
The above patents and publications disclose advances made in the art of preparing food products from the by-products of distillation processes, and also in the preparation of flavorings from starch-free cereal grains. None of these patents or publications, however, discloses or suggests a method of preparing a flavoring composition only from the solubles or thin stillage portion of the spent mash produced in a distillation process, without modifying the fermentation process. Also, none of these patents or publications discloses or suggests the use of only the solubles or thin stillage portion of the spent mash, allowing the wet distillers' grains to be used for purposes for which they are well suited, e.g., in ruminant animal feed. Moreover, the prior art discussed above does not disclose or suggest a method of preparing a flavoring whose flavor can be changed by changing specific steps in the process.

Product and process of making a product flavored using a by-product of alcohol production


The invention relates to a hydraulic vehicle brake system having a service brake which can be actuated by muscle force and having a device for regulating the wheel slip. It is proposed in such a vehicle brake system to use suction pumps in connection with specially-designed accumulators. The accumulators have separating elements which in each case separate a first accumulator chamber from a second accumulator chamber. An inflow opens out into the first accumulator chamber, and an outflow, which is separate from the inflow, outlets out of the first accumulator chamber. The separating element is arranged so as to be freely movable between two end positions, and in one of its end positions, blocks a pressure medium connection of the inflow to the outflow.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is based on a hydraulic vehicle brake system having a service brake that can be actuated by muscle force and having a device for regulating wheel slip.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wheel-slip-regulated vehicle brake systems are understood hereinafter to mean anti-lock vehicle brake systems (ABS), vehicle brake systems with traction control (TC), or vehicle brake systems with an electronic stability program (ESP). Such vehicle brake systems have a hydraulic unit connected between a master cylinder, which is actuatable by the driver, and at least one wheel brake. This hydraulic unit is equipped with, among other elements, magnetically actuatable multi-way valves, pumps, a pump drive, and reservoirs that supply the pumps with pressure fluid. For actuating the pump drive, a drive motor is also present. Via an electronic control unit, the drive motor and the multi-way valves can be triggered for regulating the pressure in the wheel brakes as needed. Detailed information going beyond this can be found in the discussion in the brochure entitled "Fachwissen Kfz-Technik, Sicherheits-und Komfortsysteme, Fahrstabilisierungssysteme" [Automotive Technology, Safety and Comfort Systems and Stabilizing Systems], Gelbe Reihe [Yellow Series], 2004 Edition, Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-7782-2026-8, in particular beginning on page 90.
The vehicle brake systems described therein are similar to one another in terms of the layout of their hydraulic circuit diagram, but they differ in their engineering effort and expense depending on the scope of their function. In practice, for instance, different structural forms of pumps and/or a greater or lesser number of differently designed multi-way valves are used in order to achieve whatever functionality is wanted. Anti-lock vehicle brake systems, for instance, make do with non-self-aspirating pumps, known as return pumps. The object of these pumps, in a braking event involving existing wheel slip, is to pump pressure fluid from an affected wheel brake back to the master cylinder in order to lower the brake pressure. Since because of the actuation of the master cylinder by the driver taking place at that time the pressure fluid in the wheel brake is already at elevated pressure, the pump itself need not perform any suction work.
Vehicle brake systems with a TC or ESP function, by comparison, must be capable of building up a brake pressure in one or more wheel brakes, regardless of any actuation of the master cylinder by the driver, so as to eliminate the wheel slip occurring upon acceleration of the vehicle or on cornering. This requires pumps that are designed to be self-aspirating. Self-aspirating pumps are capable of pumping pressure fluid even if there is no pressure difference or only a slight pressure difference at their inlet side. An exemplary embodiment of a self-aspirating pump is already known for instance from German Patent Application DE 199 28 913 A1.
Regardless of the type of vehicle brake system, the pumps are preceded by hydraulic reservoirs. These reservoirs make pressure fluid available to the pumps and thereby assure pump startup. Known vehicle brake systems use spring piston reservoirs for this purpose. These reservoirs include a piston, guided movably in a reservoir housing, which by circumferential sealing divides a first storage chamber, which can be filled with pressure fluid, from a second storage chamber, which is filled with a gas. The piston is urged by a spring in the direction of its basic position. In this basic position, there is no pressure fluid in the first storage chamber. In known reservoirs, the inflow and outflow of pressure fluid take place through a common supply conduit. Such reservoirs are described for instance in German Patent Application DE 199 42 293 A1.
In the event of an emptied reservoir, to prevent pressure fluid aspirated from the master cylinder by the pump from flowing to the storage chamber, a check valve is disposed in the supply line to such a reservoir. Known check valves have a valve closing body, acted upon by a spring, for controlling a valve seat.
A defective, leaky check valve, in conjunction with the sole supply conduit of the reservoir, would have the effect that the underpressure generated by the self-aspirating pump could affect the wheel brakes. Because of this underpressure, the brake pistons of these wheel brakes will be put in an extreme position. In a subsequent braking event, a disproportionately large amount of pressure fluid would therefore have to be positively displaced into the wheel brakes for the sake of building up brake pressure. The driver could perceive this from a long pedal travel, which could be irritating with regard to the capability of the vehicle brake system to function.
Furthermore, the number of different components for vehicle brake systems with a variable functional scope increases the costs for development and maintenance of a modular system. In addition, relatively many individual components have to be installed to make the known vehicle brake systems, which adversely affects production costs and the resultant structural volume. Known vehicle brake systems furthermore have the potential for improvement in terms of their functional properties when brake slip regulation occurs.

Hydraulic vehicle brake system having a service brake which can be actuated by muscle force and having a device for regulating the wheel slip


Disclosed herein is a fast method that locates nearby sources based solely on the time-of-flight of a signal across an array of sensors. The time delay for signal passage between all pairs of sensors is determined using cross-correlation estimates and a vector of time delays, τ, is constructed from the results. In the noise free case, each point in the plane is associated with a unique value of the τ vector. The plane is searched for a source location by minimizing the difference between the value of τ associated with the candidate location on the plane and the value estimated from cross-correlations. The search takes place over the three dimensional space that includes two coordinates in the plane and the propagation speed. The starting point for the search is constructed from an analytic fit of circular wave fronts to groups of sensors within the array.

Using a passive sensor array to determine the position of a signal source is a task that has long challenged researchers in many different fields of study. For this reason, there has also been a wealth of proposed solutions presented in the literature. However, due to the complexity of the problem, many of these techniques are only designed for application with sensor arrays of specific, highly symmetrical geometries.
In contrast to seismic sources, infrasonic sources can often be located near or even within the perimeter of the array. Additionally, their signals can often be damped by terrain or vegetation, making range estimation via signal amplitude inaccurate. For this reason, a time-delay based method was constructed in order to locate nearby sources of infrasound with arrays of any configuration. Even though this method was originally designed for use with infrasound, it can be applied equally well to any type of signal which can be detected by an array of sensors via an isotropic medium.

Method and system for conducting near-field source localization


A terminal device and a data communication method of the terminal device in which a virtual environment is constructed includes receiving a processing command for data searched for according to a data search command, storing first path information on a position of the searched data and transmitting first event information related to the processing command to a management server, receiving a communication performance command including identification information of the other terminal device from the management server, and transmitting the data to the other terminal based on the identification information and the first path information, wherein the communication performance command is generated based on second event information related to an execution command for the data in the other terminal device and the first event information. Data transmission/reception between the virtual terminal devices or between the virtual terminal device and an actual terminal device can be performed smoothly.

1. Field
The following description relates to a terminal device and a data communication method thereof, and more particularly to a terminal device in which a virtual environment is constructed and a data communication method for performing data communication between virtual or actual terminal devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a terminal device in which a virtual Windows environment or a virtual Linux environment is constructed (hereinafter referred to as a virtual terminal device) uses data copy, cut, paste, and drag and drop in order to transmit data stored in a specific position to another virtual terminal device or a terminal device under an actual Windows environment or an actual Linux environment (hereinafter referred to as an actual terminal device).
For example, a virtual terminal device that transmits data may be a source terminal device, and an actual terminal device that receives the corresponding data may be a target terminal device. In order to transmit/receive data between a source terminal device and a target terminal device, it is necessary for any one of the source terminal device and the target terminal device to manually open directories of the source terminal device and the target terminal device (information on a path where data to be transmitted is located and a path where the corresponding data is stored), which is an inconvenience.
In addition, in order to transmit/receive data between virtual terminal devices, it is necessary for two virtual terminal devices to use the same communication protocol for data transmission/reception between the two virtual terminal devices. That is, if the two virtual terminal devices use different communication protocols, the data transmission/reception between the virtual terminal devices may not be performed smoothly.

Terminal device and data communication method thereof


The composite membrane is disclosed having a microporous support which is coated with a polymer composition and a contact adhesive layer applied to said polymer. A process for making and a process for using the membrane is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to composite type membranes which may be used in various membrane processes including patches for drug delivery. The composite type membrane includes a microporous support which is coated with a polymer and a contact adhesive layer applied to the polymer. The present invention also relates to a method for making such membranes and using such membranes as patches to administer drugs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Coated membranes and membrane processes are used widely in many fields of technology. These processes generally involve the permeation of gases or liquids through polymeric membranes wherein the membrane prevents hydrodynamic flow so that the transport therethrough is controlled by absorption or diffusion.
Membranes are typically selected on how they transport the fluids therethrough. The rate of transport through a membrane is a function of its permeability, generally referred to as flux. Liquid permeation, involves the permeation of feed components from the liquid phase on one side of the membrane to the liquid phase on the other side at a controlled rate.
As discussed, the selectivity of coated membranes is an important factor in the satisfactory operation of the membrane processes, which may include separation or delayed diffusion. In addition, membrane properties such as flux and resistance to chemical, biological and physical degradation also effect the efficiency of such processes.
There have been many efforts to develop composite membranes which function efficiently for specific processes. Typical of such efforts include the development of composite type membranes such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,242,159, 4,260,652, 4,277,344, and 4,388,189. These membranes include a microporous support having coated thereon a thin layer of polymeric material. However, previously known composite membranes have not been satisfactory especially for medical applications such as patches, since they can exhibit a variety of defects that affect flux and physical, chemical and biological degradation resistance and thus the overall efficiency of the membrane processes for which they are used.
In an effort to overcome the above described deficiencies in composite type membranes, there have recently been attempts to produce composite type membranes wherein the polymeric coating is a UV curable material. The basic UV curable formulation generally includes a UV reactive unsaturated polymeric material, a photocatalyst and a reactive diluent.
Japanese Kokai Patent No. Sho 59-76504(1984) describes a reverse osmosis membrane which is manufactured by impregnating a porous support with a mixture of monofunctional monomer and bifunctional monomer and irradiating the mixture with light to polymerize the monomers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,533 suggests the membrane coated with polymeric material may be cured using ultraviolet light. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,976,897 and 5,102,552, which have been assigned to the assignee of the present invention, describes a composite membrane having a microporous support which is coated with a UV curable polymeric composition having a sufficiently high viscosity to prevent pore filling upon coating and curing. The UV curable resin coated composite membrane exhibited suitable resistance to physical, chemical and biological degradation while exhibiting adequate flux for specific uses.
Another approach to application of a coating to the microporous membrane is to change the surface of the hydrophobic microporous membrane to a hydrophilic one. This is especially true when polyolefinic films, a preferred type of polymeric material often employed in the manufacture of microporous membranes, are employed. Because these films are not "wetted" with water and most aqueous solutions, they could not be used advantageously in various applications. Such proposals have been put forth in the past to overcome these problems, such as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,853,601; 3,231,530; 3,215,486 and Canadian Patent No. 981,991 which utilize a variety of hydrophilic coating agents or impregnants. Such coating agents or impregnants, although effective for a limited period of time, tend to be removed in a relatively short period of time by solutions which contact the membrane.
Others have attempted to impart hydrophilic character to a normally hydrophobic microporous membrane by the use of low energy plasma treatments. Such plasma treatments are achieved by first activating surface sites of the microporous membrane using argon or hydrogen plasma and then grafting thereto an appropriate free radical polymerizing species such as acrylic acid. Such plasma treatments result in a film having only a surface which is wettable. The surface of the membrane also becomes plugged when wet, which then inhibits or prevents the free flow of water through the interior of the membrane. The unavoidable plugging of the pores renders the membrane unsuitable for certain applications.
Surface modification treatments such as corona treatment is used with microporous membranes for adhesiveness and permeability. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,775 discloses corona treatment of microporous backing material to improve or increase the adhesion to the microporous polysulfone support. U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,439 discloses corona treatment of microporous polymer film to render the films permeable.
Coating polymeric materials on the porous supports followed by curing has generally been found to result in membranes having low flux. The conventional wisdom is that such coatings tend to wick up and fill the pores of the microporous support, thereby producing a membrane having an insufficient flux.
This failure is unfortunate since such polymeric systems have the potential to be tremendously advantageous in the area of medical applications such as administering drugs, since a wide range of chemical and mechanical properties may be built into the polymeric systems, thereby producing membranes having improved resistance to chemical, physical and biological degradation. Also, the simplicity of these systems compared to conventional systems is potentially appealing, in that they involve solventless processes.
Composite membranes such as bandages that administer drugs to the skin have been known for some time. U.S. Pat. No. 3,249,109 discloses a two layer topical dressing including an adhesive base layer made of hydrated gelatin and drug, and a fabric backing layer. Such bandages typically release drug at either unpredictable or inconsistent rates.
In the early 1970s, patents relating to bandages that release drugs at a substantially constant rate began to appear. U.S. Pat. No. 3,598,122 discloses a multilayer bandage including a backing layer, a drug reservoir layer and a contact adhesive layer by which the bandage is stuck to the skin. The rate of drug release depends on the rate at which the drug diffuses through the wall surrounding the core. U.S. Patent 3,797,494 discloses a substantially constant release bandage having a backing layer, a drug reservoir layer, a drug release rate controlling microporous membrane layer, and a contact adhesive layer. The rate of drug release from the bandage depends on the rate at which drug diffuses through the microporous membrane. However, such a bandage typically releases the drug immediately upon activation.
The development of a useful polymeric and adhesive coated composite membrane for application of membrane process to impart specific flux control to the membrane would therefore be extremely important and a desirable development.


An encoding/decoding apparatus and method for parallel correction of in-loop pixels based on complexity using a video parameter may include a complexity measuring unit to measure a complexity of an in-loop pixel correction process, using video codec parameter information, in a video codec, and a core allocating unit to evenly distribute jobs associated with the in-loop pixel correction process, using the measured complexity.

1. Field
The following description relates to a technology that may measure complexity of an in-loop pixel correction process using video codec parameter information in a video codec, and may enable jobs associated with the in-loop pixel correction process to be evenly distributed to encoding/decoding apparatuses for parallel correction of in-loop pixels, using the measured complexity, to improve a parallel processing speed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to an increase in demand for images with a High Definition (HD) level or higher, there is a need for a new encoding and decoding method to achieve a higher efficiency than provided by the H.264/Advanced Video Coding (AVC) video codec. Accordingly, recently, the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and the Visual Coding Experts Group (VCEG) are standardizing a next-generation video codec named "High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC)" through a Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC).
In other words, the HEVC refers to the next-generation video codec that is being standardized by the JCT-VC established in collaboration with the MPEG and VCEG.
A large number of technologies are being proposed to standardize the HEVC. Among the technologies, a technology with high compression efficiency relative to technical complexity is employed. In particular, a plurality of technologies associated with in-loop pixel correction are employed, compared to the H.264/AVC. Each of the technologies associated with in-loop pixel correction is described below.
The HEVC may employ an in-loop pixel correction technology that may apply filtering to a restored image, in an order of a de-blocking filter, a Sample Adaptive Offset (SAO), and an Adaptive Loop Filter (ALF).
The de-blocking filter may calculate a boundary strength in a boundary of a Coding Unit (CU), a Prediction Unit (PU), and a Transform Unit (TU) that are located in a block larger than an 8×8 block, and may perform filtering to remove a blocking artifact occurring in a block boundary.
The SAO may be performed around an edge in an image to which de-blocking filtering is applied, or performed on a set of predetermined pixel values.
The SAO refers to a technology of dividing a region, namely a basic unit, into a plurality of pixel sets, obtaining an average offset in pixels included in a corresponding set, adding the average offset to restored pixel values, and enabling a restored image to be similar to an original image.
The ALF refers to a technology of obtaining a filter to minimize a mean square error between an original image and an image to which the SAO is applied, performing filtering using the filter, and minimizing an error in a restored image.
The ALF may transmit an on/off flag regarding whether filtering is applied in a quad-tree block unit, and may perform more effective filtering.

Encoding/decoding apparatus and method for parallel correction of in-loop pixels based on measured complexity, using video parameter

KWANGWOON UNIVERSITY INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC COLLABORATIVE FOUNDATION


Flight deck display systems and methods for generating cockpit displays including dynamically-adjustable runway length symbology are provided. In one embodiment, the flight deck display system includes a display device to which a controller is operably coupled. A cockpit display, such as a primary fight display, is generated on the display device. The cockpit display is generated to include a runway graphic and a usable runway end marker. During operation of the display system, the controller receives runway usage restriction data identifying any currently restricted sections of a runway approached for usage by the aircraft. The controller further determines a dynamically-adjusted usable runway length as a function of the runway usage restriction data and then adjusts the position of the usable runway end marker, as generated on the cockpit display, along the length of the runway graphic in accordance with the dynamically-adjusted usable runway length.

A significant fraction of aircraft accidents and incidents arise from runway overrun and veer-off events (collectively referred herein to as "runway excursions"). Runway excursions can occur due to a lack of adequate pilot awareness as to the runway length available for touchdown and rollout during landing or for surpassing a minimum liftoff speed during takeoff (referred to herein as the "usable runway length"). The usable length may be less than the total length of a runway, which often includes other sections into which aircraft encroachment is not permitted, such as blast pads and extended thresholds. For this reason, it can be difficult for a pilot to quickly and accurately discern the location at which the usable length of a particular runway terminates from the cockpit view alone in at least some instances. Further complicating this problem, the usable length of a given runway can change in abrupt and unpredictable manners due to events occurring on the ground. For example, sudden changes in usable runway length can occur when a section of the runway is rendered temporarily or permanently unavailable due to the presence of debris or another contaminant, structural damage and repair, the incursion of another aircraft or ground vehicle into the runway, and the like. In instances wherein usable runway length has been reduced due to a newly-implemented runway usage restriction, a pilot may be unaware of the current usable runway length even if the pilot is familiar with the runway from past experience.
It is thus desirable to provide flight deck display systems and methods for generating cockpit displays including symbology visually conveying the usable length of a runway approached by an aircraft for landing or takeoff purposes. Ideally, embodiments of such a flight deck display system and method would dynamically adjust or modify such symbology to reflect real world runway conditions including any variations in usable runway length resulting from changing runway usage restrictions. It would further be desirable if such systems and methods could generate graded alerts notifying a pilot when the runway length required by the aircraft approaches or exceeds the dynamically-adjusted usable runway length. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent Detailed Description and the appended Claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings and the foregoing Background.

Flight deck display systems and methods for generating cockpit displays including dynamically-adjusted usable runway length symbology


An embodiment of the invention relates to a method of visualization, wherein a 2D transformed image is generated based on 3D image data. A corresponding computation unit, a system including a computation unit and a displaying unit, a medical imaging device, and a computer program are also disclosed. The method of visualization of an embodiment includes receiving 3D image data representing at least a portion of a spine and a plurality of ribs; and generating a 2D transformed image based on the three-dimensional image data, the 2D transformed image representing the plurality of ribs and the portion of a spine in a straightened configuration, and the angle of rotation of at least one of the ribs around its long axis being selected from a plurality of angles. Selecting an angle of rotation from a plurality of angles allows selecting the perspective for viewing the ribs in the 2D transformed image.

High-resolution computed tomography ("CT") volumes of the chest are commonly used to diagnose abnormalities in the ribs. Current technology provides CT volumes of the chest with up to several hundred 2D slices. Thorough evaluation of thoracic CT scans frequently requires physicians to identify and track the individual ribs structures in the volume data. This can be a tedious task as the ribs occupy multiple slices within the data. More precisely, the ribs typically cross through the axial planes at an oblique angle, thereby making their examination even more problematic. To analyze the CT volumes, the radiologist must scroll through all slices, and view the contents of the ribs while tracking the ribs through each slice. Moreover, given a rib in an arbitrary slice, the radiologist must scroll up and down to determine the number of the rib.
Current technology also provides a method of visualization by means of straightening each of a plurality of ribs in the volume data based on a centerline in each of the plurality of ribs and generating a 2D image based on the straightened ribs. By generating these 2D images, the tedious task of reading the volume data is simplified by reading 2D images representing the ribs in a straightened configuration. Despite these improvements current technology offers only very limited possibilities for changing viewing parameters such as the perspective for viewing the ribs in 2D images.


An improvement to a mechanical refining system relates to an apparatus including three or more actuators (100) coupled to a stator (42) of the refining system, and a controller for independently operating the actuators. An improved method of refining permits adjustment of the overall width of a refining gap between refining elements mounted by the stator and a rotor as well as the trim of the refining elements relative to each other.

Cellulosic fibers such as paper pulp, bagasse, insulation or fiber board materials, cotton and the like, are commonly subjected to a refining operation which consists of mechanically rubbing the fibers between sets of relatively rotating bar and groove elements. In a disk-type refiner, for example, these elements commonly consist of plates having annularly arranged bar and groove patterns defining their working surfaces, with the bars and grooves extending generally radially of an axis of the rotating element, or more often at an angle oblique to a radius to the center of the annular pattern, so that the stock can work its way from the center of the pattern to its outer periphery.
Disk-refiners are commonly manufactured in both single and twin disk types. In a single disk refiner, the working surface of the rotor comprises an annular refiner plate, or a set of segmental refiner plates, for cooperative working action with a complementary working surface on the stator, which also comprises an annular plate or a series of segmental plates forming an annulus. In a twin disk refiner, the rotor is provided with working surfaces on both sides. The working surfaces of the rotor cooperate with a pair of opposed complementary working surfaces on the stator, with these working surfaces being generally of the same type of construction as with a single disk refiner.
Paper pulp refiners as described, including the plug or cone type refiners, require the control of the position and axial spacing of the relatively rotating members for the purpose of controlling refiner load and for controlling the quality of the refined paper fiber product, among other reasons. A plug type refiner is shown in Staege et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,666,368, while a control arrangement for a dual inlet disk type refiner is shown in Hayward U.S. Pat. No. 3,506,199.
Known refiners have included mechanical drive systems for moving one refining element closer or farther from the other along the axis of rotation of the rotor. It also is known to provide electrical or electronic controllers, such as that shown in Hayward, to control the axial spacing of the refining elements in response to motor load, changing voltage or power factors, or pulp quality. Reference may be had to Baxter U.S. Pat. No. 2,986,434, which shows a dual inlet radial disk type refiner and the reduction gearing through which the axial position of the stator and rotor elements may be accurately determined and maintained.
Mechanical refining is optimized when the gap between the refining elements of the stator and rotor is on the order of 0.001 inch to 0.010 inch (0.025 mm to 0.25 mm). The actual spacing of the stator and rotor plates is dependent upon numerous stack-up items in the assembly of the refiner. Due to typical manufacturing tolerances, the design misalignment can be as much as 0.045 inch (1.1 mm).
One drawback to known refining systems is that they make no provision for correcting errors in the trim, or angular orientation, of the refining elements relative to one another. Thus, when the stator plate is inclined relative to the rotor plate, for example, certain portions of the refining surface of the refining element mounted by the stator plate will be closer to the complementary surface of the refining element mounted by the rotor than other portions of the refining surface. This implies a variation in the width of the refining gap between the refining elements along the surfaces of the refining elements even when the average or overall refining gap is optimized.
Dodson-Edgars U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,980 shows an apparatus and method for measuring the gap, tram, deflection and wear of rotating grinding plates such as those found in mechanical refiners. In particular, Dodson-Edgars shows inductive sensors mounted in a recessed manner inset from the surface of a first grinding plate and located opposite recessed non-wear surfaces of a second grinding plate. The sensors are monitored by a microprocessor system, which processes signals from the sensors to determine gap, tram, deflection and wear. Dodson-Edgars teaches that plate tram may be controlled by angular displacement of the drive shaft which drives one of the rotating plates or by angular displacement of the other, stationary plate, but does not disclose any apparatus for carrying out such an adjustment.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for an improved mechanical refining system providing control, preferably automatic control, of the trim of the refining elements mounted by the stator and rotor relative to one another, as well as providing automatic control of the average or overall refining gap between the elements.

Self-aligning and actively compensating refiner stator plate system


Systems and methods for providing supplemental drag to an aircraft are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes detecting changes in at least one throttle resolver angle (TRA). Deflections are determined for one or more flight control surfaces based on the changes in TRA, and accordingly, the one or more flight control surfaces are deflected automatically to generate supplemental drag. The one or more flight control surfaces include at least one at least one of an aileron, a spoiler, and an elevator. Additionally, in one instance, the deflections of the one or more flight control surfaces is implemented as a rated limited time lag function of the changes in TRA.

Innovation and technical advancements have enabled aircraft manufacturers to produce new aircraft that experience lower drag during landings than prior generations of aircraft. Lower drag may reduce the level of noise generated during landing. Aircraft with diminished noise levels during landing may be certified to use more airports than aircraft that produce more noise. However, lower drag may occasionally adversely impact an aircraft's ability for glide slope control. In other words, aircraft with lower drag may not have the desired capability to descend at a sufficiently slow rate of speed while flying on a standard approach glide slope for landing. The ability of an aircraft to slow down while flying on a standard approach glide slope may be described in terms of the incremental glide slope capability, that is, how much steeper than a standard 3° glide slope the aircraft can fly with idle thrust and landing flaps. In some cases, modern commercial aircraft being designed for reduced noise levels may experience a corresponding reduction in glide slope capability (e.g. 1 to 2 degree reduction) in comparison with comparable commercial aircraft having normal noise output.
One way pilots may attempt to compensate for diminished glide slope capability during landing is by manually adding drag, e.g., by extending the landing gear early or using in-air speed brakes. However, these practices often produce inconsistent results. Moreover, the use of in-air speed brakes is generally not recommended at landing flap settings. Another method of compensation is to reduce idle thrust levels. However, the reduction of idle thrust level is not possible with certain aircraft and engine configurations. Moreover, the reduction of idle thrust levels may conflict with the need to prevent icing in certain inclement weather conditions. Therefore, novel systems and methods that offer consistent and dependable compensation for reduced glide slope capability during landing would have utility.

Autodrag function for glide slope control


Systems and methods for data migration in multi-layer model-driven applications is provided. The traditional systems and methods simply provide for comparison based migration approaches, and thus face severe challenges in case of model-driven applications, wherein continuous capturing of transformations in model changes is required. Embodiment of the proposed disclosure provide for a changelog based data migration methodology by modelling, a model-driven application conceptual model; generating, a plurality of optimized data models from the modelling; extracting, from each of the plurality of optimized data models, at least one changelog capturing one or more model changes and transformations in each of the plurality of optimized data models; and executing the data migration using each of an executing changelog.

Data migration comprises moving of data from one environment to another, typically involving some format change or other modification in at least some of the data. Such migration may be performed for a number of reasons. For example, upgrading a database application from an older version to a newer version may also involve changes in the way particular types of data are stored in the database, thus causing a migration to be undertaken. Even if a customer continues to employ a particular version of a database application over a long period of time, a change in operating system, computer system hardware, or other aspect of the computing environment may result in a nontrivial database migration that involves changes in data format and other aspects of the database. Generally, database and other software providers have made available a number of migration tools to address a variety of migration needs and environments.
Data migrations are often complicated and problematic. Depending on the size of datasets, applications involved can be offline for lengthy periods, leading to a loss of productivity, and opportunity cost associated with not having the data set available for important business functions. Migrations typically are manual labor-intensive efforts, and are therefore error-prone, costly and involve redirecting human resources to the migration. Thus, the traditional systems and methods suffer from various technical and non-technical limitations (for example, large volume of data, multiple compatibility requirements, manually specifying each of migration mapping parameters, and high cost etc.) while performing migrations.

Systems and methods of data migration in multi-layer model-driven applications


A keyboard support mechanism is disclosed as including an improved arrangement for supporting a trolley of such mechanism for movement relative to a guide track by which the mechanism is mounted on a work station. The trolley is fitted with two pairs of rollers arranged to roll lengthwise of the guide track within a pair of edge mounted mounting channels thereof and a follower; and the guide track is fitted with guide member having a guide channel adapted to slidably receive the follower while preventing movement of the trolley transversely of the guide channel. The guide channel extends rearwardly of a front end of the guide track, whereby to cooperate with the follower to stabilize an auxiliary surface on which a keyboard is supported against undesired transverse or sidewise movement when in its extended use position, while permitting loose fitting of the trolley within the guide track during a substantial portion of its movement of the auxiliary surface to an from its rearward storage position.

Keyboard support mechanisms of the type adapted for supporting a keyboard for user induced movement relative to a work station having a front marginal edge arranged to face a user and a downwardly facing mounting surface for mounting such mechanism typically including guide track adapted for attachment to the mounting surface to extend rearwardly of such front marginal edge, a trolley supported by the guide track for movement between a forwardly extended keyboard use position and rearwardly disposed keyboard storage or retracted position; an auxiliary surface or a keyboard support; and a linkage for mounting the auxiliary surface on the trolley for relative vertical movement.
In one of mechanism, a trolley is fitted with plastic guides arranged to be slidably received within facing mounting channels extending lengthwise of marginal edges of a guide track. This construction is suitable for lightweight mechanisms where friction between the guides and mounting channels does not adversely affect sliding movement of the trolley between use and storage positions.
In another type of mechanism adapted for use with relatively heavy mechanisms, wherein excessive frictional forces would be encountered with the use of sliding plastic guides, a trolley is fitted with pairs of rollers arranged to roll lengthwise within the mounting channels. While rolling action tends to substantially reduce a user""s effort required to move the trolley, a drawback of presently known mechanisms is that the auxiliary surface is rendered unstable or sidewise movable when placed in its keyboard use position, due to required clearances between the transverse outwardly facing surfaces of the rollers and the transverse inwardly facing surfaces of the mounting channels necessary to allow for free rolling movement of the trolley without binding engagement with the guide track. An unstable auxiliary surface tends to interfere with normal use of a keyboard and/or mouse supported thereon.
The present invention is directed to an improved keyboard support mechanism, and more particularly, to an improved arrangement for supporting a trolley of such mechanism for movement relative to a guide track by which the mechanism is mounted on a work station or work surface.
In accordance with the present invention, a trolley is fitted with two pairs of rollers arranged to roll lengthwise of a guide track within a pair of edge mounted mounting channels thereof and a follower member; and the guide track is fitted with a guide member having a guide channel adapted to slidably receive the follower member of the trolley. The guide channel extends only part way rearwardly from a front end of the guide track, whereby to cooperate with the follower member of the trolley to stabilize or constrain an auxiliary surface on which a keyboard is supported against undesired transverse or sidewise movement when in its extended keyboard use position, while permitting loose fitting of the trolley within the guide track during a substantial portion of the extent of movement of the auxiliary surface to and from its storage or retracted position.