The invention relates to the use of silicone-polyether copolymers of the formula I ##STR1## as surface-active substances in the production of high-resilience polyurethane foams.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the use of certain silicone-polyether copolymers as surface-active substance in the production of high resilience (HR) polyurethane foams.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to the prior art, the processes employed in the production of polyurethane foams are differentiated into a number of types. This differentiation may be in respect of both the types of chemicals used and the production machines used. Thus, for example, a distinction is made between batchwise manufacture in boxes or molds and continuous manufacture on various types of foaming machine. Significantly different groups of polyurethane foams art, also differentiated in terms of the raw materials used and thus the types of foam produced.
Thus, for example, rigid foams are, in terms of their property profile and use alone, significantly different from flexible foams, but even within the group of flexible foams a distinction is made between hot-cure foams and high resilience foams. Here, an HR foam is a highly elastic polyurethane foam formed by reaction of at least one bifunctional polyisocyanrate, e.g. tolylene diisocyanate or diphenylmethane diisocyanate, with at least one polyol which has at least two hydroxyl groups per molecule and has, on average, a high proportion of primary hydroxyl groups. Owing to the high content of primary OH groups, the polyols have a high reactivity toward the isocyanates.
In contrast to conventional polyurethane foams, namely hot-cure foams, a high crosslinking density is therefore achieved even during foaming. This has the advantages that input of relatively large amounts of energy during curing is usually unnecessary and that the total time for curing of the foams is reduced. A disadvantage is, however, that the tendency to form closed-celled foams is increased and therefore the processing latitude is also narrowed. Processing latitude refers to the tolerance limits within which it is possible to deviate from a formulation without a danger of forming stable and at the same time sufficiently open-celled foams or foams which can easily be opened by crushing. According to the prior art, this higher reactivity of the foaming components and the resulting narrower (in comparison to hot-cure flexible foam) processing latitude calls for special stabilizers. It does not allow use of products whose structure or molecular weight corresponds to the foam stabilizers which are successfully used in the production of hot-cure foams as foam stabilizers for HR foam production.
This prior art is reflected in a number of different patents in the polyurethane field. For example, as early as 1960, GB-A-907 971 stated that high molecular weight silicone oils cause an excessively large number of closed cells in the foam. For this reason, low molecular weight polydialkylsiloxanes having viscosities of from 2 to 9 centistokes at 25.degree. C. are proposed in the cited patent. These then guarantee, compared to the prior art, an improved processing latitude (see column 2, lines 55 ff.). In the field of HR polyurethane foams, many low molecular weight polydimethylsiloxanes or short polydimethylsiloxanes modified by low-polarity groups have generally been proposed and are also used according to today's state of the art.
DE-A-36 26 297 describes siloxanes containing chloropropyl radicals as HR foam stabilizers. In this case too, the compounds described are relatively low molecular weight siloxanes which are substituted by groups of relatively low polarity. EP-A-0 041 216 also uses siloxanes which all have a short chain length and are additionally substituted by low-polarity and low molecular weight substituents, in this case alkoxy groups having from 1 to 7 carbon atoms. Even in those cases in which conventional silicone polyethers of relatively high molecular weight have hitherto been used in HR foam, e.g. in EP-A-0 043 110, these substances have essentially been used as minor amounts in admixture with typical HR foam stabilizers. For example, in EP-A-0 043 110, the predominant part, at least 65%, of the stabilizer preparation used consists of typical HR foam structures with very short siloxanes with chain lengths of .ltoreq.10 substituted with cyanoalkyl groups or end-capped polyethylene oxide units of low molecular weight.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,601 also unambiguously states that the major part of a cold-cure foam stabilizer typically comprises low molecular weight siloxanes having relatively small proportions of polar substituents. Thus, according to the cited patent, at least 78% of stabilizers having a typical HR foam stabilizer structure is necessary. According to the text, proportions greater than 22% of a stabilizer for conventional flexible urethane foams, in this text described as hot-cure flexible foams, result in, a very small processing latitude with a tendency to form closed-celled foams which sometimes shrink.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,119,582 describes a process for producing cold-cure foams using, a foam stabilizer comprising a mixture of a "high" molecular weight siloxane-oxyalkylene copolymer with a "low" molecular weight siloxane-oxyalkylene copolymer. While the "high" molecular weight siloxane-oxyalkylene copolymer has at least five oxyalkylene units in each oxyalkylene block and is present in the mixture in an amount of from 84 to 99.9% by weight, the "low" molecular weight siloxane-oxyalkylene copolymer has up to four oxyalkylene units in each oxyalkylene block and is present in the mixture in an amount of from 0.2 to 16% by weight. The "high" molecular weight siloxane-oxyalkylene copolymer has a molecular weight in the range from 1000 to 16,000, while the "low" molecular weight siloxane-oxyalkylene copolymer covers a molecular weight range from 500 to 10,000. Accordingly, the two classes of copolymer are not necessarily differentiated by their molecular weights but rather by the number of oxyalkylene units in their oxyalkylene blocks.
Nevertheless, even the "high" molecular weight siloxane-oxyalkylene copolymer is a small molecule compared to customary flexible block foam stabilizers. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,018 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,737).

Use of silicone polyether copolymers in the production of high-resilience polyurethane foams


In order to fulfill the requirements in terms of biological compatibility and mechanical stability, a transponder-holding case is provided as implant in animal breeding and keeping, which case consists of a first case section and a second case section made of a biologically compatible synthetic material, with the two case sections being designed for being detachably fastened at one another, preferably through a self-sealing and self-locking threaded joint, so as to form a hermetically sealed holding space for a transponder to be received therein. For an improvement of the position-retaining function in the animal body at least one of the case sections presents at least one formed-in portion on ist outside, and at least on the outside of one case section a receiving area is provided for a preferably laser-engraved identifier mark.

The invention relates to a transponder-holding case as implant in animal breeding and keeping.
The application of transponder technology in breeding and keeping herds and flocks of animals for the food chain as a forgery-proof and lasting instrument of identification and verification is still in the pilot application phase. The topical problems of bovine spongiforme encephalopathy (BSE) and hormone administration, as well as the resulting controlling legislation are, however, going to ensure a world-wide application of this technique before long.
In correspondence with the transponder technology transponders are implanted in a part of the body of the animals where they cannot provoke any impairment of the well-being, the movements or the growth and where additionally the reading by means of a transponder-reading device is possible in a functionally reliable manner. Control via transponders offers a solution for herd and flock management, the observation and pursuit of owners, the case history and origin, with this technology replacing earmarks, tattoos and brand marks.
So far passive transponders have become known which are not equipped with an energy source of their own. The passive transponders are energized via a magnetic low-frequency field of a hand-held reading device, with the disadvantage that activation is possible only within a small range.
Meanwhile active transponders have been developed, too, which consist of a round ferrite core, 5 to 20 mm long, with a copper wire coil wound thereon and a board with an edge length of roughly 5 mm for mounting the transponder chip, as well as of a lithium power pack. Such active transponders permit the identification over distances longer than the range of passive transponders but they require a holding case, both for ensuring a perfect function and as a result of the materials involved, which case keeps any mechanical loads in the animal body away from the transponder, is easy to retrieve inside the animal body, and does not lead to inflammations of the surrounding tissue.
In initial field trials glass cases have been applied already which did not furnish satisfactory results, however, because they involve a high risk of glass break, of migrations inside the animal body, and of inflammatory processes in the surrounding tissue.

Transponder holding case as implant in animal breeding and keeping

GSF-Forschungszentrum fur Umwelt und Gesundheit GmbH


The present disclosure discloses a lifting table, has a tabletop plate, a table-supporting frame connected with the tabletop plate, a base, an X-shaped supporting leg for connecting the table-supporting frame and the base, and a power driving device controlling the open-and-close of the X-shaped supporting leg to achieve the lifting of the tabletop plate, the power driving device is connected to the table-supporting frame, and the power output end of the power driving device is connected with the X-shaped supporting leg; the lifting table further comprises an inclined connecting rod mechanism which always applies an oblique force to the X-shaped supporting leg; one end of the inclined connecting rod mechanism is connected to the X-shaped supporting leg, and the other end of the inclined connecting rod mechanism is connected to the power driving device.

Recently, a lifting table placed on a desktop has gained more and more popularity in daily life, mostly used in fields of study, office, entertainment and the alike. The lifting table generally comprises a table plate, a base and a lifting support frame. The table plate is connected to the base through the lifting support frame; the base is placed on the desktop, and usually a motor acting as the driving device to control the lifting support frame to achieve the electric lifting function. As an application named as "An Electric Lifting Table" disclosed as CN103663257A on the website of State Intellectual. Property Office comprises a loading platform, a bottom plate, a transmission assembly and at least one set of lifting assembly. The loading platform and the bottom plate are respectively connected to the upper and the lower end of the lifting assembly, the lifting assembly comprises a first supporting arm and a second supporting arm which are cross-hinged to each other; the transmission assembly comprises a motor and a sliding plate, the main shaft of the motor is connected with a screw rod, and the sliding plate is slidably connected to the bottom plate, the screw rod is connected with the sliding plate; the two ends of the first supporting arm are respectively hinged to the loading platform and the sliding plate, which is to say that the sliding plate slides on the bottom plate after the motor drives the screw rod to rotate and the lower end of the first supporting arm is driven to slide on the bottom plate, so that the purpose of lifting the loading platform is achieved. However, there are some disadvantages of the electric lifting table with this structure:
Due to the fact that the driving force always acts on the lower end of the flat arm of the bottom plate, the supporting arm is swaying while its bottom sliding horizontally along the bottom plate; the force acting on the bottom of the supporting arm varies when it swings, especially in the instant when the supporting arm just starts to slide, the driving force is in its maximum. In order to ensure the smooth movement of the supporting arm, the output power of the motor should be sufficient. As a result, if a large driving force is required, a motor of proper specification with corresponding larger volume may be chosen, which occupies more space in the lifting table and the weight of the entire lifting table is increased as well as the size of the parts, making the lifting table more cumbersome. If a small driving force is selected, a smaller motor is available but insufficient pushing force makes the lifting, process more difficult or even leads to lifting failure. Moreover, when the loading platform stays at any position, due to the lacking of a locking structure for the supporting arm, the total weight of the loading platform together with the object(s) above will press down the supporting arm, resulting in a downward tendency of the loading platform and a poor stability.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Exhaust gas inlets for introducing exhaust gas from an EGR pipe, on the right bank side, and exhaust gas inlets for introducing exhaust gas from the EGR pipe, on the left bank side, are both formed in low-pressure regions. The exhaust gas inlets are formed at positions where the pressure of the intake air flowing through branch pipes on the right bank side and the pressure of the intake air flowing through branch pipes on the left bank side are both low and substantially equal. Accordingly, exhaust gas is introduced evenly into cylinders in the right and left banks. These inlets are not formed at positions in a common intake passage from which branch paths branch off, that is, positions upstream of a surge tank. Accordingly, the response to introduction of exhaust gas is not deteriorated but is maintained.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a structure for introducing gas into intake air in an internal combustion engine which includes a plurality of banks and in which the intake air is distributed to cylinders through individual intake passages that branch off from a common intake passage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Examples of existing devices that introduce gas into air taken in an internal combustion engine include an exhaust gas recirculation (hereinafter, referred to as "EGR" where appropriate) device that recirculates exhaust gas discharged from combustion chambers of the internal combustion engine back to the combustion chambers through a recirculation passage (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-163684 (JP-A-2005-163684), Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 02-74561 (JP-U-02-74561), Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-122071 (JP-A-10-122071), and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-133644 (JP-A-2005-133644).
According to JP-A-2005-163684, an opening through which exhaust gas is introduced into an intake passage is formed at a position in each intake passage, at which the pressure is lower than the pressure of the exhaust gas. According to this technology, a sufficient amount of exhaust gas is introduced into each combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine. According to each of JP-U-02-74561 and JP-A-10-122071, in a V-internal combustion engine, a single EGR passage is formed between an intake passage group for one of banks and an intake passage group for the other bank and openings of introduction passages, which provide communication between the EGR passage and the intake passages for respective cylinders in the banks, are formed. With this structure, exhaust gas is supplied to the cylinders individually.
According to JP-A-2005-133644, exhaust gas is introduced into intake air, at a position in a common intake passage that is shared by all cylinders.
The internal combustion engine described in JP-A-2005-163684 includes a single bank. If the technology described in JP-A-2005-163684 is applied to an internal combustion engine that includes a plurality of banks, it may be possible to introduce a sufficient amount of exhaust gas into cylinders in each bank. However, whether it is possible to introduce the exhaust gas evenly into the cylinders in all the banks is not known from JP-A-2005-163684. Therefore, applying the technology described in JP-A-2005-163684 to an internal combustion engine that includes a plurality of banks without any modification may not be very effective. Even if this technology, in which the opening is formed at the position in each intake passage at which the pressure is lower than the pressure of the exhaust gas, is applied to such an internal combustion engine, whether it is possible to introduce the exhaust gas evenly into the cylinders in all the banks is not known.
According to JP-U-02-74561 and JP-A-10-122071, the single EGR passage is communicated with the intake passages in the respective groups on both sides of the EGR passage; and the EGR passage is connected to a wall face of each intake passage at a portion closest to the EGR passage. With this structure, whether the pressure distribution within the intake passage is uniform between the intake passage groups depends on the location of a common intake passage from which the intake passages in the groups branch off. Therefore, if the EGR passage is connected to the wall face of each intake passage at the portion closest to the EGR passage as described in JP-U-02-74561 and JP-A-10-122071, there is a high possibility that the exhaust gas will not be introduced into the cylinders evenly. Therefore, the amount of exhaust gas that is introduced into each cylinder is not brought substantially equal to the theoretical introduction amount and needs to be restricted, because the possibility of unstable combustion is taken into account. As a result, it is not possible to enhance the fuel efficiency to a sufficient degree.
According to JP-A-2005-133644, the exhaust gas is introduced into the common intake passage from which individual intake passages branch off. Therefore, the exhaust gas may be easily introduced into all the cylinders evenly. However, the exhaust gas is introduced into the common intake passage that is upstream of the individual intake passage groups. Therefore, an intake air path that extends from the position at which the exhaust gas is actually introduced into the intake passage to each combustion chamber is long, which deteriorates the response to introduction of the exhaust gas. These problems may occur also when another type of gas, for example, blowby gas or purge fuel gas from a canister, is introduced into the intake air.

Structure for introducing gas into intake air


A system and method of composing a query object for application against a database is provided. The method composes a selection clause for the query. Next, a criteria clause for the query is generated, with the criteria clause comprising input criteria related to the query, additional criteria specified against the query, and generated criteria based on a joint relationship. Next a source clause utilizing elements in the database accessed by the query is generated. A database traversal system and method is provided. The method identifies all tables directly accessible by each table and creates a data structure comprising an entry for each table. The entry comprises an identification field for each table and a link field identifying all tables directly accessible by each table. The data structure is traversed and an optimum path of the traversal paths utilizing data obtained from traversing the data structure is identified.

A database management system (DBMS) comprises a computer, data storage devices, disk drives and database management software. A relational database management system (RDBMS) is a DBMS which uses relational techniques for storing and retrieving information. The relational database management system comprises computerized information storage and retrieval systems in which data is stored on disk drives. The data is stored in the form of tables which comprise rows and columns. Each row, or tuple, has one or more columns.
The RDBMS is designed to accept commands to store, retrieve, and delete data. A well-known set of commands is based on the Structured Query Language or SQL. The term query refers to a set of commands in SQL for retrieving data from the RDBMS. The constructs of SQL allow a RDBMS to provide a response to a particular query with a particular set of data given a specified database content. SQL however does not specify the actual method to find the requested information in the tables on the disk drives. The method in which the query is processed, i.e. query execution plan, affects the overall time for retrieving the data. Data retrieval time may be critical to the operation of the database. Decreasing such retrieval time minimizes the computer and disk access time, and therefore, optimizes the cost of doing the query.
Accordingly, there is a need for a dynamic and efficient method and system for generating database queries.

Method and system for composing a query for a database and traversing the database

International Business Machines Corporation


An anisotropically conductive connector suitable for use in a wafer inspection apparatus, and a wafer inspection apparatus comprising the anisotropically conductive connector, which anisotropically conductive connector comprises an elastic anisotropically conductive film composed of a plurality of conductive parts for connection and an insulating part formed among these conductive parts for connection, and a frame plate for supporting this film, which plate is formed of a metallic material having a coefficient of linear thermal expansion of 3×10−6 to 2×10−5K−1, the conductive parts for connection are obtained by filling conductive particles having a number average particle diameter of 20 to 80 μm and exhibiting magnetism in an elastic polymeric substance at a high density, the conductive particles have, on a surface of which, a coating layer composed of a noble metal and having a thickness of at least 20 nm, each of the conductive parts for connection has a durometer hardness of 10 to 35, and an electric resistance between the conductive parts for connection is at least 10 MΩ.

In the production process of semiconductor integrated circuit devices, after a great number of integrated circuits are formed on a wafer, a probe test is generally conducted as to each of these integrated circuits. This wafer is then cut, thereby forming semiconductor chips. Such semiconductor chips are contained and sealed in respective proper packages. Each of the packaged semiconductor integrated circuit devices is further subjected to a burn-in test. In order to give a quality certification to a semiconductor integrated circuit device, it is extremely important to not only inspect electrical properties of the semiconductor integrated circuit device by the burn-in test, but also inspect electrical properties of the semiconductor chip itself. Besides, in recent years, there has been developed a mounting method that a semiconductor chip itself is used as an integrated circuit device to directly mount a circuit device composed of the semiconductor chip on a printed circuit board. Therefore, there is a demand for guaranteeing the quality of the semiconductor chip itself.
Since the semiconductor chip is minute, and its handling is inconvenient, the inspection of the circuit device composed of the semiconductor chip is complicated, and so it takes a long time to conduct the inspection, and inspection cost thus becomes considerably high.
From such reasons, attention has been recently paid to a WLBI (Wafer Level Burn-in) test in which the electrical properties of a circuit device composed of a semiconductor chip are inspected in the state of a wafer.
On the other hand, in the probe test conducted on integrated circuits formed on a wafer, a method, in which a probe test is collectively performed on, for example, 16 or 32 integrated circuits among a great number of integrated circuits formed on a wafer, and the probe test is successively performed on other integrated circuits, is generally adopted.
In recent years, there has been a demand for collectively performing a probe test on, for example, 64, 124 or all integrated circuits among a great number of integrated circuits formed on a wafer for the purpose of improving inspection efficiency and reducing inspection cost.
FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating the construction of an exemplary conventional wafer inspection apparatus for conducting the WLBI test or probe test as to a wafer on which a great number of integrated circuits have been formed. Such wafer inspection apparatus are described in, for example, Prior Art. 1 and Prior Art. 2.
This wafer inspection apparatus has a circuit board 80 for inspection, on the front surface (lower surface in the figure) of which a great number of inspection electrodes 81 have been formed, and a probe card 90 is arranged on the front surface of the circuit board 80 for inspection through a connector 85. This probe card 90 is constructed by a circuit board 91 for connection and a contact member 95 provided on the front surface (lower surface in the figure) of the circuit board 90 for connection and having a great number of contacts (not illustrated) brought into contact with electrodes (not illustrated) to be inspected of integrated circuits in a wafer 1 that is an object of inspection. A wafer tray 96 also serves as a heating plate, on which the wafer 1 that is the object of inspection is mounted, is arranged under the contact member 95. Reference numeral 97 indicates a pressurizing mechanism for pressurizing the circuit board 80 for inspection downward.
On a back surface of the circuit board 91 for connection in the probe card 90, a great number of terminal electrodes 92 are formed in accordance with a pattern corresponding to a pattern of the inspection electrodes 81 of the circuit board 80 for inspection, and the circuit board 91 for connection is arranged in such a manner that the terminal electrodes 92 are respectively opposed to the inspection electrodes 81 of the circuit board 80 for inspection by guide pins 93.
In the connector 85, a great number of connecting pins 86 called "pogo pins", which can be elastically compressed in a lengthwise direction thereof are arranged in accordance with the pattern corresponding to the pattern of the inspection electrodes 81 of the circuit board 80 for inspection. The connector 85 is arranged in a state that the connecting pins 86 have been respectively located between the inspection electrodes 81 of the circuit board 80 for inspection and the terminal electrodes 92 of the circuit board 91 for connection.
In the wafer inspection apparatus shown in FIG. 18, the wafer 1 that is the object of inspection is mounted on the wafer tray 96, and the circuit board 80 for inspection is pressurized downward by the pressurizing mechanism 97, whereby each of the connecting pins 86 of the connector 85 are elastically compressed in the lengthwise direction. As a result, the inspection electrodes 81 of the circuit board 80 for inspection are electrically connected to their corresponding terminal electrodes 92 of the circuit board 91 for connection, and the respective contacts of the contact member 95 come into contact with electrodes to be inspected of a part of the integrated circuits formed on the wafer 1, thereby achieving necessary electrical connection. The wafer 1 is then heated to a predetermined temperature by the wafer tray 96 to perform necessary electrical inspection (WLBI test or probe test) as to the wafer 1 in this state.
However, the conventional wafer inspection apparatus shown in FIG. 18 involves such problems as described below.
In this wafer inspection apparatus, it is necessary to pressurize the respective connecting pins 86 under pressurizing force of, for example, about 0.8 N (about 0.08 kgf) per pin for the purpose of achieving stable electrical connection of the inspection electrodes 81 of the circuit board 80 for inspection to their corresponding terminal electrodes 92 of the circuit board 91 for connection. Accordingly, for example, when the number of the inspection electrodes 81 of the circuit board 80 for inspection is, for example, 5,000, pressurizing force of about 4,000 N is required as a whole. Therefore, the apparatus involves a problem that the pressurizing mechanism 97 for applying such pressurizing force inevitably becomes large in size, so that the whole wafer inspection apparatus becomes considerably large in size.
The apparatus also involves a problem that the service life of the circuit board 80 for inspection is shortened because each of the inspection electrodes 81 of the circuit board 80 for inspection are pressurized under great pressurizing force by the respective connecting pins 86, whereby the inspection electrodes 81 are liable to be damaged, and in turn, inspection cost is increased.
There is a limit to a reduction in length of the connecting pins 86 from the constraint of mechanism, and the connecting pins are actually required to have a length of about 3 cm. Therefore, a clearance between the circuit board 80 for inspection and the circuit board 91 for connection becomes considerably long. As a result, it is difficult to reduce the size of the wafer inspection apparatus in a height-wise direction. In this respect, the apparatus also involves a problem that the whole wafer inspection apparatus cannot be miniaturized. In particular, there has recently been proposed a wafer inspection apparatus constructed by stacking a plurality of inspection units each composed of the respective components shown in, for example, FIG. 18 for the purpose of performing inspection as to a plurality of wafers in a small operating space in parallel. In such a wafer inspection apparatus, it is extremely important from the viewpoint of miniaturizing the apparatus to reduce the size of each inspection unit in a height-wise direction because the whole wafer inspection apparatus becomes considerably large when the size of each inspection unit in the height-wise direction is large.
Since the connecting pins 86 require to have a considerably long length, a distance of a signal transmission system becomes considerably long, so that a problem that the apparatus is difficult to be adapted to electrical inspection as to high functional integrated circuits of which high-speed processing is required arises.    Prior Art. 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-147036;    Prior Art. 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-323535.

Anisotropic conductive connector and wafer inspection device


A portable information device (PID) having a security module that conducts security-related functionality. At least some of the security-related functionality for the benefit of the PID is provided by a security team of at least one other PID. In one type of arrangement, when configured in a team processing mode, certain ones of the security functions or components operating for the benefit of the PID can be processed on one or more of the security team member devices. In another type of arrangement, the team of devices exchanges security-related information determined as a result of a single team member device's processing of one or more security-related tasks.

In today's world of personal information and communications systems, the prevalence of portable information devices is rapidly growing, particularly systems built on the netbook, or sub-notebook, platform, as well as multifunctional communication devices known as smartphones or personal digital assistants (PDAs), Ultra-Mobile Personal Computers, (UMPC), or Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), utilizing processors such as Atom or Moorestown CPUs manufactured by Intel, or running operating systems such as Android, Symbian OS, Windows Mobile, and the like. Networks offering open access to the public, such as EDGE and 3G, and various WiFi networks (such as those based on the IEEE 801-type standards), have become commonplace and continue to grow in popularity.
As communication systems and devices grow in complexity and communications bandwidth, with data rates approaching tens of megabytes per second, the risk of users inadvertently obtaining malicious programs and other unwanted content also grows. Additionally, the increasing popularity of portable information devices having widely-available open-source applications, and open wireless networks create ever-increasing opportunities for malicious actors, such as hackers, identity thieves, spammers, and the like, to prey on users of these technologies. The quantity and severity of threats to computer systems, such as viruses, worms, malware, spyware, hacker attacks, as well as unwanted content, such as phishing attacks and other spam, continue to grow, and the increasing computing capabilities of portable information devices expose these devices to the universe of security threats.
Firewalls, intrusion detection or prevention systems, antivirus, antispam, and other such security applications geared toward personal computers are well-known. However, applying known approaches to portable information devices presents special challenges. Designers of portable information device systems and software have a principal objective of producing a device that provides timely access to information from practically any point in any city of the world. Portable information devices must be affordable in the highly-competitive, low-margin present-day market. Further, portable information devices must offer the utmost in portability and usability, meaning small overall device size and sufficiently long times of operation (at least on the order of 24 hours). Performance and usability are often countervailing objectives with affordability and portability, since batteries account for a large portion of the device's overall size, weight and cost. Performance and usability are even countervailing objectives with one another, since increased processor clock speeds and memory correspond to increased energy demands.
All these requirements make it difficult to simply increase processor power, data storage capacity, and other computing resources, to provide improved security for portable devices while maintaining performance, usability, portability, and cost attributes. These constraints, in turn, place limitations on the design of applications that run on portable information devices, especially security applications, which tend to require significant computing power to deal with the increasing quantity and complexity of security threats facing portable devices.
Therefore, effective security measures are needed that are particularly suited to meeting the unique needs of portable information devices.

Team security for portable information devices


A string-like sealing material characterized in that (1) the string-like sealing material is a string-like body (a) obtained by forming a thermosetting resin composition comprising a synthetic resin and a heat-curing agent or a string-like composite structure (b) obtained by arranging a dimension-stabilizing aid along the lengthwise direction of the string-like body (a), (2) the elongation percentage thereof is within 10% as measured by applying a load to become stress of 5 N/cm2 per unit sectional area at 23° C. for 5 minutes to the string-like sealing material in the lengthwise direction thereof, and (3) the string-like body (a) has high shape-retaining ability at normal temperature (5 to 35° C.), but exhibits good melt flowability upon its heat curing.

Sealing materials have heretofore been used and filled into joints and clearances for the purpose of keeping watertightness, airtightness or the like. For example, in the field of automobiles•vehicles, sealing materials are applied to individual sites upon assembly of parts, assembly of bodies, coating, assembly of equipments or fittings, etc., so as to prevent air, water, dust and/or the like from penetrating into body interiors. The sealing materials include shapeless sealing materials such as paste and shaped sealing materials such as rubber gasket.
Among these, the pasty sealing material can be applied to an application site by means of a sealing gun by hand or robot, and so it is excellent in productivity and commonly used in the field of automobiles•vehicles, and the like. However, when the application site is a deep and narrow groove part such as a V-shaped groove, the application has been difficult because the sealing gun has not been able to be put therein. When a sealing material having a high viscosity is used, the sealing material cannot be filled up to the bottom of the V-shaped groove part, which cause a problem on watertightness and airtightness. Even when the application site is a shallow V-shaped groove part, it is difficult for a sealing material to fill the groove part up to the bottom thereof when the sealing material has a high viscosity. When a sealing material having a low viscosity on the other hand, sag is caused, and the sealing material run out to other portions than the application site. Further, when the pasty sealing material was applied to an application site of which good appearance is required, the form of the sealed part has had to be arranged by hand after the application.
As the shapeless sealing materials, there have been known many materials each having a composition comprising a resin or polymer as a main component, and containing a plasticizer, a softening agent, a filler, a reinforcing agent, a curing agent, etc., including the pasty sealing materials. However, most of them are in the form of a paste solution or emulsion. In a sealing material of the reaction-curing type, a liquid polymer is used as a main component. Many of these sealing materials include the above-described problems attendant on the pasty sealing materials. A two-component sealing material of the reaction-curing type, in which a curing agent is mixed upon its use, involves problems that a mixing operation is complicated, and a curing speed is fast, and the curing speed varies according to environmental temperatures.
Rubber gaskets and the like among the shaped sealing materials are suitable for use in arranging at a joint surface between structure members, but unstable for use in filling in a narrow groove part to seal it. The shaped sealing materials include sealing materials formed into sheets, strings or the like. Since many of them are used by attaching each of them to an application site and applying a load thereto or pressing it, however, it is difficult to completely fill it into a groove part in a narrow and deep form such as a V-shaped groove. An adhesive tape for sealing equipped with a support is further difficult to be applied to an application site having a complicated form, a deep groove part or the like because of the thickness or hardness of the support.
The conventional string-like sealing materials have disadvantage that they are partially elongated during handling to be thinned, broken or loosened. Such a string-like sealing material is not only poor in handling property, but also difficult to form a sealed part with good appearance, and also has an possibility that a problem may arise as to watertightness and airtightness. Japanese Patent Publication No. 39654/1977 has proposed a sealing material obtained by winding a sealing material layer composed mainly of tacky synthetic butyl rubber around an elastic resilient stretch-resistant body in the form of string into a string-like member for the purpose of improving the defects of such string-like sealing materials. In this string-like sealing material, the sealing material layer composed mainly of tacky synthetic butyl rubber is formed around a spongy or hollow stretch-resistant body. The sealing material is applied to an application site by applying a load thereto or pressing it to achieve sealing making good use of the restoring force of the stretch-resistant body and the tack of the sealing material layer. This publication describes that the use of the sealing material permits forming a firm sealing relation that it is well compatible with irregular rough surfaces such as concrete and cut surfaces of wood and penetrates into the tissue thereof by the restoring force to be airtightly tack-bonded thereto by a mere pressing operation without need of a fusion-bonding operation under heat. Even when this sealing material is used by pressing it, however, a narrow and deep groove part such as a V-shaped groove, or the like cannot be completely filled with the sealing material.
The present inventors proposed a reactive adhesive composition cured by heating in Japanese Patent registration No. 2739152. This reactive adhesive composition is a composition comprising a saturated polyester resin which is solid at normal temperature, a (meth)acrylurethane oligomer having a viscosity of at least 100 cps at normal temperature and a heat-curing catalyst, and is useful as a thick-applied coating, sealing material, pate or the like. This reactive adhesive composition does not have flowability and has moderate tackiness and cohesive force at normal temperature and thus can be used in any form such as string, pellet, sheet or block.
However, the reactive adhesive composition specifically disclosed in this patent publication is cured under curing conditions as its form is substantially retained. For example, it is disclosed that the reactive adhesive composition formed into a sheet is cured in that state without melting and flowing under curing conditions though its corners are rounded by melting. The use of such a reactive adhesive composition makes it difficult to completely fill a narrow and deep groove part such as a V-shaped groove with the adhesive composition


A liquid discharging head includes a nozzles plate including a plurality of nozzles to discharge droplets; a channel plate including a plurality of individual liquid chambers disposed in a row and connected to the plurality of nozzles; a wall-forming member to form a wall of the individual liquid chambers; a plurality of dummy individual channels disposed on the channel plate along a nozzle alignment direction outside lateral ends of the row of individual liquid chambers; and partitions between the dummy individual channels. A width of the partitions between the dummy individual channels along the nozzle alignment direction increases away from the individual liquid chambers.

1. Technical Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a liquid discharging head and an image forming apparatus including the liquid discharging head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among various types of image forming apparatuses including printers, facsimile machines, copiers, plotters, and multifunction apparatuses combining several capabilities of the above devices, there is an inkjet recording apparatus in which a recording head formed of a liquid discharging head (or a droplet discharge head) to discharge droplets is employed.
A conventional liquid discharging head includes a plurality of dummy liquid chambers disposed outboard of a line of individual liquid chambers that discharge droplets to position so that a inflection point of a bend in the channel plate outside the individual liquid chambers.
In a case in which stainless steel (SUS) or some other metal is used for the channel plate and individual channels such as pressure chambers or individual liquid chambers are formed by press working the sheet metal, the channel plate is polished to improve surface smoothness of the channel plate. However, during polishing, the partitions between the individual liquid chambers tend to be polished more, thereby causing a difference in the depth of the channel plate and causing bonding failures when bonding the channel plate to the nozzle plate.

Liquid discharging head and image forming apparatus including same


Methods and apparatuses are disclosed that determine a type of channel information based upon whether a wireless device is scheduled to receive symbols. In addition, a determination may be as to a number of hop periods to determine the type of channel information. Further, a distance between hop regions may be utilized to determine a type of channel information.

I. Field
The present document relates generally to wireless communication and amongst other things to beamforming for wireless communication systems.
II. Background
An orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system utilizes orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). OFDM is a multi-carrier modulation technique that partitions the overall system bandwidth into multiple (N) orthogonal frequency subcarriers. These subcarriers may also be called tones, bins, and frequency channels. Each subcarrier is associated with a respective sub carrier that may be modulated with data. Up to N modulation symbols may be sent on the N total subcarriers in each OFDM symbol period. These modulation symbols are converted to the time-domain with an N-point inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to generate a transformed symbol that contains N time-domain chips or samples.
In a frequency hopping communication system, data is transmitted on different frequency subcarriers during different time intervals, which may be referred to as "hop periods." These frequency subcarriers may be provided by orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, other multi-carrier modulation techniques, or some other constructs. With frequency hopping, the data transmission hops from subcarrier to subcarrier in a pseudo-random manner. This hopping provides frequency diversity and allows the data transmission to better withstand deleterious path effects such as narrow-band interference, jamming, fading, and so on.
An OFDMA system can support multiple access terminals simultaneously. For a frequency hopping OFDMA system, a data transmission for a given access terminal may be sent on a "traffic" channel that is associated with a specific frequency hopping (FH) sequence. This FH sequence indicates the specific subcarriers to use for the data transmission in each hop period. Multiple data transmissions for multiple access terminals may be sent simultaneously on multiple traffic channels that are associated with different FH sequences. These FH sequences may be defined to be orthogonal to one another so that only one traffic channel, and thus only one data transmission, uses each subcarrier in each hop period. By using orthogonal FH sequences, the multiple data transmissions generally do not interfere with one another while enjoying the benefits of frequency diversity.
A problem that must be dealt with in all communication systems is that the receiver is located in a specific portion of an area served by the access point. In such cases, where a transmitter has multiple transmit antennas, the signals provided from each antenna need not be combined to provide maximum power at the receiver. In these cases, there may be problems with decoding of the signals received at the receiver. One way to deal with these problems is by utilizing beamforming.
Beamforming is a spatial processing technique that improves the signal-to-noise ratio of a wireless link with multiple antennas. Typically, beamforming may be used at either the transmitter and/or the receiver in a multiple antenna system. Beamforming provides many advantages in improving signal-to-noise ratios which improves decoding of the signals by the receiver.
A problem with beamforming for OFDM transmission systems is to obtain proper information regarding the channel(s) between a transmitter and receiver to generate beamforming weights in wireless communication systems, including OFDM systems. This is a problem due to the complexity required to calculate the beamforming weights and the need to provide sufficient information from the receiver to the transmitter.

Systems and methods for beamforming and rate control in a multi-input multi-output communication systems


A tapered roller bearing comprising an outer race, a pair of axially adjacent inner races, and two cages interposed between the inner and outer races to retain two sets of rollers. The radially outer surface of each inner race has, close to the end facing the center of the bearing, a groove able to receive a respective plurality of radially inwardly projecting portions of the parts of the cages disposed close to the center of the bearing so that the cages retain the rollers on the respective inner races during the handling and assembly steps which precede mounting of the sub-units comprising the inner race, cage and rollers into the outer race. A pair of seal devices is fixed to the outer race and interposed between the outer race and each inner race close to the outer sides of the bearing.

The present invention relates to a tapered roller bearing of the type defined in the preamble to claim 1.
Conventionally, as illustrated in attached FIG. 1 which is a partial axial section of a roller bearing of known type, each of the two radially inner half-races 10 is formed with a step 11 close to the inner end which faces towards the centre of the bearing. This step serves, during the transfer stages which precede assembly of the sub units comprising the sets of rollers 12 and associated cages 13 on respective inner half-races, and before insertion of these sub-units into the outer race 14, to prevent the rollers from accidentally escaping from the rolling tracks in the direction indicated by the arrows A and Axe2x80x2 in FIG. 1.
The formation of the above-mentioned step involves a first disadvantage in that its shape, projecting radially from the rolling plane of the rollers, requires the provision of excess metal of a significant thickness t on the forged blank race, the outline of which is indicated in broken outline in FIG. 2. Moreover, it takes a long time for the significant mass of material constituting the excess metal to be removed by turning and grinding operations (proportional to the quantity of excess metal to be removed); in addition, the weight of the forged blank is detrimentally effected by the excess metal part. This known technique is therefore disadvantageous from a productive point of view, relating both to the working time taken for finishing and the weight of the component, which detrimentally influences the transfer operations.
The said step involves a second disadvantage in that, to complete an inner half-race, the sub-unit comprising the preliminarily assembled rollers in their cage must be fitted onto the half-race by passing them over the step; this subunit is assembled by pressing the rollers and the cage in the opposite directions from those indicated by the arrows A and Axe2x80x2 in FIG. 1.
In the formation of the half-races by stamping elements obtained from bar stock, it is advantageous if the shape which is impressed in the stamping phase of the forging corresponds substantially to the shape of the finished product which is obtained subsequently by working, that is turning and grinding, the blank workpiece. As can be observed from FIG. 2, the presence of the step makes the conical surfaces C and Cxe2x80x2 of the stamped blank and the finished piece respectively are not parallel. In the grinding operation, therefore, a surface (Cxe2x80x2) is formed which is orientated differently from the surface (C) which was formed by stamping.
Whilst it is not desired to be bound to any theory in this connection, the Applicant has reason to believe that it would better exploit the structural strength of the half-races if the form impressed by the stamp were to correspond to the shape which it will have during use supporting a load. In other words, a greater strength would be obtained, and consequently a longer useful life for the bearing if the said conical surfaces were parallel.
Referring again to FIG. 1, the inner cylindrical surface of the half-races is further worked in such a way as to form retaining grooves 16 for a temporary retainer ring 17, usually of plastics or metal. This, by holding the two inner half-races together axially, prevents each of them from accidentally slipping out from the outer ring 14, thus preventing escape of the rollers. This arrangement, while being effective, is expensive in that it requires the formation of the temporary retainer ring 17xe2x80x94which once the bearing is assembled, loses its functionxe2x80x94and in that it is also necessary to form the said retainer grooves 16.
An object of the present invention is to provide a tapered roller bearing in which the radially inner races do not have the conventional step discussed above, so as to avoid the above-indicated disadvantages.
Another object of the invention is to provide a bearing which does not need the conventional temporary retainer ring, and avoids the disadvantages associated therewith.
This and other objects which will become better understood hereinafter, are achieved in accordance with the present invention by a bearing having the characteristics set out in claim 1.
Other important characteristics are set out in the dependent claims.
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become clearer from the detailed description of an embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, given purely by way of non-limitative example, in which:
FIG. 1 is a partial axial section of a prior art tapered roller bearing;
FIG. 2 is a partial axial section of an inner half-race formed according to the prior art;
FIG. 3 is a partial axial section of a tapered roller bearing according to the present invention; and
FIG. 4 is a partial axial section of an inner half-race for the bearing of FIG. 3.


The object of the invention is to construct a simple packaging structure having few components and capable of protecting a contained product against shock impacts coming from all directions. To this end, the packaging structure according to the present invention is made of synthetic resin with an elastic quality molded into a sheet form, and includes a first tray pack and a second tray pack which face each other and are adjoined to hold the contained product securely in place; wherein the first and second tray packs are provided with sustaining portions sustaining the periphery of the contained product.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new packaging structure, with shock diffusion functions, convenient for transporting or storing a packaged product such as a circuit unit having a printed wiring board.
Various types of communication apparatuses, information processing apparatuses, and measuring apparatuses, use circuit units having printed wiring boards, for instance, which are equipped with signal processing power having a very large capacity and great accuracy, and composed of a high density of electronic components.
Such circuit units are typically transported to a site where the apparatus is to be set up in individual packages separate from each other and the rest of the apparatus. Thus, great care needs to be taken in packaging the units so as to protect them from various vibration and shock impacts during transportation of the units, and during storage in a warehouse. Particularly, the packaged units will need to be protected from unpredictably high shock impacts from dropping due to carelessness during human handling or collapsing of stored piles.
FIG. 26 is a diagrammatic representation of a circuit unit as an example of a product contained within the present invention, wherein FIG. A shows a top view, FIG. B a side view, and FIG. C a front view. In the circuit unit 1 of this figure, electrical components are connected to a circuit pattern, comprising the circuit functions, on the surface of a printed wiring board 2, and a metallic shield cover 3 is mounted over the entire surface of the board 2 so as to protect the circuit unit 1 electromagnetically.
On the front side, a metallic front panel 4 is placed in order to arrange operation components and various indications, and at its ends, rotational lever plug fitting 5 are placed on the printed wiring board 2 so that the panel 4 can be easily put on and taken off from a shelf of the apparatus.
Also, on the back side, multipolar connectors 6, which are plugged into and thus electrically connected to the connector of the backboard of the apparatus shelf, are vertically aligned and connected to the printed wiring board 2.
2. Related Art
The conventional way of packaging a product such as the circuit unit 1 for its transportation, etc. is (see FIG. 27): to cover the circuit unit 1 with a transparent film 11 made of conductive synthetic resin in order to protect the unit from electrostatics, to insert it into a frame 12 made of expanded polystyrene resin or expanded urethane resin; to place sheets 13 of the same material on the top and bottom of the unit within the frame 12 in order hold it in place; to place boards 14 also of the same material on the top and bottom surface of the frame 12; to place cardboards 16 provided with cushion sheets 15 on the top and bottom; and then to put the unit packaged in this order into a cardboard box 17 as shown in FIG. 27A. An illustration of the completed box package is shown in FIG. 27B.


A coherent laser beam combining system wherein the output of a single master oscillator is split into a plurality of signals, the signals are electronically modulated at unique frequencies. One signal is designated a reference signal while the remaining signals are passed through phase adjusters. All signals are optically amplified, aligned and passed through a beam splitter to split off a small sample that is imaged onto a photodetector. The photodetector output is fed to a signal processor that produces phase error signals that drive the phase adjusters resulting in a high-powered optically coherent output signal.

The present invention relates generally to multiple element optical amplifier arrays used to achieve a high power beam and in particular, to a coherent beam combining system to facilitate such laser amplifier arrays.
The intensity and, hence, the power available from a single-mode optical fiber is limited by either optical surface damage or nonlinear optical effects. These limitations can be overcome by coherent beam-combining of the output power from multiple optical fibers. Fine control of the optical phase is required for any multi-fiber approach. In a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration, the optical paths of each of the fibers have to be controlled to a fraction of the wavelength in order to coherently combine the individual outputs into a single, high-power beam. As a result of time varying thermal loads and other disturbances, an active feedback system is required to provide for both coherent addition and rapid slewing of the final beam direction
There have been a number of experimental and theoretical research efforts directed toward developing a practical scheme for coherent beam combining. A number of researchers have implemented electronic phase locking that has demonstrated high fringe visibility for both passive (U.S. Pat. No. 6,813,069, "Method and apparatus for controlling a fiber optic phased array"+. and J. Abderegg, S. J. Brosnan, M. E. Weber, H. Komine, and M. G. Wickham, "8-Watt Coherently-Phased 4-Element Fiber Array," Proceedings of the SPIE vol. 4974, pp. 1–6, 2003) and active systems (S. J. Augst, T. Y. Fan, and Antonio Sanchez, "Coherent Beam Combining and Phase Noise Measurements of Yb fiber Amplifiers," Optics Letters, Vol. 29, No. 5, pp. 474–476, Mar. 1, 2004). In previous electronic phase locked fiber arrays, each leg of the array is modulated at the same RF frequency or alternatively the reference beam is the only beam modulated at an RF frequency. The light emerging from each leg is then interfered with the light from a reference leg. Because the same RF frequency is used to modulate each array leg, the light from each leg must be sent to spatially separate photodetectors. Good fringe visibilities of greater than 94 percent, and hence, very low phase errors were measured. However, Abderegg et. al. reported that the spatial alignment had stringent requirements even when the fiber-to-fiber spacing was 3-mm (J. Abderegg, S. J. Brosnan, M. E. Weber, H. Komine, and M. G. Wickham, "8-Watt Coherently-Phased 4-Element Fiber Array," Proceedings of the SPIE vol. 4974, pp. 1–6, 2003). For practical purposes, any array locking method must confine most of the array power into a single lobe. This in turn requires the use of a closely packed array. The closer the array elements are in a system using multiple photodetectors, the more stringent the spatial alignment tolerances required to ensure that there is no interference from adjacent array elements.
All systems to date have required one photodetector per array element leading to a more complex system and requiring great care be taken to ensure that the light from adjacent array elements is eliminated from the photodetector. To achieve the required spatial isolation a heavy optical platform is needed. The external reference beam also adds to the optical complexity and increases the size and weight of the optical platform. Clearly it would be advantageous to have a coherent beam combining system that used a single photodetector and needed no external reference beam.

Self-reference locking of optical coherence by single-detector electronic-frequency tagging

United States of America as Represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


Various embodiments of the invention provide methods, systems, and computer program products for handling poor voice quality being experienced by a remote party on a call. In various embodiments, an assessment is received from the party at an IVR on the voice quality of the call. Accordingly, data is collected for one or more parameters associated with at least one of audio of the call and a network used to carry the audio of the call in response to the party experiencing poor voice quality. At this point, a predictive model is used to predict at least one cause for the poor voice quality. Here, the data collected for the one or more parameters is provided as input to the predictive model. Accordingly, one or more actions are taken to attempt to address the at least one cause and improve the voice quality on the call for the remote party.

Although in today's World contact centers make use of a number of different channels of communication, voice calls still remain a popular channel for both inbound and outbound contact center traffic. Today, Voice over Internet Protocol ("VoIP") is quickly becoming a communication technology used by many contact centers. VoIP offers a number of benefits for contact centers. For instance, VoIP provides contact centers with capabilities to deliver services across multiple channels of communication such as voice, fax, email, instant messaging, text messaging, Web, images, and video. In addition, VoIP allows contact centers to take advantage of open computing architecture resulting in reduced costs and improved flexibility.
However with that said, there are common voice quality problems associated with VoIP telecommunication services in IP packet networks such as noise, packet loss, and echo. Delayed delivery of audio (e.g., audio data) for a voice call (known as latency) can lead to bad echo and the parties interrupting each other during the call. While variations in delay of audio delivery, known as jitter, can cause strange sound effects on the call. Further, packet loss caused by network congestion or failure can cause interruptions in the call that are not typically recoverable. In fact, even one percent audio loss can significantly degrade a call.
Accordingly, persons who are on a call with a contact center expect a high-quality call experience. To meet such expectations, contact centers are often required to define, monitor, measure, analyze, and improve call quality. To accomplish this goal, contact centers may use various methods for objectively assessing call quality. For instance, the simplest methods use basic engineering metrics such as signal-to-noise ratio. However, call quality can be considerably subjective. That is to say, what one person may consider acceptable quality may not be acceptable for another person. Therefore, these basic engineering metrics may be modified in some instances to attempt to take into account a human's perceived quality.
Furthermore, more advanced methods may be used for assessing call quality in an attempt to mimic human hearing so as to better account for human perceived quality. For example, the Mean Opinion Score ("MOS") has been developed as a measure of human perceived quality. MOS is based on the ITU-T P.800 recommendation and requires that relatively large numbers of human listeners rate voice quality as part of a controlled and well-defined test process. The advantage of the MOS process is that clarity evaluations are derived directly from the individuals who experience a call. However, MOS evaluations are typically quite expensive, can be difficult to repeat when new telephony capabilities need to be tested, and are time consuming. For these reasons, those in the industry have developed processes based on predictive models to provide more objective and repeatable results.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 9,558,451 entitled "Adapting Parameters of a Call in Progress with a Model That Predicts Call Quality" ('451 Patent). This patent describes a predictive model that takes user feedback scores from real calls, models these in relation to objective technical parameters of the calls, and then dynamically outputs the results back into the model to adapt further calls. The use of the results is said to be dynamic in that the use goes on automatically "in the field," once the model has been deployed in live operation. Here, the model receives technical parameters of a call currently being conducted, and in response issues information used to automatically adapt the call while it is still ongoing.
Specifically, the model obtains respective measurements of the technical parameters and uses the measurements as inputs to provide a predicted opinion score for the current call. If the predicted opinion score is below a threshold or is categorized as "bad," then an adaptation involving adapting one or more of the parameters is determined based on the predicted opinion score. For example, it may be determined that for a given bit rate achievable over the network, a better quality of user experience can be achieved during a call video by trading off frame rate for frame resolution or vice versa. If so, then an increase and decrease of these parameters respectively, or target values of these, are made while the call is ongoing. There are a number of ways the model may be implemented to determine the adjustment or target values for the technical parameters.
For instance, the model may examine neighboring cells or cells within a predetermined distance in the feature space of the cell describing the current call, to check whether any would give a higher predicted score. That is to say, in effect the model looks at alternative candidate vales of the call's technical parameters where the candidate values extend within a certain range of the current values in one or more directions of the multidimensional quantized feature space. If the model finds any values that would increase the predicted score, then a corresponding adjustment is made.
Another possibility is to try a random selection of alternative, candidate parameter values to check whether any would give a better score. This approach can be characterized as a "trial-and-error" process in an attempt to identify adjustments to one or more technical parameters that can lead to a higher predicted score for the call. While another alternative is to implement an analytical or empirically determined algorithm to determine the path or jump to a higher score from any given point in the feature space. However, such approaches can be viewed as a disadvantage to the model described in the '451 Patent because these approaches required the model to take additional actions outside of predicting an opinion score for the call to attempt to improve the quality of the call while the call is ongoing.
Furthermore, other factors besides the current values of the technical parameters may play a part in the quality of the call such as a party's expectation or mood. For example, parties who may be on a call will have different expectations as to what is a "good" call. Thus, individual opinion scores are noisy due to party bias. Therefore, while the process described in the '451 Patent may give a higher experienced call quality on average across a group of individuals, predicting individual party opinion scores from technical parameters alone may not always be as accurate as may be desired for any one individual party. The model attempts to address this disadvantage in the '451 Patent by adding one or more parameters directed to characteristics of a party such as country or geographic region where the party is located, the party's age, the length of time the party has participated in a communication system, and/or the amount of prior feedback provided by the party. However, such parameters still do not account for a party's bias (subjective views) in many instances.
Thus, a need in the art exists for evaluating the quality of a call in real-time that takes into consideration the party's actual subjective view of the call quality. In addition, a need in the art exists for determining what parameters associated with the call should be adjusted during the call to improve the quality of the call. It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure herein is presented.

Auto-correcting voice quality in real-time


A method for increasing interaction speed between a website and a client device includes storing on an HTML5 local storage database on the client an ECMAScript file and a parameter from a web server of the website, and subsequently comparing a web server version number of the ECMAScript from the web server with the local version number of the parameter stored on the HTML5 local storage database. The parameter specifies a local version number of the ECMAScript file. The method can also include updating the ECMAScript stored on the HTML5 local storage database with the ECMAScript file from the web server when the web server version number is greater than the local version number. The method can also include loading the website on the client by retrieving the ECMAScript file from the HTML5 local storage database. Retrieving the ECMAScript file from the HTML5 local storage database can occur when the web server version number is the same as the local version number. The method can also include loading the website on the client by retrieving the ECMAScript file from the HTML5 local storage database.

Currently, ECMAScript (also sometimes referred to herein as "script" or "script files"), which includes script by the trade name, JavaScript®, are linked to a website and are either downloaded from a server of the website (also referred to herein as a "web server") on each request as files, for example, or the server of the website is configured with a cache policy. The cache policy means that a browser requests script periodically, i.e. every x days, every day, every hour, every minute, etc., as non-exclusive examples. Caching can create problems as the script is not easily updateable. Further, caching can trigger a server request for the script to confirm that these files have not changed and should be loaded from the local cache unless an extensive cache policy is set which then would prevent the "call", and would also prevent updating the content of the script. The use of script is a primary functionality on a client side of each website and script files can grow to a respectable file size.
FIG. 1 illustrates one prior art method for interaction between a client and a website. At step 10P, a website request is made by a client (also sometimes referred to herein as a "local computer" or "local storage"). As used herein, the terms "client" and "client device" are interchangeable, and intended to mean any computing system that can access the Internet.
At step 12P, the web server is queried with the website request.
At step 14P, a web browser receives and processes hypertext markup language ("HTML") code. In the example provided in FIG. 1, the HTML code requires the action of requesting three script files from the web server.
At step 16P, the web browser receives the three requested script files. In one prior art embodiment, the requested script files can be retrieved from the web server. Alternatively, the requested script files can be retrieved from a cache from the local computer. The particular route of the requested script files can be determined by the web server or by a cache policy of the local computer. In the event of use of the latter, the cache policy can determine that the script file(s) should only be requested from the web server after a predetermined amount of time has passed.
At step 18P, the website is loaded onto the client. In this prior art example, a total of four requests have been made: the initial website request, and the three subsequent requests for the three script files. As yet, this inefficiency (i.e. four requests) has not been satisfactorily resolved.

Method for processing code and increasing website and client interaction speed


An improved radio frequency receiver and method enabling the dynamic range of a radio frequency receiver to be extended are disclosed. In the receiver system, the effective received channel power is a combination of the wanted signal level, the noise floor and any in band spurious signals generated from blocking signals present at the input to the receiver system. When this total effective channel power is known, the front end gain is optimized by adaptively minimizing the total effective channel power. Since the wanted input signal power does not vary with the receiver gain setting, this optimizes the noise figure and input intercept point for the presented input signal conditions.

In a super-heterodyne receiver, signal frequencies are converted to a constant lower frequency (i.e., intermediate frequency) before detection. In the super-heterodyne receiver, a local oscillator (LO) signal in the receiver is mixed with incoming signals.
FIG. 1 shows the block diagram of a conventional super-heterodyne receiver 10. The receiver 10 includes a radio frequency (RF) amplifier 12, a first filter 14, a mixer 16, a first intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier 18, a surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter 20, a second IF amplifier 22, a variable gain function 24, a final IF amplifier 26, a second filter 28 and an analog to digital converter (ADC) 30.
In the receiver 10, the variable gain function 24 is placed after the SAW filter 20. As the power level at the input of the ADC 30 is increased, the gain is reduced, enabling a reduction in the dynamic range requirements of a final IF amplifier 26 and the ADC 30. Placing the variable gain function 24 after the SAW filter 20 has the advantage that the gain can be adjusted with respect to the input power of the ADC 30. The disadvantage, however, is that it does not reduce the dynamic range requirements of the mixer 16 or the first IF amplifier 18. Further, there is a limit to the dynamic range performance achievable with standard commercial mixer components.
If the variable gain function 24 is placed before the mixer 16, this would reduce the dynamic range requirements of the mixer 16 and the first IF amplifier 18. The difficulty with this approach is determining when to adjust the gain. Since an interfering signal may fall outside the pass-band of the SAW filter 28, the power of the ADC 30 can not be used to determine when the mixer 16 and the IF amplifiers would generate an unacceptable level of distortion.


An in-vehicle device 4 includes an image acquisition unit 42 that acquires an image photographed by a camera 2 including a lens, a storage unit 7, a dirt detection unit 6 that detects dirt on the lens on the basis of the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 42 and that stores dirt region information indicating a region where the dirt exists in the image into the storage unit 7, a dirt removal information generation unit 8 that generates dirt removal information indicating a region where the dirt on the lens is removed, and a rewriting unit 12 that rewrites the dirt region information on the basis of the dirt removal information. Accordingly, it is possible to rewrite the dirt region information on the basis of the dirt removal information.

A technology of mounting a camera in a vehicle, performing image recognition processing or the like on an image acquired from the camera, and using this for a support for driving a vehicle has been known. When a foreign object such as a water drop or mud is attached to a lens of a camera, there is a bad influence on the image recognition processing. A device to detect an object attached to a lens is disclosed, for example, in PTL 1.


An improved apparatus and method for facilitating multiple write port access to a programmable memory apparatus is disclosed. A memory array, such as a random access memory array, includes a plurality of memory cells. A number of write ports are coupled to the memory array, each of which provides write access to individual memory cells of the memory array. Each of the write ports includes a NAND gate, an inverter, and a transfer gate. The NAND gate includes first and second inputs respectively coupled to a write row select line and a write column select line, and an output coupled to the input of the inverter and a first control input of the transfer gate. The output of the inverter is coupled to a second control input of the transfer gate. The input of the transfer gate is coupled to a data line, and the output of the transfer gate is coupled to a memory cell of the memory array. In response to appropriate logic levels on the write row select line and write column select line, data on the data input line is transferred through the transfer gate and written into the memory cell. Reduced node capacitance at the input of the memory cell and an increase in memory cell write speed are realized by implementing the disclosed write port circuitry.

Multiple port random access memories are generally configured to include a number of ports, each of which typically represents an independent input/output path for accessing data stored in a memory array. A multiple port RAM may, for example, include a number of read ports and write ports, as well as a scan port for supporting scan-based testing of the memory device. It is noted that the number of read ports need not be the same as the number of write ports.
A significant problem encountered when attempting to increase the number of write ports for providing write access to a programmable memory array concerns the node capacitance at the input of the memory cells. In general, the capacitance at the input of a given memory cell increases with each additional write port connected thereto. Such increases in input node capacitance of the memory cell generally results in an appreciable degradation in memory cell write speed.
Another significant problem that arises when attempting to increase the number of write ports to a programmable memory array concerns a heightened potential of compromising data integrity or data stability within the memory cell that may occur during a charge sharing event. A write port for a conventional multiple write port RAM, for example, typically includes a pair of series connected transfer gates. Under certain conditions, a charge sharing event may occur in which the cumulative capacitance at the memory cell input and at a node defined between the two transfer gates may contribute to an inadvertent and potentially catastrophic flipping of the memory cell state.
Various conventional write port designs have heretofore failed to adequately address the undesirable increase in memory cell input capacitance and concomitant reduction in memory write speeds in multiple write port programmable memory devices. There is, therefore, a need for improved write port circuitry for multiple write port RAM applications which provides for reduced circuit capacitance and memory cell input capacitance, good performance and noise characteristics, and one that does not result in an increase in circuit element size or number of transistors. The present invention fulfills these and other needs.

Write multiplexer apparatus and method for multiple write port programmable memory

International Business Machines Corporation


A color registration-pattern formed between continuous printing pages with different magnifications is read so as to correct color misalignment by converting the magnification into the reference magnification so as to calculate the present color misalignment correction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for correcting image registration in an image forming apparatus employing an electrostatic recording system or an electro-photographic recording system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently users have demanded high speeds and high image quality as well as conformity with various kinds of recording sheets (recording media) for image forming apparatuses. This provides particular challenges for color image forming apparatus, where multi-color images are sequentially overlapped on a transfer member so as to form color images.
As a means for increasing speed, a tandem type of recording system is provided in which a plurality of image forming sections for each color are arranged in a row. The speed of the system can be further increased by reducing the gap between pages or recording sheets, i.e., between images continuously formed during continuous printing.
In order to improve image quality, in both the monochromatic and color image forming apparatuses, the displacement relative to a recording sheet is reduced by improving accuracies in position for forming images on the recording sheet. In a color image forming apparatus, high image quality is also achieved by improving accuracies in position when multi-color images are overlapped on one transfer sheet so as to reduce color misalignment. Furthermore, in the color image forming apparatus, high image quality is achieved by reducing density misalignment between desirable images and images formed by the image forming apparatus in practice. For correcting the position misalignment, the color misalignment, and the density misalignment, the image forming job can be stopped (interrupted) so as to form a mark train on a transfer member for detecting the misalignment based on the detected result. After adjustment, the image forming job can be resumed.
However, since the job has been interrupted for correction (adjustment) in this method, the productivity is reduced. In addition, a problem arises in that image quality is different before and after the adjustment is made during the same job.
It has been suggested in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-292760 that adjusting color misalignment without interruption can be achieved by performing the correction in the gaps (intervals) between images continuously formed during continuous printing.
When images are formed on both sides (front and rear sides) of one recording sheet, the adjustment of size and position of the images on both sides (double-side registration) is demanded. When toner images formed on the recording sheet are fixed by heating, since part of the moisture contained in the recording sheet is evaporated due to the fixing heat, the recording sheet can contract after the fixing so as to generate dimensional change. This dimensional change is different for each type of recording sheet.
In a two-sided printing mode, after images are fixed on the front side (first side), images are formed on the rear side (second side) in a state that the recording sheet has contracted by about 0.1 to 0.5%. Hence, when the recording sheet by absorbs water after the images are formed on the rear side, the recording sheet and images expand, so that the image size of the front side is different from that of the rear side, resulting in poor front to back image registration. An image forming apparatus is proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-014507 for improving image quality by solving the problems during the two-sided printing described above, by changing the rotational speed of a polarizer (rotary polygon mirror), which is scanning means for writing images, to align the double-side image dimensions during two-sided printing.
As described above, for speeding up and improving image quality, it is effective to align images in the space between continuously formed images. Also, in improving image quality during two-sided printing, a technique changing the rotational speed of the polarizer (rotary polygon mirror) is effective for the image dimensional alignment.
Accordingly, for speeding up and improving image quality, it may be effective to change the rotating speed of the polarizer (rotary polygon mirror) in conformity with the dimension of the continuously formed images (i.e., changing the image dimension) as well as to align the image in the space between continuously formed images.
A sequence of reference marks for detecting the misalignment needs to be formed at a known reference image size as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-292760. However, the size of the reference marks for detecting the misalignment for double sided images must be changed between the imaging of the first side and the second side. Therefore, the rotational speed of the polarizer must be changed so that the image dimension becomes 100%. That is, the rotational speed of the polarizer is changed for writing so that the image dimension at a first time (front side) becomes 102%; after writing, the rotational speed of the polarizer is changed so that the image dimension becomes 100% so as to form the reference marks on the other side for detecting the misalignment. Furthermore, the rotational speed of the polarizer is changed for writing so that the image dimension at a second time (rear side) becomes 98%; after writing, the rotational speed of the polarizer is changed so that the image dimension becomes 100% so as to form the reference marks for detecting the misalignment. These operations are to be repeated.
During changing the rotational speed of the polarizer, images cannot be formed. Also, the rotational speed of the polarizer is not stabilized until a predetermined time lapses after changing it, so that with increasing number of times of changing the rotational speed, the space between continuously formed images is increased, reducing the productivity of printing.
Accordingly, the number of times of changing the rotational speed of the polarizer is desirable to be as small as possible. That is, it is desirable that the reference marks for detecting the misalignment be formed without changing the rotational speed of the polarizer.
The present invention addresses these problems and others which will be understood from the following description.

Abstract: Thereby, a plurality of the color registration-patterns with different magnifications, which are formed between continuous printing pages with differentiated magnifications by the speed change of a polygon-mirror motor can be read so as to correct the color misalignment.


Provided herein are methods of treating brain tumors by administering a therapeutically effective amount of a compound of the Formulas I or II to a patient in need thereof.

Reliance on glycolysis has been correlated with disease progression in cancer, and as well as a consistent and significant increase in activity of hexokinase, phosphofructokinase and pyruvate kinase. Hypoxia is also a feature of many solid cancers and has been linked to malignant transformation, metastasis and treatment resistance. Furthermore, glycolysis in cancer cells can be enhanced by certain oncogenes through the increased expression of glucose transporters and glycolytic enzymes found on tumor cells.
A serious disadvantage of treating glioblastoma is the harmful effects on normal cells and tissue. Furthermore, the mutagenic potential of certain anti-neoplastic therapies often promotes tumor resistance and can initiate other malignancies. A need exists, therefore, for cancer treatments to be developed for highly glycolytic cancer cells such as glioblastoma with little or no toxicity towards normal cells.

Inhibitors of glycolysis useful in the treatment of brain tumors

Board of Regents, University of Texas System


When a seat back in a forwardly folded state is raised to a predetermined raised state by activating an electric motor by turning on a switch, the electric motor is immediately stopped even if the switch is still turned on, and the seat back is retained in the raised state. There are provided a locking member which operates to retain the seat back in the raised state when the seat back is in the predetermined raised state and a lever which turns in association with the operation of the locking member. The lever turns on another switch to open a drive circuit for the electric motor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for a vehicle sheet.
2. Background Art
In a cabin structure of a vehicle, such as an automobile or the like, it is generally known as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 2001-239870A to divide the cabin into a passenger compartment and a luggage compartment at the back of the cabin by a sheet back of the rearmost seat of a plurality of seats arranged back and forth and to fold the seat back forward so as to be laid over a seat cushion for using the upwardly facing back of the seat back as a luggage table, namely, so as to expand the luggage space toward a passenger compartment.
Referring to generally known vehicle seats, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 2005-41406A proposes that laying of a seat back over the seat cushion and returning thereof to a raised state are performed by an electric motor. In this proposal, a limit switch detects completion of the laying of the seat back thereover or completion of development (raising) and, then, stops the electric motor. It is further known as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 2004-249962A that the sheet is stored in a storage wholly section behind the seat with the seat back laid over the seat cushion, that the storage and returning to the original state thereof are performed by the electric motor, and that a manipulation switch which returns to an OFF state upon release of manipulation therefore is arranged at the rear of the seat (in a luggage compartment).
The electric motor employed for raising the seat back from the forwardly folded state as above mitigates burden on the user. In employing the electric motor, it can be contemplated to arrange a momentary type manipulation switch at the luggage compartment or the like at the rear of the seat so as to operate the electric motor only when the manipulation switch is pushed.
Employment of such a momentary type manipulation switch, however, delegates the user to determine the posture of the seat back. Accordingly, even if the user determines the raised angle of the seat back at a degree that the user thinks it comfortable and stops the electric motor to set the seat back at the determined angle, expected comfortableness would not be obtained in some cases. For example, the seat back is raised excessively to cause the user to feel uncomfortable or is reclined so backward to cause the user to feel uncomfortable and to narrow the luggage space behind the seat back.
For tackling this problem, a mark that indicates a position of the seat back which brings the seat back to a predetermined position may be provided. In this case, the user can turn off the manipulation switch while confirming the raised position of the seat back by watching the mark. Even in such a case, however, the user may release his/her hand too early or too late, which invites impossibility to stop the seat back at the desired raised position without failure.
Alternatively, a stopper may be provided for stopping the seat back at a predetermined raised position. Specifically, the seat back is raised by the operation of the electric motor, and overcurrent flows in the electric motor upon abutment of the seat back on the stopper. When the overcurrent is detected, electric conduction to the electric motor is cut. In this case, however, large force is applied to the seat back, the stopper, and the like until the electric motor is stopped from the time when the seat back abuts on the stopper, and therefore, the device for the seat vehicle is liable to be broken. For tackling this problem, a part of the stopper or the seat back may be reinforced. This reinforcement, however, involves an increase in weight of the vehicle.
Another device may be considered. Namely, the electric motor is used not only for raising the seat back from the forwardly folded state but also for folding the seat back forward from the raised state. In this device, the seat back would be folded forward by careless operation of the electric motor though an object would be placed on the seat. Further, it is necessary for folding the seat back forward to manipulate an activation switch for the electric motor. Further, it takes considerable time from the time when the activation switch is turned on to the time when the electric motor is activated, the seat back is folded forward, and then, the electric motor is stopped. Therefore, quick forwardly folding of the seat back cannot be attained. Further, employment of the electric motor for forwardly folding the seat back increases power consumption in the automobile.
To tackle this problem, a scheme can be considered in which the seat back is raised by the electric motor and is folded forward by biasing means, such as a spring or the like, so that seat back becomes in the forwardly folded state immediately upon manual lock release of the seat back.
However, the electric motor for raising the seat back restrains forwardly folding of the seat back because the electric motor engages with the seat back or the vehicle (or the seat cushion) through transmitting means, such as a gear. In detail, in order to fold the seat back forward, the output shaft of the electric motor must be rotated in a direction reverse to that for raising the seat back, and therefore, the electric motor restrains forwardly folding thereof. For this reason, only by the biasing means, the seat back may stop being folded forward in the middle, so that the seat back may not be in the predetermined forwardly folded state unless the user pushes the seat back from above. Further, the base end of the seat back may be rubbed with the rear end of the seat cushion in forwardly folding of the seat back, to cause friction resistance in forwardly folding of the seat back. In this case, not only restraint of the electric motor but also the friction resistance applied cause difficulty in setting the seat back to the predetermined forwardly folded state only by the biasing means, such as a spring or the like.