An electronic apparatus comprising a housing having a plurality of electronic components and two or more separate heat transfer systems each thermally communicating with different one or more of said electronic components is characterized by at least one central heat transfer bus communicating with the two or more heat transfer systems, one or more switching or modulating connections between the heat transfer bus and one or more of the heat transfer systems, and one or more activating components for switching or modulating the one or more connections in response to monitored thermal load or temperature of the electronic components and/or heat transfer bus. Heat transfer between said heat transfer bus and one or more of the heat transfer systems is modulated or switched on or off by the activating components.

Computers and other electronic apparatus containing heat-generating microprocessors or computer chips, as well as other heat-generating components, require cooling of those components when the system is operating. Preferred compactness of electronic systems, such as computers, sophisticated recognition systems, advanced sensing systems, aiming/targeting systems, display systems, mapping systems and the like leads to a high density of heat generating electronic components. Moreover, the high speed and efficient components used in the latest systems generate significantly more heat than used in systems of just a few years ago. For example, microprocessors as used in present office and home computers can generate over 80 watts of heat energy, more than twice the amount of heat generated by previous home computer processors. To facilitate the use of multiple high level heat generating electronic components, chip cooling and electronic board cooling techniques have been developed. Most commonly, outside air is induced into the housing with one or more fans and the airflow is used to cause convective heat transfer thereby cooling the components before the air returns to the outside of the housing. Fans require additional energy to operate, are rather bulky taking up substantial amounts of interior space, and the resulting airflow is often difficult to direct to heat specific electronic components constituting the actual heat sources, especially when cooling needs change due to variations in computing load, display load, sensing load or ambient conditions.
The reliable functioning of computer and other electronic components requires operation within certain temperatures boundaries. For example microprocessor chip temperatures frequently must be operated below 60° C. for reliability and long life. Display systems require minimum temperatures for the display to be easily visible and cannot tolerate extreme heat without losing reliability and ultimately functionality. Most of these components generate heat while they are operating, and the amount of heat generated depends on the activity level and can vary significantly. Some components can produce more than two or three times their common or low end activity heat output; some components may not operate for long time periods and require essential no cooling until they are operational. Other components, especially liquid crystal displays also require a minimum temperature for proper operation. If such systems are to be used for example in cold winter climates with ambient temperatures below freezing or even below −40° C., the start-up of the display may require heat input to facilitate a minimum operating temperature as specified by such component.
Often computers and other electronic systems are not operated continuously, 24/7, or at least not with the same intensity at the same ambient temperature conditions, but instead are used either intermittently or selectively, often for relatively short periods of time with substantial inactive periods between uses or more intensely during some periods than others. Thus, cooling of the heat-generating components may vary in required cooling capacity over time or only be required for short-term, high-power heat rejection. These conditions pose a problem in applications in which the total heat rejection and cooling capacity is limited or at least limited for certain time periods.
Presently designed heat rejection systems are often inadequate to meet the load requirements needed to satisfy increasing demands for more versatile and faster operation and more complex computational schemes and display systems. At certain times the thermal capacity of present heat rejection system is overloaded to a degree and for a time period sufficient to result in electronic component failure. Moreover, all components may not fail, but rather those components that were furthest away from their allowable operating temperature condition or one or more of those components that can not tolerate excessive operating temperatures during certain or all of its operating function. Operation in extreme ambient conditions as often encountered in military applications puts additional burden on the heat transfer as the available differential temperature to the ambient is reduced.

Thermal bus load control management for electronic systems


Embodiments provide, among other things, a circuit including a frequency generator and a charge pump. In embodiments, the frequency generator may be configured to provide the charge pump with a clock signal at a first frequency for a predefined period of time. Thereafter, the frequency generator may provide the charge pump with a clock signal at one or more other frequencies. In embodiments, the first frequency may enable the charge pump to settle in a reduced period of time when compared with the one or more other frequencies.

Charge pumps are designed to change an input signal at one voltage to an output signal at a lower or higher voltage. This voltage change may enable a single voltage of a power supply to be provided at varied voltages depending upon the circuit. For example, a power supply of a device may provide a voltage of 1.5 volts (v); however, a circuit in the device may need an operating voltage of −1.5 v. In order to provide this operating voltage the charge pump may take the 1.5 v provided by the power supply and convert it to the −1.5 v needed by the circuit.
A common method of converting the voltage is to utilize a switched mode power supply with switches that open and close at a specific clock signal frequency. This clock signal frequency may impact the output of the charge pump in a couple of ways. First, when a voltage is applied to a charge pump, it takes a period of time before the output voltage of the charge pump is capable of being used by the circuit to which the voltage is being provided. This period of time is known as the settling time of the charge pump and is dependent upon the frequency of the clock signal. A second issue involves spurious emissions. Spurious emissions are unintended frequencies that may be introduced into the output signal of the charge pump that were not present in the input signal. Spurious emissions, like settling time, are also dependent upon the clock signal frequency.

Fast settling charge pump with frequency hopping


A system, method and lottery ticket that implement a lottery game that uses a geometric figure having a plurality of selection spaces from which a player selects at least one selection space. The selection spaces are then populated with one or more game indicia, with each game indicia having a point value, and prizes are awarded based upon the total number of points associated with the game indicia populated into the player-selected selection spaces. Other lottery games can also be played simultaneously therewith on the same ticket or round of play.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a lottery game, and more particularly to a lottery game in which the player selects a plurality of positions within a geometric figure and in which some of the positions in the figure are subsequently populated with indicia.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many governments and/or gaming organizations sponsor wagering games known as lotteries. A typical lottery game entails players selecting permutations or combinations of numbers. This is followed by a "draw," wherein the lottery randomly selects a combination or permutation of numbered balls. Prizes are awarded based on the number of matches between a player's selection and the drawn numbers. The drawn numbers are then well-publicized, and large-jackpot lotteries are popular throughout the world.
Lotteries have become an important source of income to governments as they shoulder much of the financial burden for education and other programs. However, as governments have grown more dependent on and increased the use of lotteries, it has become a challenge to sustain public interest therein and maintain the desired level of game participation. One approach to invigorating lottery sales is to expand game content beyond traditional combination/permutation games in the hope that the new games will help keep current players, as well as draw in new players.
One method to enhance game play is to change game indicia from simple alphanumeric characters to other pictures and images. It is known to use pictures or other game indicia in the lottery game to create a unique prize structure. However, most of the variable game indicia lotteries still rely upon a matching of game indicia and drawn indicia to determine a prize through the correspondent level of matching.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a lottery game that allows winning based upon more than simple number or symbol matching. Further, such lottery game should allow a variable prize structure that is greater than that permitted by pure matching of sets of symbols. It is thus to such an improved lottery game that the present invention is primarily directed.

Lottery game played on a geometric figure using indicia with variable point values


A vibratory, motorized articulated bed including a head motor, a foot motor and a vibratory massage motor, is controlled by a remote control hand-held device. The device has (a) a first user-activated mechanism which controls an operation of at least one of the head and foot motors and (b) a second user-activated mechanism which shifts an on-off cycling rhythm of the massage motor between first and second different rhythms with the massage motor running. According to another aspect of the invention, a control circuit remotely operable by a user of the bed is provided. The control circuit includes (a) a user memory which stores a remotely-communicated user variable to indicate a user-selected preferred position of the bed, (b) a recall control by which the user can remotely command the bed to be returned to the preferred position, and (c) a handler routine which is responsive to the recall control and which returns the bed to the preferred position.

The present invention relates to articulated beds adjustable by electric motors or their equivalent to support the person in the bed in different positions as desired, and more specifically to beds that can be operated by a handheld unit coupled to the bed by a wire or wireless link.
Although adjustable beds have long been found useful in hospital and institutional settings, in recent years such beds have been made convenient for more universal use by adding lifting and vibrator massage motors controllable by a handheld controller. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,258 entitled REMOTELY CONTROLLED ARTICULATED BED describes an articulated bed manipulated by head and foot motors and vibrated by head and foot vibrator motors which are controlled by a wireless remote unit.
However, there is a danger that as more controllable features and options are added to such "automatic" beds they actually may become more difficult and frustrating to use. For example, if head and foot portions of the bed can be put in countless different positions and the head and foot vibrators can be set for a variety of speeds and massage patterns, the user may find it difficult to restore the bed to a favored setting once it has been readjusted for some reason. Moreover, if previously the bed has been left in a chair-like curved position, a tired or distraught person wanting to just lie on the bed in a more conventional position may not be in the mood to "play" with the controls.
Thus, it would be highly desirable if there were some way the user could easily make the bed automatically return to a favored "bed setting," without adding greatly to the cost of the bed or complexity in operating it. However, any mechanism which causes such a bed to automatically adjust its shape significantly might present a danger to a handicapped, sick or feeble person who inadvertently triggers the mechanism and cannot immediately bring it to a halt. Therefore, such a feature cannot be added without first devising some foolproof way for even a surprised or frightened person to easily halt any such automatic motion.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an articulated bed and a method and device for operating it by which the user can customize several favorite settings of the bed's lifting and massaging motors and of even associated equipment, such as a bed lamp or television. A further object is to provide a safety mechanism by which even a surprised or frightened person can halt such an automatic adjustment motion of the bed.


A preparation for inhibiting local invasion of malignant tumors is provided which comprises batroxobin and therefore can inhibit local invasion of malignant tumors. A preparation for encapsulating malignant tumor tissues is also provided which comprises batroxobin and therefore can cause or promote formation of capsule-like tissue around malignant tumor tissues.

In the treatment of malignant tumors, the success rate for removing of primary cancers has risen steadily due to advances in surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. However, even in the early stages of a tumor, malignant tumor cells often scatter and invade locally into adjacent tissues and organs. In this case, even if the primary focus of malignant tumor is removed surgically, recurrence is possible due to residual invading malignant tumor cells; ultimately resulting in death in many cases. In particular, if malignant tumor cells have invaded into a vital organ, they cannot be removed along with normal tissues. So the recurrence rate and death rate are high in these cases. When a malignant tumor occurs in a vital organ, large amounts of tissue including normal tissues are removed in an effort to avoid local invasion, and the function of the vital organ may be lost. Moreover, in the case of malignant tumors with a high degree of malignancy such as melanoma, lung cancer, liver cancer and pancreatic cancer, early diagnosis is difficult. By the time the tumor is diagnosed, the local invasion of malignant tumor has become widespread, making unacceptable for surgical treatment in many cases.
Radiation usually does not demonstrate positive results for treating the local invasion of these malignant tumors. Moreover, the chemotherapy drugs currently in clinical use, such as adriamycin, which act by directly attacking malignant tumor cells, also attack normal cells, and have strong side-effects; a problem for clinical use. Consequently, new preparations for inhibiting local invasion of malignant tumors are expected.
It is generally believed that local invasion is related as follows to the stages of malignant tumors.
(1) In the early stage of malignant tumors, malignant tumor cells proliferate by cell division, resulting in the tumor tissue's growth. This is known as "dysplasia". In histopathological terms, the proliferating malignant tumor cells are localized at this stage, and can be clearly distinguished from the surrounding normal tissues. In most cases, capsule-like tissue forms around the malignant tumor tissues.
Capsule-like tissue is connective tissue formed as a result of the interaction between malignant tumor tissues and normal tissues, separating the malignant tumor tissues from the normal tissues. So it appears that the malignant tumor tissues are surrounded by a capsule. A malignant tumor enveloped by capsule-like tissue is extremely easy to remove by surgery, and the malignant tumor cells are not scattered during the surgery, there is very little risk of the malignant tumor recurring after surgery.
(2) However, as the malignant tumor progresses, the capsule-like tissue is lost, and there is local invasion from the malignant tumor tissues to adjacent surrounding normal tissues and organs, resulting in wider diffusion of the malignant tumor. At this stage, surgical treatment becomes difficult.
Considering the aforementioned relationship between local invasion and the stages of malignant tumors, it has been suggested that malignant tumor therapies that acted by promoting the formation of capsule-like tissue, might be clinically useful. However, no studies of capsule-like tissue formation around malignant tumors have been done focusing solely on local invasion of malignant tumors, and no drugs have been developed that promote such formation (see, for example, Clin. Expl. Metastasis 7:277-282, 1989). This is because in the technical field, local invasion of malignant tumors is generally considered to be a part of malignant tumor metastatic process, and it is believed that drugs that inhibit metastasis should also be able to inhibit local invasion.
Recently, however, pathway of metastasis which does not involve a local invasion process has been discovered in many malignant tumors (see, for example, BMC Medicine, 2(9):1-8, 2004). For example, there have been clinical reports of malignant tumors that metastasize without local invasion (see, for example, Virchows Arch. Pathol. Anat. 390:121-126, 1981 and Surgery Today 25:369-372, 1995). Moreover, drugs that have been reported to be effective in inhibiting local invasion of malignant tumors but are ineffective against metastasis and, in fact, promote metastasis (see, for example, Breast Cancer Res. Treat. 40:209-223, 1996). Conversely, there have been reports of in vivo experiments with drugs that inhibit malignant tumor metastasis but do not inhibit local invasion (see, for example, Clinical & Experimental Metastasis, 19:95-105, 2002). These reports suggest a phenomenon in which local invasion of malignant tumors is not a part of the metastatic process, but instead, that local invasion and metastasis occur as different processes.
From another perspective, much basic and clinical researches have pointed to a close relationship between malignant tumors and the coagulation and fibrinolytic system. For example, microcirculation disorders caused by increased plasma fibrinogen concentration, increased blood viscosity, abnormal blood rheology and other abnormalities of the coagulation and fibrinolytic system, are known to occur in malignant tumor patients. It has also been reported that increased plasma fibrinogen concentration or secretion of fibrinogen by the malignant tumor cells themselves leads to the deposition of fibrinogen or fibrin in the extracellular matrix of the malignant tumor tissue, and that this then acts as part of the extracellular matrix to promote proliferation, invasion and metastasis of the malignant tumor cells (see, for example, Cancer Research 60:2033-2039, 2000; Ann NY Acad. Sci. 936:406-425, 2001 and Blood 96:3302-3309, 2000).
Focusing on this relationship between malignant tumors and the coagulation and fibrinolytic system, it has been reported that batroxobin, a thrombin-like serine protease from Bothrops atrox moojeni venom, inhibits proliferation and metastasis of malignant tumors in the same way as Ancrod, another thrombin-like serine protease (see, for example, Eur. J. Cancer 16:919-923, 1980). However, while this report uses tumor weight as an indicator of the inhibitive effect on malignant tumor proliferation, and the number of metastatic foci in organs as an indicator of malignant tumor metastasis, it does not evaluate the local invasion of malignant tumors.
Also in connection with the relationship between malignant tumors and the coagulation and fibrinolytic system, it has been reported that in an experimental model using fibrinogen-deficient mice, malignant tumor metastasis is dependent on fibrinogen and fibrin, but malignant tumor proliferation and local invasion are not dependent on fibrinogen (see, for example, Blood 96:3302-3309, 2000). However, the relationship between batroxobin and local invasion of malignant tumors has not been reported.

Preparation comprising batroxobin for inhibiting local invasion of malignant tumors


First and second semiconductor switches which are activated alternately are provided between ends of a primary winding and a common potential point, wherein a DC power supply voltage is supplied to a center tap. An electric current flowing into a load is fed back to thereby subject the semiconductor switches to PWM control. Series circuits consisting of capacitors and semiconductor switches are connected between the center tap of the primary winding and the ends of the same. The semiconductor switches are activated in synchronism with the first and second semiconductor switches, thereby preventing occurrence of an anomalous high voltage, which would otherwise be caused at the time of switching operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a DC-AC converter (hereinafter referred to as an "inverter") for producing an AC voltage to be used for driving a load from a DC power source such as a mains adapter, which is an accessory of an electrical appliance, or a battery, as well as to an AC power supply method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) has come into use as a back light source for a liquid-crystal monitor of a notebook PC or a liquid-crystal display of a liquid-crystal TV receiver and so on. In general, the CCFL might be of higher efficiency and longer life use than those of an ordinary hot cathode fluorescent lamp. A filament usually provided in the hot cathode fluorescent lamp is omitted from the CCFL.
Start-up and activation of the CCFL require a high AC voltage. For instance, a start-up voltage is about 1,000 volts, and an operating voltage of the CCFL is about 600 volts. Such a high AC voltage is produced from a DC power source of a laptop computer or a liquid-crystal TV receiver through use of an inverter.
In conventional arts, Royer circuit has been known for an inverter use of a CCFL. The Royer circuit is formed from a saturable magnetic core transformer, a control transistor, and other circuit elements. The Royer circuit can perform a self-oscillation by means of non-linear permeability of the saturable magnetic core transformer and a non-linear current gain characteristic of the control transistor. However, the Royer circuit itself does not need any external clock or driver circuit.
The Royer circuit is basically a constant-voltage inverter. Therefore, when fluctuation arises in an input voltage or a load current, the Royer circuit cannot maintain a constant output voltage. Consequently, a regulator is required for supplying the power to the Royer circuit. In this regard, it was difficult for an inverter using the Royer circuit to be down-sized and achieve a efficient low power conversion.
Among other related arts, there has been proposed an inverter using a center-tap-type transformer, in which the transformer has a primary winding which supplies a DC voltage to a center tap, and a secondary winding for outputting an AC voltage such as disclosed in the International Patent Publications of No. WO 99/34651 or Japanese Patent Publication Hei 6-14556.
An inverter disclosed in WO 99/34651 has a center tap of the primary winding provided with a DC voltage, and semiconductor switches provided between respective ends of the primary winding and the ground so that the semiconductor switches are alternately operated in On-state and Off-state. Further, the inverter is provided with a PWM controller for performing a PWM control so as to supply DC voltage to the inverter. The power supplied from the inverter to the load can be controlled by means of said DC current control performed by the PWM controller.
An inverter of the JP Hei 6-14556 comprises a primary winding having a DC power source connected to a center tap; a secondary winding for outputting an AC voltage; a booster transformer having a tertiary winding for feedback purpose; a resonance capacitor connected between both ends of the primary winding of the booster transformer to constitute an LC resonance circuit between the capacitor and the inductance of the primary winding; a pair of semiconductor switches, one end of each semiconductor switch being connected to the other end of the resonance capacitor, the remaining end of each semiconductor switch being connected to the earth, and the semiconductor switches being alternately operated On-Off states in accordance with a voltage output from the tertiary winding; and a variable inductance connected to the inside of an LC resonance circuit. The voltage output from the inverter is controlled by means of controlling the inductance of the variable inductor.
The inverter using the conventional Royer circuit has difficulty to be down-sized and suffers a problem of low conversion efficiency. The inverter of WO 99/34651 additionally requires a PWM controller for performing the PWM control so as to supply DC voltage to the inverter, of which overall structure of the DC-AC converter ends up being complicated, and difficulty still remains in its down-sizing. As for the inverter of JP Hei 6-14556, since it has a variable inductor connected to the inside of the LC resonance circuit such that an output voltage can be controlled by controlling the inductance of the inductor, the structure of the inverter becomes complicated and difficulty of down-sizing is still unresolved.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

DC-AC converter, and method for supplying AC power


A method and a system for separating an image signal into a set of image planes are disclosed. The system comprises a way to perform resolution conversion from low resolution to high resolution binary images either for synthetic or scanned imagery by using template matching with pattern replacement. More specifically, the invention applies resolution conversion to the selector plane of mixed raster content images. For selector planes in which edges are encoded (vs. region classification), template matching/pattern replacement works well, and does not affect halftoned regions, as they are not encoded in this image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and systems for segmenting digitally scanned documents into two or more planes, and more particularly to methods and systems for applying resolution conversion to the selector plane of Multiple Raster Content (MRC) representation of documents.
2. Description of Related Art
The MRC representation of documents is versatile. It provides the ability to represent color images and either color or monochrome text. The MRC representation enables the use of multiple "planes" for the purpose of representing the content of documents. The MRC representation is becoming increasingly important in the marketplace.
In an MRC representation, an image is represented by more than one image plane. The main advantage of the MRC representation of documents is to provide an efficient way to store, transmit, and manipulate large digital color documents. The method exploits the properties of the human vision system, where the ability to distinguish small color variations is greatly reduced in the presence of high-contrast edges. The edge information is normally separated from the smoothly varying color information, and encoded in one of the planes, called the Selector plane. Following a careful separation, the various planes could be independently compressed using standard compression schemes (such as JPEG and G4) with good compression and high quality at the same time. A method and system for efficiently separating an image into a set of planes such that the advantages of the MRC representation can be fully exploited is described below.

Template matching applied to selector planes for multiple raster content (MRC) representation of documents


In a wireless communication system using multiple antennas at the transmitter and multiple antennas at the receiver, with a sufficiently large number of antennas and/or diversity order, the same performance that is obtainable when employing instantaneous rate indication feedback can be attained without any such short-term feedback by adjusting the data rate of each transmit antenna according to a prescribed function. The prescribed function does not depend on the short-term state of the channel, but instead only depends on its long-term statistics, which may be fed back from the receiver to the transmitter at relatively lengthy intervals.

It is known in the art that multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems can achieve dramatically improved capacity as compared to single antenna, i.e., single antenna to single antenna or multiple antenna to single antenna, systems. It is also known in the art that if information about the short-term state of the channel is fed back to the transmitter, then the throughput of the channel can be improved with respect to an identically configured system but without short-term feedback. However, because in MIMO systems the overall channel is actually made up of multiple channels, with one channel for each transmit antenna and receive antenna pairing, all of which are time-varying, such short-term feedback requires considerable bandwidth, and it is undesirable to dedicate so much bandwidth to feedback. Furthermore, each channel may span multiple coherence bandwidth intervals, where each coherence bandwidth interval is a swath of frequencies that experience the same effect due to the channel as they pass through the channel. The diversity order of a channel is the number of coherence bandwidth intervals spanned by the transmitted signal.
With some particular architectures, the amount of short-term feedback can be reduced with little loss in performance by replacing the information about the state of the channel with indications about the instantaneous data rate supported by each of the transmit antennas. See for example U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/714,084. Nonetheless, there are instances in which even such feedback will be unacceptable, because it takes up to much of the available bandwidth of the reverse channel particularly when there is a large number of antennas.

Rate control technique for layered architectures with multiple transmit and receive antennas


A drill rod for clearing obstructing material from the interior of a tapping pipe used for evacuation of aluminium from a reduction cell of an aluminium smelter by drilling, wherein the drill rod is flexible, whereby it may drill obstructing material from said tapping pipe, through a bend in the tapping pipe.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the cleaning of tapping pipes used in reduction cells of aluminium smelters.
2. Prior Art
Molten aluminium is tapped from reduction cells in the aluminium smelting industry using vacuum-assisted tapping pipes (also known as tapping siphons or tapping tubes) into either sealed or open crucibles (or ladles). Older-generation tapping pipes, for use with either sealed open crucibles, are usually curved (or otherwise bent) in profile whereas more recent technologies, over the last twenty years or so, normally utilise straight tapping pipes with sealed crucibles.
Within the reduction cell (also known as a smelting pot) the molten aluminium is below the molten electrolyte known as bath (which is principally comprised of cryolite). In tapping the aluminium, there is inevitably some pick-up of bath and after several uses a build-up of frozen bath, and some aluminium, is left within the tapping pipes. This renders the tapping pipes ineffective and requires that they be regularly cleaned.
Curved tapping pipes have in the past been cleaned using a mechanism known as a pneumatic rattler. This is in the form of a small pneumatic motor with a swiveling head attached to a pneumatic hose, which is fed trough the pipe manually. This is an extremely noisy and dusty operation which is considered unacceptable in today""s smelters.
Straight tapping pipes are usually cleaned by automatic tapping pipe cleaning machines which utilise a long straight drill rod with some form of cutter head, rotated by an electric or hydraulic drive, and which is fed forward by an electric, pneumatic or hydraulic mechanism. Some designs of these machines have a longitudinal hole in the centre of the drill rod to allow compressed air to be channelled to the cutter head. This air serves the dual functions of purging debris away from the workface and cooling the cutter head.
Problems with automated cleaning of curved pipes have been the requirement to transmit sufficient torque to a cutter head to remove the bath/metal build-up and to be able to channel air to the cutter head.
According to the present invention, there is provided a drill rod for clearing obstructing material from the interior of a tapping pipe used for evacuation of aluminium from a reduction cell of an aluminium smelter by drilling, wherein the drill rod is flexible, whereby it may drill obstructing material from said tapping pipe, through a bend in the tapping pipe.
The invention further provides apparatus for drilling obstructing material from within a tapping pipe of a reduction cell of an aluminium smelter, having:
a) means for mounting the pipe substantially fixedly;
b) a drilling rod having a cutting head;
c) means for rotating the drilling rod for rotating said cutting rod;
d) means for axially advancing the drilling rod to cause the cutting head and drilling rod to pass into the interior of the tapping pipe for effecting said drilling, wherein said drilling rod is, over at least a portion thereof adjacent to the cutting head, capable of bending whereby it may, while effecting said cutting, pass through a bend in the tapping pipe.
The invention also provides a method for removing material from a tapping pipe comprising passing thereinto a rotating drilling rod having a cutting head whereby to cause the cutting head to clear said obstructing material by drilling, and in which the drilling rod is at least partially bendable, while transmitting cutting torque to the cutting head to accommodate a bend in the pipe.
The invention also provides rotary device having links coupled together for rotation about a lengthwise device axis, coupling between an adjacent pair of said links being provided by coupling means which couples the adjacent links together for permitting substantially universal movement with respect to each other transversely to said device axis, the coupling means permitting relative displacement between the adjacent links whereby the axial length presented by the adjacent links can be varied between relatively compressed and relatively uncompressed lengths, the coupling means, when the adjacent links are displaced to the condition where the relatively compressed length prevails, at least relatively limiting the degree of said substantially universal movement permitted as between the adjacent links.


A dielectric resonator device comprising resonators small in size, having plural stages, and a dielectric resonator device with a high Qo, in a multimode are provided. A substantially parallelepiped-shaped dielectric core to resonate in plural modes such as TM01xcex4-x, -y, -z, TE01xcex4-x, -y, -z, and so forth is disposed in the center of a substantially parallelepiped-shaped cavity. These plural resonance modes are utilized.

The present invention relate to an electronic component, and more particularly to a dielectric resonator device, a dielectric filter, a composite dielectric filter, a synthesizer, a distributor, and a communication device including the same, each of which operates in a multimode.
A dielectric resonator in which an electromagnetic wave in a dielectric is repeatedly totally-reflected from the boundary between the dielectric and air to be returned to its original position in phase, whereby resonance occurs is used as a resonator small in size, having a high unloaded Q (Q0). As the mode of the dielectric resonator, a TE mode and a TM mode are known, which are obtained when a dielectric rod with a circular or rectangular cross section is cut to a length of sxc2x7xcexg/2 (xcexg represents a guide wavelength, and s is an integer) of the TE mode or the TM mode propagating in the dielectric rod. When the mode of the cross section is a TM 01 mode and the above-described s is equal to 1, a TM01xcex4 mode resonator is obtained. When the mode of the cross section is a TE01 mode and s is equal to 1, a TE01xcex4 mode dielectric resonator is obtained.
In these dielectric resonators, a columnar TM01xcex4 mode dielectric core or a TE01xcex4 mode dielectric core are disposed in a circular waveguide or rectangular waveguide as a cavity which interrupts the resonance frequency of the dielectric resonator, as shown in FIG. 26.
FIG. 27 illustrates the electromagnetic field distributions in the above-described two mode dielectric resonators. Hereupon, a continuous line represents an electric field, and a broken line a magnetic field, respectively.
In the case where a dielectric resonator device having plural stages is formed of dielectric resonators including such dielectric cores, the plural dielectric cores are arranged in a cavity. In the example shown in FIG. 26, the TM016 mode dielectric cores of (A) are arranged in the axial direction, or the TE01xcex4 mode dielectric cores of (B) are arranged in the same plane.
However, in such a conventional dielectric resonator device, to provide resonators in multi-stages, it is needed to position and fix plural dielectric cores at a high accuracy. Accordingly, there has been the problem that it is difficult to obtain dielectric resonator devices having even characteristics.
Further, conventionally, TM mode dielectric resonators each having a columnar or cross-shaped dielectric core integrally formed in a cavity have been used. In a dielectric resonator device of this type, the TM modes can be multiplexed in a definite space, and therefore, a miniature, multistage dielectric resonator device can be obtained. However, the concentration of an electromagnetic field energy to the magnetic core is low, and a real current flows through a conductor film formed on the cavity. Accordingly, there have been the problem that generally, a high Qo comparable to that of the TE mode dielectric resonator can not be attained.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a dielectric resonator device comprising resonators small in size, having plural stages, and to provide a multimode dielectric resonator device having a high Qo.
Moreover, it is another object of the present invention to provide a dielectric filter, a composite dielectric filter, a synthesizer, a distributor, and a communication device, each including the above-described multimode dielectric resonator.
In the multimode dielectric resonator device of the present invention, as defined in claim 1, a dielectric core having a substantial parallelepiped-shape is arranged substantially in the center of a cavity having a substantial parallelepiped-shape, and a TM01xcex4-x mode where a magnetic field is rotated in a plane parallel to the y-z plane of x, y, z rectangular coordinates, and a TM01xcex4-y mode where magnetic field is rotated in a plane parallel to the x-z plane are produced. Further, as defined in claim 2, a TM01xcex4-x mode where a magnetic field is rotated in a plane parallel to the y-z plane, and a TM01xcex4-y mode where a magnetic field is rotated in a plane parallel to the x-z plane, and a TM01xcex4-z mode where a magnetic field is rotated in a plane parallel to the x-y plane are produced. As described above, since the dielectric core having a substantial parallelepiped-shape is disposed substantially in the center of the cavity having a substantial parallelepiped-shape, the concentration degree of an electromagnetic energy onto the dielectric core is enhanced, and a real electric current flowing through the cavity becomes fine. Accordingly, the Qo can be enhanced. Moreover, though the dielectric core and the cavity are single, respectively, two or three TM modes can be utilized, and the miniaturization as a whole can be realized.
In the multimode dielectric resonator device, as defined in claim 3, a dielectric core having a substantial parallelepiped-shape is arranged substantially in the center of a cavity having a substantial parallelepiped-shape, a TM01xcex4-x mode where an electric field is rotated in a plane parallel to the y-z plane of x, y, z rectangular coordinates, and a TE01xcex4-y mode where an electric field is rotated in a plane parallel to the x-z plane are produced. Further, as defined in claim 4, a TE01xcex4-x mode where an electric field is rotated in a plane parallel to they z plane of x, y, z rectangular coordinates, a TE01xcex4-y mode where an electric field is rotated in a plane parallel to the x-z plane, and a TE01xcex4-z mode where an electric field is rotated in a plane parallel to the x-y plane are produced. Like this, though the mode is a TE mode, multiplexing, that is, duplexing or triplexing can ge realized, and the miniaturization as a whole can be performed.
In the multimode dielectric resonator device of this invention, as defined in claim 5, the above-described duplex or triplex TM mode and the duplex or triplex TE mode are produced by means of the dielectric core and the cavity which are single, respectively. Accordingly, a dielectric resonator device employing a TM mode and a TE mode can be obtained. Further, the dielectric resonator device, since it has a multimode, that is, at least quadruplex mode, can be further miniaturized as a whole.
When each of the above-described multiplexed resonance modes is used independently without the respective resonance modes being coupled to each other, a circuit including plural resonators such as a band rejection filter, a synthesizer, a distributor, or the like can be formed by use of a single dielectric core so as to be small in size.
In the multimode dielectric resonator device of this invention, as defined in claim 6, the resonator is rendered a multistage by coupling predetermined modes of the respective modes of the dielectric resonator device defined in any one of claims 1 to 5. Thereby, a resonator device is formed in which plural dielectric resonators are connected in a multistage. For example, a dielectric resonator device having a band-pass type filter characteristic can be obtained. Further, by coupling some of the plural resonance modes sequentially, and setting the other resonance modes to be independent, a filter in which a band-pass filter and a band-rejection filter are combined can be formed.
According to the present invention, as defined in claim 7, a dielectric filter is formed by providing an externally coupling means for externally coupling a predetermined mode of the dielectric resonator device.
According to the present invention, as defined in claim 8, formed is a composite dielectric filter including a plurality of the dielectric filters and having at least three ports.
According to the present invention, as defined in claim 9, a synthesizer comprises externally coupling means for externally coupling to plural predetermined modes of the dielectric resonator device, respectively, independently, and commonly externally coupling means for externally coupling to plural predetermined modes of the multimode dielectric resonator device in common, wherein the commonly externally coupling means is an output port, and the plural independently externally coupling means are input ports.
According to the present invention, as defined in claim 10, a distributor comprises independently, externally coupling means for externally coupling to plural predetermined modes of the dielectric resonator device, respectively, independently, and commonly externally coupling means for externally coupling to plural predetermined modes of the dielectric resonator device in common, wherein the commonly externally coupling means is an input port, and the plural independently externally coupling means are output ports.
Moreover, according to the present invention, as defined in claim 11, a communication device is formed of the above composite dielectric filter, a synthesizer, and a distributor provided in a high frequency section thereof

Multi-mode dielectric resonance devices, dielectric filter, composite dielectric filter, synthesizer, distributor, and communication equipment


The invention concerns an acoustic device with electro-acoustic transducers and with a cavity resonator that provide extreme tri-dimensional to concentrate/diffuse infrasonic, sonic and ultrasonic waves. It also concerns many structural designs in which some models of cavity resonators and all their transducers are appropriately arranged on the basis of the different uses; so doing it is possible to achieve numerous interacting operational set-ups (basic configuration systems) that can be used in the medical sector, in industry or in the home, in entertainment and leisure. Differently to previously known techniques the acoustic device according to this patent is also a highly sophisticated cybernetic apparatus for the reproduction of various tri-dimensional sound fields that are identical to the original ones, or for generating completely new ones. This acoustic device can be compared to a Helmholtz resonator that transmits sound-waves/harmonic frequencies rather than receiving them.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns an acoustic device (and its electric/electronic circuits) having electro-acoustic transducers and a cavity resonator that provide extreme tri-dimensional characteristics (in order to control the main harmonic frequencies but also the fundamental harmonic/overtone in the harmonic series) to concentrate/diffuse infrasonic, sonic and ultrasonic waves. It also concerns many structural designs in which some models of cavity resonators and all their transducers are appropriately arranged and spatially aligned on the basis of the different uses; so doing it is possible to achieve numerous interacting operational set-ups (basic configuration systems) that can be used in many different fields (e.g.: in the medical sector, in industry or in the home, in entertainment and leisure) as illustrated for reference purposes, but in no way restrictive, in the enclosed drawing sheets.
This extremely versatile acoustic device is also a highly sophisticated cybernetic apparatus for the reproduction of various tri-dimensional sound fields that are identical to the original ones, or for generating completely new ones. From these various sound fields, different forms of environmental/surround listening can be obtained, always compatible with the binaural human perception of sound.
This cybernetic apparatus is able to perfectly emulate with superior performances the functions of the human larynx: phonation (the formation of sounds) and respiration (pressure changes and air movements). It is perfectly able to produce beneficial and therapeutic effects on human tissues and human cells that are affected by serious illnesses. The therapeutic effect is not produced from the electro-acoustic energy used but from precise wavelengths (principally from the main harmonic frequencies but also from pure sounds, fundamental harmonics/overtones or first partial) necessary to operate adequately on the ailment.
It is effective due to the stimulating effect it achieves in reactivating and boosting particular brain waves, revealing the acoustic device suitable therefore for the treatment of patients who have trouble or disorder in the production of brain-waves.
The correlation between a stimulus coming from the outside and the patients' own brain waves comes from a theory that is known and proved; this apparatus produces its effect through resonance with delta (δ), theta (τ), alpha (α) and beta (β) brain waves in the frequency band between 0.1 Hz and 30.0 Hz.
The device according to the invention is based on three algorithms: one simulates the two basic components of sound energy with great precision; another emulates and boosts certain phonation characteristics; the third is an algorithm that interacts with the structure of the human brain.
Therefore this acoustic device cannot (in any way) be compared to other existing technologies or other sound systems that derive from mathematical calculations and simulations of environmental acoustic characteristics (i.e.: phase retardation, time delay or experimental tests on sound diffusion through the air in every type of environment).
2. Description of Related Art
In the state of the art of electro-acoustic devices the following patents are cited as references: KR 158885; DE 3925919; KR 1074076; GB 830281; U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,489; EA 2097; JP 57203398; SU 1663791. None of these present analogies, similar characteristics or similar performances; neither are they even vaguely comparable to the acoustic device described in this patent.
In relation to the connection of this device to other devices, with the function of loudspeaker/s, the following patents are cited as reference: JP 2000004983 and TW 514501.
In relation to electro-medical use of this acoustic device the following patents are cited as reference: U.S. Pat. No. 6,060,293; JP 2001190698; CN 1398141; RU 2162721.
Differently to previously known techniques (including those cited as reference), this will become clearer further on, the acoustic device according to this patent, and the basic configuration systems relative to it, make up a cybernetic apparatus among the most sophisticated available today for the reproduction/transmission of sound fields identical to the original (in an extremely realistic/accurate way). The main qualities of the cavity resonator, in the inventive device, are that it works in the same manner as a Helmholtz resonator but, instead of receiving sound/harmonic frequencies, it transmits/diffuses them with their harmonic series. In the inventive device the sonic waves (including infrasonic and ultrasonic waves) and their harmonic series move in a contrary way in respect to the Helmholtz resonator.
It is known that, in the 19th century, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (1821-1894) in his research used hollow brass spheres and hollow spherical glass bulbs of various diameter with two diametrically opposite tubular openings: the larger opening was directed towards the sound source to be analysed and the smaller opening was held close to the ear with the better hearing. This instrument was given its inventor's name and is still known today as the "Helmholtz resonator".
In a Helmholtz resonator the sound generated at the source (original sound source) follows a precise route through the two openings of the resonator in order to reach the ear (like a receiver).

Devices and transducers with cavity resonator to control 3-D characteristics/harmonic frequencies for all sound/sonic waves


A passive, metal mount, UHF RFID tag with a high antenna efficiency is provided. The passive, metal mount, UHF RFID tag has a first securing surface and second securing surface which are both hinged at sides of a main body of the tag and which allow the tag to be secured to flat objects, round objects having various circumferences or to objects having unusual exterior surfaces. A pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) tape secures the tag to the object. The tag allows the main body (or “form factor”) to be offset from a metallic asset which is tracked without the metallic object negatively interfering with the RFID. The metallic surface of the asset being tracked is used to activate the Patch antenna duality of the custom design inlay, thus increasing the radiation efficiency of the driven element (integrated circuit) and ultimately the read range.

A passive, metal mount, UHF RFID tag with a high antenna efficiency is provided. The passive, metal mount, UHF RFID tag has a first securing surface and second securing surface which are both hinged at sides of a main body of the tag and which allow the tag to be secured to flat objects, round objects having various circumferences or to objects having unusual exterior surfaces. A pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) tape is located on the bottom of the first and second securing surfaces and secures the tag to the object. The tag allows the form factor to be offset from a metallic asset which is tracked without the metallic object negatively interfering with the RFID. The antenna design and main body (or "form factor") is especially suitable for high radiation efficiency on metallic assets. The increased efficiency translates to long read distances from the interrogator to the tag, sometimes in excess of sixty feet. The antenna design incorporates multiple antenna dualities to maximize read performance, including Dipole antenna, Vivaldi antenna and Patch antenna. The metallic surface of the asset being tracked is used to activate the Patch antenna duality of the custom design inlay, thus increasing the radiation efficiency of the driven element (integrated circuit) and ultimately the read range.
Attempts have been made to provide improved means for attaching an RFID tag to an asset. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,859,416 to Tuttle discloses methods and systems for attaching a RFID tag to an object. At least some of the illustrative embodiments are systems comprising a substrate having a pendant portion and an attachment portion, a radio frequency identification (RFID) circuit disposed on the substrate, and a tag antenna coupled to the RFID circuit and disposed on the substrate. The attachment portion of the substrate is configured to couple to an object and the pendant portion is configured to extend away from the object.
U.S. Patent Publication No.: 20090015377 to Fogg discloses a RFID tag or label comprising a RFID tag module (comprising an electronic identification circuit and a coupling means) and an antenna structure coupled to the coupling means. The RFID tag module is separate from, separable or arranged to be severable from, the antenna structure. The tag module can be placed in or on an object and the antenna structure in or on packaging material for use with the object. A patch antenna type RFID tag antenna structure has a ground plane spaced from the patch antenna so as to increase the range of the tag. The ground plane is not substantially larger than, and electrically insulated from, the patch antenna. The ground plane is flexible, so the RFID tag structure can be worn by a human, and can be incorporated into a piece of clothing. A RFID antenna structure for use with a tag reader is made flat and robust so that it can be mounted on the ground to be walked upon or driven over. A bi-directional YAGI type RFID tag antenna structure has director elements on two opposite sides so that the YAGI antenna radiates in two opposite directions. An object includes a gain increasing metallic structure for increasing the gain of a RFID tag when placed near the object so as to form a RFID tag antenna structure.
Publication No.: 2002/0044096 to Chung discloses an antenna array having a plurality of antenna loops disposed to define a portal or passageway or other detection region in which the plural antenna loops transmit and/or receive electromagnetic signals. A processor coupled to the plural antenna loops processes at least the received signals and/or transmitted signals. The plural antennas may be arrayed in a rectangular array, on hanging flexible substrates or other suitable arrangement, and may be coupled to the processor by a filter or selective switch. The processor may be coupled to a utilization system for cooperating therewith for performing a desired function.
Still further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,362,786 to Asano discloses a patch antenna utilized in conjunction with an electronic apparatus, such as a notebook personal computer. The patch antenna includes a patch, a ground plate, and a dielectric plate. The dielectric plate is formed between the patch and the ground plate. Specifically, the dielectric plate is formed by a wall portion of a chassis of an electronic apparatus located between the patch and the ground plate such that the patch antenna is formed integrally with the chassis of the electronic apparatus.
However, these patents and publications fail to disclose an adjustable RFID tag metal mount which obtains extended read range while used on a metallic asset. Accordingly, a need exists for an improved adjustable RFID tag metal mount having an extended read range for use on a metallic asset.

Passive, metal mount, UHF, RFID tag capable of a long read range


In a base station device (10), a reference installation direction storage unit (54) stores at least one reference installation direction serving as a reference installation direction. An acceleration sensor (52) measures an installation direction of the base station device. An inclination judgment unit (56) calculates inclination angles each defined by each reference installation direction stored in the reference installation direction storage unit (54) and the installation direction measured by the acceleration sensor (52). Moreover, the inclination judgment unit (56) judges whether each of the inclination angles exceeds a predetermined value. Then, an installation error alarm unit (58) issues a predetermined alarm when the inclination judgment unit (56) judges that some or all of the inclination angles exceed the predetermined angle.

In many cases, compact, lightweight, and low-level-output base station devices for the personal handy-phone system (PHS) and the like are installed on electric poles, ceilings in train stations, or roofs of buildings. Further, in many cases, the base station devices are enclosed in a chassis to protect the base station devices from water such as rain and snow.
Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for a mobile telephone set having an Internet connecting function and an email sending and receiving function. The mobile telephone set includes means of one or more types for detecting an abnormal situation or an emergency situation, and receives and sends information on the detected abnormal situation or emergency situation. Patent Document 1: JP 2005-311995 A

Base station device and base station device installation error detection method


A server is provided in the present disclosure, and the server includes a power module, a motherboard circuit, and a power management circuit. The power management circuit is coupled to the motherboard circuit and the power module. The motherboard circuit receives a remote control signal through a network module and outputs a power-off command to the power management circuit according to the remote control signal. The power management circuit causes the power module to stop supplying power to the motherboard circuit for a predetermined time according to the power-off command. After the predetermined time, the power management circuit causes the power module to supply power again to the motherboard circuit to execute an initialization procedure.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a power management circuit, in particular, to a power management circuit having a power-off function, and a server having the same.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a server is a computer equipment having a higher operating capability, and can simultaneously provide operating resources or storage spaces through internet to multiple users. The server may be categorized into a File Server, a Database Server, a Mail Server, a Web server, a FTP Server or a Proxy Server based on the type of usage.
A manager may remotely control the operation of a server through network. However, when comes to restart the server or when it is necessary to perform AC power-off due to certain specific procedures, users must enter the machine room to manually shutdown the power of the server, which is quite inconvenient for the manager. Especially for a large machine room where the number of servers is large, it is neither efficient nor convenient for the manager to perform power off and restart procedures.
Some smart multi-receptacle power outlet may provide remote switching operations for user being able to remotely control the power-supplying status of each power receptacle. By using such type of power outlet to supply power to a server may indeed provide a solution scheme for remotely control the powering operation. However, in this scheme it is necessary to install additional smart power outlet in the machine room, as well as recording the corresponding relationship between each power receptacle and the server such that the power operations of the servers can be correspondingly controlled. This not only would increase the installation cost the machine room but also that this type installation is not suitable for large machine room.
In this regard, the inventor perceives that the above problem may be improved, thus the inventor studies deeply and cooperates with the application of theory to disclose the present disclosure that is reasonably designed and can solve efficiently the above problem.

Power management circuit, server, and power management method thereof


A security device to be attached to a retail product, wherein the device indicates the only authorized point or channel of sale and a method for deterring the theft and resale of goods. The method can include identifying a product which is likely target for theft and resale, identifying an appropriate distinguishing device to clearly indicate the authorized point or channel of sale, and applying the distinguishing device to the product.

"Illicit retail" is the forum through which stolen goods are offered for sale. There is a significant resale market for certain types of goods, and theft of these items occurs throughout the manufacture, supply and retail chains as well as at retail and wholesale stores. Attractive goods for large-scale theft and resale include valuable, branded goods, which are available, removable and disposable. These goods can be stolen and sold on in an illicit market with relative ease and with little or no chance of the goods being identified as stolen or of establishing who the lawful owners of the goods are. Consequently, bulk theft of goods for resale has come to account for a significant proportion of retail theft and theft from other commercial organizations.
Theft of retail products impacts upon the profitability of retailers and their suppliers. Consequences of retail theft include the cost of replacing stolen products, administration costs and loss of sales (through reduced in-store availability, concern over stocking high loss rate products and the satisfaction of a proportion of market demand from illicit sources).
Existing theft deterrent devices, such as Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) tags, are applied to products late in the supply chain and are only functional within the authorized retailer's shop environment, therefore offering no protection within the supply chain. Also, once a product has been stolen, the device attached thereto ceases to have any effect and indeed can actually add credibility and value to the stolen merchandise.
Recent British Home Office reports have advocated a new approach to tackling the problem of illicit retail, entitled the "Market Reduction Approach" (M Sutton, J Schneider, S Hetherington (2001) "Tackling Theft with the Market Reduction Approach", Home Office, Crime Reduction Research Series Paper 8). The approach is based on the idea that markets for stolen goods are not just a downstream consequence of theft but are the underlying motivational force for such offending. It is desirable to reduce the saleability and resale value of stolen goods in order to reduce the rewards available to those who deal in them. It is also desirable to increase and extend the risks of capture for those who deal in stolen goods. By removing the rewards available and increasing the risks associated with dealing in stolen goods, the primary motivation for retail theft is substantially removed.
An integral figure in the process of illicit retail is the "innocent consumer". Many people simply do not think to question the provenance of cheap goods from, for example, a market stall, car boot sale or indeed an established retail outlet. Of those who do, the majority of people are willing to turn a blind eye in the face of goods sold cheaper than at primary retail outlets. Removing the excuse of consumer ignorance is key to reducing the number of people prepared to buy stolen goods, and hence to reducing the resale value and opportunity for disposal of stolen merchandise.
The other key figures in the process are the thief and the handler. Research suggests that the majority of offenders have no fear of being arrested while handling or selling stolen goods, because the perceived risks are slight with numerous "safe" outlets for the stolen property and little or no chance of the stolen property being identified. It is therefore necessary to increase the risks of buying, handling and consuming stolen goods, and to ensure that these greater risks are fully appreciated by all involved.
A similar problem to that of preventing the sale of stolen goods is the problem of preventing the resale of illegally imported goods or "Grey Imports", sometimes known as 'Parallel Trading'. The pharmaceutical industry, for example, comprises large companies that sell the same or similar products in many countries. The practice of buying goods cheaply in one country and illegally importing those goods for resale in another country, or of purchasing goods for export but not actually shipping them, is well known and is a source of considerable loss of revenue for many manufacturers and for the Government in lost taxes. It is therefore desirable to reduce the ease with which such illegally imported goods can be resold.
Another related problem faced by many retailers is that of returns fraud, for example where goods have been stolen from one store and returned to a different store or retailer. Establishing that a product is genuinely purchased from the store where it is being returned, and that it is genuinely unopened and therefore suitable for return, can pose significant difficulties. This problem is highly evident in the sale of audiovisual media, such as CDs and DVDs, which are regularly purchased, illegally copied and returned to the retailer.
In this specification, the following terms have the meanings outlined below:
A point of sale is any outlet at which a product may legitimately be sold.
A channel of sale is the route by which a product reaches the market.
The term "product" encompasses an article to be sold and/or the packaging in which it is presented.
A "call to action" includes any request, inducement, encouragement or recommendation that a specific action is taken.


Herein is disclosed an oxygen barrier composition comprising an oxygen barrier polymer and an oxygen scavenging polymer. Preferably, the oxygen barrier polymer is selected from polymers or copolymers of vinyl alcohol, polyesters, polymers or copolymers of vinylidene dichloride, polymers or copolymers of epoxies, polysulfones, polymers or copolymers of acrylonitrile, polymers or copolymers of isocyanates, or polyamides other than MXD6; and the oxygen scavenging polymer either comprises an ethylenic backbone and a cyclic olefinic pendant group of structure I, or a polyester group of structure II or structure III:

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of oxygen barrier polymers. More particularly, it concerns blends of oxygen barrier polymers, such as poly(ethylene/vinyl alcohol) (EVOH), polyvinyldichloride (PVDC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), or polyamide other than MXD6, with oxygen scavenging polymers, methods of making the blends, packaging articles comprising the blends, and methods of making the packaging articles.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well known that limiting the exposure of oxygen-sensitive products to oxygen maintains and enhances the quality of shelf-life of the product. For instance, by limiting the oxygen exposure of oxygen sensitive food products in a packaging system, the quality of the food product is maintained, and food spoilage is avoided. In addition such packaging also keeps the product in inventory longer, thereby reducing costs incurred from waste and restocking. In the food packaging industry, several means for limiting oxygen exposure have already been developed, including modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), vacuum packaging and oxygen barrier film packaging. In the first two instances, reduced oxygen environments are employed in the packaging, while in the latter instance, oxygen is physically prevented from entering the packaging environment.
Another, more recent, technique for limiting oxygen exposure involves incorporating an oxygen scavenger into the packaging structure. Incorporation of a scavenger in the package has been mainly used to remove headspace oxygen within the package in a short period of time, thus the oxygen scavenging polymer typically is based on the polymer type of high oxygen transmission rate, which ensures that the headspace oxygen in the package quickly reach the oxygen scavenging site and the oxygen level be reduced in a short period of time.
Oxygen barrier polymers, such as poly(ethylene/vinyl alcohol)(EVOH), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyldichloride (PVDC), and polyamide, whether cast, blown, or oriented, are widely known for having barrier properties to gases (such as O2 and CO2) and other fluids, and have found wide use in packaging applications where barrier properties are desired. However, it is generally held that their oxygen barrier properties are not as strong as those of traditional packaging materials, such as glass or metals, which latter materials are suitable for packaging applications which require high oxygen barrier properties over a long period of time, such as beer packaging. This requires that the oxygen barrier performance of the existing barrier polymers be significantly improved or their performance approach to those of e.g. glass or metals.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a packaging article comprising an oxygen barrier polymer and an additional component or components, which packaging article would be better suited for providing a high oxygen barrier over a long period of time than are packaging articles currently known.
Cochran et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,515, discloses a layer of a packaging article comprising 96% polyethylene terephthalate, 4% nylon MXD6, and 200 ppm cobalt.
Paleari et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,063,417, discloses a packaging film comprising a core layer comprising about 40 wt % to about 85 wt % nylon 6/12, and about 15 wt % to about 60 wt % ethylene/vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH).
Koyama et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,038, discloses a packaging article comprising a layer comprising an oxygen scavenger, such as a polyhydric phenol, and a gas barrier resin, such as EVOH or polyamide.
Hong et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,360, discloses a blend of a polymer, such as a formable polyester or polycarbonate; an oxygen barrier material, such as EVOH, aromatic or aliphatic nylon, or amorphous nylon (including, according to Hong et al., nylon MXD6); and a transition metal catalyst. The nylon MXD6 can be present up to about 30 wt %, with the balance being, preferably, polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Collette et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,759,653, discloses a blend of PET with an oxygen scavenger, such as nylon MXD6. The blend may also further comprise a metal catalyst.

Compatible blend systems of oxygen barrier polymers and oxygen scavenging polymers

Abstract: wherein q1, q2, q3, q4, and r are independently selected from hydrogen, methyl, or ethyl; m is —(CH2)n—, wherein n is an integer from 0 to 4, inclusive; X is null or a linking group; and, when r is hydrogen, at least one of q1, q2, q3, and q4 is also hydrogen. The oxygen barrier composition can be formed into an oxygen barrier layer of a packaging article. Such layers and articles, and methods for making same, are also disclosed.


A low voltage DC input ballast circuit for a discharge lamp particularly suitable for a central lighting system includes an input filter stage which feeds into a first boost converter circuit controlled by way of a pulse width modulator device. The first boost converter provides warm-up and steady state run signals to the lamp in a voltage fed manner over a coupling circuit using components which are reduced in size relative to conventional discharge ballast circuits. Control circuitry provides various monitoring functions, an example of which is that, in the event of a low input voltage, the lamp will operate in a dimmed or faded manner rather than maintain lumen output by drawing additional current. A second boost converter circuit is associated with a starter circuit arrangement and operates such that starting pulses can be generated and repeated if necessary in a very rapid manner.

With one aim of lamp and lighting designers being to achieve a high brightness light source which may be applied to an optical fiber light distribution scheme, there comes a commensurate need to develop a ballast arrangement which can efficiently power such a bright light source and can also exhibit advantages in the area of the size and cost considerations so as to be useful in limited space environments. The light source for a central lighting system which utilizes optical fibers for light transmission to various spaced apart locations must provide a high brightness output so as to insure that a sufficient amount of light output is available for coupling to the input face of the optical fibers. An example of such a high brightness light source can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,230, entitled "High Brightness Discharge Light Source" filed contemporaneously herewith in the name of Allen et al and which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. This application discusses a central lighting system which must provide the desired output in as small a space as possible. For instance, in an automotive application, the light source and the supporting circuitry to operate the light source must fit within a small area so as to insure aerodynamic advantages to the automotive designer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,263 issued to Davenport et al. on Sep. 18, 1990 and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention discusses an automotive application for a central lighting arrangement.
In addition to the size restrictions for a central lighting system and circuitry therefor as used in an automotive environment, it is necessary that such lighting system provide instantaneous light so that as the driver turns on the headlamps, light is instantaneously provided rather than after a warm-up period as in the case of the typical discharge light source. To this end, U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,865 issued to Bergman et al on Oct. 22, 1991 and issued to the same assignee as the present invention, illustrates the use of a xenon metal-halide lamp which provides instantaneous light output. It is required of the circuitry for such light source that the necessary energy to effect instantaneous light be provided; such required energy may be on the order of approximately 20 volts at 6 amps. Furthermore, in the event that the lamp is extinguished, the light output must be reestablished in a substantially instantaneous manner if desired. This restarting feature, typically referred to as a hot restrike operation, has been performed in the past using a conventional iron core transformer to achieve the high voltage input needed to restrike a discharge lamp that has not cooled from the previous on condition. It can be appreciated that in a central lighting system where it is desired to keep size requirements to a minimum, that a typical iron core transformer is both slow and oversized. Therefore, it would be advantageous for the ballast circuit for use with a discharge light source applied to a centralized lighting system, if such ballast had hot restrike capabilities that were achieved using components of a minimum size and wherein such components were capable of operating repeatedly in a rapid manner.
An example of a DC ballast arrangement for a xenon metal-halide lamp suitable for automotive applications can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,695 issued to Allen et al on Sep. 10, 1991 and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. This patent discusses the adverse effects of cataphoresis to lamp operation when such lamp is disposed in a horizontal orientation. This patent presents a solution for avoiding such adverse effects by use of a ripple current imposed upon the operating signal which drives the lamp.
A central lighting system for an automotive application has a further requirement that, since the light source must operate from the automotive battery, in the event of a low voltage condition of the battery, the light source must not present a severe drain to the battery by drawing more current to maintain a constant level of light output. In such a low voltage condition, it would be advantageous of the light source ballast arrangement to sense the low voltage and then clamp the current at a fixed value such that the light output becomes dim providing an indication of the low voltage condition and also thereby preventing the more rapid discharge of the battery current. Though the conditions of preferred operation of the low voltage operation of the ballast circuit for a high brightness discharge light source have been described in relation to an automotive application, it can be appreciated that the principles of operation for such ballast arrangement apply in other environments as well such as in display lighting, lighting for medical instruments, and other lighting applications requiring a high brightness source in a small space.

Low voltage ballast circuit for a high brightness discharge light source


A portable door lock and alarm is adapted to connected to the hinge carried between a door and a doorjamb. The portable door lock and alarm provides an enclosure housing a lock mechanism which includes a claw defining small and large hinge passages adapted to surround small or large door hinges. A bolt, extending from the claw and through the enclosure, is threaded onto a knob. After attachment of the claw to the hinge, rotation of the knob retracts the claw into the enclosure, increasing the pressure between the door and doorjamb and the enclosure. An attempt to open the door will increase the pressure on the enclosure; however, in a typical application, the door will crack, break or deform before the enclosure of the lock is crumpled. A circuit provides a switch that is closed if an attempt is made to open the door, thereby resulting in activation of an annunciator.

A wide range of mechanical, electronic and hybrid door locks and alarms are known. Most focus on the need to maintain a locked connection between the portion of the door adjacent to the doorknob and door frame.
Unfortunately, there is rarely a structure available, adjacent to the doorknob, that allows the temporary attachment of a locking device. As a result, most locks require permanent modification to the door and/or door frame.
Due to the need to modify the door and frame, few locks are portable; as a result they cannot be easily installed or removed from any door. Due to this flaw, few locks are adapted to meet the needs of travelers, who may want to provide additional locking security to hotel rooms and other locations, but who may want to remove the lock at any time for transfer to another location.
Similarly, few locks have any type of built-in electronics which result in an alarm being activated by any type of tampering or attempted entry.
What is needed is a portable door lock and alarm combination, which is easily installed and removed from any door without damage or alteration. The portable door lock and alarm should be compact, inexpensive and easily transported, installed and removed. The door lock must install on structures common to all doors, and should not require any modification to the door or doorjamb.


According to some embodiments, a current media status is determined for a storage device.

A storage device may store and/or retrieve information via removable media. For example, a Compact Disc (CD) drive reads information from a CD that can be inserted into or removed from the drive. The storage device may also transmit information to a host system (e.g., by transmitting information to a motherboard via a serial interface). In some cases, the host system may need to determine whether or not the removable media is currently present in the storage device (e.g., to perform a certain action when a CD is inserted into a CD drive). For example, the host system may command the storage device to transition from a lower-power state to a higher-power state when removable media is inserted. As another example, an Operating System (OS) or application executing at the host system might perform a task when removable media is inserted (e.g., by automatically asking a user whether or not information on the media should be played).

Current media status determination for a storage device


A system for facilitating free form dictation, including directed dictation and constrained recognition and/or structured transcription among users having heterogeneous protocols for generating, transcribing, and exchanging recognized and transcribed speech. The system includes a system transaction manager having a “system protocol,” to receive a speech information request from an authorized user. The speech information request is generated using a user interface capable of bi-directional communication with the system transaction manager and supporting dictation applications. A speech recognition and/or transcription engine (ASR), in communication with the system transaction manager, receives the speech information request, generates a transcribed response, and transmits the response to the system transaction manager. The system transaction manager routes the response to one or more of the users. In another embodiment, the system employs a virtual sound driver for streaming free form dictation to any ASR.

The present application relates to electronic speech recognition and transcription; and, more particularly, to processes and systems for facilitating "free form" dictation, including directed dictation, constrained recognition and/or structured transcription among users having heterogeneous system protocols. The grandparent application Ser. No. 09/996,849, which is herein incorporated by reference, presents a system and processes for facilitating electronic speech recognition and/or transcription among users having heterogeneous system protocols.
As set forth in the parent application, networked application service providers (ASPs) are the most efficient way to utilize sophisticated speech recognition and/or transcription engines having robust dictionaries and vocabularies for large scale users, especially in the professions. The networked application service provider (also known as "on-demand" software or software as "a service") interconnects application software to high accuracy speech recognition and/or transcription engines which may exist on a centralized specific server application; or, one of the facilities in a peer-to-peer network computing (peer node); or, networking as a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks and/or workloads between peers to form a peer-to-peer network, as well as the "cloud" computing network configuration.
However, a barrier to implementation of these networked systems is the user's use of internal "business" and/or system protocol (legacy protocols), which include, in many cases, both unique native communications and application protocols. These protocols are marked by their unique interface with the entities system and/or organization, and are, therefore, not universal in their interconnect capabilities or their application. Thus, most network systems are unavailable to users employing legacy or native systems.
As set forth in the parent and grandparent applications, seamlessly interfacing with network application service provider software that enables powerful speech recognition and/or transcription engines to interface with legacy systems is required in order for these legacy systems to interface effectively with robust network based systems. Centralized databases (or uniformly accessible databases) that contain information for a number of users, including the wide spread availability of specific vocabularies which include phraseology, grammar, and dictionaries, as well as formatting structures for users of the system, are usually more efficient than a network of mere direct, point-to-point links between individual users.
But universally available recognition databases, including vocabulary databases and dictionaries, suffer from significant inefficiencies in facilitating communications between users of a more centralized database system, especially if the dictation to be transcribed is "free form" or dynamic. Even though a recognition engine is very accurate in spoken word (speech) recognition, the transcription may be filled with transcribed material which is "out of context," misinterpreted or not formatted correctly. Simply stated, "garbage in-garbage out."
Thus, even though engine providers advertise in terms of recognition and transcription accuracy, the real issue with these robust engines is ease of use (user friendliness); and, the direct usability of the transcribed material without extensive editing, correcting and/or reformatting. Perhaps most significantly, the content of a single database rarely contains every user's required information, even when that database specializes in information regarding a particular field or expertise, e.g. medicine.
A system for facilitating the exchange of speech (which includes spoken text and verbal and non-verbal commands) and information among users having heterogeneous and/or disparate internal system protocols, which is safe, secure, and easy to use, was set forth in the parent and grandparent applications. However, seamless use of automated speech recognition and/or transcription engines (ASRs) by one or more networked application server providers (ASPs) presents a system restriction which is inherent to this configuration. Even though, the remotely located ASRs are more robust and provide for use of larger and more diverse dictionaries and vocabularies, including specific dictionaries, the ability of a remote user to properly select the needed system information for a specific application is restricted and complicated. This is especially true when ASRs and/or different aspects of a single vocabulary or a specific dictionary need to be selected "on the fly," i.e. dynamically, or during a "free form," streamed dictation session, or in response to a streamed, prerecorded session.
When a particular "free form," streamed dictated session requires access to a myriad of specialized functions, such as medical information, which must serve a number of specialized purposes, these system restrictions may overshadow the usefulness of networked robust ASRs. Similar restrictions are present on these remote robust ASRs, especially when certain formatting and vocabulary are necessary for very specialized application or functions, which form a portion of otherwise normal dictation.
Although some prior art systems contain "drop down menus" which can be populated and thus create documents with predetermined word lists and/or short phrases for the system, these systems contain inherent restrictions and interruptions in the dictating session which limit the required functionality for "free form," streamed dictation. That is, these menus/lists do not provide the flexibility to accept the streaming of dictated sentences and phrases, including jargon, normally associated and/or recognized by practitioners and/or paraprofessional or administrative personnel in a specific trade or profession such as, for example, medicine or law.
Thus, populating drop down menus/lists with predetermined single words or short phrases has not proven adequate for these higher functionality uses and unduly constrains the speaker and/or interrupts his/her train of thought. Additionally, these types of drop down menus/lists are more easily populated by an administrator on a keyboard or with a mouse; and, do not require the capability or sophistication of a centrally controlled transcription system and robust recognition and/or transcription engines (ASRs). An example of complex, "free form" dictation is a surgeon dictating notes during an open heart procedure or a radiologist reading an X-ray film or an MRI scan.
Previous attempts to expand the flexibility of centrally controlled systems were to create large "user files" or databases which could be accessed only by a single user. These user files contained the needed "user profile" for dictation, as well as the user specific vocabularies or dictionaries for the ASRs. Thus, all the capability of the system for a single user had to be pre-stored for that user alone. This limited the amount of new indexed data generally accessible to a specific user, as well as the flexibility of using ASRs and/or dynamically ("on the fly") switching to specialized vocabularies as needed or directed by the user or the system. That is, general databases, for example, dictionaries, could not be universally updated without the necessity of updating each individual user's database associated with each specific ASR. Further, as these databases grew, the ability to navigate the different capabilities of these large databases in a short time frame ("on the fly") became limiting, especially during "live," complex transcription that required the ASR to dynamically switch among vocabularies of multiple specialties to obtain optimum recognition accuracy and/or with multiple speakers such as, for example, legal depositions. This made certain uses impossible such as, for example, in a court room setting or in an operating theater.
Moreover, previous systems did not provide dynamic system interface between the automated speech recognition and/or transcription engine (ASR) and the legacy user such that the system could prompt the user to focus the dictation to provide a more structured set of recognition rules and/or a constrained recognition and/or a structured transcription. Such systems required cumbersome human machine (system) interface requiring the user to, for example, pause in order to "command" or instruct the system to accommodate the different scenarios; and, then pause until the system could locate and upload the database required to respond.
Additionally, certain recognition/speech engines, by design, process audio files on a "batch bases." Although a design limitation, not related to the accuracy or the speed of the engine, this constraint, heretofore, foreclosed certain applications, including limiting their capability to transcribe streamed dictation to an amount of information accepted by the recognition engine in a single batch. Other speech engines are only compatible with dictated text from a specific source such as, for example, live microphone or line input. This inhibits the ability of these engines to operate with digital systems or systems which digitize speech into data packets for system identification and processing. Thus, even though the capability was provided to access networked and remote functionality, the complete value of this capability was hindered by these inherent limitations.

Speech recognition and transcription among users having heterogeneous protocols

Advanced Voice Recognition Systems, Inc.


A brake fluid pressure control system for a vehicle is provided with: a master cylinder activated by the operation of a brake pedal; a motor cylinder device that generates brake hydraulic pressure in response to an operation amount of the brake pedal; first brake fluid flow lines that allow the master cylinder to communicate with wheel cylinders; two-position three-way valves arranged at connection points between the first brake fluid lines and second brake fluid lines. The two-position three-way valves switch between a state in which the master cylinder communicates with the wheel cylinder and a state in which the motor cylinder device communicates with the wheel cylinder.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a brake-by-wire brake device including: a tandem master cylinder; a slave cylinder that generates a brake pressure by an electric motor driving slave pistons to displace; and a stroke simulator that generates a reaction force in proportion to an operation amount on a brake pedal. The slave cylinder is arranged between the master cylinder and wheel cylinders.
In the brake-by-wire brake device, the tandem master cylinder activated by the brake pedal functions as a backup, and, for example, when an ignition is turned off, the master cylinder is communicated with the wheel cylinders to directly supply brake fluid in the master cylinder to the wheel cylinders.

Brake fluid pressure control system for vehicle

Autoliv Nissin Brake Systems Japan Co., Ltd.


The invention relates to the field of switches, and particularly provides a switch for a vehicle and a vehicle. The invention aims to solve the problem of an uneven gap between a switch and an interior trim panel of an existing vehicle. To this end, the vehicle according to the invention comprises a surface housing, the surface housing is provided with a groove, the switch is disposed in the groove, the switch comprises a pressing rod assembly, the pressing rod assembly comprises a rocking bar and a connecting piece, the rocking bar is rotatably connected to the connecting piece, and the connecting piece is fixedly connected to the groove. When the pressing rod assembly is installed, because no member for positioning the pressing rod assembly is available, the pressing rod assembly can be installed at any position in a transverse direction of the groove. Therefore, when the groove deviates due to the existence of tolerance, the position tolerance of the groove is absorbed by a position change of the pressing rod assembly, which is more conducive to adjusting a gap between the groove and the pressing rod assembly and can ensure uniformity of the gap between the groove and the pressing rod assembly.

In the field of vehicles, requirements for quality of switches are relatively strict. Therefore, in design and development of switches, it is hoped that a gap/flush is small and uniform, so as to improve overall texture of a vehicle trim panel, and solve problems such as dust accumulation caused by a large gap. Because a key switch is assembled in an interior trim panel of a vehicle, the size of the gap between the key switch and the interior trim panel of the vehicle is affected by tolerance of the interior trim panel of the vehicle, that is, when the interior trim panel deviates, a phenomena that the size of the gap between the key switch and the interior trim panel is uneven appears, so that the deviation is amplified by many times in the flush, and the texture of the entire key switch is greatly reduced.
Accordingly, a novel switch for a vehicle and a vehicle are required in this field to solve the problem of an uneven gap between a switch and an interior trim panel of an existing vehicle.