An improved injection cap having a lug for locking the injection cap to a tubing connector. One embodiment has a lug integrally constructed on the injection cap. Another embodiment has a lug rotatably attached to the injection cap. Still another embodiment has a lug connected with a wing rotatably attached to the injection cap. An improved Y-injection site having a lug for locking a tubing connector on the Y-injection site. As before one embodiment has a lug integrally constructed on a side branch of a Y-injection site, while another embodiment has a lug rotatably attached to the side branch. The invention includes an improved tubing connector having a tubular needle sheath that is open at one end and closed by needle hub at another end. The sheath incorporates a catch mechanism to receive a lug-shaped attachment on an injection cap or a Y-injection site and ensure a secure connection. One variation has an open cut-out slit at the open end of needle sheath to receive and engage in a locking relation with a lug. In another embodiment a needle sheath has at least one straight open cut-out slit with two notches at the opening to receive and retain a lug. Still another embodiment has a second tubular sheath rotatably fitted on the outside of the first sheath. Open cut-out slits on the inner and outer sheaths can be in and out of alignment by rotation to receive and engage into a locking relation with a lug. A sheathed injection needle having a straight open cut-out slit on the needle sheath for accessing an injection site that has a lug-shaped attachment. A fluid container having an closing cap with a built-in injection site kept on the container with a retaining cap or it can engage the container directly.

In recent years as the problem of tansmissible diseases, such as AIDS, escalating, the need for safe intravenous fluid administration systems, which can prevent health care personnel from accidental needle injuries, is strongly felt among health care providers and researchers. In practice there are three most common situations where intravenous fluid administration systems are used.
The first is where an open end of a catheter is introduced into a vein in a patient's arm, and the other end of the catheter is outside the patient and closed by an injection cap with a needle-penetrable self-sealing injection port. The injection cap is secured on the patient's skin by taping. Fluids can be withdrawn or supplied through a needle that penetrates the injection port. The needle is connected to a syringe or to one end of a tubing with a fluid source supplied at the other end. This set up is called a periphery line.
The second is where an open end of a catheter is introduced into a vein in a patient's arm, and the other end is outside the patient and connected to one end of a tubing with a primary fluid source continuously supplied at the other end. Along the tubing there are constructed a number of injection sites. The injection sites are usually in the form of a short side branches of hard tubes connected to the main tubing and closed by needle-penetrable self-sealing injection ports. The injection ports are called Y-injection sites. Additional fluids can be withdrawn or supplied through a needle that penetrates the injection port of one of the Y-injection site. The needle is connected to a syringe or to one end of a tubing with a secondary fluid source supplied at the other end.
The third is where an open end of a catheter with one or more lumens is inserted into a vein in a patient's chest and the catheter is sutured to the patient's skin. Each branch of the lumen, if there are more than one, is outside the patient and closed by an injection cap with a needle-penetrable self-sealing injection port. Fluids can be withdrawn or supplied through a needle that penetrates inside the injection port. The needle is connected to a syringe or to one end of a tubing with a fluid source supplied at another end. This set up is called a central line.
In the aforementioned and other situations, because needles are used to connect catheters and fluid supply sources, health care personnel who handle those fluid administration systems are exposed to the danger of contracting tansmissible diseases, such as AIDS, from accidental needle injuries. Another problem with the needle connection is that the needle and the injection cap must be taped together to ensure a good connection. Extra precautions must be taken in taping, since the connection can often get loose, on the other hand if the taping is too tight, it becomes very difficult to disconnect. There have been several previous attempts to develop safety devices in intravenous fluid administration systems with limited success.
One such tubing connector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,855. It can lock with the side branch of a Y-injection site, but can not be used on central lines and periphery lines.
Another tubing connector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,716. It can be fitted but can not be locked on a Y-injection site. Taping is still required to secure the connection. This connector can not be used on periphery lines.
A combination of an tubing connector and an injection cap is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,260. Since the locking arrangement prevents taping of the injection cap to a patient's skin, this set can not be used on periphery lines without an additional extension tubing.
Another combination of a tubing connector and an injection cap, Called Kleen-Needle System, is made by Tri-State Hospital Supply Corp. of Howell, MI 48843. The tubing connector can be locked onto the injection cap by matching screw threads on the outside of the injection cap and on the inside of the needle sheath of the tubing connector. After the injection cap being taped on a patient's skin it is difficult to make a locking engagement, so this set is inconvenient for use on periphery lines without an additional extension tubing.
Still another combination of a tubing connector and an injection cap is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,292. Since the locking mechanism on the tubing connector prevent the injection cap being taped on a patient, it can not be used on a periphery line without an additional extension tubing.
Baxter health care Corporation of Deerfield, IL 60015 has made a Needle-Less System including an injection cap and a tubing connector. On the tubing connector a sharp needle is replaced by a large diameter blunt plastic cannula. When forced into the injection port the plastic cannula makes a large puncture on the injection port. This puts a very high demand on the self-sealing property of the injection port. In practice the injection port may not work very well.
The safety devices so far, while they work under certain situations, all have some limitations on their applicability and some inconveniences in their usage. The additional extension tubing on the injection cap in some of the prior art, for example, not only increases the cost, it also requires extra steps of purging air from the tubing and taping the tubing on a patient. There exists a need for safety intravenous fluid administration systems which can be interchangeably used in different applications. Particularly there is a need for the combination of injection caps and tubing connectors which can be easily and reliably used on periphery lines.
It is one object of the invention to provide an improved safe injection cap that includes a locking lug for positively locking the connection with a tubing connector.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved safe injection cap that includes an attachment wing for securely fastening the injection cap to a patient.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved safe Y-injection site that includes a locking lug for positively locking the connection with a tubing connector.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved safe tubing connector that can be interchangeably used on the improved injection caps and Y-injection sites.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved safe tubing connector that can be connected and disconnected with minimum manipulation.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved safe tubing connector for an injection site built on a container, an I.V. line, and the like to safely remove or supply fluids.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved safe injection needles with a protective sheath for an injection site built on a container, an I.V. line, and the like to safely remove or supply fluids.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved container with built-in injection site for a sheathed injection needle or a tubing connector to remove fluid from the container.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a combination of injection caps and tubing connectors which can be easily and reliably used on periphery lines.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a safe parenteral fluid administration system that including an improved injection cap, Y-injection site, tubing connector, sheathed injection needle and container with a built-in injection site, which can protect its user from inadvertent needle injuries in almost all common applications.

Injection port connector with rotatable locking lug


The monamine oxidase inhibitor drug L-deprenyl (phenylisopropyl methyl propynyl amine) is safely and conveniently used for the treatment of mental depression in a formulation applied to the skin of the patient. In this way the danger of side reaction due to the consumption of foods containing tyramine (the cheese effect) is minimized. Unlike other monamine oxidase drugs, such as Parnate, L-deprenyl does not cause skin irritation when used in this way.

Two general classes of organic pharmaceuticals useful in the treatment of the mental disease depression in humans have been recognized: (1) tricyclic antidepressants, as exemplified by amitriptyline and protriptylene, and (2) monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI), as exemplified by the commercially available drugs Nardil, Parnate, and L-deprenyl.
Both types of drugs are generally regarded as effective, but both have undesirable side effects. For tricyclic drugs, recognized side effects include dry mouth, orthostatic hypotension, and impotence, and these effects are frequent. The most significant side effect of the MAOI drugs is a rare but serious one: sudden and dangerous life-threatening elevation of blood pressure when the patent taking such drugs also consumes foods high in the naturally occurring substance tyramine. Cheese is the most common food containing large amounts of tyramine, so that this side effect is often known colloquially in the medical profession as the "cheese effect".
Because the cheese effect can cause very serious medical problems, including death in severe cases, MAOI drugs are little used, even though they are generally free from the other more common side effects of the tricyclic drugs and are believed to have at least equal effectiveness in the treatment of most types of depression.
Tyramine is known to be capable of causing severe hypertension when presented in the blood, but it is normally converted in the gastrointestinal tract by the action of a monoamine oxidase enzyme naturally present there, to other substances incapable of causing dangerous hypertension. When a patient is taking an MAOI orally, however, deactiviation of the tyramine by gastrointestinal enzymes is at least partially repressed, and serious clinical symptons may result.
Recent research has recognized a distinction among the MAOI drugs themselves, connected with recognition of the existence of two isozymes of monoamine oxidase itself, denoted simply as the A and B isozymes. Nardil and Parnate are recognized as primarily inhibitors of the action of monoamine oxidase A, while deprenyl first inhibits the action of monoamine oxidase B and significantly inhibits the action of monoamine oxidase A only at larger doses. The tyramine deactivating monoamine oxidase enzyme is primarily type A, so that it would appear that administration of L-deprenyl should not induce the cheese effect. The cheese effect, however, is potentially so serious that, the use of L-deprenyl in an oral dosage is nevertheless counterindicated simply because it does appear to have some MAO-A inhibiting activity. On the other hand, the monoamine oxidases in the brain are primarily of the B type, so that LDY is very effective in inhibiting their action.
There are three general modes of administration which have been used for the antidepressants under consideration, which must reach the blood stream in the course of exerting their therapeutic effects: oral, intravascular, and transdermal. Because of the danger of infection and the need for trained personnel for administration, intravascular administration is disfavored when one of the other two means is effective. Drugs for treating depression have traditionally been administered orally, but transdermal administration of some of the tricyclic antidepressant drugs, and by implication, any suitable drug, has also been taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,105 of Oct. 28, 1980 to Harwood. Transdermal administration of drugs in general has been taught by earlier patents, including some cited in the Harwood reference.
One highly restrictive limitation on the transdermal administration of drugs is the possibility of skin irritation or allergic reactions induced by such administration. This is particularly important when considering treatment of depression since MAO inhibitors are required to be used at higher dose levels.
In Whatever dosage form it may be administered, an antidepressant drug must be constantly present in the body for up to six months if the patient is to derive maximum benefit and not revert to a depressed state.
If transdermal administration of an antidepressant is to be used, this means very prolonged and constant or near-constant contact between the patient's skin and the pharmaceutical including the drug. It is well known that long-term exposure of skin to a chemical substance even at low dosages often will result either in a local skin inflammation at the side of contact or a more general immunologically based allergic reaction that can have a serious adverse effect on the entire body. When either of these events occur, the affected patient should immediately discontinue contact with the offending agent. Since MAO inhibitors generally were found heretofore to be skin irritants, clearly their use for antidepression treatment by transdermal techniques was not indicated.


In a signal potential converter, a capacitor receives an input signal CIN at one terminal thereof and has the other terminal thereof connected to a terminal node. A clamp circuit defines a potential (signal IN) at the terminal node within the range of a first potential to a second potential. The clamp circuit includes a level adjuster circuit configured to adjust at least one of the first and second potentials according to a supply voltage of a circuit that drives the input signal CIN.

The present disclosure relates to a signal potential converter for converting the potential of an input signal to pass a signal having a different potential.
As the feature size of transistors has been further reduced lately, their operating voltage has become lower and lower year after year. As for external interfaces, on the other hand, their operating voltage is rated in advance in accordance with a standard. Therefore, integrated circuits need to operate at an operating voltage of 5 V or 3.3 V, for example, so as to be connectible to existing devices as well. Thus, a level shifter (signal potential converter) is used to arbitrate between a signal to be driven by a micro-transistor and a signal to be driven at, e.g., 5 V or 3.3 V. To transmit a signal at high speeds, in particular, an AC coupler using a capacitor may be used effectively.
PCT International Application Publication No. 2012/157031 discloses a configuration for reducing a variation in potential at a terminal node of a signal potential converter so as to prevent jitter from being produced in the converted signal.
According to the configuration of PCT International Application Publication No. 2012/157031, an upper limit potential and a lower limit potential are set with respect to a signal at an AC coupled terminal node such that the signal is clamped. In such a configuration, if the clamp potential difference does not agree with the amplitude of the signal, then jitter tends to be produced in the converted signal.
For example, if the amplitude of the signal is smaller than the clamp potential difference (VCLT−VCLB) as shown in FIG. 6A, then the signal level is not stabilized. On the other hand, if the amplitude of the signal is larger than the clamp potential difference (VCLT−VCLB) as shown in FIG. 6B, then the waveform of the signal will have distortion. In either case, such a phenomenon produces jitter in the converted signal.
Such a problem may be overcome by adjusting the clamp potential difference to the amplitude of the signal. However, the amplitude of the signal is affected by the supply voltage of a circuit section generating an input signal. Thus, a configuration for dynamically adjusting the clamp potential according to the supply voltage on an input end is required.
Thus, the present disclosure provides a signal potential converter configured to adjust dynamically a clamp potential according to a supply voltage on an input end.


An energy-curable polymer-forming composition for making a pressure sensitive adhesive includes an unsaturated oligomer resin and an adhesive promoter which increases the peel strength of the adhesive without reducing its tack. The composition also includes a tackifier and various other optional components such as photoinitiator, chain extender, reactive diluent and the like.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to adhesives, and particularly to pressure sensitive adhesives derived from energy-curable polymer-forming compositions.
2. Background of the Related Art
Pressure sensitive adhesives are known in the art. A pressure sensitive adhesive ("PSA") is one which in dry form is aggressively and permanently tacky at room temperature and which firmly adheres to a variety of dissimilar surfaces upon mere contact without the need of more than finger or hand pressure. PSA requires no activation by heat or solvents. It should have a sufficiently cohesive holding and elastic nature so that it can be removed from a surface without leaving a residue. PSAs are generally used in adhesive tapes and labels. An adhesive tape typically includes a substrate, i.e., a backing, to which the PSA is applied. Usually a primer is used to treat the surface of the backing to provide greater anchoring of the PSA. If the tape is stored in a rolled configuration the opposite surface of the backing is generally coated with a release coating, such as silicone, to allow unrolling of the tape.
Various types of PSAs are known. For example, PSA can be made from tackified natural or synthetic rubbers, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers, acrylics, vinyl acetate copolymers, silicones, and polymerized vinyl alkyl ethers.
Hot melt type PSAs are typically heated to a temperature sufficient to render the PSA sufficiently fluid so that it can be applied to a substrate.
Solution type PSA's are generally dissolved in a solvent to form a fluid which can be applied to a substrate. The solvent is thereafter evaporated to form the PSA coating.
Energy-curable formulations for making PSAs typically include unsaturated monomers or oligomers, especially acrylate type compounds. Such formulations also typically include a photoinitiator which is responsive to, for example, ultraviolet radiation (UV) for initiating polymerization. Such formulations are applied to a substrate as a fluid prepolymer, and are thereafter polymerized to form the PSA layer.
The properties of the PSA can be tailored by altering the type and/or composition percentage of the components in the formulation. However, it is not uncommon that improvement in one property of the PSA results in a detrimental change in another. For example, to increase the peel strength of the PSA a higher softening point tackifier can be used, or the content of di- or multi-functional oligomer resin can be increased. However, in each case, the PSA tack is reduced. What is needed is a method which can be used to improve the peel strength, while not incurring a corresponding detriment to the tack.

Energy-curable composition for making a pressure sensitive adhesive


In an optical system phase device such as .lambda./2 plate or a .lambda./4 plate is used to convert S polarization to P polarization and vice versa. In the projection display, a white light emitted from a light source is separated by a color separation optical system, including dichroic mirrors or a dichroic prism, into three primary colors which are modulated by optical modulation elements. Then, the modulated lights are synthesized by a color synthesis optical system and projected by a projection element onto a screen. When appropriate plates are inserted appropriately in the optical system of the projection display, the conversion between S and P polarization occurs and an optical bandwidth becomes narrow, and color purity can be improved. A thick transparent plate is preferably adhered to the optical modulation element. A light absorption film is applied to an ineffective plane of the transparent plate. The phase device is preferably inserted between an optical modulation element and a transparent plate or the like to improve contrast. The invention can be applied to liquid crystal panels such as liquid crystal/resin display panels, light beam writing type display panel or micro mirror display panel. Preferably, the phase device is set to be rotatable so as to adjust contrast appropriately.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal panel and a projection display which uses the liquid crystal panels as light valves.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Liquid crystal panels have been developed intensively because it has many advantages such as light weight and compactness. However, there remain many problems. For example, it is difficult to enlarge the size of display area. Then, a projection display has attracted attention wherein a display image of a small size liquid crystal panel is magnified by projecting it with a projection lens or the like on a screen. A liquid crystal panel to be used in a projection television has to be compact. Otherwise the size of projection lens increases and the system size also becomes large, and this results in a high cost and bad portability.
A commercial liquid crystal projection television uses a twisted nematic liquid crystal panel which uses optical rotation characteristic of liquid crystal. The liquid crystal projection television needs a polarizer and a analyzer. If an aperture ratio of pixels is assumed to be 100% and a quantity of light is assumed to be one, a quantity of light transmitting the polarizer is say 40% and transmittance of the analyzer is say 80%. Then, a total transmittance becomes 0.4 * 0.8=0.32. Thus, only about 30% of light can be used effectively. Therefore, an image in a display has low brightness. Further, almost all light loss in the polarizer and the analyzer are transformed to heat and the panel is heated by radiation. Because a quantity of light incident on a liquid crystal panel amounts to about a few ten thousand luxes, the polarizers and the panel are heated to a high temperature and this deteriorates them in a short time.
Then, a projection liquid crystal display is proposed wherein a polarizer and an analyzer are not needed. For example, a polymer/resin composite liquid crystal or the like can be used for such a liquid crystal display. A liquid crystal/resin composite is a composite of a liquid crystal component and a resin component, and the liquid crystal component exists in the matrix of the resin (polymer) component. Besides the polymer/resin composite liquid crystal panel, a light beam writing type panel (refer, for example, Japanese Patent laid open Publication 2-93519/1990) and a micro mirror panel (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,935) do not need a polarizer and an analyzer.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a projection display. A light emitted from a collimation optical system 321 is guided by a color separation and synthesis optical system wherein a white light is separated into red, green and blue lights and they are synthesized again after transmitting liquid crystal panels. The system comprises mirrors 322a, 322b, three polymer dispersion liquid crystal panels 323a-323c, and dichroic mirrors 324a-324d. The dichroic mirrors 324a-324d are set to have an incident angle of 45.degree.. Then, the light is projected by a projection lens 325 through an aperture 326 onto a screen 19.
However, this projection display has a disadvantage that spectral characteristic is deteriorated in the color separation and synthesis optical system, because dichroic mirrors or dichroic prisms are used therein for white or random color. An optical multi-layer film made of dielectric layers is provided at a color separation plane of a dichroic mirror or prism. It is known that a difference in a spectral characteristic between P and S polarization lights increases with increasing incident angle at the optical multi-layer film. Then, an average of the P and S polarization lights is generated by the dichroic mirrors or prisms. Therefore, a sharp frequency cut-off cannot be realized. This means that color purity of outgoing light is deteriorated than that of incoming light.
On the contrary, a projection display which uses a twisted nematic liquid crystal has a better spectral characteristic because only P or S polarization light is transmitted through the dichroic mirrors or prisms. Therefore, even if polarization dependence of light exists, sharp color separation characteristic is realized and a hue in a projected image becomes better.
FIG. 2 shows a projection polymer dispersed liquid crystal display disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,449 which solves this problem. In the projection display, the incidence angle at the dichroic mirror is restricted between 15.degree. and 35.degree. to decrease deterioration of hue. However, the projection display has disadvantages due to the incidence angle of 35.degree. or less.
A first disadvantage is that a back focus of the projection lens becomes long. That is, distances between the projection lens and the panels become longer than the counterparts shown in FIG. 1. Then, the design of the projection lens becomes hard. Further, the dichroic mirrors 324 have larger areas, and this increases their costs. A second disadvantage is that a system size becomes larger. If two systems shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are compared with each other, it is clear that an area required by the color separation and synthesis optical system becomes larger in the display panel shown in FIG. 2. The size of the optical system is directly reflected in the system size, and a larger system size decreases an advantage of a projection liquid crystal display or its compactness.

Liquid crystal panel and projection display with use of liquid crystal panel

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method for operating a cooling system for a fuel cell stack in a vehicle is provided. The method includes the steps of: determining a fan request for a variable speed fan disposed in the cooling system; employing a noise-comfort function to select a fan comfort request; and adjusting a speed of the variable speed fan in response to the fan request; wherein a noise emission by the variable speed fan is militated against. A cooling system for a fuel cell stack in a vehicle that employs the noise-comfort function is also provided.

Fuel cells have been proposed as a clean, efficient and environmentally responsible power source for electric vehicles and various other applications. In particular, fuel cells have been identified as a potential alternative for the traditional internal-combustion engine used in automobiles.
A fuel cell typically includes three basic components: a cathode, an anode, and an electrolyte membrane. The electrolyte membrane is sandwiched between the cathode and the anode to form a membrane-electrolyte-assembly (MEA). Hydrogen at the anode is converted to positively-charged hydrogen ions. These ions travel through the electrolyte to the cathode, where they react with oxygen. The oxygen can be supplied from air, for example. The remaining electrons in the anode flow through an external circuit to the cathode, where they join the oxygen and the hydrogen protons to form water. Individual fuel cells can be stacked together in series to form a fuel cell stack capable of supplying sufficient amounts of electricity.
Fuel cell stacks are characterized by a specific operating temperature which presents a significant design challenge, particularly with respect to a structural and an operational integrity of the fuel cell stack. Maintaining the fuel cell stack within the temperature ranges that are necessary for optimum fuel cell operation generally requires employment of a cooling system.
The cooling systems known for both internal combustion engines and fuel cell systems typically utilize a radiator having a plurality of channels through which a coolant from a combustion engine or fuel cell stack may flow for cooling. The radiator generally includes an electrically driven fan which is mounted adjacent the radiator channels and employed to reduce a temperature of the coolant as the coolant passes through the radiator. The electrical fans can be variable speed and increase in power proportionally as the temperature of the coolant from the fuel cell stack increases. However, it is known that the electrical fans can emit noise at an unacceptable level, particularly when the electrical fans are high-power or have large rotor diameters. The noise can be undesirable for both passengers in a vehicle employing the cooling system and for pedestrians in proximity of the vehicle.
A fuel cell system having a fan shroud and barrel combination with built-in silencers, e.g. Helmholtz resonators, is reported by Shah et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,896,095. The fan shroud can be used to reduce a noise associated with an air-moving device such as an axial flow fan employed in a cooling system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,761 to Hrovat et al. describes a system and method for controlling a coolant temperature of two independent cooling loops of a fuel cell vehicle by adjusting at the system pump speed, fan speed, and radiator bypass valve position. Multiple feedback controllers coordinated by flip-flop logic are used to minimize energy consumption and provide optimal control system performance with respect to fan speed and valve position plant inputs.
There is a continuing need for a fuel cell system and method that provides a desired cooling performance with a minimized noise emission. Desirably, the fuel cell system militates against damaging of the fuel cell system caused by an undesirable operating temperature.

Noise-comfort function for cooling systems with proportional variable speed fans


A deck clip for connecting prefabricated deck tiles to sleepers includes a planar base for connection to a sleeper, spaced apart barbs on opposite sides of the top surface of the base for penetrating the corners of furring strips of two adjacent first floor tiles, and an inverted L-shaped hook integral with and extending upwardly from one end of the base, the top arm of the hook extending away from the base defining a ledge for engaging the corners of furring strips of two additional floor tiles adjacent to the first two floor tiles.

Modular decks and clips used as connectors in such decks are by no means new. An example of a modular deck is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,267, which issued to Hugh A. Dantzer on Apr. 3, 2001. The patents listed on the cover page of the Dantzer patent disclose modular deck systems and connectors used in the construction of such systems. In general, the modular deck systems are somewhat complicated and rely on specially designed connectors for assembling the systems. The inventor found that there was a need for a deck system which could be quickly assembled without specially designed planks and/or connectors.
An object of the present invention is to meet the above-defined need by providing a relatively simple deck clip and a modular deck assembly incorporating the clip. The clip of the present invention enables the quick construction of a deck assembly without a large number of screws or other fasteners.


Representative embodiments provide for a flow laminarizing device including a plurality of walls defining a plurality of passageways, each passageway defining a hexagonal cross-sectional area and configured to permit fluid flow there through, a casing configured to mechanically support the plurality of walls, and at least one support extension mechanically coupled to the casing, the at least one support extension and the casing cooperatively configured to support the flow laminarizing device in a substantially fixed slidingly received position relative to a fluid flow port of a fluid impelling device. A method includes the steps of decoupling an air line from a turbocharger, installing a flow laminarizing device in fluid communication with the turbocharger, and recoupling the air line to the turbocharger.

Turbochargers are commonly known devices for increasing the air mass in the combustion chambers (cylinders) of an internal combustion engine, particularly, but not limited to, diesel engines. The turbocharger is most frequently driven by exhaust gasses or a mechanical drive which are used to drive an impeller. The impeller is attached by a shaft or other coupling to a compressor wheel, which is used to compress ambient air which is then provided to the combustion chambers of the engine. Other kinds of fluid impelling devices use one or more impellers to induce fluid flow through centrifugal force.
Therefore, it is desirable to improve the performance of turbochargers and other kinds of fluid impelling devices.


A game or puzzle including a plurality of polyomino assembly pieces and a support base. The support base may comprise a polygonal bottom member, one or more towers, and side walls. The support base aids the user in visualizing the shape of the puzzle to be assembled and provides support to the assembly pieces during puzzle assembly.

The present invention relates to the field of games and puzzles. More particularly, the invention relates to puzzles composed of multiple pieces that are to be assembled to form predefined shapes.
There are many puzzles available that require a particular order of assembly to achieve completion of the puzzle. Some require an arrangement of pre-connected pieces in a particular order. Colors or pictures may be interposed on certain surfaces of the puzzles. Many puzzles have been available for years and solutions are well known. The entertainment and education provided by these puzzles diminishes as they are solved by an individual on multiple occasions. Memorization of solutions diminishes the challenge of the puzzle. Dedicated puzzle solvers require new challenges to their intellectual prowess. Therefore there is a need for inventive puzzles that provides new challenges and entertainment for the puzzle solving public. Pentomino and polyomino puzzles are known. A pentomino puzzle comprising a rectangular board or holder and flat pieces is disclosed in both the 1959 U.S. Pat. No. 2,900,190 to Pestieau and the 1988 U.S. Pat. No. D298,149 to Hermans, et al. The 1999 U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,388 to Wood, et al describes an eight by eight square puzzle frame for holding colored cubic pentomino and tetromino pieces in a chess or checkerboard type array. The 1976 U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,749 to Wadsworth describes a board containing four rectangular playing areas, with each area comprising ninety square units, to be used with eighteen flat pentominos. A puzzle comprising a base and a mixture of flat tri, tetra, hexa, and hepta-polyomino pieces is described in the 2003 U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,453. Cheng describes a puzzle in the 2001 U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,919, where the puzzle comprises a base with round indentations and mono, tri tetra, penta, and hexa-omino puzzle pieces made from spheres instead of cubes. Another patent to Cheng, the 2004 U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,285, describes using a frame to hold polyomino puzzle pieces in a vertical configuration, one cube in thickness.
The puzzles in the patents cited above are assembled to form simple, flat square or flat rectangular shapes. Polyominos may be constructed of cubes instead of flat squares and cubic polyomino puzzles may be assembled into both two dimensional as well as three dimensional puzzles. Three dimensional polyomino puzzles possess added complexity and challenge for the user. Polyomino puzzles assembled to form simple three dimensional cubic and rectangular parallelepiped shapes are described in the 1962 U.S. Pat. No. 3,085,970 to Besley, the 1989 U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,466 to Johnson, et al, the 1998 U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,533 to Edwards, the 1999 U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,388 to Wood et al, the 2001 U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,919 to Cheng, and the 2004 U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,285 to Cheng.
In addition to flat square and rectangular shapes and three-dimensional cubic and rectangular parallelepiped shapes, polyominos can be assembled into a variety of interesting three-dimensional symmetrical figures. While many unique figures can be formed, assembly of the figures is problematic. Puzzle users may have difficulty visualizing the complex figure to be formed. In addition, there is tendency for the blocks to fall during assembly. A combination of polyomino blocks and a three-dimensional support base, which aids in visualization and provides support to the blocks during assembly. A support base helps the user find multiple complex solutions to a puzzle thereby increasing the users' enjoyment of the puzzle. Upon completion of puzzle assembly the support base may be removed, revealing a structure composed entirely of polyominos.

Cubic assembly puzzle and support structure


Ground conveyor, which is provided with one or more labels and/or documentation, which contain information on the use and/or safety of the ground conveyor, wherein at least one label or documentation is provided with an RFID transponder, in which data is saved.

The present invention relates to a ground conveyor, which is provided with one or more labels and/or documentation, which contains information on the use and/or safety of the ground conveyor.
Ground conveyors are provided with all types of signage, whereby many of the signs serve to provide information to the driver. One example of such a label is the sign provided on fork lifts indicating which load can be lifted to what height. Other labels regularly provided on fork lifts relate to switch and button assignments on an operating panel and warning messages. Components of the ground conveyor also have labels, which contain information on the exact type designation of the component, the manufacturer and other specific information on the component.
It is known from "Hebezeuge und Fördermittel" (Lifting Tools and Conveyors), Berlin 45 (2005), page 116 f., the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference, to use RFID transponders for special applications in the area of logistics. The goal of the use of the transponders is to additionally label individual goods using individual serial numbers for product information and to perform an automatic identification without a manual intervention.
From "Logistik für Unternehmen" (Logistics for Companies) 11/12-2005, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference, on the occasion of the CeMAT 2005, the use of RFID transponders for the localization of ground conveyors in a warehouse is known. For this, RFID transponders are installed in the floor of the warehouse at regular intervals of approx. 1 m. The ground conveyor is equipped with an RFID reader, which reads the transponders in the floor. Its current position can be determined based on the data read out.
The object of the invention is to improve existing ground conveyors and their labeling such that content-related wrong and non-current labels and documentation are avoided in a cost effective manner with simple means.


A lubricant composition and a ball joint are disclosed. The lubricant composition has about 100 parts by weight of a viscous material chosen from polyisoprene rubber or a viscous composition of a polyisoprene rubber viscous substance, about 15-45 parts by weight of at least one compound chosen from a specific group of aliphatic amides or a specific group of aliphatic bisamides and about 5-30 parts by weight of at least one wax chosen from polyethylene wax, paraffin wax and microcrystalline wax. A ball joint is disclosed that contains this lubricant composition.

This invention relates to lubricant compositions. The invention is especially concerned with a ball joint comprising a ball seat of synthetic resin and a metal ball stat which ball joint further comprises lubricant composition according to the present invention, and use of a lubricant composition in such ball joint.
In ball joints commonly used in automobiles, the basic method of lubrication is the presence of lubricant between the ball seat 1 of synthetic resin and the metal ball stat 2. Several methods have been proposed for the maintenance and improvement of the performance of ball joints. For example, the hardness was increased in the ball stat to prevent abrasion; molybdenum, graphite or lubricating oil were incorporated in the ball seat so as to increase the gliding property of the resin itself, or a groove was incorporated on the inner surface of the ball seat to act as a reservoir of grease.
However, there is a limit in improvement of the performance of ball joints by these methods. At present, the major opportunity for improvement of performance of ball joints is thought to reside in a lubricant having improved properties.
Ball joints are placed at the extremely important positions in the suspension system and the steering system concerned with the movement of motor vehicles. Direct influence is exerted by the joint on the movement. Therefore, there is a severe problem if the position of the ball stat is altered greatly under load.
In the process of assembling a ball stat, a ball seat and a socket, some load is applied to the ball seat through the ball stat so that the clearance is made as small as possible between the ball stat and the ball seat by taking advantage of iscoelasticity of a synthetic resin. Also it is attempted to limit as much as possible the displacement of the ball stat under a load. Consequently, a certain pressure is maintained in the space between the ball stat and the ball seat, and ordinary lubricating grease tends to be extruded from the space between the ball stat and the ball seat with elapse of time. As the result, the torque upon movement becomes greater and the lubricant membrane is broken during repeated movement, resulting in direct contact between the ball stat and the ball seat, the development of abrasion and an increased displacement of the ball stat.
A lubricant composition to be used in ball joints preferably has the following characteristics: under a load, the lubricant composition preferably adheres strongly to both the ball stat and ball seat to form a membrane with a constant thickness. The lubricant composition preferably flows smoothly at the gliding part when the ball stat moves from the stationary condition to the moving condition, and the grease membrane is preferably maintained without change even after repeated movement of the ball stat so that a stable lubricating function is maintained.
Patent cases concerned with ball joints, are the follows.
Japanese Kokai Patent Application No. Sho 60 [1996]-31598 describes a grease product containing poly-xcex1-olefin type synthetic oil with kinematic viscosity of 500-2000 mm2/sec at 40xc2x0 C., paraffin wax, fatty acid amide wax and urea type thickening agent.
Japanese Kokai Patent Application No. Hei 2[1990]-194095 describes a grease product for ball joints containing urea type thickening agent, hydrogenated mineral oil devoid of wax with the kinematic viscosity of 50-500 mm2/sec at 40xc2x0 C., paraffin wax and fatty acid amide wax.
Japanese Kokai Patent Application No. Hei 6[1994]-116581 describes a lubricating product for ball joints characterized by a content of polyisoprene rubber or polyisoprene rubber viscous material with the viscosity of 3xc3x97103-105 mN.s/m2 (cP) at 25xc2x0 C. and aliphatic amide or aliphatic bisamide.
The present invention relates to a further improvement of the technology made public by our Kokai Patent Application No. Hei 6[1994]-116581.
This invention relates to a lubricant composition comprising
(A) 100 parts by weight of a viscous material having a viscosity from 3xc3x97103 to 105 mN.s/m2 (cP) at 25xc2x0 C. which is at least one member chosen from the group consisting of
(i) polyisoprene rubber and
(ii) viscous composition containing polyisoprene rubber
(B) 15-45 parts by weight of at least one compound from the group of aliphatic amides represented by Formula (1)
R1CONH2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
(where R1 indicates a saturated or unsaturated alkyl group containing 15-17 carbon atoms), and aliphatic bisamides represented by Formula (2)
R1CONHR2NHCOR1xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
(wherein R1 represents a saturated or unsaturated alkyl group and R2 represents methylene or ethylene), and
(C) 5-30 parts by weight of at least one wax chosen from the group of polyethylene wax, paraffin wax and microcrystalline wax.
Lubricant composition according to the present invention was found to give a low torque especially at working conditions (rotatory torque), more especially at working conditions at normal temperature, and to inhibit torque change and to give a ball joint giving good endurance.
Further, the composition was found to inhibit variation in the ball stat after repeated use. A good abrasion resistance was found in durability tests.
Further, the present invention relates to a ball joint comprising a ball seat (1) of synthetic resin and a metal ball stat (2), which ball joint comprises a lubricant composition according to the present invention, and to use of the lubricant composition in such ball joint.
Component (A) used as the viscosity agent in this invention has a relation with adhesiveness on the sliding surfaces of ball joints and smooth working property, and its viscosity must be in the range from 3xc3x97103 to 105 mN.s/M2 (cP) at 25xc2x0 C. If the viscosity is less than 3xc3x97103 mN.s/m2 (cP), the lubricating product has poor adhesive property and the gliding membrane tends to become thin so that the resin and the metal make direct contact at the boundary plane resulting in the increased torque. On the other hand, if the viscosity is greater than 105 mN.s/m2 (cP), the resistance is increased in the lubricating oil itself, resulting in the increased torque of the ball joint.
The aforementioned polyisoprene rubber has the repeating unit
The polyisoprene rubber will generally contain a block of (3) and/or (4) mentioned above. Polymer additives, such as polybutene, polyisobutylene, and polymethacrylate could not achieve the aim of this invention, unlike polyisoprene.
Viscous composition containing polyisoprene rubber can be obtained by addition of mineral oil and/or synthetic oil to polyisoprene rubber. There is no particular limit in the ratio of mixing, and a mixture can be accepted if the viscosity is in the range from 3xc3x97103 to 105 mN.s/m2 (cP).
Synthetic oil is defined as publicly known oil used as the base oil for production of usual lubricating oil or grease, for example paraffin type mineral oil or naphthene type mineral oil such as the mineral type or poly-xcex1-olefin, cooligomer of xcex1-olefin and ethylene, polyethylene glycol and polypropylene glycol as alklene glycol type; alkyldiphenylether as ether type; and dimethylsilicone as silicone type.
The amide used as component (B) has the function of turning the viscous component (A) into a solid or semisolid and the function of reducing the friction coefficient between the resin and the metal as well as improving the inner fluidity of viscous substance. If the content of this component is less than 15 parts by weight, the lubricant becomes too soft and tends to flow easily so that the effect is weakened for improved gliding property between the resin and the metal. On the other hand, if its content is more than 45 parts by weight, the lubricant becomes too hard and difficult to handle, and the lubricating property is also reduced. Also, there is a possibility that it is too difficult to fill the space between the ball stat and the ball seat under pressure.
The polyethylene wax, paraffin wax and/or microcrystalline wax used as component(C), has the function of reducing the flow resistance in the lubricant formed by component (A) and component (B) and hence reducing the increase of torque of the ball joint resulting from the viscous resistance. If its content is less than 5 parts by weight, the effect is too small for reduction of flow resistance and the lowering effect cannot be expected on the ball joint torque. On the other hand, if the content is more than 30 parts by weight, the lubricant becomes too hard and difficult to handle. Also the expected effect may not be achieved, and it may not be possible to introduce the lubricant under pressure in the filling operation of the joint. The aforementioned polyethylene wax is a substance obtained as the by-product in the process of polyethylene production. It is a synthetic wax such as product of thermal decomposition of polyethylene or product of direct polymerization of ethylene. It is preferable to use polyethylene wax with an average molecular weight of 900-4,000 and a melting point of 100-130xc2x0 C. Paraffin wax and microcrystalline wax are petroleum waxes classified as natural wax. In the process of distillation of crude oil under reduced pressure, paraffin wax is obtained from the distillate by separation and purification. It is a saturated hydrocarbon compound with the main component of straight chain hydrocarbons with an average molecular weight of 300-500. Wax with the melting point of 40-70xc2x0 C. is preferable. Microcrystalline wax is obtained from the residual oil after the distillation of crude oil under pressure. It consists of saturated hydrocarbon compounds in microcrystal form with the average molecular weight of 500-700 with the main component of hydrocarbon with side chain or hydrocarbon in ring form. Wax with a melting point of 60-100xc2x0 C. is preferable.
It is possible to add an antioxidant, rust-proofing agent, agent for improvement of oil properties, solid lubricant, antiabrasion agent and extreme pressure agent to the lubricant composition of this invention, if necessary.
With the lubricant product of this invention for ball joints, the following tests preferably have results detailed below: the amount of lift after endurance test (106 times) is preferably 0.1 mm or less, or more preferably 0.08 mm or less, most preferably 0.05 mm or less. The xe2x80x9cliftxe2x80x9d has been defined in the examples. The starting torque at xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. is preferably 50.0 kgxc2x7cm or less, and the rotating torque at xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. is preferably 30.0 kgxc2x7cm or less. The starting torque at 25xc2x0 C. is preferably 30.0 kgxc2x7cm or less, and the rotating torque at 25xc2x0 C. is preferably 13.0 kgxc2x7cm or less.
The worked penetration according to ASTM D 217 is preferably such that it is in the range from 220 to 340 0.1 mm at 25xc2x0 C., especially 260 to 320 for the lubrication product of this invention for ball joints. If the worked penetration is less than 220, the composition might become too hard and the handling of the lubrication product can become difficult, such as difficulty in filling the joint with the lubricant. If the worked penetration is more than 340 0.1 mm at 25xc2x0 C., the composition can become too soft and there is a possibility that the lubricant will flow out of the gliding surface of the joint, resulting in poor lubrication with the increased torque or abnormal abrasion in the joint.
The dripping point is preferably 80xc2x0 C. or more, especially 95xc2x0 C. or more, preferably 100xc2x0 C. or more in the lubricant product of this invention for ball joints. In actual use in a motor car, there is a possibility that the temperature will reach 80xc2x0 C. in the joint close to the engine due to heat radiation and, with the lubricant product with the dripping point of about 80xc2x0 C., there is a possibility that the lubricant product will flow from the gliding surface of ball joint, resulting in the abnormal abrasion and the damaged joint.
The invention is explained in more detail with application examples and comparative examples. However, the invention is not limited by these examples.
A stainless steel container was charged with 200 g of polyisoprene (viscosity agent A, hereafter) with a viscosity of 5.2xc3x97104 mN.s/m2 (cP) at 25xc2x0 C., 80 g of ethylene bis-stearylamide (amide A, hereafter) and 30 g of polyethylene wax, and the content was heated to the temperature of 150xc2x0 C. with stirring. Heating was stopped when the content was melted and became transparent, and amine type antioxidant was added at 1.0% followed by cooling to the normal temperature. The content was kneaded to uniformity with a three-roll mill to obtain the lubricant product. The worked penetration was 283 0.1 mm at 25xc2x0 C., and the dripping point was 130xc2x0 C. in the lubricant product thus obtained.
Viscosity agent (viscosity agent B, hereafter) was obtained by mixing polyisoprene with the viscosity of 5.2xc3x97106 mN.s/m2 (cP) at 25xc2x0 C. at 60 wt % and poly-xcex1-olefin as the synthetic oil with the kinematic viscosity of 33.0 mm2/sec at 40xc2x0 C. at 40 wt %. The viscosity of the viscosity agent B was 8.0xc3x97104 mN.s/m2 (cP) at 25xc2x0 C. as measured with type B viscosimeter. A stainless steel container was charged with 200 g of this viscosity agent, 70 g of amide A and 30 g of paraffin wax and the content was heated to 150xc2x0 C. while the content was stirred. When the content was melted and became transparent, heating was stopped, and an amine type antioxidant was added at 1.0%, followed by cooling of the content to the normal temperature. The content was made homogeneous with three-roll mill to obtain a lubricant product. The worked penetration was 268 0.1 mm at 25xc2x0 C., and the dripping point was 124xc2x0 C. for the product thus obtained.
Polyisoprene with a viscosity of 5.2xc3x97106 mN.s/m2 (cP) at 25xc2x0 C. at 40 wt % and 60 wt % mineral oil with a kinematic viscosity of 23.5 mm2/sec at 40xc2x0 C. were mixed to obtain a viscosity agent (viscosity agent C, hereafter). The viscosity of this agent was 1.1xc3x97104 mN.s/m2 (cP) at 250xc2x0 C. as measured by type B viscosimeter. A stainless steel container was charged with 200 g of the viscosity agent C, 60 g of amide A and 40 g of microcrystalline wax. The content was heated to the temperature of 150xc2x0 C. with stirring. When the content was melted and became transparent, heating stopped and after addition of amine type antioxidant at 1.0%, the content was cooled to the normal temperature. The content was homogenized, after cooling, with a three-roll mill to obtain a lubricant product. The worked penetration was 295 0.1 mm at 250xc2x0 C. and the dripping point was 129xc2x0 C. for the product thus obtained.
A stainless steel container was charged with 200 g of viscosity agent B, 80 g of stearylamide (amide B, hereafter) and 30 g of microcrystalline wax. The content was heated to 150xc2x0 C. with stirring, and when the content was melted and became transparent, heating was stopped. Amine type antioxidant was added at 1.0% followed by cooling to the room temperature. After cooling, the content was made homogeneous with a three-roll mill to obtain a lubricant product. The worked penetration was 310 0.1 mm at 25xc2x0 C., and the dripping point was 95xc2x0 C.
A stainless steel container was charged with 200 g of viscosity agent B and 40 g each of amide A and oleylamide (amide C, hereafter), follow by addition of 30 g of microcrystalline wax. The content was heated to the temperature of 150xc2x0 C. with stirring, and heating was stopped when the content was melted and became transparent. Amine type antioxidant was added at 1.0% followed by cooling to the room temperature. The content was homogenized with a three-roll mill to obtain a lubricant product. The worked penetration was 292 0.1 mm at 25xc2x0 C., and the dripping point was 102xc2x0 C. for the product.
A stainless steel container was charged with 200 g of viscosity agent B followed by addition of 50 g each of amide A and oleylamide C. The content was heated to the temperature of 150xc2x0 C. with stirring. The process and method were the same as those used in Examples 1-5 according to the invention. The worked penetration was 294 0.1 mm at 25xc2x0 C., and the dripping point was 107xc2x0 C. for the lubricant product thus obtained.
We obtained a viscosity agent (viscosity agent D, hereafter) by mixing polyisoprene with viscosity of 3.0xc3x97106 mN.s/m2 (cP) at 25xc2x0 C. at 80 wt % and poly-xcex1-olefin with a kinematic viscosity of 33.0 mm2/sec at 40xc2x0 C. at 20 wt %. The viscosity of the viscosity agent D was 5.0xc3x97105 mN,s/m2 (cP) at 25xc2x0 C. (outside the range of viscosity set in this invention) as measured by type B viscosimeter. A stainless steel container was charged with 200 g of this viscosity agent, 70 g of amide A and 20 g of paraffin wax, and the content was heated to the temperature of 150xc2x0 C. with stirring. The following process and method were the same as in Examples 1-5 according to the invention. The worked penetration was 255 0.1 mm at 25xc2x0 C. and the dripping point was 130xc2x0 C. for the lubricant product thus obtained.
Viscosity agent (viscosity agent E, hereafter) was prepared by mixing polyisoprene with a viscosity of 1.5xc3x97105 mN.s/m (cP) at 250xc2x0 C. at 30 wt % and mineral oil with the kinematic viscosity of 26.0 mm2/sec at 40xc2x0 C. at 70 wt %. The viscosity measured by type B viscosimeter was 800 mN.s/m2 (cP) (outside the range defined in this invention) at 25xc2x0 C. A stainless steel container was charged with 200 g of viscosity agent E, 70 g of amide A and 30 g of microcrystalline wax and the content was heated to the temperature of 150xc2x0 C. with stirring. The processes and methods which followed were the same as in Examples 1-5 according to the invention. The worked penetration was 294 0.1 mm at 250xc2x0 C., and the dripping point was 125xc2x0 C. for the product thus obtained.
We used lithium type grease for ball joints on the market produced by us.
We used lithium type grease for general use on the market from another producer.
We used amide type grease for ball joints on the market from another producer.
Table I and Table II show general properties and results of the torque test and endurance test for lubricant products obtained in Examples 1-5 according to the invention and lubricant and grease obtained in Comparative Examples 1-6. The test methods are described below. Torque test and endurance test were performed on the various types of lubricant products using ball joint test machine shown in FIGS. 1 to 4.

Lubricant composition and its use in a ball joint


A multipoint positioning method for a touchpad including the steps of: scanning a touchpad to retrieve two-dimensional data; calculating an object area and a number of maxima of local maxima in the two-dimensional data; comparing the object area with an area threshold when the number of maxima is larger than 1; and identifying positions of the local maxima as a plurality of contact positions when the object area is larger than or equal to the area threshold.

1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure generally relates to a touch sensing device and, more particularly, to a multipoint positioning method for a touchpad capable of detecting the multi-touch operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the touch control can be performed easily and without using conventional extra peripheral devices, such as the mouse or keyboard, it has gradually been applied to various portable electronic products, wherein single-touch technology has become mature but multi-touch technology still has the problem of unable to distinguish multiple fingers in some specific conditions in both capacitive touch panels or optical touch panels, especially in the condition that more than two fingers are very close to each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,825,352, entitled "Multiple Fingers Contact Sensing Method for Emulating Mouse Buttons and Mouse Operations on a Touch Sensor Pad", discloses a sensing method for identifying multiple fingers according to one-dimensional information. The sensing method retrieves one-dimensional information at first as shown in FIG. 1A, and then respectively identifies a first peak P1, a valley V1 and a second peak P2 in the one-dimensional information. Next, a first finger area and a second finger area are separated according to the valley V1. Then, a finger position of the first finger area is obtained by calculating a first centroid of the first finger area, and a finger position of the second finger area is obtained by calculating a second centroid of the second finger area to divide different fingers. However, this method has to identify the valley V1 at first and then two finger areas can be separated accordingly.
As shown in FIG. 1B, when a second peak P2′ is significantly larger than a first peak P1′, using a valley V1′ to separate a first finger area and a second finger area may cause the asymmetry of the separated finger areas. When the centroid is used to locate the finger position, the finger position can have deviation such that the control error may occur.
Accordingly, the present disclosure further provides a multipoint positioning method for a touchpad that may simplify and increase the accuracy of the multipoint positioning procedure.

Multipoint positioning method for touchpad


A character display apparatus searches through a cache means for vector font data which match character attributes of a character to be displayed to acquire the vector font data, and, when no vector font data which match the character attributes of the character to be displayed exist in the cache means, acquires the vector font data from a large-volume storage means. If there exists no corresponding luminance image data in the cache means, the character display apparatus acquires luminance image data generated from the vector font data. If there exists no corresponding display image in the cache means, the character display apparatus acquires display character image data generated from the luminance image data. The character display apparatus displays the display image which is thus acquired and which matches the character attributes of the character to be displayed on a display device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a character display apparatus which displays a character image.
2. Background of the Invention
A character display apparatus generates a character image from font data according to character information including a font type, a character code, and a character size. A character image is generated from outline font data which are vector data showing the appearance of a character, or from stroke font data which are vector data describing the frame of a character. More specifically, when displaying a character image on the screen of a display device, a character display apparatus carries out scaling of vector data as mentioned above according to the size of the character image to be outputted on the above-mentioned screen and fills the appearance or frame defined by the above-mentioned vector data with a color so as to generate the character image.
Generation of a character image is a process of converting predetermined vector data into the character image having one of a wide variety of sizes, as mentioned above, and has a high processing load and consumes many CPU resources. Therefore, in order to achieve an improvement in the speed of generation of a character image, there has been proposed a technology for storing vector data used for generation of a character image in a cache memory and reusing the vector data stored in the cache memory when generating a new character image.
For example, an apparatus disclosed by patent reference 1 stores vector font data for each and every font type in a storage unit, such as a large-volume hard disk drive, and is also provided with a first cache memory for storing generated character images, and a second cache memory for storing vector font data used for generation of character images.
When generating a character image, the apparatus searches through the first cache memory after receiving a font type and a character size as inputs thereof, and, if the apparatus cannot search for a character image corresponding to the input data, further searches through the second cache memory. If vector font data corresponding to the input data are stored in the second cache memory, the apparatus generates a character image by using the vector font data. In contrast, unless vector font data corresponding to the input data are stored in the second cache memory, the apparatus extracts the above-mentioned vector font data from the storage unit and then expands the vector font data, and then generates a character image.
Thus, because the apparatus according to the invention disclosed by the patent reference 1 is provided with the first cache memory for storing character images, the apparatus can output a character image whose font type and size match the input data at a high speed. Furthermore, because the apparatus has the second cache memory for storing vector font data, when generating a character image whose font type matches the input data, but whose size does match the input data, the apparatus can acquire corresponding vector font data without accessing the storage unit.
By doing in this way, even when the character size of an on-screen character is changed, if corresponding vector font data whose font type matches that of the character exist in the second cache memory, the conventional apparatus can generate a character image at a high speed without accessing the storage unit.    [Patent reference 1] JP,6-118936,A
In embedded systems in which, in recent years, an improvement has been achieved in the resolution of a display device, there are frequent cases in which on-screen characters are color-coded in order to improve the visibility of display information. That is, some character images which have the same font type and the same character size, but have different foreground colors and different background colors are generated.
In this case, in accordance with a structure, as shown in the patent reference 1, of storing a final character image in a cache memory, when a character image to be newly generated has the same font type and the same character size as the previous character image, but has a different foreground color and a different background color, the character image stored in the cache memory is not reused. Therefore, in this case, the storage unit has to be accessed and the character image has to be generated, and no improvement can be achieved in the speed of the character image generation processing.
Furthermore, conventionally, an improvement is achieved in the speed of data input by acquiring vector font data from a cache memory, though it is necessary to, after acquiring the vector font data, carry out a high-processing-load process of converting the vector font data into a character image. A problem is therefore that even if data acquisition is carried out at a high speed, an improvement cannot be achieved in the speed of generation of a final character image, depending upon the processing performance of the conventional apparatus.


Projection lens systems for use in projection televisions are provided. The lens systems include a strong positive element which provides a majority of the power of the lens, a strong negative unit which provides most of the correction for the field curvature of the lens system, and four weak meniscus aspherical elements, two on each side of the positive element. By means of this arrangement, the lens system achieves a semi-field of view of approximately 40.degree. at a f-number of about 1.0 or less. The lens systems are used to minimize the size of projection television sets since their semi-field of view of approximately 40.degree. substantially matches the maximum numerical aperture of about 0.65 of projection screens used in such sets.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to projection lens systems for use in projection televisions and, in particular, to improved projection lens systems having both a wide field of view, e.g., a semi-field of view on the order of about 40.degree., and a low f-number, e.g. , a f-number on the order of about 1.0 or less.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Projection lens systems for CRT projection televisions have undergone continuing development during the past fifteen years or so. As a result, many of today's CRT projection televisions are equipped with fast lens systems having f-numbers of f/l and smaller and provide semi-fields of view of 25.degree. and wider.
As is well-known, color images are obtained for television systems of this type by combining images from three color CRTs, i.e., a red CRT, a green CRT, and a blue CRT. Since the emission spectra of the CRTs are relatively narrow, for consumer applications, lens systems uncorrected for color can often be used.
When the field of view does not exceed a half-angle of about 25.degree., the lens system may consist of just three components and still provide a sufficiently high level of image quality. A typical configuration has a weak aspherical element on the image side of the lens system, followed by a strong positive power element, followed in turn by a strong negative element in close proximity to the CRT. See, for example, Betensky, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,300,817, 4,348,081, and 4,526,442.
For this configuration, the aspherical first element provides most of the correction of spherical aberration and other aperture dependent aberrations, the positive element in combination with the relative position of the aperture stop of the lens system allows for the astigmatism to be corrected, and the negative element close to CRT provides correction for the field curvature of the lens.
When the focal length of the lens system is shortened to make the projection television more compact, the field coverage of the lens system must be increased. When the half-angle of view is increased to about 28.degree., a three element form generally cannot provide an appropriately high level of optical performance. To address this problem, a fourth element (corrector element) has been added between the strong positive and the strong negative elements of the three component configuration. See Betensky, U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,892, and Moskovich, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,682,862, 4,755,028, and 4,776,681. This additional element usually does not have much optical power; however, it must have an aspherical surface to correct for aperture dependent off-axis aberrations like sagittal oblique spherical and coma. Four element configurations have been used effectively up to half-angles of 33.degree. to 35.degree.. Five element configurations are also known in the art. See the Moskovich '862 and '681 patents, supra.
One of the most widely used CRT projection television configurations is the rear projection TV. In this configuration, the CRT image is projected onto the back side of a diffuse screen which is viewed from its front side by the TV audience. To make the image bright and evenly illuminated, most projection screens have employed fresnel lenses and lenticular lenslet arrays. As a result, these screens have typically had a numerical aperture of about 0.57, corresponding to a maximum half field of view of the lens system of about 35.degree.. Improvements in screen manufacturing technology have allowed the maximum numerical aperture to be increased to about 0.65 corresponding to a maximum half field of view of the lens system of about 40.degree.. This increased field of view should allow for significant reduction in the size of projection TV sets. However, it has been found that the four and five element projection lens system configurations described above do not in general provide sufficiently high image quality when used at semi-field angles of 40.degree..

High speed wide angle projection TV lens system


Emergent information is created and utilized by an array of sensors. Each sensor is programmed with a trigger rule, which describes a local condition that must be met for the sensor to trigger an event signal, and a relationship rule, which describes a hierarchy of communication control among sensors in the array of sensors. When a predetermined weighted percentage of the sensors trigger event signals, emergent information that describes conditions at the array location is generated. An effectuator then takes appropriate steps to address the condition described by the emergent information.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to the field of sensor networks and the effectuator responses they develop.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, system sensors collect data in a non-intelligent manner. That is, even if a sensor has limited intelligence (e.g., a camera that automatically tracks moving objects), most of the data collected by the sensors, and then transmitted to a controller, is meaningless. That is, sensors typically transmit data in a continuous manner, such that most of the transmitted data is "dead air" in which nothing of interest is happening. Even if some intelligence is present in the sensor, the data transmitted concerns what that particular sensor type is able to detect, and thus has little selectivity associated with such transmitted data. Thus, most sensors systems are either burdened with high positive and negative error rates, or send "dead air," or both. To find a subject matter of interest, the controller must perform extensive data mining, using programs that search for patterns of interest in the massive amounts of previously stored data. Most searching is for simple, single sensor type, threshold events.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of demodulating a frequency hopped waveform is disclosed. The method comprises receiving an analog radio frequency signal, converting the analog signal to a digital pulse signal, and determining the I and Q bits in the digital pulse signal. The method also comprises derotating the Q bits by a ninety (90) degree phase shift. The method further comprises deriving an approximate phase angle for the pulse from the I and derotated Q bits.

Spread spectrum radio frequency systems are a variety of signal modulation that spreads a signal to be transmitted over a bandwidth that substantially exceeds the data-transfer rate. In direct sequence spread spectrum, a data signal is modulated with a pseudo-random chip sequence. The encoded spread spectrum signal is transmitted to the receiver. The receiver receives the signal and de-spreads the signal. Many techniques are available for transmitters to modulate the data signal, including but not limited to minimum shift keying (MSK).
Conventionally, in de-spreading a spread spectrum signal, a receiver produces a correlation pulse in response to the received spread spectrum signal. When the received spread spectrum signal matches the chip sequence to a predetermined degree, correlation is achieved. Conventionally, a variety of techniques exists for correlating a received signal with a chip sequence, including surface acoustic wave (SAW) correlators, tapped delay line (TDL) correlators, serial correlators, and the like.
A problem which may be encountered in attempting to correlate spread spectrum signals transmitted using MSK techniques, may be the absence of a coherent reference signal in the receiver. A coherent reference signal may be defined as a locally generated signal that matches the transmitter carrier signal in frequency and phase. The receiver may use the locally generated reference signal to demodulate the received signal. In practice, however, it may be difficult to independently generate a local reference signal in the receiver which precisely matches the transmitted carrier signal in frequency and phase. A local reference signal generated in the receiver is often a non-coherent signal which may have differences in frequency and phase from the transmitter's carrier signal. The frequency and phase differences are not constant but vary over time. During an attempt to demodulate a received signal using a non-coherent reference signal, errors in correlation may occur due to mismatches in timing and variations in perceived amplitude caused by the frequency in phase differences.
Various methods for dealing with the above problem exist in which a coherent reference signal is created in the receiver by continuously measuring the frequency and phase differences between the received signal and a locally generated non-coherent reference signal, and then adjusting the non-coherent reference signal until it matches the frequency and phase of the received signal. Such methods, however, generally require the use of a relatively complex feedback technique and require successive amounts of hardware. Further, locking on to the received frequency and phase can take an unacceptably large amount of time, particularly in systems where time is of the essence, such as in certain time division multiple access (TDMA) systems in which only a relatively brief time slot is allocated for periodic communication between a transmitter and receiver.
Non-coherent digital matched filters have been described which use four real filter channels to perform four-phase quantization in the complex plane, with the four quadrants being the quantization regions, and the result taken on the four complex values of ±1±j. In such systems using a four-phase filter, an input signal may be divided into an in-phase signal (I) and a quadrature signal (Q). The in-phase signal and the quadrature signal are separately filtered, sampled and digitized using one-bit quantization. The quantized in-phase signal and the quantized quadrature signal are each fed into two binary correlators each programmed with a reference sequence of N chips, one chip for each sample. The outputs of the four binary correlators are combined to produce a resultant output signal. The described four-phase filter is a system using only one-bit quantization, and is not a technique that may be used for serial correlation.
Hopped MSK waveforms such as Link-16 use two stages to sample and demodulate data. The first step is to detect a synchronization preamble that is used to recover accurate chip timing information. The input sample stream can then be decimated to 1 sample per chip and data is demodulated. Coherent demodulation of the data requires embedding some number of known value chips to act as a phase reference for the rest of the data within the pulse. The remaining chips are then compared to the sum of the phase reference bits to determine whether they are a 1 or a 0.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method of modulation and demodulation particularly suited to MSK signals. Further, there is a need for a system and method of MSK modulation and demodulation that does not require the generation of a coherent reference signal, and that is capable of rapid correlation, and that may be used with analog correlators and digital correlators in an effective manner.
It would be desirable to provide a system and/or method that provides one or more of these or other advantageous features. Other features and advantages will be made apparent from the present specification. The teachings disclosed extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the aforementioned needs.

Coherent demodulation of hopped MSK waveforms system and method


A system and method for dynamically controlling a rogue application through incremental bandwidth restrictions is disclosed. A network connection supporting a flow of network traffic in a distributed computing environment is monitored. The network traffic flow includes a stream of data packets generated by a rogue application. Bandwidth allocated to the monitored network connection is incrementally adjusted until the flow of the network traffic for the rogue application achieves a steady state of bandwidth restriction. The flow of subsequent network traffic over the monitored network connection is controlled at the steady state of bandwidth restriction.

Distributed computing environments, particularly enterprise computing environments, typically comprise an collection of individual subnetworks interconnected both within and externally via hubs, routers, switches and similar devices. These subnetworks generally fall into two categories. Intranetworks, or Local Area Networks (LANs), are computer networks physically defined within a geographically limited area, such as within an office building. Intranetworks typically operate with a bandwidth of 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps or higher.
Internetworks, or Wide Area Networks (WANs), are computer networks physically defined over a geographically distributed area utilizing private and leased lines obtained through digital communications service providers. The Internet is an example of a widely available public internetwork. Due to the increased complexity of communicating over long distances, network traffic exchanged over internetworks is significantly more costly and generally travels much more slowly than network traffic sent over intranetworks. Internetworks typically operate with a bandwidth of 1.544 Mbps (for a T1 carrier) to 44.7 Mbps (for a T3 carrier) or higher.
Commonly, both intranetworks and internetworks operate in accordance with the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), such as described in W. R. Stevens, "TCP/IP Illustrated, Vol. 1, The Protocols," Chs. 1-3, Addison Wesley (1994), the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. TCP/IP is a layered networking protocol, comprising a media layer on the physical side, upwards through link, network, transport and application layers. The link and network layers are point-to-point layers and the transport and application layers are end-to-end layers. Packets travel end-to-end and include both source and destination addresses and ports to identify the location of and logical channels on their originating and receiving hosts, respectively. Intranetworks are often interconnected to internetworks and gateway routers are used to provide transparent translations of device addresses between subdomain address spaces and the internetwork domain address spaces.
A traffic manager can be co-located at the network domain boundary with a gateway router to monitor and analyze transient packet traffic for use in traffic analysis and flow control. Traffic managers optimize bandwidth utilization on internetwork connections, as these connections are costly and relatively slow compared to intranetwork connections. In addition, some traffic managers perform load balancing to ensure even traffic distribution.
Typically, traffic managers implement bandwidth utilization policies that attempt to balance the needs of individual end-user applications competing for a limited share of the bandwidth available over the internetwork connection. Thus, a traffic manager will first examine the contents of network traffic packets to determine the application to which each packet belongs. Based on the policies in force, the traffic manager will either restrict or relax the bandwidth allocated to each application.
A problem arises with a certain class of proscribed or "rogue" applications. These applications resist efforts at detection and actively take evasive actions or some forms of negative response when placed under a bandwidth restriction by a traffic manager. Evasive action is known as morphing, whereby the rogue application dynamically changes the operational characteristics of network packet traffic in response to a perceived restriction on the allocated bandwidth. The evasive actions often consist of a switching of client-server roles or the reassignment of source and destination addresses and ports, also known as address or port "hopping."
One specific rogue application that has recently become problematic, particularly in academic network settings, is an on-line music exchange service, known as "Napster." The Napster service deploys particularly aggressive forms of rogue applications which attempt to monopolize a maximum amount of available internetwork bandwidth. Other related, but not quite as aggressive, services include Gnutella, Imesh, and Scour, although other forms of rogue applications exist and still others continue to evolve.
In the prior art, firewalls provide one solution to combating bandwidth monopolization by rogue applications. A typical firewall will apply a packet filter based on network addresses to disallow proscribed packet traffic originating from or destined to identified machines. However, firewalls are inflexible and offer an all-or-nothing solution. The use of packet filters requires a priori knowledge of the network addresses utilized by rogue applications and firewalls are therefore easily overridden by simply dynamically changing the network addresses in use.
Prior art traffic managers also provide limited protection against rogue applications. These devices block network traffic generated by rogue applications based on a broader set of characteristics, including the network ports and traffic direction flow. However, traffic managers are not capable of detecting evasive actions and are therefore easily overridden using the same tactics as for firewalls.
Therefore, there is a need for an approach to identifying and controlling rogue applications in traffic-managed distributed computing environments. Preferably, such an approach would systematically limit bandwidth usage by each rogue application without triggering any evasive actions or other forms of negative response.
There is a further need to provide an approach to identifying and controlling rogue applications through a dynamic feedback mechanism. Preferably, such an approach would detect the bandwidth restriction threshold which will trigger evasive action or other form of negative response and then incrementally relax any network restrictions until a point of acquiescence is achieved.

System and method for dynamically controlling a rogue application through incremental bandwidth restrictions


The invention relates to a procedure and a device for the treatment of a product containing pulp destined for the extraction of juices and purees. The procedure subjects the product to be treated to a series of compression stresses in rapid succession, to reduce the product consistency and to increase its tendency to peel from its skin. The device which performs the above procedure comprises two shaped moving walls defining internally a cavity inside of which the product to be treated flows. The procedure and the device offer excellent pulp treatment results while avoiding the necessity of heating the said pulp before separation between puree and scrap.

The invention relates to a procedure for the preparation of vegetable pulp destined for juice and puree extraction, and a device for the enacting of the said procedure.
At present the work cycle for vegetable pulps in order to prepare them for the extraction of their juice and puree is normally constituted by the trituration of the fruit followed by heating, with the aim of making the successive separation of the useful part from the scrap easier.
Indeed, raising the temperature induces in the pulp a loss of consistency, a tendency to peel and a greater ease of detachment from the skin, which helps greatly in the passage of the puree through the holes of the sieve of the strainer which performs the separation.
Heating the triturate containing all of the parts of the fruit causes, however, drawbacks of an operative nature, such as blocking and consequent imperfect functioning of the heat exchangers and of the accessory organs, such as the pump and the valves, which have to be frequently halted for cleaning operations, as well as drawbacks due to a qualitative drop in the product itself, thanks to substances both natural and deriving from the chemical treatment of the fruit, which, with the increase in temperature, pass through the sieve as puree rather than being eliminated with the scrap (elements such as skins, stalks, seeds, stones etc).
This important negative aspect of the procedure using heat leads to processes which eliminate the heating of the fruit during this phase, but preparation solely by trituration, on the other hand, runs into considerable difficulties if heat is not applied and the operation is therefore done at room temperature.
In the case of large and dishomogeneous trituration, if the separation is made through relatively small holes, the complete extraction of the puree is not achieved, and a successive treatment of the scrap becomes necessary in order to recuperate the pulp still adhering to the said scrap, while if the separation is performed using sieves with larger holes the degree of extraction improves, but the puree has to undergo further treatment since it is mixed with scrap fragments which must be eliminated.
In the case of very small trituration, the degree of extraction even when working with small holes is greater, but the product quality suffers because of the high percentage of fragments in it, deriving from the fragmentation of the scrap due to the very fast action of the trituration.
In any case, therefore, extraction of the puree at room temperature, since it lacks the necessary "softening" of the pulp, is to be considered an unsatisfactory solution, born of a compromise between quantitative efficiency, product quality and operative simplicity, all of which objectives are difficult to achieve all together if the separation is to be done using prior art means and without heating.

Process for treating fruits or vegetables with compression stresses