A cartridge for use in a vapor provision system includes an inner container holding a reservoir of fluid to be vaporized, and an outer housing having a mouthpiece formed therein, wherein the outer housing extends in a longitudinal direction along the outside of the inner container for at least a substantial portion of the inner container. The inner container and outer housing are provided with a latch mechanism to retain the inner container within the outer housing.

Electronic vapor provision systems such as e-cigarettes generally contain a cartridge to provide a reservoir of liquid which is to be vaporized, typically nicotine. When a user inhales on the device, a heater is activated to vaporize a small amount of liquid, which is therefore inhaled by the user. Once the reservoir of liquid has been exhausted, then at least a portion of the device containing the cartridge may be discarded to allow replacement with a new cartridge. Since the cartridge may therefore be a high-volume consumable, it is desirable that it can be produced in a cost-effective manner.

Vapor provision system and cartridge therefor


A process for producing a stable polymer such as poly(hydroxystyrene) which comprises the decarboxylation of a corresponding phenolic in the presence of a non-amine basic catalyst and a polar organic solvent, followed by the polymerization thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates broadly to processes useful in the synthesis of poly(hydroxystyrenes) and other hydroxyl-containing polymers and copolymers. More specifically, the processes of the present invention are directed to the modification and polymerization of a phenolic precursor material.
2. Background of the Invention
Munteanu et al, Journal of Thermal Analysis, v37, n2, p 411 (1991) is directed to the thermal decomposition of trans-3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxycinnamic acid to synthesize a monomeric antioxidant 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxystyrene. Decarboxylation in solid state or in aqueous solution was accompanied by polymerization of the styrenic products.
Kunitsky et al, US Published Patent Application No. 2005-0228191, commonly assigned, is directed to base catalyzed thermal decarboxylation of phenolic materials to provide vinylphenols capable of being acetylated.
Methods for the preparation of poly(hydroxystyrene)s are known. However, a need exists for converting phenolic materials into stable poly(hydroxystyrenes) in relatively high yield and high purity.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods for preparing polymers from phenolic materials and compositions relating thereto


An amplifier module is expressed by a model having a first filter that is a linear time-invariant filter for limiting the bandwidth of an input signal, an amplifier unit that amplifies a signal output from the first filter, and a second filter that is a linear time-invariant filter for limiting the bandwidth of a signal output from the amplifier unit. A memoryless amplifier unit calculates an output from the amplifier module when being memoryless, using AM-to-AM distortion and AM-to-PM distortion of the amplifier unit. A cross-correlation calculating unit calculates a correlation between the signal output from the amplifier module and the output calculated by the memoryless amplifier unit and calculates an estimate of a transfer function of the first filter and the second filter. A distortion compensating unit compensates the input signal based on the estimate of the transfer function and outputs the signal to the amplifier module.

Amplitude modulation (AM)-to-AM distortion and AM-to-phase modulation (PM) distortion have been considered as examples of nonlinear distortion occurring in a power amplifier used in a wireless system. Recently, the frequency bandwidths used in wireless systems have been continuously widened. As the bandwidths are widened, the impact of distortion caused by a memory effect, which is dynamic distortion dependent on a variation and a past history of signals input to the power amplifier, as well as AM-to-AM distortion and AM-to-PM distortion, are no longer ignorable. To improve power amplifier characteristics related to compensation of non-linear distortion, it has recently become important to understand how the power amplifier behaves under the memory effect and to correct distortion including distortion caused by the memory effect.
The memory effect is considered to be caused by a plurality of factors affecting each other. Examples of such factors include those caused by a member included in an amplifier circuit provided to the power amplifier, those dependent on frequency characteristic of a radio frequency (RF) circuit provided to the amplifier circuit, and those dependent on the frequency characteristic of a bias circuit that determines the operating point of the amplifier circuit.
Available as a model for expressing the memory effect that is dependent on the frequency characteristic of the RF circuit provided to the amplifier circuit is a Wiener-Hammerstein (W-H) type amplifier. The W-H type amplifier is an amplifier assumed to have a configuration in which linear time-invariant (LTI) filters are positioned before and after the amplifier circuit, respectively. Hereinafter, the LTI filter assumed to be positioned before or after the amplifier circuit are referred to as an "LTI".
As a conventional technology for compensating for distortion caused by the memory effect, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-200694 discloses a technology that uses predistortion, in which a signal to be transmitted is compensated using the inverse characteristic of nonlinear distortion of the power amplifier.
However, in a W-H type amplifier, a power spectrum that is measurable as an output from the amplifier module includes only amplitude information of the signal to be transmitted, and phase information is lost. Therefore, it has been difficult to estimate a frequency characteristic or a transfer function of the LTIs when a W-H type amplifier is used. Furthermore, it has been difficult to measure or to estimate the characteristic of the amplifier circuit and the characteristic of the two LTIs connected before and after the amplifier circuit in a separate manner.
Furthermore, in a power amplifier using predistortion, every parameter included in a lookup table (LUT) or the like are updated. Therefore, parameters that changes slowly by a small degree are also updated, and a complex algorithm is used in the compensation. Therefore, it is difficult to perform the compensation quickly.

Distortion compensating apparatus, transmitter, distortion compensating method, and transfer function calculating method


The disclosure relates to a steering device, more particularly to the provision of electrical steering assistance, having at least one main control unit, which is provided to control, in at least one normal operating state, operation of at least one electric motor, and having at least one auxiliary control unit, which is provided to control, in at least one faulty operating state in which a fault in and/or failure of the main control unit has occurred, operation of the electric motor. According to the disclosure, the main control unit can be operated independently of the auxiliary control unit and the auxiliary control unit is set in the normal operating state to a passive operating mode.

The disclosure relates to a steering device. In addition, the disclosure relates to a steering system.
Steering systems with electric steering assistance in the form of a power steering system are known from the prior art, an electric motor being used to generate the steering assistance. A mechanical fallback level serves as a rule as a safety concept, for example in the case of a fault of an electric and/or electronic component of the steering system, which mechanical fallback level is provided to make steering possible even with failed steering assistance and to ensure controllable and safe operation. The change into purely mechanical operation is realized by way of switching off of a main control unit with high level software for controlling an operation of the electric motor and/or by way of deactivation of a power electronics system which is linked to the electric motor. A sudden switch off of the steering assistance leads, however, to a high torque jump at a steering handle of the steering system, which can be very irritating for a driver and increases the risk of an accident.
For this reason, it is proposed, for example, in DE 10 2010 050 820 A1 to control an operation of the electric motor in the case of a fault of the main control unit by means of an auxiliary control unit in the form of a monitoring computer. In this case, the auxiliary control unit serves firstly to monitor the main control unit in a normal operating state and secondly to actuate an electric motor and/or a power electronics system in a fault operating state.
Furthermore, DE 10 2008 048 952 A1 discloses a steering system with a main control unit for actuating a power electronics system and with an additional auxiliary control unit which, in the case of normal operation, serves to monitor and/or to prepare sensor data for the main control unit and, in the case of a fault of the main control unit, actuates the power electronics system for emergency running, in order to prevent a hard switch off and, as a result, an irritation of the driver.
The dual function of the auxiliary control unit leads in both cases, however, to a greatly increased computing effort and at the same time restricts flexibility and operational safety.
The object of the disclosure therefore consists, in particular, in providing a particularly efficient steering device with improved properties with regard to flexibility. The object is achieved by way of the characterizing features of the disclosure, whereas advantageous refinements and developments of the disclosure can be gathered from the detailed embodiments.


Concentrated mildly acidic hard surface cleaning compositions having a superior combination of cleaning and disinfecting comprise, by weight of concentrated composition:. from about 0.5 to about 40% amine oxide detergent; PA1 from about 0 to about 4% nitrogen-containing chelant; and PA1 from about 1 to about 30% quaternary disinfectant.. When the concentrated composition is diluted to form a diluted composition having a concentration of amine oxide of 0.5%, at least 10% of the amine oxide detergent within the diluted composition is protonated; the diluted composition has a surface tension of about 27 dynes per cm.sup.2 or less and a pH of from about 3 to about 7. Diluted cleaning compositions prepared from the concentrated compositions comprise from about 40 ppm to about 12,500 ppm of an amine oxide detergent, and from about 50 ppm to about 1500 ppm of a quaternary disinfectant (quat), and have a surface tension of about 27 dynes per cm.sup.2 or less; at least 10% of the amine oxide detergent within the diluted cleaning composition is protonated.

Amine oxides are commonly used as cosurfactants to boost and maintain suds formation in laundry, shampoo, and dishwashing detergent compositions. Amine oxides have been used in hard surface cleaners such as acidic toilet bowl cleaners (pH of 2 or less), dishwashing liquids containing occlusive emollients (pH of 4 to 6.9), and selected non-acidic (neutral to alkaline) hard surface cleaners. In non-acidic hard surface cleaners, amine oxide detergent surfactants are essentially non-ionic (pK.sub.a between about 4 and about 6). These nonionic amine oxides provide good cleaning properties and leave little or no visible residue on hard surfaces when they dry.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,935, issued to Kupneski, Jul. 25, 1995, herein incorporated by reference, discloses the use of quaternary ammonium (quats) compounds in alkaline liquid hard surface cleaning compositions.
Alkaline (non-acidic) hard surface cleaners containing amine oxides will often significantly stain or discolor vinyl hard surfaces, such as floor tiles, resulting in a light yellow to dark brown discoloration of the vinyl. Staining will also occur on waxed vinyl surfaces where areas of wax are worn thin or are chipped away so that the amine oxide can come in direct contact with the vinyl.
A mildly acidic hard surface cleaning composition containing an amine oxide surfactant will not stain vinyl surfaces, but it renders the quaternary ammonium disinfectants (quats) ineffective in that the quats lose their ability to disinfect.

Compositions for and methods of cleaning and disinfecting hard surfaces


An integrated system of sensors that can be used to detect a direction of an externally applied magnetic field is disclosed. In one embodiment, the system can be incorporated into a compact package that can be used within an electronic device. A processor can use signals provided by the sensor system to provide an indication of the direction of the externally applied magnetic field. In one embodiment, the sensors can take the form of analog sensors such as Hall Effect sensors configured in such a way that the direction of the externally applied magnetic field can be deduced based in part upon detection signals provided by the Hall Effect sensors. In one embodiment, the Hall Effect sensors can be stacked one atop the other in such a way that relative signal strength of the detection signals from the sensors can indicate the direction of the externally applied magnetic field.

A Hall Effect sensor is a transducer that varies its output voltage in response to a magnetic field. Generally, Hall Effect sensors are used for proximity switching, positioning, speed detection, and current sensing applications. In its simplest form, the Hall Effect sensor operates as an analog transducer directly returning a voltage that can be used with a known magnetic field from a magnet to determine a distance between the Hall Effect sensor and the magnet. Unfortunately, the voltage generated by the Hall Effect sensor cannot be used to distinguish a direction of a magnetic vector associated with the magnetic field. For example, since the direction of the magnetic vector cannot be resolved, even though the Hall Effect sensor can be used to deduce a distance between the magnet and the Hall Effect sensor, the direction of the magnetic field cannot be deduced and therefore the actual location of the magnet relative to the Hall Effect sensor (i.e., up, down, right, left) cannot be determined.
Therefore, what is desired is a method, apparatus, and system for determining a direction of a magnetic field.

Method and apparatus for detecting direction of a magnetic field


Disclosed herein is a user interface and methods for building a formulated query to search a database of structural data which is organized by classes, attributes of classes, literals of attributes, and structural relations between classes. The user interface can display results of the formulated query and includes a structural query section to define constraints for the formulated query. The structural query section includes one or more query elements to be populated and a means for adding one or more additional query elements, wherein each query element can have a class portion which is populated by designating one of a special class identifier and a concrete class identifier, and can have one or more attribute and literal portions. The class portion can be populated by designating the class identifier from an offered list, and the user interface can further include an offer section which displays the offered list. The offered class identifiers, relation identifiers, attribute identifiers and literal values can come from the particular searched structural data. The offered class identifiers, relation identifiers and attribute identifiers can come from the definition of the structural content of the searched data. A relationship between query elements is expressible using a defined structural relation, such as a “contains” relation. Relationships between two or more query elements or two or more query element attribute-literal pair portions are also expressible using logical relations, such as a logical “AND” relation, a logical “OR” relation, and a logical “XOR” relation. A query results section displays results of the formulated query after the formulated query is executed.

Industrial automation or control systems include controllers to monitor and control machinery in a manufacturing process, as well as human machine interfaces (HMI) to allow operators to interact with the controllers or other devices in the systems. A controller of this type typically is a special purpose computer that runs a stored control program in a specific programming language in real-time. The controller examines a series of inputs, typically from sensors, reflecting the status of a controlled machine or process and, based on the logic of the control program, generates outputs in the form of electrical signals to control actuators or the like to control the machine or process. One type of controller is a programmable logic controller (PLC), which typically runs under the direction of a ladder logic program that includes instructions or statements which define relationships between an output variable and one or more input variables. In ladder logic programs, the input and output variables can be represented graphically as contact symbols and coil symbols arranged in a series of rungs running between a pair of vertical power rails, and it is common to represent and view these programs graphically.
Industrial control systems can store a significant amount of data of various types and taking a variety of forms, including for example, HMI display graphic files (GFX), HMI project configurations, PLC files with ladder logic code, network configuration, file attributes and file metadata, for example New Technology File System (NTFS) metadata. Much of this data is stored in associated data files on file systems in one or more locations. The industrial devices can also generate a significant amount of data relevant to the operation of the manufacturing process, such as data from sensors or data indicative of various events, including alarms that can occur in the control system. This industrial data can be relevant and useful to an operator such as a control system designer or control system administrator in order to design new systems, add components, design new programs or interfaces, or troubleshoot problems.
Industrial data of these types can be converted to a structural data form and stored in a structured database. Various structural data forms exist, such as for example, XML (extensible markup language), OWL (web ontology language), or RDF (resource description framework) formats. Searching a structured database, such as an RDF-Schema (RDFS) or OWL configured database, requires knowledge of a specialized and complex query language, such as SPARQL (query language for RDF). SPARQL can thus be used to produce queries for searching an RDF representation of file content, including content representative of ladder logic programs, graphic files, etc. For querying XML databases, specialized and complex query languages, such as XQuery and XPath are also required. To be able to query databases containing structural data using the above mentioned query languages directly, a user would have to be familiar with the relations and hierarchy between the data, which are stored in the database, and also with the names of items forming the structure (e.g., names of classes and their attributes), and with the content and format of values (e.g., strings, numbers, dates).
When performing such a search, a user will often have to become familiar with numerous types of objects (such as for example "Tags"), their properties (attributes), values of these properties, and with reciprocal relations between the objects, which form a hierarchical structure. The aforementioned "Tags" are commonly used for identification of a memory unit in a particular device. Without the knowledge of the specific object types, their properties, values assigned to the properties, and relations used on particular devices or in particular file types (such as HMI files), search requests may continually fail to produce any results, even if a user is well versed in the complex query language.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a method for generating structural queries for industrial or any other data which does not require extensive knowledge of searched object types, their properties, values of the properties, relations used in the structure, and a complex query language. It would further be desirable to provide a method for generating structural queries which overcomes the limitations of conventional searching techniques resulting from unfamiliarity with the variables used in conjunction with the various devices or files.

User interface and methods for building structural queries


A cutting board with one or more cut-out sections is provided. Each cut-out is defined by a ledge, and one or more containers may be installed in a cut-out, by engaging their rims/edges with a cut-out ledge. After installation, and during use of the cutting board, no container extends above a work surface of the cutting board. Therefore, food ingredients, remnants, scraps, and so on can be easily and directly scraped or otherwise moved from the work surface to the installed containers. A portion of the cutting board that comprises the work surface is placed on a counter or other support and may be weighted to offset the weight of the containers, which overlie open space or an area lower than the counter (e.g., a sink).

This disclosure relates to the field of consumer goods. More particularly, a cutting board is provided that features at least one cut-out for accommodating one or more containers.
Existing cutting boards often provide mediocre user experiences during food preparation due to their limited surface area, which can quickly become cluttered with prepared ingredients, scraps, containers, etc. For example, some ingredients or scraps may need to be thrown away or composted, others may need to be washed or strained, others may need to be stored, while others may be intended for immediate use. Existing cutting boards generally do not assist a user in separating, sorting, or transporting the items for their intended dispositions. Instead, a user may need to awkwardly transfer items between the board and various containers placed around the area in which the cutting board is being used.


A three-winding induction motor supplies shaft power to an air-conditioning or refrigeration compressor, where both motor and compressor are hermetically sealed, and the wall of the hermetic enclosure has an electrical bushing in the wall of the enclosure, which bushing has four electrical conductors to connect the motor stator windings internal in the enclosure to the external electrical circuits. Four conductors permit the six motor winding terminals for a three-winding induction motor to be connected in the unique semi-hexagon circuit to motor-run-capacitors and to a single-phase supply. A three-symmetrical-winding induction motor with the three windings in series and a single-phase supply connected across two of the windings in series. A circuit for use with a three-winding induction motor. A capacitor bank. An air-conditioning or refrigeration unit. A four-terminal hermetic bushing.

The present invention is directed to a three-winding hermetic induction motor which is connected to a single-phase power supply. Traditionally, both single-phase and three-phase hermetic motors are connected by only three electrical conducting terminals to the electrical circuits external to the hermetic enclosure. For our unique connection of the six winding terminals of a three-winding motor to a single-phase supply using the Semi-Hex circuit, four conductors are provided and used in the hermetic bushing in the wall of the enclosure.
A Semi-Hexagon electrical motor circuit is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,870, issued Apr. 5, 1994, titled "Three-Phase Motor Control", to Otto J. M. Smith. In FIG. 1 of this patent, three motor windings are shown in the Semi-Hexagon (Semi-Hex) winding configuration and connection. This reference is hereby incorporated by reference.
The publication "High-Efficiency Single-Phase Motor", by Otto J. M. Smith was published in the IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, Vol. 7, No. 3, September 1992, ITCNE4 (ISSN 0885-8969) Pages 560-569. FIG. 2, page 561 is an illustration of an exemplary Semi-Hexagon circuit. This reference is hereby incorporated by reference.
The publication "High-Efficiency Single-Phase Motor", by Otto J. M. Smith, published in the Power Engineering Review, No. 9, Vol. 12, pages 47-48, September, 1992. (ISSN 0272-1724) provides a review of 91 SM 392-1 EC, T-EC September 1992. FIG. 1 on page 47 of this publication shows an illustration of an exemplary Semi-Hexagon circuit. This reference is hereby incorporated by reference.

Four terminal hermetic bushing for use with single-phase electrical service line and three-winding motor


A splash bar for mounting to a splash bar hanger in a cooling tower includes a first leg defining a longitudinal axis of the splash bar and openings defined through the first leg. The first leg having an outer surface. The outer surface including surface features thereon. The surface features extending at least one of at an acute angle and generally perpendicularly relative to the longitudinal axis. The surface features designed and configured to promote droplet and cooling medium jet formation during operation of the cooling tower.

Cooling towers are open loop direct contact evaporative heat exchangers used to provide a heat sink, which is air, for a wide variety of waste heat applications. Hot process water is delivered to the cooling tower via nozzles at a top portion of the cooling tower. The water from the nozzles is distributed and cascades over media beneath the nozzles and within the cooling tower. The media is typically described as "fill," which provides surface area for exposure of the hot process water or other heat transfer medium and a structure for mass transfer to remove heat from the water via air flowing through the medium. Air delivery is typically through natural draft or forced ventilation that flows through the heat transfer medium or fill. Depending on the direction of air flow through the cooling tower with respect to the cooling liquid, typically water, the cooling tower may be concurrent (air and water flow in the same downward direction), which is rare due to less turbulent interaction of the air and water, counter-current (water flows downwardly and air flows upwardly), or cross-flow (water flows downwardly and air flows sideways through the medium).
The tower fill utilized in the cooling tower typically depends upon the tower application, which varies widely based on many factors. For instance, a splash fill may be used for applications where the water source contains strongly polluted, dirty water, water with solid impurities or any cooling fluid where fouling is expected during use. A number of variations exist for tower fill, including splash fill that relies on the impact of falling water on a surface to provide relatively small water droplets of high surface area to volume ratios. Fill surface area also contributes to the mass transfer capacity of the fill. Splash bars are a variation of splash fill that requires a support system to position the splash bars at predetermined locations in the cooling tower for proper operation. Splash bars are typically longitudinal bars or beams that span structural support members within the cooling tower where the spacing between supports of a typical cooling tower is approximately two feet to four feet (2-4′). Splash bars themselves vary in length and shape, but may include bars having a length of approximately eighteen feet (18′) and a width of approximately two to six inches (2-6″) for ease of installation in a typical cooling tower.
The splash bars are generally offset both vertically and horizontally by grids that support the splash bars so that water droplets from a water distribution system above the fill fall vertically from near the top of the cooling tower onto the splash bars. The falling water droplets strike the splash bars below the water distribution system, but may also fall between splash bars that are laterally separated by support structure of the cooling tower or those that are misaligned during installation. The hot cooling medium or hot water falls onto top level splash bars and also onto lower level splash bars as droplets from higher splash bars descend through the array of splash bars. Large water droplets are generally broken into smaller water droplets upon striking one of the splash bars. As many water droplets strike the splash bars, a thin film of water tends to form on each splash bar in the cooling tower and the surface area of the thin film of water is exposed to air flowing through the splash bar array, thereby resulting in evaporative cooling. The film of water is also the source of the formation of large droplet on the underside of the splash bars. These droplets break from the surface when the droplet achieves a sufficient size such that the droplet cannot be retained on the surface of the splash bar.
Referring to FIGS. 1PA-3PA, typical prior art splash bar support grids 1, which may be referred to as hanger grids 1, include a mesh of perpendicular members or wires, including vertical suspension members 2 and horizontal beams 3, that are typically spaced at fixed dimensions of four inches (4″) horizontally and four to twelve inches (4-12″) vertically to form rectangular windows within which the splash bars 5 are supported on the horizontal beams 3. The horizontal beams 3, therefore, are typically spaced about four to twelve inches (4-12″) vertically relative to each other and the vertical support members 2 are typically spaced about four inches (4″) horizontally relative to each other. The horizontal beams 3 may have four inch (4″) vertical spacing (FIG. 1PA) and a top horizontal beam 3 may be installed at the top of a cooling tower (near the fan in the case of a mechanical-draft tower) to prevent excessive localized air velocities and preferably create an even pressure drop throughout the cooling tower. The horizontal beams 3 having an eight inch (8″) vertical spacing (FIG. 2PA) may be installed with a top horizontal beam 3 toward the middle of the cooling tower, with the fan and water distribution system above the top horizontal beam 3, and the bottom of the cooling tower. The hanger grids 1 formed by the mesh are generally two to four feet (2-4′) in width and four, six, eight, ten or twelve feet (4-12′) in height. The hanger grids 1 can be sized to fit within a fill section where air and water interact within cooling towers of various designs and dimensions.
Splash bars 5 are typically supported by one of several methods. A first method may utilize the prior art hanger grids 1 with the horizontal beams 3 and vertical suspension members 2 that are spot welded at the crossing points and treated for corrosion resistance. One treated version uses a dipped plastic coating covering hot-dipped galvanized steel wire; however, the vibration and movement of the splash bars 5 within the tower from air flow may cause localized wearing of the coating at contact points between the grid 1 and the splash bars 5, thereby exposing the wire 2, 3 to corrosion and ultimately failure of the wire 2, 3. Most grids 1, including the wires 2, 3, are welded from hot dipped galvanized wire 2, 3 exposing the steel. These welded panels or grids 1 are then coated with polyvinyl chloride ("PVC") resin, which becomes the only feature for preventing corrosion of the wires 2, 3. The exposed wire 2, 3 combined with chemical treatment erodes the zinc coating leading to a similar local degradation of the material and associated failure mechanism. Stainless steel wire mesh or grids 1 may also be used.
Plastic injection molded grids 1 are used to provide a similar spacing arrangement and typically have an integrated connection feature (not shown) that is utilized to attach or secure the splash bars 5 to the grid 1. The integrated connection features are molded into either the vertical suspension members 2 or the horizontal beams 3. The plastic grids 1 are generally molded as a single unit of and may have a width of two to four feet (2-4′) and a height of four to eight feet (4-8′). The plastic grids 1 may also be constructed as smaller components and assembled into wider and taller assembled grids 1. The longer lengths are achieved by connecting multiple plastic panels together with tie wire or hog rings. The plastic grids 1 tend to fail at areas of high stress near the top of the splash grid hanger as the load from the lower levels is additive upwardly on the grid 1 toward the upper connection to the cooling tower structure. As the load increases, the stress in the vertical suspension members 2 of the grid 1 also increases. The material properties may be exceeded locally near the top of the grids 1 as the stress surpasses the ultimate strength of the material at the design cross-section. The current plastic products attach via holes in the vertical suspension members 2, which may concentrate stress at these locations of reduced cross-section and, therefore, further reduce the strength of the product.
Typical splash bars 5 may be slightly greater in width than the lateral spacing of the vertical suspension member 2 of support grids 1 to eliminate bypass of the cascading water or flow of the water past the splash bars 5 without impacting the splash bars 5. As a result, the splash bars 5 must be rotated on edge for insertion into the hanger grids 1 and may also be rotated for insertion to avoid the pre-molded connection features. Notches punched into one or both edges of the splash bars 5 allow the splash bar 5 to lay flat on the horizontal beams 3 of the hanger grid 1 while encompassing the vertical suspension members 2 of the hanger grid 1. Installation and retention of the splash bars 5 on the horizontal beams 3 is difficult for a technician, because of the required rotation of the splash bars 5 and urging through the relatively small and narrow grid holes during installation. In addition, installation is difficult because a distal end of the splash bar 5 is spaced from the technician and is not visible to the technician or easy to manipulate during installation. The process of rotating the splash bars 5 in the narrow windows of the hanger grids 1 during installation complicates and increases the time required for installation. In addition, improper installation or placement of the splash bars 5, typically from improper placement of distal ends of the splash bars 5 in the distal grid 1, may create vertical voids within the fill section that permits water to bypass the splash bars 5 and fall under gravity directly into a basin below the splash bars 5. Bypass of the cooling medium past the splash bars 5 and directly into the lower basin is undesirable, as the cooling medium that bypasses the splash bars 5 directly from the water distribution system may have nearly the same temperature at inlet and when the cooling medium falls into the basin, thereby increasing the temperature of the basin cooling medium. Specifically, any gaps that are created within the cooling tower due to installation errors of the splash bars 5 or otherwise is undesirable. Horizontal gaps defined in the grid of splash bars 5 mounted to the hanger grids 1 can result in falling water that is continuous from the top of the installed bars 5 to the bottom of the grid of splash bars 5 into the basin. When a slot is defined in the sides of the splash bars 5 to accommodate the vertical suspension members 2 and reduce any gaps in the grid of splash bars 5, the slot interferes with the installation of the bars 5 where the wires of the vertical suspension members 2 gets caught in the slots in the splash bar 5 as it is inserted into the openings, potentially due to awkward or insufficient rotation or orientation of the splash bars 5 during installation by the technician.
The splash bars 5 typically have a horizontal width of approximately four inches (4″) and are generally placed in a four by eight (4×8) (FIG. 1PA) spacing or arrangement in a cooling tower. The splash bars 5 may also be positioned in eight by eight (8×8) (FIG. 2PA) or twelve by eight (12×8) (FIG. 3PA) arrangements or other arrangements in the cooling tower, depending on the configuration of the cooling tower. The prior art grids 1 and splash bars 5 are generally shown as having four inch (4″) widths, but are also constructed having two inch (2″) widths. In the case of the four by four (4×4) spacing, the splash bars 5 are typically placed in every other opening horizontally and vertically in the hanger grid 1, wherein the vertical suspension members 2 and the horizontal beams 3 are spaced at four inch (4″) intervals from each other. For four by eight (4×8) spacing, the bars 5 are typically placed in every other opening horizontally, but are typically placed in every third opening vertically for the same four by four (4×4) spaced wire. For wire with the four by eight (4×8) spacing, the bars 5 are typically placed in every other opening to achieve the desired offset arrangement. These splash bar arrangements set the spacing to be horizontally offset; however, the vertical suspension members 2 of the hanger grid 1 may interfere with the splash bars 5 and either slots are cut into the edge or the splash bars 5, resulting in horizontal overlap of adjacent splash bars 5 or a gap may be defined between adjacent splash bars 5 at the vertical suspension members 2, thereby allowing for cooling medium bypass of the bars 5 and a lack of redistribution and splashing across the "opening." The hanger grids 1, as is shown in FIGS. 1PA-3PA, may be configured with the vertical suspension members 2 and horizontal beams 3 spaced to define a four by four (4×4) (FIG. 1PA) grid, a four by eight (4×8) (FIG. 2PA) grid or a four by twelve (4×12) (FIG. 3PA) grid, which facilitates different spacing and positioning of the splash bars 5 and the splash bars 5 may be positioned in the four by four (4×4) hanger grid 1 in the 4×8 Arrangement, the 8×8 Arrangement or the 12×8 Arrangement, as is shown in FIGS. 1PA-3PA. The slots in the bars 5 may interfere with the installation of the bars 5 (called punching) where the wire 2, 3 gets caught in one of the slots in the splash bar 5 as it is inserted into the openings in the grids 1 prior to being positioned in the proper assembled position.
When using wire support grids, the splash bars are typically held in place within the windows of the hanger grids 1 by external clips or large staples, generally termed "hog rings." Polymer fill support grids utilize opposing clips integrally molded into the grid. The method of attachment assists with maintaining the splash bars in position and can have an impact on cost due to manpower required to attach the splash bars to the support or grids 1 at every grid location. Commonly, the grids 1 are installed sequentially up to the length of the splash bar. Access to the grids 1 and splash bars is typically difficult from the sides and at the grids 1 that are opposite the insertion side of the fill material. The splash bars are typically inserted from one end and clipped or stapled at the end of the splash bar where the installer has access to the splash bar and the grid 1. This leaves unattached ends of the splash bar at the opposite side of the fill to move freely within the windows of the opposite side grid 1 and may result in the splash bars moving under the force of the lateral and vertical air flow required for mass transfer, vibrations created during operation of the cooling tower, forces created by the cascading cooling medium or any force that may move the unattached or unsecured ends of the splash bars. This splash bar movement is undesirable, as misalignment and misplacement may create bypass windows in the fill material and increase the temperature of the basin cooling medium. In cases where access is available to both sides of the splash bars, increased manpower is used to clip the splash bars at both end grids 1.
Two methods are typically employed to secure the hanger grids 1 to the cooling tower structure. A first method utilizes the wire mesh support grids 1, wherein a separate bracket is first fastened to the existing cooling tower support structure using screws or nails. The wire hanger grid 1 is then hung from the bracket, typically by the top horizontal beam 3. The load of multiple panels connected together is then applied to the grid 1 and at spot welds of the top horizontal beam 3, which may result in failure of the welds in overload conditions. These failures may be exacerbated in cold climates where ice may form on the hanger grids 1 and splash bars in winter or at any time during relatively cold ambient conditions. Injection molded plastic hangers or grids 1 typically feature nail or screw holes in either the top horizontal beams 3 or near the top of the vertical suspension members 2. The same principle of accumulated load of multiple connected panels also applies to the plastic panels or grids 1, which may result in the load surpassing the ultimate strength of the plastic vertical suspension members 2 in unexpected overload conditions.
The prior art splash bars 5 have three significant limitations in addition to the difficulty of installing the splash bars 5, including (1) a limited ability to span any significant length between adjacent grids 1 because of their tendency to sag in their center under their own weight and cooling medium loads, (2) direct flow paths on the surfaces of the splash bars 5 along the length of the bars 5 that create direct flow paths for the cooling medium to drift toward an air outlet of the fill and (3) relatively smooth surfaces on the bars 5 that also permit flow of the cooling medium toward the fill outlet under forced air loading. The prior art splash bars 5 are typically relatively thin, thereby having low stiffness that results in sagging of the bars 5 near their midspan creating undesirable cooling medium pooling near the midspan and reduced efficiency, particularly when the bars 5 are utilized in applications where the bars 5 have a relatively long length. The forced air in the splash bar cooling towers also typically flows along the lengths of the splash bars 5 in the assembled configuration in the cooling tower. This forced air along the length of the installed splash bars 5 urges the cooling medium toward the distal end of the splash bars 5 or toward the fill outlet. Cooling medium that is urged off of the distal ends of the splash bars 5 reduces efficiency of the cooling tower, as this cooling medium falls directly into the basin or out of the system with the air flow. The surfaces of the prior art splash bars 5 exacerbate this cooling medium drift by having smooth surfaces and direct flow paths along the length of the splash bars 5 without any obstructions to divert the longitudinal flow of the cooling medium or reduce the flow velocity toward the outlet or distal ends of the splash bars 5.
The foregoing deficiencies and limitations associated with the prior art hanger grids, splash bars and their assembly are addressed and remedied by the various aspects and preferred embodiment of the splash bars encompassed by the present invention, including wire hanger grids for supporting splash bars in a cooling tower and splash bars adapted for use with specific preferred embodiments of the composite hanger grids, assemblies of the composite hanger grids with their supported splash bars, a method of assembling the composite hanger grids and a method of assembling an evaporative cooler fill assembly, including hanger grids and splash bars, in a cooling tower. The preferred splash bars also address the deficiencies and limitations of the prior art splash bars by increasing stiffness and limiting drift.

Cooling tower splash bar and related assembly


Systems and methods for measuring accumulated power losses over a fiber link are described in the present disclosure. According to one embodiment, a method includes the step of measuring accumulated losses over a fiber link. The method also includes the step of at least partially compensating for the measured accumulated losses. In response to determining that there is a compensation shortfall with respect to the accumulated losses, the method includes the step of transmitting the compensation shortfall to one or more downstream controllers.

Generally, in the field of optical networking systems, data is communicated throughout an optical system along a number of optical fiber cables, fiber links, fiber spans, etc. Typically, signals lose power or attenuate at a predictable rate as they traverse a length of fiber. Thus, optical amplifiers may be arranged throughout the system to amplify the gain of the signals to a level where the signals can be received with sufficient power at the next node or element in the system.
Some amplifiers may be designed with associated controllers that can measure the amount of attenuation and correspondingly increase the gain of the amplifiers to compensate for the power loss. However, controllers are typically designed such that they are only concerned with the losses measured along an upstream fiber span. In this case, the controller can compensate for any changes in the power loss along this upstream fiber span by adjusting the gain as needed. However, the process of constantly adjusting the gain in such a reactive manner can lead to unwanted power fluctuations throughout the network. Therefore, there is a need in the field of optical networks to provide systems and methods for handling compensation for power losses in fiber spans while reducing power fluctuations.

Handling compensation for losses in optical fiber links


A pulsating oil pressure reducing device 40 for an internal combustion engine has an oil chamber 41 for reducing pulsating oil pressure in a discharge passage 30 for carrying oil discharged from an oil pump 20. The oil chamber 41 communicates with the discharge passage 30 by way of a connecting port 41a1 and makes the oil stagnate therein. The oil chamber 41 is connected to the discharge passage 30 by an air vent passage 45 through which air is discharged from the oil chamber 41 into the discharge passage 30. The air vent passage 45 has an inlet port 45a opening into a top part 41a of the oil chamber 41 and a discharge port 45b opening into the oil passage 30 at a level above the inlet port 45a. Since the pulsating oil pressure reducing device 40 having the air vent passage separately from the connecting port, air can be efficiently discharged from the oil chamber and the degree of freedom of placement of the oil passage and the oil chamber is increased.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a machine provided with a pulsating oil pressure reducing device for reducing the pulsating oil pressure in an oil passage, such as an internal combustion engine provided with an oil pump.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a positive-displacement oil pump, the volume of an enclose space is increased to suck an oil into the enclosed space and is decreased to discharge the oil from the enclosed space. Therefore, both oil pressure in the suction passage connected to the inlet port of the positive-displacement oil pump and oil pressure in the discharge passage connected to the outlet port of the positive-displacement oil pump pulsate. The pulsating oil pressure causes undesirable phenomena including vibration and noise generation. For example, the pulsating oil pressure vibrates an oil filter placed in the discharge passage and causes the oil filter to generate noise. The pulsating oil pressure in the suction passage propagated to the oil contained in an oil pan vibrates the oil pan and causes the oil pan to generate noise. A technique disclosed in, for example, JP-A 2005-146995 forms an oil chamber in a branch passage branched from an oil passage to reduce pulsating oil pressure.
Air leaks through small gaps into oil passages and the oil pump while the oil pump is not operating. Therefore, the oil contains a comparatively large amount of air at an initial stage of operation after the oil pump has been started. If the air contained in the oil accumulates excessively in the oil chamber, the pulsative pressure suppressing effect of the oil chamber is reduced. Excessive accumulation of air in the oil chamber can be avoided by connecting ports formed in upper parts of the oil chamber to the oil passage.
The ports formed in the upper parts of the oil chamber need to be opened into the oil passage to discharge air from the oil chamber into the oil passage. Such a requisite condition places restrictions on the position of the oil chamber relative to the oil passage and on the placement of the oil chamber and, consequently, the degree of freedom of placing the oil chamber decreases.
In a machine provided with oil passages, such as an internal combustion engine, the arrangement of the oil passages is dependent on the construction of the machine and the arrangement of an oil pump and an oil filter. If an oil passage and an oil chamber are arranged horizontally in side-by-side relation, it is difficult to discharge air efficiently through a discharge port formed in the upper part of the oil chamber into the oil passage.

Machine provided with pulsating oil pressure reducing device


An air conditioning system (10), being powered by a supply of compressed air, includes an air cycle machine (12) and incorporates a pair of regenerable bed filters (44,46). In operation, the filters are alternately cycled in and out of service with one of the filters receiving pressurized air for filtration from the air cycle machine compressor (30), while a backflow of purge air is passed through the other filter to remove accumulated contaminants from the bed thereof, thereby regenerating the filter. The purge air comprises conditioned air from the air cycle machine turbine (32). The contaminant laden purge air discharging from the filter being cleansed, is passed to a subatmospheric pressure region (77) in the ram air duct (20) upstream of the air cycle machine fan (28) and downstream of the heat exchangers (22, 24) for venting therefrom to the atmosphere via the fan (28).

Air cycle environmental control systems are well known. Such systems are commonly used on aircraft for conditioning air, which may include pressuring, cooling and dehumidifying the air, for delivery to the aircraft passenger cabin and crew cockpit for occupant comfort. The conditioned air may also be supplied to the equipment bay for cooling sensitive equipment.
Air cycle environmental control systems generally employ an air cycle machine comprised of a fan, a compressor, and one or more turbines mounted for rotation on a common shaft, the turbine or turbines driving both the compressor and the fan. The air cycle machine is typically powered by compressed air which is bled from the compressor section of an engine or an auxiliary power unit. The compressed bleed air is further compressed in the compressor of the air cycle machine and thereafter expanded through the turbine or turbines thereby cooling the air and generally condensing moisture therein. The bleed air is also typically cooled prior to compression by passing it in heat exchange relationship with cold air, most commonly ram air from the atmosphere outside the aircraft, drawn through the heat exchanger by the fan of the air cycle machine. The air may be further cooled between the compression and expansion steps by again passing it in heat exchange relationship with the cold ram air. This air that has been expanded through the turbine constitutes the conditioned air that is delivered to the aircraft cabin, cockpit and equipment bays.
In certain aircraft applications, such as for example military aircraft, it is known to integrate an air filtration system with the air cycle environmental control system in order to protect the occupants and equipment within the closed environment of the aircraft from contaminants in the atmosphere from which the air to be conditioned is drawn. Such filtration systems typically utilize filters, such as for example single stage regenerative bed filters designed to remove chemical, biological and/or nuclear contaminants from the conditioning air.
Since such filters have a limited filtration life unless periodically cleansed, it is customary to incorporate a pair of parallel filters into the filtration system, with one filter being cleansed by purge air, while the other filter is in operation. An air cycle environmental control system incorporating such an air filtration system is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,051. In the system disclosed therein, the purge air used to cleanse the filters is dumped directly overboard with the contaminants removed from the filters during the backflow cleaning cycle. Although the use of backflow purge air to cleanse the filters has proven very effective in extending the useful filtration life of the filters, there is an overall efficiency loss associated with the additional turbine back pressure resulting from the pressure drop the purge air experiences in traversing the bed being purged and due to the pressure drop resulting from a flow restriction added to the occupant cabin cooling circuit to balance the splitting of the conditioned air flow between the cabin cooling circuit and the parallel purge air flow circuit.


A brush seal has a bristle housing formed by a cover element and a support element. A plurality of bristles, which are wound around a core element and secured to the core element by a clamping element are positioned in the bristle housing. At least one of the support element and the cover element of the bristle housing are made of plastic.

There are many applications in which two parts, namely a stator and a rotor, which rotate against one another, are to be sealed non-hermetically against one another. Such an application is, for example, sealing of an annular gap between the stator and rotor of a hydraulic machine, a gas turbine in particular, with a gas flowing through the gap. Brush seals are known in the related art for non-hermetic sealing of annular gaps between two components rotating with respect to one another. For example, German Patent Document DE 199 62 316 C2, related to U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,314, both of which are incorporated by reference herein describes brush seals. Likewise, German Patent Document DE 100 18 273 A1, related to United States Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0020968, both of which are incorporated by reference herein, also describes brush seals.
In the above brush seals known from the related art, the brush seal is formed by several bristles wound around a core element and secured to the core element by a clamp ring. The unit composed of clamp ring, core element and bristles, which forms the actual brush seal, is situated in a bristle housing, which is formed by a support element designed as a support ring and a cover element designed as a cover ring.
Free ends of the bristles run against the sealing surface of the rotor or of the stator and thus seal the annular gap between the rotor and stator. The bristles of the brush seal may be oriented in the direction of rotation of the rotor to make soft, radial deflection of the bristles in contact with the rotor possible.
In the brush seals known from the related art, the support element, the cover element, and the unit composed of the clamp ring, core element, and bristles are made of metal. The metallic support elements and cover elements are typically designed as deep-drawn sheet metal or as turned parts. According to the related art, the metallic support element and the metallic cover element are usually connected by crimping to form the bristle housing. Brush seals made of metal are heavy in weight and relatively expensive to manufacture.


A pulse-mode data writing protocol is disclosed which reduces the time required to implement a transition in the direction of magnetization of a recording medium, and which reduces the total power required to encode a given data sequence. After a magnetic transition is encoded on the medium by generating a write current pulse through the write head, the write current through the recording head is reduced, thereby utilizing the spatial extent of the write bubble to encode the lack of a transition on the medium. Alternate configurations are disclosed for various scenarios of write bubble size versus maximum cell size, all utilizing the principle of the invention.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for operating inductive magnetic write heads for use in magnetic storage devices, such as magnetic disk drives, tape drives and the like.
A typical system for writing data to a magnetic medium employs an inductive write head having a high permeability magnetic core. The core has a nonmagnetic gap that creates a stray magnetic field in response to a current flowing through the write head, with the magnetic field ultimately writing the data. A sufficient writing field must be applied to the magnetic medium in order to record data. Specifically, the magnetic field strength of the stray field emanating from the gap must at least exceed the coercivity of the magnetic medium in order for data to be recorded. It is common in the industry to refer to the fringing field as contour lines of equal strength. The terms xe2x80x9cbubblexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cwrite bubblexe2x80x9d are used to represent the contour line of field strength equal to the coercivity of the medium. The strength of the stray field inside the write bubble is greater than the coercive field of the magnetic medium. Likewise, the strength of the stray field outside of the bubble, and therefore further from the gap, is less than the coercivity of the magnetic medium.
As the magnetic medium passes adjacent the gap, the magnetic field from the head magnetizes the medium in a selected direction based on the direction of the magnetic field, and hence the direction of current in the coil. The magnetization remains in the orientation established by the magnetic field after the magnetic field has been removed, so the magnetic pattern recorded in the medium can later be xe2x80x9creadxe2x80x9d by another magnetic read head. As explained above, the magnetic field from the gap includes a region in which the magnetic field exceeds the coercivity of the medium, which is known as the magnetic xe2x80x9cbubblexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cwrite bubblexe2x80x9d utilized to encode a desired magnetic pattern on the medium. The magnetization of the medium within the bubble is oriented to the direction of the field within the write bubble. As the magnetic medium moves relative to the head, the magnetic field from the head continues to orient the magnetization of the medium as it passes through the bubble. Thus, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, magnetic head 10 includes an inductive write element including magnetic core 12 with coil 14 winding around magnet 12 to carry the field-generating current. Opposite poles of magnetic core 12 confront one another across gap 16. Magnetic sensor 18 for reading the written data is located adjacent to the inductive write element, with magnetic shield 20 adjacent to sensor 18, thereby providing functionality of a read/write head. Application of a current through coil 14 generates a magnetic field at the air bearing surface 24 of the head, which extends into magnetic medium 26. The magnetic field within bubble 22 is strong enough to orient the magnetization of medium 26 based on the direction of current in coil 14 of head 10, while the magnetic field outside of bubble 22 is not strong enough to orient the magnetization of medium 26. The region within medium 26 in which the magnetization is oriented comprises the region bounded by dimensions L0 and R0, at the forward and trailing edges of influence of bubble 22. As medium 26 moves in the direction indicated by arrow v, bubble 22 writes along the track to a position bounded by positions L1 and R1. Hence, the magnetization orientation due to current in coil 14 of head 10 after successive time increments encompasses the region between L0 and R1.
A single bit cell may be quite smaller than the region between L0 and R1, and may encompass only that portion of the region between L0 and L1. Consequently, if a current reversal in coil 14 of head 10 causes a reversal of a magnetic field when medium 26 is in the position illustrated in FIG. 2, bubble 22 orients the dipoles oppositely, thereby reorienting the dipoles in the region between L1 and R1 and overwriting that portion of the medium between L1 and R0 that had been written when medium 26 was in the position illustrated in FIG. 1. In this manner, data are written with bit cells in the medium smaller than the bubble, specifically having a spatial extent bounded by L0 and L1.
Most magnetic disk drive systems store data by defining each magnetic transition in the medium as a binary xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d and the lack of a transition as a binary xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d. Clock recovery techniques recover clock information from the frequency of data recorded on the media. These circuits rely on the presence of frequent transitions (binary 1s) in order to synchronize to the data. Consequently, run length limited codes are employed to ensure that long streams of binary 0s do not occur. Most magnetic disk drives employ run length limited codes limiting the number of consecutive binary 0s to a number between six and twelve.
Most writer circuits for writing data via magnetic write heads operate on the principle of reversing the direction of current in the coil of the head and maintaining a reasonably steady state current level until the next transition. Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 3, a transition at time TO, representing a binary 1, reverses the direction of current through the coil from positive to negative between steady state levels of +IW and xe2x88x92IW. The current remains at a steady state level of xe2x88x92IW until time T5, representing four consecutive binary 0s, when the current is again reversed to +IW, representing another binary 1. (FIG. 3 shows a peak or spike in the current at the transitions, caused by current overshoot that is often generated to help decrease the current and magnetic field reversal time in the head.)
The present invention is directed to a pulse-mode writer that modifies the write current waveform to change the steady state current conditions of the write driver circuit, and instead employs pulses to record transitions and takes advantage of the enlarged size of the magnetic bubble to record the lack of transitions that signify binary 0s.
The present invention is a pulse-mode data writing protocol which reduces the time required to implement a transition in the direction of magnetization of a recording medium, and which reduces the total power required to encode a given data sequence. After a magnetic transition is encoded on the medium by generating a write current pulse through the write head, the write current through the recording head is reduced, thereby utilizing the spatial extent of the write bubble to encode the lack of a transition on the medium. Alternate configurations of the present invention may be implemented for various scenarios of write bubble size versus maximum cell size, with each configuration utilizing the principle of the invention to reduce the write current at some point between magnetic transitions to reduce the power and transition time of the system.


A more efficient search algorithm introduces a variety of new tools and strategies to more efficiently search and retrieve desired records from an electronic database. Among these are a strategy that utilizes the frequency of occurrence or similar statistical calculation relating to one or more search fields, search terms or attributes of database records to execute multiple search queries in a more efficient search sequence. In addition, a database is structured to allow for the determination of the frequency of occurrence or similar statistical calculation of any search field, search term, or search attribute, for an entire database and for any subset of a database. The invention finds potential application in any database search application, but is particularly useful in delivering directory assistance services.

Data Retrieval, Generally
Current data retrieval methods rely on identifying and retrieving one or more data records from an informational database by executing some form of sequence-based, alphanumeric search query for one or more particular data fields. In order to effectively identify a desired record, a sufficient number of forward-sequential, alphanumeric characters must be entered into a search query to perform an exact match and corresponding proper identification and retrieval of a desired data record. Typically, an exact match of an entire whole alphanumeric word or data field is required to ensure one hundred percent confidence that the retrieved record is, in fact, the desired record. An example of a successful, whole-word, forward-sequential search query would require a user to enter "JOHN" in a first name field and "SMITH" in a last name field to find the database record for JOHN SMITH in a database containing names.
Current art has improved somewhat upon the need for an exact, whole-word or field match by allowing data retrieval systems to retrieve records with only a partial, forward-sequential, alphanumeric match of one or more data fields. Using the JOHN SMITH example above, a user may type in one or more forward-sequential letters of the first name, such as "JO" and one or more forward-sequential letters of the last name, such as "SM" into a search query. As with the whole-word match query, all JOHN SMITH data records are retrieved. One particular advantage of this type of partial, forward-sequential query is to minimize the number of keystrokes a user may be required to enter when retrieving data records. A significant disadvantage of this type of partial, forward-sequential query is that all data records that begin with "JO" in the first name field and begin with "SM" in the last name field are retrieved. The data record for JOSEPH SMALL is just as likely to be retrieved as the record for JOHN SMITH. The confidence of correct record identification and retrieval can only be increased as more and more forward-sequential characters are added to the appropriate search fields. In addition to methods for formulating and executing a single search query, prior art also teaches methods and systems for sequencing or ordering multiple search queries. Current art teaches that the middle, or intervening characters between the first and last positional characters are integral to both an exact, whole-word matching process and to an increasing confidence of an exact, forward-sequential, partial-word matching process.
Directory Assistance
Today's Directory Assistance (DA) retrieval systems and architecture also follow a strict, forward-sequential, partial-word matching process in which only the first three characters of a search term are used to retrieve all listing that match these first three characters. This basic trigram format is relatively inefficient in that it retrieves numerous listings which have a great likelihood of having the same, or very similar, spellings. A directory assistance agent may spend considerable time and resources paging through screens of retrieved, matching records in an attempt to identify the correct requested listing. Additionally, current DA database architecture is well-defined and usually contains three fixed search fields, each with a fixed length of 12 characters. Separate databases are also used for business, Most Frequently Requested ('MFR'), Residence and Federal, State and local governments. Today's basic architecture has remained essentially the same since the mid-1970s. As then, the theory and intuitive and seemingly most efficient approach was that the first character of the primary name search field was the most important search character, with the additions of the second and third sequence-based search characters being incrementally relevant in a diminishing manner. Additional characters after the initial three characters were considered completely ineffective for common trigrams like INDiana and INDianapolis.
The recent use of automatic voice recognition ('AVR') technology has achieved a limited increase in efficiency and productivity. However, speaker independent systems and the requirement to correctly interpret or translate the request from over 200 million customers and then search and retrieve the one exact match out of 200 million directory listings is extraordinarily difficult. The result is a very low percentage of calls 'contained' within the AVR system and a correspondingly high substitution or error rate. Successful AVR calls are typically limited to high volume, MFR business directory requests with virtually no residential requests being completed with speaker independent AVR technology.
Despite the incremental improvements in productivity made by AVR technology, a number of problems still exist. These problems fall under several broad categories. For example, powerful search characters within the search parameters have not been included in the search algorithms; agent workstation consoles have not been integrated with database architecture, search parameters or search algorithms; unique database characteristics and structure have not been recognized; the root problems have not been clearly identified, AVR capability has not been fully integrated into the total process, and the agents Subject Matter Expertise ('SME') of the database has not been utilized.
The present invention is directed to improving these and other aspects of informational database record identification and retrieval methods and systems.

More efficient search algorithm (MESA) using prioritized search sequencing


A personal computer receives a teletext signal. A television broadcast signal received by a TV tuner unit is converted to a composite video signal and a voice signal and are then supplied to a personal computer card. The personal computer card extracts character data with a character data extracting circuit when the input composite video signal is a teletext signal and converts such character data to the code data and supplies the code data to the personal computer for display on a liquid crystal display. Moreover, when the composite video signal is a television broadcast signal, it is converted to a digital signal with a video decoder and is then supplied to the personal computer for output to the liquid crystal display.

In recent years, rapid development of information in society has brought about wide spread use of personal computers as an ordinary home appliance.
These personal computers can be used through connection with a variety of kinds of information apparatus. For example, it can transmit or receive facsimile data through connection with the telephone line and can receive a television signal through connection with a tuner for receiving the television signal.
Here, as a part of the television broadcast, the so-called teletext has been implemented by transmitting a program of the stationary image formed of characters and figures superimposed to a part of the broadcast signal.
In the teletext, the characters such as KANA and Chinese Characters of Japanese language (data for which bit pattern indicated on the display screen is previously determined) are transmitted as the code data and the code data having been transmitted is converted in the receiving side into the bit pattern for display on the screen before it is displayed. Therefore, in the receiving side, ROM (Read only Memory) for storing bit pattern of characters transmitted, CPU (Central Processing Unit) for retrieving characters stored and RAM (Random Access Memory) are required.
Accordingly, in order to receive the teletext signal with a television receiver not provided with a function to receive the teletext signal (receiver which can receive only the television broadcast signal), ROM, CPU, RAM and a circuit including a superimposing circuit to superimpose the teletext signal into the video signal (image signal) are required additionally. Various kinds of circuits having such function have been developed as the teletext signal receiving circuit.
Applied use of this teletext signal receiving circuit allows a personal computer to receive the teletext signal. Namely, a personal computer can be used as a new type information source. However, such a personal computer is not yet announced for the public. Described below is a PC (Personal Computer) card simply comprising the teletext receiving circuit explained above but such PC card does not yet exist actually.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of structure of a conventional PC card comprising in direct the teletext signal receiving circuit explained above.
In this figure, a TV tuner unit 10 is composed of a tuner 10a and used as one of the peripheral circuits of a personal computer 30. The PC card 20 is composed of a teletext signal receiving circuit 200 (comprising a character data extracting circuit 20a, a decoding circuit 20b and a superimposing circuit 20c), a video decoder 20e, PC interface 20f and an A/D converter 20h and is loaded to an extension slot of the personal computer 30.
The personal computer 30 is composed of a card interface 30a, CPU 30b, ROM 30c, RAM 30d, VGA (Video Graphics Array) 30e, a keyboard interface 30f and a D/A converter 30g, etc. At its external side, a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display 40, a keyboard 41 and loud speakers 42 are connected.
In above structure, when an operator (viewer) operates the keyboard 41 to select the predetermined channel (broadcasting station), CPU 30b of the personal computer 30 obtains the data of broadcasting station selected by the operator via the keyboard interface 30f. CPU 30b supplies a control instruction to receive the information of the broadcasting station inputted by the operator to the TV tuner unit 10 and PC card 20 via the card interface 30a.
The TV tuner unit 10 receives the broadcast signal of the predetermined broadcasting station on the basis of the selection instruction supplied from the personal computer 30 and converts this broadcast signal into a composite video signal and a voice signal before these are outputted to the PC card 20.
The teletext signal receiving circuit 200 of the PC card 20 extracts the teletext signal superimposed on the composite video signal and outputs this teletext signal after the superimposing process as required with respect to the video signal. Namely, the character data extracting circuit 20a of the teletext signal receiving circuit 200 extracts character data included in the teletext signal superimposed in the vertical blanking period of the composite video signal and then supplies this character data to a decoding circuit 20b. The decoding circuit 20b retrieves, from ROM not illustrated, the bit pattern for display on the display screen corresponding to individual character data and outputs such bit pattern to the superimposing circuit 20c. The superimposing circuit 20c superimposes the bit pattern of characters outputted from the decoding circuit 20b and the composite video signal and outputs the superimposed signal, when the teletext signal selected by the operator is, for example, the superimposed dialog broadcast signal (broadcast signal where dialogs are displayed as character string at a part of the display screen) for the convenience of persons having handicap in the sense of hearing. Moreover, when the selected teletext signal is the ordinary teletext signal (broadcast signal consisting of only characters), the superimposing circuit 20c does not execute the superimposing process and outputs in direct the bit pattern transmitted from the decoding circuit 20b.
The decoding circuit 20b is also provided, as explained above, with CPU, ROM and RAM (not illustrated) for retrieving the bit pattern of characters corresponding to the code data transmitted from the transmitting side.
A selector 20d selects, when the broadcast selected by the operator is the teletext signal, an output signal of the superimposing circuit 20c and also selects, when the broadcast is the ordinary television signal, an output signal of the TV tuner unit 10 and outputs this signal to a video decoder 20e.
The video decoder 20e converts the input video signal (analog signal) to a digital signal through the A/D conversion and outputs this digital signal to a PC interface 20f as the digital signal of YUV 4:2:2 format (hereinafter referred to as the video data). The PC interface 20f supplies the input video data to the card interface 30a of the personal computer 30 via a buffer, etc. not illustrated.
An A/D converter 20h converts the input voice signal to digital data through the PCM system and supplies this digital data to the PC interface 20f as an audio data. The PC interface 20f supplies the input audio data to the card interface 30a of the personal computer 30 via the buffer, etc. not illustrated.
The video data inputted to the card interface 30a is supplied to VGA 30e via the bus for execution of the predetermined process and is then displayed on the CRT display 40. Moreover, the audio data is supplied to a D/A converter 30g via the card interface 30a for conversion into an analog audio signal. Thereafter this analog audio signal is supplied to loud speakers 42 and are then outputted as the audible voice data.
According to such example, the teletext signal can be received by means of the personal computer 30 utilizing an existing teletext signal receiving circuit 200.
As explained above, the decoding circuit 20b of the teletext signal receiving circuit 200 is provided with semiconductor devices such as ROM for storing the bit pattern for display on the screen, CPU for retrieving the bit pattern stored and RAM. These semiconductor devices are also mounted in the personal computer 30, resulting in the problem that the devices are duplicated and thereby the cost of the system as a whole becomes high and system size is also increased.
The character data extracted from the teletext signal is converted to the video signal in the PC card 20 and is then outputted. Therefore, the personal computer 30 has a problem that it cannot process the character data included in the teletext signal in the same manner as the character data (character code) processed therein.

Character signal processing apparatus and character signal processing system and personal computer


Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to a system for replicating BIOS setting data (BIOSSD) across computers. The system includes a plurality of computers, and each computer is connected to a service processor (SP). Each computer includes a BIOS chip, which stores a first BIOSSD collection. The SP stores a second BIOSSD collection. When the first BIOSSD collection is newer, the SP receives a copy of the first BIOSSD collection from the computer to replace the second BIOSSD collection. When the second BIOSSD collection is newer, the SP transmits a copy of the second BIOSSD collection to the computer to replace the first BIOSSD collection in the BIOS chip. A remote management may request and obtain from the SP the updated second BIOSSD collection such that the remote management computer may send the copy the updated second BIOSSD collection to other SP's for update.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) is one of the most crucial components on a computer motherboard. The BIOS software is preloaded into a memory (the BIOS memory) of the BIOS, and typically is the first code run by a computer when powered on. When the computer starts up, the first job for the BIOS is the power-on self-test, which initializes and identifies the system devices such as the CPU, RAM, video display card, keyboard and mouse, hard disk drive, optical disc drive and other hardware. The BIOS then locates a boot loader software held on a peripheral device (designated as a "boot device"), such as a hard disk or a CD/DVD, and loads and executes that software, giving it control of the operating system (OS). This process is known as booting, or booting up, which is short for bootstrapping.
Generally, the BIOS may have a number of settings that can be configured by a user of the computer. For a system having a plurality of computers with similar settings, there is a need to copy the BIOS settings across the computers. However, each computer in the system may be in a different operational state. For example, when the user attempts to copy the BIOS settings from one computer of the system to a target computer of the system, the target computer may be powered off such that the BIOS settings cannot be updated.
Therefore, an unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

Out-of band replicating bios setting data across computers


A throttle linkage for an internal combustion engine includes a lever assembly that is configured to connect an operator-manipulated input element to an output element that controls at least a throttle of the engine. At least one stop pin is mounted on the lever assembly and is configured to engage a stationary seat when the lever assembly is in one of a full-open position and an idle position. The stop pin is axially locked with respect to the lever assembly so as to be axially nonadjustable relative to it. If the stop pin is screwed into the lever assembly, a head of the stop pin preferably faces the associated stationary seat so as to be relatively inaccessible after the throttle linkage is mounted on the engine. The head may also be covered by a cap to further hinder tampering with the stop pin. As a result of this arrangement, the operating stroke of the lever assembly is preset upon initial assembly of the lever assembly and cannot be adjusted. This relationship significantly accelerates engine assembly and prevents tampering with the lever assembly by the operator after the engine is assembled. It also prevents the stop pin from working loose during engine operation, negating the need to adjust the stop pin""s position.

The invention relates generally to internal combustion engines and, more particularly, relates to an engine having a nonadjustable throttle linkage and to a nonadjustable throttle linkage usable on such an engine. The invention additionally relates to a method of mounting a nonadjustable throttle linkage on an engine.
Most engines employ a throttle to modulate airflow to the engine""s air intake valve(s) and possibly to advance ignition timing on demand. In the case of a carbureted engine, the throttle usually varies the position of a carburetor""s butterfly valve. In the case of a fuel injected system, each cylinder may have a dedicated throttle plate that can be pivoted to control airflow to the air intake valve(s) of that cylinder. All of the throttle plates of a particular row of cylinders of this type of engine are pivoted via a common throttle shaft that connects the throttle plates to one another. Hence, a V-6 or V-8 engine contains two throttle shafts, each of which controls the throttle plates of three or four cylinders. The throttle shafts are interconnected so as to rotate simultaneously and commensurately with one another. The throttle shafts are rotated by a throttle linkage that is connected to the throttle shafts via an output element for the throttle linkage. The throttle linkage includes a lever assembly that is connected to the output element and to an input element that is actuated either directly or indirectly by the engine""s operator.
Some throttle linkages include an idle stop and/or a fall-open stop to limit the operating range of the linkage""s lever assembly and, therefore, the engine operating speed range. In one configuration having both an idle stop and a full-open stop, both stops include a stop screw threaded into a throttle lever of the lever assembly. A head or jam nut of each stop screw engages a stationary seat when the throttle lever assembly is in the relevant position. The spacing of the jam nuts from the lever assembly can be varied to set and/or adjust the idle position and the fall-open position of the lever assembly.
The ability to vary the position of the jam nut of the stop screw of the throttle linkage relative to the linkage""s lever assembly produces marked drawbacks. For instance, the idle stop screw and full-open stop screw must be set upon initial assembly of each engine using a somewhat complex procedure that accompanies a throttle plate synchronization procedure. Specifically, after the throttle linkage is mounted on the engine and initially linked to the throttle shafts via the output element, the positions of both the idle stop screw and the full-open stop screw must be adjusted to assure that a cam roller of the output element rolls freely along the associated cam follower throughout the full range of lever assembly movement. This setting operation is usually an iterative process, considerably lengthening the time required to assemble an engine and running the risk of improper setting.
Settable or adjustable idle and wide-open stop screws are also prone to tampering by the engine""s operator. This tampering risks jamming or damage to some components of the throttle linkage if either stop screw is moved beyond a position in which the cam roller of the output element rides freely. Positioning either stop screw at a location other than the manufacturer""s recommended position also risks degraded engine performance and elevated emission levels. These problems are especially acute with respect to fuel injected outboard marine engines, which are subject to relatively onerous performance and emission requirements and which are often operated by individuals who like to tinker with the engine in an attempt to obtain a perceived enhanced performance.
Another problem associated with adjustable stops is that, if they are configured to be easily adjustable, they often tend to work loose from their preset positions due to vibrations resulting from engine operation. Their positions therefore must be periodically adjusted.
The need therefore has arisen to provide a throttle linkage for an engine, such as a fuel-injected outboard marine engine, that is not adjustable.
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, a throttle linkage is provided that includes a lever assembly that is configured to connect an operator-manipulated input element to an output element that controls a throttle and possibly other components of the engine. The lever assembly typically includes at least two throttle levers, possibly coupled to one another by one or more links. At least one stop pin is mounted on the lever assembly and is configured to engage a stationary seat when the lever assembly is in one of a fall-open position and an idle position. One throttle linkage constructed in accordance with the invention has two stop pins, one of which engages an associated stationary seat when the lever assembly is in its full-open position, and the other of which engages an associated stationary seat when the lever assembly is in its idle position. The stop pins are axially locked with respect to the lever assembly so as to be axially nonadjustable relative to it. As a result of this arrangement, the operating stroke of the lever assembly is preset upon initial assembly of the throttle linkage and cannot be adjusted. This relationship significantly accelerates engine assembly and prevents tampering with the throttle linkage by the operator after the engine is assembled. It also prevents the stop pins from working loose during engine operation, negating the need to adjust the stop pins""positions.
Several techniques are available for axially locking a stop pin in position on the lever assembly. For instance, the stop pin could be swaged onto the associated component of the lever assembly. Alternatively, it could be screwed into the associated lever assembly component to a position in which a shoulder or other surface on the stop pin engages a lug or other seat on the lever assembly. In this case, measures are preferably taken to prevent or at least discourage post-assembly unscrewing of the stop pin from the associated component of the lever assembly. For instance, a cap could cover the head of the stop pin. A chemical locking agent could also be applied to the threads of the stop pin to inhibit the stop pin from unscrewing from the lever assembly due to vibrations imposed on the throttle linkage during engine operation. Tampering with a threaded stop pin could also be discouraged by threading the stop pin into the associated component of the lever assembly from the side that faces the associated stationary seat, thus preventing access to the head of the stop pin by a tool without removing the throttle linkage from the engine.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, an internal combustion engine is provided that incorporates a nonadjustable throttle linkage of the type having at least some of the characteristics of the throttle linkage described above. In an application, such as an outboard marine engine, in which the engine extends vertically, the throttle linkage extends vertically along the side of the engine. An outboard marine engine presents a particularly beneficial application of the inventive throttle linkage because outboard marine engines are subject to rigid emission and performance standards and rather severe vibrations.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, a simplified method is provided for mounting a throttle linkage on an internal combustion engine so as to facilitate engine assembly and to prevent post-assembly tampering with the throttle linkage. The method includes mounting at least one stop pin on a lever assembly so as to prevent subsequent axial adjustment of the stop pin relative to the lever assembly. Then, the lever assembly is mounted on the engine so that the stop pin faces a stationary seat on the engine so as to engage that stationary seat when the lever assembly is pivoted into one of its idle and full-open positions.
The stop pin may be mounted on the lever assembly by turning a head of the stop pin with a tool to screw a threaded portion of the stop pin into a correspondingly threaded portion of the lever assembly. Due to the orientation of the throttle linkage on the engine, the head of the stop pin faces and is adjacent to the stationary seat, thereby preventing or at least inhibiting access to the head of the stop pin by the tool. A cap may also be mounted over the head of the stop pin both to protect the stop pin and stationary seat and to further discourage tampering with the stop pin. Alternatively, the stop pin could be swaged onto the associated component of the lever assembly.
These and other advantages and features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and accompanying drawings, while indicating preferred embodiments of the present invention, are given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the present invention without departing from the spirit thereof, and the invention includes all such modifications.

Nonadjustable throttle linkage and internal combustion engine employing same


An electronic device enclosure includes a chassis defining an space, and a cover module. The chassis includes two opposite sidewalls locating at two sides of the space. The cover module includes a cover and a latching apparatus mounted to the cover. A first end of the cover is rotatably connected to first ends of the sidewalls, and the latching apparatus is mounted to a second end of the cover. A second end of one of the sidewalls defines a latching hole. The latching apparatus includes a latching member slidably mounted to the cover, a resilient member sandwiched between the latching member and the cover, and an operation member mounted to the latching member. The latching member includes a latching block. The resilient member biases the latching member to slide, to allow the latching block to latch in the latching hole.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an electronic device enclosure having a detachable cover.
2. Description of Related Art
Some electronic device enclosures include a chassis and a cover. The chassis holds components, such as a motherboard, interface cards, a power supply, and hard disk drives. A space is defined in the chassis. The cover is attached to the chassis with screws to cover the space. However, securing the cover to the chassis with screws is unduly complicated and time consuming.

HONG FU JIN PRECISION INDUSTRY (ShenZhen) CO., LTD.


A mid-turbine frame (MTF) assembly having: an outer case circumferentially extending around a central axis; an outer ring secured to the outer case and disposed radially inwardly of the outer case relative to the central axis; an inner case structurally connected to the outer case and disposed radially inwardly of the outer ring relative to the central axis; a main plenum circumferentially extending around the central axis and located between the outer case and the outer ring, the main plenum having an inlet fluidly connectable to a source of cooling air, a first outlet fluidly connected to a secondary plenum between the main plenum and the inner case, a second outlet configured to be fluidly connected to a rotor cavity of the low-pressure turbine, and a third outlet configured to be fluidly connected to a plenum surrounding a containment ring of the low-pressure turbine.

It is known to provide a mid-turbine frame assembly between high and low pressure turbine (HPT and LPT) rotor assemblies to support bearings and to transfer loads radially outwardly to a core engine casing. The mid-turbine frame assembly typically comprises a mid-turbine frame supporting an annular inter-turbine duct therein. The inter-turbine duct is defined between outer and inner duct walls which are interconnected by a plurality of radial hollow struts, thereby forming an annular hot gas path to convey the working fluid from the HPT to the LPT. The inter-turbine duct and the hollow struts are subjected to high temperatures and therefore cooling air is introduced around the inter-turbine duct and into the hollow struts to cool the same.

Mid-turbine frame for gas turbine engine


A sitting device to support a thigh of a person such as a driver of a motor vehicle or any other person desiring or requiring leg support is described. The sitting device in one embodiment comprises a base section having an inside edge and an outside edge and a top surface between said edges and a support section projecting from the top surface of the base section at the outside edge whereby the support section and the base section form an acute angle. The support section has a base and a top edge with the base joined to the top surface of the base section adjacent to its outside edge. The sitting device is preferably formed of a thermoplastic elastomer. The sitting device can have one or more cavities in the support section.

This invention relates generally to support of a person's leg in a sitting position. More particularly, the invention relates to support of a driver's leg while operating a motor vehicle. Driving long distances or for long periods of time requires a driver to keep the right leg in substantially the same position for extended periods. Keeping the leg in substantially the same position for extended periods can cause a loss of sensation in the leg, leading to reduced reaction times, and can cause problems such as leg pain, knee pain, and lower back pain.
One solution has been deep driver's seats that sculpt the driver's legs on both sides. This solution causes additional problems, however, such as difficulty in getting in and out of the seat, as the driver must pull himself up a considerable distance to clear the sides of the base of the seat. This difficulty can be a safety problem if the driver needs to exit the vehicle in an emergency.
Accordingly, a need exists for a motor vehicle accessory that will support the driver's leg without the problems of the prior art. The present invention meets this need.