An electronic musical instrument suitable for synthesizing musical tones, comprises a musical tone control apparatus for generating velocity data and a musical tone generator for generating a musical tone signal having musical tone characteristics according to the velocity data. The musical tone control apparatus comprises an operation member which can be movably operated, a detector for detecting operation data according to an operation position or displacement amount of the operation member along its moving direction, a conversion memory for converting the operation data outputted from the detector into velocity data, and a control circuit for controlling musical tone characteristics on the basis of the velocity data outputted from the conversion memory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic musical instrument suitable for imitating sustaining musical tone generation of, e.g., a bowed instrument, a wind instrument, and the like, and a musical tone control apparatus used in the electronic musical instrument to improve performance expressions of the musical tone.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As an electronic musical instrument which can control musical tone characteristics, such as tone colors, tone volumes, and the like in accordance with an operation velocity, an operation pressure, and the like, an instrument which detects a key depression velocity at a keyboard to control a rising waveform of a musical tone, or detects a key depression pressure during key depression to control a sustaining waveform of a musical tone is known.
In general, in bowed instruments such as a violin, a cello, a viola, and the like, rising and falling timings of a musical tone can be designated by a bowing operation independently of a pitch designation operation by fingers. Furthermore, the bowing operation can be attained in two directions, i.e., bow pull and push strokes, and various expressions can be added to, e.g., rising, sustaining, and falling waveforms of musical tones on the basis of a bow velocity, a bow pressure, and the like in each direction.
In contrast to this, in the conventional electronic musical instrument, a pitch, rising timing, and falling timing of a musical tone are determined by an operation of a key, and rising and falling timings cannot be determined by an operation independently of the pitch designation operation unlike in the bowed instruments. Even when a rising waveform is controlled in accordance with a key depression velocity or when a sustaining waveform is controlled in accordance with a pressure during key depression, since an arbitrary velocity or pressure cannot be designated independently of the key depression operation, a waveform controllable range is limited to a narrow range, and various expressions cannot be added to musical tones unlike in the bowed instruments.
Therefore, the conventional electronic musical instrument is unsatisfactory for imitating musical tone generation of the bowed instruments.
Furthermore, in the conventional electronic musical instrument described above, a key depression velocity is detected by, e.g., measuring a contact shift timing of a switch interlocked with a key. Therefore, only one velocity data can be obtained per key depression operation, and hence, musical tone control according to a change in velocity during operation cannot be performed unlike in a bowing operation. Since a movable range of a key is narrow, a velocity range which can be designated upon key depression is also narrow, and an arbitrary velocity cannot be designated within a wide range unlike in the bowing operation.
In addition, in the conventional electronic musical instrument, although a key depression velocity and a key depression pressure during key depression are reflected in a musical tone, a key operation velocity during key depression cannot be reflected in the musical tone. Therefore, no performance expression by a combination of a pressure and a velocity is available. For example, a velocity cannot be changed while a pressure remains the same, and vise versa.

Electronic musical instrument for generating musical tone approximate to acoustic instrument for generating a sustaining tone, and musical tone control apparatus used in this electronic musical instrument


A drive train for an overhead valve engine, including a cam gear driven by the crankshaft, the cam gear supported for rotation in the cylinder block externally of the cylinder head and having a cam lobe mounted thereon for actuating a pair of rocker arms mounted for rotation in the cylinder head, which in turn actuates intake and exhaust valves in the cylinder head. A first lubrication passageway is provided in the crankcase of the engine to communicate oil, pumped from the oil sump by a combination oil pump and governor assembly driven from the crankshaft, to the upper crankshaft bearing. A second lubrication passageway is provided in the crankshaft and communicates oil from the upper crankshaft bearing to the coupling between the crankshaft and the connecting rod. An air cleaner body includes an integrally formed fitting extending therefrom, which fits within an opening in the breather cover to directly communicate the breather chamber with the air cleaner, wherein the air cleaner body may be mounted to the cylinder block in an easy, one-step operation in which the fitting is inserted into the breather cover opening and the air cleaner body is fastened directly to a mounting flange of the carburetor.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention relates to overhead valve engines for use in a variety of applications, such as walk behind lawnmowers, lawn and garden implements, or in small utility vehicles such as riding lawnmowers, lawn tractors, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prior known engines having drive trains of an overhead valve design are well known in the art. For example, in one known arrangement, a crankshaft drives a camshaft, located in the crankcase, through a gear set. The camshaft includes one or more lobes which actuate a pair of cam followers mounted for rotation on a cam follower shaft. The cam followers in turn actuate push rods extending from the crankcase to the cylinder head for rotating a pair of rocker arms mounted in the cylinder head to open and close the intake and exhaust valves.
In another known arrangement, a camshaft located within the cylinder head is driven from the crankshaft by means of a belt, chain, or the like. The camshaft includes one or more lobes that actuate the intake and exhaust valves either directly, or through a pair of rocker arms rotatably mounted in the cylinder head.
A disadvantage with the first arrangement is that the several components of the valve train, including the camshaft, cam lobes, cam follower shaft, cam followers, push rods, and rocker arms tend both to increase the inertial forces of the valve train and increase the overall size of the engine. The several components also increase the cost and complexity of the engine, the difficulty of assembly thereof, and the likelihood of failure of one of the components.
A disadvantage of the second arrangement is that locating the camshaft in the cylinder head does not allow for a compact engine design. Specifically, such an arrangement increases the width of the cylinder head due to the lateral space between cam lobes and/or between a cam lobe and the pulley or sprocket which is mounted on the camshaft and driven from the crankshaft. The location of the camshaft directly above the valves, when the camshaft actuates the valves directly, also increases the height of the cylinder head. In addition, the height of the cylinder head is further increased to accommodate the relatively large pulley or sprocket mounted on the camshaft which is necessary for speed reduction. Further, the belt, chain or the like which drives the camshaft in the crankshaft is prone to wearing or breakage.
Often, such engines include a pressure lubrication system to bring oil into contact with moving the parts in the engine crankcase. Alternatively, a splasher or other agitator driven from the crankshaft splashes oil in the oil sump to create an oil mist in the crankshaft of the engine. Pressure and turbulence in the crankcase caused by the reciprocating piston bring the oil mist into contact with the crank flywheel bearing, the coupling between the connecting rod and the crankshaft, and other components which require lubrication yet are not in contact with the oil sump. Also, splashed oil may contact such components in a random fashion to lubricate same. However, such a lubrication arrangement does not allow for the continuous and direct lubrication by liquid oil of the engine components which are not in contact with the oil sump, especially components which are located substantially above the oil sump. Problematically, such components are substantially unlubricated during the time immediately following engine startup, before an adequate oil mist can be generated in the crankcase and brought into contact with such components, or before sufficient time has elapsed for oil splash to lubricate such components. Also, in engines which include plunger oil pumps, it is desired to supply a greater amount of pressurized oil to components therein which require lubrication than the amount supplied by the plunger oil pumps in such engines.
In known engine designs, exhaust blow-by gases from the engine crankcase are either discharged through a breather into the atmosphere, or communicated to an air cleaner through a hose connecting the breather to the air cleaner, and communicated to the carburetor through a second hose connected to the air cleaner and the carburetor. Disadvantageously, this arrangement requires a hose, hose fittings located on each of the breather cover of the breather, the air cleaner, and the carburetor, as well as a number of hose clamps for securing the hoses to the fittings.
What is needed is a drive train for an engine which is compact, such that the drive train may allow a smaller engine height and width, and an overall reduced engine profile.
A further need is for a drive train for an engine, where the drive train is simplified, and includes a minimum number of components.
An additional need is for a method of more effectively directly and continuously lubricating by liquid oil moving parts in the crankcase which are located externally of the oil sump, to ensure direct and effective lubrication of such parts as soon as possible after engine startup, and during the running of the engine.
A further need is for a simplified air cleaner assembly which reduces the number of necessary components, as well as the difficulty of assembly, associated with attaching the air cleaner assembly to the breather cover and to the carburetor.
The present invention provides a drive train for an overhead valve engine, including a cam gear driven by the crankshaft, the cam gear supported for rotation in the cylinder block externally of the cylinder head and having a cam lobe mounted thereon for actuating a pair of rocker arms mounted for rocking motion in the cylinder head, which in turn actuate intake and exhaust valves in the cylinder head. The cam gear may be supported for rotation within a gear pocket located externally of the cylinder head, the gear pocket integral with the cylinder block and located radially adjacent the cylinder bore.
Advantageously, mounting the cam gear externally of the cylinder head allows the cam gear to be located within the gear pocket adjacent the cylinder bore and externally of the cylinder head, resulting in a reduced overall engine profile and a more compact engine design. The rocker arms include cam follower arms which extend into the gear pocket to engage the cam lobe at respective locations thereof which are located within the gear pocket and spaced opposite the crankshaft.
Additionally, a combination oil pump and governor assembly is driven from the crankshaft, and pumps oil through a first lubrication passageway provided in the crankcase of the engine to communicate oil to an oil seal around the upper crankshaft bearing. A second lubrication passageway provided in the crankshaft communicates oil from the oil seal around the upper crankshaft bearing to the coupling between the crankshaft and the connecting rod.
The combination oil pump and governor assembly supplies pumped oil directly to the moving parts within the crankcase, and advantageously, incorporates both the oil pump and governor into a single assembly, thereby reducing the number of engine components and also obviating the need for further engine space to accommodate separate oil pump and governor assemblies.
An air cleaner body is provided, having an integral fitting extending therefrom which fits within an opening in the breather cover to directly communicate the breather chamber with the air cleaner. Advantageuosly, the air cleaner body may be mounted to the cylinder block in an easy, one-step operation in which the fitting is inserted in to the breather cover opening and the air cleaner body is fastened directly to a mounting flange of the carburetor, thereby facilitating easier assembly and obviating the need for additional components such as hoses, hose fittings on each of the breather cover, air cleaner, and carburetor, and hose clamps.
In one form thereof, an internal combustion engine is provided, including a crankshaft, connecting rod, piston assembly, the piston reciprocating within a cylinder bore in a cylinder block connected to a cylinder head; a cam gear driven by the crankshaft and supported for rotation within the cylinder block externally of the cylinder head, the cam gear having at least one cam lobe mounted thereon for rotation with the cam gear; drive linkage between the crankshaft and the cam gear; and a pair of rocker arms mounted for rotation in the cylinder head for actuating a pair of valves, each rocker arm including a cam follower arm extending therefrom, the cam follower arms engaging the at least one cam lobe.
In another form thereof, an internal combustion engine is provided, including a crankcase connected to a cylinder block, the crankcase having an oil sump therein; a crankshaft journalled in first and second bearings in the crankcase; a connecting rod coupled at opposite ends thereof to the crankshaft and to a piston, the piston reciprocating within the cylinder block; a first passage disposed within the crankcase, the first passage communicating the oil sump with one of the first and second bearings; and a combination oil pump and governor assembly driven from the crankshaft and pumping oil from said oil sump through the first passage.
In still another form thereof, an internal combustion engine is provided, including a cylinder block; a breather cover having an opening therein, the breather cover attached to the cylinder block, the cylinder block and the breather cover defining a breather chamber therebetween; an air cleaner body attached to the breather cover, the air cleaner body including a fitting integrally formed therewith, the fitting extending into the opening to communicate the breather chamber to the air cleaner body.


An approximately 37 kilodalton (kd) protein associated with grapevine leafroll disease infected plants is disclosed. The 37 kd protein is the coat protein for a grapevine leafroll-associated virus designated GLRaV-8. The grapevine virus-encoded 37 kd polypeptide is immunologically distinct from the approximately 36 kd proteins associated with GLRaV-4 or GLRaV-5 or the approximately 38 kd protein associated with GLRaV-1. The invention further provides a substantially pure antibody directed against the 37 kd virus-associated protein, a stable cell line capable of producing such a monoclonal antibody, and a method for assaying for a virus infection in Vitis species. The method involves detecting the presence of a 37 kd polypeptide encoded by an RNA-containing plant virus using an antibody that does not react with a viral encoded polypeptide of ca. 38 kd.

Grapevine leafroll disease is found everywhere grapevines are grown and, in economic terms, is one of the most important diseases in the grape industry. Grapevine leafroll disease is associated with reduced yield, delayed ripening, altered fruit pigmentation, and reduced accumulation of sugar.
Several graft transmissible viruses have been reported to be associated with leafroll disease including a potyvirus (GPV), different strains of closterovirus-like particles (GLRaV-1, 2b, 3, 4, 5), grapevine virus A (GVA), and an uncharacterized isometric virus. Closterovirus-like particles, designated as grapevine corky bark associated viruses (GCBaV), have also been reported in association with corky bark disease. Grapevine cultivars often carry mixed infections of unrelated GLRaV (grape leafroll-associated viruses) and GCBaV.
Because of the destructive effects of leafroll disease, it is necessary to screen plants for the presence of leafroll disease associated-viruses, particularly before carrying out procedures such as bench-grafting, budding and varietal conversion which may spread the disease from one plant to another. Presently, diagnosis of infection by leafroll disease-associated viruses is done by biological indexing and ELISA tests. Biological indexing utilizes grape selections, called "indicator" varieties, which are especially sensitive to particular virus diseases. In an indexing test, buds from the grape selection being tested are grafted to potted vines of the indicator variety. The grafted plants are then grown in a field plot: if the tested selection has leafroll disease, the indicator vines will develop symptoms in approximately two years. Indexing is not a practical diagnostic tool for use on a commercial basis because of the length of time required for disease expression.
More rapid tests for leafroll disease (LD) associated viruses are immunological tests such as the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). However, because the known LD-associated viruses are distinct, ELISAs are specific for each virus and are, of course, available only for known viruses. Because antibodies are not available for all viruses a negative ELISA test may not be indicative of a virus-free plant. Other tests being developed, such as nucleic acid based tests, also are useful only for detecting known and characterized viruses.
Therefore, there is a need to identify new viruses associated with LD, and for improved assays for LD-associated viruses, especially assays directed to heretofore uncharacterized viruses. Molecular and immunological probes for detection of grapevine leafroll associated viruses will allow economical and reliable testing of grapevine nursery material and elimination of viruses from nursery stock.

Antibodies and proteins useful for assaying virus infection in grape plants


A video system that applies constraints on block partitioning is provided. The system receives a partitioning control parameter from a bitstream specifying a maximum block size for enabling ternary-tree split that is constrained to be 64 or smaller. The system receives data from a bitstream for a block of pixels to be decoded as a current block of a current picture of a video. The system splits the current block into one or more partitions recursively, wherein ternary split is disallowed for a partition of the current block unless the partition is less than or equal to the maximum block size. The system reconstructs the one or more partitions of the current block.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims listed below and are not admitted as prior art by inclusion in this section.
In High-efficiency video coding (HEVC), a coded picture is partitioned into non-overlapped square block regions represented by the coding tree units (CTUs). A coded picture can be represented by a collection of slices, each comprising an integer number of CTUs. The individual CTUs in a slice are processed in a raster scanning order. A bi-predictive (B) slice may be decoded using intra prediction or inter prediction using at most two motion vectors and reference indices to predict the sample values of each block. An intra (I) slice is decoded using intra prediction only. A predictive (P) slice is decoded using intra prediction or inter prediction using at most one motion vector and reference index to predict the sample values of each block.
A CTU can be further partitioned into multiple non-overlapped coding units (CUs) to adapt to various local motion and texture characteristics. A coding tree built on a quadtree (QT) split structure is employed to represent the CU partitions divided from a CTU. Consider the CTU of size M×M pixel samples, where M is one of the values 64, 32, and 16. The CTU can be either comprised of a single unit of the same size M×M, or split into four smaller units with equal size M/2×M/2. The CTU is associated with the root node of a coding tree and the four M/2×M/2 units are the child quadtree nodes split from the root node of a coding tree. Each of four quadtree nodes may become parent node for another split into four child nodes with further reduced size by half in each spatial dimension. The quadtree split can be recursively applied until a leaf is reached. The leaf nodes of a coding tree are associated with the CUs. The minimum and maximum CU sizes may be specified in the sequence parameter set (SPS).
One or more prediction units (PU) may be specified for each CU. The prediction unit, together with the associated CU syntax, works as a basic unit for signaling the predictor information. The specified prediction process is applied to predict the values of the associated pixel samples inside the PU. A CU can be split into one, two, or four PUs, dependent on the selected PU type.
A CU can be further partitioned using the residual quadtree (RQT) structure for representing the associated prediction residual signal. The leaf nodes of the RQT correspond to the resulting transform units (TUs). A transform unit is comprised of a transform block (TB) of luma samples of size 8×8, 16×16, or 32×32 or four transform blocks of luma samples of size 4×4, and two corresponding transform blocks of chroma samples of a picture in 4:2:0 color format. An integer transform is applied to a transform block and quantized coefficient values are coded in the bitstream. The minimum and maximum transform block sizes are specified in the sequence parameter set.
In the HEVC, the terms coding tree block (CTB), coding block (CB), prediction block (PB), and transform block (TB) are defined to refer to the 2-D sample array of one color component from the associated CTU, CU, PU, and TU, respectively. A CTU thus consists of one luma CTB, two chroma CTBs, and associated syntax elements in a color picture not coded using three separate color planes. The signaled coding tree partitioning is generally applied to both luma blocks and chroma blocks, although some exceptions apply when certain minimum size constraints are encountered.

Video encoding and decoding with ternary-tree block partitioning


A bumper step (1) for installation on a vehicle, such as a truck, having a step portion (3) and a tube armature (10) and a Z-clip bracket (11). The tube armature is inserted into a rear tube chassis (5) of the vehicle and the bumper step is secured to the vehicle by bolting the Z-clip bracket to s slot (8) in a side chassis rail (7) of the vehicle.

This invention relates to vehicle accessories and more particularly, to truck bumper steps that enable a person to step up into and down from a bed of a pickup truck.
Currently, most pickup trucks do not have built in or accessory devices to assist someone when stepping up into the bed of the truck or stepping down from the truck bed. As a result of the lack of such devices, to get into a truck bed a person must step up high and pull himself up a truck bumper, a difficult and strenuous task for many people. Perhaps even more problematic is getting down from the truck bed. To get down from a truck bed a person can either first sit on the tailgate and slide off or in most cases will jump from the tailgate to the ground which can result in injuries to knees, legs or other parts of the body.
Thus, a need exists for a built in or accessory device that will enable a person to easily and safely enter and exit from a bed of a truck.
The prior patented art includes the following references, but none disclose a device like the present invention.
Pat./application No.InventorIssue/Pub. Date1. EP 2,252,482Peterson et al.Jan. 18, 20122.  8,038,164Stahl et al.Oct. 18, 20113.  8,668,217Zlaylek et al.Mar. 11, 20144.  8,827,294Leitner et al.Sep. 9, 20145.  9,884,601CandidoFeb. 6, 20186.  9,931,987BaezaApr. 3, 20187. 10,106,088SmithOct. 23, 2018


A draft gear which has a wedge, two friction shoes, two tapered wear liners, a spring seat and a spring package. The wedge has surfaces which cooperate with surfaces on each of the friction shoes forming a first selected angle of about 40 degrees to the major axis of the draft gear housing. A second group of surfaces on the friction shoes cooperate with surfaces on the tapered wear liners to create a second selected angle of about 5 degrees with respect to the major axis of the draft gear. A third group of surfaces on the friction shoes cooperate with surfaces on the spring seat to form a third selected angle of about 65 degrees with respect to the major axis of the draft gear.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to draft gears and, in particular, to an improved draft gear having a very high preload, and a very short travel for the absorption and dissipation of input forces.
2. Prior Art
Reduced-slack assemblies or systems typically include a device to cushion and absorb forces placed on the system during car operation. The cushioning and absorption of forces is always done in the buff direction and sometimes in the draft direction as well. While such devices have acceptable absorption capacities, they are often lacking in mechanisms which protect the device against over-solid conditions.
The present invention overcomes the disabilities of the prior art by providing a a draft gear having a very high preload, limited axial travel, high energy absorption in both buff and draft directions and spring package protection in over-solid situations.
In accordance with general draft gear design, the present invention includes a housing with a closed end and an open opposite end which is provided with an internal pocket area wherein are located tapered wear liners. A wedge is mounted for axial movement in the open end of the housing and is situated for direct application of draft or buff forces. Friction devices are positioned within the housing, between the wedge and the wear liners, to absorb through friction some of the energy created by the application of a force to the wedge. A spring seat is positioned between the friction devices and a spring package which can be either an elastomeric pad stack or steel spring group.
The friction devices of the draft gear design include two opposed friction shoes, each having a first flat angled surface or face in sliding engagement with a corresponding flat, angled surface or face on the wedge. The angled surface of each friction shoe and the corresponding angled surface on the wedge form a first selected angle with respect to the major axis of the draft gear housing. In a preferred form, each friction shoe also has a second flat, angled surface or face in engagement with one of two tapered wear liners, located in and at opposite sides of the open end of the draft gear housing whereby forming a second selected angle with respect to the major axis of the draft gear housing. In a preferred form, each friction shoe also has a third flat, angled surface or face in engagement with a flat angled face or surface formed on the spring seat. The individual third flat angled face of the shoe and the individual flat angled face on the spring seat form a third selected angle with respect to the major axis of the draft gear housing.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the first selected angle of the adjoining surfaces of the friction shoe and the wedge is about 40 degrees, plus or minus about 3 degrees, but as much as 5 degrees. The second selected angle of the adjoining surfaces of the friction shoe and the wear liner surface is about 5 degrees, plus about 3 degrees and minus about 2 degrees. The third selected angle of the adjoining surfaces of the friction shoe and the flat face formed in the spring seat is about 65 degrees, plus or minus about 3 degrees. As is appreciated, all of these angles are measured with respect to the major axis of the housing. An elastomeric pad stack comprises a plurality of concentric elastomeric springs which are made in accordance with U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,566,678 and 5,351,844, which are incorporated by reference herein, may be employed to absorb additional energy. A spring package comprising steel springs can also be employed as an alternative to the elastomeric pad stack.
Thus, an object of this invention is the provision of a draft gear for a reduced-slack drawbar assembly which fits in a standard pocket and has no more than about 25 mm of travel.
Another object of this invention is the provision of a draft gear for a reduced-slack drawbar assembly which absorbs energy in both the buff and draft directions and has a metal shell to protect the spring package, whether an elastomeric package or a steel spring group, in the over-solid condition.
An additional object of this invention is the provision of a draft gear for a reduced-slack drawbar assembly which includes a housing and a spring package that is subjected to a preload of about 30,000 lbs. to about 50,000 lbs., depending on whether steel coil springs or elastomeric pads are employed.

Draft gear for a reduced-slack drawbar assembly


A digital printing apparatus comprises a rotatable image receptor defining a plurality of test zones along a circumference thereof. Test patches on the image receptor are requested for each of a plurality of types of test routines. A table is used for scheduling test routines requested by the control means, the table having as inputs a plurality of test zones for each a plurality of future rotations of the image receptor, and as outputs constraints relating to types of test routines for each test zone in a plurality of future rotations of the image receptor.

Many printing technologies, such as xerography and ink-jet printing, exploit a rotatable imaging member on which an image is first created with marking material, such as liquid ink or powdered toner, and then transferred to a print sheet. When controlling such a printing apparatus, it is common to place on the imaging member at various times "test patches," meaning areas of marking material of predetermined desired properties such as optical density, and then measuring the actual properties of each test patch as part of an overall control process.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,167,217 and 6,385,408 disclose basic systems for scheduling the creation of test patches in a xerographic printer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,568 discloses a system in which images to be submitted to a printer a short time in the future are taken into consideration for purposes of scheduling two-sided printing.

Scheduling system for placing test patches of various types in a printing apparatus


Fracture and wear resistant cutting elements are provided. Examples include a cutting element formed of a wear resistant material having a binder composition and a coarse grain size such that the portion of the cutting element formed of the wear resistant material has a fracture toughness of at least about 18 ksi(in)0.5 and a wear number of at least about 1.8. In a particular example, the wear resistant material has a fracture toughness of at least about 20 ksi(in)0.5. A down hole cutting tool incorporating such cutting elements is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to fracture and wear resistant cutting elements for down hole cutting tools. More specifically, the invention relates to composite materials for cutting elements used on down hole cutting tools, such as rock bits, which enhance the useful life of the tools incorporating the same.
2. Background Art
Drill bits used to drill wellbores through earth formations generally can be categorized within one of two broad categories of bit structures. Drill bits in the first category are generally known as "fixed cutter" or "drag" bits, which usually include a bit body formed from steel or another high strength material and a plurality of cutting elements disposed at selected positions about the bit body. The cutting elements are typically referred to as "shear cutters" and may be formed from any one or combination of hard or superhard materials, including, for example, natural or synthetic diamond, boron nitride, and tungsten carbide.
Drill bits of the second category are typically referred to as "roller cone" bits, which include a bit body having one or more roller cones rotatably mounted to the bit body. The bit body is typically formed from steel or another high strength material. The roller cones are also typically formed from steel or other high strength material and include a plurality of cutting elements disposed at selected positions about the cones. The cutting elements may be formed from the same base material as is the cone. These bits are typically referred to as "milled tooth" bits. Other roller cone bits may include "inserts" as cutting elements, which are press fit (i.e., interference fit) into holes formed and/or machined into the roller cones. The inserts may be formed from, for example, tungsten carbide, natural or synthetic diamond, boron nitride, or any one or combination of hard or superhard materials.
Breakage or wear of cutting elements, among other factors, limits the longevity of a drill bit. For example, cutting elements used with a rock bit are generally subjected to high wear loads from contact with a borehole wall, as well as high stresses due to bending and impact loads from contact with a borehole bottom. The high wear loads can also cause thermal fatigue in the cutting elements, which initiates surface cracks on the cutting elements. These cracks are further propagated by a mechanical fatigue mechanism that is caused by the cyclical bending stresses and/or impact loads applied to the cutting elements. Fatigue cracks may result in chipping, breakage and failure of cutting elements.
Cutting elements, such as gage inserts on a roller cone bit which primarily function to cut the corner of a borehole bottom are subject to a significant amount of thermal fatigue. This thermal fatigue is caused by heat generated on the gage side of an insert by friction when the insert engages the borehole wall and slides into a bottom-most crushing position. When the insert rotates away from the bottom, it is quickly cooled by the surrounding circulating fluid. Repetitive heating and cooling of the insert initiates cracking on the outer surface of the insert. Thermal fatigue cracks then propagate through the body of the insert when the crest of the insert contacts the borehole bottom because of the high contact stresses. The time required to progress from heat checking, to chipping, and eventually to broken inserts depends upon the insert material, formation type, rotational speed of their bit, and applied weight on bit, among other factors.
In the case of roller cone bits, even inserts on interior rows are also subject to thermal fatigue caused by scraping the borehole bottom. The amount of scraping varies from row to row and is influenced by bit offset and cone to bit speed ratio, among other factors.
In the case of fixed cutter bits, the shear cutters typically have a body (or substrate), which has a contact face. An ultra hard layer is typically bonded to the contact face of the body by a sintering process to form a cutting face (sometimes referred to as a "cutting table"). The body is typically made of tungsten carbide-cobalt (sometimes referred to simply as "tungsten carbide" or "carbide"). The ultrahard material layer is typically polycrystalline ultrahard material, such as polycrystalline diamond ("PCD") or polycrystalline cubic boron nitride ("PCBN"). Typically, shear cutters are mounted into a fixed cutter bit body at a negative rake angle. Consequently, the region of the cutting element that makes contact with the earthen formation includes a portion of the ultrahard material layer's upper surface circumferential edge. This portion of the layer is subjected to the highest impact loads and thermal stresses which can result in cracks initiated at the ultrahard material layer. These cracks can propagate into the substrate of the shear cutter. Accordingly, the toughness of the substrate plays a significant role on the brakeage resistance of cutting elements for fixed cutter bits.
Cemented tungsten carbide generally refers to tungsten carbide (WC) particles dispersed in a binder metal matrix, such as iron, nickel, or cobalt. Tungsten carbide in a cobalt matrix is the most common form of cemented tungsten carbide, which is further classified by grades based on the grain size of WC and the cobalt content.
Tungsten carbide cutting elements (inserts or cutters) are primarily made in consideration of two factors that relate to the lifetime of a cutting element: wear resistance and toughness. As a result, existing inserts and shear cutters are generally formed of cemented tungsten carbide particles with average grain sizes of less than 3 μm (micrometers) as measured by ASTM E-112 method and cobalt contents in the range of 6-16% by weight of cobalt. Resulting cutting elements typically have a hardness in the range of about 86 Ra to 89 Ra.
For tungsten carbide/cobalt (WC/Co) systems, it is typically observed that wear resistance increases and fracture toughness decreases as the grain size of tungsten carbide or the cobalt content decreases. On the other hand, fracture toughness generally increases and wear resistance decreases with larger grains of tungsten carbide and/or greater percentages of cobalt. Thus, fracture toughness and wear resistance (i.e., hardness) tend to be inversely related. That is, as the grain size or the cobalt content is decreased, wear resistance of a specimen is improved, and its fracture toughness decrease, and vice versa.
Due to this inverse relationship between fracture toughness and wear resistance, the grain size of tungsten carbide and the cobalt content can be selected to obtain a desired wear resistance or a desired toughness. For example, a higher cobalt content or a larger WC grains may be used when a higher toughness is required, whereas a lower cobalt content and smaller WC grains are used when a better wear resistance is desired. To achieve a desired balance between wear resistance and toughness, conventionally, grain sizes used for cutting elements have remained within the range of about 1 to 3 μm (as measured by ASTM E-112 method). That is, until recently as disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 10/017,404 filed Dec. 14, 2001 and U.S. application Ser. No. 10/396,261 filed Mar. 25, 2003, both titled "Fracture and Wear Resistant Rock Bits," and U.S. application Ser. No. 10/437,750, filed May 14, 2003 and titled "Coarse Carbide Substrate Cutting Elements and Methods of Forming the Same", all incorporated herein reference. As stated therein, there exists a desire and need for improving the toughness of materials used for cutting elements without significantly reducing the wear resistance and, in some cases, thermal conductivity of the resulting cutting element.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Fracture and wear resistant compounds and down hole cutting tools


A refrigerator includes an ice tray, a motor, an ejector including a rotary shaft and a protrusion pin, and a heater for selectively supplying heat to the ice tray. A control method of the refrigerator includes a first step of sensing whether the ejector is rotated to reach a first setup position; a second step of driving the heater and stopping driving of an ice making compartment fan if the first step is satisfied; a third step of determining whether the ejector is rotated to reach a second setup position; and a fourth step of stopping driving of the heater if the third step is satisfied, and wherein the ejector continues to be rotated while the second to fourth steps are implemented.

A refrigerator is an apparatus used to freshly store food for a long time. The refrigerator has a food storage compartment therein, wherein the food storage compartment is always maintained at a low temperature state by a cooling cycle to allow food to be maintained at a fresh state.
The food storage compartment provides a plurality of storage compartments having their respective properties different from each other to allow a user to select a storage method suitable for each food by considering types and features of food and a storage period of food. Main examples of the storage compartments include a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment.
If a user desires to drink beverage or water together with ices, the user should take ices out of an ice tray provided in the freezing compartment by opening a freezing compartment door. However, in this case, there is inconvenience in that the user should separate ices from the ice tray after opening the freezing compartment door and then taking the ice tray out of the freezing compartment. Also, if the user opens the freezing compartment door, the cool air of the freezing compartment is taken out, whereby a temperature of the freezing compartment is increased. Therefore, since a compressor should be driven for a longer time, a problem occurs in that energy is wasted.
In this respect, an automatic ice maker has been developed, which is provided inside a refrigerator but may discharge ices separated from the ice tray through a dispenser if necessary after automatically supplying water thereto and then making the ices. However, the ice maker of the related art needs much energy consumption, whereby improvement will be required in view of various aspects.

Ice maker and refrigerator including the same


The independent claims of this patent signify a concise description of embodiments. A hardware emulation system is configured to define a variable delay associated with each of a multitude of design clocks used in the circuit design, compute a compression value in accordance with the multitude of variable delays, detect a change in one or more of the variable delays, and recompute the time compression value in response to the detected change. The hardware emulation system is further configured to recompute the time compression using programmable circuitry disposed in the hardware emulation system and without stopping the hardware emulation system. Such circuitry may be disposed in a single programmable device disposed in the hardware emulation system or a multitude of programmable devices disposed in the hardware emulation system. This Abstract is not intended to limit the scope of the claims.

Integrated circuit (IC) designers commonly describe their designs in a hardware description language (HDL) such as Verilog, VHDL, SystemC, and the like. Hardware emulation refers to the process of replicating behavior of one or more pieces of hardware, hereinafter also referred to as a design under test (DUT), with another piece of hardware, such as a special-purpose emulation system. An emulation model is usually generated in accordance with a hardware description language source code representing the design under test. The emulation model is compiled into a format used to program the emulation system. Running the emulation system that has been programmed enables debugging and functional verification of the design under test. Overall progress of the emulation is usually controlled by a master clock signal generated by the emulator hardware.
An IC designer may use an emulation system at various stages of a design process to verify that the IC functions and behaves as expected. As an example, a designer may develop a test bench for an emulation system by programming it to emulate a DUT. The system may indicate how the various internal or external signals of the DUT change states over time and thereby allow the monitoring of such signals and the behavior of the DUT during the emulation.
The system may generate a dump file containing waveform data representing the time-varying characteristics of monitored signals. The designer may then use any number of debugging tools to analyze the dump file and determine whether the DUT has behaved as expected. A need continues to exist for an improved hardware emulation system.

Method for compression of emulation time line in presence of dynamic re-programming of clocks


According to one embodiment, a distance from an X-ray tube central axis to an outer side surface of a cathode electron gun in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of a filament coil is made less than a distance from the X-ray tube central axis to an outer side surface of the cathode electron gun in the longitudinal direction of the filament coil, and a distance from the X-ray tube central axis to an X-ray radiation window in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the filament coil is made less than a distance from the X-ray tube central axis to an X-ray radiation window in the longitudinal direction of the filament coil.

A conventional X-ray tube will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B by taking, as an example, an X-ray tube used in an X-ray diffraction apparatus described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2006-278216. Note that FIG. 2B shows the interior of the X-ray tube viewed along line B-B in FIG. 2A.
An X-ray tube 1 includes a vacuum enclosure 2 having a vacuum interior. The vacuum enclosure 2 is obtained by connecting an insulating enclosure 3 at one end to a metal enclosure 4 at the other end. The X-ray tube 1 also includes a cathode electron gun 6 having a filament coil 5, an anode 7, and X-ray radiation windows 8a and 8b.
The cathode electron gun 6 is arranged in the vacuum enclosure 2, and supported by the insulating enclosure 3. The filament coil 5 is centered around an X-ray tube central axis O such that the longitudinal direction is a direction perpendicular to the X-ray tube central axis O.
The anode 7 is supported by the metal enclosure 4. The anode 7 is placed in a position on the X-ray tube central axis O where the anode 7 faces the filament coil 5. A focal point 9 is formed into a rectangle on the anode 7. That is, the focal point 9 is formed on the anode 7 when electrons emitted from the filament coil 5 are converged into a rectangular electron beam having a long side in the longitudinal direction of the filament coil 5. Note that the focal point 9 is called a point focus when viewed from the short side of the rectangle, and called a line focus when viewed from the long side of the rectangle.
The X-ray radiation windows 8a are formed in the circumferential wall of the metal enclosure 4 in the direction perpendicular to the X-ray tube central axis O and in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the filament coil 5. The X-ray radiation windows 8a extract, outside the metal enclosure 4, X-rays emitted in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the filament coil 5.
The X-ray radiation windows 8b are formed in the circumferential wall of the metal enclosure 4 in the longitudinal direction of the filament coil 5. The X-ray radiation windows 8b extract, outside the metal enclosure 4, X-rays emitted in the longitudinal direction of the filament coil 5.
As shown in FIG. 2B, the outer circumferential shape of the cathode electron gun 6 is a circle. Also, the outer circumferential shape of the metal enclosure 4 having a restricted electrical insulation distance to the outer circumferential surface of the cathode electron gun 6 is a circle. The X-ray radiation windows 8a on the line-focus side and the X-ray radiation windows 8b on the point-focus side are arranged in the circumferential wall of the circular metal enclosure 4. Therefore, the distance from the X-ray tube central axis O to the X-ray radiation windows 8a on the line-focus side is the same as that from the X-ray tube central axis O to the X-ray tube radiation windows 8b on the point-focus side. Note that the center of the focal point 9 as the X-ray generation source of the anode 7 is positioned on the X-ray tube central axis O.
In an X-ray diffraction apparatus and the like, an optical element for collecting X-rays radiated from the X-ray tube 1 is placed at or outside the X-ray radiation window 8a. To increase the collection efficiency, this optical element is preferably placed as close as possible to the focal point 9 of the anode 7.
When using X-rays on the line-focus side, however, the distance from the focal point 9 (X-ray tube central axis O) of the anode 7 to the X-ray radiation window 8a on the line-focus side is relatively great. When the distance from the focal point 9 to the X-ray radiation window 8a is great, it is impossible to well increase the collection efficiency of the optical element.

Toshiba Electron Tubes & Devices Co., Ltd.


The present invention is a method and system that provides visual, production level, high-performance, integrated and automatic data integrity verification in a Web-based, e-business or other similar application, using a middleware application server. Asynchronous messaging is utilized to achieve real-time data verification. When data is read and updated by the application running in the application server, a message containing certain aspects of the data is published to a data auditor “queue” in the message server. Publishing the data is an asynchronous and high-performance operation and thus does not significantly slow down the operation being performed by the application server. The message is delivered to the message server and control immediately returns to the application to continue processing. Concurrently, the auditor checks the values resulting from the transaction and determines if the transactions have been recorded accurately.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method, system, and program for automatically monitoring data consistency across a database and, more particularly, to a method for auditing, asynchronously, transactions between application servers and a database server.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computers and the worldwide web are now a major backbone of businesses of all kinds, including traditional "bricks and mortar" businesses as well as web-based or E-businesses. E-commerce sites perform thousands of financial transactions on a daily basis. Banks and other financial institutions have both walk-in customers and customers utilizing electronic transaction methods (computer banking, ATM machines and the like); all of these transactions are executed via computer systems accessing and updating one or more databases via a database server.
Obviously, accuracy is vital to the performance of these -massive numbers of calculations and transactions. A single error can compound into an unlimited number of subsequent errors if it is considered that that single error generates an incorrect number that is then used by all further transactions occurring thereafter. The impact of such errors can be devastating to anyone or any organization relying on the accuracy of the numbers.
It is a significant challenge, in web-based or E-business-based applications developed to run on application server middleware, to ensure and verify application data integrity in the database. In these scenarios, multiple execution threads from one or more application servers may simultaneously read and update the same data. It is common in these scenarios for two or more "execution threads" to attempt to simultaneously read, update and then write back a new value to the same database row. This can result in a subtle, but very serious, silent error, causing application data to be usable, but invalid. This is referred to herein as data corruption.
As an example, consider a banking scenario, where two threads may attempt to update the balance of a user's account simultaneously. This could easily happen in a real-life scenario where a husband and wife each access their bank account via separate ATM machines at about the same time. The following table illustrates the two separate threads. In Table 1 below, data corruption in the form of an incorrect user account balance will occur if Thread 1 and Thread 2 process the account credit method in the alphabetically-ordered sequence. This example assumes an initial user balance of $1,000.
TABLE 1Thread 1Thread 2a) Account.credit ($200)d) Account.credit ($100)b) currentBalance = $1,000e) currentBalance = $1,000(getBalanceFromDB( ))(getBalanceFromDB( ))c) newBalance = $1,200f) newBalance = $1,100($1,000 + 200)($1,000 + 100)g) updateBalanceInDB ($1,200)h) updateBalanceInDB ($1,100)
In this example, the user's account is credited $200 (Thread 1) and $100 (Thread 2). This is equivalent to the husband depositing $200 and the wife depositing $100. Therefore, the ending balance should be $1,300. However, the final update in Statement H leaves the user's balance at $1,100. This may go unnoticed for an extended period of time, obviously, a very serious problem. The reason for this error is simple and inconspicuous; Thread 2 commences accessing the data before Thread 1 has completed the updating step, statement G. Thus, it begins the transaction without taking into consideration the $200 credit of Thread 1. The updating step of Statement H simply overwrites the updating step of Statement G.
Verifying application data integrity is currently a very difficult problem to solve. This is due to several challenges. First, data corruption is a subtle and silent error. That is, data corruption, such as in the example given in Table 1, does not produce an application error of any kind. Data can be corrupted very subtly and is impossible to detect without a serialized account of the transaction execution.
In addition, very small timing windows in relation to the length of transactions can cause data corruption. These timing windows will not generally be encountered in a simple test environment, but will show up in a production, high-concurrency transaction processing environment. These timing windows may be relatively rare and therefore data validation must be able to be enabled easily and for long periods of time without affecting normal application flow and processing.
Data corruption problems have been attempted to be solved, e.g., using leading database software programs, by increasing the default "isolation level" of transactions. Isolation level is a database-specific configuration setting. By increasing the isolation level, transactions can be serialized to guarantee data integrity. That is, each transaction must be completed before the next transaction is commenced. This course grain approach diminishes the number of data errors. However, performance is severely affected, because transactions are serialized and not processed concurrently. Accordingly, this option is rarely chosen except in a test environment.
The second and more common option for solving this problem involves the application (or application server) correctly allocating locks on individual database rows to enforce data integrity. In the scenario of Table 1, if Statements B and E both acquire an "update" lock on the database row for the user's account balance as the row is read, the first thread to reach the statement will be permitted to read the row data. The second thread to execute the statement also attempts to allocate an update lock and will not be permitted to read the row data until the first thread's transaction completes. This provides data integrity and a correct account balance.
This fine grain application locking method provides the best solution for data integrity. However, the key to using the application locking method to achieve data integrity successfully is to minimize row locking to avoid deadlocks and transaction failures, along with the ability to verify data integrity at run time. Thus, locking provides a limited solution, since less locking means less data integrity. In addition, databases do not support update locking in various scenarios such as "join selects", aggregated queries, etc. In these scenarios, it is impossible for the database to ensure data integrity with standard isolation settings.
Another approach is to integrate application level trace code to write out full transaction details in order to detect the problem. This highly intrusive approach can severely slow an application runtime or otherwise change runtime characteristics such that data corruption is not encountered. This type of tracing is not generally acceptable to a production environment.
Accordingly, there is a need for technology that provides production level, high performance, integrated, "real-time" and automatic/visual data integrity verification.

Method, system and computer program product for real-time data integrity verification

International Business Machines Corporation


An optical device has an optical element 21 comprising a light-emitting region 1 and a light-detecting region 4 disposed closely to each other on a common substrate 9. Returning light L.sub.R from an irradiated medium which is irradiated with light L emitted by the light-emitting region 1 is detected by the light-detecting region 4. The returning light is applied to a light-detecting region 4 at an incident angle .alpha. in the range of 0.degree.<.alpha.<90.degree..

Conventional optical devices, e.g., optical pickups in compact disc (CD) players or optical disk drives or magnetooptical disk drives, are complex in their overall arrangement, require complicated optical layout settings, and cannot easily be mass-produced because optical components including gratings, beam splitters, etc. are individually assembled.
For example, an optical pick for use with an optical recording medium such as an optical disk, for example, which is shown in FIG. 15 of the accompanying drawings, has a light source 51 such as a semiconductor laser diode or the like for emitting a light beam. The light beam emitted by the light source 51 is introduced through a grating 52 into a beam splitter 53 and passes therethrough. The light beam travels through a collimator lens 54 and is focused by an objective 55 onto a recorded area of an optical recording medium 56 such as an optical disk. In FIG. 15, the dot-and-dash line "c" represents an optical axis from the light source 51 to the optical recording medium 56.
The light beam reflected by the optical recording medium 56 passes through the objective 55 and the collimator lens 54, and is reflected by the beam splitter 53 off the optical axis "c" to travel through a concave lens 57 and a cylindrical lens 58, which focus the light beam onto a detector 59 such as a photodiode (PD) or the like.
Another optical device, which is shown as part of the optical pickup of a reflective optical scanning microscope in FIG. 16 of the accompanying drawings, has a light source 51 which emits a light beam that is reflected by a beam splitter 53. The reflected light beam is focused by an objective 55 onto the surface of a specimen 60 over a focal plane 61. The light beam reflected by the specimen 60 travels through the objective 55 and the beam splitter 53, and either is detected by a detector positioned in a confocal point or passes through a pinhole 62 and is then detected by a detector 59 disposed behind the pinhole 62. The condition of the surface of the specimen 60 can be detected when a stage that supports the specimen 60 or the irradiating light beam is relatively scanned as indicated by the arrow "s".
In the above conventional optical devices as optical pickups, in order to prevent the reflected light beam from returning to the position where it is emitted, i.e., the light source, the beam splitter is disposed between the light source and the irradiated medium or a hologram is disposed as disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 1-303638 for separating the reflected light beam, i.e., the light beam returned to the light source, from the optical path toward the irradiated medium. With this arrangement, however, the intensity of light that is detected by the light-detecting device is reduced.
If any of the above optical devices is assembled as a hybrid structure on a semiconductor substrate such as of Si or the like as shown in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2-278779, then a strict level of accuracy for alignment will be required.
The present invention has been made to simplify the structure and reduce the overall size of an optical device such as an optical pickup, for example, to simplify the process of manufacturing the optical device, to increase the reliability of the optical device, and to increase the intensity of returning light toward a light-detecting device, i.e., the intensity of detected light, so that the optical device will produce an increased output, have a light source of low power requirement, and consume a reduced amount of electric energy.


Distributing forwarding information in a router that has a distributed processing architecture involves distributing the forwarding information from one instance of an operating system to another instance of an operating system in parallel using two different communications channels where one of the communications channels is characteristically reliable yet relatively slow and where the other one of the communications channels is characteristically unreliable yet relatively fast. The forwarding information that is distributed via the relatively fast communications channel can be used to rapidly update forwarding tables such as hardware forwarding tables while the forwarding information that is distributed via the reliable communications channel can be used to resolve errors that may occur during distribution via the relatively fast communications channel. The distribution of forwarding information through parallel channels can be tracked by associating unique sequence numbers with the messages that carry the forwarding information.

Network devices such as routers are used to forward traffic in packet-based networks. A typical router is a chassis-based system that includes a control module, which performs higher level management functions, and line cards, which provide the interface between the router and other network devices (i.e., servers, workstations, switches, other routers, etc.) A router generates forwarding information that maps traffic destination information to next hop information. The forwarding information is typically generated and managed in the control module of a router by a route processor. The forwarding information is used by a forwarding engine to make forwarding decisions. First generation routers typically used a centralized architecture to make forwarding decisions for traffic that is received on line cards. In a centralized architecture, forwarding decisions for traffic received on all of the line cards of a router are made by a single central forwarding engine that is supported by a single instance of an operating system. Some newer generation routers use a distributed architecture to make forwarding decisions for incoming traffic. In a distributed architecture router, forwarding decisions for traffic received on the line cards can be made by forwarding engines that exist at each line card. The line card forwarding engines are supported by card-specific instances of an operating system. In order for forwarding decisions to be made locally by the line card forwarding engines, the line card forwarding engines must have access to the forwarding information that is maintained at the control module. Direct access to the forwarding information is accomplished by maintaining an instance of the forwarding information at each line card. In order to maintain instances of the forwarding information at each line card, the forwarding information must be distributed to all of the forwarding engines in the router. Distributing the forwarding information throughout a router with a distributed processing architecture is not a trivial task.
In view of the growing use of distributed architecture routers, what is needed is a fast and reliable technique for distributing forwarding information throughout a distributed architecture router.

Distribution of forwarding information in a network node


A retractable sootblower having a substantially open frame. The frame includes an inboard end wall, an outboard end wall and a pair of opposingly positioned side panels. The side panels are seamless and mounted to interconnect the inboard end and outboard end walls together. At least one truss extends between the side panels. The side panels cooperating with the inboard and outboard end walls to generally define a rectangularly shaped box for enclosing the carriage and lance tube of the sootblower. This box has a generally open top and bottom which provides substantially unobstructed access from above and below to the carriage and lance tube. The sootblower also includes a mechanism for adjusting the backlash between the drive rack and gear.

This invention generally relates to sootblowers and particularly relates to improvements in the frame structure and drive mechanism of a retractable sootblower.
Sootblowers are used to project a stream of blowing medium, such as water, air or steam, against heat transfer surfaces within large scale boilers or other heat exchangers to cause slag and ash encrustations to be removed. The impact of the blowing medium produces mechanical and thermal shock which causes the adhering encrustation layers to be removed.
One general category of sootblowers is known as the long retracting type. These devices have a retractable lance tube which is periodically advanced into and withdrawn from the boiler and which is simultaneously rotated such that one or more nozzles at the end of the lance tube project jets of blowing medium against the encrusted heat exchange surfaces in the boiler.
Sootblower designers are constantly striving to enhance design efficiency in terms of construction cost, operation, inventory cost and maintenance. In a conventional retractable sootblower, an elongated frame or beam houses a moveable carriage. The carriage drives a lance tube f rom one end of the frame to the other during the extension and retraction motion. various configurations for sootblower frames are known.
In one well-known configuration, sheet metal plate stock is press brake formed to define three sides of a generally rectangular shaped member defining the elongated frame. In a typical installation, the open portion of the frame faces downward. The carriage is driven to move within the frame and the frame supports the lance tube suspended therein. Such conventional sootblower frames are known as closed frames since their upper surface is enclosed and inaccessible. Examples of presently known sootblower designs are provided with reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,668,978; 3,439,376; 3,585,673; 3,604,050, 4,229,854 and 4,351,082. Although these closed frame type sootblowers perform in a satisfactory manner, they do have certain drawbacks.
One drawback results from the method in which the frame is formed. Since the three sided frame member is brake formed from flat sheet metal stock, a limitation on the length (typically twenty feet) of the member is presented by the brake forming machine. To form a longer frame member, separate three sided members are butt welded together. Obviously, forming the butt welds requires an additional and separate bonding step to be included in the production operation. Additionally, the presence of the weld is a site for corrosion development.
In certain sootblower applications, it is difficult to service the various mechanisms of the unit through the open bottom portion of the above mentioned closed frame. In these applications, a frame having an open upper portion which would allow the carriage, feed tube and lance tube and rack to be removed by withdrawing them up through the top portion of the sootblower frame would be more desirable. Although such open top sootblowers can be produced, when using conventional constructions, specifically designed units would have to be produced for specific installations.
In accordance with this invention a sootblower is provide having a frame which features an open construction enabling the sootblower components to be serviced or withdrawn through the bottom of the unit or through the top of the unit.
Another object of this invention is to provide a frame for a sootblower which can be constructed to any desired length while using a common inventory stock for all lengths. It is also an object to provide a sootblower frame in which the side panel are seamless and formed of a unitary construction.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a sootblower frame which is resistant corrosion and which is easily inspected for corrosion damage.
The various boiler configurations require retractable sootblowers of varying lengths. Such lengths range from only several feet long to ones well in excess of 60 feet. With conventional sootblower designs, the vast difference in size requirements has restricted the availability of common construction components thus increasing a manufacturer's inventory requirements and adversely affecting component costs.
The commonality of components becomes difficult since significantly different loads act on the frame structure as a function of the length of the sootblower lance tube. For example, as the extended length of the lance tube increases, the loads applied to the frame increase. In addition, significant loads, from both gravity and fluid reaction forces, act on the sootblower lance tube as it is performing its cleaning function. These loads are transferred to the sootblower carriage which is restrained by the frame.
Various designs for an open-type sootblower frame have been proposed. However, such devices are typically costly to manufacture and do not offer a high degree of accessibility since they are generally constructed to provide either top access or bottom access, but not both. Additionally, in an effort to achieve the necessary structural rigidity, closed box sections or tubes have been proposed which are welded to side panels to form ribs bridging the side panels. These closed tubes have also been used to define the side panels themselves. Although the closed tubes would provide adequate structural integrity, they too are available only in certain lengths and require butt welds or cutting to achieve the appropriate lengths. This again involves extra costs and waste. Moreover, closed box tubes are disadvantageous in that they cannot readily be inspected or protected from corrosion. Also, in order to keep their weight at an acceptable level, the metal thickness of the box tube sections must be kept relatively thin. This further degrades corrosion protection.
The sootblower frame in accordance with this invention is readily adapted for different lengths of sootblowers by using various lengths of flat sheet metal for the side panels of the frame. With the shorter sootblower lengths (up to approximately twenty-two feet) the sheet metal side panels can be used without further structural reinforcement. For intermediate lengths, angle iron is welded or bolted along the length of the side panels of the frame to increase its structural integrity and enable it to handle the loads associated with the longer length lance tube. The longest length devices, those generally greater than twenty-two feet in length, are further reinforced by adding an additional member to the side panels of the frame.
As mentioned previously, the requirements of joining separate lengths of stock material to form a sootblower frame of a desired length has its disadvantages. In accordance with this invention, a sootblower frame is provided in which the side panels can be formed from coiled sheet metal stock, available in substantially any length required. Since the side panels do not require forming of any type, with the exception of a flattening or straightening operation, length constraints are virtually eliminated and the side panels can be formed without seams thereby eliminating an inherent weakness of the prior designs.
In some sootblowers, a pair of laterally separated guide tracks or rails are provided to suspending the carriage as it moves between its advanced and retracted positions. Frequently, the lance tube is designed to be positioned off-center with respect to the two guide rails. This is known as handedness, left-handedness or right-handedness depending to which side of the lance tube is off-set.
Due to the significant fluid force of the blowing medium acting on the cross-section of the feed tube, substantial pressure forces also act on the carriage and the frame. When handedness is designed into the sootblower, significant imbalances in the forces applied are present. This leads to increased and uneven structural loading on both the frame and carriage. In one embodiment of the present invention, the sootblower features a balanced orientation with the lance tube being equidistantly positioned between the side tracks thus equalizing the loading of the frame.
In many sootblowers which are driven by a rotating pinion gear interacting with a toothed rack, difficulties are often presented in establishing the correct backlash or degree of intermeshing between the pinion gear and the rack. Improper backlash adjustment, with the backlash being too small, can lead to excessive loads on the various components and increased power consumption. Accelerated wear of the components occurs when the backlash is too great.
A sootblower in accordance with this invention incorporates a mechanism which readily permits the backlash of the pinion gear to be adjusted in the field. This mechanism utilizes an eccentric shaft to mount an upper carriage roller to the carriage. By changing the orientation of the eccentric shaft, and therefore the carriage roller with respect to the frame, the carriage can be raised or lowered with respect to the frame and the pinion gear adjusted relative to the rack.
Additional benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates from the subsequent description of the preferred embodiments and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


By using a novel structure of a beamformer which produce data for multiple receive scanlines in a time multiplexed manner, the size of the delay memory is reduced. An ultrasound receive beamforming apparatus for processing signals received from an array of transducers, comprises: a plurality of beamforming devices for applying delays to data samples of M channels. Each of said beamforming devices includes: a predetermined number of per-channel delay elements which provide first delays to the data samples of M channels, to provide delayed data per each channel and per each receive beam, first adders for adding the delayed data of not less than 2 channels provided from the per-channel delay elements, and multi-channel delay elements which provide second delays to the outputs of the first adders.

The present invention relates to an ultrasound imaging apparatus using a digital beam focusing scheme. More particularly, the present invention relates to a receive beamforming apparatus for processing a plurality of scan lines or beams. It includes delay elements structured into multiple stages.
As well known in the art, an ultrasound imaging system using an array of transducers includes a phased, convex or linear array of multiple transducers. Such a system includes multiple channels, each channel having a transmitter and a receiver connected to a corresponding transducer. The transmitter applies ultrasound pulses to an object such as one in a human body. To focus the transmitted ultrasound energy to a certain point in the object, sequential time delays are applied to the pulses. The amount of delay for each pulse is determined in a way that the transmitted pulses reach a target point simultaneously. These pulses pass through diverse materials/medium before focused on the object and the reflected pulses pass through the materials again, back to the array.
The ultrasound energy reflected from the object reaches each of the array elements at different times because the distances from the object to the array elements are different from each other. At a receive beamformer, the receive signals from the array elements are amplified; a time delay is applied to each of the amplified signals; and the delayed signals are summed. The amount of delay for each delay element is determined such that the signals are focused at a point in a receive scan line or beam. The amount of delay for each element is changed constantly so that the focusing point moves in a radial direction.
To form an ultrasound image, a desired region in a body should be scanned with transmitted pulses, and a received signal/data is processed to provide the image of the desired region. To provide a high quality image, it is essential to increase the frame rate. The frame rate is determined by the number of scanlines used, the frequency of ultrasound pulses and the depth of a region whose image is to be formed. To increase the frame rate, a multi-beam focusing technique has been used where multiple scanlines or beams, rather than one scan line, are formed after transmitting ultrasound pulses.
In a multi-beam-forming apparatus, a different amount of delay should be applied for each beam and per channel, thus increasing the complexity of a system. Especially, the capacity of a memory device used as the delay elements is increased. In a conventional beamformer, the capacity of a needed memory device is proportional to the number of channels, the maximum amount of delay and the number of beams formed after one transmission. For example, for a system with 64 channels, quadruple beams, a maximum delay of 1000 system clock cycles, and 10 bit data length, 64xc3x974xc3x971000xc3x9710 bits of memory space is necessary.
Therefore, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a novel structure of a beamformer which can decreases the size of the delay memory.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a beamformer which produce data for multiple receive scanlines in a time multiplexed manner.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasound receive beamforming apparatus for processing signals received from an array of transducers, comprising: a plurality of beamforming devices, each device applying delays to data samples of M channels provided from M transducers for forming N receive beams and adding delayed data samples of M channels to provide N intermediate outputs, N and M being positive integers less than the number of transducers in the array; adders for summing the intermediate outputs from said plurality of beamforming devices, to provide data representing the N receive beams, wherein each of said beamforming devices includes: a predetermined number of per-channel delay elements which provide first delays to the data samples of M channels, to provide delayed data per each channel and per each receive beam, first adders for adding the delayed data of not less than 2 channels provided from the per-channel delay elements, and multi-channel delay elements which provide second delays to the outputs of the first adders.

Ultrasound receive beamforming apparatus using multi stage delay devices


An isothermal transcription based amplification assay for dengue virus RNA uses primer combinations for sequences within the envelope gene or the 3' non-coding region of the virus and a probe. Probes may be specific for a serotype of dengue virus.

Dengue virus infection is an arthropod-borne viral disease which has very high morbidity and mortality in humans. Dengue is a member of Flaviviridae, and utilizes an 11 kb single stranded, positive RNA genome. The genome encodes 3 proteins and contains additional non-coding regions at the 5' and 3' ends.
There are currently four different dengue virus subtypes known, which are distributed among geographically distinct tropical and subtropical regions. All four subtypes can cause an array of maladies, ranging from an acute, self limited illness (dengue fever, DF) to the more severe and potentially fatal dengue hemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome (dengue hemorrhagic fever, DHF). As many as 50 million human cases occur annually, with an estimated 10,000 infant deaths due to the hemorrhagic form of dengue. Immunity to one serotype does not protect against infection by the others. In fact, sequential infection by another serotype substantially increases the probability of developing DHF (Rico-Hesse et al, Virology 230, 244-251 (1997)). For this reason it may be critical to be able to determine the genotype of the dengue virus for management of the disease.
Diagnosis and management of the disease, as well as vector surveillance and epidemiological studies, would be facilitated by a rapid and sensitive assay for the specific type of dengue involved. Extensive cross reactions among the flaviviruses and the existence of four distinct dengue virus serotypes makes serotype identification difficult. Currently, the most reliable method for identification involves isolation of the virus in a sensitive host followed by serotype identification using reference antisera or monoclonal antibodies. This method usually takes two or more weeks, however. Alternatively, a four-fold or greater increase in antibody titer by standard serological tests can be used, but generally requires paired samples. An ELISA for the detection of dengue virus-specific IgM in patient serum has also been used in diagnosis; however, this assay has been shown to be of very limited sensitivity.
As a consequence of the limitations of the above methods, several attempts have been made to devise RT-PCR based assays for the detection and genotyping of dengue virus infection (Henchal et al, Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 45(4), 1991, pp. 418-428; Lanciotti et al, Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 30(3), March 1992, p. 545-551; Chungue et al, Joumal of Medical Virology, 40:142-145,1993; Vorndam et al, Joumal of Virological Methods, 48(1994) 237-244; and Sudiro et al, Am. J. Med. Hyg., 56(4), 1997, pp. 424-429). These assays have relied on alternative strategies, including universal or specific primer amplification and probe detection, differential nested amplification, and RFLP analysis of the PCR products. To date, isothermal amplification methods for dengue RNA have not been reported.

Isothermal transcription based assay for the detection and genotyping of dengue virus


A smart self-repair device includes an ARE array configured to store information on respective bits of a fail address in fuses; a self-repair control block configured to store a row address and a column address corresponding to a fail bit when a fail occurs, analyze a fail mode by comparing the fail address inputted in a test and the stored addresses, and output fail address information and row fuse set information or column fuse set information according to the fail mode; a data control block configured to output repair information to the ARE array according to the fail address information and the row fuse set information or the column fuse set information; and a rupture control block configured to control a rupture operation of the ARE array.

1. Technical Field
Various embodiments generally relate to a smart self-repair device and method, and more particularly, to a technology for improving repair efficiency in a package repair operation.
2. Related Art
A DRAM (dynamic random access memory) is constructed by a plurality of memory cells which are arranged in the form of a matrix. If a fail occurs even in one memory cell among a plurality of memory cells, a semiconductor memory device is sorted as a bad product since it cannot perform properly an operation. According to high integration and high speed operation of a semiconductor memory device, the probability of a failed cell to occur increases.
In a conventional package self repair mode, a repair operation is performed by using only a row redundancy, and a column redundancy is not used. Therefore, in the case where a column-oriented fail occurs, it is impossible to repair the fail, and a package yield cannot help but decrease.
Moreover, in order for saturation of package yield, wafer test conditions should be diversified, and a package yield checking process should be repeated a multitude of times. In such a situation, a yield ramp-up time lengthens, and a number of experiment equipments are needed.


A MEMS device with a first electrode, a second electrode and a third electrode is disclosed. These electrodes are disposed on a substrate in such a manner that (1) a pointing direction of the first electrode is in parallel with a normal direction of the substrate, (2) a pointing direction of the third electrode is perpendicular to the pointing direction of the first electrode, (3) the second electrode includes a sensing portion and a stationary portion, (4) the first electrode and the sensing portion are configured to define a sensing capacitor, and (5) the third electrode and the stationary portion are configured to define a reference capacitor. This arrangement facilitates the MEMS device such as a differential pressure sensor, differential barometer, differential microphone and decoupling capacitor to be miniaturized.

Pressure sensors may be embedded into various mobile devices such as cell-phones, laptops, tablet computers, and vehicle navigation systems. Mobile devices with the pressure sensors are capable of performing 3-dimension navigation. In the future, applications of 3-dimension navigation may include indoor navigation, and outdoor navigation for tunnel, bridge and overpass. Thus, the navigation system requires an update from Global Positioning System (GPS) with 9-axis inertial sensors (including an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer) to GPS with 10-axis inertial navigator (including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer and an air pressure sensor (also called a "barometer").
Generally, the higher the altitude, the lower the air pressure. The barometer (one kind of pressure sensor) is used to detect the change in air pressure so as to evaluate the change in altitude. A conventional air pressure sensor 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a substrate 2, a stationary electrode 3 and a cover 4. The cover 4 is disposed on the substrate 2 and shelters the stationary electrode 3. In addition, the cover 4 includes a diaphragm 4-1. A hermetic space 5 is defined between the diaphragm 4-1 and the stationary electrode 3.
The conventional air-pressure sensor 1 includes two types of sensors. One type of the air-pressure sensors is utilized to detect absolute pressure while the other type of the air-pressure sensors is used to measure relative pressure. For detecting the absolute pressure, the hermetic space 5 of the former sensor is vacuum. When such a sensor is placed in an environment where an external air pressure P exists relative to the cover 4, the diaphragm 4-1 will deform. The deformation will change the capacitance between the diaphragm 4-1 and the stationary electrode 3 due to a change in the distance therebetween. In accordance with the change in capacitance, a processor may calculate an air-pressure value. Thus, the air-pressure value is an absolute pressure value of the external air-pressure P.
Regarding the sensor for measuring relative pressure, there is a gas-pressure P1 in the hermetic space 5. As shown in FIG. 2, in a certain altitude, when the external air-pressure maintains at P2, the diaphragm 4-2 will produce deformation d1. The deformation will change the capacitance between the diaphragm 4-2 and the stationary electrode 3-1 due to a change in the distance therebetween. In accordance with the change in capacitance, a processor may calculate an air-pressure value. Thus, the air-pressure value is a relative pressure value between the gas-pressure P1 and the external air-pressure. Either the sensors for absolute pressure or the sensors for relative pressure are capable of calculating the change of altitude according to the above-mentioned pressure values, but in those sensors only a single capacitor is provided, which is liable to error in pressure measurement due to undesirable noise of the single capacitor.
In order to improve the conventional pressure sensors, as shown in FIG. 3, a differential pressure sensor 6 is designed with a sensing capacitor 7 including a movable electrode 7-1 and a stationary electrode 7-2, and with a reference capacitor 8 including two stationary electrodes 8-1 and 8-2. The differential pressure sensor 6 is capable of calculating the differential capacitance between the sensing capacitor 7 and the reference capacitor 8 so as to reduce noise.
FIG. 4 is a top view of the differential pressure sensor 6. As shown in FIG. 4, a reference capacitor 8 of the differential pressure sensor 6 increases the entire area of the differential pressure sensor 6. Thus, it is difficult for the differential pressure sensor 6 to use in a mobile device. FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the differential pressure sensor 6, taken from the line 1-1 in FIG. 4.
A differential pressure sensor 9 shown in FIG. 5 includes a first electrode 9-1, a second electrode 9-2 and a third electrode 9-3. The first electrode 9-1 and the third electrode 9-3 form a reference capacitor while the first electrode 9-1 and the second electrode 9-2 form a sensing capacitor. When an external pressure causes the first electrode 9-1 to deform, the distance between the first electrode 9-1 and the third electrode 9-3 is changed and the capacitance of a stationary electrode is affected. Consequently, an error results in the calculation based on the capacitance difference between the sensing capacitor and the reference capacitor.

MEMS device with multiple electrodes and fabricating method thereof

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A radio receiver having multiple AM/FM tuners. A first tuner and a second tuner may be connected with an antenna for generating a first and second composite audio output signal. A dual input digital signal processor may be connected with the first tuner and the second tuner. The first and second composite audio output signals are processed by the dual input digital signal processor to generate a first audio output signal and a second audio output signal. A first audio power amplifier may be connected with the dual input digital signal processor for receiving the first audio output signal and a second audio power amplifier may be connected with the dual input digital signal processor for receiving the second audio output signal.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to radio receivers, and more particularly, to a radio receiver having multiple tuners that are capable of individually being tuned to a separate frequency setting.
2. Related Art
Modern radio receivers include a tuner that may be connected with an audio digital signal processor. The audio digital signal processor may be connected with an audio power amplifier that is typically used to drive at least one speaker. The tuner may also be connected with a control unit that may be used to tune the tuner to a frequency setting. As such, when tuned to a particular station or frequency setting, the radio receiver plays the program through some type of audible reproduction device such as a speaker system or headphones.
As briefly outlined above, radio receivers that are designed for use in homes and vehicles only allow one station or program to be listened to at a time. If another person in the room, another room in the house, or in the vehicle wants to listen to a different program or station, they will typically be forced to use a portable device such as a handheld radio with headphones or turn on a second radio receiver located elsewhere in the house. A need exists for a radio receiver that includes multiple tuners that are capable of being tuned to multiple stations at the same time, thereby allowing individual listeners to choose their own program or station. This would eliminate the need for having more than one radio receiver in different portions of homes and vehicles.

Multiple tuners in a single radio receiver

Harman International Industries, Incorporated


A semiconductor memory device includes a first pre-charge control block suitable for generating a first control signal by counting a number of toggles of an operation clock in response to a first active pulse in a self-refresh operation exit mode, a second pre-charge control block suitable for generating a second control signal in response to an active command for an active operation in a self-refresh operation mode, and an operation control block suitable for disabling the first pre-charge control block in the self-refresh operation mode, and disabling the second pre-charge control block in a self-refresh operation exit mode, wherein a pre-charge operation starts in response to the first and second control signals after the active operation. The semiconductor memory device may then be secured in a minimal time for stably performing an active operation during a self-refresh operation.

1. Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a semiconductor design technology, and more particularly, to a semiconductor memory device capable of supporting a self-refresh operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
A unit memory cell of a typical Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) device includes one transistor and one capacitor in which data is stored. The data stored in the capacitor formed over a semiconductor substrate may be damaged due to natural leakage. Therefore, a DRAM device has to perform a refresh operation periodically to recharge the memory cell with data. If the refresh operation is not performed stably, the data may be damaged, the read performance of the semiconductor memory device may be deteriorated, or the semiconductor memory device may malfunction.
The refresh operations are categorized into auto-refresh operations and self-refresh operations. The auto-refresh operation is performed while a semiconductor memory device performs a normal data input/output operation. The self-refresh operation is performed when the semiconductor memory device has not operated for a period of time, for example, while in standby mode or a power-saving mode. In short, the auto-refresh operation has to be performed while the semiconductor memory device is in the middle of performing a non al data input/output operation, the refresh operation is performed in response to an external refresh command inputted from an external source at a predetermined period. On the other hand, the self-refresh operation is performed while the semiconductor memory device is not performing any operation, and thus the refresh operation is performed at a predetermined period without receiving an external refresh command.
The refresh operation includes a series of processes of sensing and amplifying the data stored in the memory cells of a particular word line through an active operation, storing the data back in the memory cells of the word line, and pre-charging the word line. When the pre-charge operation is to be performed after the active operation begins is an important factor that needs to be considered in order to perform a stable refresh operation.

Semiconductor memory device and method for operating the same


An object of the present invention is to provide a radiography system in which an FOV in a light field agrees with an FOV in an X-ray field irrespective of a displacement of a light source. The radiography system comprises an X-ray tube, a collimator that forms an X-ray beam to be irradiated from the X-ray tube to an object of radiography, and a light source that irradiates light, which is used for ranging, to the object of radiography via the collimator. The radiography system further comprises a memory in which the magnitude of a displacement of the light source calculated in advance is stored, and a control unit that controls the opening of the collimator on the basis of the position of the light source, which is corrected based on the magnitude of a displacement read from the memory, so that an FOV of light to be used for ranging will agree with a target value.

The present invention relates to a radiography system, or more particularly, to a radiography system that is ranged on a subject using light prior to X-irradiation.
Radiography systems are ranged on a subject using light prior to X-irradiation. After a radiography system is ranged, X-rays are irradiated. Consequently, an irradiated position to which X-rays that are an invisible radiation are irradiated can be checked in advance using a visible radiation (refer to, for example, Patent Document 1).
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 55-115001 (pp. 1, FIG. 1)
In order to check a field of view (FOV) in an X-ray field in advance, light is irradiated through a collimator for X-rays. In this case, a light source must be accurately positioned with respect to a focal spot of X-rays. However, the light source may be displaced due to the effect of tolerances of components. In this case, an FOV in a light field disagrees with an FOV in an X-ray field. A radiography system cannot be ranged accurately.

GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC


The clinical laboratory test apparatus includes: an analyzing unit for analyzing a specimen; a reception part for receiving specimen information before analysis of the specimen; a discrimination part for discriminating whether or not a specimen is suited for analysis based on the specimen information; and a control part for controlling the analyzing unit based on the discrimination result obtained by the discrimination part.

An immunoassay method is known which corrects the amount (assay value) of antibody or antigen in blood obtained by immunoassay of a whole blood specimen based on a hematocrit value obtained from a blood analyzer, so as to obtain the amount of antibody or antigen (corrected value) in the serum or plasma (refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-48214).
In this method, when the specimen has an abnormally low hematocrit value, a problem arises inasmuch as an accurate correction value (amount of antibody or antigen in the serum or plasma of the specimen) cannot be obtained.

Clinical laboratory test apparatus and clinical laboratory test system