The encoder includes a plurality of position-detection-signal generation systems that generates electrical signals as position detection signals having different cycles, respectively; a first computing unit that calculates first position data based on the position detection signals generated by the position-detection-signal generation systems; a second computing unit that calculates second position data based on electrical signals generated by fewer ones of the position-detection-signal generation systems than in the first computing unit; and a failure determination unit that determines whether the encoder is defective based on a comparison between the first position data and the second position data.

As a technique for detecting a failure in an encoder, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique that enables to compare a magnetic pole position estimated from pulse numbers of position detection signals PA and PB and a motor pole number P with actual magnetic-pole position data PU, PV, and PW and determine a failure when differences in the position are out of an acceptable range.


An image fixing device inductively injects thermal energy into a rotating printing form of a press for fixing an image formed on the rotating printing form by means of a digital imaging system. The fixing device has at least one inductor with at least one induction loop, a high-frequency part that forms a tuned circuit with the inductor, and a supply part that can be coupled to the inductor by means of supply lines suitable for high frequency. The inductor loop is in an elongated form aligned parallel to the circumferential direction of the rotating printing form, with the effect that the zone of energy transfer and therefore the heating zone can be configured specifically in terms of its spread in the printing form, so that a high flux density can be introduced zonally into the printing form at the point which is to be heated.

A fixing device for digitally written and re-erasable offset printing forms is known for example from DE 100 08 213 A1. This device carries out the fixing by homogeneously heating the printing form surface. There, following imaging from the stock of digital data, the printing form is fixed for improved durability, wherein the ink-carrying image parts are anchored to the printing form. For this purpose, the fixing operation is carried out by means of inductively heating the image on the rotating printing form. To that end, the printing form is made of a material suitable for induction heating, and in a particularly advantageous way the frequency of the alternating current for inductive coupling is in the medium frequency range from 100 kHz to 500 kHz.
During the injection of energy by induction, heating in the interior of the metallic printing form is brought about by means of a high-frequency alternating current. As a result of what is known as the skin effect, the heating can either be placed intensely at the surface by means of high frequencies or else further into the interior of the material by means of lower frequencies. The injection of energy is in this case restricted zonally, which is advantageous in particular with regard to the power consumption. As a result of the heating of the metallic printing form, the image information previously applied to the printing form surface (consisting of thermal material in the present case) is stabilized.

Device for inductive injection of thermal energy into a printing form for fixing an image


The present invention provides an improved method and apparatus to collect and provide viewer feedback to broadcasts. According to one aspect of the present invention, a rating is generated for a broadcast by a server system. The rating is based at least in part on viewer feedback to the broadcast, and the rating indicates a likelihood of interest in the broadcast for potential subsequent viewers. According to another aspect of the present invention, the rating is provided from the server system to an entertainment system, and the broadcast can be selected for viewing at an entertainment system. In one embodiment, the viewer feedback is received at the entertainment system in response to a feedback questionnaire.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of broadcast systems. More particularly, this invention relates to the art of collecting and providing viewer feedback to a broadcast.
2. Background
The volume and variety of television, radio, and internet programming has increased considerably in recent years. For instance, digital cable systems and satellite antenna systems now offer hundreds of channels of programming twenty-four hours a day. Similarly, the Internet provides access to countless on-line interactive events. Even with a regular antenna, the airwaves in many markets are crammed full of dozens of television and radio channels. Sorting through all of the viewing, listening, and interactive options can be time consuming and frustrating.
A programming guide may be helpful, but most programming guides merely list broadcasts by time slot and channel. With hundreds of channels, including free channels, various categories of pay channels, pay per view channels, view on demand channels, etc., a programming guide can become very long and confusing. A viewer could spend a considerable amount of time reading a list of broadcasts for a given time slot and deciphering which broadcasts are actually available to the viewer.
All too often, a viewer may simply choose to flip through a few channels, or a great many channels as the case may be, until he or she finds a broadcast that he or she can tolerate. When the viewer loses interest, he or she may flip through some more channels, aimlessly looking for something of interest. Meanwhile, advertisers, television producers, and other programming providers want their broadcasts to reach the most receptive audiences possible. A viewer with hundreds of channels to choose from, who aimlessly flips through channels, can easily miss an appealing broadcast or advertisement. So, both viewers and programming providers want to be able to identify broadcasts that are likely to be of interest to particular viewers.
One way to predict how likely it is that a particular viewer will find a broadcast interesting is to examine feedback from previous viewers; especially previous viewers who have similar characteristics. For instance, if 85% of female viewers ages 25 to 35 highly recommend a broadcast, a significant portion of subsequent female viewers ages 25 to 35 are likely to enjoy the broadcast as well. For years, programming providers have used focus groups, surveys, Nielson ratings, etc. in an attempt to predict viewer preferences to make broadcasts appeal to the widest possible audience or to target certain audiences. These approaches have their limitations, however. For instance, they have done little to help viewers find the broadcasts that are most likely to be interesting to them. Therefore, both viewers and programming providers need an improved method and apparatus to collect and provide viewer feedback to a broadcast based on viewer characteristics.

Method and apparatus for collecting and providing viewer feedback to a broadcast


Capture commands are generated for a set of data divided into groups where each group is identified by a control word. Typically the data set arrives at the present invention as a serial stream. The control words address registers in a first addressable memory array which contain high addresses to a second addressable memory array. The data words trigger a counter, the counts of which constitute low addresses to the second addressable memory array. The high address and the low address together address registers in the second array which contain capture commands. The capture commands signal other devices to capture the corresponding data out of the data set.

Testing, evaluation, and diagnostic equipment often produce vast amounts of digital data. The data set is often grouped around control words so that a specific type of data can be identified by its proximity to a control word. In order to sort through these vast amounts of data to select the data desired, data acquisition modules have been developed. Typically, these modules store a control word and a word count in registers. The data arrives serially. Control words in the data stream are compared to the control word register. Data words following each control word are counted. When the control word matches the control word register and the data word count matches the data word register, a capture command is sent to a data storage device indicating that the detected word should be captured and stored.
If words which occur in different locations, as measured by the control words, are to be captured, then additional data acquisition modules are used. Typically, the values in the registers are changed manually. If a large number of different data words occurring in different places in the data stream are to be captured, a similarly large number of data acquisition modules are required. This requires a large amount of hardware, space and expense. If different data words are to be captured for one task than for other tasks, then the values in the acquisition module registers must be changed. This is difficult and time consuming with manually set registers. Resetting the registers becomes increasingly difficult as the number of acquisition modules increases.

Apparatus and method for generating capture commands for data acquisition


The present disclosure provides a method for data processing, a server, and a live broadcast system. The method includes: in response to a gift giving instruction sent by a first electronic device through a first user account on a first live broadcast platform, the gift giving instruction including a gift identifier of a virtual gift, and a platform identifier and a host identifier of a second live broadcast platform, determining a second virtual currency value of the virtual gift on the second live broadcast platform according to the gift identifier, and converting the second virtual currency value to a first virtual currency value on the first live broadcast platform; and sending information corresponding to the virtual gift to a second electronic device in response to deducting the first virtual currency value from the first user account.

With the development of Internet technologies, online live broadcasts allow users to casually interact. There are increasingly more live broadcast platforms, and users may choose any one of the live broadcast platforms according to their needs and watch live broadcasts by entering live broadcast rooms of hosts on the live broadcast platforms and interacting with the hosts by giving virtual gifts.
At present, each host platform has its own account system and virtual currency exchange system. In a case where a user of a live broadcast platform B wants to enter a live broadcast platform A to watch the live broadcast on the live broadcast platform A and interact with the host in the live broadcast platform A, due to different account systems and virtual currency exchange systems, the user needs to re-register an account on the live broadcast platform A and purchase and give gifts based on the virtual currency exchange system of the live broadcast platform A, which involves cumbersome operations. In addition, a new virtual currency exchange system also increases user's understanding cost and reduces user's enthusiasm for participating in the interaction.

Method for data processing and live broadcast system

BEIJING DAJIA INTERNET INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


The invention provides a manually actuated fastener driver device having a fastener cap reservoir disposed in proximity to the driver of the device and a cap advancement mechanism. Upon each actuation, the device delivers a cap and fastener to a work surface, for example, during the attachment of a sheet-like material to the work surface.

Fasteners are often used in conjunction with caps, often plastic, when securing sheet-like materials such as roofing felt or plastic building wrap. Caps, such as plastic discs, often are circular or oval and somewhat concave on the side contacting the sheet-like material, may be used with staples or nails driven manually as with a conventional hammer, or via some type of staple or nail gun. Staple or nail guns may be powered by electricity or air pressure, or may operate using a manually applied force. The manually applied force can be the force of a striking action, such as with so-called "slaphammers" as are known in the art.
In the simplest application, caps may be placed beneath a fastener prior to manually driving a manually-placed fastener through the cap to secure sheet-like materials. One advance over this simplest method has been to supply fasteners, e.g. nails, with the fastener already inserted through a cap piece. Further, systems have been developed for feeding caps from a reservoir or magazine into position in a power-driven apparatus, such that the fasteners are driven through the automatically positioned caps upon activation of the device. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,145,725 and 5,947,362 to Omli, the disclosures of which are hereby fully incorporated herein by reference.
Although some systems include a supply of caps that purport to feed into position in a manually actuated fastener driver, many limitations are characteristic of current devices. Accordingly, a need persists for a manually actuated fastener driver having a reservoir of caps and which automatically positions such caps for co-application with a fastener.

Manually actuated fastener driver with fastener cap reservoir and advancement mechanism


A media folder or book binder provided with a rotor having elastic bands stretched between pins on its opposite ends has mounting brackets which are mechanically fastened to the spine of the folder. The brackets have trunnions facing inwardly toward the opposite ends of the rotor to journal the rotor. An important aspect of the invention is that each bracket is provided with a shroud which inhibits or prevents bands from disengaging with their supporting pins as a folded sheet is removed from or installed on the rotor under a strand of the band. In effect, winding-up of the bands during relative lateral movement of a sheet still occurs, but the adverse twisting affect of enabling the bands to slip off pins is prevented. The folder has straps fixed thereto and preferably formed integrally therewith at opposite ends of the folder""s spine. These straps interact with latches on the mounting brackets to firmly hold the brackets in place mechanically.

This invention relates to a media folder for carrying folded sheet material such as choral composition, periodic newsletters, reports and other sheets that are frequently relocated or replaced in the folder. Specifically, the invention relates to improvements in the structural design disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,407 entitled SHEET MUSIC BINDER, issued Jun. 20, 1989.
In the above-mentioned 4,840,407 patent, I illustrate a center post assembly or rotor which supports rubber bands on pins at the ends of the rotor. Folded sheet music is opened and one side edge is slipped under one strand of a rubber band until the fold in the center of the sheet music aligns with the band. Thereafter, that folded sheet is fully supported by the one strand. Other sheets are similarly arranged on the rotor until all sheet music for a particular program is in place and ready to be used by the individual of the choral group. In actual use, a few problems were discovered in the patented design, however, and it is primarily those problems which the present invention is designed to overcome. When sheets were slid out from beneath their particular strand during removal from the binder, friction between the sheet face and the rubber band would tend to twist and wind up the band, sometimes causing an end of the twisted band to slip off its pin or pins. In so doing, the sheet and its band would detach from the rotor and the rubber band would then have to be removed edgewise from the sheet. The band would then have to be restretched and replaced on the pins from which it was displaced. If several adjacent bands were accidentally displaced, it was not uncommon that a replaced band could be unintentionally placed on a pair of pins that were not directly opposite one another, and that rubber band and sheets later held thereby would be slightly skewed rather than aligned parallel to the rotor.
A further potential for difficulty was in the fact that the rotor of the ""407 patent was journaled on mounting brackets which were held by double-sided self-adhesive sheet material to the binder. With age and sometimes due to storage of the binder in an area of increased temperature, there existed the possibility of reduction in the gripping power of the adhesive. Furthermore, if any of the rotor parts ever required replacement, for example, if damage occurred that caused some of the pins to break, one of the self-adhesive held brackets had to be removed and new self-adhesive sheet material applied. While this approach to fastening the brackets to a folder is and remains desirable for a standard binder, it would naturally be desirable if the brackets could be supported mechanically (i.e., without self-adhesive) on a specially-made binder, and be readily mechanically attached and detached as needed in the event that the rotor or other parts had to be replaced.
A media folder or book binder provided with a rotor having elastic bands stretched between pins on its opposite ends has mounting brackets which are mechanically fastened to the spine of the folder. The brackets have trunnions facing inwardly toward the opposite ends of the rotor to journal the rotor. An important aspect of the invention is that each bracket is provided with a shroud which inhibits or prevents bands from disengaging with their supporting pins as a folded sheet is removed from or installed on the rotor under a strand of the band. In effect, winding-up of the bands during relative lateral movement of a sheet still occurs, but the adverse twisting affect of enabling the bands to slip off pins is prevented. The folder has straps fixed thereto and preferably formed integrally therewith at opposite ends of the folder""s spine. These straps interact with latches on the mounting brackets to firmly hold the brackets in place mechanically.
A principal object of the invention is to provide a shroud or cover on each mounting bracket, which shroud or cover extends fairly closely around and adjacent the ends of the pins on the rotor ends, thereby essentially preventing an elastic band from being displaced from its pins as a folded sheet twists during removal from or installation on a strand of a band.
Another object is to mechanically fasten the mounting brackets to the spine of a folder by providing a pair of straps that are permanently fixed to the folder.
An ancillary object is to enable installation and removal of the brackets relative to the folder by means of a simple tool such as a screwdriver.
Another object is to provide a pin-surrounding shroud on each bracket to prevent bands from slipping off their pins, and further providing an access opening in one side of each bracket to enable replacement of a broken band through the access opening.
Still another object is to simplify the alignment of parts and placement of bands on a tube forming a primary element of the rotor by extruding the tube from plastic and forming at least one aligning groove internally and one marking element externally for purposes to be described.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the accompanying drawings and disclosure.


A translucent ceramic having a high linear transmittance and a high refractive index, substantially not causing double refraction, and exhibiting a high anomalous dispersion has a pyrochlore compound represented by the general formula AxByOw (wherein 1.00≦x/y≦1.10 and w represents a positive number maintaining electroneutrality) as a main component. The main component has a cubic crystal system. Preferably, the A site comprises a trivalent metallic element, and the B site comprises a tetravalent metallic element. More preferably, A is at least one of La, Y, Gd, Yb, and Lu, and B is of at least one of Ti, Sn, Zr, and Hf. The translucent ceramic is useful as a material of, for example, an objective lens used in an optical pickup.

Optical components, such as lenses, used in optical pickups and other optical devices are conventionally made of glass, plastic, a single crystal of lithium niobate (LiNbO3), or the like, as disclosed in, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2.
Glass and plastics have high light transmittances and are easy to form into a desired shape. Accordingly, those materials are mainly used for optical components such as lenses. LiNbO3 single crystal is mainly used for optical components such as optical waveguides on the basis of the electro-optical characteristics and double refraction of the LiNbO3 single crystal.
Optical pickups and other optical devices including such optical components are required to be further downsized and to be thinner. Unfortunately, the refractive indices of conventionally used glass and plastics are 2.00 or less. It is therefore difficult to downsize the optical components and optical devices using such a material and to reduce their thicknesses. In addition, plastics disadvantageously have low moisture resistance, and besides may cause double refraction. It is accordingly difficult for plastics to transmit and concentrate incident light efficiently.
On the other hand, the LiNbO3 single crystal has a high refractive index of 2.3, but may cause double refraction. LiNbO3 single crystal is thus unsuitable for optical components such as lenses, and is limited in application.
For example, Patent Document 3 discloses Ba(Mg,Ta)O3 and Ba(Zn,Ta)O3 translucent ceramics as materials that causes no double refraction and provide superior optical characteristics. These ceramics have refractive indices (hereinafter referred to as refractive indices at a wavelength of 633 nm, unless otherwise specified) of 2.01 or more.
It may be desired that the anomalous dispersion Δθg,F, which is one of the optical characteristics, be high. To have an anomalous dispersion means to have wavelength dispersibility different from normal optical glass, as will be specifically described below. A high anomalous dispersion Δθg,F is advantageous in correcting chromatic aberration. The anomalous dispersion is represented by a negative number, and a high anomalous dispersion means that its absolute value is high.
Patent Document 3 discloses Ba(Mg,Ta)O3 and Ba(Zn,Ta)O3 translucent ceramics having perovskite structures represented by the general formula ABO3. In particular, the B site of the structure is constituted of at least two elements, and these translucent ceramics have complex perovskite structures. More specifically, the electroneutrality can be substantially maintained by controlling the molar ratio of divalent metallic element(s) mainly constituted of Mg and/or Zn to the pentavalent metallic element(s) of Ta and/or Nb to about 1:2. In addition, the optical characteristics, such as refractive index and Abbe number, can be changed by substituting a tetravalent element, such as Sn or Zr, for the B site elements Mg, Ta, and/or Zn.
However, the translucent ceramics disclosed in Patent Document 3 disadvantageously have a low anomalous dispersion Δθg,F. For example, a Ba{(Sn,Zr)Mg,Ta}O3 ceramic has a Δθg,F value of −0.013; a Ba(Zr,Zn,Ta)O3 ceramic has a Δθg,F value of −0.006; a Ba{(Sn,Zr)Mg,Nb}O3 ceramic has a Δθg,F of −0.000.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-127078 (all pages, FIG. 1)    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-244865 (Claim 6, paragraph 0024)    Patent Document 3: International Publication No. 02/49984 pamphlet (all pages, all figures)

Translucent ceramic, method for producing the same, optical component, and optical device


A solution of a metallic compound or a cyclic olefin polymer is introduced into a metallic pipe to deposit the solution onto the whole inner wall of the metallic pipe followed by heat treatment at a high temperature to dry and solidify the solution, thereby forming a dielectric layer. Thus, a metallic hollow waveguide is prepared which comprises a metallic pipe, a dielectric layer provided on the inner wall of the pipe, and a hollow region defined by the inner wall of the dielectric layer. The above constitution makes it possible to provide a highly reliable hollow waveguide which is usable in a broad waveband, for which a quartz optical fiber is unusable, causes no significant transmission loss, can be mass produced, and can be easily produced in a reduced diameter and in an increased length, and to provide a method of making the same.

An infrared radiation having a wavelength of not less than 2 .mu.m is used in medical treatment, industrial machining, measurement, analysis, chemistry, and other various fields. In particular, an Er-YAG laser with a wavelength of 2.94 .mu.m, a CO laser with a wavelength of 5 .mu.m, and a CO.sub.2 laser with a wavelength of 10.6 .mu.m have high oscillation efficiency to provide high output and, at the same time, have large absorption for water, rendering these lasers important as light sources for medical/surgical treatment equipment and industrial working.
Conventional quartz optical fibers for communication, when used with a laser beam having a wavelength of not less than 2 .mu.m, causes large infrared absorption derived from the molecular vibration, resulting in high loss. For this reason, the quartz optical fibers cannot be used as waveguides for transmitting these laser beams. This has led to energetic research and development of new type of optical waveguides for infrared waveband usable in a wide range of applications.
Waveguides, for infrared radiation with a wavelength of not less than 2 .mu.m, which are currently under research and development are classified roughly into solid type, that is, infrared fibers, and hollow waveguides.
Materials for infrared fibers are classified into heavy metal oxide glasses (for example, GeO.sub.2 and GeO.sub.2 --Sb.sub.3 O.sub.3), chalcogenide glasses (for example, As--S and As--Se), and halides. The halides are further classified into halide glasses (for example, ZnCl.sub.2 and CdF.sub.3 --BaF.sub.2 --ZrF.sub.4) and crystalline metal halides (for example, KRS5, AgCl, AgBr, and KCl).
Also for the hollow waveguide, various waveguides different from one another in structure, material and shape have been proposed and produced on an experimental basis. Among others, a metallic hollow waveguide, with a dielectric provided on the inner wall thereof, comprising a high reflective coating provided on the inner wall of a metallic pipe, has been proposed for application to laser machining of high power transmission, and a waveguide having a structure comprising a thin layer of germanium, zinc sulfide or the like formed on the inner wall of a pipe of a metal, such as nickel, has been produced on an experimental basis.
The above hollow waveguide is produced as follows. At the outset, a thin layer of an inorganic material, permeable to infrared radiation, such as germanium or zinc sulfide, is formed by sputtering method on the outer periphery of a base pipe of aluminum or the like which can be etched. Further, a thick nickel layer is formed by electroplating method on the outer periphery of the thin layer of the inorganic material. Finally, the base pipe is removed by chemical etching. Interposition of a thin layer of silver between the thin layer of germanium or zinc sulfide and the thick layer of nickel for ensuring the mechanical strength enables of the preparation of a waveguide with a lower loss.
Up to now, the above construction has realized a transmission loss of 0.05 dB/m and a transmission capacity of 3 kW and has been found to transmit energy required for cutting and welding of metal plates. As compared with the solid type infrared fiber, this hollow waveguide is less likely to cause reflection of the radiation at the time of entry into and emergence from the waveguide and is excellent in cooling effect, rendering the hollow waveguide suitable for transmission of high power infrared radiation.
On the other hand, also in the ultraviolet region, there is a light source, such as an excimer laser, which is important in laser chemistry. Solid type optical fibers, however, cause, in a shorter wavelength, an extreme increase in loss derived from Rayleigh scattering and hence cannot be used as a waveguide. For this reason, research and development of a waveguide for the ultraviolet region has hardly been made in the art.
Solid type optical fibers for use in infrared wavelength region generally have high refractive index, resulting in large reflection loss, and hence are disadvantageous for transmission of high power infrared radiation. In particular, the above conventional glass optical fiber generally has low melting or softening point, and slight loss is likely to cause damage to the end face of the optical fiber. Further, in most cases, the transmission region is in the range of up to 6 or 7 .mu.m, making it difficult to transmit CO.sub.2 laser light. For some crystalline infrared fibers, the transmission region reaches 10.6 .mu.m, a waveband of CO.sub.2 laser. They, however, are likely to cause plastic deformation upon repeated bending and are largely deliquescent, posing a problem of long-term reliability.
The conventional method for making a hollow waveguide provided on its inner wall with germanium, zinc sulfide or the like is complicate and unsuitable for mass production of the hollow waveguide and, further, cannot easily reduce the diameter or increase the length of the hollow waveguide. For the metallic hollow waveguide provided on its inner wall with a dielectric using germanium, zinc sulfide or the like, since the thin layer as the inner layer is formed by sputtering method, the length of the hollow waveguide depends upon the apparatus used for the production of the waveguide and, in the case of actual waveguides, is several meters at the longest. The inner diameter of the waveguide is the outer diameter of the pipe as the base material which is removed by etching in the final step. The pipe as the base material should be completely removed, and, hence, the inner diameter of the waveguide cannot be made very small. At the present time, the smallest possible diameter of the waveguide is about 1 mm. The larger the diameter of the waveguide, the lower the mechanical bendability and the higher the bending loss. Further, a laser beam of more high order modes is propagated, posing a problem of deteriorated focusing properties.
In the ultraviolet waveband, as described above, solid type optical fibers cause, in a shorter wavelength, an extreme increase in loss derived from Rayleigh scattering, and, hence, research and development of a waveguide for the ultraviolet region has hardly been made in the art. Waveguides having a hollow structure, in which Rayleigh scattering is negligible, are considered as a promising waveguide for transmission of ultraviolet light.

Hollow waveguide and method of making same


A pneumatic tire which uses, as an inner liner layer, a laminated sheet obtained by laminating an air permeation preventing layer, made of any one of a thermoplastic resin and a thermoplastic elastomer composition containing a blend of the thermoplastic resin and an elastomer, and a tie rubber layer, and which has high durability to prevent development of a crack in the tie rubber layer that occurs around a splice portion of the laminated sheet after the tire starts to be used. In the pneumatic tire, a sagged portion is formed by a concavo-convex structure in the air permeation preventing layer at least between points P and Q in a shape that a length La of a straight line connecting points P and Q and a length Lb of the air permeation preventing layer actually passing through points P and Q satisfy a relationship of (1.03×La)≦Lb≦(1.5×La).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a pneumatic tire which uses, as an inner liner layer, a laminated sheet obtained by laminating an air permeation preventing layer, made of any one of a thermoplastic resin and a thermoplastic elastomer composition containing a blend of the thermoplastic resin and an elastomer, and a tie rubber layer, and which has high durability making it possible to prevent development of a crack in the tie rubber layer that occurs around a splice portion of the laminated sheet after the tire starts to be used.
2. Background Information
In recent years, pneumatic tires have been proposed and studied which use, as an inner liner layer, a laminated sheet including an air permeation preventing layer, made of a thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic elastomer composition containing a blend of the thermoplastic resin and an elastomer, and a tie rubber layer Japanese patent application Kokai publication No. 2009-241855.
In general, to manufacture such a pneumatic tire, a manufacturing method is employed in which a laminated sheet including a sheet-shaped object for the air permeation preventing layer made of a thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic elastomer composition obtained by blending the thermoplastic resin and an elastomer, and including a rubber (tie rubber) sheet to be cured and adhered to the thermoplastic resin or the thermoplastic elastomer composition obtained by blending the thermoplastic resin and the elastomer, is wound around a tire making drum and lap spliced and is then subjected to a tire cure-molding process.
A pneumatic tire may be manufactured by pulling out the laminated sheet, which has been wound into a rolled shape, by a predetermined length from the rolled shape and cutting the laminated sheet in the length, winding the laminated sheet around a tire making drum, lap splicing the laminated sheet on the drum, and further cure-molding the laminated sheet to form an inner liner layer. In this case, however, a crack may be developed around a splice portion after the tire starts to be used, thereby causing in some cases delamination between the sheet of the thermoplastic resin or the thermoplastic elastomer composition and the tie rubber cured and adhered to the sheet of the thermoplastic resin or the thermoplastic elastomer composition, which collectively constitute the inner liner layer.
To explain this with drawings, as shown in FIG. 4(a), a laminated sheet 1 including a sheet 2, made of a thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic elastomer composition obtained by blending the thermoplastic resin and an elastomer, and a tie rubber layer 3 is cut to a desired size (length) with an edge tool or the like. Then, the laminated sheet 1 is lap spliced on a tire making drum (unillustrated) in such an annular shape that both end portions thereof form a lap splice portion S. Moreover, other parts (unillustrated) necessary for manufacturing the tire are wound and then cure-molding are performed with a bladder.
As a result of the cure-molding, an inner liner layer 10 is formed which includes the sheet 2, made of the thermoplastic resin or the thermoplastic elastomer composition obtained by blending the thermoplastic resin and the elastomer, and the tie rubber layer 3 as shown in the view in FIG. 4(b) as a model. Around the lap splice portion S, the sheet 2 made of the thermoplastic resin or the above-mentioned thermoplastic elastomer composition forms a portion which is exposed and a portion which is buried inside the tie rubber layer. This sheet 2 made of the thermoplastic resin or the above-mentioned thermoplastic elastomer composition constitutes an air permeation preventing layer 2a. In FIG. 4(b), the direction indicated by an arrow D is the tire circumferential direction.
The phenomenon in which the sheet 2 (air permeation preventing layer 2a) made of the above-mentioned thermoplastic resin or thermoplastic elastomer composition and the tie rubber layer 3 cured and adhered thereto are delaminated from each other after the tire starts to be used occurs particularly at a spot shown in FIG. 4(b) where the sheet 2 (air permeation preventing layer 2a) made of the thermoplastic resin or the thermoplastic elastomer composition is exposed and also in the vicinity 4 of the tip of the sheet 2 among others. In the beginning, a crack is developed between the sheet 2 (air permeation preventing layer 2a) made of the thermoplastic resin or the thermoplastic elastomer composition and the tie rubber layer 3, and the crack may further grow into the delamination phenomenon.
The reason for this phenomenon, specifically, the development of a crack between (on an interface of) the air permeation preventing layer 2a and the tie rubber layer 3 is considered to be attributable to the fact that the air permeation preventing layer 2a, formed of the sheet of the thermoplastic resin or the thermoplastic elastomer composition, usually has high rigidity. Accordingly, a portion of the tie rubber layer which is sandwiched vertically by ends of the air permeation preventing layer 2a is fixed and strain thereof is suppressed. On the other hand, strain cannot be suppressed at a portion of the tie rubber layer 3 in the vicinity 4 of the tip of the air permeation preventing layer 2a which is not sandwiched vertically by the ends of the air permeation preventing layer 2a and a large stress occurs as a consequence. Moreover, the crack, development is considered to be attributable to a situation where cure adhesion may not be sufficiently high between the sheet 2 of the thermoplastic resin or the thermoplastic elastomer composition and the tie rubber layer 3, and so on.
On the other hand, when the cure adhesion is sufficiently high between the sheet 2 of the thermoplastic resin or the thermoplastic elastomer composition and the tie rubber layer, strain by stress is concentrated on and around a spot inside the tie rubber layer 3 indicated by C in of FIG. 4(b), thereby frequently causing cracks. The strain by stress is concentrated on and around the above-mentioned spot indicated by C in FIG. 4(b) where the tie rubber layer 3 is exposed to the surface. For this reason, the strain by stress having the direction of strain in conformity to the tire circumferential direction is generated in the aforementioned spot in the tie rubber layer 3. This is considered as a cause of the development of a crack around the spot C in the tie rubber layer.


A method for compressing pre-compressed data used in a reconfigurable processor, where the pre-compressed data includes a number of data blocks, obtains a current data block, calculates a current checking code of the current data block, and compares the current checking code with an immediately-previous checking code. A tag of the current data block is marked as a first tag if the current checking code and the immediately-previous checking code are different, and is marked as a second tag if the current checking code and the immediately-previous checking code are the same. Only data blocks whose tags are the first tags are saved. A related device for compressing data, and a method and a device for decompressing data are also provided.

Uncompressed data in a reconfigurable processor is can be huge in amount, requiring a higher rate of throughput during data transmission. On the other hand, the reconfigurable processor is hardware with an array of function units capable of rapidly processing a large-scale amount of data. A code is generally stored in a configuration memory. However, because the amount of data in function units in the reconfigurable processor is large, a code length is also very long, causing the configuration memory to occupy a larger part or functional area on the reconfigurable processor. A method for compressing data with a suitable method for decompressing data are needed to avoid the higher throughput during transmission of such large amounts of data and avoid the large parts or functions of the reconfigurable processor being occupied by such long code lengths.

Method and device for compressing data, and method and device for decompressing data


Methods, systems, and apparatus for receiving a particular set of user data; obtaining a predictive model that estimates a likelihood of a user to order a food item, wherein the predictive model is generated using observation data that includes historic user data and user data from other user devices; providing the particular set of user data to the predictive model; obtaining an indication of a likelihood of the user to order a food item; based on the indication of a likelihood of the user to order a food item, determining whether to output a notification on the user device inviting the user to order a food item; and in response to determining to output a notification on the user device inviting the user to order a food item, selectively outputting a notification on the user device inviting the user to order a food item.

Mobile computing devices (e.g., smartphones, tablet computing devices, wearable computing devices) have been programmed to assist users with placing orders for goods and services. For example, users can download and install mobile applications ("mobile apps") for retailers, and can use the mobile apps to browse goods, select goods (e.g., place goods in an electronic shopping cart), purchase the selected goods (e.g., electronically checkout), designate a way for the user to get the goods (e.g., delivery, in-store pickup), and can track the progress of their orders (e.g., view order status).
Some mobile apps can include location-based services to provide users with information that is likely to be relevant the users' current locations. For example, a mobile app for a retailer with multiple physical stores can include location based services that allow a user to identify the closest store nearby for the retailer. For instance, a user of such a mobile app may select a feature to view the closest store nearby, and the mobile app can access the current location of the mobile computing device that is running the mobile app, provide it to a location service for the retailer, and receive in response a listing of the stores for the retailer that are closest to the mobile computing device's current location.


Provided is a tape cartridge that prevents a print tape from becoming wrinkled while preventing the tip end of a tape-shaped member from getting in a cartridge case, or the like. The tape cartridge has a cartridge case, a label tape 101 accommodated in the cartridge case so as to be capable of being paid out, a platen roller 103 that is rotatably accommodated in the cartridge case so as to be brought into rolling-contact with the side of the release tape of the label tape 101 and moves within a prescribed range in a tape feed direction as the label tape 101 is fed out and drawn, and a drawing prevention portion 138 that contacts the side of the print tape of the label tape 101 and holds the label tape 101 between the drawing prevention portion 138 and a platen roller 103 when the platen roller moves to an upstream side in the tape feed direction as the label tape 101 is drawn, wherein the drawing prevention portion 138 does not contact one side in the tape width direction of the label tape 101.

Conventionally, there has been known a tape cartridge installed in a tape writer having a print head, the tape cartridge including a cartridge case, a tape-shaped member having a release tape affixed to the rear side of a print tape and accommodated in the cartridge case so as to be capable of being paid out, and a platen rotatably accommodated in the cartridge case on the side of the release tape of the tape-shaped member and feeds by rotation the tape-shaped member held between the platen and the print head. In addition, the tape cartridge includes a tape guide pin at a position upstream of the platen in a tape feed direction and on the side of the print surface of the tape. The tape guide pin projects from the bottom wall of the tape cartridge with its tip end fitting in a top wall and contacts the tape over the whole tape width. In the tape cartridge configured as described above, the tape is held between the platen and the tape guide pin when the platen moves to an upstream side in the tape feed direction as the tape is drawn, whereby the tape is not further drawn. As a result, the tip end of the tape is prevented from getting in the cartridge case (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In the tape cartridge, the tape is curved like an "S"-shape in its front and rear direction over the whole tape width on the feed path from the tape guide pin to the platen.
In addition, the present applicant has proposed a sheet cartridge installed in a tape printing apparatus provided with a light sensor having a light-emission element and a light-reception element facing each other, the sheet cartridge including a label sheet having a plurality of label-position detection convex pieces obtained by making its one side in a sheet width direction partially laterally projected in the sheet width direction, and a cartridge case in which the label sheet is accommodated so as to be capable of being paid out, wherein the outer surface of the cartridge case has an area in which the plurality of label-position detection convex pieces is exposed one after another for detection by a light sensor as the tape-shaped member is paid out (see Patent Document 2).
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-10-157235
[Patent Document 2] JP-A-2012-171079
In the conventional tape cartridge, the platen (platen roller) and the tape guide pin (drawing prevention portion) are provided at positions at which they overlap with each other in a traverse direction traversing the tape feed path. Therefore, the tape-shaped member is curved like an "S"-shape over the whole tape width on the feed path from the tape guide pin to the platen.
However, the print tape is likely to be partially released from the release tape at the curved spot. Therefore, the print tape at the released spot (separated from the release tape) is folded to its rear surface side in a shrinking state in a length direction to make the rear surfaces affixed to each other. As a result, there is a likelihood that the print tape becomes wrinkled. If the print tape becomes wrinkled, printing cannot be appropriately performed on the print tape at the spot and also the wrinkle gets stuck on the tape delivery port of the cartridge case, which may cause a factor responsible for jamming.
In addition, when the respective detection convex portions of the tape-shaped member enter the light sensor in a state of being curved like an "S"-shape in the front and rear direction, there is a likelihood that the respective detection convex portions cannot appropriately enter the area between the light-emission element and the light-reception element of the light sensor compared with a case in which the respective detection convex portions enter the light sensor in a state of being formed into a linear shape.
The present invention has an object of providing a tape cartridge, which allows the respective detection convex portions of a tape-shaped member to appropriately enter the area between the light-emission element and the light-reception element of a light sensor and prevents a print tape from becoming wrinkled while preventing the tip end of the tape-shaped member from getting in the cartridge case, and a tape printing apparatus having the tape cartridge.

Tape cartridge and tape printing apparatus


A method and system used to determine the similarity between an input speech data and a sample speech data is provided. First, the input speech data is segmented into a plurality of input speech frames and the sample speech data is segmented into a plurality of sample speech frames. Then, the input speech frames and the sample speech frames are used to build a matching matrix, wherein the matching matrix comprises the distance values between each of the input speech frames and each of the sample speech frames. Next, the distance values are used to calculate a matching score. Finally, the similarity between the input speech data and the sample speech data is determined according to this matching score.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a matching method and system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for determining the similarity between two speech data.
2. Description of Related Art
Progress in the design and manufacture of electronic devices has continuously improved the capability and quality of various electronic devices and has also diversified user interfaces for these devices. Presently, in addition to command inputting via keyboards and mice, the electronic device, such as a personal computer (PC) or a personal digital assistant (PDA), can be controlled by touch and speech. Speech controlling especially is one of the major developments in electronics.
Speech control enables a user to command an electronic device to perform a certain operation by speaking a certain sentence. Therefore, the electronic device must be capable of identifying the command issued from the user. In general, several sample speech data are stored in the electronic device in advance, wherein each of the sample speech data corresponds to one operation. When the electronic device receives the command spoken from the user, the electronic device transforms the speech command into an input speech data. Next, the input speech data is matched to the most similar sample speech data, and the operation corresponding to the chosen sample speech data is carried out by the electronic device.
In the foregoing basic concept of speech control, matching the input speech data with the sample speech data in the electronic device is very important; the electronic device requires an accurate matching technique in order to operate correctly. Hence, the speech data matching technique is one of the critical techniques of speech control.
A single chip microprocessor is used to carry out the operation of speech processing and speech data matching in some speech control techniques. However, the speech data matching process generally requires a large operating overhead because the complicated speech data matching process is hard to accomplish by the single chip microprocessor, which is weak in operational capability. The problem may be solved by using a digital signal processor, which is strong in operational capability, or a special speech processing circuit to perform matching, but the required system memory, production cost and product price will also increase.
Therefore, a simple and effective speech data matching method and system is needed for the speech control technique to be implemented on various electronic devices more easily.

Method and system for matching speech data


An apparatus containing a maintenance interface unit is described. In one exemplary implementation, the apparatus includes a multiprocessor system and the maintenance interface unit. The multiprocessor system uses cache coherency for accessing memory. The maintenance interface unit is integrated within the multiprocessor system and is configured to provide a backdoor accessibility to the multiprocessor system on-behalf of a peripheral maintenance system. The maintenance interface unit is also configured to perform operations within the multiprocessor system while maintaining the cache coherency.

Many computer systems are used in fault tolerant environments such as the banking industry, airline industry, mercantile markets, and so forth. In such environments any downtime to a computer system caused by a computer system failure can be catastrophic to businesses and customers that rely on such systems. To safeguard against such failures, many computer systems rely on maintenance systems to monitor the health of the systems and take corrective action in the event problems are detected.
Unfortunately, many of these maintenance systems are unable to precisely diagnose the root cause of a problem or take corrective action fast enough to prevent the computer system from failing. To compound problems further, many maintenance systems monitor the health of computer systems by testing them in a "service mode." Typically, when a computer is placed into a service mode, the normal operational mode of the computer system is interrupted or degraded. Additionally, the service mode creates an artificial testing atmosphere in which problems that may occur in the normal mode of operation never present themselves in the service mode, and hence, may go undetected, possibly jeopardizing the operating stability of the computer system.

Maintenance interface unit for servicing multiprocessor systems


A process for applying a pattern in a contrasting color to textile articles such as socks consists of entering the textile article onto an expandable article support (29), bringing a perforated pattern (38) over the article on the support, causing the support (29) to expand to press the textile article against the interior of the pattern (38), and applying typically by spraying a coloring agent onto the article through the pattern. The support (29) is subsequently contracted and the pattern (38) and then the textile article which a corresponding design has been printed, removed. Apparatus for applying a single color or multicolor pattern to articles such as socks has a carousel (23) carrying a multiple number of article supports (29). The carousel (23) rotates with a stepped movement between printing stations (54). In each operation, a spray frame (44) carrying the printing stations (54) is raised upwardly over the article supports (29) and patterns (38) disposed thereon to spray dye onto the textile articles through the patterns (38). Alternatively, the dye may be applied to the textile articles by dipping the whole assembly of expanded support, textile article and pattern into a bath of dye, by rollers passing over the exterior of the pattern, or by bristles. Four printing stations may be provided in a four color machine.

A coloured pattern may be produced in a textile article by weaving or knitting the textile with different coloured yarns in a garment formed of a woven or knitted textile material. Alternatively a garment may be made up of panels of differently coloured fabrics stitched together, or a logo or design may be sewn or adhered onto the garment. A pattern or design may also be applied to a garment by printing using dyes or inks or the like.
The most commonly-used process for printing made-up garments is screen-printing. However, screen-printing requires the article to be printed be laid flat. Batik printing also can be used to print made-up garments, but also requires that the article to be printed be laid flat. Textile articles which cannot be laid flat such as socks and hosiery are difficult to pattern or colour by printing after they have been made up, patterns or a logo or design are generally introduced by weaving or knitting into the textile material raw stock.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,019,156 describes an apparatus for printing a pattern about the top of a hosiery item comprising a rigid form over which the top of the hosiery item is entered. The rest of the length of the hosiery item is received within a dished portion of the top of the form. A two part stencil is then disposed about the form. Dye is sprayed onto the hosiery item through the stencil. Blotting paper is used about the form beneath the hosiery item to absorb surplus paint.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,863 described apparatus for printing a hosiery article comprising a four-part foldable underplate in the form of a polygonal tube. The underplate is inserted into the tubular fabric item and is then folded flat in one configuration. The front side and then the back side of the hosiery item on the underplate are printed. The underplate is then folded to its other configuration and different portions of the hosiery item are printed. The foldable underplate is then removed from the hosiery item.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved or alternative process for printing textile articles after making up or at least partial making up, an apparatus for automated printing of such textile articles.

Apparatus and method for coloring textile articles while expanded and pressed against a pattern


A multi-engine system 10 for use on an aircraft 14 is disclosed. The system 10 may comprise a first aircraft engine 16A and a second aircraft engine 16B configured to drive at least one device 12 of the aircraft 14. A starter 20 may be coupled to one of the first and second aircraft engines 16A, 16B to assist starting of the one of the first and second aircraft engines 16A, 16B. An energy source 24 may be configured to deliver energy to the starter 20 at a rapid rate during rapid starting of the one of the first and the second aircraft engines 16A, 16B, the rapid rate being higher than a regular rate used during regular starting of the one of the first and the second aircraft engines 16A, 16B. The energy source 24 may comprise at least one supercapacitor.

Twin-engine helicopters typically require both engines to operate at a relatively high power output during some phases of flight such as during take-off, for example. During other phases of flight such as cruise, power requirements may be significantly lower and therefore the power output from each engine may be significantly reduced. Even though only one of the two engines may be required during such other phases, it is typically required for safety reasons that both engines remain operating at all times during flight. In an emergency condition such as failure of one of the two engines, this allows the other engine to rapidly increase its power output to make up for the failed engine and take over. When the helicopter is at low altitude, it is imperative that the power output increase by the remaining engine be done as rapidly as possible.
When both engines of a dual-engine helicopter are operating at reduced power output, they are typically not operating within an optimum performance window of the engines. Consequently, depending on the type of mission, both engines of the helicopter operating at a reduced power output setting may operate at a relatively low fuel efficiency (i.e. relatively high fuel consumption) for relatively long portions of a flight.
Improvement is therefore desirable.


A circuit arrangement includes a first semiconductor switch and at least one second semiconductor switch, each of them having a control terminal and a first and second load terminal, and with an overvoltage protection arrangement for the at least two semiconductor switches. The overvoltage protection arrangement comprises a voltage limiting unit with a first and a second terminal, whose first terminal is connected to a central circuit node, whose second terminal is connected to a terminal for a reference potential, and which is configured so that it conducts current when a threshold voltage is applied between the first and second load terminals. The central circuit node is coupled to the first load terminals of the semiconductor switches. The overvoltage protection arrangement further comprises a first actuating circuit for the first semiconductor switch and a second actuating circuit for the at least one second semiconductor switch.

The present invention relates to a circuit arrangement with at least two semiconductor switches and with an overvoltage protection for the at least two semiconductor switches.
Semiconductor switches such as MOSFETs or IGBTs are being used increasingly for switching electrical loads, such as switching electrical consumers in motor vehicles. In order to be able to actuate several consumers by means of a single integrated circuit, several semiconductor switches, in particular several power MOSFETs, are integrated in a semiconductor chip. An integrated circuit with two power MOSFETs integrated in a chip is, for example, the integrated circuit HITFET@ BTS 3410 G, which is described in data sheet 2004-03-05 of Infineon Technologies AG, Munich.
Such an integrated circuit with several semiconductor switches has circuits available separately for each of the semiconductor switches. Such circuits are, for example, driver circuits, one of which is assigned to each semiconductor switch, or protection circuits, such as current limiting circuits, overheating circuits, overvoltage protection circuits, or circuits to prevent overloading, one of each being assigned to each semiconductor switch.
The overvoltage protection circuits are, in particular, protection circuits working on the principle of "active Zenering". This principle is likewise presented in the above-mentioned data sheet for the BTS 3410 G and will be explained hereinbelow with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 shows a circuit arrangement with two semiconductor switches T1, Tn, configured as a MOSFET, each of them having one control terminal 11, 1n as well as first load terminals 21, 2n and second load terminals 31, 3n. Semiconductor switches T1, Tn are actuated via driver circuits DRV1, DRVn depending on input signals IN1, INn fed to the driver circuits DRV1, DRVn. The semiconductor switches T1, Tn and the driver circuits DRV1, DRVn are integrated together in a semiconductor chip, as is indicated in FIG. 1 schematically by the dot-and-dash line indicated as 10.
To protect the semiconductor switches T1, Tn against an overvoltage between their load terminals 21, 31 and 2n, 3n, each of the semiconductor switches T1, Tn has a protection circuit with a diode D1, Dn and a Zener diode Z1, Zn, which are connected between the first load terminals 21, 2n and the control terminals 11, 1n of the semiconductor switches T1, Tn. If, during the operation of this semiconductor switch, an electrical potential at the first load terminal 21, 2n rises to a value lying above the potential on the control terminals 11, 1n by the value of the breakthrough voltage of the Zener diodes Z1, Zn of the protection circuits, the semiconductor switches T1, Tn will be biased into conduction, thereby preventing a further rise in the voltage across their loads and protecting the semiconductor switches T1, Tn against overvoltage.
The drawback in the solution explained by FIG. 1 is that a separate overvoltage protection circuit has to be provided for each semiconductor switch, which requires a not insignificant surface area on the semiconductor chip to produce the protection circuits. This problem becomes worse with increasing number of semiconductor switches being integrated together in a single chip.
Another problem with providing separate overvoltage protection circuits for the at least two semiconductor switches can arise in the situation represented by the dotted line in FIG. 1, when the two semiconductor switches T1, Tn jointly actuate an inductive load L. The load in this case is connected between a terminal for a positive power supply potential V+ and the first load terminals 21, 2n of the two semiconductor switches T1, Tn, while the second load terminals 31, 3n of the semiconductor switches T1, Tn lie at a reference potential GND. Thus, the two semiconductor switches T1, Tn are connected up in parallel for the actuation of the inductive load L. Such a parallel circuit can be required when the current uptake of the load L is higher than the maximum allowable current load of one of the semiconductor switches T1, Tn.
If, in this circuit configuration, the two semiconductor switches T1, Tn are caused to go into conduction, a load current will flow through the inductive load, being shared between the two semiconductor switches T1, Tn. If the two semiconductor switches T1, Tn are then switched off, the voltage on their first load terminals 21, 2n will rise on account of the energy accumulated in the inductive load. If this potential reaches a value where the Zener diodes Z1, Zn conduct a current to the control terminals 11, 1n of the semiconductor switches T1, Tn, the two semiconductor switches T1, Tn will go into conduction to prevent a further rise in the electrical potential at the first load terminals 21, 2n and commutate the inductive load away.
If the Zener diodes Z1, Zn differ in their breakthrough voltage due to manufacturing variations, an operating situation may result in which one of the two semiconductor switches T1, Tn is conducting, while the other is still blocking. The conducting semiconductor switch will then have the entire commutation current of the inductive load flowing through it which can result in an overstress that can lead to destruction of this semiconductor switch. In this connection, it should be noted that, instead of only one Zener diode, it is customary to provide series circuits of several Zener diodes, which somewhat aggravates the problem of manufacturing-caused variations.
An advantage of the present invention is to provide a circuit arrangement with at least two semiconductor switches and an overvoltage protection arrangement in which the overvoltage protection arrangement is economical in space and in which the at least two semiconductor switches are reliably protected against overvoltages.

Circuit arrangement with at least two semiconductor switches and a central overvoltage protection


Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. Wireless communications systems may support implementation of narrow bandwidth parts (NBWPs). For example, a NBWP may be established over a reduced bandwidth to support user equipment (UEs) with reduced complexity features (e.g., such as UEs with reduced bandwidth capabilities). Wireless communications systems may provide for UE transitioning to a NBWP (e.g., after initial cell search), as well as for UE transitioning amongst NBWPs (e.g., subsequent transitions to other NBWPs after an initial transition to a NBWP after initial cell search). For example, a UE may initially transition to a NBWP (e.g., transition to monitor the NBWP for reference signals or to utilize the NBWP for uplink/downlink communications) to support reduced bandwidth capabilities of the UE. Subsequently, the UE may transition amongst other NBWPs for network load balancing, UE frequency hopping gain, etc.

The following relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to narrow bandwidth part (NBWP) transitions for reduced capability devices.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or network access nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
In some wireless communications systems, connections may be established using a relatively wide channel frequency bandwidth. In some cases, one or more portions of the channel frequency bandwidth (e.g., which may be referred to as bandwidth parts (BWPs)) may be used for communications with a UE. For example, a carrier may be associated with a particular bandwidth of the radio frequency spectrum, and the carrier bandwidth may be one of a number of predetermined bandwidths for carriers of a particular radio access technology (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, or 80 MHz). In some examples, each served UE 115 may be configured for operating over portions of the carrier bandwidth or over BWPs, or for operating over all of the carrier bandwidth. In some cases, monitoring and utilization of BWPs may be a computation burden for some devices (e.g., such as devices with reduced capability).

Narrow bandwidth part transitions for reduced capability devices


Chicken cell lines which contain Marek's Disease Virus (MDV) which is present as a non-lytic or a lytic infection of the cell line and method of production are described. Methods and vaccines against avian MDV prepared from the cell lines are also described.

(1) Summary of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sustainable chicken cell line infected with vaccine strains of Marek's disease virus (MDV). In particular, the present invention relates to cell lines infected with vaccine strains of turkey herpesvirus (HVT) and vaccine strains of serotype-2 MDV which can be used as live virus vaccine to protect poultry against Marek's disease, wherein the MDV resides in these cultures as a lytic or non-lytic infection, depending upon growing conditions.
(2) Background of the Invention
Marek's Disease
Marek's disease (MD), is the most common clinical neoplastic condition of any animal, including humans, on earth (H. G. Purchase, in "Marek's Diseases: Scientific Basis and Methods of Control: Clinical disease and its economic impact." (L. N. Payne, Ed.), Martinus Nijoff Publishing, Boston, Mass., pp. 17-42. (1985)). MDV is a highly contagious lymphoproliferative herpesvirus. There are three MDV serotypes: the oncogenic serotype-1 (MDV-1) ; the nononcogenic serotype-2 (MDV-2) ; and the nononcogenic serotype-3, turkey herpesvirus (HVT) (B. W. Calnek and R. L. Witter, in "Diseases of Poultry: Marek's Disease" (B. W. Calnek et al., Eds.), Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa pp. 342-385, (1991)).
Replication of MDV and HVT is typical of other cell-associated herpesviruses and has been extensively reviewed (L. J. N. Ross, in "Marek's Diseases: Scientific Basis and Methods of Control: Molecular Biology of the Virus." (L. N. Payne, Ed.), Martinus Nijoff Publishing, Boston, Mass., pp. 113-150 (1985)). The three general types of cell-virus interactions recognized are: productive infection, latent, and transforming. The sequence of events in MDV-1 infected birds leading to transformation include, 1) initial lytic growth in B-cells, 2) a latent phase involving infected T-cells, 3) a second round of lytic infection, coincident with permanent immunosuppression, and 4) oncogenic transformation (B. W. Calnek and R. L. Witter, in "Diseases of Poultry: Marek's Disease" (B. W. Calnek et al., Eds.), Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa, pp. 342-385 (1991)). The sequence of events in MDV-2 and HVT infected birds appears to be limited to an initial lytic phase followed by latency in non T-cells or latency without oncogenic transformation (B. W. Calnek and R. L. Witter, in "Diseases of Poultry: Marek's Disease" (B. W. Calnek et al., Eds.), Iowa State university Press, Ames, Iowa, pp. 342-385 (1991)).
Avian Cell Lines
The poultry industry has always recognized the need for continuous avian cell lines that could be used for producing Marek's disease vaccines and simplify development of recombinant MDV vectors for polyvalent vaccines. Although many avian cell lines have been developed (K. Nazerian, Avian Pathol. 16:527-544 (1987)), until the present invention, no cell line could substitute for chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells in vaccine production. Previous cell lines failed because they were either derived from virally transformed cells or, if derived from chemically transformed cells, the cells produced tumors when inoculated into chickens, or the maximum titer of virus recoverable from the cell line was insufficient for commercial production. Therefore, poultry vaccine producers continue to use primary CEF cells for producing Marek's disease and other live and killed vaccines, an expensive and labor intensive process dependent on a continual source of specified pathogen free (SPF) eggs for preparing CEF.
Marek's Disease Vaccines
Marek's disease vaccines are the most widely used vaccines in the poultry industry. Since development of live virus Marek's disease vaccines in the late 1970's, losses to Marek's disease have been significantly reduced (B. W. Calnek and R. L. Witter, in "Diseases of Poultry: Marek's Disease" (B. W. Calnek et al., Eds.), Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa, pp. 342-385 (1991)). The most widely used Marek's disease vaccines are live HVT or a bivalent mixture of live HVT and the pathogenic serotype 2 MDV. The bivalent mixture of HVT and serotype 2 MDV synergistically affords greater protection against Marek's disease especially in those situations where HVT is not fully effective (R. L. Witter, Avian Pathol. 11:49-62 (1982); R. L. Witter and L. F. Lee, Avian pathol. 13:75-92 (1984); R. L. Witter, "Marek's Diseases:Scientific Basis and Methods of Control: Principles of Vaccination." (L. N. Payne, Ed.), Martinus Nijoff Publishing, Boston, Mass. pp. 203-250 (1985)).
Marek's disease vaccines have achieved worldwide use (M. Pattison, "Marek's Diseases: Scientific Basis and Methods of Control: Control of Marek's disease by the poultry industry: practical considerations." (L. N. Payne, Ed.), Martinus Nijoff Publishing, Boston, Mass., pp. 341-350 (1985)), even though production of these vaccines requires weekly preparation of CEF cells. Therefore, vaccine production is very dependent on a continuous and reliable supply of fertile eggs from specified pathogen free (SPF) flocks. SPF flocks are raised under special conditions and are regularly demonstrated to be free of avian pathogens (D. H. Thornton, "Marek's Diseases: Scientific Basis and Methods of Control: quality control and standardization of vaccines." (L. N. Payne, Ed.), Martinus Nijoff Publishing, Boston, Mass., pp. 267-292 (1985)). Any disruption in the supply of fertile SPF eggs would disrupt production of MDV vaccines. A continuous cell line for MDV vaccine production would have great economic benefits for the worldwide poultry industry.
Current Marek's disease vaccines are either suspensions of infected CEF or cell-free virus suspensions made from sonicated CEF infected with vaccine strains of Marek's disease virus. Since there are no sustainable cell lines suitable for propagating MDV, the MDV vaccine industry uses primary CEF for production of vaccine virus (A. E. Churchill, "Marek's Diseases: Scientific Basis and Methods of Control: Production of vaccines." (L. N. Payne, Ed.), Martinus Nijoff Publishing, Boston, Mass., pp. 251-266 (1985)). Primary CEFs have a finite life span (approximately two to three weeks) and must be prepared every one or two weeks, increasing costs for producing MDV vaccines.
The number of passages in CEF cell culture is limited for MDV. Continual cultivation of all three MDV serotypes in CEF results in attenuation of serotype-1 MDV and for serotype-2 and 3, loss of protective efficacy against MDV. The attenuation of serotype-1 MDV in culture has been extensively investigated and has been correlated to an expansion in the het region of the viral genome. This expansion can be easily monitored by Southern analysis or by PCR. The reason for loss of protective efficacy for high passage serotype-2 and -3 MDV is not known.
H. Ogura and T. Fujiwara (Acta Med. Okayama 41:141-143 (1987)) established a cell line (CHCC-OU2) by chemically transforming chicken embryo cells. The cell line was fibroblastic in appearance, contact inhibited, and did not form colonies in agar. The authors showed that CHCC-OU2 cell lines were not malignantly transformed, did not produce endogenous avian retroviruses, but were capable of supporting replication of Newcastle disease virus and several subgroups of avian retroviruses. However, the authors did not extend their study to the replication of other avian viruses such as Marek's disease virus and infectious bursal disease virus.

Sustainable cell line for the production of Marek's disease vaccines

Board of Trustees operating Michigan State University


A circuit protection device including a housing, a metal oxide varistor disposed within said housing, a terminal having a contact lead at a first end electrically attached to said metal oxide varistor by solder and having a second end extending outside of said housing, an arc shield disposed within said housing between said contact lead and said metal oxide varistor, a micro switch housed in a pocket portion of the housing, said micro switch having a trigger portion and an indicator portion disposed at least partially outside of said housing, said arc shield positioned against said trigger portion, and a spring configured to bias said arc shield away from said pocket portion and to move said arc shield away from said trigger portion when said solder is melted to provide a barrier between said metal oxide varistor and said contact lead, whereby the indicator portion is retracted into the housing.

Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to the field of circuit protection devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a surge protection device with a thermal disconnect system configured to provide fast response to overheating.
Discussion of Related Art
Over-voltage protection devices are used to protect electronic circuits and components from damage due to over-voltage fault conditions. These over-voltage protection devices may include metal oxide varistors (MOVs) that are connected between the circuits to be protected and a ground line. MOVs have a unique current-voltage characteristic that allows them to be used to protect such circuits against catastrophic voltage surges. Typically, these devices utilize thermal links which can melt during an abnormal condition to form an open circuit. In particular, when a voltage that is larger than the nominal or threshold voltage is applied to the device, current flows through an MOV which generates heat. This causes the thermal link to melt. Once the link melts, an open circuit is created which prevents the over-voltage condition from damaging the circuit to be protected. However, these existing circuit protection devices do not provide an efficient heat transfer from the MOV to the thermal link, thereby delaying response times. In addition, existing circuit protection devices are complicated to assembly which increases manufacturing costs. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that improvements are desirable in present day circuit protection device employing metal oxide varistors.

Thermal metal oxide varistor circuit protection device


A wireless communication system including receiving and base stations. The receiving station includes a detector that measures a downlink channel correlation matrix for multiple antennas of a base station. The detector computes an antenna weight increment vector normal to an antenna weight vector for multiple beams from the multiple antennas of the base station. The detector quantizes the antenna weight increment vectors to produce a respective quantized antenna weight increment vector. The receiving station includes a transmitter that sends the quantized antenna weight increment vectors to the base station. The base station includes a beamformer selector that receives from the receiving station and re-orthogonalizes the quantized antenna weight increment vector for each of the multiple beams. The base station includes a weight vector modifier that modifies the antenna weight vector for the multiple beams by adding an increment proportional to the respective re-orthogonalized quantized antenna weight increment vector.

The communication of information is a necessity of modern society, which is enabled through the operation of a communication system. Information is communicated between a sending station and a receiving station by way of communication channels. The sending station, if necessary, converts the information into a form for communication over the communication channels. The receiving station detects and recovers the information for the benefit of a user. A wide variety of different types of communication systems have been developed and are regularly employed to effectuate communication between the sending and receiving stations. New types of communication systems have been and continue to be developed and constructed as a result of advancements in communication technologies.
An exemplary communication system is a radio communication system in which a communication channel is defined upon a radio link extending between the sending and receiving stations. The radio communication systems are amenable to implementation as mobile communication systems wherein radio links, rather than fixed, wireline connections, are employed to define communication channels. A cellular communication system is an example of a radio communication system that has achieved significant levels of usage. Cellular communication systems have been installed throughout significant parts of the populated world. Various cellular communication standards have been promulgated, setting forth the operational parameters of different types of cellular communication systems.
Generally, a cellular communication system includes a network infrastructure that includes a plurality of base stations that are positioned at spaced-apart locations throughout a geographic area. Each of the base stations defines an area, referred to as a cell, from which the cellular communication system derives its name. The network infrastructure of which the base stations form portions is coupled to a core network such as a packet data backbone or a public-switched telephone network. Communication devices such as computer servers, telephone stations, etc., are, in turn, coupled to the core network and are capable of communication by way of the network infrastructure and the core network. Portable transceivers, referred to as mobile stations, communicate with the base stations by way of radio links forming portions of an electromagnetic spectrum. The use of the cellular communication system is permitted, typically, pursuant to a service subscription and users (referred to as subscribers) that communicate by way of the cellular communication system through utilization of the mobile stations.
Information communicated over a radio link is susceptible to distortion such as dispersion as a result of non-ideal communication conditions. The distortion causes the information delivered to a receiving station to differ from the corresponding information transmitted by the sending station. If the distortion is significant, the informational content will not be accurately recovered at the receiving station. For instance, fading caused by multi-path transmission distorts information communicated over a communication channel. If the communication channel exhibits significant levels of fading, the informational content may not be recoverable.
Various techniques such as spatial diversity are employed to compensate for, or otherwise overcome, the distortion introduced upon the information transmitted over a communication channel to the receiving station. Spatial diversity is created through the use, at a sending station, of more than one transmit antenna from which information is transmitted, thereby creating spatial redundancy therefrom. The antennas are typically separated by distances sufficient to ensure that the information communicated by respective antennas fades in an uncorrelated manner. Additionally, the receiving stations sometimes use more than one receive antenna, preferably separated by appropriate distances.
Communication systems that utilize both multiple transmitting antennas and multiple receiving antennas are often referred to as being multiple-input, multiple-output ("MIMO") systems. Communications in a MIMO system provide the possibility that higher overall capacity of the system, relative to conventional systems, can be achieved. As a result, an increased number of users may be serviced or more data throughput may be provided with improved reliability for each user. The advantages provided through the use of spatial diversity are further enhanced if the sending station is provided with information about the state or performance of the communication channel between the sending and receiving stations.
A sending station generally cannot measure channel characteristics of the communication channel directly, such as a channel correlation matrix representing a product of channel impulse response components for the multiple transmitting antennas. Thus, the receiving station typically measures the channel characteristics of the communication channel. In two-way communication systems, measurements made at the receiving station can be returned to the sending station to provide the channel characteristics to the sending station. Communication systems that provide this type of information to multiple-antenna sending stations are referred to as closed-loop transmit diversity systems. Communication channels extending from the network infrastructure of a cellular communication system to a mobile station are sometimes referred to as being downlink, or forward-link, channels. Conversely, the channels extending from the mobile station back to the network infrastructure are sometimes referred to as being uplink, or reverse-link, channels.
The feedback information returned to the sending station (e.g., the network infrastructure such as a base station) from the receiving station (e.g., a mobile station) is used to select values of antenna weightings. The weightings are values including phase delays by which information signals provided to individual antennas are weighted prior to their communication over a communication channel to the mobile station. A goal is to weight the information signals in amplitude and phase applied to the antennas in a manner that best facilitates communication of the information to the receiving station. The weighting values of the antenna approach a conjugate of the subspace spanned by a downlink channel covariance matrix. Estimation of the antenna weightings can be formulated as a transmission subspace tracking procedure. Several closed-loop transmit diversity procedures may be utilized.
As an example, transmit adaptive array ("TxAA"), eigenbeam former, and other techniques may be employed to advantage. Existing techniques, however, suffer from various deficiencies. For instance, the TxAA procedure fails to take into account a long-term covariance matrix of the communication channel in the selection of the antenna weightings. Additionally, the use of an eigenbeam former technique is dependent upon the number of antennas of the sending station. When the number of antennas increases, the complexity of such a technique increases rapidly.
Considering the limitations as described above, a system and method to control antenna weighting parameters for multiple antennas employed in a wireless communication system is not presently available for the more severe applications that lie ahead. Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a system that adaptively selects antenna weighting parameters and sends quantized increment vectors back to the transmitter, provides fast and global convergence to the ideal antenna weights, and employs minimal data rate to communicate the results from the receiver to the transmitter, overcoming many of the aforementioned limitations. In accordance therewith, a wireless communication system employing multiple antennas would benefit from such an adaptive arrangement without incurring unnecessary uplink bandwidth or the need to compromise signal strength at the receiving antenna.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Adaptive multi-beamforming systems and methods for communication systems


A method and system for diagnosing a fault in a system. Operational state and configuration information is obtained from a plurality of components residing in a plurality of domains, the status and configuration information being based on a plurality of layers of a communication model. The operational state and configuration information are correlated and reformatted to create an end-to-end view of a network-based application; and a user interface configured to visualize the correlated and reformatted operational state and configuration information across the plurality of domains is generated, the user interface configured to present the visualized status and configuration information at each of the plurality of layers.

Historically, the cable network was predominantly a vehicle for delivering entertainment. With the advent of the Internet and the rise in demand for broadband two-way access, the cable industry began to seek new ways of utilizing its existing plant. Pure coaxial ("coax") cable networks were replaced with hybrid fiber/coax networks (HFCs) using optical fiber from the head end to the demarcation with the subscriber coax (usually at a fiber node). Currently, a content-based network, a non-limiting example of which is a cable television network, may afford access to a variety of services besides television, for example, broadband Internet access, telephone service, and the like. There are also fiber networks for fiber to the home (FTTH) deployments (also known as fiber to the premises or FTTP), where the CPE is a Service ONU (S-ONU; ONU=optical network unit).
One significant issue for a cable operator desiring to provide digital service is the configuration of its network. Designed for one-way delivery of broadcast signals, the existing cable network topology was optimized for downstream only (i.e., towards the subscriber) service. New equipment had to be added to the network to provide two-way communication. To reduce the cost of this equipment and to simplify the upgrade of the broadcast cable for two-way digital traffic, standards were developed for a variety of new cable-based services. The first of these standards, the Data Over Cable System Interface Standard (DOCSIS® standard), was released in 1998. DOCSIS® establishes standards for cable modems and supporting equipment. DOCSIS® (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) is a registered mark of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc., 400 Centennial Parkway Louisville Colo. 80027, USA, and may be referred to at some points herein in capital letters, without the ® symbol, for convenience.
There are many types of IP networks besides cable networks. Other wired IP networks include, for example, digital subscriber line (DSL), fiber to the home, fiber to the curb, and so on. Wireless IP networks include Wi-Fi, wireless ISP (Internet Service Provider), WiMAX, satellite internet, and mobile broadband.
Provisioning, within a broadband network, includes the process of ensuring that customer premises equipment (CPE) such as cable modems, digital subscriber line (DSL) modems, and the like are properly configured, authenticated, and successfully come online. Failures may occur from time-to-time in providing services to, for example, customer premises. Diagnosing such failures and quickly restoring a service is a key goal of service providers.

Multi-domain software defined network controller


A method and apparatus for object-of-interest image capture accomplishes the functions of capturing (120) a current image, determining (125) an object region of the object-of-interest in the current image, calculating (130) a contrast measurement of the object region, and identifying (135) the current image as having an optimized object region when an iteration measure meets a criterion. The current image is captured using a local exposure value determined from luminance readings of pixels within an object region of an object-of-interest of a previous image.

Performing automatic recognition by a processing system of an object-of-interest within an image is important for many tasks, including such tasks as vehicle identification by license plate recognition. Accurate camera exposure control for a region occupied by the object-of-interest is crucial to achieving optimal object recognition in computer vision. Since the location of the object-of-interest is often not known a priori, existing exposure control algorithms generally use a global luminance of the image to set the exposure threshold, which often yields poor exposure result for the object-of-interest, especially when the scene in the image is not evenly illuminated. In some existing systems, more weight or bias is put towards a designated area of the image, such as the center of the image, where the object-of-interest may have a higher likelihood to be located. This strategy will only work when the object-of-interest is limited to a particular location by some means. In the more general case where the object-of-interest can be anywhere in the image frame, using an average of a designated area, such as the center of the image, may do more harm than good.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.


A putter has an elongated head with a face along a long side of the head and an end surface along a short side of the head. The shaft can be positioned to strike a ball with either the face or the end surface. The end surface may have a loft of 5 degrees or more. The shaft is held in each position such that it does not move appreciably while putting, but can be moved to another position by a golfer, optionally with or without tools. In some embodiments, all contact between the shaft and the head is made through one or more resilient, non-metallic materials such as rubber. In some embodiments, a ball on the end of the shaft is held in a cavity in the head by an annular nut. O-rings or other elements separate the ball from components fixed to the head and the nut can be tightened or loosened to adjust the friction provided by the O-rings or other elements. In some embodiments, the shaft can alternately be made fixable or moveable relative to the head by manipulating, for example twisting, the shaft. In other embodiments, a golfer can change the loft of a face or end of the putter without moving the shaft, by using a wedge that may be removeably affixed to the face or end.

A typical putter has an elongated head mounted on a shaft. One side of the head provides a face, generally parallel with the long axis of the head, for hitting the ball. With the bottom of the putter head lying flat on a level surface, the face may be vertical or tilted back a slight angle, called the loft of the putter, often between about 2 and 4 degrees. The shaft is attached to the putter head and extends from the head in a plane that is generally parallel to the long axis of the head and the face of the putter. With the bottom of the putter head again lying flat on a level surface, the shaft is angled upwards from the horizontal at an angle, called the lie of the putter, of between about 68 and 78 degrees. Some variations from this typical configuration will be discussed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,737 describes a putter with a cylindrical head. The side of the cylinder is used to contact the ball so the face is convex rather than flat. The shaft may be inclined between 16 degrees and 22 degrees relative to a vertical plane normal to the longitudinal centerline of the head. The inclination of the shaft may be varied because the end of the shaft is fitted with a partial cylinder, mounted with its central axis perpendicular to the shaft, that can rotate through the angles of inclination mentioned above in a slot in the head. A desired angle of inclination is fixed by screwing a wedge block into the slot to clamp the end of the shaft into the slot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,295 describes a putter with an elongated head having a flat face. The end of the shaft has a sphere that is mounted in one of two pockets in the head. Each pocket prevents the sphere from leaving the head but permits the shaft to rotate through a range of lie angles. One pocket allows the shaft to be positioned relative to the face as appropriate for left handed golfers, while the other pocket allows the shaft to be positioned for right handed golfers. With the sphere in either pocket, set screws through the head are tightened against the sphere to hold the shaft at a desired lie.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,920 describes a putter with a head having a flat face at one side and bullet shaped weights protruding from the other side. A sphere on the end of the shaft is mounted in a cylindrical bore through the head. An annular shoulder in the bore prevents the sphere from coming out of the bore through the top of the head. A screw threaded into the bore from the bottom of the head locks the sphere in place between the annular shoulder and the top of the screw. The screw has a lower portion that breaks off as the screw is tightened in place to permanently fix the shaft at a desired lie and loft angle. The annular shoulder may be sharpened to provide a biting engagement with the sphere.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,969 describes a putter with a cylindrical head and convex face. The end of the shaft has a ball or cylinder that fits into a bore in the head. The top of the bore has a shoulder to engage the ball but also opens to the top of the head through an elongated opening. The elongated opening allows the shaft to pivot through lie angles of between 30 and 90 degrees while preventing the shaft from pivoting about the longitudinal axis of the head. A resilient plastic or aluminum retainer is inserted into the bore from the bottom of the head and held against the ball by a locking member threaded into the bore. A golfer alters the angle of the shaft relative to the head by applying weight to the resilient retainer to disengage the ball from the shoulder of the bore. An alternate embodiment has an offset shaft. Another alternate embodiment has a head with a flat face.