A method for cooling a process stream in which one of a plurality of open-loop refrigerant streams is cooled by indirect heat exchange with other of the open-loop refrigerant stream in a refrigerant heat exchanger to yield a cooled primary refrigerant stream. The process stream is cooled by indirect heat exchange with a process refrigerant stream in a separate process heat exchanger, wherein the process refrigerant stream comprises at least a portion of the cooled primary refrigerant stream. The method is particularly useful in large process plants which require multiple parallel heat exchangers to cool the process stream.

The separation of low-boiling gas mixtures requires refrigeration to cool and condense feed streams which are separated into desired product fractions. Refrigeration typically is provided to a warm feed stream by indirect heat exchange with cold process streams from other locations within a process plant, and also can be provided by closed-loop or recirculating refrigerant systems. Refrigeration also can be generated by work expansion of the feed stream itself, portions of the feed stream, or other process streams.
Refrigeration is provided by these methods for the separation of feed gas mixtures contain light gases such as hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide as well as light hydrocarbons containing one or more carbon atoms. Typical applications include nitrogen rejection from nitrogen-light hydrocarbon mixtures and ethylene or propylene recovery from cracked gases produced by hydrocarbon pyrolysis.
The cooling and condensing of a feed gas in these applications typically involves at least one multiple-stream conventional heat exchanger or dephlegmator in which refrigeration is provided by three or more cold process streams and possibly by dedicated refrigerant streams. This requires a complex heat exchanger with significant piping and manifolding for the introduction and withdrawal of the numerous warmed and cooled steams. In many cases, the flow rate of the feed gas stream exceeds the capacity of a single heat exchanger, and multiple parallel heat exchangers must be used. This further complicates the required piping and manifolding.
In process situations which require such a plurality of large, multiple-stream heat exchangers, it is desirable to simplify the required piping and manifolding in order to reduce capital cost and operating complexity. The invention described below and defined in the claims which follow addresses this need with a simplified method and system for cooling process stream with multiple refrigerant streams.
The invention is a method for cooling a process stream which comprises obtaining a plurality of open-loop refrigerant streams, selecting one of the open-loop refrigerant streams as a primary refrigerant stream, and cooling the primary refrigerant stream by indirect heat exchange with other of the open-loop refrigerant streams in a refrigerant heat exchanger to yield a cooled primary refrigerant stream. The process stream is cooled by indirect heat exchange with a process refrigerant stream in a process heat exchanger to yield one or more cooled process streams and a warmed process refrigerant stream, wherein the process refrigerant stream comprises at least a portion of the cooled primary refrigerant stream.
The method can further comprise operating one or more additional process heat exchangers in parallel with the process heat exchanger wherein each of the additional process heat exchangers cools an additional process stream by indirect heat exchange with a portion of the process refrigerant stream. The process stream and the additional process streams typically are gas mixtures which have identical compositions.
The process heat exchanger can be a dephlegmator heat exchanger which cools, partially condenses, and rectifies a mixed feed gas stream to produce a condensate stream and a light overhead gas stream. Alternatively, the process heat exchanger can be a conventional heat exchanger.
The warmed process refrigerant stream optionally can be work expanded to yield an expanded cooled refrigerant stream which provides one of the other open-loop refrigerant stream. The expanded cooled refrigerant stream optionally can be warmed to provide refrigeration in the refrigerant heat exchanger, a warmed expanded refrigerant stream can be with drawn therefrom, and the warmed expanded refrigerant stream can be further work expanded to yield a further expanded cooled refrigerant stream which provides another of the other open-loop refrigerant streams.
A portion of the light overhead gas stream can be combined with the cooled primary refrigerant to provide the process refrigerant stream. The warmed process refrigerant stream an be work expanded to yield an expanded cooled refrigerant stream which can provide one of the other open-loop refrigerant streams.
The expanded cooled refrigerant stream can be warmed to provide refrigeration in the refrigerant heat exchanger, a warmed expanded refrigerant stream can be withdrawn therefrom, and the warmed expanded refrigerant stream can be further work expanded to yield a further expanded cooled refrigerant stream which provides another of the other open-loop refrigerant streams.
The cooled primary refrigerant stream can be a two-phase vapor-liquid primary refrigerant stream. In this embodiment, the method further comprises
(1) separating the two-phase vapor-liquid primary refrigerant stream into a vapor refrigerant stream and a liquid refrigerant stream;
(2) combining the vapor refrigerant stream with a portion of the light overhead gas stream to yield a combined vapor refrigerant;
(3) warming the combined vapor refrigerant in the refrigerant heat exchanger to provide refrigeration therein and yield a warmed combined vapor refrigerant;
(4) work expanding the warmed combined vapor refrigerant to provide a cooled combined refrigerant; and
(5) combining the cooled combined refrigerant with the liquid refrigerant stream of (1) to provide the process refrigerant stream.
The method can further comprise withdrawing the warmed process refrigerant stream from the process heat exchanger and work expanding the warmed process refrigerant to provide one of the other open-loop refrigerant streams.
The process stream cooled by the method of the present invention can comprise hydrogen, methane, ethylene, and ethane. Alternatively, the process stream can comprise nitrogen, ethane, and ethane. In another alternative, the process stream can comprise hydrogen carbon monoxide, and methane.
The light overhead gas stream can comprise hydrogen and methane. In this embodiment, the method can further comprise separating a portion of the light overhead gas stream into a hydrogen-enriched product stream and a methane-enriched fuel stream, and utilizing the hydrogen-enriched product stream and the methane-enriched fuel stream to provide two of the other open-loop refrigerant streams.
If desired, two of the plurality of open-loop refrigerant streams can be combined to provide the primary refrigerant stream which is cooled by indirect heat exchange with the other open-loop refrigerant streams.
Additional refrigeration, if required, can be provided to either or both of the refrigerant heat exchanger and the process heat exchanger by warming a refrigerant provided by a closed-loop refrigeration system.
The invention also includes a heat exchanger system for cooling a process stream which comprises:
(a) refrigerant heat exchange means for providing indirect heat exchange among a plurality of open-loop refrigerant streams whereby one of the open-loop refrigerant streams is cooled by indirect heat exchange with other of the open-loop refrigerant streams to yield a cooled primary refrigerant stream and warmed refrigerant streams;
(b) process heat exchange means for providing indirect heat exchange between at the process stream and a process refrigerant stream to yield a cooled process stream and an additional warmed refrigerant stream, wherein the process refrigerant stream comprises at least a portion of the cooled primary refrigerant stream.
(c)piping means for introducing the open-loop refrigerant streams into the refrigerant heat exchange means and for withdrawing the cooled primary refrigerant stream and warmed refrigerant streams from the refrigerant heat exchange means; and
(d) piping means for introducing the process refrigerant stream into the process heat exchange means and for withdrawing the cooled process stream and the warmed process refrigerant stream from the process heat exchange means.

Method for providing refrigeration to parallel heat exchangers


A reaction-jet helicopter with a recuperator. Hot gas exiting the recuperator is directed to the helicopter's hollow-body rotor blades to increase the energy of the air exiting the jets and thus increase thrust and improve fuel efficiency. Hot gas exiting the recuperator may also be directed to the gas turbine of the helicopter's engine, further increasing fuel efficiency. A splitter valve on the exit side of the recuperator may be employed to direct exiting gas for one or more desired uses. The recuperator includes a heat exchanger, preferably an all-prime surface heat exchanger. The recuperator system may be combined with a circulation control system on the hollow-body rotor blades to further increase fuel efficiency.

Reaction-jet helicopters use compressed air delivered through hollow-body rotor blades to induce rotational movement of the blades, unlike conventional helicopters which use a mechanical transmission system to transfer power from the engine to rotate the blades. Reaction jets, also known as pressure jets and tip jets, are nozzles located at the tip of these hollow-body blades. The air travels through the hollow blades from root to tip and exits at sonic or supersonic speed at the nozzles. The thrust generated as the air exits the nozzles generates the blades' rotational movement.
The motive air is generally delivered to the rotor blades from a compressor that is driven by the helicopter's engine, whether gas turbine or piston. Alternatively air can be bled from the compressor discharge. Reaction-jet helicopters come in three variants, cold, warm or hot cycle tip-jet systems that are differentiated on the basis of the gas temperature entering the rotor blades. The gas temperature depends on the source of the motive air. Cold-cycle tip-jet systems receive relatively cool air diverted from air exiting the compressor before it enters the burner. Hot cycle tip-jet systems receive air post-burner, which of course is hotter than the air entering the burner. Hot air delivered to the rotor blades provides more thrust than cooler air for a given amount of air.
Reaction-jet helicopter systems are much lighter than conventional helicopters because by using air to propel the rotor blades, they do not require the heavy mechanical transmission system to drive the rotor blades. Because reaction jet helicopters are lighter, the reaction jet will generally carry more cargo (freight or passengers) than a conventional helicopter, for a given gross takeoff weight that includes the fuel load. The present reaction-jet designs however are less fuel efficient than conventional helicopters and, accordingly, for a given takeoff weight will not be able to fly as far. However, if some of the cargo weight is sacrificed for a heavier engine that is significantly more fuel efficient than a conventional helicopter engine, then the reaction-jet system of the present invention can be superior to a conventional helicopter.
A recuperator is a special purpose heat exchanger positioned within the air flow of an engine that recovers waste heat from the engine, typically to increase the engine's overall efficiency. For example, in a gas turbine engine, air is compressed and mixed with fuel, which is then burned and used to drive a turbine, generating hot exhaust. A recuperator coupled to the engine between the turbine and the exhaust captures and returns some of the waste heat in the exhaust to the compressed air, thus preheating it before entering the fuel burner stage. Since the gases have been pre-heated, less fuel is needed to heat the gases up to the turbine inlet temperature. Thus, by recovering some of the energy usually lost as waste heat, the recuperator can make a heat engine or gas turbine significantly more efficient.
It would be desirable to increase the fuel efficiency of a reaction-jet helicopter. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a reaction jet helicopter with a recuperator that can deliver hot air to the turbine and to the rotor blades.

Recuperated gas turbine system for reaction-jet helicopters


A structure for utilizing exhaust heat of a vehicle is provided. The structure includes a first part that has an exhaust pipe in which exhaust gas having a predetermined temperature passes through and which is heated by exchanging heat with the exhaust gas. A bypass passageway is installed within the exhaust pipe and the exhaust gas is bypassed through the bypass passageway. A thermoelectric element is attached to an exterior of the exhaust pipe, formed by bonding a P-type semiconductor and an N-type semiconductor, and produces electricity using a thermoelectric effect. A second part is attached to the exterior of the thermoelectric element and coolant flows therein. A first exhaust gas passageway is installed in the second part in a longitudinal direction and the exhaust gas passes through the first exhaust gas passageway to heat the coolant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure for utilizing exhaust heat of a vehicle, and more particularly, to a structure for utilizing exhaust heat of a vehicle that includes a bypass passage, a first exhaust gas passageway installed in a low-temperature part, and a second exhaust gas passageway formed between an exhaust pipe and the bypass passageway, and may be utilized both when the vehicle initially starts and when the vehicle runs in an overloaded state.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in a vehicle, depending on a running state of the vehicle, warming up and heating steps for an engine are performed when the vehicle initially starts, a thermoelectric power generating step is performed when the vehicle runs, and a bypassing step is performed when the vehicle runs on a slope or runs at an excessive speed (e.g., greater than a predetermined speed). A temperature of a coolant is raised to a predetermined temperature using a thermostat which raises a temperature of the coolant when the vehicle initially starts, and a warming u device which includes a water pump that circulates the coolant, warms up an engine. The engine should be warmed up while being operated to a particular temperature until the vehicle can run smoothly run.
Exhaust heat of the vehicle, which is produced when the vehicle runs, generates electricity while passing through a thermoelectric element of a thermoelectric power generating device. In particular, the thermoelectric element refers to an element that uses a thermoelectric effect in which thermal energy is converted into electrical energy by converting a temperature difference between both element ends into electricity, or electrical energy is converted into thermal energy by allowing electricity to flow through the element to cause a temperature difference between both the element ends.
The thermoelectric element is used in a small-scale cooling device, a small-scale heating device, or a small-scale power generating device. The thermoelectric element used in a small-scale power generating device is called a thermoelectric power generating device, or a thermoelectric power generator. The thermoelectric power generator is mainly used as an electric power supply device of a radio communication device, an electric power supply device of a space ship, a power supply device of a nuclear-powered submarine, and a thermoelectric power generator installed in an exhaust system of a vehicle. When the vehicle runs on a slope (e.g., on an inclined road) or when the vehicle runs in an overloaded state due to an excessive speed of the vehicle, exhaust heat of the vehicle is quickly discharged to the exterior of the vehicle via a bypass passageway, and the warming up device or the thermoelectric power generating device is not operated.
However, since according to a structure for utilizing exhaust heat of a vehicle in the related art, there is a section where the warming up device or the thermoelectric power generating device is not operated for each state of the vehicle, utilization of a system may deteriorate. In other words, the warming up device is operated when the vehicle initially starts, the thermoelectric power generating device is operated when the vehicle runs after a temperature of exhaust gas increases to a particular temperature, and both the warming up device and the thermoelectric power generating device are not operated when the vehicle runs in an overloaded state.

Structure for utilizing exhaust heat of vehicle


An apparatus for forming a wound roll of discrete overlapping sheets of web from a supply of continuous web. The web preferably is passed around a nip roller that steers the web onto the surface of a take-up core. A knife assembly including a knife blade extended from a knife holder is driven by a traversing mechanism across the width of the web to cut the wound web on the core into discrete sheets, the extended height of the knife blade being preferably the exact thickness of the web. In transverse cutting by the knife of the web wound on the take-up core, the knife holder travels on the outer surface of the web, thus assuring that the knife blade extends just to the outer surface of the next inner convolution of web, thereby cutting the continuous web into sheets without damaging previously wound web convolutions.

Methods and apparatus are known for forming a roll of tape material, comprising individual sheets of material wound concentrically about a core, known in the art as a "sheeted roll". Typically, the sheets are all of the same length, so the degree of overlap of sheets decreases as the roll diameter increases during winding of the roll, and typically, the ends of adjacent sheets are abutting. Such rolls, when wound with an adhesive surface facing outwards from the core, are useful, for example, in cleaning particles from a substrate surface by transferring the particles to the adhesive surface when the roll is rolled along the substrate surface. In such use, the roll is known in the art as a "particle transfer roller" (PTR) or a "contact cleaning roller" (CCR). As each sheet becomes loaded with particles, it is peeled off and discarded, exposing a fresh sheet for continued cleaning.
US Patent Application Publication No. US 2006/0057322 A1, published Mar. 16, 2006 and now abandoned, discloses a method and apparatus for forming a sheeted roll from a continuous length of such material. Continuous material having an adhesive coating is passed around a cutting roller having a traversing knife which is disposed therewithin and is selectively retractable below the surface of the cutting roller. At designated intervals, the knife is extended and traverses the continuous material, cutting therefrom a length of material defining a sheet which is then removably applied to a sheeting roller. Successive sheets, when so cut and applied to a sheeting roller, which preferably includes an inert core, define a sheeted roll in accordance with the prior art and the present invention.
A problem arises in applying the disclosed prior art to practice. The apparatus shown in FIG. 4 thereof for forming the sheeted roll shows the sheeted roll 110 being distinctly off-spaced from cutting roller 312 by an unidentified gap. The specification is silent as to how the leading edge of an adhesive sheet, which is now severed from its predecessor and therefore is discontinuous, is to be transferred from the cutting roller to the sheeting roller. The present invention is directed to method and apparatus for reliably avoiding such a problem.
What is needed in the art is an improved means for forming a sheeted roll of material comprising overlapping sheets having adjacent abutting ends.
It is a principal object of the present invention to form a sheeted roll of material.

Method and apparatus for forming a sheeted roll of material


Systems and methods are provided for determining a set of objects, the objects corresponding to a given case or application of a deletion/retention policy; determining at least one object in the set of objects to be scheduled for deletion, the at least one object being associated with a given state that specifies a deletion and/or retention type and schedule for the at least one object; and scheduling data corresponding to the at least one object for deletion from one or more data sources based at least in part on the deletion and/or retention type and schedule specified in the object state.

Under conventional approaches, various types of data can be stored and represented using an object model. An object model may be made up of a number of objects that serve as containers for data and the type of relationships between them. Each object can include a number of object components and descriptors.

Approaches for managing data retention lifecycle


Frequency distributions are particularly difficult to analyze by means of image processing systems if the digital images to be processed are divided into disjoint image areas and signal processors associated with each image area perform pre-processing of the pixel data. To determine a total frequency distribution, a large number of corresponding table entries must be transferred to a central processor. The invention accordingly proposes that the individual signal processors perform summation of the individual entries in a frequency distribution to obtain a cumulative frequency table. To find a p-quantile, not all the entries of the cumulative frequency tables need to be transferred to the central processor. If the latter in particular performs interval nesting, a value from the cumulative frequency tables only needs to be interrogated a manageable number of times in order to obtain a single entry in the total image cumulative frequency table.

In the prior filed but later published patent application with the official application number 10 2005 017 489.2, the dose data value assigned to the p-quantile of the image is used as the actual value for the dose or dose rate in an X-ray image.
A p-quantile is a value obtained from a frequency distribution, assuming a frequency distribution in which a plurality of values of a particular quantity are assigned a particular frequency. If the frequency distribution has n entries in total, the p-quantile (with 0<p<1) is the value at which n*p entries in the frequency distribution are entries for a lesser (or equal) value, and (1−p)*n entries pertain to values which are greater than the p-quantile.
When looking for the p-quantile, one is therefore looking for a value which divides the frequency distribution in a particular ratio.
In x-ray systems according to the prior art, as a rule the image is not now analyzed as an entity.
Instead, the image is divided into disjoint areas, typically into four disjoint image areas. Each of these image areas is assigned a (digital) signal processor. The signal processors allow parallel processing of pixel data from the respective image areas, so that a central processor only receives data from the signal processors on the basis of which it can "complete" image analysis. In other words, either preparation for image analysis or even part of image analysis takes place in the signal processors, and the combining of the data obtained by the signal processors is then the responsibility of a central processor (LCPU, Local Central Processing Unit).
However, this division of responsibilities among different signal processors in modern x-ray machines is a priori obstructive to determining a p-quantile. As the p-quantile is not a computationally determined value but a statistically determined value, it requires information concerning the frequency distribution.
As a first step, the individual signal processors would each normally be used to generate a frequency table in which, for the digital image, every pixel value is assigned the frequency of its occurrence in the image area associated with the signal processor.
These frequency tables would then be combined to form a total frequency table. As the pixel levels are predefined as such, only the assigned table entry needs to be added in each case.
The reason for associated problems is that modern x-ray imaging systems provide a large number of possible gray levels (which correspond to dose levels). 16 bits are typically used for the gray levels. Also in other imaging systems the number of pixel levels (these can also be color levels) is very high.
16 bits mean that there are 216 grayscale levels, i.e. approximately 64000 grayscale levels.
However, this also means that the frequency table has 64000 entries.
If the frequency table is to be transferred from the signal processor to the main processor, four times 64000 value assignments must be transferred. However, each individual data transfer requires approx. three clock pulses. If data analysis with determination of the p-quantile is to take place in real-time, this is critical in x-ray systems in which e.g. 30 images are generated per second. Because of the large number of data entries to be transferred for the frequency table, real-time analysis is no longer guaranteed.

Method for determining a p-quantile for the pixel levels, in particular the grayscale levels, of a digital image


In creating replicas to data of a storage volume in a storage system, a technique in which labor for issuing instructions from a processor can be reduced and then data consistency of related volumes can be secured is provided. A single replication instruction including designated information is issued for data of a logical unit serving as a copy source and a copy destination from a replication-control program of the processor. A control unit of the storage system possesses a multiple-replica creation program which enables a processing for creating replicas while securing the data consistency when an access such as a update or reference occurs for a group including a plurality of pairs of copy-source volume and copy-destination volume based on reception of the instruction. A save volume is provided to identify and control data save and update state by copy-source save information and copy-destination update information at the shared memory.

The present invention relates to a storage system (also called a disk-array unit) for controlling storing of data into a storage unit and, in particular, to a technique for creating a replica of data in storage volume.
Conventionally, there has been a computer system comprising: a storage system (storage sub-system) for controlling the storing of the data in the storage unit; and a processor which serves as a host to conduct a read/write access to the data connected to the storage system through a communication means. In the said computer system, there is a replication function for creating replicas (replicated volumes) by a copying processing inside the storage system for the data of the storage volume installed in the storage area of the storage system.
In the storage system and the computer system equipped with the replication functions, there is the case where it is desired to create a plurality of replicas for the data on a storage volume. For example, the above-mentioned case is at the time when a plurality of replica volumes are created for the data of the storage volume which the processor uses for an on-line application and a plurality of created replica storage volumes are properly used for each processing such as a backup, a test, and a batch processing independently of the on-line application.
In the case where it is desired to create a plurality of replicas for the data of a storage volume using the conventional replication function, multiple instructions required for creating a plurality of replicas must be issued in time series to the storage system in accordance with instructions having been inputted by an operator (user) of the processor. That is, a procedure for: first issuing multiple pair-creation instructions to establish a plurality of pairs of a primary volume which serves as a copy source and a secondary-volume which serves as a copy destination; and establishing a plurality of pairs in the storage system is required.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-132343 discloses a technique for creating the replicas by a copying processing inside the storage system, without interposing the processor for the data of the storage volume in the storage system. Also in this technique, the multiple instructions must be issued in the case where it is desirable that the plurality of replicas are created for the data of the storage volume.


Apparatus are provided for monitoring a condition of a tissue based on a measurement of an electrical property of the tissue. In an example, the electrical property of the tissue is performed using an apparatus disposed above the tissue, where the apparatus includes at least two conductive structures, each having a non-linear configuration, where the at least two conductive structures are disposed substantially parallel to each other. In another example, the electrical property of the tissue is performed using an apparatus disposed above the tissue, where the apparatus includes at least one inductor structure.

Effort is being made to develop electronics for application in measuring electrical properties of biological tissue. For example, effort is being made to develop electronics that can be applied to measure a property such as tissue hydration level.
Tissue hydration is the process of absorbing and retaining water in biological tissues. In humans, a significant drop in tissue hydration can lead to dehydration and may trigger other serious medical conditions. Dehydration may result from loss of water itself, loss of electrolytes, and/or a loss of blood plasma. Previous techniques for monitoring tissue hydration have applied, e.g., an ultrasonic hydration monitor that employs ultrasound velocity to calculate hydration level. The ultrasound hydration monitor is generally attached to tissue such as muscles. The device generally uses a rigid frame to maintain a constant distance between an ultrasound transducer and a receiver.
The use of electronics in such medical-related applications can be hampered by the boxy, rigid way that much electronics are designed and packaged. Biological tissue is mainly soft, pliable and curved. By contrast, boxy, rigid electronics can be hard and angular, which could affect the measurement of tissue.

Electronics for detection of a condition of tissue


An electronic device includes a multi-frequency antenna. The multi-frequency antenna includes a ground portion, a support body, a radiation portion, and a strap. The ground portion defines a gap, and two grooves communicating with the gap and located at opposite ends of the gap. The radiation portion resists against a sidewall bounding the gap, and is connected to the strap. The radiation portion is accommodated in the gap and substantially coplanar with the ground portion. The radiation portion defines a slot. The support body is located in the gap and on the radiation portion, to support the strap.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electronic devices and multi-frequency antennas, and particularly to an electronic communications device and a multi-frequency antenna provided in the electronic communications device for receiving and transmitting wireless signals.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, communications devices, such as mobile telephones or a notebook computers, have become common. Such a communications device is generally provided with an antenna for transmitting and receiving wireless signals. Ordinarily, this antenna is a miniature antenna that can be located in the casing of the communications device for convenience in carrying. However, due to the decreasing size of the antenna, transmission quality of the wireless signals may be declined, construction of the antenna may become complicated, and low return loss requirements in the antenna may not be met.

Electronic device and multi-frequency antenna thereof


In manufacturing a liquid crystal display element which includes a black matrix, in curing an ultraviolet curing sealing material after filling liquid crystal using a dropping injection method, there has been a possibility that a radiation quantity of ultraviolet rays to the sealing material is insufficient and hence, the curing is not sufficiently performed thus largely lowering the reliability of the liquid crystal display element. According to the present invention, an overlapping width of a frame-like sealing material and a black matrix on a peripheral portion along a display region is suppressed to 0.2 mm or less, or a region of the black matrix which is overlapped to the frame-like sealing member is patterned to include a light transmitting portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display element in which a pair of substrates is arranged to face each other and is fixed to each other by way of a frame-like sealing member with a predetermined gap therebetween and liquid crystal is sealed between both substrates inside the frame-like sealing member, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display element including a black matrix which surrounds a group consisting of a large number of display pixels which are formed inside the frame-like sealing member and provides along the frame-like sealing member.
2. Description of the Related Arts
In the active-matrix-type liquid crystal display element which constitutes one type of the liquid crystal display element, a switching element is provided to each of the plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix array. A thin film transistor (TFT) is used as a typical example of the switching element.
Here, the active-matrix-type liquid crystal display element which uses the thin film transistor is known in patent document 1 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,626), for example. Further, the constitution which covers a periphery of the pixel electrode with a light blocking film made of a resin (hereinafter also referred to as a black matrix) is known in patent document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-open Hei04-342229), patent document 3 (Japanese Patent Laid-open Hei05-72540) and patent document 4 (Japanese Patent Laid-open Hei11-352500).
The liquid crystal display element is, for example, configured such that a pair of substrates which respectively forms display pixel electrodes and orientation films and the like on inner surfaces thereof in a stacked manner allows the inner surfaces thereof to be arranged to face each other with a predetermined gap therebetween, peripheral portions of the pair of substrates are adhered to each other by a frame-like sealing material which forms a cutout portion in a portion thereof as a liquid crystal filling port, then, liquid crystal is filled in a space defined inside the sealing material by a pressure reduction injection method through the liquid crystal filling port and, thereafter, the liquid crystal filling port is sealed.
Further, polarizers are adhered to outsides of both substrates and, at the same time, a backlight which supplies light to the liquid crystal display element is arranged below the liquid crystal display element, and a drive circuit board which drives the liquid crystal display element is arranged outside an outer peripheral portion of the liquid crystal display element, and these respective members and a frame-like body formed of a molded product for holding these respective members are housed in a metal-made shield case (frame) in which a liquid crystal display window is formed.


A photothermographic imaging material containing a support having thereon: (i) a photosensitive layer containing photosensitive silver halide grains, light-insensitive organic silver salt grains, a binder, and a reducing agent for silver ions; and (ii) one or more non-photosensitive layers, wherein a powder compound which is preliminarily dried at a lower temperature than a temperature used for thermal development is incorporated in the photosensitive layer or in the non-photosensitive layer.

Heretofore, in the medical, and printing and plate making fields, effluent generated by processing image forming materials employing the wet processing system has caused operational problems. In recent years, in view of environmental protection as well as space saving, it is increasingly demanded to decrease the amount of processing effluent. Accordingly, heat developable photosensitive materials capable of forming images by applying only heat have been realized and are increasingly spreading into the above fields.
Heat developable photosensitive materials have been proposed for a long time. The above heat developable materials are commonly processed employing a thermal processor which applies uniform heat onto the heat developable materials to form images. As noted above, along with the above recent rapid spreading, a number of differing thermal processors have been supplied to the market. On the other hand, problems have occurred in which depending on storage conditions as well as ambient conditions during thermal processing, the resulting density on the heat developable materials suffers from variation. It has been found that such phenomena occur markedly in heat developable photosensitive materials which are imagewise exposed to laser beams and then thermally developed to form images. Further, in recent years, it has been sought to downsize laser imagers, as well as to raise processing rate.
To meet the above demands, it is essential to enhance specific characteristics of heat developable photosensitive materials. In order to achieve sufficient density of heat developable photosensitive materials even during quick processing, effective methods include an increase in covering power by increasing the number of color forming points with use of silver halide of a smaller average grain size (refer, for example, to Patent Documents 1 and 2), the use of highly active reducing agents having a secondary or tertiary alkyl group (refer, for example, to Patent Document 3), and the use of development accelerators such as hydrazine compounds, vinyl compounds, phenol derivatives, or naphthol derivatives (refer, for example, to Patent Document 3). Further, in order to meet requirements for quick processing, a technique is disclosed in which exposure and heat development are simultaneously performed. However, problems occur in which the low molecular weight components in heat developable photosensitive materials generated from a film via heat development affect even exposed portions due to the short distance between the exposure and the development sections, whereby the exposure device is stained, and trials to overcome the above drawbacks have been conducted (refer, for example, to Patent Documents 6 and 7). Heretofore, in the medical, and printing and plate making fields, effluent generated by processing image forming materials employing the wet system has caused operational problems. In recent years, in view of environmental protection as well as space saving, it is increasingly demanded to decrease the amount of processing effluent. Accordingly, heat developable photosensitive materials capable of forming images by applying only heat have been realized and are increasingly spreading into the above fields.
Heat developable photosensitive materials have been proposed for a long time. The above heat developable materials are commonly processed employing a thermal processor which applies uniform heat to the heat developable materials to form images. As noted above, along with the above recent rapid spreading, a number of differing thermal processors have been supplied to the market. However, compared to the conventional wet process photosensitive materials, since images are formed via heat development, volatilities are occasionally formed in the resulting images or in the interior of thermal processors, and the resulting volatilities occasionally cause operators' discomfort. Proposed as methods to overcome such drawbacks are a decrease in unpleasant odor causing discomfort by the addition of perfumes (Patent Document 1), the addition of a certain type of compounds to the protective layer (Patent Documents 2 and 3), the use of compounds which do not readily volatile (Patent Documents 4, 5, 6, and 7), and the use of development devices which are inventively structured so that unpleasant odor are not readily formed (Patent Documents 8 and 9). However, these attempts have not sufficiently overcome the above drawbacks.
Further, in heat developable photosensitive materials employing photosensitive silver halide, since silver halide remains in the emulsion layer, problems occur in which the light-fastness of images is degraded. Heretofore, the light-fastness has been improved (Patent Documents 10 and 11). However, in cases in which the resulting techniques are employed, the light-fastness of images is improved to some extent, but it has been difficult to maintain sufficiently high image density, especially when quick processing is performed.
On the other hand, technical trials have been conducted in which an image forming layer is composed of a multilayer and by controlling the amount of silver saving agents, the coated silver amount, the Tg of binders, and the influential region to separate the function of each of the layers, whereby image quality is enhanced (Patent Documents 12–14).
However, in cases in which these techniques are employed, especially when rapid processing is performed, it has been difficult to simultaneously improve the light-fastness of images, as well as the storage stability, while still achieving sufficient image density.                (Patent Document 1) Japanese Patent Publication for Public Inspection (hereinafter referred to as JP-A) No. 51-10925        (Patent Document 2) U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,992        (Patent Document 3) JP-A No. 2001-356447        (Patent Document 4) JP-A No. 2000-112070        (Patent Document 5) JP-A No. 2000-250167        (Patent Document 6) JP-A No. 2000-250168        (Patent Document 7) JP-A No. 2000-267221        (Patent Document 8) JP-A No. 11-338114        (Patent Document 9) JP-A No. 2000-284461        (Patent Document 10) JP-A No. 2003-270755 (claims)        (Patent Document 11) JP-A No. 2004-004522 (claims)        (Patent Document 12) JP-A No. 2002-006443 (claims)        (Patent Document 13) JP-A No. 2002-365756 (claims)        (Patent Document 14) JP-A No. 2002-365765 (claims)

Silver salt photothermographic dry imaging material


A punch or die component for a press brake apparatus includes a tool body having a coupling end adapted for coupling with a holder, and a working end adapted for operation on a workpiece. One or more magnetic elements can be adapted for selective engagement of the punch or die component within a press apparatus by magnetic coupling with the tool body, where the working end is configured for forming the workpiece by operation of the press apparatus. The magnetic coupling can be defined between the tool body and holder disposed adjacent the coupling end, or between the tool body and an adjacent punch or die component disposed along a side surface of the tool body, or both.

A typical machine press system includes a press apparatus with an upper table or ram arranged to move vertically with respect to a lower table or other (e.g., stationary) fixture. Various forming tools may be mounted to the tables to bend or impress a workpiece such as a piece of sheet metal, when the tables are brought together. Generally, the upper table can be configured for coupling with a (male) punch or press brake tool component adapted for sheet metal fabrication or other manufacturing process, in cooperation with a complementary (female) forming tool such as a die, which is coupled with the lower table. In order to perform a variety of forming operations, differently shaped forming tools are frequently interchanged and assembled in different combinations, depending on the workpiece material, and desired final configuration.
Multiple forming tools can be inserted side-by-side in the upper and lower tables, in order to provide a unitary forming surface having a total length equal to the summed lengths of each respective tool. Occasionally, it is desirable to create a forming surface length configured to accommodate a workpiece that has already been partially formed (e.g., bent) into one or more flanges. In such situations, it may be desirable to assemble a forming surface with a total length that is less than a length of the partially-formed workpiece to avoid flattening the already-formed flanges. Thus, recombining forming tools of variable shape and/or length may be necessary mid-operation, on a single workpiece.
The forming dies included in the lower table are generally held in place by a lower die holder, which often includes set screws extending through the front wall of the holder. To secure the dies within the die holder, the set screws may tighten directly against a surface of the each die. In this method of securing the dies, the set screws typically tighten against the dies at fixed intervals. As a result, narrower dies must be aligned with the set screws, to ensure they will be secured. Dies not so aligned may become loose and dislocate, or even tip over. Even when a narrower die can be aligned with one or more set screws, its position must still be maintained until the set screws are tightened. As a result, there is a continuing need for improved press brake punch and die engagement systems, which do not suffer from all the limitations of the prior art.

Magnetic press brake tooling engagement system


A method for processing sonic data acquired with a downhole sonic tool is provided. The method comprises detecting coherent noise based on a plurality of waveforms obtained from one or more receivers issued by one or more transmitters. The plurality of waveforms correspond to propagating acoustic waves in a formation. In addition, the method comprises building a slowness filter for removing the coherent noise, and applying the slowness filter to the plurality of waveforms.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present techniques, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art. The following descriptions and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
The present disclosure relates generally to sonic data processing. In particular, the present disclosure relates to methods and systems of processing sonic data acquired with WL (Wireline), LWD (logging-while-drilling) or MWD (measurements while drilling) tools for various measurements in the oil/gas industry.
In drilling or logging applications, acoustic measurements can be used to measure characteristics of the surrounding formation. Acoustic measurement techniques generally involve sensing acoustic waves generated by one or more acoustic sources and having propagated through a geological formation, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,861,307 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The sensed propagating signals can include one or more signal components, or modes, such as shear waves, compressional waves, flexural waves, Stoneley waves, etc. Furthermore, such signal components/modes may be up-going in which propagation is in a direct, upward direction, or down-going in which propagation is in a reflected, downward direction. In at least some drilling or logging applications, the dispersion characteristics of the sensed propagating signals and/or their associated components/modes, such as attenuation, wavenumber, group delay, phase delay, etc., form a set of one or more parameters that can be used to characterize the formation.
Also, at least some drilling or logging applications process the sonic data of sensed propagating signals and/or their associated components/modes acquired by using a dipole acoustic source to detect borehole flexural mode, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,439, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. However, the borehole flexural mode can be much less energetic and be easily affected by tool arrivals that are propagating modes of acoustic signals in the downhole tool. Accordingly, it is desired to measure the borehole flexural mode without an influence of the collar arrival. In addition to the tool arrivals for the borehole flexural mode measurements, in general, it is also desired to measure the signals without any influence of any other unwanted coherent noise (e.g. leaky modes for the borehole quadrupole mode measurements).

Method and system for processing sonic data acquired with a downhole tool


An approach for improving a network management system by using a virtual machine in a network device is described. Applets are created and downloaded to the network device via flash memory or trivial file transfer protocol (“TFTP”). A loader environment in the virtual machine loads the applet for execution. The virtual machine converts the applet into machine code and executes said applet in said network device. This approach is supported by porting a virtual machine that executes a high level operating language to an operating system in a network device is described. A build process is executed wherein makefiles of the operating system and virtual machine are modified. Modifying the operating system code comprises providing an entry point to the virtual machine by starting an operating system process using a command line interface (“CLI”), the CLI accepting the class file as a parameter to start the application, and terminating the operating system process for the virtual machine upon exit from the application. Further, modifying virtual machine code comprises transforming the virtual machine code to pertain to the operating system platform. Finally, a set of interfaces for users is provided. As a result, Java® applets, for example, may be executed in a router.

Computer networks have become ubiquitous in the home, office and industrial environment. Networks using packet routing and switching technology are widespread. As computer networks have grown more complex, automated mechanisms for organizing and managing networks have emerged. These mechanisms are generally implemented in the form of computer programs that are known as network management systems.
FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram of a network 100 that is managed by a network management station 200, within which the present invention may be used. The network 100 comprises one or more network devices 102, such as switches, routers, bridges, gateways and other devices. Each network device 102 is coupled to another network device 102 or to one or more end stations 120. Each end station 120 is a terminal node of the network 100 at which some type of work is carried out. For example, an end station is a workstation, a server or similar device.
Each network device 102 executes an operating system 110. An example of such an operating device is the Internetworking Operating System ("IOS") commercially available from Cisco Systems, Inc. of San Jose, Calif. Each network device 102 also executes one or more applications 112 under control of or embedded within the operating system 110. The operating system 110 supervises operation of the applications 112 and communicates over network connection 104 using an agreed-upon network communication protocol, such as Simple Network Management Protocol ("SNMP"). Typically, an SNMP agent within operating system 110 performs SNMP operations and responds to SNMP queries from external programs.
SNMP provides a systematic way of monitoring and managing a computer network and has become the standard in network management. SNMP facilitates exchange of management information between managed devices. Using data that is transported using SNMP, referred to as managed objects (such as packets per second and network error rates), users and application programs can more easily manage network performance, configure and provision network devices, find and solve network problems, and plan for network growth. A user with network management station 10, or applications running on station 10, can use SNMP to retrieve or modify information about the status or which is part of the configuration of the network device.
SNMP is defined in multiple versions known as Version 1 (abbreviated herein as "SNMPv1"); Version 2 ("SNMPv2"); Community-based SNMP Version 2 ("SNMPv2c"); and Version 3 ("SNMPv3"). All the versions share the same basic structure, components and architecture. In general, information in an SNMP-enabled device is stored in the form of a plurality of managed objects that are arranged in an object tree. Each object has one or more corresponding object instances, each of which has a unique object identifier ("OID"). Values of object instances are stored in tables in device memory; the names of the tables correspond to the names of the managed objects. Network management stations also track the names of tables and their corresponding OIDs in anticipation of the time when they will issue requests for such OIDs to the SNMP-enabled device.
Many networks contain components manufactured by several different companies. In order for the management station to communicate effectively with these various devices, the nature of the information maintained by the agents must be rigidly specified. SNMP therefore describes the exact information each agent must maintain and the format in which it must be maintained in data structures called management information bases ("MIBs").
Each device 102 stores its current configuration, and other information, in a management information base 114. Information in the MIB 114 is organized in one or more tables of one or more MIB variables. The network management station 10 can send fetch and set commands to the device 102 to retrieve or set values of MIB variables. Examples of MIB variables include SysObjID or SysOID. A description of SNMP, MIBs and the type of MIB information that may be supported by a device is described in Ford, et al., "Internetworking Technologies Handbook" (Indianapolis, Ind.: Cisco Press, 2001), Chapter 56, and Perkins et al., "Understanding SNMP MIBs", ISBN 0-13-437708-7.
Network management based on these open standards of SNMP needs customization for specific routers. Part of the information is present in standard MIBs published by standards bodies such as the IETF (e.g., RFCs 1212, 2790, etc). Many objects not covered in generic specifications (standard MIBs) are covered by vendor specific enterprise MIBs. Objects covered by these MIBs (standard and enterprise) may have complex relationships that are difficult to encapsulate with SNMP. A simple example is re-ordering various tables conveying the same data but indexed on different variables. A change to one cannot be conveyed to another using SNMPv2. More complex cause-fate relationships cannot be encapsulated as well.
Thus, a fundamental limitation of SNMP is that it provides no language to process cause-fate relationships other than in elaborate descriptions, thereby leaving it up to human implementers to implement the relationships. These implementations fall outside the scope of SNMP specifications.
Further, the customization of enterprise MIBs has to follow a formal process, and hence it is time-consuming. If a new set of counters is needed to monitor a specific aspect of a router, the turnaround time for those who review and approve MIB organization is at least in the order of weeks.
SNMP event notification uses traps to unilaterally notify changes. Regular polling has to be initiated by SNMP manager and is done on a regular basis. However, there is no easy mechanism under SNMP to setup a periodic update from the router (SNMP agent) to the SNMP manager.
In addition, simple tasks such as configuring voice classes of service, etc., which are relatively static, can easily be provided by SNMP. However, parameter values relating to dynamically managed configurations, such as class-based resource reservation setup protocol ("RSVP"), or resource aggregation (based on the time of day, call profile based on geographic location, etc.), are not easy to encapsulate in SNMP MIBs.
JAVA™ is an object-oriented programming language and environment developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. Java allows for the creation of abstract classes known as interfaces, which allow a program to define methods that may be shared with several classes without regard for how other classes are handling the methods. Java provides a mechanism to distribute software and extends the capabilities of programmers to write an applet once and run it on any Java-enabled machine. Java can transport objects, use programming to encapsulate complex cause-fate relationships among objects and program threads for periodic updates.
A virtual machine, such as the Java Virtual Machine ("JVM") commercially available by Sun Microsystems, Inc., is a virtual software element that resides only in memory. Code for many flavors of the JVM (called "KVM", "CVM", "Embedded Java", etc.) is available for porting to various platforms. A virtual machine allows applications written in a specific programming language to be portable across different hardware environments and operating systems. To enable a Java application to execute on different types of data processing systems, a compiler typically generates an architecture-neutral file format—the compiled code is executable on many processors, given the presence of the Java run-time system. The Java compiler generates bytecode instructions that are non-specific to particular computer architectures. A bytecode is a machine independent code generated by the Java compiler and executed by a Java interpreter. A Java interpreter is a module in the JVM that alternatively decodes and executes a bytecode or bytecodes. These bytecode instructions are designed to produce, when executed, the same results on every JVM irrespective of the underlying CPU or architecture, and are translated on the fly into native machine code.
"Native code" refers to computer programs and instructions that are designed to be directly executed by computers using a specific computer architecture. For example, "68000" code is a type of native code that is designed for execution on systems using Motorola 68000 series microprocessors, and "SPARC" code is a type of native code that is designed for execution on computer systems using Sun Microsystems' SPARC series microprocessors. Java bytecode programs, by way of contrast, are computer architecture neutral in that they can be executed on any computer system that has a Java virtual machine.
The virtual machine mediates between the application and the underlying platform, converting the applications' bytecodes into machine-level code appropriate for the hardware and operating system being used. In addition to governing the execution of an application's bytecodes, the virtual machine handles related tasks such as managing the system's memory, providing security against malicious code and managing multiple threads of program execution.
However, despite its versatility, Java is not useful for real-time applications. The JVM includes an instruction that allocates memory for a new object, but includes no instruction for freeing that memory. The JVM is responsible for deciding whether and when to free memory occupied by objects that are no longer referenced by the running application. Usually, the JVM uses a garbage collector thread to automatically retain the memory used by objects that are no longer referenced by the running application. However, due to the non-real time nature of its garbage collector, Java is not considered suitable for real time applications.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need to provide improved management of network devices by enabling dynamic configuration of networks.
In particular, there is a need for a simplified way to configure dynamically managed network protocols and parameters, such as class-based RSVP resource aggregation based on time of day or call profile based on geographic location.
There is also a need for an application that is more adaptable to a network management system based on inherent programmability, in order to display real-time data such as call monitoring statistics.
There is a need for a method to reduce management traffic over the network by downloading simple management tasks to the network device in the form of applets written in high-level source language. Examples of such management include periodic updates from the device, consolidation of event logs and user specific control and monitoring tasks not involving internal device functions.
Based on the above needs, there is also a need to open a set of interfaces to an operating system to users in a well-known programming language.
Finally, there is a need to combine the real time control of an operating system with the flexibility of a high level source language, such as Java, for distributed computing for improved management of network systems.

Method for network management using a virtual machine in a network device


An apparatus, method, and system are provided for cutting panels of stock material for producing hard book casings. The apparatus may include a transport mechanism, a vertical cutter, and/or a horizontal cutter. The vertical cutter may produce a vertical cut of the stock material. The horizontal cutter may produce a horizontal cut of the stock material. The apparatus may produce properly dimensioned panels from the stock material in a single pass.

Cases for hard cover books are typically produced by printing a rectangular sheet of paper, cloth, or leather, known as the cover material, and subsequently gluing the cover material to two cover panels and a spine panel. The cover panels and spine panel (the rigid component) provide rigidity for the case, with one of the cover panels forming the front of the finished book and the second forming the back. The spine panel provides rigidity to the spine portion of the book. The cover panels are typically made of chipboard or other stiff material, whereas the spine may be made of chipboard or a thinner, more flexible material. A space is usually left between the spine and the panels so that the cover may be opened and closed in hinge-like fashion. Manufacturing techniques typically include a step of placing the cover panels and spine panel on a glued cover material and then folding the edges of the cover material up and onto the inside edges of the panels (and the ends of the spine). Together, the spine panel, cover panels, and cover material are known as a hard book cover assembly or case.
In an unfinished hard book cover assembly, the cover material is sized and placed to extend outwardly past the periphery of the spine panel and the cover panels to be later folded back over the edges of the spine panel and cover panels to produce an attractive cover. The overlapping edges of the cover material are glued on the inside of the panels and spine, and these edges are generally hidden later in the book-making process when paper or other material is glued over the interior of the hard book cover in a manner that overlaps, and thus hides, the edge of the cover material from a reader. Typically, only a few millimeters of cover material are visible around the inside edges when a hard cover book is completed. Procedures for fabricating a hard cover book are described below and in co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,379,094 (the '094 patent) and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/634,968, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties herein.

Apparatus and method for manufacturing hard book cover components


In a brake control device with a traction control function, there is provided a traction control valve for connecting a first conduit extending from a first pressure source to a brake valve to a second conduit extending from a second pressure source for arbitrarily switching the route of the pressure of air supplied from the traction valve to the modulator. With this construction, it is possible to obtain the compact brake control device capable of reducing the number of parts and enhancing the brake responsiveness with a low cost.

The present invention relates to a brake control device in an air over hydraulic brake system mounted on an automobile.
In the brake control device of this type, as an air modulator for controlling oil pressure supplied to a wheel cylinder by air pressure, there has been known a structure having an air over hydraulic cylinder containing an air piston on one side and a hydraulic piston on the other side.
The above modulator has a housing integrally formed with a solid valve unit composed of two kinds of solenoid valves (hold valve and decay valve) for controlling the suction, holding and discharge of air to an air chamber side of the air piston.
Further, there may be considered such a brake control device including a traction control mechanism in addition to the above brake control device, as shown in FIG. 4.
FIG. 5 shows the whole construction of a vehicle brake system including this brake control device.
In this figure, a first conduit 46a extending from an air tank 41 as a first pressure source is connected to a brake valve 42. A first conduit 46b extending from the brake valve 42 is connected to modulators 9 provided on the rear side, that is, the drive wheel side. A second conduit 47 extending from an air tank as a second pressure source is connected to a traction control valve 51. A third conduit 48 extending from the traction control valve 51 is connected to the modulator 9. Also, the brake valve 42 is connected to modulators 19 on the front wheel side through a fourth conduit 49.
A speed sensor 39 is disposed on each of the front and rear wheels for detecting rotation of each wheel for feeding the detection signal to a Electric Control Unit 40 (ECU).
In the ECU 40, the traction control valve 51, and the modulators 9 and 19 are activated according to the detection signal from the speed sensor 39 and a brake pedal for controlling the brake of each wheel.
The modulator 9 as shown in FIG. 4 will be explained. A hold valve 4 and a decay valve 5 are disposed in parallel to each other in the modulator 9.
The hold valve 4 has a hold plunger 11 axially movable in a hollow portion of a solenoid coil 13, and a rubber made hold valve main body 26 is provided in the right end (in this figure) of the hold plunger 11. The hold valve 4 is biased in the left in a housing 10 of the modulator 9 by a hold spring 15, and is usually opened to a communicating passage 32 as an air supply passage.
A communicating passage 38 is formed at the right end portion of the valve unit 6. The communicating passage 38 is communicated to three ways, that is, a supply passage 34 for supplying air from the brake valve 42, a supply passage 33 for supplying air from a traction control valve 51 described later and the communicating passage 32.
A shuttle valve device 90 for controlling air flow is provided in the above communicating passage 38.
In the shuttle valve device 90, a shuttle valve piston 91 is slidably disposed in the communicating passage 38, and valve rubbers 92 and 93 are respectively attached on both ends of the shuttle valve piston 91.
In the communicating passage 32, a return valve 28 permitting air flow from a chamber passage 31 to the communicating passage 38 side is biased in the left (in this figure) by a return spring 30.
The communicating passage 32 is connected through the return valve 28 to a hold valve chamber 7, a decay valve chamber 8 and the chamber passage 31.
The decay valve 5 has a decay plunger 12 axially movable in a hollow portion of the solenoid coil 14, and a rubber made decay valve main body 27 is provided at the right end (in this figure) of the decay plunger 12.
The decay valve 5 is usually biased on an exhaust passage 35 side by a return spring 16 to close the exhaust passage 35 communicated to an exhaust valve 36.
The traction control valve 51 as shown in the lower side in FIG. 4 will be described below.
The traction control valve 51 has a pair of valve pistons 53 in the upper side (in this figure) and a pair of solenoid valve bodies 59 in the lower side (in this figure) centered on an air supply passage 57 communicated to a second conduit 47a from an air tank 43. The valve piston 53 functions as a control valve usually closed to the air supply passage 57 by a return spring 56 for controlling the supply of air to an air pressure passage 66b.
In the air pressure passage 66b, one end is communicated to a third conduit 48 and the other end is communicated to an air pressure passage 66a. Also, in the air pressure passage 66a, one end is communicated to the decay valve 62 side of the solenoid valve body 59 and the other end is communicated to an exhaust valve 67.
Thus, air made to flow in the communicating passage 38 from the brake valve 42 and the air tank 43 through the traction control valve 51 is supplied to an air chamber through the hold valve 4 side by activation of the shuttle valve device 90, and also each solenoid valve is activated, to thereby execute the brake control.
However, the brake control device as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 has a disadvantage of making the construction thereof complex: namely, achieving the traction braking requires the shuttle valve device 90 for controlling air pressure, the exhaust valve 67 of the traction control valve 51 and the accompanying conduits; and further the number of the parts of each device is increased.
Further, by the presence of the conduit between the modulator 9 and the traction control valve 51, the preferable brake responsiveness requires a large flow rate, which enlarges the size of the device.
Taking the above into consideration, the present invention has been made, and the object is to provide a compact brake control device capable of reducing the number of parts and improving the brake responsiveness with a low cost.


Concepts and technologies disclosed herein are directed to collective intelligence-based cell congestion detection in mobile telecommunications networks. According to some aspects of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a core network element or device application can detect cell congestion based upon Internet layer, transport layer, and application layer data, such as, for example, traffic type, volume, rate, latency, jitter, and the like. According to one aspect disclosed herein, a cell congestion detection (“CCD”) system can collect data from an Internet layer, a transport layer, and an application layer. The CCD system can apply a machine learning algorithm to the data to determine whether the cell is congested. According to another aspect the CCD system can collect the data that is associated with a specific application executed by a plurality of UE devices connected to a cell.

Cell congestion is a critical event that requires careful management by mobile network operators to ensure network users receive a satisfying Quality of Experience ("QoE") via their user equipment ("UE") devices. When a cell is congested (i.e., the cell has reached a threshold capacity of maximum load or other threshold value established by the mobile network operator), the current expectation is that users will unfortunately experience at least some degradation in terms of QoE. In order to properly manage a congested cell, mobile network operators typically take action to mitigate the congestion. Some common mitigation actions include offloading traffic from any congested cell(s) to one or more neighbor cells; adding one or more new cells and offloading traffic from any congested cell(s) the new cell(s); and/or throttling network traffic that traverses the congested cell(s).
Due to the expense and complexity of adding new cells and offloading traffic from any congested cell(s) to the new cell(s) and/or to one or more neighbor cells of the congested cell(s), many mobile network operators often use throttling mechanisms to at least partially mitigate cell congestion issues. When using a throttling mechanism, the mobile network operator utilizes a core network element (e.g., a network optimization proxy) to identify whether a cell is congested, and if the cell is congested, to determine how congested the cell is and to find the proper treatment to treat the traffic that traverses the congested cell.
Detecting cell congestion is equally important for application service providers such as YouTube, Facebook, NETFLIX, and the like because their applications need to handle congested cells to provide satisfying QoE for their users. For example, when a video streaming application detects that the connected cell is congested, the application typically adapts to a conservative transmission strategy by reducing video rate to avoid worsening the congestion.
Detecting if a cell is congested and determining the corresponding congestion level from a core network element and/or an application is challenging, and mobile network operators and application service providers are not currently equipped with the technologies necessary to implement congestion detection from these resources. This is because neither the core network element nor the application has explicit cell load information (e.g., physical resource block utilization, etc.).

Collective intelligence-based cell congestion detection in mobile telecommunications networks


A charcoal starter apparatus for use in combination with a conventional hibachi. A rectangular housing rests on the top perimeter of the hibachi, and is clamped to the underside top edge of the hibachi. The sidewalls of the housing have passageways for air supply ducts, with the outlets of the ducts resting in removable troughs in the interior base of the hibachi. The outlet ends of the ducts and deflectors attached to the troughs support the grates of the hibachi. A removable, truncated, pyramidally shaped cover having a square exhaust inlet with a vertical collar supports a square exhaust stack, with an inverted U-shaped cap attached to the top of the stack.

Cooking with charcoal has become a very popular pastime among family and friends. Several varieties of types and forms of grill are commercially available and known in the prior art. One such type of cooking charcoal grill that is commercially available is known as the hibachi.
Two common methods which are used to ignite charcoal briquettes in the shallow rectangular container of the hibachi, are electrically heated starter rods and charcoal briquettes pre-impregnated with charcoal lighter fluid.
Electrically heated starter rods require electrical energy to heat the rods. However, electric outlets or power sources are not always available at picnic grounds or beaches, and the ignition process to burn the briquettes is slow.
Charcoal briquettes, pre-impregnated with charcoal lighter fluid, produce flames which engulf the briquettes within the hibachi when ignited. The open top of the conventional hibachi allows flames and hot gases to escape freely. Therefore, the generated useful heat is not used sufficiently to burn briquettes quickly. The tiring task of fanning air to provide needed oxygen to expedite the burning of briquettes is history.
One such fuel ignitor device is U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,609 to Tisdale 1983. It comprises a perforated kindling enclosure which tapers outward from the top to the bottom. A hibachi-type grill which is open on the top and the bottom, with an included grate on the bottom that fits on top of the kindling enclosure is provided. The kindling enclosure employs paper to ignite charcoal. Because paper burns quickly, air flow is limited only when paper burns with no positive differential air pressure. The direction of heat from the burning paper is controlled by the direction of the wind because the kindling enclosure is perforated and the hibachi is used outdoors. The open top of the hibachi allows useful heat to escape freely, which does not contribute to burning the charcoal quickly.

Charcoal starter apparatus for conventional hibachi-type grill


The invention concerns an improved multiparticulate tablet disintegrating in the mouth in contact with saliva in less than 40 seconds. The invention is characterized in that it is based on particles of coated active principle, said particles having intrinsic compression properties and a mixture of carriers, the proportion of carrier mixture relative to coated active principle particles being 0.4 to 6 parts by weight, the carrier mixture comprising: a disintegrating agent; a diluting soluble agent with binding properties; a lubricant; a permeabilizing agent; and advantageously lubricants, sweeteners, flavoring and coloring agents, the proportion of disintegrating agent and soluble agent relative to the tablet mass being 1 to 15 wt. % for the former and 30 to 90 wt. % for the latter.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a rapidly disintegratable tablet of the type which disintegrates in the mouth in less than 40 seconds, said tablet comprising particles of coated active principle which have intrinsic compression characteristics, and a mixture of excipients.
2. Description of Related Art
Ibuprofen, paracetamol and aspirin may be mentioned as examples of active principles which can be used to produce the tablets according to the invention.
Tablets based on ibuprofen are already known.
Thus U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,755 describes chewing tablets in which the ibuprofen is present in the form of granules having a coating based on hydroxyethyl cellulose or a hydroxyethyl cellulose/hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose mixture. This coating was chosen to overcome the observed deficiencies of the coatings of the prior art based on ethyl cellulose only.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Techniques for estimating a cost of executing a query are provided. A query includes multiple predicates, each of which is associated with a selectivity value that indicates a percentage of input that satisfies the condition of the corresponding predicate. The selectivity values are used to determine an estimated cost of executing the query. In one technique, a group of multiple predicates of a query are treated as a single predicate. Thus, a single selectivity value, rather than multiple selectivity values, is determined for that group. In a related technique, instead of determining a selectivity value of a predicate in isolation with respect to other predicates of a query, the selectivity value of a set of one or more predicates in a query is generated based on other predicates in the query.

XML data management has attracted great attention in the recent decade both in the academia and in the industry. Unlike in the relational data model, where the schema (e.g., number of columns, the data type of each column, and the semantic constraints on those columns) needs to be predefined, XML allows data to be organized in a schema-less fashion as long as the data remains in a hierarchical tree structure. Due to its flexibility to model such semi-structured data, XML has been used extensively in many business settings that require data exchanges between different organizations. However, also due to the flexibility of the XML data model, query processing on XML data is usually less efficient than query processing on data stored relationally.
XML indexes help speed up XML data access. One such XML index is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/884,311, which is referenced above. This XML index includes a relational table, referred to herein as a path table, to capture properties of indexed XML elements in one or more XML documents. Each property corresponds to a column in the path table. Secondary indexes, such as B-tree indexes, may be created on the columns of the path table.
When a query is submitted against indexed XML data, the query is, if necessary, first rewritten into SQL on the path table. The query rewrite is automatically performed by a relational database management system (RDBMS) in order to guarantee that the semantics of the query is equivalently expressed using SQL on the columns in the path table. In this way, existing relational techniques (e.g., a query optimizer selecting the "best" of multiple plans) are exploited to speed up XML query processing.
The schema of the path table is defined as follows:
Column NameData TypeRIDROWIDPATHIDRAW(8)ORDER_KEYRAW(1000)LOCATORRAW(2000)VALUEVARCHAR2(4000)
In one implementation, each row in the path table corresponds to one element in an XML document. Each column in the path table represents some property of the XML element, which element may be a node or attribute.
In this example, the PATHID column represents an identifier of the rooted path of an element, which column may be used to answer an XML path expression. The ORDER_KEY column represents a unique identifier of an element. The ORDER_KEY column may be used to answer structural relationships (e.g., parent-child, ancestor-descendant, precedence in document order) between elements.
For example, an XML index is created on XML auction documents (referred to collectively as XMARK_CSX). The following SQL/XML query is submitted against XMARK_CSX to identify the person's name whose ID is "person0".
SELECT S.NAMEFROM XMARK_CSX T,   XMLTABLE('/site/people/person' PASSING T.OBJECT_VALUE     COLUMNSNAME VARCHAR2(40)PATH '/person/name/text( )',ID VARCHAR2(40) PATH '/person/@id') SWHERE S.ID = 'person0';

Determining predicate selectivity in query costing


A power tool includes a base, a table supported by the base for pivoting movement about an axis, a coarse adjustment assembly between the base and the table, and a fine adjustment assembly between the base and the table. The fine adjustment assembly includes a rotating member supported by one of the base and the table, and an engagement surface provided by the other of the base and the table. The rotating member is selectively engageable with and rotatable along the engagement surface to finely adjust the angular position of the table relative to the base. The angular position of the table relative to the base is coarsely adjustable using the coarse adjustment assembly when the rotating member is disengaged from the engagement surface. The fine adjustment assembly disengages the coarse adjustment assembly and maintains the coarse adjustment assembly disengaged when the rotating member is engaged with the engagement surface.

This invention relates generally to power tools and, more particularly, to saws, such as miter saws, chop saws, etc.
When using a miter saw, an operator sometimes needs to adjust a cut slightly from a known or unknown starting angle (e.g., an angle corresponding to a pre-set miter detent position, the angle used for earlier cuts on associated work pieces, etc.). With conventional miter saws, the operator must slightly move the table in small angular increments (e.g., by gently tapping the side of the table). This may not be an accurate or repeatable method for making a slight angular change. Furthermore, several motions are usually involved in locking and unlocking the table to the base in a conventional miter saw to prevent movement of the table once the angle is set. Therefore, extra effort may be required by an operator who needs to make an angle adjustment at or near a detent in a conventional miter saw.


A method, system, and program, product for managing scanning of databases in data storage system, the method comprising receiving a query request from an application server to a data storage system, scanning data stored in the data storage system and based on the query request, returning a set of data to the application server, wherein the set of data corresponds to the query request.

A data warehouse is a central repository for all or significant parts of the data that is collected by an enterprise's business systems. Data from various sources is selectively extracted and organized on the data warehouse database for use by analytical applications and user queries. Data storage for the data warehouse database is often implemented in standard storage technologies like storage area network (SAN).
As businesses attempt to deal with the massive explosion in data, the ability to make real-time decisions that involve enormous amounts of information is critical to remain competitive. Today's data warehousing solutions face challenges as they deal with the increasing volumes of data, number of users, and complexity of analysis. As a result, it is imperative that data warehouse solutions seamlessly scale to address these challenges.
Most of today's general-purpose relational database management systems are designed for Online Transaction Processing ("OLTP") applications. OLTP transaction workloads require quick access and updates to a small set of records. This work is typically performed in a localized area on disk, with one or a small number of parallel units. However, On-Line Analytical Processing ("OLAP") technology enables data warehouses to be used effectively for online analysis, providing rapid responses to iterative complex analytical queries. OLAP's multidimensional data model and data aggregation techniques organize and summarize large amounts of data so it can be evaluated quickly using online analysis and graphical tools. The answer to a query into historical data often leads to subsequent queries as the user of the system searches for answers or explores possibilities. Thus, OLAP applications generally spend a significant amount of time scanning a large set of data. Therefore, typical On-Line Analytical Processing (or OLAP) applications have requirements for high throughput, require often sequential access to the underlying storage system (for example, in the order of tens of gigabytes/sec or terabytes/hour) over extremely large datasets (for example, in the order of tens to hundreds of Terabytes). Further, solutions targeted to OLTP applications do not work well for OLAP applications.
Hence, there is a need in the industry for a method and apparatus for managing scanning of databases in data storage systems to increase the efficiency and performance of OLAP applications.

Managing scanning of databases in data storage systems


Method and systems for administering a credit card account are disclosed. The method comprises defining a finance charge waiver period for each one or more debits to the credit account. For each debit, it is determined whether a finance charge waiver period associated with a debit has expired. Debits for which the finance charge waiver period has expired are added to a set of billed charges. Finance charges accrue against all debits for which finance charge waiver period has expired. Optionally, a customer may be provided with advance notice of debits for which the finance charge waiver period will soon be expiring.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to credit card products and the like. More particularly, the invention relates to systems and methods for administering a credit card account having a finance charge waiver period.
2. Background and Material Information
A credit card is a financial product that is most commonly represented by a plastic card-like member. Credit cards are generally issued by a bank and provide a mechanism by which an authorized cardholder purchases goods or services without an immediate, direct exchange of cash. With each purchase, a cardholder thereby incurs debt which he or she may thereafter (i.e., upon receipt of a monthly or otherwise periodic statement) fully pay the outstanding balance or, as a matter of necessity or choice, defer at least a portion of the balance for later payment with accompanying interest or finance charges for the period during which payment of the outstanding debt is deferred.
The spending power (i.e., the total amount of funds available to the cardholder at any particular time for making purchases and the like) of a credit card is typically limited to a particular amount (the "credit limit") predetermined by the issuer of the card. The size of the issuer-imposed credit limit is generally based on a number of nonexclusive factors, the most important of which are often the cardholder's earning capacity and credit history. When purchases are made or debts incurred with the credit card, the available portion of the credit limit is reduced by the purchase or debt amounts. In addition, interest and/or finance charges are also subtracted from the available portion of the credit limit on a periodic basis. The total debits on a credit card are referred to as the "outstanding balance," while the remaining or available balance of the credit limit is typically called the "available balance" and reflects the dynamically adjusted current spending power of the credit card. The cardholder may increase the available balance, up to the credit limit, by paying to the issuer (or its representative) the entire outstanding balance or a fractional portion thereof.
Credit card accounts may provide cardholders a "grace period," typically comprising a period of 20-30 days following the end of a billing cycle. The grace period is the time period in which a cardholder may pay off new debits to the account without incurring interest charges. After the grace period has expired, the card issuer will charge the cardholder interest on the new debits. Typically, the grace period does not apply to cash advances or balance transfers.
Whether or not a grace period is used by a credit card issuer will control the way interest is applied to a credit card account. For credit card accounts with no grace period, the card issuer charges interest on purchases immediately and regardless of whether the cardholder has paid the previous balance in-full. In this case, interest calculations are based on an average daily balance including new purchases. However, for a credit card account with a typical grace period, interest is not charged on new purchases when: (1) the cardholder has paid his or her previous balance in-full; and (2) the cardholder pays a current balance before the expiration of the grace period. When these conditions are not met, a credit card issuer will normally charge interest immediately on the outstanding balance (including new charges) based on an average daily balance.
Therefore, grace periods have a significant effect on credit card billing procedures. Under most credit card administration methods, the grace period starts with the end of a billing cycle, wherein a billing cycle typically lasts 30 days. All purchases to the credit card account which occur within a billing cycle are generally lumped together for applying the grace period. Thus, for a billing cycle beginning on May 1 and ending on May 30, the grace period clock would begin on May 31. For a 25 day grace period, the grace period in this example would expire on June 24. After that date, the credit card issuer will begin to charge interest if the cardholder had not paid off all of the charges made between May 1 and May 30.

Method for administering a credit card with a finance charge waiver period