A system for feeding a plurality of strands of material such as yarn, in unison, along an array of separate feed paths that extend from a bank of supply packages to a knitter head utilizes a bank of positive drive units that are arranged in an array that extends about the knitter head to coordinate and uniformly tension such strand reaches as extend from the positive drive units to the knitter head. The feeding of the strands takes place while the bank of supply packages, the bank of positive drive units, the knitter head and the array of feed paths all are rotated about an axis that extends substantially centrally among the rotating feed paths. Each feed path has a first reach that extends from a separate supply package to the capstan of a separate one of the positive drive units, a second reach that is wrapped around the capstan of its positive drive unit, and a third reach that extends from its positive drive unit to the knitter head. The capstans of the positive drive units are power driven, rotate in unison, and tension the first reaches as is required to pay out the strands from their supply packages. Because the second reaches wrap tautly about the capstans of the positive drive units and rotate therewith at uniform speed, the third reaches are fed to the knitter head at a selected uniform feed rate and under substantially uniform tension regardless of such variations in tension as may be imparted to the first reaches as they are payed from their supply packages.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the use of a plurality of positive drive units that are operated in unison to feed a plurality of strands of material such as yarn along an array of feed paths to a workstation at a uniform feed rate that can be controlled independently of a selected speed at which the array of feed paths is being rotated about a center axis that extends through the workstation. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for reliably, continuously and uniformly feeding a plurality of strands such as yarn to the knitter head of a high speed knitter by utilizing positive drive units that are arranged in an array that extends about a center axis of the knitter head's workstation to assist in defining a set of strand feed paths that is rotatable at a selected first speed of rotation about the center axis together with a bank of strand supply packages, with the positive drive units having capstans about which the strands are wrapped, and with the capstans being rotated in unison at a second speed of rotation that can be selected independently from the first speed of rotation to pay out stands from their supply packages and to deliver the payed out strands to the workstation at a desired uniform feed rate and at a uniform tension that is isolated from variations in strand tension that occur as strands are payed out from their supply packages, even in the presence of relatively high centrifugal force and windage loads.
2. Prior Art
In the conventional manufacture of reinforced hose of the type used to transport high pressure fluid, one well known process begins with the formation of an "inner tube" or tubular "core" portion of the hose from a material such as rubber. The core is fed lengthwise along a path of travel that extends centrally through what is referred to as the "knitter head" of a knitter machine. As core portions move continuously through the knitter head, a plurality of cam operated knitter needles carry out a series of relative movements to knit strands of material such as yarn to form a tautly fitting web or jacket of reinforcing material about the outer surface of the core.
An additional layer of "outer tube" or "cover" material such as rubber usually is extruded to extend about the strand-reinforced core. In some instances, the covered, strand-reinforced core is again fed through a knitter to apply still another knitted layer or jacket of reinforcing material, whereafter still another layer of cover material such as rubber usually is applied. If rubber is the material that is being used to form the core and cover layers, the covered hose is put through a curing process to complete its manufacture.
The strands that are knitted by the knitter head to form a knitted jacket of reinforcing material at the workstation of the knitter typically include a dozen or more strands of yarn that each are fed along separate feed paths to the workstation from separate supply packages. Suitable guides of various forms are used to define the feed paths, with some guide formations being more complexly configured than others, but with all of the guides being configured to be as readily "threadable" as possible inasmuch as time spent "threading" or "rethreading" a knitter to replace an exhausted yarn supply package or to replace a broken strand of yarn represents machine "down time" that can seriously limit productivity. In the operation of a knitter, minimizing machine "down time" is an objective that probably is second in importance only to the objective of assuring that the strands are properly fed to and knitted by the knitter head so that a product of high quality is produced.
To feed strands of material along an array of feed paths from supply packages to a knitter head, it is necessary to apply sufficient tension to the strands to cause them to pay out from their supply packages and to move along their threaded feed paths. Many knitters rely solely on the cyclic movement of the knitter needles to provide such tension. However, this approach has a number of drawbacks.
One disadvantage that results from utilizing the needles of a knitter to effect the tensioning and feeding of strands from supply packages to a knitter head is that, on average, the tension force that a knitter needle must apply to pay out yarn from its supply package and feed it along a properly threaded feed path is greater than is compatible with the important additional objective of maximizing the service life of the needles and associated components such as the cams and guide members that cooperate with the needles to cause proper needle movement to take place so that a desired knit pattern can be produced with regularity and without waste.
Another disadvantage that results from using the needles of a knitter to effect strand tensioning and feeding is that, as each strand of yarn is fed along its associated feed path, the tension that is experienced by the strand as it pays out from its supply package varies considerably. The extent to which strands tends to resist being payed out from their supply packages and being fed along their threaded feed paths varies erratically from moment to moment, whereby the extremes in magnitude and the rapid variations in magnitude of the tension forces to which the various needles of a knitter are subjected cause undue wear and breakage of knitter components, and can greatly diminish productivity by adding to machine "down time" that is needed to carry out maintenance, repair and rethreading to replace broken strands.
From the viewpoint of providing a high quality product, the uneven feeding of yarn that results from the presence of erratic strand tension forces and uneven strand feeding causes some strand portions to be pulled more tightly than others as the strands are being knitted by the knitter head, with the result being an uneven application of the knitted layer of reinforcing material which can diminish the capability of the resulting hose to properly withstand the transmission therethrough of pressurized fluid for an appropriately lengthy service life. In some instances, variations and distortions appear in the knit pattern that are so significant as to be unacceptable.
Due to the detrimental effects caused by variations in strand tension and strand feed rate, and inasmuch as these detrimental effects tend to become more pronounced the faster that a knitter is operated, the speed at which knitters can be operated continuously and reliably often has had to be slowed to a far greater degree than is desired if good knitter productivity is to be maintained. If too high a speed of production of reinforced hose is attempted, needle breakage, strand breakage and resulting "down time" needed to repair and maintain the knitter, and to replace broken needles and strands is found to diminish rather than to enhance productivity.
While a number of desirable types of knit patterns can be formed in reinforcing material by utilizing a knitter head that does not rotate about a center axis along which a hose core travels as it moves centrally through the knitter head, there are some desirable knit patterns that can be implemented only if there is rotary movement of the knitter head relative to the core as the core moves centrally through the knitter head. Helical knit patterns, for example, can only be produced if relative rotary movement takes place between the knitter head and the core as the core moves centrally through the knitter head.
Because it is almost always impractical, if not impossible, to effect such relative rotary movement by rotating the core about the center axis of the knitter head, the needed relative rotation usually must be obtained by rotating the knitter head and its attendant strand supply and guide system components about a central axis along which the core is fed as it travels centrally through the knitter head. Especially in continuous hose manufacturing processes wherein non-rotatable extrusion equipment is used to form a hose core that is fed to a knitter located downstream from where the core has emerged from the extruder, the only viable option available for producing a helical knit pattern is to rotate the knitter head and its attendant strand supply and guide system components about the path that is followed by the core as it travels centrally through the knitter head.
Rotating the knitter head and its associated strand supply and guide components presents a number of concerns that need to be addressed with care if desirable knitter performance and reasonable productivity are to be obtained. The speed of rotation of strand guide and supply system components and strand feedpaths about the center axis that needs to be achieved if good productivity is to be obtained is desirably in excess of 600 revolutions per minute, with rotational speeds of 600 to 1400 revolutions per minute being preferred. As rotational speed is and the speed at which hose core material is fed through the workstation are increased, the rate at which knitter needles execute their stroke-like cycles of movement also must be increased to more rapidly implement the knitting function they perform.
At supply system rotation speeds of 600 to 1400 revolutions per minute, the knitter needles preferably are operated at a correspondingly high speed that is within the range of about 3000 to about 6000 strokes per minute. However, with previously proposed strand supply and guide system proposals, the desirably high productivity that theoretically can be obtained if rotation of the supply system is increased to within the range of about 600 to about 1400 revolutions per minute has not been attainable, much less maintainable for reasonable lengths of time. The principal limiting factor that has stood as an obstacle has been an inability to suitably feed a rotating array of strands to the knitter head so that a needle stroke rate of between about 3000 to about 6000 strokes per minute not only can be attained but also maintained for lengthy production runs. The erratic tensioning and uneven feeding of strands of yarn to the needles of the knitter has stood as a barrier both due to resulting breakage of needles and strands, and due to the excessive wear and tear that is inflicted on the needles and their associated cam and guide components.
Among the problems that need to be taken into account if knitter heads and their attendant strand supply and guide components are rotated at speeds that are even as high as about 600 revolutions per minute are the resulting centrifugal force and windage loadings that are imposed on not only on the components of the knitter but also on reaches of strand material as they extend along their prescribed feed paths. If the problems that are generated by centrifugal force and windage loadings are added to the problems that are generated by erratic tensioning and uneven feeding of strands to the knitter head, excessive component wear and breakage as well as excessive strand breakage tend to result. Moreover, if proper high speed knitter operation is attempted by also increasing the rate of movement of the knitter needles above about 1000 strokes per minute to somewhere within the range of about 3000 to about 6000 strokes per minute, the problems that stem from erratic tensioning and uneven feeding of strands to the knitter head are exacerbated, with the result being that almost no meaningfully lengthy production runs can be carried out between incidents of "down time" that require machine repair and/or replacement of broken strands. Furthermore, the quality of the resulting product has tended to be unacceptable due to variations and distortions that appear in the knit pattern.
In efforts to overcome the detrimental effects that result if knitter needles, acting alone, are used to pay out strands from supply packages and to feed the strands through guides to the workstation of a knitting machine, a variety of supplemental feeding devices have been proposed that are intended to be installed along strand feed paths to assist knitter needles in tensioning and feeding strands. However, 1) because the operation of a set of supplemental feeding devices must be carefully coordinated to ensure that the strands are fed in unison (i.e., at substantially identical feed rates) to the knitter head, and 2) because the uniform feed rate at which the strands are fed needs to properly accommodate the rate at which the knitter head makes use of strand material to knit a web of reinforcing material about a hose core, proposed supplemental feeding devices typically are relatively complex and expensive.
To the extent that supplemental feeding devices for use with an array of strands being fed to the workstation of a knitter have been proposed, most of the proposals employ components that have not been found to preform reliably and with good longevity of service life in the presence of the significant centrifugal and windage force loadings that result if a knitter head and its strand supply, guide and feed system are rotated at speeds of even as much as 600 revolutions per minute. If rotational speed of supply system components is increased to the more desirable range of about 600 to about 1400 revolutions per minute which is preferred in order to obtain good productivity from a high speed knitter, components and strand reaches that are spaced only a few inches from the axis of rotation easily can be subjected to loadings of force that are hundreds of times their weight. In such circumstances, electrical switch components and the like often are found to develop malfunctions and/or fail to perform as intended. Likewise, it is not unusual to find that even simple mechanical devices that employ relatively movable parts and have proven to be highly reliable when used in stationary environments malfunction and/or fail to perform as intended when subjected to an environment of high speed rotation.
Despite the existence of a longstanding need for a highly reliable system for driving and coordinating the operation of an array of supplemental feeding devices that are installed along a rotating array of strand feed paths to appropriately reduce the tension forces that strands exert on knitter needles, no suitably simple and reliable mechanical, electrical or electro-mechanical system has been proposed to meet this need. While the desirability has been recognized of providing a knitter that can be continuously and reliably operated at relatively high speeds of supply system component rotation that typically are in the range of about 600 to 1400 revolutions per minute with knitter needle stroke rates being maintained within the range of about 3000 to about 6000 per minute, a limiting factor that has stood squarely in the path of the provision of such a machine is the need for a strand supply, guide and feeding system that will function reliably, despite being subjected to significant centrifugal force and windage loadings, to effect controlled feeding, in unison, of a rotating array of strands of reinforcing material to the needles of a knitter head so that the needles can precisely and consistently implement a selected knit pattern as a web of reinforcing material is formed about a hose core that is traveling at relatively high speed through the workstation of the machine.

Yarn feeding system for high speed knitter


Described is an apparatus which comprises: a current steering digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to receive a digital bus to control current steering; a switch capacitor network to integrate currents from the DAC, the switch capacitor network having switches which are controllable by a plurality of digital clock signals; an output stage to compare the integrated currents against at least two threshold voltages and to generate an output signal; and a duty cycle corrector (DCC) operable to adjust the at least two threshold voltages to modify duty cycle of the output signal.

Phase Interpolators (PIs) are used in high speed input-output circuits (I/Os). For example, PIs may be used in conjunction with a digital Low Pass Filter (LPF) to produce a digital Clock and Data Recovery (CDR) circuit, or by themselves to enable Design-for-Test (DFT) features such as the internal eye monitor system. Resolution, linearity, and jitter performance are some characteristics considered when designing a PI.
Traditional PIs are analog circuits using a Gilbert cell to mix two quadrature sinusoidal input clocks to produce a sinusoidal output clock with a desired phase offset. The sinusoidal output clock is classified as an analog clock. Many processors use digital clocks instead of analog clocks. Digital clocks refer to clock signals that have purely digital CMOS levels. To preserve linearity and step size, PIs using digital clocks convert the input digital CMOS level clocks to pseudo-sinusoidal (or triangular) shape for mixing. At the output of the PI, the sinusoidal shaped output is converted back to CMOS level. The input and output signal conversions use significant amount of power and area, and decrease the jitter performance and resolution of the PI.
To take advantage of purely digital CMOS clock, digital PIs (DPIs) mix different buffered versions of the input CMOS clocks to achieve a required delayed version of the CMOS clock output. However, due to variation of process corner, supply voltage and temperature (i.e., PVTs), many more phases than required are generated by the DPI. During a calibration procedure, only a sub-set of the phases are mapped for use in operation. This creates an overhead in area, power and calibration time. For example, each single phase needs to be measured and mapped at startup. Jitter performance is also compromised by such DPIs because the inverters used to produce the different slopes have slow transition times creating opportunity to inject power noise into the signal. Very high resolution is also very difficult to achieve.
Another issue related to the DPI is duty-cycle control. For example, to control duty cycle of the output signal from the DPI, the DPI slows down the slopes of the internal signal edges to compensate for duty cycle distortion. A reduced rising/falling slope leads to increased jitter performance and area.

Fast settling mixed signal phase interpolator with integrated duty cycle correction


An extruder for making a curved workpiece has an extruder frame including a counterbeam extending transversely of an extrusion direction and formed with a recess that is throughgoing in the direction and a tool recessed in the recess and including a die having a downstream face spaced upstream in the direction from a downstream side of the counterbeam. A hot metal block is pressed against an upstream face of the die to extrude a strand in the direction from the downstream face of the die. Immediately downstream of the die a transverse external force is applied to the strand to bend it. The tool includes a pressure plate that extends completely through the counterbeam in the extrusion direction.

To manufacture curved or bent extruded sections or profiles which are generally composed of aluminum and magnesium alloys as required for various purposes in different industrial fields, it is known from EP 0 706 843 B1 to provide an extruder for hollow products with large wall thickness differences that applies force at least at defined distances from the die outlet or counterbeam, using a pressure medium which produces a reaction effect upon the profile or section shaped in the extruder die. The pressing means can be a pressing roller or a sliding surface generating a transverse force or a roller cage. Independently of the pressure applying means which is used to bring about the reaction force, a certain distance must be maintained if the extruded product is to be bent or curved simultaneously with or directly after shaping by the extrusion process in such manner that the workpiece cross sections formed in the extrusion die do not emerge parallel to one another from the die but rather are assume an angle to one another. With this arrangement it is however not possible to produce sections with small bending radii.

Extruder for making curved metal workpiece


A diaphragm with moving coil for electrodynamic transducers has in the center thereof a spherically-shaped portion and adjacent to the spherically-shaped portion a toroidally-shaped zone which may be provided with corrugations. An outwardly diverging, truncated cone-shaped collar is placed on the spherically-shaped portion. The collar may be of the same material as the diaphragm. The collar has a circular rim which is mechanically fixedly connected to the spherically-shaped portion. The circular rim of the collar has a smaller diameter than the moving coil.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a diaphragm with moving coil for an electrodynamic transducer. The diaphragm has in its center a spherically-shaped portion. A toroidally-shaped zone extending to the diaphragm edge is provided adjacent the spherically-shaped portion. The toroidally-shaped zone may be provided with corrugations.
2. Description of the Related Art
A diaphragm of the above-described type is used successfully in sound generators and sound receivers.
In the ideal case, a diaphragm of the above type should have the vibration behavior of a piston, so that vibration properties are obtained which are very similar to those of the spherical source of the 0th order. Accordingly, when manufacturing such a diaphragm, it is a particular object to realize this ideal case as closely as possible by the special selection of material and shape of the diaphragm.
Experience has shown that the vibration behavior of a diaphragm including a moving coil mass is characterized at higher frequencies of the transmission range of 20 kHz and above in that with increasing frequency the sensitivity of the electrodynamic transducer decreases steadily, wherein periodic fluctuations in the frequency pattern are observed in this frequency range. In the frequency range above approximately 5 to 8 kHz, the perception of the observer is that with increasing frequency the acoustically effective diaphragm surface area decreases continuously. This phenomenon is already mentioned in Austrian Patent 382 281.
It is well known that the deteriorating vibration behavior of the diaphragm at higher frequencies is due to the increase of effects caused in the diaphragm by flexural or bending waves. DE-AS 10 92 061 describes in detail how this type of natural vibrations can be eliminated in conical diaphragms.
Also, in dynamic transducers with a diaphragm of the above-described type it was attempted in the past to compensate as much as possible the loss of sensitivity occurring at high frequencies by utilizing a Helmholtz resonator. For this purpose, the natural resonance and quality of the resonator must be selected in such a way that the desired frequency pattern of the transducer is actually achieved. This was not always successful because it was not always possible to establish the band width and quality of the resonator to the extent required for an optimum compensation. Compromises had to be accepted or two-way systems had to be used.
Another proposal for improving the vibration behavior of diaphragms at higher and high frequencies can be found in British Patent No. 596 869. This proposal either refers to a sandwich-like coating of the diaphragm with a stiffening material or an embossment of the diaphragm with appropriate patterns to obtain a stiffening effect. However, these improvements are essentially only applicable to diaphragms having a certain shape and are not necessarily transferable to any type of diaphragm.

AKG Akustische u. Kino-Gerate Gesellschaft m.b.H.


An optical grade article comprises a thermoplastic composition comprising a poly(aliphatic ester)-polycarbonate copolymer comprising 10 to 25 wt % of a soft block ester unit derived from a C20-44 aliphatic dicarboxylic acid or derivative thereof, 34 to 77 wt % of a carbonate unit derived from 2-hydrocarbyl-3,3-bis(4-hydroxyaryl)phthalimidine, 0 to 76 wt % of a carbonate unit derived from a dihydroxyaromatic compound not identical to the 2-hydrocarbyl-3,3-bis(4-hydroxyaryl)phthalimidine, wherein the weight percentages of soft block ester units, 2-hydrocarbyl-3,3-bis(4-hydroxyaryl)phthalimidine units, and dihydroxyaromatic compound units is 100 weight percent of the monomeric units of the poly(aliphatic ester)-polycarbonate, the refractive index of the thermoplastic composition is greater than 1.590, and the glass transition temperature of the poly(aliphatic ester)-polycarbonate is from 120 to 155° C. A camera lens also comprises the poly(aliphatic ester)-polycarbonate.

This invention is directed to transparent articles prepared from thermoplastic compositions having high flow and ductility, and in particular to optical lenses prepared from thermoplastic compositions comprising a poly(aliphatic ester)-polycarbonate copolymer.
Miniaturization, functionality integration and weight reduction are emerging trends in portable hand-held electronics. These devices must withstand everyday usage over their lifetime, which can be up to several years. These trends call for plastic materials having enhanced flow properties with the ability to fill thinner wall designs, and excellent impact performance over a variety of usage environments (for example, physical shock due to dropping the item, and extremes of temperature and humidity).
The ability to take high quality pictures with devices such as mobile phone cameras or other portable handheld devices thus necessitates the need for materials, and in particular lens materials, with better properties. A camera embedded into any of these portable devices typically includes a complex optical system of a matched series of lenses, each of which has distinct optical characteristics, so that the resulting lens system as a whole has a variety of capabilities to meet consumer needs.
Polycarbonates, relative to other thermoplastics, are noted for their exceptional optical properties, thermal resistance, and mechanical properties such as impact strength. Currently, exemplary commercially available materials for the fabrication of such lenses or lens systems includes materials such as, for example, bisphenoxyethanol polyesters including OKP4 and OKP4-HT, available from Osaka Gas Chemicals Co, but which are prepared from expensive specialty feedstocks. However, high flow, optical quality polycarbonates remain the incumbent material of choice for lens materials due to their high optical and mechanical performance properties and low-cost, readily available feedstocks. However, as the lenses become smaller and smaller, and the quality requirements (e.g. picture size, quality) become more stringent, the performance of commercial optical quality polycarbonate is no longer adequate.
Transparent polymer compositions with low haze are desirable for versatile, low cost, high volume manufacture of optical grade components such as lenses for goggles and face shields, light guides and panels, and for more rigorous applications such as digital photography. While glass and various highly transparent thermoplastics may be used, the currently available materials require either long processing time (such as for the grinding of glass lenses), or for plastics, have undesirable thermal properties (as with polymethyl methacrylate) or high birefringence (such as with many optical grade commercial polycarbonates).

Transparent articles prepared from thermoplastic compositions having low birefringence


A system for bug discovery using event reports comprises an interface and a processor. The interface is configured to receive symptom data extracted from event reports from a user system. The symptom data is stored in a symptom database. The symptom data comprises one or more symptoms each with a corresponding symptom occurrence time. The processor is configured to compose one or more SQL queries using one or more bug definitions and determine an existence of one or more bugs of the user system based at least in part on a result of querying the symptom database using the one or more SQL queries.

Event reports from software and systems are used to give feedback to the developers of the software and systems when problems occur. Event reports typically contain ample information about the symptoms and state of the system at the time of the problem in order for an expert to determine and fix the problem. Typically, event reports are handled manually by technical support staff. A technical support representative combs through sometimes large amounts of data to identify the bug and cause of the system. Typically, a knowledge base of information about bugs and staff that have expert knowledge of the software and systems they run on are needed in order to discover the bug in the software and systems. Additionally sometimes, hundreds of event reports can be received in a day, making manual searching for bugs is painstaking, costly and error-prone. What is needed is an automatic and scalable way to search for bugs based on the data collected in the event reports.

Set-based bugs discovery system via SQL query


An on-vehicle fog-presence determining apparatus having image fog-state determining means for determining whether or not an image picked up by an on-vehicle camera mounted on a vehicle is disclosed. The apparatus comprises far-flung brightness acquiring means for acquiring a brightness of a far-flung road region, sky brightness acquiring means for acquiring a brightness of a sky around the vehicle and image fog-state determining means for making judgment using the brightness of the far-flung road region and the brightness of the sky.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for determining whether or not fog is present in an environment around a vehicle using images picked up by a camera mounted on the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known an apparatus for executing an image processing on a picked up image of an on-vehicle camera for determining the presence of fog (as disclosed in, for instance, Japanese Patent No. 3444192). In Japanese Patent No. 344419, the presence of fog is determined based on a degree of image blurring. With fog being present, the image gets blurred. Thus, the presence of fog is determined upon the estimated degree of image blurring. In estimating the degree of image blurring, first, a differential calculus is executed for each pixel of an entire image to calculate a rate of change of brightness (the amount of edges) in each pixel of the image. The brightness variations are used to estimate the degree of image blurring.
With the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3444192, the result of determining the presence of fog is utilized in recognizing a white line on a road. In recognizing the white line on the road on which a vehicle is traveling based on an image picked up by the on-vehicle camera, if fog is present in an atmosphere on the road, the image gets blurred with a resultant difficulty of recognizing the white line. Therefore, the presence of fog is determined prior to recognizing the white line. It is also disclosed that if the presence of fog is determined, fog lamps are turned on.
An apparatus, disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3312729, is not of a type that determines only the presence of fog. If an image gets blurred due to bad visibility caused by fog or the like, or, dirt on a windscreen of a vehicle, it becomes hard to appropriately monitor the vehicle exterior (i.e., a monitoring a distance between an own vehicle and an object at a distance from the vehicle, i.e, exterior of the vehicle). To address such an issue, the determination is made whether or not the image is blurred.
In the method of determining the image blurring disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3312729, a representative value of the brightness variation of the image is calculated based on the brightness variations in a fixed portion of the image, wherein the fixed portion is set to an upper center section of the image. In more detail, the representative value of the brightness variation of the image is estimated based on a ratio of the number of pixels in which the brightness variation exceeds a predetermined threshold value.
Both the apparatuses, disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3444192 and Japanese Patent No. 3312729, determine whether or not the image picked up by the on-vehicle camera gets blurred for thereby making a judgment on the presence of fog. If the brightness variations of each pixel of an entire image are calculated, an issue arises with an increase in processing time or load for carrying out the image processing as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3444192. Meanwhile, with the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3312729, the brightness variations of only the fixed area, set to the upper center section thereof, are calculated, resulting in a lower load or shorter processing time than that of the device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3444192. However, in image object in the image of a close range object to the own vehicle is relatively and clearly picked up even in the presence of fog. Therefore, if the object is picked up in the fixed area on the image at a close range from the vehicle, an issue arises with a difficulty of precisely determining the presence of fog.
With the above view in mind, the present applicant has made an invention on an apparatus, operative to determine the presence of fog using an image of a far-flung road region determined on the image picked up by an on-vehicle camera for representing a region over a road in a given far-flung distance from a vehicle, of which patent application was filed (Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No. 2006-349492). Thus, if the region of the image for which the presence of fog is determined is allocated to the region over the road, it is highly likely that due to the road normally continuing to a far-flung area, such a far-flung area involves a pickup image of a far-flung portion. This enables the presence of fog to be precisely determined.
Further, WO 03/069275 discloses means for determining whether or not fog is present in outside air, surrounding a field of view from a driver's seat and a vehicle, in an image picked up by an on-vehicle camera.
With such a method, a road portion and a sky portion are determined based on brightness in the image picked up by the on-vehicle camera. Thereafter, a calculation is executed to obtain coefficients of extinction in both areas under a Koschmieder's low, upon which the field of view is produced and the existence of or nonexistence of fog is determined based on the resulting coefficients of extinction.
However, with the apparatuses disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No. 2006-349492 or WO 03/069275 for determining the presence of fog, it is likely that when picked up by the on-vehicle camera mounted on a vehicle running on a road passing through a forest like a mountain corridor, a far-flung road region is present in the forest and, therefore, underexposure phenomena occurs in the pickup image. If such underexposure phenomena are present in the far-flung road region, there is a possibility of determining in error that the image is enveloped in fog.
The present invention has been completed with a view to addressing such issues and has an object to ensure a precision in determining the presence of fog even if underexposure phenomena occur in a far-flung road region of an image.

Apparatus for detecting the presence of fog for automotive vehicle


There is provided a discharge-lamp lighting device that, upon start-up of a high-intensity discharge lamp, alternately outputs a period A during which a starting circuit applies a high voltage to the high-intensity discharge lamp by resonance operation when a DC/AC inverter outputs a high-frequency voltage, and a period B during which the DC/AC inverter applies a low-frequency-square-wave voltage or a DC voltage to the high-intensity discharge lamp via the starting circuit. The period A for applying the high voltage by the resonance operation is set to about a time enough for a high-intensity discharge lamp in an initial aging stage to cause a dielectric breakdown, and a period C for alternately outputting the high-voltage generating period A and the period B for outputting the low-frequency-square-wave voltage or the DC voltage is set to about a time enough for a high-intensity discharge lamp in a life's last stage to cause a dielectric breakdown.

A high-intensity discharge lamp is of compact size, offers a high luminous flux, and is analogous to a point source of light, and also light distribution is easy to control. Therefore, it has been widely used as an alternative to an incandescent lamp or a halogen lamp in recent years. For lighting this high-intensity discharge lamp, there is a discharge-lamp lighting device that switches DC voltage on and off at high frequency and converts it into a low-frequency square wave via an inductor and a capacitor thereby to operate the high-intensity discharge lamp. When high-frequency electric power is used to light the high-intensity discharge lamp, arc discharge becomes unstable due to acoustic resonance, and therefore the lamp flickers or goes out. In contrast, AC-powered lighting by the low-frequency square wave ensures stable arc discharge continuously.
Upon start-up of the high-intensity discharge lamp, it requires a dielectric breakdown caused by an application of impulse voltage of several to tens of kV. Further, following the occurrence of the dielectric breakdown between electrodes, a transition from glow discharge to arc discharge is required. Thus, energy needs to be supplied in optimum conditions depending on each operating state, and also control needs to be made to achieve a smooth transition from a start-up state to a stable lighting state.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-265707 has proposed that, upon start-up time of the high-intensity discharge lamp, a period A during which high voltage is applied by resonance operation and a period B during which low-frequency-square-wave voltage is applied, are alternately repeated during a period C, as shown in FIG. 7. The dielectric breakdown between electrodes is ensured by the period A for applying the high voltage by the resonance operation, and the transition from the glow discharge to the arc discharge is ensured by the period B for applying the low-frequency-square-wave voltage.
Recent studies have found that it is important to set the periods A, B, and C in FIG. 7 to their respective optimum lengths. Specifically, a problem has been found that, when the period A for applying the high voltage by the resonance operation is too short relative to the period B for applying the low-frequency-square-wave voltage, the transition from the glow discharge to the arc discharge can be made smoothly, but dielectric breakdown performance is deficient. In contrast, the period A for applying the high voltage by the resonance operation is too long relative to the period B for applying the low-frequency-square-wave voltage, the dielectric breakdown is possible, but the transition from the glow discharge to the arc discharge is not made smoothly.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the foregoing problem, and an object thereof is to provide a discharge-lamp lighting device and a luminaire that provide optimum dielectric breakdown performance and arc transition performance, which are two major factors in starting a high-intensity discharge lamp, by determining and defining optimum conditions from qualitative and quantitative points of view for a period during which high voltage is applied by resonance operation, a period during which low-frequency-square-wave voltage or DC voltage is applied, and a cycle of these repetitive periods, thereby to realize smooth start-up of the high-intensity discharge lamp.

Discharge-lamp lighting device and luminaire


A portable device for the retention of multi-fuel tanks on board marine vessels during the refueling process. The receiving receptacle will fit around the air vent on said tanks. Thus catching discharged fuels in its basin; from there it will pass into its own holding tank for later removal. It will cling to the side of vessel's hull with the aid of rope, counter weights and leverage levers.

For retention of air vented fuel or gas, which is expelled during the refueling process of fixed fuel or gas tanks in a pleasure or commercial vessel. Most all fuel tanks are vented over the side of the vessel; hence when the tank is near full, it starts to expel fuel or gas over the side of the boat into the water. It is a hazard to the environment, also a danger to human life and property. The U.S. Coast Guard has seen fit to impose large fines to deter this from happening. But there are still large amounts of fuel being spilled into our waterways, lakes and oceans from the same process of filling tanks every day. Much of this same fuel or gas can be seen on our waters as its film spreads and its rainbow effects can be seen and smelled from some distance away. People who go to sea want to be assured their fuel tanks are full, so when the fuel comes to the top of their tanks, and spills fuel out of the fuel air vent, they will repeat the process, spilling more fuel into the water. Seldom will this fuel be retrieved with sorbent pads without an official nearby. Nor will the person turn himself in or the fuel attendant turn his customer into the proper officials. At this point the government may have it cleaned at the tax payer's expense. Prior art to address this problem has been submitted by Wallace E. Briles in U.S. Pat No. 4,696,330, his application was for fixed stationary fuel tanks which comprise of a manhold, downspout and airvent. While the same parts are used in the Marine Fuel Bib, his application would not be feasible for fixed fuel tanks on marine vessels. Charles E. Wilkinson, Jr. also devised a catch basin for spilt waste in U.S. Pat. No. 5,22,534, the application for which it was designed has the same object in mind but also is not feasible of the task of collecting waste fuels from marine vessels.
These applications are designed for very specific methods for collection of waste; however, neither of these applications addresses the waste from the marine fueling process. Our waterways are in dire need of a fuel collection system that will catch these fuels before polluting the waters.


A coin holder having edge view optics. The coin holder includes a coin having an obverse side, a reverse side and a coin edge having features on the coin edge. The features can include lettering, decorative patterns or other features of interest. An optical frame is configured to surround the coin edge and includes reflective surfaces that project an image of the coin edge to a viewing side of the optical frame, where the features of the coin edge can be viewed in a desired orientation.

In the coin collecting field there has been an increased demand for collectable coins that have a greater number of features and decorative patterns. Many of the newer collectible coins, as well as some older coins, have engraving or writing on the edge of the coin. Being able to view the features of the edge is problematic for numismatists because many seek to protect their precious and often times valuable coins by encasing them in containers, called slabs, which protect them from handling and the environment. The use of the containers also makes it difficult to view the quality of the edge of the coin to determine if there are dings, scratches or other sort of damages to the coin edge.
Most of the slabs used today do not provide a way of viewing the edge of the coin. Some attempts have been made to provide coin slabs that have viewing features that allow the edge of the coin to be viewed. One example is a coin slab that has a protruding coin holder surface that raises the coin off of the surface of the slab so that the edge can be viewed when the slab is turned on its side. This type of coin holder allows the viewer to see the side of the coin; however, the slab must be turned on its side or at an angle in order for the lettering on the edge of the coin to be viewed. Additionally this type of slab is not desirable because of difficulties in stacking the slabs for storage because of a raised surface on the slab itself. Another attempt provides a coin slab has been designed to include a magnification circle. The magnification circle encircles the edge of the coin and has a single reflective surface that projects a magnified, inverted image of the edge lettering of the coin. An inverted image of the edge of the coin can be viewed when a person is examining the face of the coin. This particular attempt projects an inverted image that is dark and distorted.
One other attempt of a coin slab design implements four tabs that hold the coin in place within the slab. Between the tabs is a gap that allows the edge of the coin to be viewed directly by holding the slab on an angle. This attempt does not use any projections or reflective surfaces but relies on allowing the edge to be viewed directly. However, the view of the edge is minimal due to the glare that often occurs from holding the slab at an angle. Thus there is a need to provide better quality edge viewing slab designs.
The field of coin collecting also requires a certain level of security in order to ensure a coin's authenticity. Once a coin has been graded or valued it generally receives a certificate of authenticity that specifies the grade value which all compute to the coins value. In order to maintain the integrity of the coin grading process, the coins are often sealed in slabs along with the certificate of grading. Counterfeit coin slab casings have been discovered. These casings include certificates that purport to have been from a reputable grading service, when they are in fact fake certificates and coins that do not contain the purported level of grading specified on the certificate. These fraudulent acts harm the reputation of the entire field since collectors cannot be certain they are getting what they think they are purchasing. Thus there is a need to improve the security features of the slabs themselves.

Muroc Masters Research and Development, LLC


Disclosed is a method for processing incoming signals of photo-detectors in a visible light communication system. The method includes: dividing symbol duration into divided durations according to an equal time interval to set the divided durations to a plurality of time slots, the symbol duration being a time required to transmit one of a symbol and a bit; receiving visible light signals through a photodiode array in a receiver; determining a gain value of each of the photodiodes during a time slot, in consideration of each photodiode area on the photodiode array during the time slot and the time slot position within the symbol duration; multiplying a gain value of each of the photodiodes by an output value of a corresponding photodiode; and summing up output values of each of the photodiodes by which the gain value has been multiplied and calculating a total of output values of the time slot.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a visible light communication system, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for processing incoming signals in a visible light communication receiver using a plurality of photo-detectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with improvement in the luminance efficiency of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and a price drop of the LEDs, the use of LEDs has widely spread in general lighting markets, including the markets of fluorescent lamps and incandescent lamps, as well as specific lighting markets, including the markets of portable devices, displays, automobiles, traffic lights, billboards, etc.
Recently, various factors (e.g., the exhaustion of radio frequency (RF) band frequencies, potential crosstalk between several wireless communication technologies, an increasing demand for communication security, and the advent of an ultra-high speed ubiquitous communication environment based on 4G wireless technologies) have increased interest in radio over fiber technologies complementary to RF technologies. Consequently, research on visible light wireless communication employing visible light LEDs is now in progress by many enterprises and laboratories.
Fluorescent lamps and incandescent lamps currently being used for lighting in homes, offices, and public places are expected to be replaced by LEDs having higher performance and longer life. If current applied to an LED used for lighting is modulated, the LED for lighting can be utilized as a light source for communication. That is, it is possible to provide broadcasting and data transmission only through an LED for lighting without adding a light source.
As such, visible light communication for transferring information by using visible light has advantages in that it is possible to freely perform communication through widely available bandwidth without regulation, as compared with radio communication, and it is also possible to provide reliability in view of security, as well as identification of communication links. Further, in visible light communication, it is possible to simultaneously perform a communication function and a lighting function. That is, by using a general illuminator, it is possible to act as a visible communication transceiver for transmitting and receiving information simultaneously while acting as lighting.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are views schematically illustrating a visible light receiving unit of a conventional visible light communication receiver. FIG. 1A is a view schematically illustrating a visible light receiving unit using one photodiode (PD) as a photo-detector in the conventional visible light communication receiver. Referring to FIG. 1A, the visible light receiving unit of the visible light communication receiver includes a photodiode 100 for photo electrically converting received light into electrical signals, and a lens 120 for concentrating the received light to the photodiode 100. The visible light signals transmitted from a transmitter are received into a receiver, and the received visible light signals are concentrated to the photodiode 100 through the lens 120. Then, the visible light signals are converted into electrical signals by the photodiode 100 before a reception operation is performed.
FIG. 1B is a view schematically illustrating a visible light receiving unit using a plurality of photodiodes as a photo-detector in the conventional visible light communication receiver. FIG. 1B is a view illustrating a visible light receiving unit using a photodiode array with a plurality of photodiodes in a visible light communication receiver. The visible light receiving unit of the visible light communication receiver shown in FIG. 1B includes a plurality of photodiodes 131 to 139 for photo electrically converting received light into electrical signals, and a lens 140 for concentrating the received light to the photodiode array (hereinafter, referred to as "PD array"). When the PD array including the photodiodes 131 to 139 is used, a visible light which pass through the lens are received at one photodiode or a plurality of photodiodes, depending on a light-receiving angle of the visible light. The visible light communication receiver performs a function of restoring incoming signals through electrical signals output from a photodiode at which the light has been received.
The reason why a plurality of photodiodes is used in the visible light communication receiver is that there is a relationship between a size of a photodiode area and reaction speed. In general, an increase in the photodiode area increases a corresponding light-receiving amount, but reduces the operation speed of the photodiode. In addition, resistance is increased as the photodiode area gets larger, so that the increased resistance in a circuit increases a time constant. Therefore, since the width of the photodiode is in inverse proportion to the operation speed of the photodiode, if a plurality of photodiodes with small areas are disposed to have an array configuration, it is possible to anticipate the extension of the light-receiving area together with the improvement of the operation speed.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the conventional visible light communication receiver using a plurality of photodiode as a photo-detector. The conventional visible light communication receiver using a plurality of photodiodes includes a PD array 250 which includes a plurality of photodiodes 200-1 to 200-n that photo electrically converts received light into electrical signals, a summer 210 for summing up the converted electrical signals, a demodulator 220 for demodulating incoming signals, and a decoder 230 for correcting errors by an error correction code.
The visible light signals received by the visible light communication receiver is photo electrically converted by the photodiodes 200-1 to 200-n, and then output values of each of the photodiodes 200-1 to 200-n are summed up by the summer 210.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a reception operation of the conventional visible light communication receiver using a plurality of photodiodes as a photo-detector. The reception operation of the conventional visible light communication receiver will be described with reference to FIG. 3. In step 310, the visible light communication receiver receives visible light signals from a visible light communication transmitter. In step 320, the visible light signals are received at the PD array 250 of the visible light communication receiver, and then output values of each of the photodiodes on the PD array 250 are summed up by the summer 210. In step 330, the visible light communication receiver demodulates the summed-up signals. In step 340, the visible light communication receiver performs a decoding operation. In step 350, it is determined if the reception operation is terminated. As a result of the determination in step 350, when the reception operation is not terminated, the process returns to step 310, in which the reception operation is repeatedly performed. Otherwise, the reception operation is terminated.
Meanwhile, the visible light communication using a free space propagation scheme operates in an environment different from that of the optical communication scheme using optical fibers. In the optical communication scheme, signals are transferred using optical fibers, so that transmitted signals are received by a receiver almost without loss. However, in the visible light communication using a free space propagation scheme, visible light signals with information illuminates wide free space during transmission, so that the visible light communication receiver receives only a part of signals transmitted from the visible light communication transmitter. To solve this problem, the visible light communication receiver employs additional components, such as a lens, for increasing the light-receiving amount.
Further, as described in FIGS. 1 and 2, a scheme for disposing a plurality of photo-detectors in an array configuration may be employed, in order to improve the performance of the receiver in the visible light communication. In this case, it is possible to anticipate extension of the whole light-receiving area together with improvement of operation speed. In the case of using the above-described scheme, an area of each of the photo-detectors constituting a photo-detector array is in inverse proportion to operation speed. Therefore, as the area of the photo-detector gets larger, the amount of receivable light increases, which increases strengths of output electrical signals while decreasing the reaction speed of the detector. In other words, when the speed of change of the transmitted light by increase of the transmission speed is beyond the operation limit of the photo-detectors, the normal reception operation may not be performed. To overcome the above-described problem, there has been proposed a scheme of using an array including photo-detectors with small areas. However, in this case, an increase in complexity relatively increases cost.
Therefore, a method for restoring visible light signals with reliability is needed.

Method and apparatus for processing signals of photo-detector in visible light communication system

Maetan-dong, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do


According to the various embodiments of the present invention, an outbound call to a number on an emergency call list may change the incoming call controls to a telephone. In particular, methods of altering incoming call controls after a call has been placed to an emergency number comprises steps of performing a first modification of a first call control related to a first incoming calling number, and performing a second modification of the first call control related to the first incoming calling number after a predetermined period of time. Systems for altering incoming call controls after a call has been placed to an emergency number are also disclosed.

Currently, voice telecommunication networks apply incoming call controls (ICC) to inbound or incoming calls. Incoming call controls affect how calls are processed by the network. Complex incoming call controls may include a number of rules, which are preferably applied in order. Each incoming call control rule may be implemented using a two step call processing model. The first step of the rule is to identify the call to tell whether the rule should be applied, and the second step of the rule is to dispose of the call to which the rule should be applied. Optionally, these rules may be selected and defined by the customer on the receiving end of the calls. Such selection and definition may be implemented using a Web User Interface or other interface.
Further, incoming call controls may be of increased sophistication as they are integrated with external sources of information like Personal Address Books (PAB), calendars, and call logs. An example of increased incoming call control complexity is when a household desires to limit calls between 10:00 PM at night and 8:00 AM in the morning to those numbers listed in their PAB. In this example, all night-time calls received from telephone numbers not listed in the PAB may be blocked by an announcement, such as "The party you have called doesn't accept calls during this time. Please try your call again later."
Incoming call controls may be used, for example, to make a person more accessible or less accessible. An example of an incoming call controls that may make customers more accessible is a locating service, which may attempt to find the called party at a different telephone number than the one dialed. The locating service may involve the end-user publishing a "primary" number. The primary number may be a DID number associated with a call answering service or a telephone number (wireless or wireline) with a call answering service like Plain Old Voicemail (POVM) or Unified Messaging Service (UMS) that includes a locating capability. When a caller calls and the locating service is activated, the service may say something such as, "<Name Announcement> is not available right now. Please speak your name after the tone and I will attempt to locate them or press one to go directly to voicemail. <BEEP>" The subscriber may record this name announcement during the setup for their service. Next, the caller speaks their name. Then the system may say, "Please hold while I locate them."
The service may dial each of the telephone numbers in the end-user's contact list. Two exemplary methods of doing this are to call each number in the contact list one at a time or to call all numbers in the contact list at the same time. The caller may be restricted from hearing what is going on with regard to the called contact numbers, such that he is effectively on hold. If any of the dialed numbers is answered, the person answering the call may hear, "<Name Announcement> has a call from <Caller's Spoken Name>. To take the call, press one. To send the call to voicemail press two." The called party may also be required to provide a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to authenticate that they are really the subscriber. If the subscriber accepts the call, the caller is connected to the end-user on the answered phone. Otherwise, the caller may be directed to the end-user's voicemail service. However, as should be apparent, callers often endure a delay as they wait for the locating service to find the subscriber.
An example of an incoming call controls that may make a person less accessible is a privacy failure, which may help customers avoid telemarketing calls. However, even the most well thought out incoming call control rules may reduce a customer's ability to be contacted when applied to all inbound calls, especially during emergencies. For example, a privacy feature may be activated when a caller's telephone number information is unknown or unavailable to the terminating network. When the calling party information is unavailable, the call may be directed to the privacy feature instead of ringing through to the called party's phone. The privacy feature may force the caller to provide either their name or a DTMF PIN number. When the caller doesn't have a PIN number, they may be required to state their name. The privacy feature may then call the called party and ask them if they wish to take the call. Again, such features provide significant delays for a calling party trying to reach a called party.
Incoming call control has two ways of looking at inbound calls. The first (shown) is by telephone number. Telephone numbers can be entered manually or selected from a list of telephone numbers generated by scanning the address book. The second method (not shown) is by name. When names are used, they are matched to the address book and all telephone numbers associated with the name are treated by the same inbound call management "rule." Matching inbound calls can be given a distinctive ring tone. The distinctive ring tone sets the call apart from other inbound calls. Inbound calls can be forwarded to different destinations based on a ring/no answer rule. The subscriber has the ability to select the number of rings the call makes on the customer's phone before being forwarded. Calls can be forwarded to another number or voicemail. Additionally, inbound calls can be directed into a locating type service. The locating capability can try each of the possible terminating numbers in sequence or in parallel. The sequential mode works like most locating implementations, while the parallel mode works like simultaneous ring feature.
A blocking capability could also be used. Callers who are blocked hear a system announcement indicating that the called party has elected not to receive calls from the calling party. Alternatively, the caller can hear a busy signal as though the customer's line is always busy even when the line isn't busy. Another alternative would be that the caller could hear a ring tone as though the customer's line never answers. In this mode, the customer would not hear ringing on their line. Only the caller would hear ringing. The caller can be directed to different announcements, thereby providing interactive call blocking. The announcements can be the called party is unavailable, the called party doesn't accept telemarketing calls, a personal announcement recorded by the subscriber, a holiday greeting recorded by the customer, etc.
A caller could be asked to provide the system with their name. Once a name is recorded by the system, a call is placed to the customer's phone asking the customer if they wish to take a call from the calling party. The customer can elect to direct the call to an announcement (matching the recorded announcements described in the previous paragraph), accept the call, or forward the call directly into voicemail. Blocked calls that are blocked by an announcement or interactive call blocking can be overridden by a subscriber defined PIN number. The caller would enter the PIN during the announcement and the call would be directed to the customer's number. The capabilities described above can be applied based on a schedule, such as date/time controls set by the user on a webpage.
A shortcoming of conventional networks is that these incoming call controls may impede legitimate calls in an emergency situation. In the situation where an emergency arises in the house, one incoming call controls methodology may suggest that a phone number of an emergency service might use to call a household be included the PAB. Then, calls from this number could be passed through to the household. This may work for some known emergency services numbers, but this methodology would be impractical because it would not work in all situations. For example, emergency services personnel often carry wireless phones or call from emergency call centers. The many telephones that emergency service personnel use may render this solution infeasible. Moreover, there is no telephone line class (payphone, hotel, regular phone, etc.) that identifies emergency services in the inbound call's setup information.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved a method of and system for altering incoming call controls after a call has been placed to an emergency number.

Method of and system for altering incoming call controls after a call has been placed to an emergency number


A golf club head includes a hollow body with a side hole, a striking face securely connected to the hollow body to cover the side hole, a baffle formed inside the hollow body to be near to a peripheral edge defining the side hole so as to define between the striking face and the baffle a receiving space and a shock absorbing material inserted into the receiving space and securely attached to side walls defining the receiving space.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf club head, and more particularly to a golf club head with shock absorbing material embedded inside the golf club head to absorb shock from the striking of a golf ball.
2. Description of Related Art
When a golfer is striking a golf ball, the counter force from the golf ball is applied directly to the golf club, which in turn is transmitted to the golfer. Therefore, after years of golfing on the golf courses, the accumulated stress on the golfer is enormous. The most common ailment from golfing due to the counter force is the wrist injury. This is because the golfer's wrist receives most the counter force so that after a period of time enjoying this past time, most golfers need to seek professional help to treat the discomfort.
In order to avoid the discomfort, especially when striking the golf ball, most golf club manufacturers nowadays install shock absorbing material inside the golf club head to reduce the shock to the golfer. Because the shock absorbing material can not withstand the heat during a welding process while manufacturing the golf club head, the shock absorbing material normally has a size slightly larger than the space inside the golf club head such that the manufacturer has to stuff the shock absorbing material inside the space in the golf club head. Thereafter, the manufacturer uses a cap and positioning elements such as screws, bolts or the like to secure the position of the shock absorbing material. However, this process will inevitably increase the cost in making the required mold and the shock absorbing material, after being pressed into the space inside the golf club head, is not able to effectively absorb the shock. Thus the conventional structure and method of stuffing the shock absorbing material inside the golf club head are not complete solutions to the existing problems.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide an improved golf club head to mitigate the aforementioned problems.

Golf club head with shock absorbing material embedded therein


This machine comprises a train of grinding wheels (T) which is keyed on a shaft (2), and a blank-holding assembly (5, 7) designed to bring the blank (8) into contact with the grinding wheels. The said machine comprises, furthermore, an additional grinding wheel (9) mounted freely rotatably on a support (10), means (11) for actuating the support, which are designed to displace the additional grinding wheel (9) between a retracted position and an active position in which its axis of rotation (Y--Y) is parallel to the axis of the said shaft and in which the additional grinding wheel is in driving contact with a drive disc (17) integral with the train of grinding wheels, and means for bringing the blank into contact with the additional grinding wheel (9) when the latter is in the active position. The invention is used for the counter-bevelling and/or grooving and/or drilling of optical glasses.

The present invention relates to a machine for the grinding of optical glasses, of the type comprising a main train of grinding wheels which is keyed on a shaft, and a blank-holding assembly designed to bring the blank into contact with the grinding wheels.
When an optical glass blank has been ground to the contour corresponding to the spectacle frame which will receive it, it must undergo, on each side, a counter-bevelling operation which breaks the two sharp edges of its contour. Moreover, when the frame comprises a glass-retaining wire on at least part of the periphery of each frame rim, a corresponding grooving that is to say a channel, has to be made on the edge or the blank.


The disclosure is directed to a device for the sharpening, grinding and polishing of dental, parodental or surgical instruments, comprising a grinding body (48) with a grinding surface, said grinding body (48) being carried by a support structure (36) consisting of arms forming a rectangle, with the support structure (36) being arranged for rotation and the instrument (12) to be ground being clamped in a clamping means (28). The rotatable support structure (38) is displaceable relative to the clamping means (28).

The invention is directed to a device a device for the sharpening, grinding and polishing of dental, parodental and/or surgical instruments of the type indicated in the preamble of claims 1, 2 or 10.
The maintenance of medical instruments, e.g. dental, parodental and/or surgical instruments, which are not provided for disposal after use, is an essential requirement for a successful therapy. Maintenance of these instruments comprises, among others, sharpening, renewed cutting, grinding and polishing of instruments which have become blunt or notched by usage or have become unfit for optimum use due to other influences. Particularly in the field of dentistry, it is often tried to re-grind or re sharpen precious instruments such as scalers, curettes, gingival border beaters, excavators, carving instruments, rasps, root lifters, scissors, sharp spoons etc. so that these instruments can be successfully used several times.
For avoiding bothersome manual grinding, there are used hand- or motor-driven grinding devices. However, because of the restricted variabilty of such devices, only certain instruments can be treated successfully. Among these are scalers, curettes, Hoe scalers and gingival border beaters.
EP-A-0 307 740 is directed to a device for the sharpening of the cutting edges of scalers clamped in a holding device and of other parodental instruments by means of a motor-driven grinding disk. By the device described therein, a re-grinding of the cutting edge of parodental instruments shall be reproducible, i.e. be feasible at identical grinding angles and an identical grinding pressure during each use. The grinding body to be used for sharpening, provided as a grinding disk, is rotatably supported on a bearing block resting on a support structure. The support structure comprises two support arms being articulated to the bearing block and having their free ends articulated to each other by a connecting member. The four joints between the bearing block, the support arms and the connecting member form a parallelogram. The ,support structure is arranged for rotation so that the grinding body performs a circular movement upon rotation of the support structure. The support structure projects from an opening in the upper side of a base housing having two holding arms arranged thereon, with the clamping device being supported for rotation about a horizontal axis between said arms. The connecting member connecting the two support arms of the support structure is pivotable. Through a horizontally displaceable sliding block, abutting a stationary control member and being displaced while scanning the control surface thereof during rotation of the support structure, the connecting member is pivoted about its pivoting point. At the same time, while the grinding body is in abutment on the instrument, the support arms of the support structure move relative to each other, resulting in a pivoting of the bearing block and thus a change of the inclination of the grinding surface of the grinding body. By controlling the inclination of the grinding surface in this manner, grinding can be performed on instruments as e.g. scalers or curettes wherein the inclination angle of the grinding surface at the lateral faces of the instrument and that at the acute end have to be selected differently.
The support structure of the known grinding machine can be rotated about a stationary vertical axis only. Instruments wherein the grinding body must be longitudinally displaceable along the cutting edges thereof for sharpening the instrument over its whole length, can be treated only in a restricted manner or not at all by the known device. Further, the clamping means allows clamping of only a limited number of different instruments.

Device for the sharpening, grinding and polishing of dental, parodental and/or surgical instruments


An apparatus for use in mass spectrometry comprising an injector body, an injection tube coupled to the injector body, and a shielding assembly disposed between the injector body and the injection tube. The shielding apparatus is suitable for shielding the injector body from heat generated by a plasma source.

Mass spectrometers and other systems for chemical and particle analysis are utilized for measurement of the concentration of analytes or the detection and measurement of contaminants and trace additives in solutions and gases. One type of mass spectrometer is an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). ICPMS is a practical technique for trace and ultratrace elemental analysis. The measurements made by ICP-MS are utilized to determine and manage the quality of process solutions. Ultrapure water (UPW), dilute hydrofluoric acid (HF), and standard industry clean formulations SC1 (Standard Clean 1, ammonium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide in water) and SC2 (hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide in water) are examples of solutions that are routinely analyzed. Quick and accurate analysis in these and other industrial processes can result in the early detection of contamination problems, better control of process chemistry, and ultimately lead to higher yields and less product variation.
While many advances have been made in instrumentation, the introduction of a sample to the plasma continues to be a problematic area. Specifically, because of elemental quantification requirements and ultimate detection limits in elemental analysis, the collisions that break the molecular species into their elemental or individual atomic components are much more energetic ("harder") through the creation of more highly accelerated ions (with higher energy). For this reason, an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) ionization source is often preferred for molecular ionization and disintegration, due to its ability to completely break molecules into their elemental components. An ICP source works generally by coupling radio frequency (RF) energy into a gas stream containing the nebulized liquid or gas sample with the result that the sample is immediately heated to several thousand degrees. Molecules break apart at these temperatures and collision energies leaving only elemental ions. The plasma source generates a substantial amount of heat within the ICP MS torch during molecular breakdown. The heat generated from the plasma source often causes damage to injectors. Referring to FIG. 1, an injector 100, illustrating an end portion 102 by that has been eroded by exposure to plasma heat is shown. Disadvantageously, this erosion results in unusable injectors, and requires frequent replacement of injector bodies, or injector assemblies.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus which prevented heat erosion of an injector during molecular ionization and disintegration using a plasma source or other extremely high heat source.

Mass spectrometry injection system and apparatus


A single use probe, sterilizable by irradiation, for a single use component for use in a biopharmaceutical process, comprises at least one sensor relevant for the biopharmaceutical process, an RFID tag and a memory rewritable in principle, in which data with respect to an integrity check of the single use probe are stored. A method for quality assurance of such a single use probe comprises: providing the probe with an RFID tag and a memory rewritable in principle, in particular a FeRAM memory as part of the RFID tag; defining a measurement-principle-specific quality parameter of the single use probe; defining a tolerance value for the parameter; performing an integrity check of the probe by first determining and writing into the memory values of the defined quality parameter before sterilization of the probe by irradiation; determining the values of the defined quality parameter after irradiation; and comparing the values of the quality parameter determined before radiation to those determined after.

The trends of recent years in the biopharmaceutical industry increasingly point in the direction of the use of single use components (SU components). The same no longer are used now only in the field of product and process development, but also in the field of clinical trial manufacturing (CTM) for the approval procedure and even in the commercial good manufacturing practice (GMP) in the production of drugs.
In essence, two different approaches for the use of single-use components find their way into the commercial production. On the one hand, especially in new factories, locations or enterprises in particular in Asia, the operators rely on a full single-use approach in which the entire manufacturing chain is covered almost exclusively by single use components. On the other hand, when classical appliances made of stainless steel are present already, the same in general shall also be utilized due to the high purchase price. In this case, so-called hybrid installations comprising existing stainless steel components and newly added single use components are being used. One example is the cultivation of animal cells in a bioreactor.
In particular in the field of the clinical trial manufacturing or even in the surroundings of the method of checking the current quality standards in the field of manufacture (cGMP or Current Good Manufacturing Practice) it is indispensable that the integrity of the reaction vessel is given and thus both a penetration of extraneous organisms and a leakage of the reaction medium from the reactor can be prevented. In the case of stainless steel reactors this is ensured for example by applying a test pressure and determining the pressure drop over time as a measurement parameter, after cleaning, installation and steam sterilization. This pressure test is recorded by the operator of the installation and documented in a suitable way. In single use bioreactors or other systems made of plastics this is effected in a similar way directly before use. Directly after installation of the container, the system is aseptically connected to a pressure testing device via a hose connection. Testing instruments are available by means of which both pressure testing and a cGMP-compliant documentation can be ensured, e.g. the "Sartocheck 4 plus Bag Tester" of Sartorius.
As in contrast to stainless steel systems the single use systems are no fixed installations, the manufacture and the transport of the containers constitute a serious source of possible leakages. To prevent this from happening, a check of the container integrity in part is made already during the production of single use containers. For this purpose, the manufacturer employs systems similar to those being employed by the future user before their use. It is an essential disadvantage of the previous method that the information on the integrity test is not stored on the container itself and therefore must be traced back tediously via the lot number.
In another context a gamma-sterilizable RFID system is known from U.S. Pat. No. 8,963,684 B2, by means of which single-use bioprocess components not manufactured by the original manufacturer can be recognized and thereupon a non-authorized operation can be prevented. For this purpose a FeRAM chip (short for "ferroelectric random access memory chip") is used in order to store error-correctable information on an RFID tag that is attached to a single-use bioprocess component. The information generally is preserved in the memory chip even after the gamma sterilization of the RFID tag and the single-use bioprocess component and can possibly be corrected. There is also described a method for authenticating the single-use bioprocess component, which is meant to reduce the liability risk of the original manufacturer. When a component does not pass an authentication test, a warning is issued to the user or the bioprocess is stopped. In this way, poor-quality counterfeits shall be recognized and users in this case shall be stopped from asserting an unjustified complaint with the original manufacturer.

Single use probe sterilizable by irradiation and method for the quality assurance of a single use probe


A hydrogen peroxide-containing bleach liquor containing one or more compounds selected from organic phosphonic acids and their salts; and a water-soluble alkylamide. A bleaching method comprising using this bleach liquor or this bleach liquor deprived of the water-soluble alkylamide; and performing bleaching with the bleach liquor set at pH 10.0 to 10.7 and heated at 80.degree. to 130.degree. C. (110.degree. to 130.degree. C. in the absence of the alkylamide). The hydrogen peroxide-containing bleach liquor achieves an excellent bleaching effect without using a silicic acid-derived substance which causes a silicate-induced trouble. The bleaching method achieves an unsurpassed bleaching effect by use of the bleach liquor at a temperature in a broad range of 80.degree. to 130.degree. C. under lower alkaline conditions while curtailing the diminution of the physical properties of fibers to be bleached, whether cotton or synthetic fibers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydrogen peroxide-containing bleach liquor achieving a potent bleaching effect without containing silicates, and a bleaching method using the bleach liquor. The bleach liquor and the bleaching method can be utilized mainly in scouring and bleaching steps in the textile industry. They are also applicable to bleaching steps in the field of industries, including a bleaching step in the linen industry and a pulp bleaching step in the paper industry.
2. Description of the Related Art
Scouring and bleaching with hydrogen peroxide have found increasing use in recent years because these technologies are cost-effective, give off no odors, and cause no environmental pollution.
To raise the speed of bleaching with hydrogen peroxide, supply of heat is well known to be an important factor. A commercially available aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide, however, decomposes at temperatures in excess of 60.degree. C., losing active oxygen. Thus, a substance which enhances the heat stability of hydrogen peroxide and imparts a better bleach is added to the bleach liquor. Known examples of this substance are a system containing both sodium silicate and magnesium ions, aminopolycarboxylic acids, and protein derivatives.
The sodium silicate-Mg ions system contributes to the stabilization and activation of hydrogen peroxide at high temperatures, attaining an excellent bleaching effect. The resulting water-insoluble silicate, however, develops scale, which becomes the cause of a silicate-associated trouble such as a stain on the bleaching apparatus or deposits on an article to be bleached. For instance, the article to be bleached is stiffened by the deposition of the silicate scale, thus damaging the fibers and diminishing their physical properties. Discoloration may also occur. The finished product may be devaluated from these causes.
Aminopolycarboxylic acids or protein derivatives contribute to the stability of hydrogen peroxide at high temperatures, but impart a lower degree of bleach, because their activating effect is low.
The appropriate pH of a bleach liquor in the fiber industry is said to be 11. At a pH above 11, hydrogen peroxide self-decomposes markedly, lowering the degree of bleach, and the increased alkalinity decreases the strength of a cotton fabric. At a pH below 11, the activity of hydrogen peroxide decreases, and the degree of bleach lowers. Bleaching of cotton or synthetic fibers, therefore, use the appropriate pH of 11 at a bleaching temperature of 100.degree. C. or higher. Animal fibers such as wool or silk, on the other hand, may be damaged by an alkali or deteriorated under heat, so that they are bleached at pH 9 to 10 and at a temperature of 80.degree. to 90.degree. C. at the sacrifice of the bleaching power. Under this situation, the bleaching potential of hydrogen peroxide is not fulfilled.

Hydrogen peroxide-containing bleach liquor and bleaching method thereby


An integrated circuit includes a bipolar transistor comprising a substrate and a collector formed in the substrate. The collector includes a highly doped lateral zone, a very lightly doped central zone and a lightly doped intermediate zone located between the central zone and the lateral zone 4a of the collector. The substrate includes a lightly doped lateral zone and a highly doped central zone. The dopant species in the zone of the substrate are electrically inactive.

The production of bipolar transistors assembled with standard CMOS transistors within a semiconductor substrate or a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate makes it possible at the present time to obtain integrated circuits of high electrical performance. Bipolar transistor architectures are preferably characterized at the present time by a double emitter/base/collector heterojunction of the polysilicon/carbon-containing SiGe alloy/silicon type. Bipolar transistors having such architectures may be used in the high-frequency field, especially for frequencies above 50 GHz.
The electrical performance of bipolar transistors is generally determined from the measurement of the transition frequency of the transistor as a function of the breakdown voltage of the emitter/collector junction. This breakdown voltage represents the maximum voltage above which the transistor passes into the avalanche regime.
Results obtained from these measurements show, for a given concentration of dopant species in the region of the collector, that when a bipolar transistor is used at high frequencies, it has a low breakdown voltage. Thus, a transistor has in particular, for frequencies between 50 GHz and 70 GHz, a low breakdown voltage of between 2 and 3 volts. Conversely, these results show that by lowering the concentration of dopant species in the region of the collector, a bipolar transistor having higher breakdown voltages is obtained, but this can be used only at low frequencies, especially below 30 GHz. Such a transistor may thus have, for frequencies between 20 GHz and 30 GHz, a higher breakdown voltage of between 6 and 7 volts. Such results are particularly described in the scientific article "Vertical SiGe-base bipolar transistors on CMOS-compatible SOI substrate", IBM, BCTM 2003.
It has thus been envisaged to produce bipolar transistors having an architecture for obtaining a compromise between operating at high frequencies and being able to withstand high voltages. One of these architectures includes in particular producing a bipolar transistor having a collector region that is not uniformly doped but gradually doped laterally. Specifically, it has been determined that such doping has an influence on the transition frequency and on the breakdown voltage of a bipolar transistor.
However, producing such an architecture has the drawback of using additional masks so as to localize, beneath the base of the transistor, the zone of the collector region that it is desired to dope laterally in a gradual manner. Thus, such a process has the drawback of imposing excessively severe alignment constraints during the photolithography steps. Furthermore, the transition frequencies and the breakdown voltage of a transistor vary according to the misalignment of the masks used during this process, making it particularly difficult to produce a gradually doped collector in a conventional manner. Such a process also incurs a cost increase in fabricating an integrated circuit, due to the use of additional masks.

Integrated circuit comprising a gradually doped bipolar transistor


Dialkyl quats useful in personal care products are described. These quats are produced from fatty acids at least 30% by weight of which are C-20 in length or longer.

The present invention relates to novel dialkyl quaternary fatty ammonium derivatives of natural and synthetic oils, fatty acids and/or triglycerides and to their use in personal care products.
Dialkyl quaternary fatty ammonium derivatives of relatively long chain fatty acid components are known. For example, a dibehenyl dimethyl ammonium quat has been sold under the trade name INCROQUAT DBM-90 from Croda Inc., 7 Century Drive, Parsippany, N.J. 07054. Similar ammonium based quat compounds have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,335 to Ben Janchipiaponvej. However, the ""335 patent describes such dialkyl quats as being selected from ammonium compounds having one or two long chain alkyl groups including from about 14 to about 22 carbon atoms. These compounds are said to be used as conditioning agents primarily for hair conditioners. It should be noted however that the ""335 patent, and in addition, Noe U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,956 appear to only disclose the production of conditioning agents, not shampoos or conditioning shampoos. In addition, it has been recognized that the solubility or, more correctly, the compatibility of these compounds with anionic surfactants is limited. Indeed, in the ""335 patent, even in conditioning compounds a xe2x80x9csolubilizingxe2x80x9d nonionic surfactant was necessary. While of course, such compounds could be used in shampoos, they can often have detrimental effects. They can reduce the foaming which is important to the action and feel of a shampoo, they add cost because of the need for an additional ingredient, present additional formulation obstacles and, in addition, add unnecessary surfactant to the shampoo, potentially increasing irritation. Dialkyl quats of compounds such as tallow are also known. However, these compounds are generally made from shorter chain fatty acid constituents, i.e., C-16 and C-18 fatty acids. Therefore, there remains a need for the production of conditioning agents which are compatible in shampoos which will not further complicate an already complicated formulation process.
The present invention relates to the dialkyl quats of fatty acid materials having at least about 30% of at least a C-20 fatty acid component by weight and preferably having a target melting point of about 100xc2x0 C. or less and more preferably about 85xc2x0 C. or less.
The quats in accordance with the present invention, unlike the dialkyl quats of the prior art, include an amidoamine group produced by the reaction of the carboxylic acid portion of the fatty acids with at least 2 of the nitrogens contained within a bridging molecule such as, for example, DETA.
In the above formula I, R is the carbon chain of the fatty acid constituent and m and n are as described herein.
In addition, the dialkyl quats of the present invention are generally made from fatty acids having an iodine value of 200 or less, more preferably 150 or less and even more preferably 100 or less. The resulting quats can include, for example, compounds made exclusively from, for example, erucic acid (C22:1-22 carbon atoms with one double bond) or high erucic rapseed oil (xe2x80x9cHEAR oilxe2x80x9d). HEAR oil has a fatty acid content of 46% by weight erucic acid (C22:1), 1.5% behemic acid (C22:0), and 11% gadoleic acid (C20:1) by weight. HEAR oil has an iodine value ranging from between about 90 to about 120 depending upon grade and actual fatty acid content. Erucic acid, by comparison, has an iodine value of about 74. Erucic acid, which makes up the major portion of HEAR oil has a target melting point of about 33.5xc2x0 C.
The dialkyl quats in the present invention can also include such long chain fatty acid constituents as montan acid wax which contains, as its major constituent, a C36:0 fatty acid. Surprisingly, the compounds in accordance with the present invention have excellent anionic surfactant compatibility when compared to, for example, non-amidoamine based dialkyl quats such as those previously known. This allows them to be formulated into surfactant systems such as, for example, those present in shampoos, without the need for separate compatiblizers. Personal care products comprising a base of a shampoo, conditioner, liquid soap, facial/body wash or hair color and 0.1-10% cationic activity of the quats of the invention are also contemplated.

Personal care products comprising quaternized dialkyl amidoamines


An apparatus is provided for creating a heat seal in polymeric film packaging material located between adjacent bundles of one or more workpieces. The apparatus comprises a support frame and a conveyor system associated with the support frame for receiving a plurality of spaced-apart bundles of one or more workpieces and moving the bundles along a first path extending from a first portion of the support frame to a second portion of the support frame. The spaced-apart bundles are at least partially wrapped in polymeric film material as they move along the first path such that sections of the film material extend between adjacent, spaced-apart bundles. The apparatus further includes a heat seal device for effecting a heat seal in the polymeric film material located between the adjacent bundles. The heat seal device includes a carriage, first servo-drive apparatus for effecting movement of the carriage back and forth along a portion of the first path, a first seal bar assembly mounted on the carriage for movement toward and away from the first path, second servo-drive apparatus for effecting movement of the first seal bar assembly toward and away from the first path, and processor apparatus for controlling the operation of the first and second servo-drive apparatuses.

Apparatuses for creating heat seals in sections of polymeric film packaging material located between adjacent bundles of one or more workpieces are known in the art. One such apparatus includes a support frame, a conveyor system for moving bundles of workpieces along a generally horizontal first path extending from a first end of the support frame to a second end of the support frame, and a heat seal device mounted on the support frame for creating heat seals in sections of the polymeric film material located between adjacent bundles. The heat seal device includes a carriage which is horizontally movable back and forth along a portion of the first path. A heat seal bar and anvil are mounted to the carriage for vertical movement toward and away from the first path and one another such that when the heat seal bar and anvil capture film material located between them they create a heat seal in the film material.
Horizontal movement of the carriage back and forth along the first path and vertical movement of the heat seal bar and anvil toward and away from the first path is effected via one or more conventional DC motors and mechanical elements including, e.g., one or more cams. The horizontal movement of the carriage and the vertical movement of the heat seal bar and the anvil are defined by the mechanical elements. Thus, once the shape and profile of the mechanical elements have been formed, the path along which the carriage moves and the paths along which the heat seal bar and anvil move, which latter two paths have both horizontal and vertical components, are substantially fixed and can only be changed by physically removing the old mechanical elements and substituting new mechanical elements having different shapes and profiles in their place. Accordingly, this drive arrangement has been found to be disadvantageous as it provides for very little versatility.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved heat seal apparatus having a drive arrangement which allows the horizontal movement of the heat seal carriage and the vertical movement of the heat seal bar and anvil to be easily changed such that the paths along which the heat seal bar and anvil travel can be easily varied.

Owens Corning Fiberglas Technology, Inc.