A method for predicting oil and gas production comprising a new and improved reservoir production modeling and forecasting system, containing a commercialized physics-based forecasting tool, that fully incorporates a complete production analysis system for the evaluation of petroleum reservoir production performance. Said method precisely forecasts production and estimates reserves to maximize profitability, increases the predictability of oil and gas reservoir production, and minimizes errors in production forecasting and booking reserves.

Oil and gas reservoirs are underground formations of rock containing oil and/or gas. The type and properties of the rock vary by reservoir. An oil or gas reservoir is a zone in the earth that contains sources of oil and gas. When a reservoir is found, one or more wells are drilled into the earth to tap into the source(s) of oil and gas for producing them to the surface.
The surface is an onshore or offshore facility producing conventional or unconventional hydrocarbons from a subterranean reservoir. Conventional applies to oil and gas resources which can be easily extracted, after the drilling operations, just by the natural pressure of the wells and pumping or compression operations. On the other hand, unconventional oil and gas resources are much more difficult to extract from, requiring specialized techniques such as hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," produces fractures in the rock formation that stimulate the flow of oil and natural gas. Unconventional resources include sandstone, shale oil and gas, tight oil, coal bed methane gas, water soluble gas, tight gas sands, and natural gas hydrate.
In the oil and gas industry, significant effort is spent in understanding the location, size, and contents of subsurface hydrocarbon reserves, both in land formations and offshore. The development of large underground reservoirs often requires the building of computer simulation models, in which oil and gas companies have come to depend on in order to enhance their ability to exploit their petroleum reserves.
Modeling of a reservoir typically proceeds through two phases—history matching and prediction. In the history matching phase, past production of a field and its wells is repeatedly modeled with variations to the geological model designed to improve the match between historical data and simulation. Production forecasts are engineering interpretations of volumetric and physical data to predict the performance of hydrocarbon producing (oil and gas) wells. Producing wells with historical data have uncertainty about their decline rates. The production forecasts are saved in a database to perform graphical comparison between multiple forecasts and manual input of empirical parameters. This implementation allows engineers to perform dynamic production analysis, which is effective in business planning and understanding the economic viability of the well.
Machine learning regression algorithms are used to predict the decline curve for a specific wellsite. Machine learning is a purely mathematic approach to forecasting requiring massive amounts of data to "teach" algorithms predictable outcomes based on given parameters using a random forest approach. The decline curve estimates can be predicted by using factors taken from the wellsite data including, but not limited to: Initial Production Water (bbl), Initial Production Oil (bbl), Oil Cumulative Production (bbl), Oil Rate (BOPD), Initial Production Gas (MCF), Gas Cumulative Production (MCF), Gas Rate (MCF/month), and Well Type.
Decline curve analysis (DCA) is a graphical procedure used for analyzing declining production rates and forecasting future performance of oil and gas wells based on past production history. DCA is the oldest and most commonly used tool in analyzing petroleum and gas production. The most common decline curves used in petroleum engineering are Production Rate vs. Time, Cumulative Production vs. Time, and Production Rate vs. Cumulative Production.
Most of the DCA are based on the empirical Arps equations: exponential, hyperbolic, and harmonic equations. Arps is used to predict hydrocarbon reserves and production performance related to oil and gas wells. Almost all conventional decline curve methods/models are developed on the basis of Arps model as follows q(t)=qi/(1+bDit){circumflex over ( )}1/b, where qt stands for the total flow rate at time t, qi denotes the initial flow rate, Di (1/day) expresses the initial decline rate, and b indicates the Arps decline curve exponent.
Arps is widely used due to its simplicity and low computational costs, however, the prediction results lack accuracy, and thus, are unreliable. The exponential decline curve tends to underestimate reserves and production rates; the hyperbolic and harmonic decline curves have a tendency to overpredict the reservoir performance.
The choice of exponential, hyperbolic, or harmonic curve functions and in addition the choice of multi segment Arps, Fetkovich-Arps types, Bayestan Probabilistic Decline Curve Analysis, Fetkovich, Blasingame and Aganval-Gardner type curve methods, Duong decline, Modified Duong's model, Multi-segment decline, Power law decline (ilk), Logistic growth model, Gringarten type curve analysis, Stretched exponential decline, Agarwal-Gardner type curve analysis, mechanistic Li-Home model, or Wattenharger type curve analysis can be selected and best fit based upon those measurements, depending on user preference.
Type Wells are used in creating appropriate analogues to use in production forecasting. The industry standard practice to construct a type well is to determine a simple arithmetic average production rate at selected times from producing wells. Type wells are used for evaluating reserves, production performance, and optimization analysis. Type Wells represent an average behavior production forecasting profile for a collection of wells for a specified duration or area.
Various techniques have been used in the industry to try and determine if sufficient oil or gas is in a given reservoir to warrant drilling. Petroleum engineers undergo intensive training and highly skilled labor to create reservoir simulation models from scratch. Reservoir simulation models contain data which describe the specific geometry of the rock formation and the wells, the fluid and rock property data, as well as production and injection history of the specific reservoir. Reservoir simulation models are formed by reservoir simulators on a computer program run on a data processing system, such as a high-performance computing (HPC) system. Oil and gas companies must invest in the required infrastructure to empower their engineers with the most advanced HPC resources to perform simulation. HPC capabilities, matched with sophisticated modeling and simulation, amount to extremely high infrastructure costs.
The present disclosure provides a computerized method for determining well performance, in which the program is capable of processing critical data to provide reliable production/reserves estimates.
Additionally, the present disclosure provides a method capable of modeling and implementing operations based on a complex analysis of a wide variety of specific parameters affecting oil and gas production, while minimizing errors in production forecasting and booking reserves that directly impact company financial performance.
It is the object of the present disclosure to incorporate a more dependable, efficient, and accurate reservoir production analysis and predictive method to determine reliable estimates of well production, such as the one described herein.
Furthermore, the present disclosure provides a petroleum reservoir production modeling system that fully incorporates a complete production analysis system for the evaluation of petroleum reservoir production performance, such as the one described herein.
The present disclosure of this application is more fully described below.

Method for predicting oil and gas reservoir production


A pneumatic tire has bead cores provided in bead portions. The bead cores include a first bead wire, and a second bead wire having an elongation α, where α(%)=ΔL/L×100, L is a length of each of the bead wires under no load, and ΔL is an elongation amount obtained when a unit load is applied. The elongation α of the second bead wire is greater than an elongation of the first bead wire. The number of the second bead wire provided in an innermost side portion in a tire radial direction is at least one.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pneumatic tires that enable reduction of fitting pressure, and enhancement of workability of mounting the tires to rims and durability of bead portions while maintaining a tightening force of bead cores.
2. Description of the Background Art
Bead cores for use in pneumatic tires for passenger cars are each formed by one bead wire or plural bead wires being continuously wound in a tire circumferential direction. Further, various types of bead cores are suggested in order to enhance various performance characteristics of tires. For example, a bead core in which an organic fiber is used in a part of a bead wire in order to reduce a weight of a tire (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-96720), and a bead core having formed therein a gap for absorbing vibration in order to absorb road noise (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-335584), are suggested.
On the other hand, in recent years, flattening of pneumatic tires for use in passenger cars has been significantly restrained, and run flat tires that enable running in a punctured state have increased. Therefore, it is particularly required to enhance a tightening force of bead cores and restrain rim misalignment and rim detachment. In response to these requests, in general, a width of a bead core is increased, or the number of bead wires disposed in a bead core is increased. Thus, the tightening force of the bead core is enhanced, to restrain rim misalignment and rim detachment.
However, in a case where the tightening force of the bead core is increased, when the tire is mounted to a rim, it is difficult to move a bead portion over a hump provided in the rim, and an air pressure (hereinafter, the air pressure is referred to as "fitting pressure") with which the tire is inflated when the bead portion is moved over the hump, is increased. Due to the fitting pressure having been thus increased, an impact becomes excessively increased when the bead portion of the tire having been moved over the hump comes into close contact with a rim flange surface. Therefore, the bead portion may be damaged, and durability of the bead portion may be deteriorated. The entire contents of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 7-96720 and 2005-335584 are incorporated herein by reference.


The primary object of the present invention is to provide a cold-rolled steel sheet with properties of high-strength, high-ductility, and a process for manufacturing it. The constituents of the cold-rolled steel sheet comprise: 0.08%-0.25% carbon by weight, 0.03%-2.0% silicon by weight, 0.6%-1.8% manganese by weight, 0.01%-0.10% niobium by weight, 0.01%-0.08% aluminium by weight, with the rest being substantially iron and unnoticed impurities. The process for manufacturing cold-rolled steel sheets of the present invention by using the molten steel material as described above includes the following steps:. (a) preparing steel ingots by continuous casting the molten steel; PA0 (b) hot rolling the steel ingots into hot-rolled bands; PA0 (c) coiling the hot-rolled bands at a temperature below 600.degree. C.; PA0 (d) after cold-rolling, forming steel sheets from the hot-rolled bands and soaking the steel sheets at a temperature in the two-phase range (equal to AC1+10.degree. C.-AC3-10.degree. C. shown in FIG. 1) for a time duration ranging from 1 minute to 10 minutes; PA0 (e) cooling the steel sheets to a temperature ranging from 350.degree. C. to 500.degree. C. at a cooling rate greater than 50.degree. C./SEC; PA0 (f) soaking the steel sheets at a temperature ranging from 350.degree. C. to 500.degree. C. for a time duration from 1 minute to 10 minutes; PA0 (g) cooling the steel sheets by air so as to form the cold-rolled steel sheets having a microstructure of ferrite plus residual austenite plus bainite (or a small amount of martensite).

The present invention relates to a cold-rolled steel sheet with properties of high-strength, high-ductility, and a process for manufacturing the cold-rolled steel sheet. Particularly, the present invention relates to the cold-rolled steel sheet having chemical compositions of 0.08%-0.25% carbon by weight, 0.3%-2.0% silicon by weight, 0.6%-1.8% manganese by weight, 0.01%-0.10% niobium by weight, 0.01%-0.08% aluminium by weight, substantial iron, and unnoticed impurities, and a process for manufacturing it. The tensile strength TS of the cold-rolled steel sheet described above is more than 690 MPa, and the formability is excellent.
Recently, cold-rolled steel sheets of high-strength, tensile strengths of about 440 MPa-690 MPa, and thicknesses of about 0.8 mm-1.6 mm have been used in bumpers and side-doors of automobiles in consideration safety of car passenger and lighting the weight of automobiles so as to minimize the fuel consumption. Many kinds of cold-rolled steel sheets of high-strength have been continuously developed so far, such as solid-solution hardened steel, precipitation hardened steel, recovery-annealed steel, dual-phase steel, full martensitic steel, and multi-phase steel containing retained austenite. However, each kind has its drawbacks which are listed below:

Process for manufacturing cold-rolled steel sheets with high-strength, and high-ductility and its named article


This vortex flow sensor is to be designed either as vortex sensor with a capacitive vortex sensing element (3, 3') either arranged in the hole of a bluff body (4) or inserted into a wall opening of a measuring tube (2, 2') downstream of the bluff body. Both vortex sensing elements being of largely identical construction and being capable of being produced as an independent component in the manner of a module. The wall sensor (3) and the bluff body sensor (3') has a diaphragm (33, 33') sealing off the hole and the wall opening. A flexurally stiff thin sensor vane (31) or sensor sleeve (51) and a sleeve-shaped electrode arrangement (34, 34') with at least one electrode (341, 341') are attached to the diaphragm on opposite sides. A housing cap (32, 32') surrounds the electrode arrangement and the diaphragm, is fixed on the measuring tube and contains a second electrode arrangement (35, 35') with at least one counter-electrode (351, 352; 351', 352'). The mass of the sensor sleeve is made equal to the mass of the electrode arrangement (34, 34'). The geometrical moment of inertia of the sensor sleeve is made equal to that of the electrode arrangement (34, 34'). The housing cap is dimensioned to be of sufficient flexural stiffness to ensure that it does not bend in the case of a maximum permissible acceleration acting on the measuring tube.

During the operation of a vortex flow sensor of this kind, a Karman vortex street is, as is known, formed downstream of the bluff body, and the pressure fluctuations of this street are converted by a vortex sensing element into an electrical signal, the frequency of which is proportional to the volume flow rate.
GB Patent 1,483,818 describes a vortex flow sensor for measuring the flow velocity or volume flow rate of a fluid flowing in one direction of flow in a measuring tube
with a bluff body which is arranged along a diameter of the measuring tube and serves to generate Karman vortices and PA1 with a vortex sensing element which responds to pressure fluctuations generated by the vortices, is inserted into a wall opening of the measuring tube downstream of the bluff body, sealing off this opening relative to the circumferential surface of said measuring tube, and is shorter than the diameter. PA1 with a bluff body which is arranged along a diameter of the measuring tube, is connected at each end to the measuring tube, serves to generate Karman vortices and has a main hole, running in the direction of this diameter and through the measuring tube, and at least one secondary hole, which connects the main hole to the fluid, PA1 with a capacitive vortex sensing element which responds to pressure fluctuations generated by the vortices, is inserted into the main hole, sealing off the latter from the fluid, and has the following features: PA1 with a vortex sensing element which is inserted into a wall opening of the measuring tube, sealing off this opening relative to the circumferential surface of said measuring tube, and has the following features: PA1 with a bluff body which is arranged along a diameter of the measuring tube, is connected to the measuring tube at at least one fixing location and serves to generate Karman vortices, PA1 with a capacitive vortex sensing element which responds to pressure fluctuations generated by the vortices, is inserted into a wall opening in the measuring tube downstream of the bluff body, sealing off this hole relative to the circumferential surface of said measuring tube, and the center of which lies, together with the center of the fixing location, on a generatrix of the measuring tube, and has the following features: PA1 with a bluff body which is arranged along a diameter of the measuring tube, is connected to the measuring tube at at least one fixing location, serves to generate Karman vortices and has a main hole, running in the direction of this diameter and through the measuring tube, and at least one secondary hole, which connects the main hole to the fluid, PA1 with a capacitive vortex sensing element which responds to pressure fluctuations generated by the vortices, is inserted into the main hole, sealing off the circumferential surface of the measuring tube from the fluid, and has the following features:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,770 describes a vortex flow sensor for measuring the flow velocity and/or volume flow rate of a fluid flowing in one direction of flow in a measuring tube
a flexible outer sensor sleeve which is closed at the ends and serves as a first electrode, and PA2 a flexible inner sensor sleeve which is arranged therein and carries at least one second electrode at the end. PA2 a bearing which is thinned to a diaphragm in the area of the opening, covers the opening and has a first surface facing toward the fluid and a second surface facing away from the fluid, PA2 a first end of a flexurally stiff beam is attached to the first surface of the diaphragm, PA2 a second end of the beam is attached to the second surface of the diaphragm, PA2 a sensor element sensing movements of the second end of the beam is attached to a housing and cooperates with the second end, PA2 a diaphragm which covers the opening and which has a first surface facing toward the fluid and a second surface facing away from the fluid, PA2 a flexurally stiff thin sensor vane is attached to the first surface of the diaphragm and is shorter than the diameter, having flat main surfaces which are in alignment with the generatrix of the measuring tube, PA2 a sleeve-shaped first electrode arrangement is attached to the second surface of the diaphragm and comprises at least one electrode, PA2 a housing cap which surrounds the first electrode arrangement and the diaphragm, is fixed on the measuring tube and contains a second electrode arrangement with at least one counterelectrode, PA2 the mass of the sensor vane is made greater than the mass of the first electrode arrangement, PA2 the geometrical moment of inertia of the sensor vane at the first surface of the diaphragm is made approximately equal to the geometrical moment of inertia of the first electrode arrangement at the second surface of the diaphragm, and PA2 the housing cap is dimensioned to be of sufficient flexural stiffness to ensure that it does not bend in the case of a maximum permissible acceleration acting on the measuring tube. PA2 a diaphragm which covers a measuring-tube end of the main hole and which has a first surface facing toward the fluid and a second surface facing away from the fluid, PA2 a flexurally stiff sensor sleeve is attached to the first surface of the diaphragm, PA2 a sleeve-shaped first electrode arrangement is attached to the second surface of the diaphragm and comprises at least one electrode, PA2 a housing cap which surrounds the first electrode arrangement and the diaphragm, is fixed on the measuring tube and contains a second electrode arrangement with at least one counterelectrode, PA2 the mass of the sensor sleeve is made equal to the mass of the first electrode arrangement, PA2 the geometrical moment of inertia of the sensor sleeve at the first surface of the diaphragm is made approximately equal to the geometrical moment of inertia of the first electrode arrangement at the second surface of the diaphragm, and PA2 the housing cap is dimensioned to be of sufficient flexural stiffness to ensure that it does not bend in the case of a maximum permissible acceleration acting on the measuring tube.
The disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,770 is hereby incorporated by reference and made part of the specification in this application.
Finally, EP-A 549 945 describes a vortex flow sensor for measuring the flow velocity and/or volume flow rate of a fluid flowing in one direction of flow in a measuring tube
the ends are so dimensioned that they perform opposite and equal torsional moments to the diaphragm.
As the GB Patent 1,483,818 and the U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,770 both referred to indicate, the vortex sensing element can be arranged either in the bluff body or, separately from the latter, in the opening in the wall of the measuring tube. With regard to cost reduction in the production of the vortex flow sensor, on the one hand, and with regard to the standardization of the components of the latter, on the other hand, a vortex sensing element which can be inserted not only into the bluff body (as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,770) but also into the wall of the measuring tube (as in GB Patent 1,483,818) is desirable.

Vortex flow sensor with a capacitive sensing element


A member for use in net construction comprises a sheathing with an internal core, the internal core has a very low stretch capacity and the outer sheathing has a much larger stretch capacity but allows intersplicing of crossing members within the lattice or between a border member comprised of such a material and the free end of the weft and warp members.

The present invention relates to a material used in the formation of nets, and is more particularly related to an improvement in such material wherein the material has improved stretch resistant characteristics allowing a net constructed therefrom to be a more stable device yet still provide a nonabrasive outer surface.
Conventional net constructions have had application for use as climbing nets and/or as nets for recreational purposes, such as found in playscapes or the like for children. The perpendicularly intersecting lengths of cord or other continuous elongate members which connect at intersections generate a generally square mesh like structure. The squares, or other closed shapes of the mesh structure are used to grab, step, hold or otherwise provide a structural support for the individual who is using the device or the item which is being supported by the net structure. For example, in a net which is hung vertically for climbing purposes, downwardly applied forces are distributed both vertically and laterally through the net lattice. In addition to the force loading requirements of a net structure, it is also desirable to construct a net from a material which is of a nonabrasive construction so as to not scratch or abrade the exposed skin of the individual who is engaged with the net. This is most important in the application of the net where it is used for amusement purposes with children. As is set forth in copending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/153,624, entitled, Improved Climbing Net, it is disclosed in that application to use a non-abrasive material in the net construction such as a multi-filament polypropylene ethylene copolymer which avoids problems with netting material which is abrasive to the touch. However, such netting material has problems inherent to the twisted construction of each of the elongated members. That is, in order for the ends of the lengths of cordage to terminate, the lengths are usually heated in order to melt the plastic and prevent unraveling of the multi-filaments. These heated end portions tend to be sharp and leave hard knobs and defeat the non-abrasive character of the over all netting. Also, the twisted cylindrical shape is harder to grasp by a child than a flattened design.
In copending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/557,851, entitled Net With Flattened surface Members Connected At Sewn Intersections, it is disclosed to employ a net having elongated members which are of a tape-like configuration. That is, the net is formed from a flattened braided multi-filament material which is easier to grab and hold by the young hand of a child as opposed to the larger more rigid cylindrical shape of a twisted rope. The problem experienced with such braided tape-like elongated cordage members, and to some degree with the cylindrically twisted type rope, is that both tend to allow slack to prevail when loaded. In the case of the cylindrical twisted rope members, the twisted member tends to want to untwist and give up slack, and hence stretch. Likewise, the braid configuration has a loosely fitted braid intersecting matrix which when loaded tightens on itself thereby also giving up slack and stretching.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide net cordage material which is of a tape-like construction and formed from a material nonabrasive to the touch by a human hand.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide a net of the aforementioned type wherein the netting component is formed from a compound material defined by a smooth piercable unabrasive outer sheathing enclosing within a strengthening web core.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a net cord of the aforementioned type wherein the outer sheathing of the cord is formed from a material which is color fast in resistance to ultraviolet radiation.


A market research system and method are provided. A plurality of cooperating establishments are included in a market research test area. Each cooperating establishment is adapted for collecting and storing market research data. A computer system remotely located from the plurality of cooperating establishments stores a library of bar coded indicia and market research data collected from the cooperating establishments. A unique bar coded indicia is assigned to multiple displays within each of the plurality of cooperating establishments. A corresponding assigned bar coded indicia is applied to the displays within each cooperating establishment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for the collection of market research data from a plurality of cooperating retail stores.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various arrangements have been employed for the collection, summarization and forwarding of Point-Of-Sale purchasing information from retail stores for purposes of market research since the advent of Point-Of-Sale (POS) optical scanners and the widespread use of the Universal Product Code (UPC) to identify retail products. Typically, retail purchase data is summarized by an in-store POS controller or by a separate store computer attached to the POS controller in the store or, if the store is part of a large retail store chain, by a central or host computer at the headquarters of the retail store chain. The summarized retail purchase data is then typically forwarded to the users of the data by any one of a number of different data storage and transmission techniques, for example, by magnetic tape, disk or diskette, by telephonic data transmission or by over-the-air data transmission.
Known marketing research systems are employed for monitoring television viewing and listening habits of cooperating households and also for such monitoring of individual audience members within the household. The following prior art patents bear at least some relation to one or more of the disclosed features of the present invention:
__________________________________________________________________________ INVENTOR(S) U.S. PAT. NO. TITLE __________________________________________________________________________ Haselwood 3,651,471 DATA STORAGE AND TRANSMISSION et al. SYSTEM Haselwood 3,772,649 DATA INTERFACE UNIT FOR IN- et al. SURING THE ERROR FREE TRANS- MISSION OF FIXED-LENGTH DATA SETS WHICH ARE TRANSMITTED REPEATEDLY Larsen 3,899,775 AUTOMATIC STORE TRANSACTION SYSTEM AND TERMINAL THEREFOR Sundelin 4,002,886 ELECTRONIC PRICE DISPLAY UNIT Crepean 4,139,149 DISPLAY SYSTEM et al. Call 4,290,688 APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING MAR- KET SURVEY DATA FROM UNIVER- SAL PRODUCT TYPE CODED ITEMS Eskin et al. 4,331,973 PANELIST RESPONSE SCANNING SYSTEM Cogswell 4,331,974 CABLE TELEVISION WITH CON- et al. TROLLED SIGNAL SUBSTITUTION Johnson 4,355,372 MARKET SURVEY DATA COLLECTION et al. METHOD Gomersall 4,500,880 REAL TIME, COMPUTER-DRIVEN et al. RETAIL PRICING DISPLAY SYSTEM Sarwin 4,521,677 PRODUCT CONTROL SYSTEM FOR SUPERMARKETS AND THE LIKE McKenna 4,546,382 TELEVISION AND MARKET RE- et al. SEARCH DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD Pejas et al. 4,588,881 SYSTEM FOR MONITORING THE MOVEMENTS OF GOODS INWARDS AND/OR OUTWARDS Kurland 4,603,232 RAPID MARKET SURVEY COLLEC- et al. TION AND DISSEMINATION METHOD Gomersall 4,630,108 PREPROGRAMMED OVER-THE-AIR MARKETING RESEARCH SYSTEM McKenna 4,658,290 TELEVISION AND MARKET RE- et al. SEARCH DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD Yourick 4,775,935 VIDEO MERCHANDISING SYSTEM WITH VARIABLE AND ADOPTIVE PRODUCT SEQUENCE PRESENTATION ORDER Humble 4,825,045 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CHECK- OUT COUNTER PRODUCT PROMOTION Humble 4,833,308 CHECKOUT COUNTER PRODUCT PRO- MOTION SYSTEM AND METHOD Dinerstein 4,872,113 CREDIT CHECK SCANNER DATA ANALYSIS SYSTEM Daniel 4,972,504 MARKETING RESEARCH SYSTEM AND et al. METHOD FOR OBTAINING RETAIL DATA ON A REAL TIME BASIS __________________________________________________________________________
The McKenna et al. '382 patent concerns, inter alia, a data collection system for collecting at a central location television viewing data and retail purchase data from a plurality of cooperating households. Each of the households includes a hand held optical scanner for reading bar codes, i.e., UPC codes, associated with retail products purchased by the household. Scanned retail product purchase data and the television viewing data are stored in a common memory in the household and are periodically transmitted by telephone to a central site for processing and market research analysis.
The Eskin et al. '973 patent, the Cogswell et al. '974 patent and the Wright, Jr. '589 patent disclose, inter alia, a market research system utilizing a plurality of cooperating retail stores for obtaining and transmitting to a central location retail product purchase information concerning a plurality of cooperating panelists. The POS scanners in each of the cooperating retail stores scan bar encoded panelist identification cards and the UPC codes on the products purchased by each such panelist. Each retail store's in-store computer then stores a record of the products purchased by each such cooperating panelist, which record is subsequently transferred to a market research company at a remote location for analysis and possible correlation with television viewing data obtained from the same cooperating panelists.
The Gomersall '108 patent is directed to an over-the-air market research system and method and discloses, inter alia, the collection of retail product purchase information from a plurality of cooperating households by means of an UPC scanner provided to each household. Alternatively, such retail product purchase information may be obtained from cooperating retail stores in a test area. Each store's computer stores and periodically forwards a record of the retail products purchased by each cooperating household, identified by a scanned or manually entered identification code for each cooperating household, which information is periodically transmitted by telephone to a central computer for analysis by market researchers. The information transmitted typically includes at least an identification of the cooperating household, an identification of the retail product purchases made by that household and the identification of the retail store transmitting the data. As disclosed in the '108 patent, the data collected, stored and transmitted by each such store may also include the price of each retail product purchased, the date of the purchase and the time of the purchase.
The Larsen '775 patent discloses, inter alia, an automatic store transaction system in which a keyboard is provided at each POS terminal for entering data. A transceiver is also provided at each POS terminal for transmitting data to and receiving data from a central processor. The system is particularly useful for inventory control and for providing data on sales rates and checker productivity.
The Johnson et al. '372 patent, reissued as U.S. Letters Patent No. Re. 31,951, discloses, inter alia, a market research data collection system in which market research data, corresponding to the retail products purchased by a cooperating panelist, is transmitted by telephone from each cooperating household to a remotely located central computer for processing and market research analysis. The data collection system includes a hand held optical scanner located in each household for scanning and storing UPC codes and for entering and storing other related data, for example, the identification of the retail store at which the retail products were purchased.
The Haselwood et al. '471 and '649 patents disclose, inter alia, systems in which a computer at a central location periodically contacts by telephone each of a plurality of remotely located data storage and handling units in a plurality of cooperating households. Television viewing data is then transmitted from the remotely located data storage and handling units to the central location by telephone in the form of frequency modulated audio tones.
The Nickerson et al. '030 patent discloses, inter alia, a television receiver monitoring system for collection data concerning viewing habits and viewing preferences of television viewers located in a plurality of cooperating households and for transmitting that data by telephone to a central location for further processing and analysis. A remote unit in each remotely located cooperating household includes a microprocessor, a control memory, a data store memory and a modem for initiating a telephone call to the central location. The data store memory stores data concerning television channel selection and the times thereof and television viewer reaction. At a preselected time, each such remote unit initiates a telephone call to the central location and transmits the collected data stored in the data store memory by telephone to the central location. During the telephone call, the central location can transmit new control information to each remote unit for storage at the remote unit and for controlling the operation of the remote unit until the time of the next telephone communication between the remote unit and the central location.
The Gomersall et al. '880 patent discloses, inter alia, a computer operated retail pricing display system for displaying pricing and other information in real-time at the shelf or bin location of a product in a retail store.
The Pejas et al. '881 patent discloses, inter alia, an inventory control system having an optical scanner for scanning bar codes associated with particular inventory items.
The Kurland et al. '232 patent discloses, inter alia, a market survey collection and dissemination system that provides for the downloading of survey questionnaires from a central processor by telephone or by a cable television channel.
While many of the above prior art systems and methods constitute significant improvements over prior manual systems and methods of collecting market research data, significant disadvantages exist with respect to many of the above prior art systems and methods. The prior art systems have not effectively monitored causal data for use together with retail sales transactional data. A long-felt want and need has existed for a new and improved market research system and method that monitors and collects causal data for use together with retails sales transactional data without unacceptable time delays while minimizing the time required for collecting the causal data.

Market research method and system for collecting retail store market research data


In some two-stroke engines, a stationary ring is disposed in a groove in the cylinder liner. However, it is a challenge to install such a stationary ring while maintaining a narrow gap to minimize gas flow through the gap. A ring system for an internal combustion engine is disclosed that includes an L-shaped, split ring with a reentrant angle and a nested, split ring with a convex quadrilateral cross section nested with the L-shaped ring proximate the reentrant angle. The two rings are affixed so that the two gaps of the split rings cannot align. Or, in other embodiments, the two are allowed to rotate relative to each other over a predetermined angle.

Pistons in two-stroke engines have compression rings like their four-stroke counterparts. Some two-stroke engines that have ports in the cylinder wall, which are covered and uncovered by a piston, have an additional oil ring in the piston that is below the ports. The oil ring prevents oil that is splashing around for lubrication and cooling from too much access to the ports and being combusted in the combustion chamber or leaving directly through exhaust ports. The oil ring also provides oil dosing, to allow some oil to lubricate the compression rings and the piston skirt. In addition, the oil ring in a two-stroke engine has to seal the pressurized air at the intake ports or the exhaust gas at the exhaust ports from escaping into the crankcase. Such an arrangement leads to a piston or liner that is longer than may desirable for some applications. An alternative is to provide a sealing ring (stationary ring) in a groove in the cylinder wall such as is shown in FIGS. 1a-c.
In FIG. 1a, a piston 10 having compression rings 12 and 14 is traveling downward within a cylinder wall 20 (only a portion of one side of the wall is shown in the cross section in FIG. 1a) that has ports 22 in the wall to allow flow of gases into the cylinder, if the ports are intake ports, and flow of gases out of the cylinder, if the ports are exhaust ports. A circumferential groove is formed in cylinder wall 20 into which a stationary oil ring 24 is placed. In FIG. 1a, piston 10 is in a position such that compression rings 12 and 14 are above port 22. Thus, the combustion chamber (above piston 10) is sealed off from port 22. Piston 10 is moving downward and at the instant illustrated in FIG. 1b, port 22 is in communication with the combustion chamber. As piston 10 moves downward farther, as illustrated in FIG. 1c, piston 10 completely uncovers port 22.
A view of a piston 370 in a cylinder liner 368 is shown in FIG. 13. Piston 370 has compression rings 374. Cylinder liner 368 has ports 376 and a groove 372 defined there. A stationary ring may be installed in groove 372 to assist with oil and/or gas control.
Cylinder wall 20 in FIGS. 1a-c is shown as one piece. However, stationary oil ring 24, which is a split ring, has a large gap if inserted into cylinder wall 20 and then sprung into the groove in the cylinder liner. In some alternatives, the cylinder wall is formed out of two pieces. In FIG. 1c, a dotted line 26 in cylinder wall 20 indicates a parting line that can be used in a two-piece cylinder liner to facilitate installation of stationary oil ring 24. Problems with two-piece cylinder liners include: increased weight to include a flange and bolts to secure the two pieces together and difficulty in ensuring that the cylinder walls of the two pieces are perfectly aligned and machined properly. A ring system that facilitates installation into a one-piece cylinder liner is desired.

Two-part stationary ring for devices having pistons


A radiation distribution system designed to produce a batwing distribution. The system may be used with radiative sources emitting in the visible spectrum or in other spectra. The system comprises a specially shaped lens disposed over a radiative source, such as an LED, for example. The lens and source are arranged between two reflector bodies, both of which have an elongated reflective surface that faces the source. The reflector bodies each have two different reflective surfaces that face outward and away from each other. The lens and both reflective surfaces work in concert to redirect a portion of the emitted radiation to create the desired batwing distribution. Several sources may be arranged linearly between a single pair of reflector bodies on a common surface to create a linear array of sources. Likewise, multiple linear arrays may be combined to form a two-dimensional array. In the two-dimensional configuration, linear arrays of sources are disposed on both sides of a reflector body, so that both of the reflective surfaces are utilized.

Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to radiation distribution systems, including optical systems that produce a batwing-type light distribution pattern.
Description of the Related Art
Many lighting applications require a fixture that produces a batwing-type distribution of light. The term "batwing" refers to a light distribution whose luminous intensity is greater along a direction at a significant angle relative to the main axis of distribution rather than along a direction parallel to the main axis. The desirability of a batwing distribution is evident in many lighting applications, including, for example, roadway lighting in which most of the light should be distributed in a direction parallel to the roadway.
FIG. 1a shows various types of roadway illumination patterns named with a convention used by the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES). As shown, there are five common types of roadway illumination. Type I illumination is a direct illumination in two directions along the direction of the roadway (if the road is a single road) and/or in a straight directional pattern at a cross section as shown by the Type I-4-Way pattern. Type V describes an omni-directional lighting pattern across the entire intersection. Type II is similar to Type I, but the light fixture is mounted above a point displaced away from the center of the region to be illuminated. Type III illumination shows a different angled illumination from normal as compared to Type II, where the angle of illumination from normal is narrower to reflect a smaller coverage area. Type IV illumination has an even narrower angle of illumination from normal to create a different, smaller illumination area than either Type III or Type II.
FIG. 1b shows a known generic light fixture 100 that is mounted at a height H above a surface 102 that is to be illuminated by the fixture 100. The main axis 104 starts at the fixture 100 and runs perpendicular to a plane containing surface 102. The light distribution on the surface is typically specified in terms of the illuminance I(x,y) measured in lumens/ft2. The distribution of the light emanating from the fixture is typically specified in terms of the luminous intensity P(φ,θ) measured in a direction making an angle φ relative to the main axis and lying in a plane that contains the main axis and is oriented at angle θ, as shown in FIG. 1b. The illuminance and the luminous intensity are related by:
                                          I                                      (                              x                ,                y                            )                                =                                                    P                                                  (                                      ϕ                    ,                    θ                                    )                                                            H                2                                                                                cos                3                                                          (                ϕ                )                                                                                x          =                      H                                                                          tan                                                                          ϕ                                                                          cos                                                                          θ                                                                              y          =                      H                                                                          tan                                                                          ϕ                                                                          sin                                                                          θ                                              (                  Eq          .                                                    1                )            where H is in feet.
In many applications, it is desirable to illuminate a region of a surface that is approximately rectangular or elliptical in shape. In FIG. 1b, the elliptical region 106 is substantially longer in one direction (along the x-axis) than in the other direction (along the y-axis). Outside the region 106 the illuminance falls off to a minimum level. In some applications (for example Types I, II, III, and IV from FIG. 1a), the region 106 may be substantially symmetrical about the main axis in the x-direction of the pattern and either symmetrical (Type I) or asymmetrical (Types II, III, IV) along the y-direction. The illuminance distribution can be approximately characterized by the illuminance vs. position functions along the axes, I(x,0) and I(0,y), and the luminous intensity along the two axes is:
                                                        P              x                                                  (              ϕ              )                                =                                    H              2                                                                  I                                                  (                                      x                    ,                    0                                    )                                                                              cos                  3                                                                  (                  ϕ                  )                                                                                P              y                                                  (              ϕ              )                                =                                    H              2                                                                  I                                                  (                                      0                    ,                    y                                    )                                                                              cos                  3                                                                  (                  ϕ                  )                                                                                (                  Eq          .                                                    2                )            where H is the height (in feet) of the source above a surface.
For applications where the maximum value of φ is 20-25° or less, the 1/cos3(φ) factor is less than about 1.3, and many such lighting applications can use conventional collimators to achieve acceptable uniformity. For other applications, however, the illuminance is desired to be uniform out to values of φ of 30° or more. The 1/cos3(φ) factor at these angles rises sharply with φ, reaching values much greater than 1 well before the illuminance factor drops off. The characteristic batwing shape of P(φ) is critical in these applications in order to achieve substantial illuminance uniformity.
FIG. 2 shows a pair of graphs showing distributions for an exemplary roadway luminaire mounted at H=25 ft, calculated according to the given equations. FIG. 2 shows a uniform illuminance I(x,0) denoted as 204, extending ±50 ft in the x-direction of FIG. 1, and a uniform illuminance I(0,y) denoted as 208, extending −10 to +25 ft in the y-direction, with each illuminance falling off gradually outside those ranges. FIG. 2 also shows the corresponding intensity distributions 202 and 206, both batwing distributions. The batwing distribution 202 is along the long x-axis of the region 106 (e.g., along the roadway in the street lighting application), and the batwing distribution 206 is along the perpendicular y-axis.
Batwing luminaires are known in the prior art for use with incandescent and discharge lamps which are typically small sources emitting into a full spherical distribution. These sources are typically powerful enough such that one or two lamps can supply all the light needed for the entire fixture. Batwing optical systems for these sources typically use reflectors having asymmetric curvature, facets, or cut-off angles, as can be found in the prior art. Lenses are less common, but are also known, particularly Fresnel lenses or lenticular lenses. These prior art systems are adapted for incandescent and discharge lamps.
Recently, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have become common in many lighting applications. The batwing optical systems used for incandescent and discharge lamps are not designed for use with LEDs. LEDs are typically arranged in arrays that have a large overall area. LEDs also emit only into the forward hemisphere, not into a full spherical pattern. It is desirable to have an improved batwing optical system adapted for light sources with these emission characteristics, and specifically for LEDs.


A method of controlling a router to transmit Content-Centric Network (CCN)-based real-time contents is provided. The method includes receiving identification information regarding real-time contents that a target device is to receive from a source device and transmitting the real-time contents to the target device, and in response to content request information which is generated based on the identification information being received from the target device, transmitting to the target device contents which correspond to the received request information.

1. Field
Aspects of the exemplary embodiments relate to a source device, a router, and a control method. More particularly, the exemplary embodiments relate to a source device based on a Content-Centric Network (CCN), a router, and a control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, an Internet structure may be designed based on one-to-one and host-to-host communication paradigms, but most internet usage is focused on data or contents rather than on a host. In other words, users are interested in data or contents rather than who has the data that they want.
Due to the above inconsistency between the Internet structure and the actual usage pattern, Internet users often go through unnecessary operations or procedures when they try to obtain desired data. To resolve this problem, CCN has been introduced to design intent based on a paradigm which focuses on contents. However, in response to real-time data transmission being required in a CCN-based system, such as in a video conversation, a target device may not know the name of the contents to be requested.

Source device, router and control method


A system and method for providing exhaust gas to an EGR-equipped lean burn diesel engine (the primary engine). The exhaust gas is provided by a secondary internal combustion device, whose configuration, thermal cycle, and operating conditions may be different from that of the primary engine. The secondary internal combustion device may receive recirculated exhaust gas, fresh air, or some combination of both.

The use of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) for reducing NOx emissions from internal combustion gasoline engines has been practiced in the automotive industry for over twenty years. More recently, the diesel engine industry has stepped up its development of EGR systems to meet ever-increasing NOx emissions regulations.
External EGR systems are defined as those systems that extract exhaust gas from the engine's exhaust system and then route it, external to the engine's combustion chamber(s), to the engine's fresh air intake system. To create the necessary flow rate of EGR gases, the EGR must be pressurized. One method for pressurizing the EGR is to extract the EGR gas from a high-pressure portion of the exhaust system and deliver it to a lower pressure portion of the engine's air intake system. The relative pressure difference between the extraction location and the delivery location creates the required mass flow rate.
In the automotive industry, where spark-ignited engines are predominant, the pressure at the air intake is low, because the engine's fresh airflow is restricted by an intake throttle. Hence, the intake system pressure is lower than the exhaust pressure for most operating conditions, and EGR flows readily.
In the diesel industry, most modern engines are turbocharged, meaning that the exhaust and intake systems are pressurized. For best fuel efficiency, it is desirable to have intake system pressure higher than exhaust system pressure, commonly termed "positive engine pressure ratio". This creates positive pumping work, derived from the turbocharger's use of waste exhaust heat, thus increasing cycle efficiency. Use of EGR on turbocharged diesel engines has been detrimental to fuel efficiency because the positive pressure ratio across the engine must be reversed, so that a negative pressure gradient is formed to create the necessary EGR flow rate. The final outcome is reduced NOx emissions at the expense of fuel efficiency.

Secondary internal combustion device for providing exhaust gas to EGR-equipped engine


A relay valve (10) for a pneumatic valve unit (14), for example for a braking system of a utility vehicle, has a first assembly component (18) and a second assembly component (20). A hollow cylindrical guide portion (28) of a piston (24) of the relay valve (10) is received, in an axially guided manner, in the first assembly component (18). The second assembly component (20) includes additional valve components and the venting region of the relay valve (10). At least the first assembly component (18) and the second assembly component (20), when assembled, form a preassembly unit (26) first assembly component (18) and are joined by a bayonet connection (30). The preassembly unit (26) is inserted into a housing (12) of the valve unit (14), The interior of the housing is delimited by a cup-shaped inner wall (32), and the preassembled unit is fastened therein.

A relay valve for a compressed-air brake system of a utility vehicle is known from EP 2 266 854 B1. The relay valve has a housing, a relay valve piston which is arranged laterally displaceably in the housing and which has a relay valve piston hole, and a relay valve cover which encloses the relay valve piston in the housing and which has a relay valve cover hole. The relay valve cover has at least one fastening means for fastening a noise damper to the relay valve cover, wherein the relay valve can be ventilated through the relay valve piston hole and through the relay valve cover hole to the noise damper, and wherein a control pressure chamber is bounded by the relay valve cover and the relay valve piston. This relay valve accordingly has a housing which can be closed by a cover and into which all the components of the relay valve are inserted and fastened one after the other in a complex manner. In addition, in all of the embodiments described in the document, means for axially guiding the piston of the relay valve are formed on the cover, so that actually a two-part housing is used. The cover is firmly connected to the housing by screws. Although this concept of a relay valve has proven itself to be serviceable, its assembly involves a comparatively high manufacturing effort.


The invention provides compositions such as dietary supplements. Such compositions can be used to reduce pain, inflammation, stiffness, and/or discomfort associated with inflammatory conditions such as arthritis. The invention also provides methods for reducing pain, inflammation, stiffness, and/or discomfort associated with inflammatory conditions such as arthritis.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to dietary supplements as well as methods for reducing pain, inflammation, and stiffness associated with inflammatory conditions such as arthritis.
2. Background Information
Inflammatory conditions such as arthritis and osteoarthritis are serious medical problems that affect many Americans. In fact, arthritis is one of the nation's most prevalent chronic health problems. An estimated 43 million Americans suffer from some form of arthritis. According to the Arthritis Foundation, this figure is expected to jump to about 60 million within the next decade.
Osteoarthritis (OA), also known as degenerative joint disease, is the most common form of arthritis. By age 40, about 90 percent of all people have x-ray evidence of OA in the weight bearing joints such as the hips and knees. In addition, more than 20 million American currently have symptoms of OA. Severe involvement of the hips, knees, and spinal column can greatly limit activity and diminish the overall quality of life. The gradual breakdown of cartilage that accompanies aging is the leading cause of OA. This type of OA, called primary osteoarthritis, is caused by cartilage damage resulting mostly from stress on the joint from, for example, obesity. The first alteration in the joint, which takes place over decades, is a roughening of articular cartilage followed by pitting, ulceration, and progressive loss of cartilage surface. Primary OA most commonly involves the joints of the fingers, hips, knees, spine, base of the thumb, and big toe. It can be present in just one of these joints or in all of them.
Secondary OA, however, can affect any joint. Typically, secondary OA follows trauma or chronic joint injury due to some other type of arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis. Alternatively, secondary OA can result from overuse of a particular joint. Although most body tissues can make repairs following an injury, cartilage repair is hampered by a limited blood supply and the lack of an effective mechanism for cartilage re-growth. The effects of joint overuse were shown in a study that revealed that subjects whose jobs required at least one hour a day of kneeling or squatting were almost twice as likely to have OA in the knees than those not commonly performing such activities. Because trauma or overuse hastens the degeneration of cartilage, symptoms of secondary OA can become apparent at a much younger age than symptoms of primary OA.
OA symptoms are usually mild at first. For example, morning stiffness that rarely lasts for more than 15 minutes is a common early symptom of OA. As the disease advances, mild pain will occur when moving the affected joint. The pain typically is made worse by greater activity and-is relieved by rest. In many people, symptoms progress no further. In others, however, the pain and stiffness gradually worsen until they limit daily activities such as walking, going up stairs, or typing. Enlargement of the finger joints is common in the later stages of OA. Knobby overgrowths of the joints nearest the fingertips occur most often in women and tend to run in families.
There are number of treatments that can relive the pain, inflammation, and discomfort associated with OA. One treatment involves the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Although NSAIDs relieve some stiffness, inflammation, and pain associated with OA, NASIDs can lead to side effects such as gastric bleeding, liver damage, and kidney damage. In addition, long-term use of NSAIDs can lead to reduced effectiveness.

Dietary supplements and methods for treating pain and inflammation


Provided is a speaker, including a frame; a vibration unit; and a magnetic circuit unit. The magnetic circuit unit is provided with a magnetic gap; the vibration unit includes a diaphragm, and a voice coil; the magnetic circuit unit includes a yoke, a main magnet unit, and auxiliary magnet units, and the auxiliary magnet units and the main magnet unit define the magnetic gap; the vibration unit further includes two elastic support assemblies; each of which includes an elastic member and an auxiliary diaphragm; the elastic member includes a first fixing arm, a second fixing arm and an elastic arm; the auxiliary diaphragm includes an auxiliary suspension, and a first connecting portion and a second connecting portion; and the auxiliary suspension has a racetrack shape with notches. With this structure, the service life and reliability of the speaker are improved.

Speakers are used in electronic audio products to convert electrical signals into sound signals.
In the related art, a speaker includes a frame, a vibration unit fixed to the frame and a magnetic circuit unit provided with a magnetic gap. The magnetic circuit unit drives the vibration unit to vibrate and produce sound. The vibration unit includes a diaphragm, a voice coil inserted in the magnetic gap to drive the diaphragm to vibrate and produce sound, an elastic member fixed to the frame, an auxiliary diaphragm attached to the elastic member, and a holder connecting the voice coil and the diaphragm.
The magnetic circuit unit interferes with the auxiliary diaphragm, thereby causing the elastic member to be easily broken, and thus affecting the service life and reliability of the speaker.
Therefore, it needs to provide a speaker to solve the above technical problem.


The present invention provides an easy to use system and method for assisting job seekers in locating job opportunities and applying for the same using an online connectivity protocol which is simple to use and highly efficient in terms of time consumption. The system identifies and extracts keywords from the job postings in an accessible job database to create a keyword targeted list that excludes common words and phrases. The keyword targeted list is then processed to form a keyword targeted prefix list which in turn is inserted into a search engine. Upon appropriate query by a potential job seeker, the search engine returns its results while giving prominent placement to one or more job postings sponsored by a recruiter. An interested job seeker clicks on the sponsored job posting is directed to the job details through a website mediated application programming interface.

There is a large amount of activity in the general field of providing job recruitment service in context of finding employment opportunities and linking job seekers with employers in an easy to operate manner with an online connectivity which is less expensive and saves time. Several studies, research and invention(s) have delved into the subject(s) of matching online the employment opportunities and job seeker(s) by using internet connectivity.
At present there exist several ways in which a job seeker can locate an employment opportunity. Notable among these are looking at advertisements in the newspapers and other media, scanning corporate websites, viewing postings on various internet job sites and using the services of a recruiting firm.
The search for jobs by looking at advertisements in traditional media has become less popular since the advent of several other effective and quicker search channels. Advertisements in traditional or conventional media suffer from numerous deficiencies such as timely information about employment opportunity not being available, lesser coverage because of localized, regional or specialized circulation as a result of which several job seekers are not able to apply or are not aware of the opportunity at all. Moreover such advertisements are normally viewed by a very small segment of job seekers.
Employment opportunities posted on the corporate website of an organization are published immediately and can be viewed by a job seeker immediately thereafter, but suffer from the drawbacks that a job seeker must not only be aware of company's existence but also possess a reasonable degree of interest in the company to log on to or enter the corporate website of the organization to become aware of the employment opportunity. This method of job search also suffers from the deficiency of limiting the exposure of available job opportunities to actual or potential job seekers and is thus a detriment to both employers and job seekers.
The option of using internet job sites to locate job opportunities and to advertise existing job opportunities is a quicker and less time consuming method but such websites are currently often unable to provide a comprehensive detail of job position in a specific field of work. Search engines at such websites which are visited by the job seekers return a list of search results based on general assortment according to the keyword entered, and it is often not practical or feasible to scrutinize all the results presented by the site's search engine.
U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2001-0049674 describes a system and method for enabling an efficient employment recruiting protocol in which a job data collection is scrutinized by using multiple independent hierarchical category taxonomies.
U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2002-0026452 describes an internet based employee recruiting system and method for same in which a website contains links to a job database wherein the jobs are listed are according to a prescribed criteria and the potential candidates with matching qualifications and/or interests are required to take an online test. Successful candidates from the online test are then required to go through an offline assessment by a skilled specialist.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,510 discloses an employment recruitment system and method based on usage of a computer network for posting job openings along with the facility of automatic periodic searching.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,381,592 discloses a candidate chaser machine and a method for locating internet site pages which contain specified keywords.
The prior art has bulky designs and time consuming job search methods. Besides the prior art does not address to the issue of providing an employment recruiting protocol which is not only user friendly but also less time consuming and having extensive and ubiquitous coverage.
Accordingly there exists a need for providing an integrated online job recruitment system which directly links employers, recruiters and job seekers online and provides more specific job listings.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages, the general purpose of the present invention is to provide an improved combination of convenience and utility and to overcome the disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art and to provide an online job recruitment system which is specific, quicker and more efficient.

Integrated online job recruitment system


One embodiment of the present invention is a compact, low-cost, lightweight, versatile and easy-to-operate, processor-controlled carving and multi-purpose shaping device (“PCCMPS machine”). The PCCMPS machine that represents one embodiment of the present invention is configured, in part, similarly to common, commercially available portable wood planers and ubiquitous laser and ink-jet computer printers, with work pieces fed into the PCCMPS machine in a horizontal direction. The PCCMPS machine includes a motor-powered cutting head that can power detachable bits to drill, cut, shape, and rout a work piece under processor and computer control. The cutting head may be translated, under processor control, back and forth across the surface of the work piece in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the work piece is fed into the PCCMPS machine and moved by motor-powered rollers. The cutting head may be translated up and down, in a vertical direction, approximately perpendicular to the surface of the work piece. The processor can thus position a cutting bit at any point on a surface of, near the surface of, or within the work piece, via a combination of lateral and vertical translations of the cutting head and horizontal translation of the work piece, and can control the speed at which the bit rotates as the computer moves the rotating bit from one position to another position relative to the surface of the work piece in order to carve and shape elaborate, three-dimensional designs onto the work piece.

Computer-controlled carving machines, referred to as "CNC routers," have been commercially available for some time. CNC routers are expensive and large relative to the size of the work piece that they can be employed to shape and rout. CNC routers evolved from heavy-duty, metalworking machine tools that employ flat bed, x, y, z configurations, and commercially available CNC routers have retained this x, y, z configuration. The x, y, z configuration refers to the fact that CNC routers, and the heavy-duty, metalworking machine tools from which they evolved, require a work piece to be statically fixed to a bed within the CNC routers and metalworking machine tools. The CNC routers and metalworking machine tools employ a motor-driven cutting head that can be controlled, by computer, to move in the familiar, orthogonal x, y, and z directions of three-dimensional space. In other words, the work piece remains statically positioned during carving, while the cutting head is positioned via a series of x, y, and z translations to the required positions on the surface of, and within, the work piece. Thus, CNC routers are larger in size than the maximally sized work piece that can be used to carve and shape.
CNC routers suffer from a number of deficiencies, in addition to large physical size relative to the maximally sized work piece on which they can operate. First, the large bed required to support large work pieces adds considerably to the cost of CNC routers. The large bed size also adds considerable weight to the overall weight of CNC routers, since the large bed must be thickly cast or otherwise rigidly constructed to avoid sagging and other shape alterations. CNC routers require stiff and rigid components, because positionally accuracy of the cutting head under computer control is possible only when x, y, and z translations of the cutting head predictably and reliably position the cutting head with respect to the bed, and the work piece affixed to the bed. In general, CNC routers employ non-intuitive, and difficult-to-learn operator interfaces, and programming of CNC routers generally requires considerable training.
CNC routers, despite their disadvantages, have enormous usefulness in wood working and in carving and shaping other rigid and semi-rigid materials. Wood workers, manufacturers, carpenters, artists, hobbyists, and others who carve and shape rigid and semi-rigid materials have thus recognized a need for a cheaper, smaller, lighter, and easier-to-use processor-controlled carving and shaping device.

Processor-controlled carving and multi-purpose shaping device


The invention relates to a method for producing a rewiring printed circuit board with a substrate wafer having passage connections between a first and a second surface. One embodiment of the method comprises applying and patterning masking layers on the first and the second surfaces, thereby uncovering a first contact location on the first surface and a second contact location on the second surface; applying a protective layer to the second surface in order to protect the corresponding masking layer and the second contact location during subsequent method steps; applying a first conductor structure to the first surface, the first conductor structure on the first surface covering the first contact location; removing the protective layer on the second surface; and applying a second conductor structure to the second surface, the second conductor structure on the second surface covering the second contact location.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for producing a rewiring printed circuit board with the aid of an anisotropically conductive substrate wafer. In particular, the method relates to a method for producing a rewiring printed circuit board with a silicon substrate wafer having plated-through holes in a regular arrangement.
2. Description of the Related Art
The further processing of integrated circuits into a housing, and also the construction of stacked arrangements of integrated circuits require so called rewiring printed circuit boards which ensure that the external terminals of the housing or of the stacked arrangement are connected to the individual pads of the integrated circuits.
The previous methods for producing such rewiring printed circuit boards have in the meantime encountered technological limits, since the rewiring conductor tracks (conductive lines) are patterned using a printed circuit board technology whose resolution limit has been reached.
Furthermore, when the rewiring printed circuit board is connected to the integrated circuits, which are usually fabricated in a silicon substrate, thermal stresses occur during operation, since rewiring printed circuit board and integrated circuit often have different coefficients of thermal expansion. For this reason, rewiring printed circuit boards having plated-through holes are already being fabricated from silicon material, and in which case passage connections can be formed by the plated-through holes through uncovered regions lying opposite one another on the substrate surfaces.
One problem in the production of such rewiring printed circuit boards consists, however, in the fact that hitherto the conventional technologies for processing silicon substrates have had to be combined with technologies for the application of conductor tracks by electro-deposition in the production of such rewiring printed circuit boards.
The simultaneous processing of the front and rear sides of a substrate wafer as proposed, e.g., in the document U.S. Pat. No. 6,379,781 B1 likewise cannot be carried out in a suitable manner by methods of silicon technology. In particular, the processes of producing the masking layer for defining the positions for the plated-through holes of the substrate wafer and the methods for patterning and applying the conductor tracks adversely affect one another on account of process parameters such as, for example, temperature, pressure, materials used, so that, according to the order of the method steps, either one of the masking layers on one of the surfaces of the substrate wafer or the conductor tracks on one of the surfaces of the substrate wafer are impaired by a subsequent process.

Method for producing a rewiring printed circuit board


Synthesis of the triol of the following formula (I) from an alcohol of the formula (IV): ##STR1## via steps including protecting and then cyanating the alcohol to yield a cyanide, isomerization of the double bond, hydrolysis followed by reduction of the cyanide back to an alcohol and cis-dihydroxylation of the double bond.

Carbocyclic analogues of nucleosides are described in European Patent Application Publication No. 345,076 published Dec. 6, 1989 as being useful as pharmaceuticals in the treatment of viruses, especially Herpetoviridae. A particular compound described is (1'S, 3'S, 4'S)-2-amino-1,9-dihydro-9-[3,4-dihydroxy-3-(hydroxymethyl)-1-cyclopentyl] -6H-purin-6-one of the following formula (I): ##STR2##
European Patent Application Publication No. 349,242 published Jan. 3, 1990 assigned to the Wellcome Foundation teaches 6-substituted purine carbocyclic nucleosides and Example 45 provides a synthesis of (.+-.)-9-[3-(hydroxymethyl)-3-cyclopenten-1-yl)guanine (racemic compound of formula (X)). A process for synthesizing 2-amino-1,9-dihydro-9-[2,3-dihydroxy-4-(hydroxymethyl)-1-cyclopentanyl]-6H -purin-6-one is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,926 using hydrolysis as a final step. U.S. Pat. No. 5,233,041 teaches the synthesis of (1'S, 3'S, 4'S)-2-amino-1,9-dihydro-9-[3,4-dihydroxy-3-(hydroxymethyl)-1-cyclopentany l]-6H-purin-6-one using a Swern oxidation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,126,452 teaches the synthesis of (-)-carbovir, 2-amino-1,9-dihydro-9-[3-(hydroxymethyl)-1-cyclopentenyl]-6H-purin-6-one.

Synthesis of a 3,4-dihydroxy-1-cyclopentanylpurinone


A disc apparatus which can accurately judge whether or not a spindle motor is at fault due to a short circuit is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disc apparatus having a DC motor which rotates a disc.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a disc apparatus which rotates a disc such as CD, CD-R, DVD or the like by using a DC motor such as a spindle motor to record and reproduce images and so on, dust particles are sometimes generated due to an abrasion of a brush in the DC motor and cause a short circuit of a commutator in the DC motor. When the commutator is short-circuited, the spindle motor stops rotating, and the disc thereby stops rotating. When the disc stops rotating, a controller which controls the disc apparatus increases an output current of a drive IC which drives the DC motor to speed up a rotation speed of the spindle motor. The drive IC produces heat due to the increase of the output current. The heat may cause a malfunction of the drive IC and a large current flowing through an actuator. Moreover, when the disc stops rotating, the controller gets less able to obtain an accurate operation of the actuator. As a result, the controller forces the drive IC to operate to rotate the disc. In this case, the drive IC passes the large current through the actuator and consequently, a cover of the actuator sometimes burns.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-191551, there is a disclosure of a means which detects whether or not an electrical current which flows through a motor goes beyond a predetermined level and judges that the motor is short-circuited when the excess of the electrical current over the predetermined level continues for a predetermined period of time. In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-298988, there is a disclosure of a means which detects whether or not a voltage follows a pulse signal in an apparatus which applies the voltage to a motor by making the pulse signal on and off and which judges that the motor is short-circuited when the state that voltage does not follow the pulse, signal continues for a predetermined period of time.
However, in the techniques shown in the above publications, the judgment whether the motor is short-circuited or not is based on the abnormal state of the electrical current and the voltage continuing for the predetermined period of time, so that the techniques enable the detection of the state that the motor is constantly short-circuited, however, they do not enable the detection of the state that the motor is partially short-circuited and the states of short circuit and non-short circuit alternately arise according to the rotation of the motor.
The present invention is to solve the problem described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a disc apparatus having a spindle motor to rotate a disc which can judge accurately whether or not the spindle motor is at fault due to a short circuit and also prevent the spindle motor from driving in case of failure in the spindle motor due to the short circuit.

Abstract: A disc apparatus (1) includes a spindle motor (3) which rotates a disc (2), a differential operational amplifier (5) which detects a difference between voltages of a positive terminal and a negative terminal of the spindle motor (3) as a detecting voltage level, a failure judgment unit (10) which judges whether or not the spindle motor (3) is at fault based on the detecting voltage level, and a disc determination means (12) which determines a type of the disc (2). The failure judgment unit (10) judges that the spindle motor (3) is at fault when the detecting voltage level becomes lower than a predetermined threshold level five times continuously during a start-up that the spindle motor (3) starts driving when the disc (2) is in stopped state while the disc determination means (12) determines the type of the disc (2). Consequently, the failure judgment unit (10) can accurately judge the failure in the spindle motor (3) without extending the start-up time.


An ink jet printing device comprises a head unit, a head-unit moving unit, a recording-medium moving unit, and a control unit controlling the head unit, the head-unit moving unit, and the recording-medium moving unit. The control unit is configured to carry out printing so that a rear-end portion of discharge nozzles in an array direction after printing of a printing region and a front-end portion of the discharge nozzles in the array direction before printing of a non-printed region overlap each other with respect to a sub-scanning direction, and invalid nozzles that do not discharge ink drops are determined from among arbitrary ones of overlapping discharge nozzles including a front-end portion and a rear-end portion in the array direction of the discharge nozzles.

Conventionally, the ink jet printing device is used in the image forming apparatus, such as copier, printer, facsimile, multi-function peripheral, etc. In this ink jet printing device, the head unit includes a plurality of recording heads provided with a plurality of discharge nozzles arranged in the sub-scanning direction, and filled up with the inks of the different colors, and high-density and high-quality printing is carried out at high speed by discharging of ink drops from the discharge nozzles of the recording head to the recording sheet according to the image signal while moving the head unit in the main scanning direction.
On the other hand, when printing on the recording sheet with such ink jet printing device, it is known that the dot density (resolution) is determined according to the physical array interval (pitch) of the discharge nozzles.
For example, as shown in FIG. 12, assuming that the pitch of the discharge nozzles 1a, which are arranged at equal intervals on each of the recording heads 1B, 1C, 1M, and 1Y which respectively discharge the inks of the black (B), the cyan (C), the magenta (M) and the yellow (Y), and constitute the head unit 1, is set to H, and that the pitch H is equal to 1/150 inches, the dot density according to the pitch of the discharge nozzles 1a is determined as being 150 dpi.
When the head unit 1 performs color printing at the resolution that is the same as the resolution (150 dpi) determined according to the array of the discharge nozzles 1a as shown in FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B, the head unit 1 is moved only in the main scanning direction and the discharging of the ink is carried out sequentially from the recording heads 1B, 1C, 1M, and 1Y, to the recording sheet P. In this case, the ink drops will overlap in order of B, C, M, and Y, and the color image will be printed.
In this case, if the ink discharging is performed while moving the head unit 1 in the forward main scanning direction only, the stacking order of the ink drops of the different colors will be fixed, and the printing result will become uniform.
In contrast to the above case, if the discharging of the ink is carried out while the head unit 1 is moved in the forward main scanning direction and then in the backward main scanning direction as shown in FIG. 14A and FIG. 14B, the stacking order of the ink drops for the backward scanning is reversed to that for the forward scanning. Namely, in the forward scanning, the ink drops overlap in order of Y, M, C, and B, but, in the backward scanning, the ink drops overlap in order of B, C, M, and Y. In this case, color inconsistency will occur in the printing result, and the quality of the printed image will be deteriorated.
Moreover, Japanese Published Patent Application No. 03-056186 discloses an ink jet printing device which carries out printing at a resolution higher than the resolution determined according to the array interval of the discharge nozzles 1a.
As shown in FIG. 15A, FIG. 15B and FIG. 16, in the ink jet printing device disclosed in Japanese Published Patent Application No. 03-056186, the high-resolution printing is achieved in the following manner. After the recording sheet P is moved to the previous printing region of the recording sheet P where the printing is performed by the main-scanning-direction movement (the first scan) of the head unit 1, in the sub-scanning direction only for the pitch H/2 which is half the pitch of the discharge nozzles 1a, the head unit 1 is moved in the main scanning direction so that the ink drops reach the non-printed region between the discharge nozzles 1a in the sub-scanning direction of the first scan.
In the example of FIG. 15A and FIG. 16, the printing of the two colors of the cyan and the magenta is illustrated for the sake of simplified explanation.
Subsequently, the printing is carried out all over the recording sheet P by moving the head unit 1 in the sub-scanning direction so that the head unit 1 is located to the non-printed region continuous to the printing region, and repeating the printing procedure.
In this case, the printing at the resolution of 300 dpi which is twice the resolution of 150 dpi is realized by moving the head unit 1 in the sub-scanning direction by ½ of the pitch H of the discharge nozzles 1a. Moreover, in order to realize the printing at the higher resolutions which are three times, four times, . . . higher than the resolution of 150 dpi, it is necessary to move the head unit 1 in the sub-scanning direction by ⅓, ¼, . . . of the pitch H of the discharge nozzles 1a.
Moreover, in the case of printing at the high resolution higher than the resolution which is determined according to the pitch of the discharge nozzles 1a in the above-mentioned way, the ink drops of cyan C reach the recording sheet P when the head unit 1 is scanned in the 1st time in the main scanning direction, the ink drops of magenta M reach the target locations of the recording sheet P between cyan C and cyan C when the head unit 1 is scanned in the 2nd time in the main scanning direction. Namely, the ink drops of cyan C and magenta M alternately reach the target locations on the recording sheet P, and it is possible to prevent the mutual color inconsistency on a scanning line basis on the recording sheet P from being conspicuous.
However, when the ink discharging method of Japanese Published Patent Application No. 03-056186 mentioned above is used, the ink drops of magenta M are printed in the 2nd time to the target locations between cyan C and cyan C the ink drops of which are printed in the 1st time by the head unit 1, and after the recording sheet P is moved in the sub-scanning direction greatly and the head unit 1 is moved in the main scanning direction to the non-printed region on the recording sheet P, the impact sequence of the ink drops will be reversed.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 17A and FIG. 17B, after the head unit 1 is scanned in the 2nd time in the main scanning direction and the discharging of the ink is completed, the head unit 1 is scanned in the 3rd time in the main scanning direction and the ink is discharged to the recording sheet P. At this time, the impact timing of the ink drops of magenta M (indicated by M1 in FIG. 17B) which reached the target locations from the discharge nozzles 1a of the rear-end portion of the head unit 1 when the head unit 1 is scanned in the 2nd time is earlier than the impact timing of the ink drops of cyan C (indicated by C1 in FIG. 17B) which reached the target locations from the discharge nozzles 1a of the front-end portion of the head unit 1 when the head unit 1 is scanned in the 3rd time.
The reversing of the impact sequence of the ink drops mentioned above arises at the transitional locations between the discharge nozzles 1a of the rear-end portion of the head unit 1 and the discharge nozzles 1a of the front-end portion of the head unit 1 when the recording sheet P is moved in the sub-scanning direction greatly and then the head unit 1 is moved to the non-printed region on the recording sheet P, and consequently the problem that color inconsistency becomes conspicuous on the recording sheet P as a whole will arise.

Ink jet printing device and image forming apparatus


Methods and apparatuses for determining an NVGRE data path failure are provided. In an embodiment, a first data packet comprising an echo request is generated at an originating tunnel end point device in a network. The echo request includes an NVGRE network identifier (VSID) associated with a selected NVGRE segment. A second data packet is generated comprising a header having a format associated with an NVGRE technology, the header comprising a network identifier portion including the NVGRE network identifier (VSID). The first data packet is encapsulated in the second data packet, and the second data packet is transmitted via the selected NVGRE segment.

NVGRE is a network virtualization technology adapted to ameliorate scalability problems associated with large cloud computing deployments. NVGRE can use, for example, Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) to tunnel layer 2 packets over layer 3 networks. In accordance with an NVGRE tunneling mechanism, a first device, referred to as the originating tunnel end point, uses a format associated with NVGRE protocols to encapsulate a data packet, and transmits the encapsulated packet to a second device, referred to as the terminating tunnel end point. The terminating tunnel end point decapsulates the data packet and forwards it to an intended destination device.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for detecting a network virtualization using generic routing encapsulation (NVGRE) segment data path failure


A method for forming a fine pattern of a semiconductor device, in which a first-to-be-patterned layer is formed on a semiconductor substrate, a photoresist film is coated on the first-to-be-patterned layer, and the photoresist film is patterned and cured to obtain a thermally stable photoresist film pattern. Thereafter, a second material layer is formed on the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate on which the photoresist film pattern is formed, by a low temperature plasma method, and the second material layer is anisotropically etched to thereby form a spacer made of the second material layer on the sidewalls of the photoresist film pattern. A first pattern is formed by anisotropically etching the first-to-be-patterned layer, using the spacer and the photoresist film pattern as an etching mask. The spacer and the photoresist film pattern are then removed. Using the first pattern thus obtained, a fine pattern which is the inverse of the first pattern can be formed. The separation interval between the individual elements can be reduced so as to be less than or equal to the minimum design rule, and a fine pattern below optical resolution can be attained.

The present invention relates generally to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a method for separating patterns and forming fine patterns of a semiconductor device, in which the distance between individual elements is reduced so as to be below the optical resolution.
The integration density of semiconductor memory devices (particularly, DRAM memories) has been progressively increasing by a factor of four approximately every four years. For example, while the four megabyte (4 Mb) DRAM is being mass-produced, the 16 Mb DRAM is being prepared for mass-production, and 64 Mb and 256 Mb DRAMs are in the stage of research and development. As a result of this quadrennial quadrupling of integration density, the actual area of the memory cells of such memory devices has been reduced by about 30%.
The higher integration density of semiconductor memory devices has been facilitated by two significant factors. More particularly, it has been facilitated by a decrease in the minimum design rule, which entails a reduction in the size of the features etched into the various layers of the semiconductor memory devices, i.e., the number of patterns which can be etched in a predetermined area is increased. In this regard, the reduction of the size of the pattern itself is significant. However, minimizing the distance between the patterns, that is, between individual elements, also contributes much to achievement of high integration density.
In 64 Mb and 256 Mb DRAMs, the separation interval between the individual elements should be reduced to about 0.1-0.5 .mu.m. The separation intervals capable of being achieved by present optical resolutions vary depending upon the type of light used. However, the separation interval is generally about 0.4-0.6 .mu.m. More particularly, the minimum design rule can be determined in accordance with the following equation (1): EQU Lm=.lambda./NA, (1)
wherein Lm denotes the minimum linewidth, .lambda. is the wavelength of the light utilized in the photolithographic processes, and NA is the aperture ratio of the lens employed in the optics system. Most of the photolithographic equipment which is currently used in integration circuit processing utilizes ultraviolet rays (.lambda.=0.2-0.4 .mu.m) as a light source, in which case the minimum linewidth can be reduced by increasing the aperture ratio of the lens. However, the minimum linewidth obtained by current technology is 0.4-0.6 .mu.m.
FIGS. 1 to 3 are sectional views showing a conventional method of separating patterns of a semiconductor device, in which a photolithography process and etching process used for separating patterns (e.g., individual elements) are shown.
With reference to FIG. 1, an insulating interlayer 12 for isolating a semiconductor substrate 10 from a conductive layer, that is, from individual elements, is formed on the entire surface of substrate 10 and then, a first-to-be-patterned-layer 20, for example, a conductive material layer for forming the individual elements (i.e., DRAM word lines, bit lines, storage electrodes, etc.), is formed thereon.
With reference to FIG. 2, after a photoresist film is coated on the first-to-be-patterned-layer 20 by a spin coating method, a pattern-producing mask (not shown) is placed over the photoresist film. Subsequently, the mask is exposed to a light source, whereby a light-transmitting portion and a light-masking portion are produced on the photoresist film in accordance with the pattern formed on the mask. The light passing through the light-transmitting portion is projected on the photoresist film, thereby polymerizing the molecules of photoresist film (for negative photoresist film) and rendering them insoluble in a developer, or decomposing the molecules of the photoresist film (for positive photoresist film) and rendering them soluble in a developer. Subsequently, after removing the mask, the photoresist film is soaked in a developer, and the soluble portion of the photoresist film is removed and the insoluble portion of the photoresist film remains, to form a photoresist film pattern 30 as shown in FIG. 2. (This is a photolithography process.)
With reference to FIG. 3, a first pattern 22 is formed by anisotropically etching (for example, RIE etching) the first-to-be-patterned layer 20 using the photoresist film pattern 30 as an etching mask. (This is an etching process.)
In the above-described conventional method for separating individual elements of a semiconductor device, since distance L' between the patterns is determined in accordance with the resolution of the light (typically, ultraviolet rays) used as a light source, reduction of the distance L' is possible only by enhancing the optical resolution. Accordingly, the conventional method is not appropriate for the development of 64 Mb and 256 Mb DRAMs in which the distance between the patterns should be reduced to about 0.1 .mu.m to 0.5 .mu.m.

Method for separating fine patterns of a semiconductor device