There is provided high power laser systems, high power laser tools, and methods of using these tools and systems for cutting, sectioning and removing structures objects, and materials, and in particular, for doing so in difficult to access locations and environments, such as offshore, underwater, or in hazardous environments, such as nuclear and chemical facilities. Thus, there is also provided high power laser systems, high power laser tools, and methods of using these systems and tools for removing structures, objects, and materials located offshore, under bodies of water and under the seafloor.

Field of the Invention
The present inventions relate to high power laser systems, high power laser tools, and methods of using these systems and tools for removing structures objects, and materials, and in particular, structures, objects, and materials in difficult to access locations and environments, such as offshore, underwater, or in hazardous environments, such as nuclear and chemical facilities. Thus, the present inventions relate to high power laser systems, high power laser tools, and methods of using these systems and tools for removing structures, objects, and materials located offshore, on an offshore coastal shelf, on a continental shelf, in coastal waters, above the surface of a body of water, below the surface of a body of water, below and above the surface of a body of water, on the bottom of a body of water, e.g., the seafloor, below the bottom of a body of water, e.g., below the seafloor, and combinations and variations of these. In particular, the present inventions relate to the removal of offshore structures, such as: platforms used for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons; oil and gas wells; oil and gas fields; platforms used to support windmills; structures used to support bridges, causeways or piers; pipelines; and power cables.
As used herein, unless specified otherwise "offshore," "offshore activities" and "offshore drilling activities" and similar such terms are used in their broadest sense and would include drilling and other activities on, or in, any body of water, whether fresh or salt water, whether manmade or naturally occurring, such as for example rivers, lakes, canals, inland seas, oceans, seas, bays and gulfs, such as the Gulf of Mexico. As used herein, unless specified otherwise the term "offshore drilling rig" is to be given its broadest possible meaning and would include fixed platforms, tenders, platforms, barges, dynamically positioned multiservice vessels, lift boats, jack-ups, floating platforms, drill ships, dynamically positioned drill ships, semi-submersibles and dynamically positioned semi-submersibles.
As used herein, unless specified otherwise the term "fixed platform," would include any structure that has at least a portion of its weight supported by the seafloor. Fixed platforms would include structures such as: free-standing caissons, monopiles, well-protector jackets, pylons, braced caissons, piled-jackets, skirted piled-jackets, compliant towers, gravity structures, gravity based structures, skirted gravity structures, concrete gravity structures, concrete deep water structures and other combinations and variations of these. Fixed platforms extend from at or below the seafloor to and above the surface of the body of water, e.g., sea level. Deck structures are positioned above the surface of the body of water on top of vertical support members that extend down into the water to the seafloor and into the seabed. Fixed platforms may have a single vertical support, or multiple vertical supports, or vertical diagonal supports, e.g., pylons, legs, braced caissons, etc., such as a three, four, or more support members, which may be made from steel, such as large hollow tubular structures, concrete, such as concrete reinforced with metal such as rebar, and combinations and variations of these. These vertical support members are joined together by horizontal, diagonal and other support members. In a piled-jacket platform the jacket is a derrick like structure having hollow essentially vertical members near its bottom. Piles extend out from these hollow bottom members into the seabed to anchor the platform to the seabed.
The construction and configuration of fixed platforms can vary greatly depending upon several factors, including the intended use for the platform, load and weight requirements, seafloor conditions and geology, location and sea conditions, such as currents, storms, and wave heights. Various types of fixed platforms can be used over a great range of depths from a few feet to several thousands of feet. For example, they may be used in water depths that are very shallow, i.e., less than 50 feet, a few hundred feet, e.g., 100 to 300 feet, and a few thousand feet, e.g., up to about 3,000 feet or even greater depths may be obtained. These structures can be extremely complex and heavy, having a total assembled weight of more than 100,000 tons. They can extend many feet into the seafloor, as deep as 100 feet or more below the seafloor.
Examples of fixed platforms are provided in FIGS. 20 A-C. Where a triangular-pile-jacket, a rectangular-pile-jacket, and a gravity structure are illustrated, respectively. The conductors 2001 are shown within the structure of pile jacket platforms. To the extent utilized in the gravity structure, the conductors would be contained within the vertical support members 2002 of the gravity structure, and thus, are not shown in FIG. 20C. The conductors extend from the deck structures of the platform, 2005,a, b, c above the surface 2006 of the body of water 2007, to and into the seabed 2008. The conductors contain, e.g., hose, tubulars, which are used for among other things recovery of hydrocarbons from the formations below the seafloor. The size, weight, and variability of fixed platforms, associated conductors, and other structures and materials at, on, or within the seabed make their removal difficult.
As used herein, unless specified otherwise the terms "seafloor," "seabed" and similar terms are to be given their broadest possible meaning and would include any surface of the earth, including for example the mud line, that lies under, or is at the bottom of, any body of water, whether fresh or salt water, whether manmade or naturally occurring.
As used herein, unless specified otherwise the terms "well" and "borehole" are to be given their broadest possible meaning and include any hole that is bored or otherwise made into the earth's surface, e.g., the seafloor or seabed, and would further include exploratory, production, abandoned, reentered, reworked, and injection wells.
As used herein the term "drill pipe" is to be given its broadest possible meaning and includes all forms of pipe used for drilling activities; and refers to a single section or piece of pipe. As used herein the terms "stand of drill pipe," "drill pipe stand," "stand of pipe," "stand" and similar type terms are to be given their broadest possible meaning and include two, three or four sections of drill pipe that have been connected, e.g., joined together, typically by joints having threaded connections. As used herein the terms "drill string," "string," "string of drill pipe," string of pipe" and similar type terms are to be given their broadest definition and would include a stand or stands joined together for the purpose of being employed in a borehole. Thus, a drill string could include many stands and many hundreds of sections of drill pipe.
As used herein the term "tubular" is to be given its broadest possible meaning and includes conductor, drill pipe, casing, riser, coiled tube, composite tube, vacuum insulated tube ("VIT"), production tubing, piles, jacket components, offshore platform components, production liners, pipeline, and any similar structures having at least one channel therein that are, or could be used, in the drilling, production, refining, hydrocarbon, hydroelectric, water processing, chemical and related industries. As used herein the term "joint" is to be given its broadest possible meaning and includes all types of devices, systems, methods, structures and components used to connect tubulars together, such as for example, threaded pipe joints and bolted flanges. For drill pipe joints, the joint section typically has a thicker wall than the rest of the drill pipe. As used herein the thickness of the wall of a tubular is the thickness of the material between the internal diameter of the tubular and the external diameter of the tubular.
As used herein the term "pipeline" should be given its broadest possible meaning, and includes any structure that contains a channel having a length that is many orders of magnitude greater than its cross-sectional area and which is for, or capable of, transporting a material along at least a portion of the length of the channel. Pipelines may be many miles long and may be many hundreds of miles long or they may be shorter. Pipelines may be located below the earth, above the earth, under water, within a structure, or combinations of these and other locations. Pipelines may be made from metal, steel, plastics, ceramics, composite materials, or other materials and compositions know to the pipeline arts and may have external and internal coatings, known to the pipeline arts. In general, pipelines may have internal diameters that range from about 2 to about 60 inches although larger and smaller diameters may be utilized. In general natural gas pipelines may have internal diameters ranging from about 2 to 60 inches and oil pipelines have internal diameters ranging from about 4 to 48 inches. Pipelines may be used to transmit numerous types of materials, in the form of a liquid, gas, fluidized solid, slurry or combinations thereof. Thus, for example pipelines may carry hydrocarbons; chemicals; oil; petroleum products; gasoline; ethanol; biofuels; water; drinking water; irrigation water; cooling water; water for hydroelectric power generation; water, or other fluids for geothermal power generation; natural gas; paints; slurries, such as mineral slurries, coal slurries, pulp slurries; and ore slurries; gases, such as nitrogen and hydrogen; cosmetics; pharmaceuticals; and food products, such as beer.
Pipelines may be, in part, characterized as gathering pipelines, transportation pipelines and distribution pipelines, although these characterizations may be blurred and may not cover all potential types of pipelines. Gathering pipelines are a number of smaller interconnected pipelines that form a network of pipelines for bringing together a number of sources, such as for example bringing together hydrocarbons being produced from a number of wells. Transportation pipelines are what can be considered as a traditional pipeline for moving products over longer distances for example between two cities, two countries, and a production location and a shipping, storage or distribution location. The Alaskan oil pipeline is an example of a transportation pipeline. Distribution pipelines can be small pipelines that are made up of several interconnected pipelines and are used for the distribution to, for example, an end user, of the material that is being delivered by the pipeline, such as for example the feeder lines used to provide natural gas to individual homes. Pipelines would also include, for example, j-tubes that interconnect subsea pipelines with producing structures, pipeline end manifolds (PLEM), and similar sub-sea structures; and would also include flowlines connecting to, for example, wellheads. As used herein, the term pipeline includes all of these and other characterizations of pipelines that are known to or used in the pipeline arts.
As used herein, unless specified otherwise "high power laser energy" means a laser beam having at least about 1 kW (kilowatt) of power. As used herein, unless specified otherwise "great distances" means at least about 500 m (meter). As used herein the term "substantial loss of power," "substantial power loss" and similar such phrases, mean a loss of power of more than about 3.0 dB/km (decibel/kilometer) for a selected wavelength. As used herein the term "substantial power transmission" means at least about 50% transmittance.
Discussion of Related Arts
Sub-Sea Drilling
Typically, and by way of general illustration, in drilling a subsea well an initial borehole is made into the seabed and then subsequent and smaller diameter boreholes are drilled to extend the overall depth of the borehole. Thus, as the overall borehole gets deeper its diameter becomes smaller; resulting in what can be envisioned as a telescoping assembly of holes with the largest diameter hole being at the top of the borehole closest to the surface of the earth. As the borehole is being extended, in this telescoping fashion, casing may be inserted into the borehole, and also may be cemented in place. Smaller and smaller diameter casing will be used as the depth of the borehole increases.
Thus, by way of example, the starting phases of a subsea drill process may be explained in general as follows. In the case of a floating rig, once the drilling rig is positioned on the surface of the water over the area where drilling is to take place, an initial borehole is made by drilling a 36″ hole in the earth to a depth of about 200-300 ft. below the seafloor. A 30″ casing is inserted into this initial borehole. This 30″ casing may also be called a conductor. The 30″ conductor may or may not be cemented into place. During this drilling operation a riser is generally not used and the cuttings from the borehole, e.g., the earth and other material removed from the borehole by the drilling activity are returned to the seafloor. Next, a 26″ diameter borehole is drilled within the 30″ casing, extending the depth of the borehole to about 1,000-1,500 ft. This drilling operation may also be conducted without using a riser. A 20″ casing is then inserted into the 30″ conductor and 26″ borehole. This 20″ casing is cemented into place. The 20″ casing has a wellhead, or casing head, secured to it. (In other operations an additional smaller diameter borehole may be drilled, and a smaller diameter casing inserted into that borehole with the wellhead being secured to that smaller diameter casing.) The wellhead, or casing head, would be located at the seafloor. A blowout preventer ("BOP") is then secured to a riser and lowered by the riser to the sea floor; where the BOP is secured to the wellhead, or casing head. From this point forward, in general, all drilling activity in the borehole takes place through the riser and the BOP.
In the case of a fixed platform rig, once the drilling rig is positioned on the seafloor over the area where drilling is to take place, an initial borehole is made by drilling a 36″ hole in the earth to a depth of about 200-300 ft. below the seafloor. A 30″ casing is inserted into this initial borehole. This 30″ casing may also be called a conductor. The 30″ conductor may or may not be cemented into place. During this drilling operation a riser is generally not used and the cuttings from the borehole, e.g., the earth and other material removed from the borehole by the drilling activity, are returned to the seafloor. In the case of a fixed platform, the conductor extends from below the seafloor to above the surface of the water, and generally to the platform decking. Next, a 26″ diameter borehole is drilled within the 30″ casing, extending the depth of the borehole to about 1,000-1,500 ft. This drilling operation is conducted within the conductor. A 20″ casing is then inserted into the 30″ conductor and 26″ borehole. This 20″ casing is cemented into place and extends from below the seafloor to the above the surface of the sea. The 20″ casing has a wellhead, or casing head, secured to it. (In other operations, an additional smaller diameter borehole may be drilled, and a smaller diameter casing inserted into that borehole with the wellhead being secured to that smaller diameter casing.) With a fixed platform, the wellhead or casing head, is located above the surface of the body of water and generally in the decking area of the platform. A BOP is then secured to the wellhead or casing head. From this point forward, in general, all drilling activity in the borehole takes place through the BOP.
During completion of the well a production liner and within the production liner a production pipe are inserted into the borehole. These tubulars extend from deep within the borehole to a structure referred to as a Christmas tree, which is secured to the wellhead or casing head. (Other structures, in addition to, including, or encompassed by a Christmas tree, such as a tree, production tree, manifold and similar types of devices may be secured to or associated with the wellhead, casing head or conductor.) In sub-sea completions, the Christmas tree is located on the sea floor. In completions using a fixed platform, the Christmas tree is located above the surface of the body of water, in the platforms deck, atop the conductor. During production, hydrocarbons flow into and up the production pipe to the Christmas tree and from the Christmas tree flow to collection points where they are stored, processed, transferred and combinations of these. Depending upon the particular well, a conductor may have many concentric tubulars within it and may have multiple production pipes. These concentric tubulars may or may not be on the same axis. Further, these concentric tubulars may have the annulus between them filled with cement. A single platform may have many conductors and for example may have as many as 60 or more, which extend from the deck to and into the seafloor.
The forgoing illustrative examples have been greatly simplified. Many additional steps, procedures, tubulars and equipment (including additional equipment, power lines and pipelines on or below the seafloor) maybe utilized to proceed from the initial exploratory drilling of a well to the actual production of hydrocarbons from a field. At some point in time, a well or a collection of wells, will no longer be economically producing hydrocarbons. At which point in time the decision may be made to plug and abandon the well, several wells, and to additionally decommission the structures associated with such wells. As with the steps to drill for and produce hydrocarbons, the steps for plugging, abandoning and decommissioning are complex and varied.
Prior Methodologies to Remove Subsea Structures
There are generally several methodologies that have been used to remove structures from the seafloor. These methodologies may general be categorized as: complex saws, such as diamond saws: large mechanical cutters or shears; oxygen-arc or torch cutters; abrasive water jets; and explosives. Additionally, there may be other methodologies, including the use of divers and ROVs to physically scrap, chip, cut or otherwise remove material. All of these methodologies have health, safety, environmental, and reliability drawbacks.
A key and critical factor for any methodology that is used for the removal of subsea structures is that when subsea structures are cut-up for lifting out of the sea, these cuts must be complete. Thus, A. Culwell, Removal and Disposal of Deck and Jacket Structures, p.52 (contained in "The Process of Decommissioning and Removing Offshore and Associated Onshore Oil and Gas Facilities", 1997)("A. Culwell"), notes that: "lilt is crucial to the safety of the heavy lifts that these cuts be complete and reliable because they could not be examined for verification." Culwell, at page 52, further notes that "abrasive water jet methodology . . . does not have guaranteed success and many cuts were repeated or completed with divers working inside the caisson legs after [abrasive water jet] cuts proved to be incomplete."
Diamond saws and mechanical cutters have similar reliability failings. Diamond saws, as well as, abrasive water jets, are also slow in making their cuts, and thus, can be time consuming, which along with other factors, greatly adds to the overall removal costs. Oxygen-arc or torch cutters are similarly slow, may require divers, and thus, subject the divers to hazardous conditions, such as being inside of a caisson. Additionally, these cutters will not cut all types of material, for example concrete, which may require for example a diver to chip the cement away.
Explosives, although reliable are dangerous to both humans and marine life, and in particular, to marine mammals. The use of explosives above the sea floor is being greatly restricted, and to protect marine life, these restrictions may extend to activities just below the sea floor, e.g., about 15 feet down or less. The abrasives used in abrasive water jets also have environmental concerns, although the study of this has only recently been started. The abrasive material used may prove dangerous to marine life and harmful to the environment.
High Power Laser Transmission
Prior to the recent breakthroughs of Foro Energy co-inventors it was believed that the transmission of high power laser energy over great distances without substantial loss of power was unobtainable. Their breakthroughs in the transmission of high power laser energy, in particular power levels greater than 5 kW, are set forth, in part, in the novel and innovative teachings contained in the following US Patent Application Publications: Publication No. 2010/0044106; Publication No. 2010/0044104; Publication No. 2010/0044103; Publication No. 2010/0215326; and, Publication No. 2012/0020631, the entire disclosure of each of which is incorporated herein by reference.

High power laser offshore decommissioning tool, system and methods of use


In a method of forming a two-dimensional material layer, a nucleation pattern is formed over a substrate, and a transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) layer is formed such that the TMD layer laterally grows from the nucleation pattern. In one or more of the foregoing and following embodiments, the TMD layer is single crystalline.

Graphene, as a two-dimensional (2-D) material, has emerged as a possible material for transistor applications in a sub-10 nm technology node. However, due to its zero-bandgap nature, a low ON/OFF ratio of graphene transistors has limited its practical applications. Other 2-D materials with bandgaps, such as transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD), have attracted attention for transistor applications.

Field effect transistor using transition metal dichalcogenide and a method for forming the same

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.


In one example implementation, a replaceable printing component includes a fluid supply chamber, and a printhead on the fluid supply chamber. The printhead includes a memory storing a factory identification code that comprises a combination of digitized analog performance parameters. The printhead also includes electronic test components from which the analog performance parameters have been measured.

Printing systems have replaceable components that are integral to the functioning of the system. The replaceable components include print cartridges that contain consumable material that is depleted with each use of the printing system. Verifying that a replaceable component is an authentic component from a legitimate manufacturer can help users of printing systems avoid problems associated with the unintended use of a defective and/or counterfeit component.

Replaceable printing component with factory identity code

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


An elongated pipe tower extends upwardly at an acute angle from vertical with snow making nozzles in an upper end portion of the tower. Supply connections are provided at the lower end of the tower for connection to remote sources of air under pressure for supplying air and water under pressure to the nozzles for discharge into ambient atmosphere for manufacturing snow in sub-freezing conditions. The upper end portion of the tower protrudes upwardly at an angle from the tower and the nozzles are positioned on the outer side of the tower upper end portion facing outwardly away from the tower and the tower base. The nozzles are positioned such that the combined resultant thrust of the suspended weight of the tower itself and the thrust of discharged air and water under pressure through the nozzles is caused to be in substantial alignment with the tower, thereby preventing application of undue stress on the tower and permitting the use of a lightweight pipe tower. The nozzles are also positioned to provide maximum loft and throw of the manufactured snow. The snow tower is also pivoted intermediate its upper and lower ends on the upper end of a support arm so that the tower may be pivoted in a vertical plane from parallel alignment with the support arm to positions below horizontal for maintenance access.

This invention relates generally to fluid sprinkling and more particularly to snow making towers for ski slopes.
More particularly, this invention pertains to improvements in snow making towers of the type disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,163, issued Nov. 1, 1994 for ADJUSTABLE SNOW MAKING TOWER. This patent discloses an adjustable snow making tower which includes a vertical ground support pole that is anchored into the ground and has a tower support pole coaxially received on this ground support pole for support of a snow tower for axial horizontal rotation on the ground support pole.
This prior art device includes a support arm that is pivotally connected intermediate its opposite ends to the upper end of the tower support pole for pivotal movement substantially from horizontal to vertical. In turn, an elongated pipe snow making tower having air and water discharge nozzles at its upper end and air and water supply connections at its lower end, is supported at its lower end portion to this support arm for pivotal movement with the support arm in a vertical plane. This configuration permits full adjustability in the horizontal and vertical planes.
A jack mechanism is provided between the support arm and the tower support pole to raise and lower the support arm along with its attached snow making tower to desired vertical positions.
Problems encountered with lean-out towers of this type is that to be effective such towers must be at least 12 feet high and therefore the pipe of which the tower is constructed must be heavy duty, three inches ID or greater. This is required in order to support the suspended weight of the tower itself and to further accommodate the relatively large thrusts applied to the tower by the discharge of air and water under pressure through the nozzles at the top of the tower.
In addition, maximum loft, throw and spreading of manufactured snow is not accomplished because the nozzles cannot be positioned at optimum angles when the tower is leaned outwardly over a ski trail.
Also, adjustable lean-out towers of the prior art require expensive and relatively heavy duty jack mechanisms to raise and lower the tower to desired vertical positions.
It is an object of the present invention to eliminate these afore described disadvantages of the prior art snow making towers of the lean-out type.


A display apparatus according to an embodiment includes a first substrate including a plastic material, a second substrate facing the first substrate, and a coating layer formed on at least one surface of the first substrate. The coating layer includes a first compound having an acryl-based monomer and a second compound having a silicon derivative, and prevents reflection of light from the first substrate when light is provided to the first substrate. Thus, the display apparatus may have enhanced lightness (brightness) thereby improving the display quality.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a display apparatus and a method of manufacturing the same. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to a display apparatus having improved display quality and a method of manufacturing the display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a display apparatus displays an image using data processed by an information processing device. The display apparatus may be classified into a liquid crystal display or an electrophoretic display according to a display unit used for displaying the image. For instance, the liquid crystal display displays the image using a liquid crystal layer interposed between two transparent substrates, and the electrophoretic display displays the image using an electrophoretic layer interposed between two transparent substrates.
The electrophoretic display includes upper and lower substrates facing each other, upper and lower electrodes arranged on the upper and lower substrates, respectively, and an electrophoretic layer interposed between the upper and lower electrodes that includes first charge particles and second charge particles. The first charge particles are electrified to have a polarity different from a polarity of the second charge particles. Also, the first charge particles have a color different from that of the second charge particles.
When voltages are respectively applied to the upper and lower electrodes to generate an electric field between the upper and lower electrodes, one of the first and second charge particles becomes positioned at an upper portion between the upper and lower electrodes. As a result, when an external light is reflected by the first charge particles, a user recognizes a color corresponding to the first charge particles. Similarly, when the external light is reflected by the second charge particles, the user recognizes a color corresponding to the second charge particles.
However, when the electrophoretic display displays an image using the external light, the image is displayed darker than the image that is displayed on a display apparatus to which a separate light source is applied.

Display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same


Data Center Bridge (DCB)-based path selection methods and systems reduce packet loss in a network system comprising a Link Aggregation Group (LAG) topology. In embodiments, once traffic received at a LAG node and identified as DCB traffic, links whose DCB status are identified as “up” are assigned to a LAG sub-trunk that may be used to forward the DCB traffic on the LAG trunk, while non-DCB traffic is forwarded to any member of the LAG, irrespective of DCB status. In addition, DCB traffic received from a LAG peer node, which sends traffic on an inter-node link (INL) when no DCB-enabled links to a downstream device are present, is identified as DCB traffic and forwarded on a LAG sub-trunk that comprises DCB-enabled links. An egress mask that indicates to not forward the traffic received at the LAG node on the INL may be overridden, such that DCB traffic may be forwarded.

The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for handling Storage Area Network (SAN) traffic in Link Aggregation Group (LAG) topologies that handle Data Center Bridge (DCB)-enabled traffic.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use, such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Common networking systems that utilize LAG topologies that handle DCB-enabled SAN traffic, such as internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) and RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) traffic, require that DCB is operationally up on all LAG port channel members. In such topologies, an Inter-Chassis Link (ICL) (or Inter-Node Link (INL)) that connects LAG peer nodes, is typically used for data traffic only when the LAG port channel is operationally down. In situations when the DCB status of some or all LAG port channel members is down, SAN traffic is still being forwarded following the rules of a regular LAG hashing mechanism. A major drawback of such existing networks is that in cases when, for example, a path is congested, SAN traffic is dropped, even if, theoretically, a DCB-enabled path via other DCB enabled members ICL may exist. As a result, existing designs cannot take advantage of the ICL to forward DCB traffic, until all local LAG port channels are operationally down.
Accordingly, what is need are systems and methods that alleviate and, ideally, eliminate the shortcomings of existing designs.

DCB-based path selection systems and methods for san traffic in lag topologies


A high efficiency, multiple power output power amplifier uses a pair of amplifiers having similar characteristics coupled to a pair of radio frequency RF couplers. When both amplifiers are operating, the power output is the sum of the outputs of the two amplifiers. When lower power operation is desired, one of the amplifiers is turned off and a high impedance is presented to the isolated port of the output RF coupler, thereby ensuring that all of the power output of the remaining power amplifier is available for output.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to maximizing the efficiency of radio frequency power amplification in a wireless communication device transmitter, and, more particularly, to a high efficiency multiple power level amplifier.
2. Related Art
With the increasing availability of efficient, low cost electronic modules, mobile communication systems are becoming more and more widespread. For example, there are many variations of communication schemes in which various frequencies, transmission schemes, modulation techniques and communication protocols are used to provide two-way voice and data communications in a handheld telephone-like communication handset. While the different modulation and transmission schemes each have advantages and disadvantages, one common factor is the need for highly efficient power amplification. As these communication devices become smaller and smaller, the functionality provided by these devices continues to increase. One major concern when developing these handheld communication devices is power consumption. As the devices become smaller and smaller, the amount of power consumed and dissipated becomes more and more critical. High efficiency power amplification decreases the amount of power consumed, thereby maximizing battery life of the device.
Another major concern in these wireless devices is the size of the circuitry. In order to minimize the hardware required it is desirable to integrate as much functionality as possible into fewer and fewer circuit modules. This enables the hand held device to be smaller and consume less power.
Most wireless power amplifier applications require high efficiency over a broad range of operating power levels. This is inherently difficult to achieve without circuitry and logic in addition to the power amplifier. Typically, additional circuitry residing on a control die must be used in addition to the power amplifier circuit.
One conventional manner in which to achieve high efficiency power amplification over a broad range of power output levels uses radio frequency (RF) switches to select different power amplifiers based upon the required power output demand. Each of the power amplifiers can be optimized for high efficiency at different power levels. Unfortunately, this solution requires the use of an additional control die in which to house the RF switches.
Another conventional manner in which to achieve high efficiency power amplification over a broad range of power output levels involves two separate amplifiers having different characteristics, each optimized for high efficiency at different power levels. In such an arrangement, the amplifiers are activated individually to satisfy the required power levels. Microwave couplers are used to ensure the correct phase match between the two amplifiers. Unfortunately, this approach still requires a separate control die and is difficult to achieve in commercial high-volume applications. Furthermore, the two different amplifiers must have a matched phase supplied at their input, thereby requiring that the microwave couplers be extremely stable.
Therefore, there is a need in the industry for a wireless power amplification circuit that achieves highly efficient power amplification over a broad range of output power levels and that is economical to produce in high volume.
The invention provides a high efficiency multiple power level amplifier that maximizes power amplifier efficiency and minimizes the required control circuitry. The invention maximizes the efficiency of a power amplifier circuit and simultaneously minimizes the amount of control circuitry required to control the amplifier. Two amplifiers having similar amplification characteristics are connected to two RF couplers. The isolated port of each RF coupler is connected to an impedance modification circuit. The power amplifier circuit can use both amplifiers when power demand is high and use the output of a single power amplifier when power demand is lower. When using only one power amplifier, the impedance modification circuit eliminates the impedance mismatch caused by the single power amplifier operation by using an externally biased semiconductor to present the proper impedance to the coupler connected to the inactive power amplifier. In this manner, any impedance mismatch between the operative and inoperative power amplifiers is compensated, thus allowing the single operating power amplifier to achieve optimal performance.
Related methods of operation and computer readable media are also provided. Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the invention will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.

High efficiency multiple power level amplifier


According to the first aspect, the present invention provides a music distribution method for downloading, in response to a request from a user, music data for one or more musical pieces included in the latest hit charts from a server storing a lot of music data, comprising the steps of determining whether music data to be downloaded from said server are already stored in a terminal of said user, and downloading, from said server to said terminal, only music data that are not stored in said terminal. According to the second aspect, the present invention provides a music distribution system comprising a server for storing a lot of music data, and means responsive to a request from a user for downloading, from said server, music data for one or more musical pieces included in the latest hit charts, wherein said downloading means including means for determining whether music data to be downloaded from said server are already stored in a terminal of said user, and means for selectively downloading, from said server to said terminal, only music data that are not stored in said terminal.

With the spread of the Internet, it has become common to conduct various transactions on the Internet, including music distribution. In the music distribution, a lot of music contents are stored in a server, and music contents requested by a user are downloaded to a terminal of that user with charge. The downloaded musical pieces can be played back by a personal computer or by a portable music playback terminal. Several music distribution sites have now been established that distribute music contents with a price of several hundreds yen per piece. Since this price is considerably lower than that of a single CD, and the music contents can be electronically stored and handled in a convenient way, it is expected that the music distribution will become ever more popular.
While various genres of music, such as classics, pop, popular ballads, latin and rock, can be downloaded from a music distribution site, users, especially young users, would exhibit a strong preference for the latest hit songs. Therefore, taking this tendency into consideration, some music distribution sites feature a list of top ten or more songs on the latest hit charts on the web.
As prior art for downloading the latest hit music, an information distribution system and a reception apparatus are disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. H11-150517. According to this system, distribution list information (hit charts list), including next distribution list information, is transmitted, along with music data, by a distribution center to a reception site, and at the reception site, a determination is made, based on the distribution list information, as to which music data should be downloaded. When the music data that is selected in this manner corresponds to songs included in the next distribution list information, at the reception site a reception waiting state is assumed, and no request is transmitted the distribution center.
Further, an also well known technique is disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. H11-312175. According to this technique, instead of downloading music data directly to a user terminal, only the information that is required for downloading to be performed is received from a music distribution server and is stored on a recording medium, such as an MD (mini disk). Subsequently, after the recording medium has been loaded into an information terminal set up in a CD shop or a convenience store and a predetermined fee has been paid, music data corresponding to the information stored on the recording medium is downloaded from the music distribution server.
Conventionally, to download music listed on the latest hit charts, a user would first identify songs that are ranked at the higher places, e.g., top ten songs, on the Web of a music distribution site, and then select a song or songs that have been newly added to the top ten list and downloads them. However, it would be troublesome for a user to check what songs are listed on the hit charts each time the user downloads a song or songs. Further, even after new song has been downloaded, if a user desires to sequentially play back, in order, the top ten songs on the hit charts, the user would have to change the music playback order, or if it is troublesome, the user would have to download the top ten songs every week.

Method and system for music distribution

International Business Machines Corporation


A golf swing training device which is used by both amateur and professional golfers to develop and maintain a proper golf swing. The golf swing training device not only forces the user to maintain one swing plane, but also allows the golfer to imitate the hand movement used in a proper golf swing, as well as allowing for the full extension of the golfer's arms in the follow through. Additionally, the golf swing training device develops the proper muscle groups for golfing.

1. Field of the Invention
Applicant's invention relates to an improved golf swing training device for amateur and professional golfers to assist in developing and maintaining a proper golf swing, as well as developing the muscles associated with a proper golf swing.
2. Background Information
The most fundamental aspect to becoming a good golfer is obtaining and maintaining a golf swing that remains in one plane from back swing to follow through. This plane is generally called the "swing plane". Slicing, hooking, and generally mis-hitting the ball result from not maintaining the swing plane throughout the entire golf swing. FIGS. 1 and 3 illustrate the hand and club head movement of a proper golf swing from a frontal perspective. In a proper swing, each point representing the club head lies in the swing plane (S). FIG. 2 illustrates the imaginary line about which the swing plane (S) rotates.
As shown in FIG. 2, swing plane (S) rotates about an imaginary line (L) extending from the golfer's shoulders to the ball. The angle alpha (.alpha.) of the swing plane is determined by the golfer's physique and club length. If the golfer is tall, he will normally stand closer to the ball. Consequently, .alpha. will be larger or closer to a 90 degree angle. On the other hand, if the golfer is short, he most likely will stand further away from the ball. Therefore, .alpha. will be smaller.
As shown in FIG. 1, during the back swing, the golfer's hands move in a circle about a point somewhere in the upper part of the chest. At the top of the back swing, this point moves from the golfer's right to his left. Accordingly, the golfer's hands describe one near circle arc on the upswing and a different near circle arc during the downswing of the back swing. Yet, the club head remains in one swing plane (S). Due to this hand movement, a golf swing training device must reproduce the two different arcs the hands track during the back swing with the same natural movement found when swinging a golf club. It must also assure throughout this movement that the club head remains in swing plane (S).
In addition to the two different arcs in the back swing as illustrated in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 illustrates that during the follow through the hands and club head are extended further than at any point during the back swing. This extension is due to the golfer's body rotating toward the target prior to the time of impact and during the follow through. Thus, the club head travels on one elliptical path on the back swing and a larger, more extended elliptical path on the follow through. Yet, both elliptical paths remain in the same swing plane (S). Consequently, the device must not only maintain swing plane (S), it must maintain swing plane (S) while allowing the complete extension of the arms and club head in the follow through.
Obtaining and maintaining a proper golf swing takes practice. Most golfers do not have time to travel to the golf course and practice/play golf every day. Furthermore, without proper coaching or feedback, repeatedly swinging a golf club does not assure the golfer is maintaining one swing plane. Several golf swing training devices have heretofore been developed which enable a golfer to practice his swing at a more convenient place or time. Some of these devices address maintaining one swing plane. Yet, none of the devices developed thus far maintain one swing plane and track the path that the hands and club head make throughout the entire golf swing without complicated and expensive telescoping mechanisms.
Therefore, a need exists for not only a golf swing training device that maintains one swing plane, but an improved device that is capable of tracking the true and realistic movement of the hands and club head throughout the entire golf swing without complicated and expensive telescoping mechanisms. The device should also be affordable so that any golfer may purchase one for his home or office.


The invention is a combination of a short ground sensor arm mounted close to the cutter bar and a longer rod mounted towards the rear of the header. The short front sensor and long rear sensor are connected by a linkage which translates motions from either sensor to the other sensor. A second linkage translates the motions of both sensors rearward to a protected area under the header which contains the potentiometer. This configuration transmits useful ground position signals to the header height controller in both low and high cutting heights. The invention advantageously reduces the likelihood of damage to the short front sensor when the machine is reversed since the longer rear sensor arm pulls the shorter forward sensor arm up by means of the linkage to a position where damage is unlikely.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of crop harvesting equipment such as combines and harvesters.
2. Related Art
Agricultural machines such as combines and harvesters use headers to cut crop and move it into the machine for processing. The headers can be raised and lowered to cut the crop at various heights. Many headers are equipped with ground sensors that contact the ground as the header moves through a field during harvest. As the ground terrain changes the sensors move up and down in response. A potentiometer measures the angle of change of the ground sensors and continually sends an electric voltage to a computer controller which moves the header according to the signals from the ground sensors' constant contact with the ground contour. This keeps the header at a user selected height automatically.
There is a wide range of cutting heights that are desirable. Mechanical configurations for ground sensors that work well for higher heights, for example 400 millimeters, do not work well at lower heights in common usage, for example 25 millimeters, and vice versa.
Separately, it is advantageous for the sensor ground contact position to be very close to the cutter bar, at the leading edge of the header. This position close to the cutter bar allows the header to react quickly to changing ground contours. In the prior art long sensors mounted near the front of the header and near the cutter bar worked well for high cutting heights but, when the cutting height was lower, the long sensor arms, which move around a pivot mount, would contact the ground at a position too far to the rear of the cutter bar to respond quickly to changes in ground contour. Thus, long ground sensor arms did not work well for short cutting heights. Short ground sensor arms were advantageously responsive at short cutting heights, but would not reach the ground at all at high cutter heights.
Moreover, a short straight ground sensor mounted close to the cutter bar risked breakage when the operator backed the machine up with the sensor in its down position. The short sensor could also be broken if the operator lowered the header without simultaneously moving the machine forward. This double motion was not guaranteed.

Claas Selbstefahrende Erntemaschinen GmbH


A continuously variable toroidal transmission includes an upper link swingably connected to roller support members, and a link post mounted to a casing and having an opening formed along an axis of a main shaft. Support pins are disposed between the upper link and the link post, each having one end mounted to the upper link and another end swingably inserted in the opening of the link post.

The present invention relates generally to continuously variable toroidal transmissions and more particularly to an improvement in the structure of component parts thereof.
Generally, with conventional continuously variable toroidal transmissions, a center portion of an upper link is swingably mounted to a link post through a spherical bearing as disclosed, e.g. in JP-A 4-29659. However, in view of an oscillation center of the upper link located at the spherical bearing, the lengths of right and left portions thereof are not equal to, but different from each other since every point in the diameter of the spherical bearing can be a supporting point, having a bad influence on the shift performance.
In this connection, JP-A 61-124764 proposes the structure for supporting an upper link and an link post by a support pin, which allows an equal movement of right and left portions of the upper link upon shifting, resulting in possible maintaining of the desired shift performance.
Upon assembling of the transmissions, components parts are generally brought into a casing through an opening formed on the side of a lower link, i.e. a lower portion of the transmission. Thus, the solution proposed by JP-A 61-124764 makes assembling of the transmissions practically difficult, resulting in impossible application to real manufacturing of the transmissions.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide continuously variable toroidal transmissions which can be assembled easily without causing the above inconvenience.

Continuously variable toroidal transmissions


The present disclosure involves a method. The method includes providing a substrate including a top surface. The method also includes forming a gate over the top surface of the substrate. The formed gate has a first height measured from the top surface of the substrate. The method also includes etching the gate to reduce the gate to a second height. This second height is substantially less than the first height. The present disclosure also involves a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes a substrate. The substrate includes a top surface. The semiconductor device also includes a first gate formed over the top surface of the substrate. The first gate has a first height. The semiconductor device also includes a second gate formed over the top surface of the substrate. The second gate has a second height. The first height is substantially less than the second height.

The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced rapid growth in recent years. Technological advances in IC materials and design have produced generations of ICs where each generation has smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. However, these advances have increased the complexity of processing and manufacturing ICs and, for these advances to be realized, similar developments in IC processing and manufacturing are needed. In the course of IC evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the smallest component that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased.
Semiconductor resistors may be formed on ICs. It is desirable for such resistors to have a low temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) while also having a high resistance. Traditionally, methods for reducing TCR while maintaining high resistance involved extra film deposition (either polysilicon or SiCR), extra masks, and/or higher costs. In addition, these processes were complicated and sometimes resulted in residue or damage to the device.
Therefore, while existing methods of fabricating semiconductor resistors have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in every aspect.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A ring blade for cutting or for defensive purposes comprises a ring with a top section and a movable crown member mounted in this top section. The ring is adapted for placement on a person's finger. The crown member has an elongate slot formed therein and a blade member is arranged in this slot. First and second pin members are provided to pivot the blade member from a retracted position where the blade is located in the slot to an extended position where the blade is exposed. The blade member is connected to the top section by one of the pin members and it is connected to the crown member by the other pin member. Movement of the crown member towards the top section causes the pin members to pivot the blade member to the extended position. Preferably the top section has a V-shaped cavity and the crown member is also V-shaped so as to fit inside this cavity.

This application relates to ring blades or ring knives which are adapted for placement on a user's finger and which can be used for cutting.
Ring blades or ring knives are known and they have been used in the past to cut twine or thread or to cut plant stems. Some of the known ring knives have retractable blades so that the device can be carried relatively safely when it is not in use.
Early Canadian patent No. 219,333 issued Jun. 6, 1922 to O. L. Raymer describes a twine cutter comprising a ring and a cutter blade pivotally supported to project from the ring in a plane at right angles with the plane of the ring. There is a mechanism locking the blade in the open position When not in use, the blade can be folded into the ring so that the device can safely be carried in one's pocket. One difficulty with this known ring is that the ring device cannot be worn when the blade is moved to the retracted position. Thus, the blade is not available for immediate use and it is necessary to take the ring device and place it on one's finger after extending the blade to the open position. Accordingly, this known ring is not particularly suitable for use for defensive purposes.
Canadian patent No. 234,221 which issued Sep. 18, 1923 to P. P. Binkis describes a ring knife which also has a retractable blade. The blade is mounted in an elongate slit formed in the crown. The blade is fitted with an upper guide which can be moved by the user's finger in order to expose the sharpened edge of the blade. There is also a locking pin capable of locking the knife in either its operating position or in a retracted position. Because of the shape of the blade and its position relative to the crown of the ring, this known device is not believed to be particularly suitable as a defence ring.
Much more recent U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,371 which issued Mar. 14, 1972 to Charles Petrosky does describe a ring with a blade intended for defensive purposes. The ring is fitted with a downwardly pointed triangular blade with sharpened cutting edges and this blade is fixed in its position. This ring also has stabilizing wings which extend laterally from the ring. Because of the stabilizing wings and because the blade is fixed and exposed at all times, the ring is not particularly suitable for wearing at all times and under all circumstances. Because the blade is always exposed, there is a danger that it might inadvertently rip or tear an adjacent object or person causing undesirable damage or injury.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a relatively inexpensive ring blade which has a blade member which can be pivoted from a retracted position to an extended position where the sharp edge of the blade is exposed. The blade member is mounted in a slot in a movable crown and movement of the crown towards the adjacent top section of the ring will cause a pin mechanism to pivot the blade member to the extended position.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a relatively simple ring blade with a pivotally mounted crown member having an elongate slot in which a blade member is mounted. The preferred ring blade can be worn at all times, even if the blade member is in the retracted position and the blade member can be pivoted to an extended position where its sharp edge is exposed by applying suitable pressure or force to the crown of the ring blade.


A method and communication system for routing calls. The system includes at least one wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), at least one wireless base station, a land-line communication unit, and a land-line base unit. A call placed by the land-line communication unit is routed to the wireless base station via the WTRU when a database in the WTRU indicates that it is less costly than routing the call via the land-line base unit. Alternatively, a call placed by the WTRU is routed to the land-line base station when the database indicates that it is less costly than routing the call via the wireless base station. The database stores wireless phone data, land-line data and preferred usage data provided by a user of the WTRU.

Most cell phone plans available today are categorized into three usage categories: (1) free minutes; (2) charged minutes; and (3) overage minutes. Currently, cell phones do not internally keep track of minutes used for each of the above-mentioned categories, nor do they allow a user to program desired usage schemes based on such categories.
Most cell phone users use a land-line connection at home in conjunction with their cell phones. A system and method for intelligently routing calls via a land-line or wireless service provider based on various station call and service usage data is desired to provide the best possible service and rates to the user.

Method and system for routing calls as determined by a call cost database of a wireless transmit/receive unit


The stapling apparatus of the present invention comprises a base member and a magazine member for accommodating a set of staples, each member having a first end and a second end, and the two members being pivotably connected to each other at the first ends. The stapling apparatus further comprises a striking plate for individually dispensing the staples upon actuation by a striker spring, and a triggering mechanism for triggering the actuation of the striker spring. In particular, the triggering mechanism comprises a triggering lever arranged such that the triggering lever triggers the actuation of the striker spring when the second ends of the two members are moved toward each other.

In a spring-actuated stapler, a striking plate is reciprocally movable between an initial position and a fire position. When the striking plate moves from the initial position to the fire position, an actuation striker spring, which is engaged with a hole on the striking plate, is deformed and energized. When the striking plate reaches the fire position, the striker spring is released to resume its initial shape, in the process driving the striking plate to its initial position to dispense to a work piece a leading staple of a stable stick contained in a staple magazine. A triggering lever is provided to engage with a hole on the striking plate so as to pull the striking plate from the initial position to the fire position when a force is applied on a cover plate during a stapling operation, and then disengages from the hole to release the striking plate to be driven back by the energized striker spring.
In prior systems, a biasing return spring mechanism is also provided to bias the triggering lever back to its initial position in which the triggering lever engages with the hole of the striking plate. Conventionally, the triggering lever is located between the cover plate and the staple magazine (or the body that comprises the magazine), which makes the design of the stapler complicated with more components.


The invention, in various embodiments, is directed to a solid-state flow generator and related systems, methods and applications.

Flowing gases, liquids, and/or vapors (collectively "fluids") and thus, the systems that cause them to flow ("flow systems") are employed in a plethora of applications. By way of example, without limitation, conventionally, flow systems are employed in cooling, heating, circulation, propulsion, mixing, filtration, collection, detection, measurement, and analysis systems. Conventionally, mechanical flow systems employ devices such as pumps, fans, propellers, impellers, turbines, and releasable pressurized fluids to generate fluid flow.
In specific exemplary applications, automobiles, aircraft and watercraft all employ such mechanical flow devices for both cooling and fuel circulation; sewage systems and processing facilities and swimming pools both employ mechanical flow devices for filtration; power plants employ mechanical flow devices for both cooling and power generation; environmental management systems employ mechanical flow devices for heating, cooling and air filtration (e.g., for buildings, automobiles, and aircraft); computers and other electrical/electronic devices employ mechanical flow devices for cooling components; and refrigeration systems employ mechanical flow devices for circulating coolant.
Additionally, mechanical flow devices, such as pumps and releasable pressurized fluids, are conventionally employed to facilitate fluid flow in sample collection, filtration, detection, measurement and analysis (collectively "analysis") systems based, for example, on ion mobility spectrometry (IMS), time of flight (TOF) IMS, differential ion mobility spectrometry (DMS), field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS), gas chromatography (GC), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, mass spectrometry (MS), liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LCMS), and surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors.
Mechanical flow devices such as mechanical pumps, impellers, propellers, turbines, fans, releasable pressurized fluids, and the like suffer from significant limitations. By way of example, they are typically large with regard to both size and weight, costly, require regular maintenance to repair or replace worn mechanical components, and consume significant amounts of power. These limitations render conventional mechanical flow devices unsuitable for many applications. Accordingly, there is a need for improved flow systems and devices.

Solid-state gas flow generator and related systems, applications, and methods


An electric power supply system cooperated by a battery and a super capacitor includes a power source module and a processing unit. The power source module includes an electric power transformer, a battery, and a super capacitor. The electric power transformer is electrically connected to the battery and the super capacitor. The processing unit is electrically connected to the electric power transformer for controlling the battery to charge the super capacitor, such that both the battery and the super capacitor supply electricity to the load, and such that electricity generated by the load can recharge the super capacitor. The electricity power supply system can avoid an increase of the working temperature of the battery.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric power supply system cooperated by a battery and a super capacitor and, more particularly, to an electric power supply system capable of avoiding excessive charging and excessive discharging of a battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to environmental awareness, power sources using electricity are utilized in multiple applications, such as electric vehicles (EV), battery electric vehicles (BEV), hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), or energy storage systems (ESS), are prosperous.
In order to achieve a better cruising endurance of the above electric vehicles, a large-capacity battery, such as a battery unit consists of a plurality of LiFePO4 batteries, is generally required to serve as the core power source module of the above electric vehicles to meet the power supply demand for the actual vehicle load.
Although a LiFePO4 battery has a high energy density, an excessively large current is extracted or released from the battery at the moment of acceleration or deceleration. If the electricity is only supplied by the LiFePO4 battery, dramatic reaction of chemical substances in the LiFePO4 battery could occur and result in an increase of the working temperature, leading to adverse effects to the performance and the service life of the battery. Although improvement has been made by scholars, such as "A Parallel Power Supply System by LiFePO4 Battery and Super Capacitors" published by Yue-wei Huang in The 17th National Conference on Vehicle Engineering, this conventional technique requires three circuits (including a voltage increasing/decreasing circuit and two voltage decreasing circuits) for transporting the electric energy, increasing the size of the circuits and the costs.
Thus, a need exists for solving the disadvantages of the conventional techniques to avoid excessive charging or discharging of the battery, increasing the battery performance and prolonging the service life of the battery for the purposes of meeting the actual demand and increasing the utility.

Electric power supply system cooperated by a battery and a super capacitor


A method of determining a posterior error probability distribution for a parameter measured by a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver. The method comprises receiving a value for each of one or more GNSS measurement quality indicators associated with the GNSS measurement of the parameter. The or each received measurement quality indicator value is provided as an input into a multivariate probability distribution model to determine the posterior error probability distribution for the GNSS measurement, wherein the variates of the multivariate probability distribution model comprise error for said parameter, and the or each measurement quality indicator.

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers enable the accurate determination of user position by performing ranging measurements on radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted by at least four GNSS satellites. The distance to each satellite is determined by first measuring the time it takes for the RF signal to travel from the satellite to the receiver and then this travel time is converted into a corresponding "line-of-sight" distance by multiplying it with the speed of light.
Ranging measurements performed on the pseudorandom noise (PRN) code modulated onto the satellite signal's RF carrier (hereafter carrier) are known as pseudorange measurements and can achieve positioning accuracy in the region of metres if biases and error sources are appropriately taken into account. However, it is also possible to perform ranging measurements on the carrier of the satellite signal rather than on the 'modulated' signal. These measurements, known as carrier phase or carrier range measurements, can be made with extremely high precision and can thus achieve centimetre positioning accuracy if biases and errors are correctly accounted for. Many modern GNSS receivers perform both types of measurements to increase the accuracy of the position determination. In some cases, a GNSS receiver may utilise measurements made using a plurality of satellite constellations, i.e. a plurality of global navigation satellite systems. Whilst the discussion which follows refers only to the use of a single GNSS, one skilled in the art will appreciate the use of multiple systems is not excluded.
In many applications of GNSS it is important to quantify the error associated with a GNSS measurement. For example, in autonomous driving applications, it is crucial for the ADAS to determine when the uncertainty in the position of a vehicle becomes too large in order to avoid dangerous or incorrect navigation instructions being provided to the vehicle. In such a case, the ADAS controlling the vehicle may be forced to rely on other sensors to determine the position of the vehicle and/or to return full control to the driver.
One source of error in GNSS measurements arises from GNSS signal distortion. Signal distortion may be caused by, for example, the following processes occurring individually or in combination: obstructions between the satellite and the GNSS receiver, which may e.g. cause a temporary loss of lock in a carrier phase measurement; reflections, which may increase the time it takes for a signal to reach the receiver; or multipath propagation, in which interference is produced as a result of signals reaching the receiver by two or more paths. Such signal distortion errors may depend strongly on the environment surrounding the GNSS receiver and can be particularly pronounced in built-up areas. Signal distortion is therefore a significant source of error for GNSS receivers which are used in urban environments, e.g. GNSS receivers belonging to advanced driver assistance systems (ADASs).
In handling errors, the concept of an "alert limit" is used. The alert limit, or alarm limit as it is sometimes called, for a given parameter measurement is the error tolerance not to be exceeded without issuing an alert or alarm. For a given system parameter, the alert limit may be fixed and be chosen according to the maximum acceptable measurement errors. The concept of "integrity risk" is also well-established in safety critical applications of GNSS measurements such as civil aviation and is the probability that, at any moment, the position error exceeds the alert limit. Integrity risk identifies the level of trust in the accuracy of information that is supplied by a navigation system and will of course vary over time.
The uncertainty or error associated with a position measurement along a particular direction can be quantified in terms of a "protection level" associated with that direction. This is defined as being a statistical bound error computed so as to guarantee that the probability of the absolute position error exceeding said number is smaller than or equal to the target integrity risk. The protection level may commonly be provided in the form of a radius, in which case, the protection level defines a radial bound or circle in which there is a high probability in which the vehicle is expected to be found. A protection level may be defined with respect to a particular value of the integrity risk or, conversely, a fixed protection level may be used to determine an integrity risk.
The protection level can be used to determine when to alert a user of a navigation system that the navigation system is unable to provide a sufficiently precise position estimate for the user. For example, if an alert limit is set to a radius of 2 metres and the protection level associated with a position measurement is calculated to be a radius of 5 metres, an alarm can be triggered so that the user of the navigation system may take some corrective action. If the protection level does not exceed the alert limit then the system and user can be confident that the navigation system will report the position with the required level of precision, with a high degree of certainty; in other words, the width of the probability distribution for the expected error in the reported position is not too large. However, because the error in each reported position varies randomly, there remains a small risk that any particular position reported by the navigation system differs from the true position of the user by a distance which exceeds the alert limit. Such an undetected event is referred to here as an "integrity breach".
The probability that each particular position reported by the navigation system will lead to an integrity breach can be calculated from the probability distribution for the error in the reported position by integrating the area under the tail of the probability distribution which lies outside the alert limit. From these probabilities, the number of integrity breaches which are expected to occur within a given period of time, i.e. the integrity risk, can be calculated. For example, if the navigation system reports positions at a rate of 10 Hz, and for each position there is a 10−5 chance that the error (but not the protection level) exceeds the alert limit, the risk of an integrity breach is 10−4 per second.
When designing a system, typical integrity requirements may be as follows:                Integrity risk: 10−4 integrity breach/second        Alert limit for cross track protection level: 5 m        Alert limit for along track protection level: 10 m        Fault tolerant time interval: 5 s
The fault tolerant time interval is the expected time-span before a hazardous event occurs following a fault in the navigation system.
Approaches for calculating integrity risk are known from the civil aviation industry and include, for example, modelling the error distribution for position measurements using a stationary Gaussian distribution, or the types of processes discussed above. However, as these approaches are typically concerned with addressing errors associated with the GNSS satellites, they may fail to adequately account for the effects of signal distortion or errors associated with the GNSS receiver. In particular, by assuming that only a single satellite is producing an erroneous measurement at a given time, many known approaches are ill-suited to situations in which signal distortion causes errors in multiple satellite signals simultaneously. As a consequence of these kinds of problems, the known approaches for calculating integrity risk may be less reliable when used for road vehicles. One approach for calculating integrity risk, which has been proposed for use with road vehicles, uses a Least Squares (LS) algorithm to estimate a position based on several position measurements and calculates a protection level using the LS residuals.
There is therefore a need for improved methods and systems for calculating integrity risk which are suitable for use with, for example, vehicles other than aircraft.


A method for synthesizing a mordenite (MOR) molecular sieve with a modulatable location and distribution of B acid sites, and a product thereof and the use thereof. Provided is a method for synthesizing a mordenite MOR molecular sieve with acid sites located at an 8-membered ring “side pocket” in communication with a 12-membered ring pore channel in the presence or absence of an inorganic base. The method includes introducing an additional reagent and an optional fluorinating reagent which have different structures and charge densities into a synthetic gel, and the B acid sites of the obtained MOR zeolite are located at an 8-membered ring “side pocket” in communication with a 12-membered ring pore channel A catalyst product obtained exhibits an excellent performance in terms of adsorption and catalysis. The synthesis method has broad industrial application, particularly being applied to catalysts for the carbonylation reaction of dimethyl ether.

Porous materials are widely used in many fields such as adsorption, separation, ion exchange and catalysis, and so forth because of their specific channel framework and uniform pore size. Mordenite (MOR) is one of the earliest known zeolites, which comprises two types, i.e. natural and synthetic zeolites. Natural mordenite was first named by How in 1864.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of the channel framework of MOR molecular sieve. As shown in FIG. 1, MOR molecular sieves have two parallel channels of 12-membered ring and 8-membered ring in the [001] direction and the channel sizes are 6.5 Å×7.0 Å and 2.6 Å×5.7 Å respectively. It is generally considered that reactant molecules cannot diffuse in such 8-membered ring channel since the channel diameter of 8-membered ring in the [001] direction is too small. In addition, there is an 8-membered ring channel in the [010] direction. The orifice size is about 3.4 Å×4.8 Å, this channel is in communication with the main channel of the 12-membered ring, so it is also called "side pocket".
Mordenite has excellent heat resistance, acid resistance and water vapor resistance, and is widely used as an adsorbent for separating gas or liquid mixtures and a catalyst for petrochemical and fine chemicals. Depending on the size of the reactants, products, and reaction intermediates, reactions involving larger size molecules are generally considered to occur only within the main channel of 12-membered ring. However, for some specific reactions, such as the vapor-phase carbonylation reaction of dimethyl ether and CO, the 8-membered ring "side pocket" is considered to be the only reaction site. The researchers found that the dimethyl ether carbonylation activity of the MOR molecular sieve is proportional to the amount of B acid in the molecular sieve "side pocket" regardless of the acid density in the channel of 12-membered ring. (E. Iglesia, et al. Acc. Chem. Res. 2008, 14(4), 559-567). The location and distribution of B acid sites in the molecular sieve are closely related to the synthesis method of the molecular sieve (J. Ddeek, et al. Catal, Catal. Reviews: Science and Engineering, 2012, 54 (2), 135-223), and there are few studies on the directly obtaining of MOR molecular sieves with a modulatable location and distribution of B acid sites by effectively controlling the synthesis process.

Method for synthesizing mordenite MOR molecular sieve, and product and use thereof

DALIAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


Apparatus for generating a stream or burst of water through a vehicle mounted water cannon by a remote transmitter which generates signals for receipt by a receiver mounted on the vehicle for controlling the stream or burst of water.

This invention relates to toys and more particularly to toys that are model machines, such as, inter alia, sophisticated radio controlled electric motor actuated water cannon dispensing tanks, trucks, cars, airplanes and other types of vehicles.
Toys from the earliest days have been a necessary constituent of human health and development. Competition has produced countless ingenious contrivances which are model machines, such as steam-engines, mobiles, tanks, etc. many remotely controlled by radio transmitter receiver equipment for movement and equipment functions.

Remotely controlled toy vehicle with water ejection capabilities


An apparatus for illuminating shoes and fashion accessories includes a fiber optic cable, a clasp and a control circuit. The fiber optic cable has a first coupling point and a second coupling point. The clasp has a housing, a retention mechanism, a first connector and a second connector. The first connector is configured to couple to the first coupling point and the second connector is configured to couple to the second coupling point of the fiber optic cable. The control circuit is disposed within the housing and has a power source and at least one illuminating device. The illuminating device is optically coupled to one or both of the first and second connectors in order to illuminate at least a portion of the fiber optic cable with light. At least one of the clasp and the illuminating device is removable to permit interchangeable selectivity of the color of the illuminating light.

The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for illuminating shoes and fashion accessories, and more particularly, to an electronic control circuit, apparatuses and methods for illuminating optical fibers and the like disposed in or on shoes, shoe accessories or other fashion accessories.
It is known in the art to provide a flashing light(s) or flashing light emitting diode(s) (LED) in the sole of a sneaker or shoe to give the effect that the soles are flashing when the user is walking. However, these lighted shoes provide only a blinking light or lights in the sole. Further, it is known in the art to provide a continuous or flashing LED as a decoration on shoes such as directly on the tips of the straps and sides of the shoe.
It is also known to provide electroluminescent material within a cord to use as a decoration, jewelry, on clothing and as shoe laces. However, a limitation with the electroluminescent material is that the color of the emitted light is dictated by the material itself which is deposited within the cord itself, thereby requiring that the entire cord be changed to change colors. Additional, there are limited color choices available in electroluminescent material.
It is desirable to provide a device that can illuminate laces and/or trim of shoes. Further, it is desirable to provide a device that can function both as an illuminating device and the laces and/or trim of shoes with an interchangeable color light source and/or color lens for the light source. Even further, it is desirable to provide a device that can function both as an illuminating device and the straps/ties/thongs of a sandal or shoe and any other part of a shoe.

Illuminated shoes and illuminated fashion accessories


A method of estimating both atmospheric conditions and surface temperatures of an object from either a single set of multispectral images or multiple simultaneously-acquired single-band images of the object. Estimates of atmospheric conditions are generated by determining and radiometrically correcting radiance values measured from the image of the object. Expected radiance values are then determined and compared with the measured radiance values. The best fit of the radiance values measured from the image of the object to the expected radiance values corresponds to the best estimate of the atmospheric conditions associated with the object. The present method estimates atmospheric conditions for the object regardless of the availability of atmospheric conditions associated with the image.

Estimates of atmospheric conditions and surface temperatures of terrestrial objects are important both for practical applications associated with space exploration, space commercialization and military operations as well as theoretical uses, including education and research within the fields of astronomy, astrophysics, etc. Such estimates are typically derived in part from remote measures, or images, of radiance emitted from the object. Information derived from the images is subsequently manipulated vi mathematical modeling to correct any altering effect of the atmosphere, pollution, etc., on the images as they are transmitted from the object to the observer or sensor. Existing mathematical functions ar available to describe the relationship between the radiance emitted from an object and the radiance sensed from the object.
There exists a number of prior art methods utilizing imaging to estimate surface temperatures of distant bodies. Traditionally, the estimation of information about a distant body has been accomplished using methods which combine imaging of the object to be studied with atmospheric conditions existing at the time and place of the imaging. Typically, these prior art methods utilize methods of radiometric modeling such as low-resolution atmospheric transmission (Lowtran) moderate-resolution atmospheric transmission (Modtran) or high-resolution transmission (Hitran) to describe the relationship between the radiance sensed and the radiance emitted.
Unfortunately, these methods require that the atmospheric conditions measured at the time and location of imaging be known quantities. Moreover, the use of such atmospheric condition information often introduces margins of error to the estimations due to the fact that the atmospheric conditions are estimated from values measured at remote distances and times from the time and place of imaging.
Other prior art methods employ specialized transmission models such as the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Algorithm. As the name suggest, however, this method is only applicable to particular cases where the surface to be studied is imaged through maritime atmospheric conditions. Additionally, this method suffers from the same known atmospheric condition quantity limitations associated with the methods discussed above.
Thus a need has arisen for a method of estimating both atmospheric conditions and surface temperatures of terrestrial bodies from either a single set of multispectral images or multiple simultaneously-acquired single-band images of the body independent of the availability of atmospheric information at the time and location of the imaging.

Process for multispectral/multilook atmospheric estimation