A wireless wastewater system monitoring apparatus generally comprising a processor/transceiver unit, housed within a synthetic protective enclosure formed outside of the wastewater system, and a fluid level sensor configured to send an overflow signal to the processor/transceiver unit when an overflow condition in the wastewater system is detected. The processor/transceiver unit is configured with at least one microprocessor wired between the sensor and a power supply and with a transceiver so as to detect the overflow signal from the sensor and, in response, transmit a wireless alarm signal. The processor/transceiver unit is further configured such that only a portion of its circuitry is constantly powered so as to continuously monitor the sensor, while the remainder of its circuitry, including the transceiver, is only powered and a wireless signal sent from the unit when an overflow condition is detected or a routine status-check is being conducted.

1. Incorporation by Reference
Applicant hereby incorporates herein by reference any and all U.S. patents and U.S. patent applications cited or referred to in this application.
2. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fluid level monitoring devices, and more particularly to wireless wastewater system monitoring devices.
3. Description of Related Art
A municipal sanitary wastewater system is designed to transport waste material for the community. Spillage of waste material is of major concern to the system operator, the municipality, and the ratepayers in the community. Accordingly, these concerns have led to increasing environmental regulations and resultant penalties for sewer overflows.
As a result, efforts have been made in the art to semi-automate and automate the monitoring of wastewater systems as a means of early detection of sewage backups and rising sewage levels in the hopes of correcting such conditions before sewage overflows occur. In doing so, numerous difficulties have been encountered and heretofore not optimally addressed. Generally, the monitoring device, which essentially includes a sensor, a processor, a wireless transceiver, and a power supply, is installed within a manhole of a wastewater system so as to monitor the wastewater level and report an overflow condition through a wireless alarm transmission. Inherently, the monitoring device is exposed to the contaminating and corrosive environment of the wastewater system, often leading to premature failures of the devices. Further, by locating the monitoring device in the manhole of the wastewater system, additional difficulties are encountered in attempting to get the wireless signal out of the manhole, as the signal is attenuated or interfered with primarily by the iron manhole cover. Often, to overcome the signal attenuating effects of the manhole, a stronger signal from the monitoring device is required, leading to increased device costs, power consumption, and even wireless airtime.
The following art defines the present state of this field:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,735,638 to Miller is directed to a liquid level measurement device relying upon the principle of a resistance bridge wherein the height sensing means is one resistor of the bridge. The height sensing resistor is comprised of a fine wire extending from the bridge circuit to a grounding rod. The fine wire extends generally parallel to, but spaced from, the grounding rod in order to constitute the height sensor. In use, the height sensor is inserted in the liquid whose height is to be measured in such a way that the grounding rod and the fine wire extend generally perpendicular to the liquid level line. Thus, the aqueous ionic media whose height is being measured will short out that portion of the fine wire below the liquid level to decrease the effective resistance of the height sensor. This has the effect of unbalancing the bridge circuit to give a reading on a meter that is an indication of the height of the liquid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,561 to Mueller et al. is directed to a control module having circuitry for generating control and timing signals and for receiving digital data. A plurality of sensor modules are connected to the control module and each contains devices for sensing various physical characteristics, such as water level, rainfall or the like. In response to control signals generated by the control module, each of the sensor modules is operable to input digital data representative of the sensed physical characteristics to the control module. A recorder is connected to the control module and includes a removable recording cassette for recording the digital data transmitted from the sensor modules. The recorder also records the identification of the sensor module transmitting data, along with the calendar day and the time of day that the data was transmitted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,606 to Michalak is directed to an apparatus for measuring the level of at least one fluid and includes an elongated transparent tubular member open at both ends, one of the ends being vertically insertable into the fluid to a reference point below the fluid surface to establish a column of the fluid in the tubular member having a length generally equal to the distance between the reference point and the fluid surface, a stiff tether slightly longer in length than the tubular member and threaded therethrough, a plug connected to one end of the tether for closing at least the inserted end of the tubular member prior to withdrawing it from the fluid to contain the column of the fluid in the tubular member for measurement after the tubular member is withdrawn from the fluid, and a grip connected to the other end of the cable for remotely controlling the plug to close the inserted end of the tubular member. In the process of measuring the fluid level, the column of the fluid can be viewed through the tubular member to check for abnormalities in the fluid and the presence or absence of other immiscible fluids.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,171 to Hunter et al. is directed to a distributed, unattended wastewater monitoring system that uses advances in low-energy signal processing and distributed microelectromechanical systems and that involves wireless interrogation of distributed, low-power, normally-off sensors. In a preferred embodiment, a plurality of flowmeter stations and at least one rain gauge station are networked through a base station for storm water discharge of infiltration-inflow monitoring. Wireless transceivers are used to transmit radio signals into and out of a sewer manhole.
Japanese Patent App. No. JP 2002/054167 to Pentafu et al. is directed to a remote monitor for a manhole provided with a sensor part installed in the manhole within the area of a cellular phone network, a data logger part whereinto a measured value from the sensor part is input, a communication device part for emitting the data from the logger part as an electromagnetic wave, a power source part for driving the sensor part, the logger part and the device part, and a central processing part for receiving the electromagnetic wave from the device part through the network. The device part and the source part are housed in the storage part, installed below a cover body of a manhole cover having a through hole closed by the cover body, the cover body eliminating the interception of the electromagnetic wave.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,507,686 to Heinz et al. is directed to a cable network with a light waveguide cable which is introduced in the pipeline of an existing pipeline system. The light waveguide cable is arranged along a line, preferably at the vertex of the pipeline, and is provided with a protective layer so that a smooth transition exists between the wall surfaces of the pipeline and the cable.
Japanese Patent App. No. JP 2003/074081 to Megumi et al. is directed to a remote monitoring device provided with a battery, an opening-closing detecting switch for operating according to opening-closing of a manhole cover, a power supply unit for starting power source supply from the battery by operation of the opening-closing detecting switch and stopping the power source supply by receiving a power supply stopping signal, a controller for starting operation by the power source supply by the power supply unit and outputting transmission data including information capable of specifying a manhole, a communication unit having a transmission circuit for starting operation by the power supply unit and transmitting the transmission data from the controller to a management center via an antenna, and a receiving circuit for receiving the signal from the management center via the antenna and transmitting the power supply stopping signal to the power supply unit.
U.S. Patent App. No. US 2003/0192379 to Ridenour et al. is directed to an apparatus and a method for monitoring a liquid level in a 4–20 mA closed loop system. A process instrument and a measuring unit are powered for a predetermined time and power is provided by a battery.
The prior art described above teaches a liquid level measurement device, an apparatus for automatically sensing and recording data in a sewage system, an apparatus and method for measuring fluid, a distributed, unattended wastewater monitoring system, a remote monitor for manhole, a cable network with light waveguide cable for installation in pipelines of existing supply line systems, a remote monitoring device of manhole, and a water well monitoring system, but does not teach a wireless wastewater system monitoring apparatus wherein the processor/transceiver unit is located outside of the wastewater system or wherein the fluid level sensor's microprocessor is continuously powered while the processor/transceiver unit is only powered and a wireless signal sent when an overflow condition in the wastewater system is detected. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.

Wireless wastewater system monitoring apparatus and method of use


An amplifier includes a coupler, a main amplifier, and an auxiliary amplifier. The main amplifier and the auxiliary amplifier are supplied with signals derived from at least one input signal and amplify these. The coupler combines output signals of the main amplifier and of the auxiliary amplifier. The main amplifier and/or the auxiliary amplifier comprises an operating point adjustable during operation.

Conventionally, high-frequency power amplifiers are often operated in the AB-mode, that is to say, a base bias voltage is generated by means of a bias configuration, for example, in the form of series-connected diodes, which even at low levels drive the transistors used to full output. In the AB mode, small signals, such as in the A mode, and large signals, such as in the B mode, are amplified. Such amplifiers operate with good efficiency with a particularly low-distortion, but only if they are operated with full level control close to compression. In the case of modern digital signals with strongly fluctuating envelope, this is only the case with the very rarely occurring signal peaks.
Since the mean level control with these signals is low, a relatively low average efficiency is obtained. With suitable dimensioning, AB amplifiers with a very broad bandwidth can be realized.
Furthermore, to improve the efficiency of such signals, Doherty amplifiers are known. In mobile-radio technology, especially in the case of modulation methods with non-constant envelope and high crest factor (for example COFDM signals), high-frequency amplifiers according to the Doherty principle have become increasingly widespread over recent years. For example, the German Patent Application DE 10 2010 034 067 A1 discloses such a Doherty amplifier. However, the disadvantage with such amplifiers is that they provide only a very narrow bandwidth.
In conventional transmitter systems, several Doherty amplifiers are used. Since these are embodied in each case with a narrow bandwidth, such transmitter systems provide a redundant transmitter, which can take over the function of a failed transmitter. However, so that the redundant transmitter can take over the function of every Doherty transmitter independently of its frequency range, this redundant transmitter is conventionally designed with a broad bandwidth. Accordingly, in an exemplary transmitter system with three different Doherty frequencies, transmitters with at least four different amplifier arrangements are installed. This incurs a high cost for keeping corresponding replacements in reserve.

Transmitter system with reconfigurable amplifiers


A system provides monitoring/feedback to a transportation vehicle regarding the state of that vehicle based on, at least, information provided by sensors located on or in the transportation vehicle. Monitoring the transportation vehicle provides information about the status of the transportation vehicle and equipment on or in the vehicle. Feedback information is provided to the transportation vehicle based on the information received during monitoring. Additionally, feedback information may be formulated based on additional criteria received from equipment other than the sensors located on or in the vehicle, for example, meteorological systems, geographic location systems, e.g., a radar system, a global positioning system, etc. The information provided by the sensors and the formulated feedback information may be stored in memory on the transportation vehicle as well as at a stable location for archiving and subsequent analysis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and systems for transportation vehicle operation, performance and condition monitoring and feedback.
2. Description of Related Art
In the case of a transportation vehicle accident, e.g., an aircraft crash, a transportation vehicle data recorder (TVDR), e.g., a Flight Data Recorder (FDR, also known as a "black box"), is used to aid in determining the cause of the crash. However, the TVDR is not always easily located in the remains of the transportation vehicle wreckage. The TVDR also does not monitor existing transportation vehicle conditions during operation, for example, FDRs do not monitor existing transportation vehicle conditions during flight. Moreover, conventional TVDRs are not appropriate tools for gathering and analyzing research data that can eventually be used to improve transportation technology as a whole.
This is a significant deficiency as operators of transportation vehicles such as aircraft are under significant business pressure to reduce the risk of accidents and to ensure that the costs of operating these transportation vehicles are minimized. Various certified commercial tools are available for these purposes on large commercial transportation vehicles such as commercial aircraft whose operators typically maintain custom software and hardware, for example, data down link, i.e., transmission from a commercial aircraft to ground stations, capability presently employed on large airliners for communication with home base. Such data down link technology uses, for example, the Airborne Call and Recording System (ACARS). Conventionally, such software applications used for aircraft performance analysis are written by commercial transportation carriers, for example, specific commercial airline companies each design their own aircraft performance analysis tools.
Nevertheless, such performance analysis technology is prohibitively expensive to maintain for small commercial transportation carriers and non-commercial transportation vehicle operators with more limited manpower and operational resources.
Moreover, in the commercial and non-commercial aircraft industry, as well as any other transportation vehicle industry, there are few tools for real-time diagnosis of transportation vehicle condition to improve safety and access to assistance for transportation vehicle operators. Additionally, there are presently no methods or systems for easily monitoring characteristics of an individual transportation vehicle's condition, performance and operation. Moreover, there is presently no method or system for comparing the condition, performance or operation of particular types of transportation vehicles, a plurality of transportation vehicles, under various atmospheric conditions, on particular geographic or topological routes, etc., with each other or against empirical parameters.

System and method for transportation vehicle monitoring, feedback and control


A memory device having a plurality of read ports which can be dumped simultaneously without affecting the data stored in the memory cells of the memory device. The read ports of the memory device of the invention include dump circuits comprising a pair of small NFETs which logically AND the values stored in the memory cell with a READ input signal and then pull low a precharged output line only when both of these signals are true. Each such read port dump circuit is electrically isolated from the others so that multiple read ports can be dumped simultaneously with affecting the data stored in the memory device. Also, by placing only a single transistor in the read port discharge path, the dump circuit may be small and have a minimal impact on write setup time in accordance with the invention.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory device having a plurality of read ports, and more particularly, to a memory device which can drive multiple read ports simultaneously without affecting the data stored therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a floating point data path of a conventional floating point processor. As illustrated, the floating point data path includes a register file 100 comprising a plurality of registers for storing input data such as operands received from the processor's data cache, operand alignment circuits 102 and 104, and floating point processors such as floating point ALU (FALU) 106, floating point multiplier (FMULT) 108 and floating point divide/square root circuit 110. Typically, the floating point multiply, divide, add and load or store functions are performed by sequentially executing separate instructions (i.e., only one add or one multiply is performed at a time). Recently, however, floating point processors have been designed to allow concurrent execution of the floating point multiply, divide, add and load or store instructions, thereby significantly increasing the processing efficiency of the floating point processor. For such floating point processors it has become desirable that the register file 100 have a plurality of read ports and a plurality of write ports to facilitate the concurrent processing.
DeLano et al. describe in an article entitled "A High Speed Superscalar PA-RISC Processor", Proceedings of the Compcon Spring 1992, Digest of Papers, San Francisco, Calif., Feb. 24-28, 1992, a floating point processor comprising such a floating point data path. The register file 100 of DeLano et al.'s floating point processor has 32 64-bit registers (4 registers are reserved for floating point exception data) and 5 read ports and 3 write ports to allow concurrent execution of a multiply, an add and a load or store. It was the goal of the present inventors to design a register file 100 for such a floating point processor which can dump stored data to five or more read ports simultaneously without disturbing the state of the register file as a result of the capacitance on the output lines.
In designing such a register cell, it is desirable that the speed of the circuit be maximized while the chip area of the register cell is minimized. If the register file 100 is small, the individual RAM cells (which may comprise simple cross-coupled inverters) of the register file 100 may be made large and powerful. However, as the number of RAM cells and the number of read ports increases, the speed of the cell decreases as the cost of the RAM cells increases. For example, if there are 2,048 RAM cells in the register file 100, and each RAM cell has 5 read ports, the size of the read port dominates the size of the RAM cell. It has thus been desirable to design the read ports so that they are small, have a sufficiently small output delay, and are capable of dumping multiple read ports simultaneously without disturbing the contents of the RAM cell. It has also been desirable for the read ports to present a small capacitive load to the RAM cell so that the setup time of the write ports (which may comprise simple transfer gates) is not degraded. The known memory cells do not meet these needs.
For example, a register cell 100 having the simplest form of a read port for the RAM cell has a transfer gate as illustrated in FIG. 2. As shown, each write port of the register cell 100 consists of a simple transfer gate (200, 202 or 204) which receives an input (ina, inb, inc) from, for example, FALU 106, FMULT 108 or from the data cache and transfers the respective inputs to node N1 when their corresponding WRITE signals (wra, wrb, wrc) from a write address decoder are high. The respective inputs are then stored in RAM cell 206. As shown, each RAM cell 206 typically comprises cross-coupled inverters comprised of PFETs 208 and 212 and NFETs 210 and 214. The output of the RAM cell 206 may then be output to the appropriate output line (OUT1, OUT2, OUT3) via respective transfer gates 216, 218 or 220 in response to a READ signal (READ1, READ2, READ3).
In the configuration of FIG. 2, the weak inverters of the RAM cell 206 must drive the relatively large capacitance of each of the output ports simultaneously. However, the inverters of the RAM cell 206 typically do not have enough current capability to drive multiple output ports simultaneously. In addition, since charge sharing from output busses can upset the values stored in the RAM cell 206, such a configuration is generally unsuitable for use with multiple read ports. For example, the capacitance on the output bus could drive a value to the RAM cell 206 unless PFETs 208 and 212 are large enough to drive all outputs simultaneously. For this reason, in order for the RAM cell 206 to drive multiple read ports, the inverters of the RAM cell 206 must be relatively large and thus take up a relatively large area on the chip substrate.
FIG. 3 illustrates a register cell 100 similar to that illustrated in FIG. 2 except that an output inverter is disposed between the RAM cell 206 and each output port so as to render the register cell 100 suitable for use with a small number of read ports by decoupling the RAM cell 206 from the outputs. Generally, this inverter (transistors 300, 302; transistors 304, 306; or transistors 308, 310) provides the required current, to drive the read port capacitance. In addition, since the storage node nin in this configuration is buffered from the output by the inverters, charge sharing is not a problem as in the configuration of FIG. 2.
However, the read port configuration of the register cell 100 of FIG. 3 also has several disadvantages. First, each read port places an additional load on the RAM cell 206 which increases the setup time required to write the RAM cell 206. Second, there are two pulldown transistors (e.g., 300, 302) driving the output load. As a result, in order to minimize the output delay each of the pullup or pulldown transistors (300, 302 or 304, 306 or 308, 310) must be twice as wide as would be necessary if a single pullup or pulldown transistor were used in the absence of transfer gates 216, 218 or 220. This increases the capacitance on both the READ line and on the inverters of the RAM cell 206. The capacitance on the read port is also increased due to the diode and gate overlap capacitances of the larger output transistors. Of course, additional area is also required for the larger transistors.
FIG. 4 illustrates a register cell 100 based on that shown in FIG. 3 except that the read ports are precharged. In this configuration, the PFETs of the buffer inverters are removed since the RAM cell 206 is not required to pull up the precharged output. Instead, the read port need only pull down the output line using transistors 400, 402, or 404 for a low output. During operation, when the READ line (READ1, READ2, READ3) is true and the RAM cell 206 is storing a "0" (nin=1), the read port is discharged. Otherwise, the read port remains precharged. However, this configuration also has many of the same disadvantages recited above with respect to the configuration of FIG. 3.
Another implementation of a multiple read port register file known to the present inventors actually replicates the entire register array once for each read port. This avoids the problems associated with dumping multiple read ports of registers simultaneously but at a tremendous area penalty, for not only is the dump circuit replicated a plurality of times, but the address decoders, RAM cells, sensing amplifiers and write ports are replicated as well.
Accordingly, an improved register file is desired which may support a plurality of read ports for dumping data simultaneously without disturbing the state of the values stored in the RAM cells while also providing a small setup time and maximum speed and using a small chip area. The present invention has been designed to meet these needs.


A spinal implant system includes at each spinal level a flexible horizontal rod to which are mounted two opposing clamps. The clamps wrap around the facets of a vertebra to secure the horizontal rod to the vertebra. A stiff vertical connector system connects the flexible horizontal rod secured at one level of the spine to a flexible horizontal rod secured at an adjacent level of the spine. The vertical connector system is spaced along the flexible horizontal rod away from the opposing clamps. The flexible horizontal rods are preferably made of PEEK or Nitinol. The opposing clamps and vertical connector system are preferably made of titanium or stainless steel. Bending of the flexible horizontal rod permits movement of the opposing clamps relative to the vertical rod. The spinal implant system thereby provides for dynamic stabilization and motion preservation of the spine.

The most dynamic segment of orthopedic and neurosurgical medical practice over the past decade has been spinal devices designed to fuse the spine to treat a broad range of degenerative spinal disorders. Back pain is a significant clinical problem and the annual costs to treat it, both surgically and medically, is estimated to be over $2 billion. Motion preserving devices to treat back and extremity pain have, however, created a treatment alternative to fusion for degenerative disc-disease. These devices offer the possibility of eliminating the long term clinical consequences of fusing the spine that is associated with accelerated degenerative changes at adjacent disc levels.
While total disc replacement is seen as a major advance over fusion, the procedure to implant the devices in the lumbar spine requires a major operation via an anterior approach, subjecting patients to the risk of significant complications. These include dislodgement of the device, which may damage the great vessels, and significant scarring as a consequence of the surgical procedure itself, which makes revision surgery difficult and potentially dangerous. Thus, there are advantages to spinal implants that can be inserted from a posterior approach, a technique with which spine surgeons are much more experienced. The posterior surgical approach also has the benefit of being able to directly address all pathologies that may be impinging the neural elements, which is not possible from an anterior approach. Motion preserving spinal devices that can be implanted with a minimally invasive, posterior procedure offer the benefit of less surgical trauma and faster patient recovery and also offer cost savings to payers with patients staying fewer days in the hospital.
Motion preserving devices placed posteriorly typically either rely on the spinous processes to support the implant or require pedicle screws to be inserted. However, spinous processes are not load bearing structures and are not rigid. In a population of patients with back pain, the laminae offer a much stronger structure to position an implant, since they consist of significantly stronger bone, and the laminae are also closer to the spine's axis of rotation. Pedicle screws have several disadvantages when used as attachments for motion preservation devices. The procedure to implant them is considered major surgery requiring a wide exposure. The screws are also subject to significant loads and screw loosening is a known consequence over time in these cases. Removing the screws and fusing the spine requires major revision surgery.

Implant system and method to treat degenerative disorders of the spine


An inner wall 11 of a reactor 10 has a two-layer structure: an anticorrosive layer 11a comprising an alloy material having high anticorrosiveness is provided on the inner side of the reactor contacting a corrosive process gas, and a heat conductive layer 11b for efficiently conducting the heat within the reactor 10 from an inner wall surface to a coolant flow passage 13 is provided on the outer side of the reactor (outer-wall side). The anticorrosive layer 11a comprises an alloy material having a composition for which a value R, defined by R=[Cr]+[Ni]−1.5 [Si], is not less than 40% wherein [Cr] is a mass content (% by mass) of chromium (Cr), [Ni] is a mass content (% by mass) of nickel (Ni), and [Si] is a mass content (% by mass) of silicon (Si).

As a method for producing high-purity polycrystalline silicon used as a raw material for monocrystalline silicon for production of a semiconductor, a Siemens method and a fluidized bed reactor method are known. The Siemens method is a method in which a raw material gas containing chlorosilane is contacted with a heated silicon core, and polycrystalline silicon is grown on the surface of the silicon core by a CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) method. The fluidized bed reactor method is a method in which monosilane or trichlorosilane as a raw material is fed and vapor-deposited in a fluidizing gas to obtain granular polysilicon.
In production of polycrystalline silicon, such a phenomenon is known that the quality of polycrystalline silicon is reduced by an impurity gas being discharged from an inner wall surface of a reaction vessel used for a deposition reaction of silicon and undesirably taken into the polycrystalline silicon. In the case where a steel reaction vessel is used, when the temperature of an inner wall surface of the steel reaction vessel is not less than 400° C., that inner wall surface of the steel reaction vessel which contacts a process gas prepared by diluting a silicon raw material gas such as trichlorosilane with hydrogen gas is gradually corroded. As a result, not only component elements of the steel that constitute the inner wall surface of the steel reaction vessel, but also impurity elements contained in the steel are discharged into the reaction atmosphere. If these impurity elements are dopant impurity elements such as phosphorus, boron, aluminum, and arsenic that act as an acceptor or a donor in silicon crystal, the impurity elements result in remarkable reduction of the quality of polycrystalline silicon.
In consideration of such problems, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-259211 (Patent Literature 1) discloses a technique for obtaining deposited high-purity silicon by depositing silicon within a reaction vessel formed with a material that hardly outgases.
Specifically, based on a knowledge that a heat-resistant alloy containing not less than 28% by weight of nickel hardly outgases at a temperature of not more than 600° C., the decomposition and reduction reaction of silanes are performed within a reactor vessel having an inner wall comprising a heat-resistant alloy containing not less than 28% by weight of nickel, thereby to further increase the purity of polycrystalline silicon to be obtained. Examples of the above-described "heat-resistant alloy containing not less than 28% by weight of nickel" include Incoloy 800, Inconel 600, Inconel 601, Incoloy 825, Incoloy 801, Hastelloy B, and Hastelloy C.

Reactor for producing polycrystalline silicon, system for producing polycrystalline silicon, and process for producing polycrystalline silicon


A digital watermark is inserted into multimedia data containing two image fields by placing a positive watermark into a first field and a negative watermark into a second field. The positive watermark and negative watermark are opposite of one another. The two fields can be interlaced fields of a field-based video signal or alternate rows of a frame-based video signal. The watermark is extracted from field-based watermarked data by separating the watermarked data into two fields and subtracting one of the fields from the other field to generate a watermarked signal. The resultant watermarked signal is processed in a conventional manner to extract and detect the watermark.

The proliferation of digital media such as image, video and multimedia is creating a need for a security system which facilitates the identification of the source of the media and/or access control information. The expected introduction of digital video disks (DVD) in the mass market will further exacerbate the problem.
Content providers, i.e. owners of works in digital data form, have a need to embed signals into video/multimedia data, including audio data, which can subsequently be detected by software and/or hardware devices for purposes of authenticating copyright ownership, controlling copying and display and ownership management, this is known as "watermarking."
A preferred method of watermarking or embedding signals in an image or image data is to insert the watermark into n.times.n blocks (subimages or subblocks) of the N.times.N image where n<<N. If the block size is chosen to be 8.times.8, i.e. the same size as that used for MPEG image compression, then it is possible to tightly couple the watermark insertion and extraction procedures to those of the MPEG compression and decompression algorithms. Considerable computational savings can then be achieved since the most expensive computations relate to the calculation of the DCT and its inverse and these steps are already computed as part of the compression and decompression algorithm. The incremental cost of watermarking is then very small typically less than five percent of the computational requirements associated with MPEG.
A review of watermarking is found in an article by Cox and Miller, entitled "A review of watermarking and the importance of perceptual modeling", in Proc. of EI'97, vol. 30-16, Feb. 9-14, 1997.
To allow for computationally efficient detection of the watermark in both the spatial and DCT domains, a watermark is inserted into sums of groups of 8.times.8 blocks in the DCT domain. The advantage of this approach is that, if the image is only available in the spatial domain, then the summation can also be performed in the spatial domain to compute a small number of 8.times.8 blocks and only these blocks must then be transformed into the DCT domain. This is because the sum of the DCT blocks is equal to the DCT of the sum of the spatial blocks. Since the computational cost of detecting watermarks is now dominated by the cost of summation, the cost of detecting in the DCT and spatial domains is approximately the same.
In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/928,576, filed Sep. 12, 1997, entitled "Counteracting Geometric Distortion for DCT Based Watermarking" having inventors I. J. Cox and M. J. Miller and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, which is incorporated herein by reference, an image is divided into M disjoint sets of n.times.n blocks. The detection process comprises the steps of step (1) averaging all of the n.times.n subblocks in each of the disjoint groups to a single n.times.n block such that each frame is reduced to M n.times.n subblocks, referred to as an accumulator array. The averaging may be performed in either the pixel domain or the DCT domain. Step (2) the M n.times.n subblocks are further reduced to a one-dimensional vector of length M which is referred to as the extracted watermark. Step (3) a standard statistical test using correlation coefficients is used to compare the extracted watermark to a known set of possible watermarks to determine which known watermark, if any, is present in the image. Step (4) in the referenced patent application, is to repeat steps (2) and (3) after modification of the accumulator array to compensate for geometric distortion.

Field-based watermark insertion and detection


The present invention includes a method for transacting business over a network between multiple buyers and sellers. In an exemplary embodiment, the invention operates within an improved extranet system which is a secure, limited access network which operates within the larger public packet switched network (Internet) and allows only registered buyers and sellers to access the website while the system communicates with, and takes advantage of, existing credit, billing, collection, clearinghouse, insurance, transportation, tracking and banking systems. The interactive database includes real-time information in connection with a transaction, where the buyer submits a request for product and the request for the product locks out the requested product from selection by any other buyers.

Many companies and individuals use various methods for transacting business over the Internet. Using the Internet to transact business provides a fast, efficient, and convenient means for the various parties to interact in an on-line environment. Generally, a seller offers products (goods, services, information or the like) on a website which is viewed by a buyer. If the buyer wishes to purchase the product, the buyer supplies a credit card number or other form of payment or credit to the seller. However, the seller then often is required to verify that the buyer's credit card account is authorized, bill for the product, collect the amount owed, arrange for transportation, obtain insurance on the goods shipment and track the shipment of the goods. Additionally, when the buyer uses its credit line to purchase the goods, the buyer's credit line is depleted until the buyer supplies payment for the goods or cancels the order. Oftentimes, the buyer or seller needs to find a financial institution to be involved in the transaction process. Moreover, for the parties involved, determining supply and demand while maintaining an appropriate inventory of goods is difficult. As such, buyers and sellers have encountered large expenses in, for example, storage fees, inventory costs, and disposal fees, especially in the perishable goods industry.
One example of a perishable goods industry is the seafood industry. Typically, a seller receives inventory and contacts the buyer in order to make a sale. Once the transaction is negotiated, the product is delivered to the buyer. The seller, however, usually waits 30-120 days after delivery to receive payment for the goods. As such, the seller's money may remain tied up in delivered inventory until (if ever) payment is finally made by the buyer. In addition, poor transportation planning, data storage and retrieval, and communication have resulted in a waste of substantial amounts of time and money, which ultimately has a detrimental effect on the seafood distributors and the ultimate consumer. For example, current industry practice typically allows for frequent glut/shortage scenarios, where large unsold supplies in one area and unavoidable boom or bust catches of fishermen results in low prices for the fishermen and high prices and decreased quality (e.g., from storage and/or freezing) to the ultimate consumer. Thus, a method and system for efficient supply, demand, delivery and payment of perishable goods is needed to more evenly distribute the benefits and burdens of the impacted industry.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

On-line interactive system and method for transacting business


Disclosed is an ice fishing device which holds a fishing rod in a bent position until a fish strikes the line. A trigger releases the tip of the fishing rod, and the rod tip snaps up and sets the hook. A jigging assembly imparts an up and down movement to the line and the attached hook, to attract fish to the hook and bait.

This invention relates to ice fishing, and more particularly to a device for holding a fishing rod, and setting the hook when a fish takes the attached bait. Ice fishing is sport in which a person cuts a hole in the ice on a frozen body of water, and fishes for fish through the hole in the ice. When a fish takes the bait at the end of the line, the fisherman gives the rod a tug which sets the hook in the fishes' mouth before he has a chance to spit out the bait. Once the fish is hooked, the fisherman reels the fish in and pulls the fish out of the hole in the ice.
There are several devices which have been utilized to assist the fisherman in this activity. Some devices for ice fishing include a pole holder which holds the pole over the hole in the ice, and may include a signal which tells the fisherman that a fish is on the line. There are other devices in the field of ice fishing which senses the fish striking the bait and will cause the tip of the rod to jerk upward. Other devices eliminate the need for the rod and provide a device which extends over the hole and lowers the line into the hole, and pulls the fish up to the hole when he is hooked.
What is needed is an improved ice fishing device which provides a stable base for placement over the hole in the ice, and which holds the fishing rod in a bent position. What is needed is a device that is light and compact for transportation and storage. What is needed is a device which utilizes a triggering system that will in, no way harm the fishing rod, rod guides, or fishing line that runs through the rod guides. What is needed is a device which has the ability to impart movement upon the fishing bait or lure and use this movement in conjunction with a hook setting mechanism. These needs are provided in the current invention.


A control device of an internal combustion engine determining a target throttle opening degree based on a target intake air amount which can simply and reliably detect any control abnormality is provided. The control device of an internal combustion engine determining a target throttle opening degree based on a target intake amount compares the target intake air amount and an intake air amount measured by an air flow meter to detect a control abnormality. By this control device, it is possible to simply and reliably detect a control abnormality in the process of determination of the target throttle opening degree or control of the throttle valve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control device of an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known in the art is a control device of an internal combustion engine setting an intake air amount (that is, target intake air amount) in accordance with an amount of depression of an accelerator expressing a demand of the driver of the vehicle, etc., finding a target opening degree of the throttle valve based on the target intake air amount (that is, target throttle opening degree), and controlling the throttle valve to this target throttle opening valve to control the intake air amount (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-65845).
In such a control device of an internal combustion engine, it is preferable to judge if a control abnormality occurs in setting the target throttle opening degree based on the target intake air amount and the control of the opening degree of the throttle valve following that. As the method for judging the existence of any such control abnormality, the method may be considered of comparing the requested throttle opening degree able to be determined from the accelerator depression and engine speed and the actual throttle opening degree measured by a throttle opening degree sensor, but in actuality, these two throttle opening degrees sometimes do not match. Therefore, with this method, it is sometimes not possible to accurately judge the existence of a control abnormality.
That is, for example, when an electronic control type transmission is mounted or when a system is mounted for preventing sideways sliding etc. and stabilizing the vehicle by controlling the engine output, since the target intake air amount is determined based on the acceleration depression and engine speed expressing the demand of the driver and also the operating state of the vehicle or engine, the requested throttle opening degree and the target throttle opening degree do not necessarily match and, as a result, even if the control is normal, the requested throttle opening degree and actual throttle opening degree sometimes do not match. Further, in a system controlling the throttle opening degree and the opening characteristics of the intake valve (for example, the lift etc.) so as to control the intake air amount, the throttle opening degree realizing the same target intake air amount will differ depending on the opening characteristics of the intake valve, so sometimes the requested throttle opening degree and the target throttle opening degree will not match and therefore sometimes the requested throttle opening degree and actual throttle opening degree will not match.

Control device of internal combustion engine


An exercise device that enables a user to exercise the adductor and abductor muscles. The exercise device may include a base with at least one base channel and a slant board with at least one slant board channel. The exercise device may further include at least one rolling cylinder configured to fit within the at least one base channel and the at least one slant board channel.

The present invention relates to an exercise device and, more particularly, to an exercise device that exercises both adductor and abductor muscles.
Currently, exercise machines generally fail to enable users to exercise both the adductor and abductor muscles. In order to exercise both adductor and abductor, a user may have to use two separate machines. However, some machines that do allow a user to exercise the adductor and abductor muscles are extremely expensive.
As can be seen, there is a need for a less expensive machine that exercises the adductor and abductor muscles.


A mobile handset with a fault tolerant update agent employs an efficient interruption point detection technique to recover from interruptions during the update of firmware or software. In one embodiment, the update agent updates firmware and/or software employing a plurality of transforms, each transform employing one pass or a subset of one pass to execute, each pass associated with its own bank order and with its own decision maker bank (for recovery following a fault, such as power failure). The devices and method disclosed are applicable to other electronic devices such as, for example, personal digital assistants (PDAs), personal computers (PCs), pagers, and the like.

Electronic devices, such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDA's), often contain firmware and application software that are either provided by the manufacturers of the electronic devices, by telecommunication carriers, or by third parties. These firmware and application software often contain software bugs. New versions of the firmware and software are periodically released to fix the bugs or to introduce new features, or both.
There is a problem with updating software/firmware in a mobile handset where there is very little free space available in memory to conduct update-related operations. There is need to determine where an update was interrupted in order to resume update activities following an interruption, such as a power failure. It is often difficult to determine where an update was interrupted. Additionally, if an update takes multiple passes, it is not easy to determine which pass to resume update from during a subsequent recovery from failure.
Typically, status information is saved in order to provide information that may be used to recover from activities that are interrupted. However, in FLASH-based electronic device, writing to FLASH requires the steps of erasing the FLASH and writing a whole block of FLASH memory at a time—individual bits of FLASH memory cannot be written. Thus, saving status information for subsequent possible access is an expensive task in terms of the time taken to frequently update status information in FLASH memory.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings appended hereto.

Mobile handset with efficient interruption point detection during a multiple-pass update process

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A structure for manufacturing castings, containing an inorganic fiber, a layered clay mineral, and an inorganic particle other than the layered clay mineral and having an organic content of 5 mass % or lower or having a mass loss of 5 mass % or lower when heated at 1000° C. for 30 minutes. The inorganic particle preferably contains one or more selected from obsidian, graphite, and mullite. The inorganic fiber preferably contains carbon fiber. The inorganic fiber preferably has an average length of 0.5 to 15 mm. The layered clay mineral preferably contains one or more selected from bentonite and montmorillonite.

In general production of castings, a casting mold forming a cavity is created out of casting sand from a wooden or metallic pattern and, after, if necessary, inserting a core in the cavity, molten metal is poured into the cavity. It is difficult to use casting molds except for mass-production of castings because, for one thing, pattern making requires skill and, for another, the mold is difficult to form, heavy, and accompanied by the problem of waste. Additionally, a sand mold is formed by hardening casting sand that is a mixture of common sand and a binder so as to secure shape retention, a sand reclamation process is needed in reusing the spent sand. Sand reclamation is accompanied by generation of waste such as dust.
To solve these problems, proposals have been made, relating to a molded article comprising organic fiber, such as pulp, and inorganic fiber (see patent literature 1 below) or a molded article comprising inorganic particles as a main component, a thermosetting resin as a binder, and inorganic fiber (see patent literatures 2 and 3 below).


Embodiments of the present invention provides a systems and methods for pest control. The system detects one or more pests based on receiving sensor data from one or more sensors associated with a predefined location. The system analyzes the sensor data with cognitive machine learning based on the detected pests. The system generates a treatment recommendation report based on the analysis and outputs the treatment recommendation report.

The present invention relates generally to the field of pest control and more particularly to automated pest control.
Pest and pathogens cost global agriculture $540 billion dollars a year and termites can cause an additional $5 billion a year to homeowners. By identifying an infestation early, farmers or homeowners can take proactive actions (e.g., organic, chemical or physical) to prevent the pest problem from spreading and ruining homes and/or crops.
One of the phase regarding the current method of pest detection typically involves visual identification and frequent monitoring. The other phases involves actual treatment of pests. Regular observation is also critically important. Observation can broken into inspection and identification steps. Visual inspection, insect traps, and other methods are used to monitor pest levels. In addition, record-keeping is also vitality essential. Furthermore, knowledge target pest behavior, reproductive cycles and ideal temperature. Sometimes, visual identification of the affected area can even be too late (i.e., observing brittle wood due to a colony of termites).
Therefore, realizing a cognitive system utilizing smart devices for pest control has a fundamental interest in the agriculture and pest control industry.

Manage and control pests infestation using machine learning in conjunction with automated devices

International Business Machines Corporation


A method and apparatus for evaluating the viability of a tissue of interest, particularly that presents as dead but may be merely stunned or hibernating with reduced or no obvious activity, such as contractility. Dynamic measurement of oxidative metabolism or other metaboic function permits distinguishing between different stages of compromised tissue such as myocardium. Measurements can be made using near-infrared illumination and detection coupled with infusion of one or more metabolic substrates to the region of interest to evaluate whether a metabolic pathway cascade or a trans-membrane ionic potential are intact and thereby provide an indication of the viability of the cell. One preferred instrument includes a catheter having a tip configured to be positioned adjacent to the tissue to be monitored. Optical fibers extend through the catheter to transmit a monitoring light beam from the tip into the tissue, and to receive a cytochrome-redox-response-dependent light beam from the tissue. Needles in the tip releasably anchor the catheter to the tissue and deliver metabolism-stimulating substances. Redox signals representative of cytochrome aa.sub.3 redox responses in the tissue are generated by a spectrometer coupled to the optical fibers. A computer coupled to the spectrometer generates metabolism readings as a function of the redox signals.

The last decade of cardiac surgery has witnessed significant strides towards better understanding and better management of previously lethal cardiac pathology.
Myocardium (heart muscle) and other tissues of the human body can sustain structural metabolic and functional damage by prolonged ischemia, the loss of blood flow to the tissues caused by a blocked artery. The extent and severity of the damage depends on a number of factors including the nature of the ischemic event and the health of the tissue prior to the event. In extreme cases the ischemic event can result in necrotic or irreversibly damaged tissue. In other cases the ischemic event can leave the tissue stunned or hibernating. Although stunned and hibernating tissue closely resembles necrotic tissue, it is still viable and can be returned to a functional state by reperfusion, the return of blood flow caused by opening the artery.
Determinations of tissue viability are often used by cardiologists and surgeons as the basis for critical patient treatment decisions. High risk procedures, for example, will typically be performed only if the cardiologists and surgeons believe there is a sufficient quantity of viable tissue that the potential for successful outcomes outweigh the risks. Accurate assessments of tissue viability are therefore required to select appropriate interventional treatments.
It is evident that there is a continuing need for improved tissue viability monitoring instruments and methods. Timely and accurate information on tissue viability will enable cardiologists and surgeons to more reliably determine the most appropriate treatment programs for their patients. Improved patient health can therefore be obtained with reduced burdens on the health care system.
Two important manifestations stand out in particular. First, the decade has witnessed a remarkable improvement in techniques for preserving the myocardium (heart muscle) from irreversible damage, coupled with a widening choice of sophisticated ways to correct myocardial ischemia. Second, practitioners generally recognize new conditions such as myocardial stunning and hibernation where the injured myocardium is in a state of "suspended animation," closely resembling total necrosis but very different in practice since it retains enough viability to allow for function retrieval by modern techniques. Varying intermediate degrees of the above situations have also been identified.
Faced with the recognition of this widening variety of ischemic clinical pictures with variable degrees of retained viability, and armed with the knowledge that several conditions previously considered hopeless can now be salvaged if appropriately recognized as viable, cardiologists and cardiac surgeons are increasingly aware of the need to optimize selection from their ever-widening choice of techniques in a way that matches the particular clinical situation.
By necessity, such a goal would depend on our ability to assess viability in an injured myocardium as accurately as possible.
The regional nature of coronary occlusive disease produces a need for a non-invasive means of assessing regional oxidative metabolism in cardiac patients. To those familiar with this art, there is no method presently known of accurately and quickly measuring regional tissue oxygen availability and utilization in human beings. Standard clinical indicators are insensitive to the non-uniform drop-out of myocardial perfusion-metabolism units associated with coronary insufficiency. Radionuclide and angiographic methods permit the evaluation of myocardial perfusion and ventricular wall motion, but the metabolic state of the myocardium cannot be reliably predicted with these methods, particularly in patients with marginal perfusion and/or abnormal ventricular wall motion.
Known techniques for monitoring tissue viability include positron emission tomography (PET), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), thallium scans and ultrasound backscatter. Unfortunately, these techniques are relatively time consuming and expensive. They are also sometimes inaccurate. The use of these monitoring techniques can therefore result in prolonged or complicated patient treatment decisions, unnecessary and expensive tests, and incorrect diagnoses.
Current methods for assessing myocardial viability each have significant shortcomings. (1) The "educated clinical guess" is based on EKG readings and cardiac enzyme measurements, angiographic evidence of ventricular contractility and collateral circulation. This provides a sound general assessment but lacks the accuracy needed to fine-tune the clinical and surgical management. (2) Thallium 201 perfusion/redistribution studies are used to outline regions of cardiac ischemia or scarring. Unfortunately, these studies are time consuming, cannot be applied to acute conditions, and have been proved inaccurate in diagnosing scar in 32% of cases (as shown by PET scanning). (3) Position emission tomography (PET) scanning utilizes a radioactive metabolic tracer, usually a glucose analogue, to follow tracer uptake by viable myocardial cells, as detected by positron emission. This method is the most accurate detector of viable myocardium so far but it is complicated and quite expensive, and is not practical in the acute phase so it is only used in a few academic centers. (4) Biopsy specimens may show metabolic and structural signs of irreversible damage such as the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) intracellular levels and triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) vital staining (or lack thereof). Although these tests were previously accepted as reliable, they have now been found to be inaccurate. R. J. Barnard, et al., "Studies of Controlled Reperfusion After Ischemia--III. Histochemical studies: Inability of triphenyltetrazolium chloride nonstaining to define tissue necrosis," J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 92:502-12 (1986). For example, a recently necrotic cell or stunned myocardium will show similar low levels of ATP yet the stunned myocardium could be saved if recognized and treated promptly. Of the presently available methods, PET scanning comes closest to fulfilling the need for assessing viability. However, it is expensive, often impractical and still does not help in the acute phase.
Some methods of measuring myocardial metabolism such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging/Spectroscopy and Positron Emission Tomography are costly and require cumbersome equipment (magnets and cyclotrons) which are not compatible with the cardiac catheterization laboratory setting found in most hospitals and/or clinics. The test procedures also require considerable time to carry out, and a patient suffering an acute heart attack generally cannot be evaluated by these methods with enough time left to implement a corrective procedure.
The capacity to rapidly discern the metabolic state of the beating human heart, particularly within abnormally contracting myocardial segments, would beneficially affect clinical decisions regarding the need for therapeutic interventions such as blood clot dissolving agents, balloon angioplasty, and coronary artery bypass grafting.
Several researchers have worked on steady state evaluations using a variety of spectrophotometric methods. A good review of the prior art spectrophotometric methods for measuring circulatory and respiratory functions, arterial blood oxygenation and blood samples is set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,223,680 and 4,281,645 to Jobsis. The application of differential spectroscopy using near infrared (NIR) light in blood perfused body organs was advanced by Jobsis as described in detail in the aforementioned patents.
Jobsis emphasized in these patents that near infrared (NIR) light must span a relatively long path (e.g. several centimeters) in length in order for his invention to work. The long path length is significant in that it allows the light photons to travel deeply into the tissue of interest so that the received optical signal will contain information from a substantial volume of tissue. Also, the longer path length minimizes the light-scattering effects of structures which are superficial to the region of interest. Since, as shown in FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,680, the back-scattered light from superficial structures may not contain metabolic information of interest, and may obscure detection of the desired metabolic information, a method was sought by Jobsis to minimize this biophysical effect. Accordingly, both Jobsis patents teach that the near infrared (NIR) light must be transmitted to the test organ (in situ) and then the radiation intensity must be detected and measured at a point spaced apart from the point of light entry. As indicated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,680, the physical distance between entrance and exit of near infrared (NIR) light is specified to be several centimeters.
Others follow the Jobsis teaching that the light detector fiber bundle must be spaced apart from the light source fiber bundle to minimize light scattering from superficial tissue regions. Parsons et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,531 and 5,127,408 disclose bundles spaced apart even if the light source fiber bundle and light detector fiber bundle are oriented parallel to each other as suggested by Abe in U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,751. Simply transmitting near infrared (NIR) light down one optical fiber and receiving the reflected light with a second optical fiber which is parallel and immediately adjacent to the transmitting fiber, as proposed by Abe for visible light wavelengths, will not permit the desired accurate near infrared (NIR) measurement of oxidative metabolism within a substantial tissue volume.
Summarily, it is highly desirable for intravascular application of a red to near-infrared (NIR) light sending and receiving device that a single scope containing both the transmitting and receiving optical fibers be used to acquire optical information from an endocardial site. The introduction of two separate send and receive scopes by a percutaneous, intravascular approach to the endocardium would be hampered by motion artifact of the beating myocardial wall and the instability of the optical alignment of the two scopes relative to the tissue region of interest. Parsons et al. sought to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art as disclosed in the Jobsis and Abe patents by using a steerable fiber optic device to deliver and receive near infrared (NIR) light through a single small-diameter scope (less than 3.3 mm in diameter) positioned at the endocardial surface by means of a percutaneous intravascular approach which is applicable in a standard clinical catheterization laboratory. The procedure using the Parsons et al. device can be done as part of a routine diagnostic catheterization study, and permits the steady-state measurement of regional myocardial oxygenation from within the beating heart.
A variety of products and devices that enter the cardiac cavity and vascular lumen, and myocardium are currently used to evaluate tissue status.
______________________________________ Products Primary Users ______________________________________ Cardiac catheters Cardiologists Electrophysiology pacing wires Cardiologists, Surgeons Biopsy device Surgeons Hemo-pump Surgeons Intravascular ultrasound Cardiologists Atherectomy device/catheter Cardiologists Laser fibers Cardiologists Coronary angioscope Cardiologists ______________________________________
Many of these procedures are performed on a daily basis in most acute care centers with cardiac catheterization being the most frequent intervention. No valvular damage is caused by any of these devices as they cross the valves. Stenotic (narrowed) valves in certain diseases may not allow passage of the catheter. Prosthetic valves do not allow passage of the catheter.
Prospect For PET, NMR, and Ultrasound Backscatter Technology
Positron emission tomography (PET) has many limitations, many of which are anticipated to be insurmountable over the next 3-5 years. PET is a large expensive device. It is therefore rarely available even in large medical centers. Miniaturization of the technology and reduction of its cost is most unlikely over the next five years. A good example of this is Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) technology, also known as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). NMR is a very old technology, originally developed over 40 years ago. To date, MRI imaging machines are very large, very expensive and only sometime available even in large medical centers. Similarly, computerized axial tomography machines (CT or CAT scanners), although more widely available now, are still very large, expensive and require specific building and structural arrangement. Many hospitals rely on leasing mobile scanners or simply refer studies to outside service providers. Each of these difficulties means the analytical equipment is relatively less available but only limited time is available for evaluating viable tissue after an ischemic attack. This time is optimally one to two hours, although useful recovery is possible in some cases after several hours.
In addition to these limitations, PET scanners cannot detect myocardial damage in the acute state of myocardial infarction. Furthermore, it is very unlikely to place a patient suffering an acute myocardial infarction inside a large scanner in the radiology department for a prolonged period of time while images are being collected. More appropriately, such a patient should be in the cardiac catheterization laboratory where the heart can be catheterized, myocardial wall viability assessed with the tissue viability monitor, and appropriate interventions performed.
A further series limitation of the PET scanner is the need for a facility to generate radioactive isotope. Such facilities are large, expensive, and not usually present in many large cities. The isotope half-life is very short. The remoteness of the isotope generating facility from most cities and medical centers and the short half-life of the isotope require the special ordering of the isotope acutely for each selected case and the use of airlines to deliver the short-lived isotope, a sequence that is expensive, cumbersome and rarely available to most medical centers. Such limitations will not change significantly over the next five years and beyond.
Backscatter Ultrasound Technology
Transthoracic ultrasound technology has been used to evaluate cardiac tissue conditions, including some attempts to identify hibernating versus dead myocardium. M. R. Milunski, et al., "Ultrasonic Tissue Characterization With Integrated Backscatter," Circulation, 80: 491-503 (1989). This technology is limited by the quality of the image. The ultrasound image is compromised by many factors including chest wall size, obesity and most importantly lung disease. A great majority of older patients have lung disease (e.g. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD) which significantly compromises the backscatter image quality. Many times these are the same patients who have cardiac problems as well and need evaluation. The present invention can be used in backscatter ultrasound evaluation to provide additional information about the physiological integrity of apparently dead tissue.
Without a clear transthoracic ultrasound image, current backscatter technology is somewhat limited. However, for some patients, backscatter may provide an alternative means for evaluating tissue viability. To overcome transthoracic poor image quality in many patients, echocardiography can be performed invasively by the transesophogeal approach. The Endosonics Oracle-Micro intra-arterial ultrasound imaging catheter recently approved by the FDA may be useful.


The cooking device has a tank with an electrical heater means containing a basket for the food connected to an actuator suitable for moving it between a position inside and a position at least partially outside the tank. A first temperature sensor of a portion of the tank and a timer are connected to a control for moving the basket in relation to the signals which the control receives from the temperature sensor and from the timer. In the cooking procedure when the first sensor detects the cooking temperature, the basket is lowered and, at the same time, the timer is started for a preset time period. At the end of the time period the control deactivates the heater and commands the removal of the basket from the tank.

Pasta-cooking devices and methods are known.
Currently, pasta cooking is carried out in pots containing water which is brought to the boil usually on hob plates.
When the water boils the pasta is put into the pot and it is left to cook for the necessary time.
Then, with cooking complete, the pasta is drained through a colander.
Conventional devices have numerous drawbacks which can be traced to the following.
The use of hob plates, often gas-burning, can be dangerous in particular when the pot is not watched over. Unforeseen boiling over of water or froth from the pot can indeed, put out the flame without interrupting the gas supply. The consequences in this case are easy to imagine.
Moreover, conventional devices require continuous surveillance also because the active presence of an operator is necessary who puts in the pasta, stirs, drains, etc. Otherwise the food obtained is of extremely poor quality.
Moreover, conventional devices require substantial experience to achieve appreciable results in particular with reference to the degree of cooking of the pasta. In many cases, indeed, precisely due to lack of experience, the pasta can be overcooked with very poor results.


Movable elements of a machine are moved by a control device of the machine by controlling drives of the machine. To monitor the movement of the movable elements for collision with each other or with a stationary element, two monitoring devices check, independently from each other, using a computer program, whether there is a risk of collision in the working space. Depending on whether the monitoring devices detect a risk of collision or not, they intervene, independently from each other, in a corrective manner, in the control of the drives or not, and/or independently emit an alarm message or not. The two computer programs are designed in a diverse manner. The two monitoring devices differ from one another. One monitoring device is identical to the control device, while the other monitoring device is embodied as an industrial PC with a data link to the control device.

The present invention is based on a monitoring method for a movement of movable elements of a machine, wherein the movable elements are moved by a control device of the machine by controlling drives of the machine,
wherein a first monitoring device                checks whether there is a risk of a collision of a movable element of a machine with another movable element of a machine or with a stationary element, and        depending on whether it detects the danger of a collision or not, it intervenes in a corrective manner into the control of the drives or outputs or does not output an alarm message to an operator of the first monitoring device
wherein a second monitoring device                likewise checks whether there is a risk of a collision of a movable element of the machine with another movable element of the machine or with a stationary element, and        depending on whether it detects the danger of a collision or not, intervenes independently of the first monitoring device likewise in a corrective manner into the control of the drives or outputs or does not output an alarm message to an operator of the second monitoring device.
The present invention is furthermore based on a first computer program, wherein the first computer program comprises first machine code that is able to be processed directly by a first monitoring device, wherein the effect of the processing of the first machine code by the first monitoring device is that the first monitoring device carries out such a monitoring method.
The present invention is furthermore based on a first monitoring device, wherein the first monitoring device is programmed with such a first computer program, so that the first monitoring device carries out such a monitoring method when it is operating.
Examples of machines in the sense of the present invention are machine tools, production machines and robots.
Machine tools are machines by means of which a tool is at least positioned in a defined way relative to a workpiece and is often also oriented via position-controlled movable elements of the machine tool. The machining mostly involves processing to change contours, in particular processing to machine away contours, for example metal cutting processing. The tool can for example be a drill or a milling cutter. The processing of the workpiece by the tool can be interrupted by periods of time during which the tool is not engaging with the workpiece. Examples of such periods of time are the repositioning of the tool relative to the workpiece and movements for changing the tool. Other movements are also possible, for example manually controlled movements. The movement of the tool relative to the workpiece is undertaken in a machine tool via position-controlled axes. Mostly at least three position-controlled axes are present. However machine tools are also known with more or fewer than three position-controlled axes.
Production machines are other machines that for example only cause workpieces to be relocated from one location to another location. Robots are machines with universal applications.
The movable elements of the machine are moved in particular in a working space of the machine. This is where the danger of collisions arises. Collisions can occur for example between the movable elements of the machine with each other. Collisions between the movable elements and stationary elements are also possible. For example in a machine tool collisions between the tool or a tool holder and the workpiece or a workpiece holder can occur. Collisions with other devices such as for example stationary elements of the machines or measuring devices are also possible. These elements—if necessary including the workpiece—can be seen in a general sense as elements of the machine. In the event of a collision on the one hand significant damage can occur, which already in itself causes high costs. Further the machine must be taken out of operation during such a repair, so that downtimes also occur. Great importance is therefore attached to collision protection.
In the prior art various procedures for avoiding collisions are known. In each case they work by being closely linked to the actual operation of the machine. Many of these methods operate with the support of models. In such methods the individual bodies—in particular the movable or the stationary elements of the machine—are modeled and positioned in accordance with the respective control of the drives in a virtual map. In the event of position-controlled drives, in many models the model operates with position values from the past. In this case, i.e. when the model operates with position values from the past, the model can operate with the position values of the immediately preceding required control of the drives or with the position values of the immediately preceding actual control. In other models the model operates with position values for the future. In this case the model can operate with the position values of the immediately impending required control of the drives. In other methods the actual distances of the various elements of the machine relative to one another are detected and established by a sensors of a wide variety of types. These methods operate without using a model. In any event a danger of a collision is detected if minimum distances between the different elements of the machine are reached or undershot.
The known monitoring methods already generally operate very well. They are not error-free however. A possible cause of errors for example is a gap in an algorithm used for collision avoidance ("an error in reasoning when establishing the algorithm"). A further possible cause of errors is a programming error in the Implementation of the algorithm used ("correctly thought-out but incorrectly used"). Other errors are also possible, for example setting of incorrect parameters for a model of the machine by the manufacturer or an incorrect specification of a setup—in the case of a machine tool for example, of a workpiece or tool setup—by the operator of the machine. In rare individual cases there can also be a failure of the hardware.
Carrying out a simulation of the operation of the machine in advance on the basis of the model of the machine in preparation for operation is known in the prior art. If however the setup on the machine does not exactly match the scenario in the simulation—for example because another tool is being used—collisions can result during real operation of the machine, although the simulation was free from errors. Carrying out the movement of the movable elements in an introductory process manually at low speed is also known in the prior art. In this case at least a lot of time is needed. Furthermore collisions can still occur as a result of inattention or poor visibility.
Modeling the elements of the machine and checking the modeled movement of the movable elements of the machine in parallel to the real movement of the movable elements of the machine to anticipate collisions is also known in the prior art. This method of operation is generally carried out within the control device of the machine. It "depends" on the accuracy and completeness of the model held in the control device. Provided it involves the modeling used by the manufacturer of the machine, this modeling is mostly very good. Often however additional elements have to be modeled by the user and kept up-to-date at all times within the model. Examples of such elements in a machine tool are tool holders, tools, workpieces, workpiece holders, measuring facilities and more besides. When such elements are specified errors often occur.
The object of the present invention is to create possibilities by means of which collisions can be avoided practically with certainty.
A monitoring method of the type stated at the outset is known from WO 2012/080130 A1.
Acquiring the position of elements of the robot in a redundant and diverse manner as part of the enabling of the movement of a robot is known from DE 10 2010 002 250 A1. The acquired positions are compared with positions of elements appearing unexpectedly—of people for example, who are present in the working area of the robot. Both the elements of the robot and also the positions of the elements appearing unexpectedly can be detected in a diverse and redundant manner.
Monitoring actual positions and required positions of elements of a robot for adherence to a maximum following error is known from DE 10 2007 059 481 A1. The actual positions and the required positions are defined in coordinate systems separate from one another. The actual positions and the required positions are transformed into the coordinate system of the other positions in each case. To check the coordinate transformation for correctness there can be a diverse coordinate transformation.


A system configured to drive a fan of an agricultural applicator is provided. The fan is mounted on a wheeled chassis assembly propelled via a drive train by an engine in a forward direction of travel. The system includes a hydraulic pump mechanically driven by the engine. The hydraulic pump is connected to drive the fan in creating a pressurized air stream to distribute product from the applicator across a field. The system further includes a stroke limiter mechanically connected to the hydraulic pump. When the engine slows below a threshold speed, the stroke limiter automatically diverts a portion of a power demand by the hydraulic pump via the drive train to drive movement of the wheeled chassis assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicular agricultural applicator and, more particularly, relates to a system for a method of transferring power from a pressurized air source to drive a chassis assembly of the agricultural applicator turning from a linear, forward direction of travel.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Various agricultural applicators have been employed to deliver product (e.g., seed, fertilizer, herbicides, etc.) to agricultural fields. As the size of agricultural applicators continues to grow, the versatility of such applicators becomes more significant.
Agricultural applicators can be of various designs to dispense seeds, fertilizer, and herbicides at a controlled rate to an agricultural field. In a conventional arrangement, a motorized wheeled chassis assembly supports a product hopper or bulk storage tank configured for containing and carrying a large quantity of product to be distributed across an agricultural field. The many different types of product to be distributed may vary considerably in size, weight and shape.
A wide variety of agricultural applicators are generally available, depending on the type and the form of the product being distributed. A certain known agricultural applicator is an air pressure differential-type. One type of air pressure differential type applicator is a positive-pressure type.
The positive-pressure type applicator generally includes a pressure source that creates a forced air stream configured to convey product fed or delivered from a bulk storage tank or hopper for distribution in the field. The bulk storage tanks allow a farmer to plant more acreage before having to stop to fill the bulk storage tanks again, resulting in quicker planting and less labor while maintaining the precision spacing available by on-row singulation. A blower typically provides the forced air stream along a path to agitate and entrain the product from the bulk storage tanks.
The blowers on these agricultural applicators typically pull a large power demand or horsepower (e.g., 93 hp on a 3-inch diameter distribution line, 68 hp on a 2.5-inch diameter distribution line). When the applicator comes to an end of the field and readys to turn, the engine of the applicator slows down because of the increased resistance at the drive wheels associated with turning the applicator. However, the blower continues to operate at full flow so that entrained product does not drop of the pressurized air stream which leads to increased opportunities for plugging. The blower is typically configured to operate at full flow down to the lower engine speed (e.g., 1500 rpm) associated with driving the chassis assembly of the applicator around a corner. To keep the blower at full flow, a hydraulic drive or pump connected to drive the blower is configured at an engine speed of 1500 rpm to de-stroke the swash plate from a maximum oil flow rate correlated to a maximum blower speed.
These certain known planting implements as described above have drawbacks. The hydraulic pump and connected blower draw full horsepower an engine speed of 1500 rpm or higher. This large horsepower draw by the hydraulic pump bogs down or inhibits the engine's ability to increase in speed as the applicator comes out of the turn or corner, especially with smaller horsepower engines.
Accordingly, there is a need for an vehicular agricultural applicator having a system configured to transfer a power demand by a pressurized air source to a chassis assembly of the applicator as the applicator corners or turns from a linear and forward direction of travel at an end of the field.

System for and method of operating a pressurized air source of a vehicular agricultural applicator


An asexually reproduced variety of perennial zoysiagrass with a unique combination of morphological characters including medium leaf blade width and low floral production.

This invention relates to a new and distinct perennial zoysiagrass cultivar identified as 'BM230' zoysiagrass (herein referred to as 'BM230'). The inventor, Virginia G. Lehman, discovered 'BM230' under cultivated conditions in a lawn near Parker, Tex. 'BM230' was identified as a distinctly different vegetative patch or segregated clonal plant differing by coarser leaf texture and aggressive spread from the suspected parental varieties 'Meyer' (unpatented) and Chinese common seeded zoysia. The inventor asexually reproduced 'BM230' by taking vegetative cuttings of the plant material from the lawn including stolons and rhizomes, cutting the rhizomes and stolons into segments, each with a vegetative bud, and rooted them in potting media near Parker, Tex. For purposes of registration under the "International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants" (generally known by its French acronym as the UPOV Convention) and noting Section 1612 of the Manual of Plant Examining Procedure, it is proposed that the title of the invention is Zoysiagrass plant named 'BM230'.


A keyboard apparatus which is capable of enhancing key touch feeling. The keyboard apparatus has a chassis (1), and key bodies (10) to be depressed are supported by the chassis. A hammer body (20) associated with each of the key bodies is driven by the key body via engagement with the same to move in a key depressing direction to thereby impart an inertial force to the key body when the key is depressed. The state of engagement between the key body and the hammer body suddenly changes as the key depressing velocity changes across a predetermined key depressing velocity, such that when the key depressing velocity is higher than the predetermined key depressing velocity, the hammer body hardly moves in the key depressing direction, whereas when the key depressing velocity is not higher than the predetermined key depressing velocity, the hammer body moves in the key depressing direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a keyboard apparatus in which an arm is driven by a key to move to thereby apply an inertial force to the key when the key is depressed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a keyboard apparatus is known in which arms having mass are provided such that each of the arms moves e.g. pivotally in accordance with depression of the associated key so as to improve key touch feeling.
For example, a keyboard apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication (Kokai) No. H02-64992 is configured such that an arm provided with a weight is pivotally disposed on a slide member which slides in accordance with key depression, so as to transmit displacement of the associated key which is depressed to the slide member. When the key is depressed, in the first half of the key depression stroke, the associated arm is driven by the key, for pivotal motion, but halfway in the key depression stroke, the key is disengaged from the arm by a sliding motion of the slide member, and the pivotal motion of the arm is stopped. Consequently, from then on, the load of the arm is not applied to the key.
Further, a keyboard apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3221283 is configured such that a driving part of a key and a driven part of the associated pivotally movable arm (mass body) are constantly held in engagement with each other, and in a key depression stroke, an inertial force of the arm is imparted to the key via the driving part and the driven part.
Furthermore, conventionally, keyboard apparatuses have been proposed in which touch feeling (hereinafter referred to as "key touch feeling") can be changed. For example, in a keyboard apparatus proposed in Japanese Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. H01-47798, an arm having one end thereof engaged with a key and the other end thereof provided with a weight is configured such that the arm can be driven by the key via the one end in accordance with key depression, for pivotal motion about a support member. Further, the position of the other end of the arm can be adjusted within a range between an upper limit position and a lower limit position. When the position of the other end is set to the lower limit position, the arm is allowed to pivotally move about the support member in accordance with key depression, but when the position of the other end is set to the upper limit position, the other end cannot come into contact with the support member, so that no pivotal motion of the arm about the support member occurs. Thus, the weight of key touch feeling can be changed according to a position set for the other end of the arm.
In general, from the viewpoint of realizing expressive performance by a keyboard apparatus, it is considered desirable that an inertial force acts relatively lightly during strong key depression, i.e. when a key is quickly depressed, and acts relatively heavily during weak key depression, i.e. when a key is slowly depressed. However, in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication (Kokai) No. H02-64992, the key is always disengaged from the arm at a predetermined position in the key depression stroke, so that the same load is applied to the key in the same range of the key stroke irrespective of the intensity of the key depression. Further, in Japanese Patent No. 3221283, since the driving part of the key and the driven part of the arm are constantly held in engagement with each other, the same load is applied to the key in the same range of the key stroke irrespective of the intensity of key depression.
Therefore, these conventional keyboard apparatuses leave room for improvement in enhancement of key touch feeling in consideration of key depression intensity.
In Japanese Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. H01-47798, one end of the arm is constantly held in contact with the associated key, and besides, the arm also has mass in other parts than the weight. For this reason, even when the other end of the arm is at the upper limit position and the arm is kept from contact with the support member, the arm moves along with the key, and hence not a little inertial force generated by the motion of the arm is constantly applied to the key. Therefore, there is a limit to a setting for making key touch feeling light, and there still remains room for further improvement in changing key touch feeling distinctly and over a wide range.


A controller 10 performs a first welding check and a second welding check in any order, and then performs a third welding check before a fourth welding check and also performs a fifth welding check before a sixth welding check. The first welding check is performed by turning on a first relay 18. The second welding check is performed by turning on a second relay 19. The third welding check is performed by turning on an in-phase relay, a third relay 20, and a fourth relay 21. The fourth welding check is performed by turning on an out-of-phase relay, the third relay 20, and the fourth relay 21. The fifth welding check is performed by turning on the in-phase relay, a fifth relay 22, and a sixth relay 23. The sixth welding check is performed by turning on the out-of-phase relay, the fifth relay 22, and the sixth relay 23.

Relays are used to turn on and off electrical connections to load apparatuses from a power source such as a fuel cell. However, if, for example, a phenomenon which generates heat, such as overcurrent, occurs in a relay, switching of the relay may not operate as normal due to melting and welding in the relay. Thus, it is desirable to determine whether such welding has occurred in the relay. Occurrence of welding in a relay can be determined based on a change in a potential difference between contact terminals at the time of turning on and off the relay. Also, the occurrence of welding in a relay can be determined based on a current value at a current sensor in the path of current flowing through the relay when the relay is turned off (see PTL 1).

Controller, distributed power supply, and method for checking for welding