In order to distribute coupons to a consumer computer a link is established with a coupon server, in response to which the coupon server transmits a file containing a list of participating retail outlets. In response to the consumer's selection of a retail outlet, the coupon server transmits a file containing the inventory of goods offered for sale by the selected retail outlet and data representative of the physical layout of the selected retail outlet indicating the aisle location of the goods. The inventory is displayed by the consumer computer such that each item of goods is individually selectable. The consumer may thus enter a shopping list by selecting one or more items of goods he or she intends to purchase at the selected retail outlet. In response to the selection of goods, the coupon server transmits to the consumer computer a file containing electronic coupons corresponding to one or more of the selected goods and a file containing data identifying the aisle location in the selected retail outlet of the goods selected by the consumer.

Discount coupons and similar purchase incentives have long been distributed to consumers to promote the sale of goods or services. Typically, advertisers issue printed coupons which can be redeemed at a local retail outlet (or by mail) for a discount or refund upon making a purchase of goods identified by the coupon. While this method of promotion has proven to be effective, it has caused problems for manufacturers, consumers and merchants due to its massive inefficiency.
It has recently been reported that more than 300 billion printed coupons are distributed annually throughout the United States, and that only 2%–5% of such coupons are redeemed by consumers. Although it has also been reported that four out of every five consumers use discount coupons, the small percentage of discount coupons that are actually redeemed reveals that most consumers use discount coupons on an infrequent basis. This is likely due to the inconvenience associated with printed coupons.
For instance, in order to obtain a small number of relevant discount coupons, a consumer is normally required to search for and clip such coupons from a plurality of publications containing many other irrelevant and unwanted coupons. The consumer must thus clip, categorize, sort and store in an organized manner the relevant coupons for use upon his or her next visit to a retail outlet, such as a grocery store. This conventional method of coupon distribution has a disadvantage in that many consumers simply lack the time or initiative to search for and clip coupons. Thus, printed coupons issued by manufacturers and retailers generally reach only a small segment of the consuming public, i.e., those who clip coupons based upon personal interest or financial necessity. Although manufacturers may wish to reach a larger percentage of consumers having the greatest spending power, many such consumers do not clip coupons due to the inordinate amount of time required to do so.
Attempts to overcome this drawback include the coupon book and the discount card. Local merchants often participate in promotional campaigns including the use of coupon books which eliminate the need for consumers to search through local newspapers for such coupons. However, coupon books are generally subject-oriented and are impracticable for use in connection with a large variety of goods, such as groceries. A form of purchase incentive applicable to grocery stores and the like utilizes a discount card, which is similar in appearance to a credit card, and is distributed to all interested consumers. The card is imprinted with coded magnetic indicia to identify the cardholder. During checkout at a participating retail outlet, the magnetic indicia is read by a dedicated card reader. If the consumer has purchased goods for which a particular type of discount coupon is available, the consumer's bill is automatically credited by the total amount of applicable savings. However, this method does not overcome the foregoing drawbacks, and fails to inform the consumer of which coupons are available before making a purchasing decision. The only consumers whose purchasing decisions are potentially influenced by the available discounts are those who undertake to determine in advance which products are offering a discount via the discount card. This, however, is most likely the same small segment of consumers that are willing to dedicate time searching for and clipping relevant coupons. While this form of purchase incentive may serve to promote the participating retailers, it does not serve as a purchase incentive for specific goods.
Thus conventional attempts at overcoming the inconvenience associated with coupon distribution are either ineffective or require the consumer to dedicate an unreasonable amount of investigative time prior to making a purchase in order to locate discounted items.
Still another problem with printed coupons is the massive a fraud on the part of consumers, and, to an even greater extent, on the part of merchants. Retailers can generally obtain refunds without question by simply turning in coupons without any proof that such coupons were redeemed by consumers. As a result, many unscrupulous merchants seek reimbursement for counterfeit coupons or authentic coupons which have not, in fact, been redeemed by consumers. There is no convenient way to prevent such fraud with the use of printed coupons. Many large retail outlets and superstores have installed computerized bar code readers for coupon validation purposes. Some such systems accept coupons only when associated with an invoice identifying goods that have actually been purchased. However, the vast majority of retailers lack the resources or the coupon redemption volume to justify the acquisition of such equipment.
The explosive growth of the Internet as a means of electronic consumer-based commerce has made the Internet a suitable medium for the targeted distribution of discount coupons to consumers. Consumers are increasingly accessing online resources to conduct purchasing transactions over the World Wide Web. Currently, online advertising and promotion of goods and services are among the most popular uses of the Internet, and the Internet has become an extremely significant advertising tool. In addition, the growth trend experienced by the Internet is likely to be equaled or exceeded by a similar trend in the television industry (i.e., the so-called interactive TV), the handheld computer industry, and the wireless communication industry, all of which are generally well suited for the targeted distribution of discount coupons and other purchase incentives.
However, conventional Web-based advertising tools do not provide for adequate targeting of promotional materials and are not particularly well suited for the distribution of discount coupons. Consumers are generally exposed to Web sites only when they are uncovered in response to a specific search using a search engine or by the entry of the address (commonly referred to as a domain name) of the Web site. To increase their exposure, many companies have also purchased advertising space within more popular Web sites of other companies or organizations. For instance, many advertisers purchase so-called "advertising banner" (or "ad banner") space within the Web page of a popular Web site or the home page of an online service, such as America Online. The ad banner allows consumers to "click-through" (i.e., specify a link) to the Web site (or home page) of the advertiser. In many cases, the use of an ad banner substantially increases the advertiser's exposure to consumers.
While Web sites and ad banners are important for the establishment of an online presence, they are not suitable for the targeted distribution of promotional materials, such as discount coupons. Ad banners are served to all recipients of a Web site, which may include a large number of disinterested consumers. In addition, conventional Web-based advertising methods do not target the distribution of promotional materials to consumers interested in purchasing specific products.
Various methods for online coupon distribution currently implemented on the Internet are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,761,648, 5,855,007, 5,806,044 and 5,710,886, which are incorporated herein by reference. Some of these methods involve the untargeted serving of printable discount coupons on the basis of a selected geographic location. Other online coupon distribution systems simply provide users with an exhaustive list of available coupons that may be downloaded and printed. These methods of coupon distribution suffer from the same drawbacks of printed coupons in that they require consumers to search through lists of many irrelevant coupons to locate a few pertinent coupons.
In another known Web-based coupon distribution system, registered users are provided with a list of grocery coupons available after the consumer purchases selected items on the list. This system prompts registered users to select the national grocery store chain at which they shop. In response, the server downloads to the user a file containing a scannable UPC code, or bar code, along with the identity of goods which must first be purchased before savings coupons will be issued. Upon checkout, the consumer is given discount coupons redeemable against the purchase of any grocery items based upon the purchase of the selected items. This system, however, is available for use only with national grocery chains and fails to provide consumers with the ability to obtain discounts for a current transaction.
In addition to the inability to distribute promotional information, such as discount coupons, on a sufficiently targeted basis, current Web-based monitoring techniques make it difficult for individual companies to obtain meaningful data concerning the demand for their products. Although Web site administrators can monitor consumer use and interaction with their own Web sites and ad banners, no current means provides for the accurate monitoring of consumer purchasing habits on a widespread basis independent of computer use or Internet access. The monitoring of Web site and ad banner access does not necessarily equate with consumer purchasing habits, and while the value and effectiveness of such resources can be accurately monitored by known monitoring techniques, such techniques do not provide for the adequate targeting of purchase incentives. As a result, much of the promotional information provided by a server over a public network is untargeted. To the extent that promotional information is served on a targeted basis, such targeting is not necessarily beneficial since it is not done in response to user requests nor based on actual purchasing decisions.
Due to the inconvenience of conventional coupon distribution methods and the limited monitoring abilities of conventional coupon distribution systems, it has been difficult to build customer loyalty or to attract new customers through the use of targeted purchase incentives such as discount coupons. Only with knowledge of a consumer's purchasing habits, such as preferred brands, timing and quantity of purchases, and other relevant purchasing information, can such targeting be achieved on an adequate basis. This valuable information has thus far eluded manufacturers.
Due largely to the inability of current discount coupon distribution services to adequately target discount coupons and promotional materials to interested consumers, use of the Internet for the dissemination of promotional material has essentially resulted in an increased amount of unsolicited junk mail. In other words, the same or similar packages of mostly useless discount coupons and promotional literature received by consumers by mail are being served to the same consumers via Internet resources, such as email facilities, with the same inefficiency.
In view of the foregoing, there is currently a need for a data processing system and method for the targeted distribution of discount coupons and other promotional materials over a network which provides manufacturers and offerers of goods and services with the ability to generate and distribute discount coupons only to interested consumers based on actual purchasing decisions, via a centralized coupon server, and the ability to monitor the effectiveness of the coupons. There is also a need to provide individual consumers with the ability to easily obtain discount coupons and other purchase incentives which are tailored to their individual purchasing habits, and to avoid the automatic transmission of large numbers of irrelevant, unsolicited and unwanted discount coupons. Current online coupon distribution services are not capable of adequately targeting coupon offers and merely serve the same information to all users. There is a further need for means for enabling the simplified monitoring of coupon redemption. Since HTTP or Web servers cannot automatically determine the purchasing habits of individual consumers, Web site administrators and advertisers cannot accurately determine the effectiveness of their resources. Thus, targeted service of promotional information and purchase incentives is difficult.

System and method for the targeted distribution of discount coupons over a network


A method for assembling a gas turbine engine assembly that includes mounting a gas turbine engine including an inlet and an exhaust within a module that includes an inlet area, an exhaust area, and an engine area extending therebetween, such that the gas turbine engine is housed within the module, coupling a first deflector within the module engine area such that when cooling air is channeled past the deflector, the deflector induces a substantially helically-shaped cooling air flowpath around a periphery of the gas turbine engine, and coupling an exhaust duct to an outlet of the module exhaust area.

This invention relates generally to gas turbine engines, and more specifically to methods and apparatus for cooling gas turbine engines.
Gas turbine engines are used as a power source within a variety of applications. To protect the engine from the environment, and to shield a surrounding structure from the gas turbine engine, the gas turbine engine may be mounted within an enclosure that includes an inlet area, an exhaust area, and an engine area that extends between the inlet area and the exhaust area. The enclosure provides a physical structure to contain any engine fires that may ignite, and may include an apparatus to facilitate extinguishing fires within the enclosure. For example, the apparatus may release agents into the enclosure to distinguish the flames, or alternatively, the enclosure may include an apparatus to restrict air from entering the enclosure, thus preventing airflow from fueling the fire.
Because engines generally require continuous airflow for operation, within at least some known modules, the module inlet area includes a duct to route ambient air from outside the module to the engine, and the module exhaust area includes a duct to channel exhaust gases produced during operation of the engine from the module. During operation, heat is constantly generated by the gas turbine engine and various auxiliary equipment. Accordingly, cooling air is also channeled to the interior of the enclosure to facilitate cooling the gas turbine engine and other auxiliary equipment to within reasonable operating parameters. More specifically, at least one known gas turbine engine enclosure includes a fan configured to channel air from a forward end of the enclosure, through the enclosure, and outward through an exhaust duct coupled to an aft end of the enclosure.
However, channeling cooling air axially through the enclosure may generate a non-symmetric cooling airflow with respect to the gas turbine engine. The non-symmetric cooling airflow may cause an upper half of the gas turbine engine casing to receive a greater quantity of cooling air than a lower half of the gas turbine engine casing. Accordingly, non-symmetric thermal gradients may result within the gas turbine engine casing and cause a non-symmetric mechanical distortion of the casing, and eventually blade tips and/or seals may rub against an interior surface of the casing. Specifically, as the blade tip clearance increases, the gas turbine engine performance is reduced and an exhaust an gas temperatures (EGT) margin is reduced.

Methods and apparatus for cooling gas turbine engines


A gel plug comprised of a gel may be used for growth of plants. The gel may include two polysaccharide components, with a second of the two components providing increased rigidity Plants may be grown, including from seed, in the gel plug.

Plants and crops are commonly grown in soil or similar growth medium. Soil environments may vary in their suitability for plant and crop growth. Moreover, the various organisms in soil may include organisms deleterious to the growing plants. Perhaps more importantly, the soil may contain organisms deleterious to other plants, which may limit desirability of transporting plants between geographically spread locations. Other growth mediums, for example coco peat, may provide in some aspects limited nutrient provision, or be difficult to provide using automated processes.


A tissue stimulation system is provided that evaluates and/or scores stimulation sets based on both patient feedback and frequency of use. Stimulation sets and any associated scores and/or usage may be stored in a retrievable database. Upon subsequent stimulation sessions, a patient may select stimulation sets that have a high score and/or usage in order to effectively meet therapeutic objectives. Methods of determining patient satisfaction, which involve evaluating patient pain before and after stimulation pulses are applied, are also provided herein.

The present invention relates to tissue stimulation systems and more particularly to evaluating stimulation therapies and patient satisfaction with stimulation therapies.
One example of a stimulation system is a spinal cord stimulation system ("SCS"). Spinal cord stimulation is a well accepted clinical method for reducing pain in certain populations of patients. An SCS system typically includes an Implantable Pulse Generator (IPG) or a radio-frequency (RF) transmitter and receiver, electrodes, electrode leads, and when necessary, lead extensions. The electrodes are implanted along the dura of the spinal cord, and the IPG or RF transmitter generates electrical pulses that are delivered, through the electrodes, to the dorsal column and dorsal root fibers within the spinal cord. Individual electrode contacts (the "electrodes") are arranged in a desired pattern and spacing in order to create an electrode array. Individual wires within one or more electrode leads connect with each electrode in the array. The electrode leads exit the spinal column and attach to one or more electrode lead extensions, when necessary. The electrode leads or extensions are typically tunneled around the torso of the patient to a subcutaneous pocket where the IPG or RF-receiver is implanted.
Spinal cord stimulators and other stimulation systems are known in the art. For example, an implantable electronic stimulator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,646,940 issued Mar. 7, 1972 for "Implantable Electronic Stimulator Electrode and Method" that provides timed sequenced electrical impulses to a plurality of electrodes. As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,467 issued Apr. 3, 1973 for "Electrode Implant For The Neuro-Stimulation of the Spinal Cord," teaches an electrode implant for the neuro-stimulation of the spinal cord. A relatively thin and flexible strip of physiologically inert plastic is provided as a carrier on which a plurality of electrodes are formed. The electrodes are connected by leads to an RF receiver, which is also implanted.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,708, issued Jul. 9, 1974 for "Electrical Spinal Cord Stimulating Device and Method for Management of Pain," another type of electrical spinal cord stimulation device is taught. The device disclosed in the '708 patent has five aligned electrodes, which are positioned longitudinally on the spinal cord. Electrical pulses applied to the electrodes block perceived intractable pain, while allowing passage of other sensations. A patient operated switch allows the patient to adjust the stimulation parameters.
An SCS system treats chronic pain by providing electrical stimulation pulses through the electrodes of an electrode array located at the distal end of a lead placed epidurally next to a patient's spinal cord. The combination of electrodes used to deliver stimulation pulses to the targeted tissue constitutes an electrode configuration. In other words, an electrode configuration represents the polarity, being positive, negative, or zero, and for certain SCS systems with such capabilities, relative percentage of the current or voltage provided through each of the electrodes. Electrode arrays used with known SCS systems may employ between 1 and 16 electrodes on a lead. Electrodes are selectively programmed to act as anodes, cathodes, or left off, creating an electrode configuration. The number of electrodes available, combined with the ability to generate a variety of complex stimulation pulses, presents a huge selection of electrode configurations and stimulation parameters (together referred to herein as "stimulation sets") to the clinician. When an SCS system is implanted, a procedure is performed to select one or more effective stimulation sets for a particular patient. Such a session of applying various stimulation parameters and electrode configurations may be referred to as a "fitting" or "programming" session. Additionally, a series of electrode configurations to be applied to a patient may be organized in a steering table or in another suitable manner.
Other parameters that may be controlled or varied in SCS are the frequency of pulses provided through the electrode array, pulse width, and the strength (amplitude) of pulses delivered. Amplitude may be measured in milliamps, volts, etc., as appropriate, depending on whether the system provides stimulation from current sources or voltage sources. With some SCS systems, the distribution of the current/voltage across the electrodes (including the case of the pulse generator or receiver, which may act as an electrode) may be varied such that the current is supplied via numerous different electrode configurations. In different configurations, different combinations of electrodes may provide current (or voltage) in different relative percentages of positive and negative current (or voltage). Moreover, there may be some electrodes that remain inactive for certain electrode configurations, meaning that no current is applied through the inactive electrode.
Therefore, an "electrode configuration" refers to a polarity and/or to a relative distribution of current or relative magnitude of voltage applied through the electrodes of the electrode array. Electrodes may be positive, negative, or turned off, such that a subset of anodes and cathodes are created within the electrode array. A polarity of each electrode may be a positive or negative "1" or a fraction thereof. For example, one electrode of the electrode array may have a polarity of negative "1" (cathode), while another electrode may have a polarity of positive "1" (anode).
Alternatively, a polarity may be spread out among different electrodes, for example, such that one electrode has a polarity of +0.75, while the other electrode(s) have +0.25. This distribution is known as polarity "distribution" or "percentage" among the electrodes of an electrode array. In the above examples, if an electrode has a polarity of negative 1, it is a cathode with 100% of the negative polarity distribution. If an electrode has a polarity of +0.75, it is an anode with 75% of the polarity distribution (with one or more additional electrodes accounting for the remaining 25% of the positive polarity distribution). Thus, a numerical value may be easily associated with a polarity distribution. In the case of current-controlled electrodes, in this example 75% of the anodic current would emanate from the first anode and 25% of the anodic current from the remaining anode(s). In the case of voltage-controlled electrodes, in this example the voltage magnitude of the first anode (e.g. +3.0 volts or 75%) would be three times that of the other anode(s) (+1.0 volts or 25%). The electrode configuration, along with pulse frequency, pulse width, and pulse amplitude of the voltage/current applied to the selected electrodes may be referred to as a stimulation set.
In order to test the effectiveness on a particular patient of various stimulation parameters and electrode configurations (i.e., parameters sets), it is necessary to provide a series of stimulation parameters in a systematic method. Several such systems exist including the systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,325, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, wherein a patient may direct the movement of the stimulus current through a suitable interface. Another method of testing the effectiveness of various stimulation parameters is disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 11/026,859, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In this Application, during a fitting session with a patient, a clinician uses navigation with two parameter tables to step through and optimize stimulation parameters.
In tissue stimulation applications, various stimulation sets may change the character and success of the patient's experience with the therapy. It would be useful to the clinician to be able to quickly determine the patient's satisfaction with a particular stimulation set for both clinical tracking as well as future programming and adjustment to the stimulation therapy. In previous tissue stimulation systems, patients may have been asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the various stimulation sets that are applied. While the clinician may have sought patient feedback in past systems, a system of evaluating stimulation sets, including evaluations that are not based on memory but are based on more quantitative data, scoring stimulation sets and organizing patient satisfaction is needed.
What is needed is method of creating a patient database including tested stimulation sets and associated feedback on these stimulation sets. Once created, this database may be used in future stimulation sessions, in order to provide the most effective stimulation sets to the patient to meet therapeutic objectives. Additionally, there is a need for evaluating the stimulation set based on patient feedback and/or on frequency of use. Additionally, there is a need for a way to evaluate patient-experienced pain both before and after stimulation pulses are applied to the patient. The associated pain level should be stored in the database in addition to the other patient feedback on the tested stimulation sets.

Evaluating stimulation therapies and patient satisfaction

Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corporation


A sensor system accurately measures, with a high level of sensitivity, one or more vector components of a small electric field, through the use of multiple, relatively fixed sensors, at least one of which constitutes a weakly coupled capacitive sensor. The sensor system enables the electric field to be determined in a direction normal to a surface or along multiple orthogonal axes. Measurement of the electric field vector can provide improved resolution and characterization of electrical signals produced, for example, by organs within the human body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to measuring small electric fields and, more particularly, to a sensor system for measuring one or more vector components of an electric field generated by an object in a non-conducting or poorly conducting medium utilizing at least one capacitive electric sensor which is spaced from the surface of the object and mounted a predetermined distance from another sensor.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
It is widely known that electric fields are developed from many different sources. For example, organs in the human body, including the heart and brain, produce small electric fields. In addition, there is a need to measure larger electric fields produced in other areas, such as geophysics and power lines at ranges where the fields are small. For a variety of reasons, it can be desirable to measure these electric fields. The prior art has focused on methods of measuring the distribution of electric potentials on conducting surfaces by burying or otherwise inserting metal rods into the ground in the case of geophysical measurements at the earth's surface, and using gel-coated electrodes placed directly on the skin of a patient in the case of measurements taken in the practice of medicine. In either case, the measurement instruments, e.g., the metal rods or electrodes, are in direct contact with the surface. Taking measurements of the electric potential at a position spaced from a surface is more demanding. Additional difficulties arise in measuring a field normal to a conducting surface or measuring multiple orthogonal components of an electric field, particularly when one of those components is not parallel to a local conducting surface. Although some prior art exists in connection with determining maximum electric fields by measuring multiple components of the fields, such as represented in U.S. Pat. No. 6,242,911, these arrangements address large electric fields, such as those associated with power generation equipment. Indeed, such arrangements are specifically designed to have reduced sensitivity and are not suited to measure small fields.
It should be realized that the terms electric field and electric potential at a point in space are sometimes used as if they are synonymous. This represents a technical error of convenience in the sense that what is often actually measured is the electric potential relative to some other voltage. The terms are equivalent in the sense that this measured potential would not differ from the voltage to which it is compared if an electric field were not present. As a result, the terms electric potential and electric field are sometimes used interchangeably in the literature, often inaccurately. Indeed, although it might be stated that an electric field is measured, it may actually be the time variation of the potential that is measured. In the majority of cases, electric potentials are simply measured relative to a common potential of no well-defined physical position (often termed the "ground") and a simple map of these potentials recorded by plotting the potential values at the specific measurement positions relative to the common reference is produced.
Some work has been conducted in connection with measuring cardiac waveforms, with some equivalent work also being done on imaging the potentials produced by electrical circuit boards. An area of considerable scientific and commercial importance that could be significantly improved by the measurement of multiple components of the electric field is the characterization of electrical activity in the human body. In the current practice, a set of electric potential measurements are taken at desired points on the skin via electrically conducting contacts, or capacitive coupling with a high value of capacitance created when the sensors are directly attached to the skin. The former contacts are made by conducting electrodes that touch the skin, with considerable effort being made to ensure a reliable resistive contact. The latter are made by insulated electrodes that also touch the skin in order to ensure a high value of the mutual capacitance. The resulting time-varying distribution of skin surface potentials has been effectively used in diagnosing heart disease and mapping brain functions.
However, interpretation of the surface potential can be complicated since a given surface potential distribution may be generated by more than one source. In other words, the implications about the underlying source may not be unique. One way to augment present measurements on the body surface would be to measure the electric field (En) in a direction normal to the body. Because contact to the skin is required, conventional electrodes touching the skin cannot measure the electric potential off the body, and therefore cannot measure the electric field En.
To address the problem of a lack of uniqueness, physical assumptions and mathematical operations have been used to estimate the underlying electrical sources from the measured surface electric potential distribution. A particular practical example is high-resolution electroencephalogram (EEG) which estimates the distribution of electrical activity at the brain surface from measurements taken directly at the outer surface of the scalp. If a dense array of surface electrodes is used, e.g., a 64- or a 131-channel EEG, a surface Laplacian function can be estimated to improve EEG spatial resolution. For example, the surface Laplacian method applied to 131-channel EEG signals has achieved spatial resolution in the 2-cm range.
It should be noted that capacitive electric potential sensors have also been used to collect simultaneous recordings of electric potential at points spaced from a surface. However, all of these prior measurements have been performed at an equal distance to a conducting surface, e.g., a human body, and did not measure the component of the E-field normal to that surface. Capacitive sensors have also been used on either side of the human body (one about 35 cm from the chest and one about 35 cm from the back) to detect a human heartbeat with electric potential sensors from a considerable distance. However, still no attempt has been made to derive the electric field from the potential measurements or to measure a vector component of the electric field normal to the body surface.
When considering the overall task of measuring the normal vector of the electric field of an object at a position spaced from the object, certainly the compact nature of the sensor system will be of concern, with more compact arrangements being highly favorable, particularly in the medical field. In any case, it should be realized that the electric fields of concern are small, generally much less than 1 volt/meter, such that any reliable information from sensed measurements spaced from the object would require a high level of sensitivity. Based on the above, there exists a need for a compact sensor system that can be employed to effectively and conveniently measure one or more vector components of a small electric field associated with an object, such as for medical purposes, with a high level of sensitivity, utilizing at least one capacitive electric sensor which is spaced from the object.

Sensor system for measurement of one or more vector components of an electric field

Quantum Applied Science and Research, Inc.


Techniques are described for training and evaluating a proximal factorization machine engine. In one or more embodiments, the engine receives a set of training data that identifies a set of actions taken by a plurality of users with respect to a plurality of items. The engine generates, for a prediction model, (a) a first set of model parameters representing relationships between features of the plurality of users and the set of actions, and (b) a second set of model parameters representing interactions between different features of the plurality of users and the plurality of items. For each respective item in a plurality of items, the engine computes a probabilistic score based on the model parameters. The engine selects and presents a subset of items based on the probabilistic scores.

Machine-learning techniques often involve training and evaluating predictive models to optimize system behavior in some way. For example, a predictive model may attempt to determine the probability of a given event, such as the selection of an interface icon or the execution of a function, given the most recent information available about a system user. Effective predictive models generate the most accurate predictions possible from a given set of training data, which in some cases may be sparse in nature. Many applications also benefit from prediction models that have relatively low memory footprints and produce results in the least amount of time. Effective predictive models may enhance the user experience, streamline navigation, and reduce system overhead.
One approach to generating a prediction model is to use linear regression. According to this approach, a model is generated by fitting a line to a training dataset comprising values for an explanatory variable and corresponding values for a dependent variable. For example, the explanatory variable in the training dataset may embody different values for a user attribute, denoted x. The set of dependent variables may capture whether the system user performed or did not perform a particular action, denoted y. Once trained, the linear regression model may be evaluated to predict the probability that a given user with a particular attribute value for x will perform action y.
In many cases, linear regression models are ineffective. One reason is that linear regression models do not capture higher-order dependencies between different explanatory variables. For example, a user attribute may not only have an impact on a given event y, but may also influence the values of one or more additional explanatory variables that also have a relationship with the outcome for event y. By failing to capture these higher-order dependencies, the linear regression model may produce inaccurate predictions.
Linear regression models also rely on an assumption that the values for the dependent variable lie somewhere within a continuous or near-continuous range. However, some applications are directed to predicting the outcome of a binary event. These applications may be thought of as attempting to solve a binary classification problem in which the target value of dependent variable y can take one of two values, such as a 0 and a 1. Because there are only two possible outcomes rather than a continuous range of values, linear regression models are generally ineffective for optimizing system behavior in these applications.
Other predictive models have been developed and tailored to specific optimization problems, including the binary classification problem. However, many of these models have high memory overhead and/or slow evaluation times. In other cases, model accuracy is sacrificed at the expense of runtime response times. Thus, many developers are left to make a choice between more accurate prediction models and more efficient prediction models.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

Proximal factorization machine interface engine


An LED driver circuit includes a first terminal to which a current path of the switch device is connected at one end thereof; a second terminal to which the current path of the switch device is connected at another end thereof, the switch device and a battery being connected in series between the first terminal and the second terminal; a detection circuit that periodically detects a current flowing to the first terminal and outputs a detection signal responsive to a result of the detection at a first node; a comparison circuit that compares a detection voltage responsive to the detection signal with a threshold voltage and outputs a comparison result signal responsive to a result of the comparison; and a control circuit that controls a current detection operation of the detection circuit and controls driving of the LED lamp based on the comparison result signal.

There is an input circuit detects the on/off state of a switch device used by a user to operate a headlamp or a turn signal of an automobile or a motorcycle. To prevent erroneous detection of the on/off state of the switch device caused by a leak current when the switch device is wetted with water, the conventional input circuit is designed to pass the leak current to the ground.
In particular, the switch device for a headlamp or a turn signal of a motorcycle is more likely to be wetted with water, and the leak current tends to be greater, because of the structure of the motorcycle. To prevent erroneous detection and erroneous lighting caused by the leak current, the conventional input circuit has elaborate wiring designed for passing the leak current to the lamp, for example.
As conventional techniques using an LED lamp as a light, there are a technique that involves a resistor connected in parallel with the LED (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-63305, for example), a technique that involves detecting the on/off state of the switch device while switching (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-33610), a technique that involves a constant current circuit (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2014-40142), and a technique that involves using a magnet and a Hall device (see National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2014-531715, for example).

SHINDENGEN ELECTRIC MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.


An apparatus, along with a method for constructing and using the apparatus, which includes an absorbent dressing assembly wrapped around an elastic strap device which extends around a patient's head to secure the absorbent dressing assembly under the patient's nose to absorb nasal drainage. The elastic strap device includes two strap ends which define hollow openings for receipt of opposing ends of a coupling device having circular barbs for adjusting the distance between the strap ends, thus adjusting the size of a loop formed by the elastic strap device. The absorbent dressing assembly includes an absorbent dressing and a fastening hook patch affixed to the absorbent dressing to secure the absorbent dressing in a wrapped position around the strap device. The strap device further includes a restraining hook patch affixed to the strap device to releasably prevent the absorbent dressing from sliding relative to the strap device.

The present invention relates generally to field of medical dressings, and in its most preferred embodiments, to the field of nasal mustache dressing systems.
It is well known that patients often experience nasal drainage or bleeding after various types of medical procedures. Medical personnel have employed various methods of absorbing these fluids. One of the most common methods includes securing a sterile mustache dressing under a patient's nose by applying adhesive tape to the dressing and to the patient's face. Although adhesive dressing systems are relatively effective, patients often experience much pain during removal of the dressings, and frequent dressing changes tend to produce very painful sores and skin irritations. Furthermore, medical personnel often spend considerable amounts of time changing adhesive dressings.
A more complicated method of securing a mustache dressing, included herein only as background information, includes utilizing a strap mechanism which loops around a patient's ears to bias a flat mustache bandage toward a position under a patient's nose. Although often less painful than the adhesive method discussed above, this strap method is often less reliable since the dressing tends to slip out from under the biasing strap and the entire device tends to slip off from a patient's ears during sleep.
There is a need, therefore, to provide a nasal dressing system which addresses these and other related, and unrelated, problems.


A sensing home plate, structurally assembled from a home plate main body, and a sensing device disposed therein. The sensing device is assembled from a power supply circuit, a signal transmitting circuit, a fine tuning circuit, a signal receiving circuit, and an acousto-optic circuit. The signal transmitting circuit transmits signals, and forms a sensing area on the upper side of the home plate main body. When a baseball passes through or contacts the sensing area causing interference therewith, then a signal is received by the signal receiving circuit, and the acousto-optic circuit emits sound and light as a means to indicate such. The present invention can thus be used in the sport of baseball to accurately determine whether or not the ball pitched by the pitcher is a strike (good pitch) or ball (bad pitch), thereby assisting the chief umpire in making decisions, and reducing judgmental errors.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sensing home plate, and more particularly to a sensing home plate assembled from a home plate main body, and a sensing device disposed in the interior of the main body, and which is applicable for use in the sport of baseball to accurately determine strikes (good pitches) and balls (bad pitches) to assist the chief umpire in making decisions, and thereby reduce erroneous judgments.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
The sport of baseball is a very well-known sport, however, just like any other sport, baseball is subject to erroneous judgments made by the umpire.
In the present sport of baseball, because the decision of whether a pitch is a strike (good pitch) or a ball (bad pitch) is still determined by the chief umpire. And although baseball rules already stipulate the zone of a strike (good pitch) thrown by the pitcher, however, because of individual factors of the chief umpire, the aforementioned erroneous judgments frequently occur.
The aforementioned arguments over strikes (good pitches) or balls (bad pitches) will inevitably occur in situations where there is no chief umpire on site to determine strikes (good pitches) and balls (bad pitches), or in situation where a non-professional individual temporarily fills the position of the chief umpire, such as a baseball practice field. Furthermore, in official baseball games, the influence power of whether decisions made by the chief umpire are correct or not far exceeds that of other sports. For example, in basketball and soccer, after the referee blows a whistle, if any of the aforementioned arguments occur, then game time is temporarily suspended, and film captured by cameras can be replayed to visually inspect the true, correct result. However, game time in official baseball games cannot be interrupted, thus, the instantaneous decision of a strike (good pitch) or ball (bad pitch) is enough to affect the following action of the baseball player and the result of the baseball game.
Hence, fairness of baseball decisions is easily subject to question, resulting in disputes, and is one of the primary reasons why baseball cannot be included as an official event in the Olympic Games.
In order to reduce erroneous judgments, and increase the correctness of decisions made, apart from training to strengthen the skills of umpires, if scientific methods could also be used to accurately determine strikes (good pitches) and balls (bad pitches), as well as instantaneously display the results to show impartiality, then such methods would certainly contribute to the fairness of baseball games and reduce disputes. However, since the development of the sport of baseball up to the present time, no related designs have been seen that are able to determine strikes (good pitches) or balls (bad pitches) to assist the chief umpire in making decisions.


A method for fabricating an electrical connector made up of an array of metallic contacts that act as conductive carriers, each attached to a flexible insulating sheet in one of an array of openings provided in the flexible sheet. The metallic contacts have portions disposed on opposite sides of the flexible insulating sheet that form a contact channel region that retains a rim portion surrounding an opening. The electrical connector provides a flexible carrier for the contacts to conform to irregular mating surfaces of components to be joined. For a given contact height, the electrical connector further provides a minimum electrical path length for components connected by the contacts board. In one aspect, the metallic contacts including at least one side containing elastic portions are formed from sheets of conductive material. In one aspect, circular shaped contacts are singulated after opposing conductive sheets are joined in regions within the openings of the flexible insulating sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to forming electrical connectors in an insulating host, and more particularly, to forming arrays of spring elements in a flexible polymer sheet.
2. Background of the Invention
Conventional electrical connectors used to connect components such as printed circuit boards are fabricated using a wide variety of techniques. A common approach is to use stamped metal springs, which are formed and then individually inserted into an insulating carrier to form an array of electrical connection elements. Other approaches to making electrical connectors include using anisotropically conductive adhesives, injection molded conductive adhesives, bundled wire conductive elements, and small solid pieces of metal.
As the desire for device performance enhancement drives packaging technology to shrink the spacing (or the pitch) between electrical connections (also referred to as a "leads"), a need exists to shrink the size of individual connector elements. At the same time, the total number of connections per package is increasing. For example, existing integrated circuit (IC) packages may be built with a pitch of 1 mm or less with 600 or more connections. Furthermore, IC devices are designed to be operated at increasingly higher frequencies. For example, IC devices for use in computing, telecommunication, and networking applications can be operated at a frequency of several GHz. Operating frequencies of the electronic devices, package size, and lead count of the device packages thus place stringent requirements on the interconnect systems used to test or connect these electronic devices.
In particular, the mechanical, electrical, and reliability performance criteria of an interconnect system are becoming increasingly demanding. Electrical and mechanical reliability specifications for use with high speed, small dimension and large pin count IC devices can place requirements that conventional interconnect technologies described above cannot easily fulfill. In general, conventional connector systems optimized for electrical performance have poor mechanical and reliability properties, while connector systems optimized for mechanical performance and improved reliability have poor electrical characteristics.
A particular problem encountered by today's interconnect systems is non-coplanarity of leads in the electronic components to be connected. Coplanarity of elements in a planar package exists, for example, when those elements reside within a common reference geometrical plane. In a conventional package, factors that can contribute to non-coplanarity of connector elements (or leads) of the package include manufacturing variability and substrate warpage. For conventional connector elements arranged in an array, coplanarity variation across a package may exceed vertical tolerances for connector elements, resulting in failure of electrical connection in some elements.
Coplanarity problems are not limited to IC packages, they may also exist in a printed circuit board (PC board) to which these IC packages are attached. Coplanarity problems may exist for land grid array pads formed as an area array on a PC board due to warpage of the PC board substrate. Typically, deviation from flatness in a conventional PC board is on the order of 75 to 125 microns or more per inch.
Additionally, the deviations from planarity in circuit boards, packages, and other components in which arrays of electrical connectors are employed, often may not scale down as other dimensions, such as array spacing and connector size, decrease. Thus, for example, large vertical deviations in positions of contacts may occur even for circuit boards or other components that have smaller pitch. For conventional connectors having pitch of less than about 2 mm between connector contacts, it becomes more difficult as the pitch decreases to produce elastic contacts that can compensate for such coplanarity deviations and still realize acceptable electrical contact properties, such as low resistance and low inductance.


There is disclosed an nonwoven fabric suitable for use as, for example, an intake/distribution material for personal care products, made from nonwoven fabric where the fabric is made from directly formed, mixed size fibers. The fibers may be conjugate fibers. The fabric may have zones having larger fibers and zones having smaller fibers providing a means to vary the web properties, such as permeability, or the mixed size fibers may be uniformly distributed. The fibers may also be crimped. The process for making such a material is also disclosed.. A zoned fiber fabric can provide rapid intake of an insult because of the placement of the high permeability zone in the insult target area and can also provide good distribution through the lower permeability but higher capillarity end zones.

Current personal care products are generally inefficient in that the products will leak when only a relatively small fraction of the available absorbent capacity of the product is used. This can be the result of a product design that does not obtain the maximum performance of the absorbent system, but is often caused by the inefficiency of the absorbent system itself. To be highly efficient, absorbent systems must:
accept the liquid at the rate it is delivered each time the product is insulted (Intake), PA1 distribute the liquid throughout the product (Distribution), and, PA1 store the liquid (Retention).
Highly efficient systems are desirable because they allow the products to be made from less material thus providing thinner, more discrete, better fitting products and a reduction in the amount of material that must be disposed of. It is also desirable to have a single material accomplish all three functions to provide manufacturing simplicity and thus low manufacturing cost.
Often, distinct materials are required to accomplish each function since the material properties favoring one function are frequently contrary to those needed for another. For example, fibrous materials that provide good liquid intake typically have relatively large distances between fibers to provide space for the entering liquid to permeate, and minimal resistance to drainage of the fluid into the distribution and retention components. That is, they have relatively high permeability and provide relatively low capillary tension. However, distribution materials that rely on capillary tension as the driving force for wicking require relatively small distances between fibers, especially when liquid is to be moved vertically such as in a diaper worn on a child in the standing position. That is, distribution materials generally have relatively low permeability and provide relatively high capillary tension. Examples of good intake materials include those described as surge management materials in U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,382 (Latimer et al.) which are suitable for providing good liquid intake, but require some other material in liquid communication with them to deliver the needed distribution and retention. Similarly, examples of distribution materials and retention materials that benefit from other materials to provide the other functions may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/754,414.
It is an objective of this invention to provide flexibility in the production of nonwoven webs so that they may be tailored to the required properties of the product into which they are manufactured. For example, liquid intake and distribution functions in one material may be so produced. In one embodiment this invention may be used to provide a material having relatively distinct areas of permeability in the X-Y plane. In another embodiment, this invention may be used to provide very uniform low density fabrics.

Direct formed, mixed fiber size nonwoven fabrics


Diesters of the formula ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are hydrogen or alkyl of from 1 to about 20 carbon atoms, and X and Y are alkyl, alkenyl or .[.dienyl.]. .Iadd.alkadienyl .Iaddend.of from about 12 to about 18 carbon atoms, useful as low calorie synthetic oils suitable for consumption by mammals.

Lipids (fats and oils) constitute between 30 and 40% of the caloric intake of the average American diet. Dietary fat, consisting of triglycerides, is digested to free fatty acids and monoglycerides, primarily in the small intestine. The .alpha.-lipase steapsin cleaves the glycerol esters at the 1- and 3-positions. Fatty acids of 6 to 10 carbons and unsaturated fatty acids are rapidly absorbed, while those of 12 to 18 carbons are absorbed more slowly. Absorption of the .beta.-monoglycerides by the mucosa of the small intestine results in a final digestion and absorption of up to 95% of the total dietary fat. Since fats yield about twice the energy per gram of either carbohydrates or proteins, substitution of a nondigestible material for a portion of the normal dietary fat offers a painless and effective method for control of obesity, hypertension, and other diseases associated with excessive caloric intake.
There is considerable evidence that steapsin is an enzyme which is specific for esters of 1, 3-diols and glycerol. U.S. Pat. No. 2,962,419 to Minich describes in vitro tests of pentaerythretol tetracaprylate to demonstrate that there is no hydrolysis of the pentaerythritol ester by pancreatic lipase (steapsin) and a greatly diminished total serum lipid concentration when the substance was used in place of fat in a typical rate diet. Canadian Pat. No. 1,106,681 to Trost describes the feeding of dialkyl glycerol ethers to rats, concluding that the esters were generally non-digestible, and tests of sucrose polyester in obese human volunteers showed decreased total plasma cholesterol and plasma triglycerides (Glueck et al., Am. J. Cli. Nutri. 35, 1352 (1982)). U.S. Pat. No. 3,600,186 to Mattson et al. describe the use of fatty acid ester compounds having at least 4 fatty acid ester groups for use as triglyceride fat substitutes.
Esters of malonic acid and dialkyl malonic acid, and low molecular weight alcohols are known but are unsuitable for use as vegetable oil substitutes due to their low boiling points.
There remains a need for stable synthetic oils which are not readily digestible in mammals, and which are suitable for use in the production of low calorie fried and baked products containing starches, and in other foods such as oleomargarine, salad oil and other foods normally containing vegetable oils.

Synthetic cooking oils containing dicarboxylic acid esters


A method and an arrangement for generating process steam at a chemical pulp mill. Water is heated by subjecting it to an indirect heat exchange contact with steam in a heat exchanger. The water is heated with live steam produced in a steam boiler for generating process steam, whereby the live steam is condensed and the generated condensate is recovered. The process steam is subjected to a direct heat exchange contact with a material for heating the material. The water used for process steam production is obtained from secondary condensates, purified waste water and/or raw water. Process steam can be used in the treatment of cellulosic fibrous material, such as chips.

The present invention relates to a method and an arrangement for generating process steam and working steam at a chemical pulp mill.
Prior art utilizes a fiberline system with a chip bin, where wood chips or other cellulosic material is steamed and liquid is admixed therein for forming a slurry, after which the slurry is pressurized, fed into a treatment vessel or treatment vessels (which may be an impregnation vessel, a prehydrolysis process or other treatment), after which follows a digester. At present, at least one black liquor stream is discharged from the cooking system (typically at a temperature of 120-170° C.). The discharged black liquor stream or streams is/are used as a heat source for preheating white liquor, other black liquor streams being led to feed and cooking systems and/or other liquid streams. The discharged black liquor stream or streams is/are then led into one or more flash tanks, wherein steam is generated from hot black liquor as it is cooled, typically to a temperature of approximately 100-120° C. In this stage the black liquor is led to an evaporator system of the recovery zone. The thus generated flash steam can be used at another location in the pulping process. Flash steam can e.g. be used for direct preheating of chips prior to cooking.
The above described flashing process, although being used successfully in traditional continuous digesters, has the drawback that the generated steam contains volatile compounds, including sulfur compounds, which are not desirable in wood chip presteaming. Typically, wood chips are steamed at atmospheric or slightly higher pressure so that residual gases are not absorbed into the wood chips, but they are collected and treated. The treatment is typically combustion in the noncondensable gas (NCG) system of the mill. This collection and treatment system becomes especially significant when the steam that is used contains volatile compounds, which have an undesirable environmental impact, including noxious odor. Therefore, it is advantageous to use such a steam source that minimizes or eliminates the introduction of volatile compounds into the chip steaming process. In addition, an explosion risk exists, if concentrated gases entrained in flash steam are introduced into low concentration gases.
In batch digesters live steam is typically used also in conjunction with chip loading. An advantage of chip loading with steam is an increase in the packing level and temperature of the chips. Steam is also used for steaming chips.
Known solutions offer various systems for producing cleaner steam for the heating needs of a digester plant and for improving the energy economy of a chemical pulp mill. Publication U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,252 describes a method of producing steam and for recovering energy from spent cooking liquor by leading the liquor together with an evaporable liquid, advantageously clean water, into heat exchange relationship in a liquid/liquid heat exchanger for heating the liquid. Then the pressure of the heated liquid is decreased in a flashing vessel for producing clean steam. The clean liquid can be heated by means of the heat of black liquor also in an evaporator or a reboiler, such as a kettle reboiler, for producing steam.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,512,514 discloses a process where two black liquor streams are withdrawn from the digester. One of the black liquor streams extracted from the digester is flashed, whereby flashed black liquor and flash vapor are generated, and the other black liquor stream is evaporated using live steam as heating medium, whereby steam needed in the digester process and evaporated black liquor are generated. Flash vapor generated in the flashing of the second black liquor stream extracted from the digester is led into at least one heat exchanger, preferably a vapor reboiler, into an indirect heat exchange contact with clean liquid being evaporated for producing clean steam that is used for steaming chips.
The above solutions have often been used in an attempt to avoid using flash vapor in chip treatment, such as in a chip bin, because it causes odor problems and an explosion risk. Therefore reboiler solutions are favored, comprising for instance a kettle reboiler or a vapor reboiler. A disadvantage of a kettle reboiler is that the dry-solids content of black liquor does not increase therein, which increases evaporation of water at the evaporation plant and thus impairs the energy economy of the chemical pulp mill.
A problem with a vapor reboiler is that in certain cases, especially in winter, it is not always possible to generate an adequate amount of steam required for chip treatment, such as in a chip bin, but live steam of the mill, such as low pressure steam has to be used in addition. This can take place by feeding live steam directly into the chips. Sometimes live steam is used as a sole heat source in chip treatment, in a digester and also other processes of a chemical pulp mill.
Live steam is typically obtained from steam turbines of the mill, which are supplied superheated steam produced from boiler water from the boiler plant, e.g. from a chemical recovery boiler. Direct use of live steam e.g. in chip treatment is not always advantageous in view of water consumption and energy efficiency. Condensing of live steam into the chips or other material being treated prevents recovery of condensate for reuse, and thus increases the consumption of expensive boiler water.
An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above mentioned problems and to provide an advantageous method and arrangement for producing process steam and working steam, which can be used instead of live steam in an object of application, such as in a digester plant of a chemical pulp mill. Especially in such an object of application, where it is not possible to recover steam condensate.
The present invention relates to a method of producing process steam at a chemical pulp mill, in which method water is heated by indirect heat exchange contact with steam in a heat exchanger. It is characteristic of the invention that the water is heated with live steam generated in a steam boiler for producing process steam, whereby the live steam is condensed and condensate thus generated is subjected to a direct heat exchange contact with a material for treating the material.
The present invention also relates to an arrangement for producing process steam at a chemical pulp mill. The arrangement comprises an indirect heat exchanger having a heating steam inlet conduit, a heating steam condensate outlet conduit, an inlet conduit for water to be evaporated and an outlet conduit for produced steam and water. The heating steam inlet conduit is connected to a live steam line of the mill, the condensate outlet conduit is connected to a clean condensate recirculation system of the mill, and the outlet conduit for steam and water is connected to a separation tank having a steam outlet conduit that is connected to a usage point where steam is used.
According to an embodiment, a liquid circulation is arranged between a heat exchanger and the separation tank, which liquid circulation is connected to a water source comprising secondary condensate, raw water and/or purified waste water. According to an embodiment the arrangement comprises a preheater for preheating a liquid to be fed into the liquid circulation.
In accordance with the present invention, the consumption of live steam produced in a steam boiler, such as in a chemical recovery boiler, as well as the consumption of boiler water can be decreased. With the novel method and apparatus it is possible to recover and recirculate clean live steam condensate back to the boiler plant for use as boiler water. Process steam can be used for heating various process streams, such as for heating cellulosic fibrous material, filtrates or liquors. Process steam can be subjected to a direct heat exchange contact with a cellulosic fibrous material, such as chips or chip slurry for treating the material. Chemical pulp mill often use direct steam in chip bins, chip feed apparatuses, at the top of the digester and in other direct steam applications, where process steam produced in a novel way can now be used both in a batch digester plant and in a continuous digester plant. Process steam can also be used for heating filtrate and liquor streams in a chemical pulp mill.
Process steam is produced from water, which advantageously is a water fraction substantially free from volatile compounds, which water fraction comprises raw water, secondary condensates and treated waste water, typically clarified waste water. The treatment of raw water can include clarification and/or filtration for removing solids, depending on the source of the raw water. Waste water of a chemical pulp mill is typically treated in a mechanical biological waste water purification plant. The main steps of the purification process are preliminary clarification, aeration, and final clarification. In the solution according to the invention, waste water subjected to final clarification can be used for producing process steam. Waste water from the chemical pulp mill purified in another way can also be used. The solution according to the present invention does not use boiler water or demineralized water as a source for process steam.
Process steam is produced in an indirect heat exchanger, in which live steam produced in a steam boiler and water are subjected to an indirect heat exchange contact. The heat exchanger can preferably be formed of a rising film heat exchanger comprising a number of plate-like heat exchange elements. The heat exchanger can also be a vertical tube heat exchanger, in which the heating steam flows outside the tubes and the liquid being boiled flows inside the tubes. In the heat exchanger the heating steam heats the "clean" liquid that is adequately free from volatile compounds to a temperature that is higher than its boiling point for producing steam. The liquid can typically be condensate of the mill, raw water or purified waste water, or other adequately clean water fraction, as described above. The steam produced in a heat exchanger contains a substantially smaller amount of noncondensable gases than steam produced by flashing of black liquor, which is also used as heating steam.
According to an essential feature of the invention, clean condensate generated from live steam in a heat exchanger can be led back into a clean condensate recirculation system of the mill and further into a feed water tank of the boiler. The live steam that is used is typically low pressure steam or intermediate pressure steam.
The steam produced from water in a heat exchanger is preferably led into a separation tank having two phase zones, both in liquid and in steam state. The steam stream discharged from the heat exchanger contains water, whereby the portion of steam is typically approximately 50-60% at the most. In the steam zone of the tank, water droplets are separated from the steam stream, which droplets settle into the liquid space at the lower part of the tank due to gravitation. The steam is led into further use via an outlet conduit at the upper part of the tank. The upper part of the tank is typically provided with a droplet separation device for intensified water separation. In the lower part of the tank is a liquid space, from where water is led into the heat exchanger for producing steam.
The separation tank is pressurized, and the steam space typically takes 25-50% of the overall volume of the tank. The liquid level in the tank is controlled by introducing additional water into the tank or into a liquid line between the tank and a heat exchanger. Preferably this water is preheated in a preheater heat exchanger with a suitable hot process stream. Advantageously this kind of process stream is a black liquor stream discharged directly from the digester, which stream is led from the preheater into the evaporation plant. Upstream of the preheater, heat can be recovered from the black liquor in the heat recovery system of the digester, such as in flashing vessels or in hot accumulators. Flashed black liquor vapor can also be used as heating medium in a preheater.
The liquid level in the separation tank is preferably higher than the upper level of the preheater. Then no pump is needed to transfer water in the water circulation of the separation tank and the preheater.
From the separation tank the steam produced in the heat exchanger is led into the usage point, which typically is such that there is no need for condensate recovery. The pressure of the steam being discharged is dependent on the usage point. Typically the pressure is 2-15 bar. Typical usage points at a chemical pulp mill are chip pretreatment and steaming, chip feeding apparatuses and chip heating at the top of the digester. The steam outlet line can be provided with a regulation valve, which regulates the flow of steam into the usage point according to the set value of temperature prevailing in the usage point, such as in a chip bin.
The separation tank can be provided with a blow down system, via which water can be discharged for preventing the accumulation of salts and other undesirable substances in the water circulation between the separation tank and the heat exchanger. This can be needed especially when the water is not condensate from the evaporation plant. The blow down line can be provided with a timer for implementing the blow down operation periodically as needed. The water inlet line can be provided with a filter for preventing noxious particles from entering the separation tank.
Process steam is produced in an indirect heat exchanger E-1, in which low pressure steam or intermediate pressure steam introduced from a steam boiler and water are subjected to an indirect heat exchange contact. Live steam is introduced via line 2 into the heat exchanger. The heat exchanger can be a plate heat exchanger, e.g. of the rising film type. The water to be heated is introduced via line 4. In the heat exchanger the heating steam heats the water for producing process steam, which is discharged via line 5.
Clean condensate generated from live steam in the heat exchanger E-1 is led via line 3 into the clean condensate recirculation system of the mill and further into the feed water tank of the boiler.
From the heat exchanger E-1 the process steam is led further via line 5 into a separation tank E-3 having two phase zones, both in liquid and in steam state. In the steam space of the tank, water droplets are separated from the steam stream, which droplets settle into the liquid space in the lower part of the tank. The process steam is led into further use via an outlet conduit 6 in the upper part of the tank E-3. The upper part of the tank is typically provided with a droplet separation device (not shown) for intensified water separation. In the outlet conduit the steam flow is regulated with a valve 13, which is controlled according to the temperature of the usage point, e.g. a chip bin. The flow of live steam is regulated with a regulation valve 14 for providing an adequate amount and pressure for the produced process steam in the separation tank. The required pressure and amount are dependent on the usage point of the process steam.
The lower part of the separation tank E-3 is provided with a liquid space, from where water is led into the heat exchanger E-1 via line 4 for producing steam. Between the separation tank E-3 and the heat exchanger E-1 is arranged a liquid circulation formed of lines 4 and 5, since water is returned with the steam into the separation tank.
The liquid level in the separation tank is controlled by introducing feed water via line 7 into the tank or into line 4. The liquid level regulation comprises a regulation valve 9 for controlling the water flow and thus for maintaining a suitable liquid level in the separation tank.
The feed water of line 7 is heated in a preheater heat exchanger E-2 with a suitable hot process stream from line 10. The preheater can be e.g. a plate heat exchanger. The volume of hot process stream is regulated with a valve 11, which control is based on temperature measurement in the preheated water line 7. Advantageously this kind of process stream is a black liquor stream discharged directly from the digester, which stream is via line 12 led from the preheater E-2 into the evaporation plant. Upstream of the preheater, heat can be recovered from the black liquor in the heat recovery system of the digester, such as in flashing vessels or in hot accumulators.
The water being fed into the preheater via line 8 can typically comprise condensate, raw water, purified waste water or other adequately clean waste water fraction from the mill. Thus, the steam produced in the heat exchanger E-1 contains a substantially smaller amount of non-condensable gases than steam produced by direct flashing of black liquor, which is also used as heating steam.
The separation tank E-3 can be provided with a blow down line 15, via which water can be discharged for preventing the accumulation of salts and other undesired substances in the water circulation between the separation tank and the heat exchanger.
Advantages provided by the invention:                live steam condensate can be recovered,        water consumption at the mill decreases, when clean live steam condensate is returned to be used as boiler water,        production of demineralized water decreases, and        waste water amount decreases.

Method and arrangement for generating process steam


In a method for detaching a frozen charge from an inner wall of a grinding tube of a tube mill, a motor of a drive system is operated in a first mode to rotate the grinding tube for grinding. In a second mode, the motor of the drive system is operated to remove the frozen charge from the inner wall of the grinding tube such that operation of the motor to effect a rotational movement of the grinding tube is repeatedly disturbed by a disturbance signal to cause a repeated disturbance within a variable time interval, with the time interval of the repeated disturbance being shortened.

The invention relates to a method and a device for detaching a frozen charge from the inside of a grinding tube of a tube mill. The invention further relates to a tube mill.
Tube mills are preferably used to grind materials such as ores. It is not unusual for the operation of a tube mill to be interrupted for an extended period of time. The tube mill is at a standstill during this time. While the tube mill is at a standstill, material present in the grinding tube of the tube mill may solidify and stick firmly to the inner wall of the grinding tube. Such cemented, solidified material is referred to as a locked or"frozen" charge.
If the tube mill is re-started after a lengthy period of inactivity, there is a risk that the frozen charge will become detached from the grinding tube at a great height (e.g. after half a revolution or after a rotation of about Phi=160° of the grinding tube) and fall down causing considerable damage to the tube mill when it then hits the inside of the grinding tube.
There are therefore devices for detecting the presence of the frozen charge, as described in DE 35 28 409 A1.

Method and device for detaching an adhering charge from the inner side of a grinding pipe of a tube mill


A hydraulic system for aircraft operating devices provides a secondary pressure source for direction and deceleration control in case of loss of pressure from a primary pressure source. The system includes multiple pressure accumulators that include a primary accumulator, which supplies pressurized fluid to a first actuator, and first and second secondary accumulators, which supply pressurized fluid to second and third actuators, respectively. If the primary accumulator is disabled, the first secondary accumulator will supply pressurized fluid to the first actuator. If the first secondary accumulator is disabled, the second secondary accumulator will supply pressurized fluid to the second actuator. By providing multiple, substantially independent accumulators, direction and deceleration control is maintained even in the event of loss of the primary accumulator.

As will be appreciated, numerous abnormal conditions may occur in flight that could lead to complete or partial failure of a jet aircraft's hydraulic system. For example, if one of the turbine engines should experience a catastrophic failure (e.g., rotor burst), turbine blade or blade fragments could be hurled into the fuselage causing extensive damage to the hydraulic system. Such damage could include disabling of the hydraulic pump, accumulator failure, and severing of hydraulic lines. Further, hydraulic lines, motors, pumps, and/or accumulators may fail during flight, and result in partial or complete failure of the hydraulic system.
To deal with such abnormal conditions, redundancy in the system is desired so that the various devices operated by the hydraulic system have an alternate source of operating pressure, at least sufficient to operate the devices through several cycles.
In larger jet aircraft, redundancy is achieved through the use of redundant hydraulic systems, including multiple pumps, multiple reservoirs and multiple fluid lines for each device to be operated. These complex redundant systems are effective but add weight to the aircraft and take up considerable space. Such systems are not practical for use in smaller jet aircraft.
Because smaller jet aircraft are relatively light, they can use purely mechanical linkages (e.g., cables, push-pull rods, etc.) for operating in-flight control devices such as ailerons, elevators, and rudders. Nevertheless, smaller jet aircraft typically require a power system or systems to operate devices that control landing gear extension and retraction, main landing gear wheel brakes, nose wheel steering and speed brake deployment and retraction, for example.
These circumstances necessitate a new type of hydraulic system that provides for continued operation of the direction and deceleration control devices in the event of an abnormal condition. Accordingly, a new approach for the hydraulic system is required so as to provide the redundancy necessary to assure safe operation in emergencies.


Material flow management apparatus for a paving machine having a screed assembly, including at least one pivotally mounted flow control gate operably connected to a selectively controllable actuator for actuating the flow control gate to a flow preventing position and flow permitting positions, the flow control gate mounted immediately adjacent the outer edge of the main body of the screed assembly to variably control the volumetric flow of paving aggregate from the main material reservoir preceding the screed main body and ensure a suitable volumetric material supply to the secondary material reservoir preceding the variably extensible screed extension body.

Paving machines are commonly employed in the laying of bituminous roadway mat. The typical paving machine employs a "floating screed" for spreading and compressing the bituminous material to form a smooth surfaced roadway mat. While in the past it has been common to use a floating screed of fixed width, for example, on the order of eight feet or ten feet in width, it has been discovered that the efficiency of the paving machine can be increased and the number of trips required to generate a road surface can be decreased by employing a floating screed having an operator selectable width. This may be accomplished by providing a series of extensions which may be affixed to the main body of the floating screed to a predetermined fixed width. However, a more advantageous arrangement of the floating screed includes one, or more typically two, screed extensions which are slidingly attached to the main body of the floating screed. These screed extensions are typically connected to a linear power source such as a bi-directional hydraulic cylinder or other similar activator, which is selectively operable in response to controls disposed at the operator's control station. This permits the operator to control the position of the screed extensions in response to changing requirements as the paving machine progresses. For example, this permits the screed operator to accommodate obstacles in the path of the paving machine such as sewer drains and manhole covers, and also to permit overwidth paving of the road surface to accommodate driveway entrances and other similar areas where overwidth paving of the roadway mat is desired.
The floating screed type paving machine is typically a self-propelled tractor unit providing a storage means for receiving and containing a discreet quantity of loose bituminous aggregate and a material flow means for conveying the bituminous aggregate to the roadbed where the loose bituminous aggregate is then displaced laterally in front of the floating screed. As the paving machine progresses along the roadbed, the floating screed engages the loose bituminous aggregate, plowing under and compressing the bituminous aggregate into the desired roadway mat. It is common to provide endgates on the outer, distal ends of the screed extensions to ensure that the loose bituminous aggregate disposed in front of the screed extensions is not merely shunted aside beyond the width of the floating screed. The means most commonly used for providing the lateral disposition of the loose bituminous aggregate is a flighted auger providing two oppositely directed flights from the centerline of the paving machine to provide disposition of an equal amount of bituminous aggregate toward the outer edges of the floating screed. While this means has proved to be generally satisfactory, a difficulty exists in ensuring that the appropriate desired amount of loose bituminous aggregate is provided to the screed extensions. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that paving machines are often operated under less than ideal conditions, and it is often necessary to operate one screed extension at a different width than the other screed extension as obstacles are passed or width changes in the roadway mat must be accommodated as the paving machine moves forward. It is necessary for the screed operator to ensure that a suitable proportion of loose bituminous aggregate is available to ensure satisfactory completion of the roadway mat in connection with the furthest extended screed extension, and this causes an undesirable accumulation of bituminous aggregate in front of the less far extended screed extension, due to the fact that there is a reduced amount of area to be covered under that floating screed extension. Furthermore, even where the screed extensions are extended to similar widths, it is undesirably difficult for the screed operator to assure that the desired amount of loose bituminous aggregate is provided for the floating screed. In the operation of current paving machines, the screed operator must cause a suitable flow of loose bituminous aggregate to the auger to ensure that a sufficient amount of aggregate will cascade across the floating screed to reach and fill the area in front of the floating screed to the minimum requisite depth required for the pavement mat. However, the screed operator must be possessed of a substantial amount of skill and expertise to accomplish this result due to the fact that the primary means of controlling the amount of aggregate available to the floating screed is in the conveyance means from the tractor unit of the paving machine.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved material flow management system for a paving machine.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a material flow management system as will provide improved control of the aggregate available to the floating screed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a material flow management system as will provide improved control of the material flow to the screed extension.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a material flow management system as will be selectively controllable by the screed operator.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide such a material flow management system as will relatively inexpensive to manufacture.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a material flow management system as will be readily applied to paving machines and such as will not require substantial modification of a paving machine.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide such a material flow management system as will be inexpensive to maintain and will be durable.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide such a material flow management system as will provide an intermediate boundary to aid a screed operator in controlling the disposition of loose bituminous aggregate in front of the floating screed of a paving machine.

Material flow management means for paving machines


Digital delay-locked loops (DLLs) and methods are provided for signal frequency multiplication. Analog delay elements of typical frequency-multiplying DLLs are replaced with digital and digitally-controlled elements including a variable delay line. The number of unit delay elements in the delay line can be selected to produce a desired output signal delay. Phase-mixing of multiple variable delay line outputs achieves finer delay-time adjustments.

This invention relates to frequency-multiplying delay-locked loops (DLLs). More particularly, this invention relates to digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLLs.
Frequency-multiplying DLLs typically generate a high-frequency clock signal based on a lower frequency reference signal. Such DLLs then attempt to maintain a specific phase relationship between the generated clock signal and that reference signal. A ring oscillator is used to generate an output signal approximately M times the frequency of the reference signal, where the value of M is selectable. Every M pulses of the output signal, the phase of the output signal and the reference signal are compared. The delay of the ring oscillator is then adjusted, if necessary, in response to the comparison. This resets the phase of the output signal with respect to the reference signal. Accordingly, any phase deviation that may occur can accumulate for only M cycles at most before being corrected. Often, the desired phase difference between the generated output signal and the reference signal is zero.
Conventional frequency-multiplying DLLs use analog delay units. The delay of the analog units is adjustable and can be varied by adjusting the supply voltage. These analog delay units are typically controlled by a charge pump and a loop filter. Typically, the output of an odd number of analog inverting delay units connected in series is fed-back to the input of the first unit to form a ring oscillator. The frequency at which the ring oscillator oscillates is dependent on the delay of the analog delay units. By adjusting that delay, the frequency can be varied. However, it is well known that analog designs are more difficult to mass produce within stated specifications and are less portable to various process technologies than digital designs.
In digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLLs, the adjustable analog delay units are replaced with digital variable delay lines. To vary the phase of an output signal using a digital variable delay line, the number, not the delay, of the delay units is varied. However, the smallest possible phase increment is typically limited to the delay through a single unit delay, which may not suffice for many applications.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to be able to provide a digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying delay-locked loop.
It would also be desirable to be able to provide a digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying delay-locked loop with fine delay-time adjustment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


To provide a data communication system which lightens processing related to changes in the status in signaling processing performed between terminals. A signaling server communicating mutually with a plurality of terminals includes: a transmitting/receiving part for transmitting/receiving a message; a status management part for updating a registered terminal list and status management information; and a signaling processing part for judging a destination and a type of the message received at the transmitting/receiving part. The signaling processing part gives an instruction to the status management part to update the status management information in accordance with contents of the message without transferring the message to a first terminal, when the first terminal requires the signaling processing support and the message is not directly related to starting or stopping of communication with the first terminal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data communication system using a network. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for reducing amount of CPU processing performed in terminals and amount of message data transmitted/received to/from the terminals in signaling processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
As one of major research themes in ubiquitous techniques, there is the so-called sensor network. The sensor network is a technique with which a plurality of terminals (referred to as sensor terminals hereinafter) having sensors (sensors for temperature, humidity, oscillation, acceleration, position, voice, for example) are formed in a radio network, and condition of a specific range is to be judged in a comprehensive manner based on information from each sensor. It is expected apply the sensor networks to various fields.
The sensor terminal is provided with very simple computer resources (referred to as resources hereinafter) such as a processor, a memory, and a radio module along with a sensor so as to be able to participate in a radio network. In order to employ a sensor network, it is necessary to form a network with an enormous number of sensor terminals. Thus, the cost of the sensor terminals occupies a large proportion of the total cost when building a work and life support system. Therefore, it is necessary for the sensor terminals to reduce the resources to be loaded thereon as much as possible in order to cut the cost.
In the meantime, for the sensor terminals to perform data communication, it is necessary to perform signaling between the sensor terminals or between the sensor terminals and a host computer or the like to exchange a communication parameter that is required for a specific communication protocol. However, existing communication protocols such as SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) are developed supposedly for high-spec terminals having abundant resources, such as personal computers and work stations.
Therefore, regarding the conventional sensor terminals, there is a limit in cutting the cost by reducing the resources since it is necessary to secure the resources for enabling communications performed with an existing communication protocol. In order to cut the cost for the sensor terminals, it is necessary to reduce the data amount and the processing amount in signaling so as to be processed by the terminals with the reduced resources.
Meanwhile, a technique for reducing the data amount of messages exchanged between the terminals in signaling is disclosed in following documents. A Document (Non-Patent Document 1: Lars-Erik Jonsson, "RFC 4163: Robust Header Compression (ROHC): Requirements on TCP/IP Header Compression" [online], August 2005, IETF, [Searched on Feb. 14, 2008] <URL: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4163.txt>) discloses ROHC (Robust Header Compression) algorithm that is a message header compression technique. Another Document (Non-Patent Document 2: M. Garcia-Martin et al., "RFC 3845: The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Session Description Protocol (SDP) Static Dictionary for Signaling Compression (SigComp)", [online] February 2003, IETF, [Searched on Feb. 14, 2008] <URL: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3485.txt>) discloses Sig Comp (Signaling Compression) algorithm which compresses the entire message with a text-base signaling protocol such as SIP.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2002-189707 (Patent Document 1) discloses a technique in which a server judges types of a plurality of data devices and operating conditions, and distributes data according to those. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2004-032176 (Patent Document 2) discloses a technique which reduces data amount by extracting base data from a plurality of numerical value data and calculating a difference value with respect to the base data. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2005-020286 (Patent Document 3) discloses a technique in which a network management device transmits device information through performing signaling between terminals and the network management device in accordance with registration requests from the terminals.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2005-080249 (Patent Document 4) discloses a technique in which terminals registered to a communication supporting device exchange data with each other safely. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 11-122251 (Patent Document 5) discloses a technique in which a message exchange device in an ATM communication system holds call setting control information so as to shorten the time required for communication controls. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 11-187068 (Patent Document 6) discloses a technique which reduces the number of giving headers by transmitting data with a common header.
In signaling processing performed between terminals, status of the terminals themselves change every time the terminals exchange a request and a response for the request. Processing related to the changes in the status is a burden particularly for the terminals with reduced resources, which therefore is an obstacle for reducing the resources of the terminals.
However, all the methods disclosed in Non-Patent Documents 1, 2 and Patent Documents 2, 6 are to reduce the data amount of a message exchanged between the terminals in signaling by compressing the data of the message. With theses methods, burden imposed due to changes in the status described above cannot be lightened. In addition, the processing amount is rather increased by the processing performed for compression and decompression. Further, there is no structure mentioned in the Patent Documents 1 and 3-5 for lightening the burden related to the changes in the status.

Signaling server, data communication system, signaling processing proxy method and program