Provided are a method and apparatus for fabricating a panel product including a board, panel or substrate having at least one surface on which a decorative image and alignment marks corresponding to an image data file are applied. The alignment marks and the image data file are then used to align an intermediate product with one or more cutting devices. Once aligned, the original image data file or a transformed version of the image data file is used to control cutters or other tools for removing waste portions of the panel product. The panel product may then be subjected to additional processing, particularly with regard to edge treatments, to obtain a final panel product.

A number of computerized systems for generating cutting markers for fabric or board materials have been developed for increasing pattern piece density and thereby minimizing the waste of material. More advanced systems have been developed for addressing materials that have distinct patterns of surface topographies, such as embossments, channels, corrugations, or distinct visual patterns such as plaids, stripes, prints or other regularly repeating designs that may require a specific alignment of the patterned portion among two or more pattern pieces to produce an acceptable finished product. Consequently, some pattern piece density is typically sacrificed in order to obtain pattern pieces that will provide the desired design alignment.
With respect to materials including image patterns, particularly those having a regularly repeated design other than stripes or plaids, are produced by printing or transferring the design onto a suitable plain, unprinted material or a cover layer subsequently applied to the bulk material. Although rotary plate and silk-screen printing, or variations thereof, have long been used for this purpose, more recently the use of multiple, minute jets of appropriate inks, dyes or pigments in a process generally analogous to the widely used ink-jet paper printing process has become more common. Like ink-jet printing on paper, the jet printing of the plain material is performed under the control of a computer.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,173,211 B1, a system has been developed for producing fabric pattern pieces in which the fabric design printed on each pattern piece can be arranged in a predetermined manner with respect to the boundaries of the various pieces, thereby reducing waste. As described, the pattern design is printed only within or slightly overlapping the boundaries of the pattern pieces, thereby avoiding the difficulty associated with aligning the various pattern pieces relative to a preprinted repeating design. This allows more compact nesting of the pattern pieces on the work material.
The graphical images corresponding to the repeating portion of the design, may be generated and combined individually with pattern piece templates. The pattern piece templates may then be arranged in a nested relation without regard to the pattern to establish cutting and printing markers that will produce the desired finished pattern pieces. The cutting and printing markers may then be used to control a cutter for cutting the pattern pieces from the base fabric and a printer for printing the desired designs onto the base fabric in those areas that correspond to the pattern pieces.

Method and apparatus for manufacturing panel products including a printed surface

Owens Corning Fiberglas Technology, Inc.


A system and method for controlling an optical transmitter. Proximate to startup of the optical transmitter, the laser bias to the optical transmitter is increased from a minimum to a setpoint according to a predefined function. After the laser bias setpoint is reached, the electrical modulation amplitude is increased from a minimum to a setpoint according to a predefined function. Proximate to shutdown of the optical transmitter, the electrical modulation amplitude is decreased from the setpoint to the minimum according to a predefined function. After the electrical modulation amplitude minimum is reached, the laser bias to the optical transmitter is decreased from a setpoint to a minimum according to a predefined function.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to optical transmitters and associated control systems. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for enabling effective power and electrical modulation amplitude control of an optical transmitter so as to enhance the performance of an associated optical system and related components.
2. Related Technology
Many high speed voice and data transmission networks rely on optical transceivers and similar devices for facilitating binary transmission and reception of digital data embodied in the form of optical signals. Typically, data transmission in such networks is implemented by way of an optical transmitter, such as a laser, while data reception is generally implemented by way of an optical receiver, an example of which is a photodiode. In general, the optical transmitter and optical receiver communicate with each other by way of a suitable optical transmission medium, such as an optical fiber.
Due to the wide variety of applications wherein optical networks are employed, such optical networks may include, in addition to basic components such as optical transmitters and optical receivers, various other associated systems and devices that serve to implement one or more functionalities that are characteristic of a particular type of application. While such other systems and devices provide useful functionality, those systems and devices often implicate concerns relating to the overall performance of the associated optical system, as discussed below.
One type of optical communication system that implicates certain characteristic or unique problems are those systems sometime referred to as long-haul communication systems. Generally, long-haul communication systems refer to those optical systems, and associated devices, that are used to facilitate voice and/or data transmission over relatively long geographical distances. One example of a long-haul communication system is a fiber optic telephone network. While long-haul, fiber optic communication systems are useful in transmitting high volumes of voice and data over long distances, such long transmission distances implicate certain requirements and associated problems with respect to the structure and operation of the long-haul communication system.
By way of example, the quality of optical signals that are transmitted over relatively long distances tends to degrade over distance. One approach to addressing this problem involved the use of repeaters located at predetermined intervals along the transmission path. In general, the repeater receives an optical signal, converts the optical signal to an electrical signal which is then amplified by the repeater. After amplification, the repeater then converts the amplified electrical signal back into an optical signal and transmits the optical signal to the next repeater or end node. Thus, such repeaters require that operations be performed both in the electrical and optical domains.
While repeaters proved useful in some applications, the necessity of operating in both electrical and optical domains is problematic because repeaters can only operate on a single data stream or optical channel. For example, wavelength multiplexed systems have many data streams on many separate optical channels, where each channel corresponds to a different wavelength. Thus, each data stream would have to be demultiplexed, presented to a multiplicity of repeaters, then again multiplexed back into a single fiber. Not only is this process operationally complex, but signal losses are incurred both during demultiplexing and subsequent multiplexing.
In light of the inherent limitations of repeaters, "pure" optical amplifiers have been developed that operate strictly in the optical domain and thus are well-suited for wavelength multiplexed applications. Generally, long-haul communication systems employ a number of optical amplifiers which are located at predetermined intervals along the transmission path and serve to amplify the transmitted optical signals so that a high quality signal is received at even the most remote node, or receiver, of the optical network.
One example of such an optical amplifier is an erbium-doped fiber amplifier ("EDFA"). Optical amplifiers such as EDFAs have been widely employed as a result of their ability to produce an accurately amplified replication of any complex optical input, possibly containing many data streams at different optical wavelengths, for further transmission along the network. Consequently, optical amplifiers have proven particularly popular in wavelength division multiplexing ("WDM") applications.
In general, optical amplifiers such as EDFAs include a length of doped optical fiber. Typically, the doping element is a rare earth element, such as erbium, having an atomic structure such that the doped fiber is suitable for amplifying light. The EDFA operates in connection with one or more pump lasers that serve, in general, to exploit the light amplification ability of the atomic structure of the doped fiber.
More particularly, such pump lasers typically operate at a wavelength of 980 nanometers ("nm") or 1480 nm and operate to introduce energy into the doped fiber. As the degraded optical signal, typically having a wavelength of 1310 nm or 1550 nm, enters the EDFA, the energy generated by the pump laser serves to excite the erbium or other rare earth element in the doped fiber so that the erbium atoms release their stored energy in the form of additional 1550 nm or 1310 nm light. This process is repeated as the optical signal passes through the doped fiber, so that by the time the optical signal reaches the end of the doped fiber, the optical signal is of sufficient strength to be re-transmitted for an additional distance.
As suggested by the foregoing, optical amplifiers provide useful functionality in a long-haul optical networks. However, the performance of such optical amplifiers and, thus, the performance of the optical network as a whole, is often adversely affected by the systems, methods and devices used to control the operation of the optical transmitter.
For example, optical amplifiers such as EDFAs are particularly sensitive to rapid changes in the optical power at their inputs resulting from the "on" and "off" switching of the transmitters which feed data to the EDFA. As discussed below, such sensitivity can cause problems with the optical receivers of the system.
With respect first to the laser bias to the optical transmitter, typical transmitter control systems are configured so that laser bias to the optical transmitter is abruptly, rather than gradually, applied when it is desired to enable operation of the optical transmitter. In similar fashion, typical transmitter control systems abruptly cut laser bias when it is desired to disable operation of the optical transmitter. These abrupt changes in laser bias cause correspondingly rapid changes in the level of optical power received by the optical amplifier, thereby impairing the operation of the controller of the optical amplifier.
Moreover, because typical optical amplifiers are unable to respond quickly to sudden changes in input optical power, the optical output of the amplifier changes for a period of time as the controller of the optical amplifier attempts to achieve and maintain a constant output power. This fluctuation of the output optical power results in fluctuations in the optical output power of all other signals passing through the amplifier, thereby causing problems in their respective associated receivers, such as the receipt, at the receivers, of incorrect and/or incomplete data. In other cases, the receivers are simply unable to process the received signal for a period of time until the amplifier output restabilizes, or the respective receivers have time to adapt to the new optical signal strength presented to them.
As noted above, another problem concerning typical optical transmitter control systems relates to changes in the electrical modulation amplitude of the optical signal transmitted onto the system by the optical transmitter. In general, binary data transmission by an optical transmitter of an optical system is accomplished by transmitting at a relatively higher optical power to indicate a binary "1," and transmitting at a relatively lower optical power to indicate a binary "0." The ratio of the "1" power level to the "0" power level is sometimes referred to as the "extinction ratio," or simply, ER.
Because optical receivers are primarily responsive or receptive to the extinction ratio between the "1" and "0" optical power levels, and not to the average optical power, so long as the average power is above some minimum value and below some maximum value, it is desirable to maintain the extinction ratio at a relatively high, and constant, level. Accordingly, as the extinction ratio drops to a certain point, the optical receiver becomes increasingly unable to accurately or completely detect the incoming data. On the other hand, when the extinction ratio is maintained at a relatively high value, the optical receiver can readily detect the incoming data over a wider range of average optical power levels.
Typical optical systems, and optical transmitters and control systems in particular, are configured so that the electrical modulation signal amplitude which creates the optical data signal is maintained at a high level while power to the optical transmitter is shut down in response to a transmitter disable signal. This approach to data signal modulation control has proven problematic however. In particular, maintenance of the electrical modulation amplitude during laser shutdown often results in undesirable optical spikes being transmitted to the receivers as the modulation peaks exceed the threshold of the otherwise unbiased laser. Because the laser is unbiased, such optical peaks compromise the desired "quiet" state of the data channel.
Various other problems associated with known optical transmitter control systems, devices and methods concern the occurrence of undesirable optical signal wavelength effects, and the response of the receiver to the optical signal received from the optical transmitter. By way of example, uncontrolled, or ineffective control of, electrical modulation amplitude results in undesirable wavelength chirp, or the shifting of the center wavelength, which may adversely affect other data streams on adjacent optical channels. Further, the aforementioned concern with respect to electrical modulation amplitude also results in asymmetrical eye patterns, discussed in further detail below, and/or random spikes that compromise the ability of the optical receiver to receive and process the transmitted optical signal. This is particularly problematic because the disruption of the EDFA output power caused by the output power change of one optical transmitter will affect all other data streams on all other channels in that EDFA.
In view of the foregoing, and other problems, it has become apparent that solutions are needed to eliminate, or at least attenuate, such problems and shortcomings concerning optical transmitter input bias and optical signal modulation. One possible approach would be to employ an optical transmitter control method where, at startup of the optical transmitter, the electrical modulation amplitude of the optical signal, as well as the laser bias input power to the optical transmitter, are increased in tandem, each at a substantially constant rate, up to respective setpoints. Such a method would involve substantially the reverse process upon transmitter disable. Specifically, the modulation amplitude of the optical signal, as well as the laser bias input power to the optical transmitter, are decreased in tandem, each at a substantially constant rate, down to respective minimums.
While this type of approach would seem to represent somewhat of an improvement over previous methods and systems that involve abrupt changes in laser bias and/or electrical modulation amplitude, such an approach nonetheless produces undesirable "eye" patterns as the power and electrical modulation amplitude move upward from a zero point or move downward to a zero point. More particularly, the eye pattern refers to the waveform of a signal and is typically plotted as the amplitude of the signal over a predetermined period of time, where the 0-to-1 transitions are superimposed on the 1-to-0 transitions to show the relative difference between the two states and to show the rates of change between the two states.
In general, the openness of the eye pattern indicates the relative quality of the optical signal, so that a relatively more open eye pattern implicates a relatively higher quality optical signal, while a relatively closed eye pattern indicates a problem with the optical signal such as noise or bandwidth problems. Thus, the partially "closed," asymmetrical, or otherwise impaired, eye patterns produced by typical optical systems as the laser bias and electrical modulation amplitude move upward from a zero point during transmitter enable, or move downward to a zero point during transmitter disable, reflect undesirable transmitter performance.
In view of the foregoing, it would be useful to provide systems and devices for implementing a method for controlling laser bias to an optical transmitter, as well as for controlling the electrical modulation amplitude of an optical transmitter. Among other things, the method should enable variable rates of change to both the laser bias and to the electrical modulation amplitude of the transmitter, and should also enable the electrical modulation amplitude and laser bias to be adjusted in a predetermined time relationship with respect to each other. Finally, the method should enable changes in electrical modulation amplitude and laser bias to be triggered by the occurrence of predefined events such as optical transmitter enable and disable events.

System and method for control of optical transmitter


The container of the present invention is composed of a polymer material integrated with a plurality of nanosize particles of a clay mineral which act to enhance the barrier properties of the container. The polymer material may be PET, COPET or any mixture thereof. The nanocomposite polymer container decreases the permeability of various gases without substantially altering the fabrication method for producing containers composed of PET or COPET material, and without altering the containers themselves. The nanocomposite polymer containers of the present invention are able to accomplish this due to the minimal amount of clay integrated with the polymer material, between 0.1% and 10% weight of the container. The small amount of clay provides a substantial barrier due to the high aspect ratios of the clay particles which will vary between 100 and 2000. The nanocomposite polymer container may be produced using in situ polymerization, solution intercalation, or melt exfoliation to integrate the clay mineral with the polymer material matrix. The clay mineral may be smectite, vermiculite, halloysite or any synthetic analog thereof, with a preference for the montmorillonite species of smectite clays.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high level gas barrier container composed of a blended polymer material and a method for making containers from the material. Specifically, the present invention relates to a container composed of polyethylene terephthalate, or a copolymer thereof, integrated with nanosize particles of clay in order to decrease the gas permeability, and a method for making the container.
2. Description of the Related Art
Two major considerations of barrier performance relevant to polyethylene terephthalate ("PET") containers are: the ability to retain carbon dioxide within the bottle, specifically for carbonated beverages such as colas and beers; and the ability to minimize oxygen ingress through the container, specifically oxygen sensitive products such as beer and wine. To this end, manufacturers of PET containers have sought various methods to produce PET containers which increase these two attributes.
One method to obtain these attributes in PET containers is to produce multi-layered bottles composed of at least one layer of an ethylene/vinyl alcohol , nylon or poly(ethylene 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylate) ("PEN") material. An example of such is disclosed in Peece et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,352, for Multilayered Barrier Structures For Packaging. Another method is manufacture a container from a PET/PEN blend material. Still another method is to coat a PET bottle with a polyvinylidene-chloride ("PVDC") film.
The packaging industry has previously produced multi-layered packaging materials consisting of at least one skeletal layer which is composed of a blend of a polymer material and an inorganic filler material. Most of these packaging materials have included the inorganic filler to increase the light-shielding and thermal insulating properties of the package, with a few including the inorganic fillers for their ability to enhance the mechanical properties of the package. In practicing such inventions, the particular size of the inorganic filler particles has not been addressed since these inventions were only seeking to capture the bulk properties of these inorganic fillers for use in their packaging. An example of such is disclosed in Rosen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,763, for a Packaging Material And Also Use Of The Material For The Manufacture of Containers. In Rosen, the inorganic fillers are chalk, talc, lime, mica or clay with the preferred filler being chalk.
A recent trend in many fields is to blend polymer materials with particles of a modified clay mineral with very high aspect ratios. An aspect ratio is the ratio of a particular object's width to its thickness. The nanosize particles of clay usually have a width of several microns while the thickness is in the nanometers, hence the designation "nanosize particles." Much of the work in this area has focused on producing a composite material which increases the mechanical strength and heat resistance of the polymer material. One such example is Deguchi et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,948, for a Polyamide Composite Material And Method For Preparing The Same. An object of Deguchi et al is to provide a polyamide composite which possesses the properties of increased mechanical strength and heat resistance, but also has an improved dye-affinity and whitening resistance. The focus of this packaging trend has been to increase the mechanical strength and heat resistance of the polymeric material. This has resulted in the industry attempting to further increase the weight percentage of inorganic matter while maintaining the polymeric nature of the material.
The foregoing patents fail to address the need for developing a container which has a greater impermeability to the ingress and egress of gases without entirely changing the polymeric nature of the material.


An image processing apparatus includes an original feeder for feeding an original to an exposure position, a first detector provided in an original feed path of the original feeder for detecting a density of the original being fed, an exposure unit for exposing the original at the exposure position, a second detector provided at the exposure unit for detecting a density of the original at the exposure position, and a control unit for controlling processing conditions for an image on the original exposed by the exposure unit according to at least one output from the first detector and the second detector.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image processing apparatus, such as an original reading apparatus, a copier, a facsimile apparatus or the like, having an original feed device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, image processing apparatuses have been used which have an original feed function to feed an original onto a platen glass, and a so-called AE (automatic density adjustment) function to automatically detect the density of an image of the original and to adjust the density of a copy to a proper density by changing the amount of light of an exposure lamp in an optical scanning system. An image density detection means for the AE function in such an image processing apparatus is provided either in (i) an optical scanning system or in (ii) an original feed system.
In an apparatus (i) having an image density detection means for the AE function in an optical scanning system, after an original has been fed onto a platen glass and stopped, the original is prescanned by the optical scanning system to sample AE data, and the amount of light of an exposure lamp is determined according to the sampled AE data. Subsequently, scanning for image reading is performed in accordance with the amount of light of the exposure lamp determined.
In an apparatus (ii) having an image density detection means for the AE function in an original feed system, the image density detection means is disposed in an original feed path, and the density of an image of an original is detected while feeding the original.
However, the above-described conventional apparatuses having only one image density detection means for the AE function have, for example, the following disadvantages. In the apparatus (i) having the image density detection means for the AE function in the optical scanning system, in order to perform stable image density detection, prescanning of the optical scanning system for AE data to be sampled is needed before scanning (image scanning) for image reading. Hence, the number of operations for every original increases, and processing time is increased. As a result, the copying efficiency of the apparatus is substantially decreased particularly when performing image processing for a large number of originals, though the same holds true even for a single original.
In the apparatus (ii) having the image density detection means for the AE function in the original feed system, since the image density detection means is provided in an original feed unit, the AE function cannot be used when a copying operation is performed without using the original feed unit. Furthermore, the image density detection level becomes unstable due, for example, to stain by paper powder during a long period in the original feed operation. As a result, a proper amount of light of the exposure lamp cannot be obtained, and the AE function does not properly function.

Image processing apparatus having an original feed device with two density detectors


The invention relates to a hair revitalizing tonic composition containing, as an active ingredient, at least one lipid derivative of the general formula ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4 and Y are as defined in the specification, and a and b are 0 or 1, as well as its use. Thus, there is provided a hair revitalizing tonic composition having an excellent hair loss prevention and hair revitalizing effect and, moreover, an excellent dandruff and itchy scalp prevention effect.

This invention relates to hair revitalizing tonic compositions containing a specific lipid derivative as an active ingredient. The hair revitalizing tonic compositions of this invention are particularly intended for use in at least one technical field of application selected from drugs, quasi drugs and cosmetics.
Conventionally, the causes of baldness and hair loss have been considered to be disorders of the scalp resulting from the activation of male hormones in organs such as hair roots and sebaceous glands, an insufficient circulation of blood to hair follicles, an excessive secretion of sebum, the formation of peroxides, and the like. Accordingly, compounds or compositions having the effect of removing or alleviating the above-described causes are usually incorporated in conventional hair revitalizing tonic compositions.
These compounds or compositions include, for example, vitamins such as vitamin B complex and vitamin E; amino acids such as serine and methionine; vasodilators such as swertia herb extract, benzyl nicotinate and acetylcholine derivatives; anti-inflammatory agents such as lithospermum root extract and hinokitiol; female hormones such as estradiol; and skin function promoters such as cepharanthine. Actually, some of them are being used in the prophylaxis and treatment of alopecia.
However, in spite of the above-described various attempts which have been made, conventional hair revitalizing tonic compositions do not always exhibit satisfactory hair revitalizing effects such as hair loss prevention and hair generation effects. Presumably, the reason for this is believed to be that the cause of hair loss is varied and the mechanism of hair generation is highly complicated.
Thus, there is a continuing need for a hair revitalizing tonic composition which has an excellent hair loss prevention and hair revitalizing effect and, moreover, is effective in preventing dandruff and an itchy scalp.

Hair revitalization tonic composition containing a lipid derivative and use thereof


A multicarrier communication base station device (1) in accordance with the present invention includes selection unit that selects a subcarrier to be allocated based on transmission rate information in each mobile station (2), evaluation value calculation unit that calculates a reference value of a transmission rate with regard to a subcarrier to be allocated based on transmission rate information in each mobile station (2) and then calculate an evaluation value that is obtained by evaluating a difference between the reference value and a transmission rate of a subcarrier excluded from allocation, and priority determination unit that determines a priority of a mobile station to be assigned to each subcarrier based on an evaluation value calculated by the evaluation value calculation unit.

In recent years, in the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (hereinafter called "OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)") mode, which is one of the multicarrier modulation modes, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (hereinafter called "OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access)") mode in which multiple accesses are implemented by assigning users to respective subcarriers, or respective subchannels that are obtained by grouping a plurality of subcarriers has been attracting attention. This OFDMA mode has been studied, for example, in IEEE802.16e, which is a standard of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).
In the OFDM mode, information is transmitted by using N subcarriers having different frequencies. Note that in the multipath fading environments where transmission signals are received after passing through various paths, since the radio qualities of subcarriers are different from each other, a subcarrier(s) having a good radio quality is different from one mobile station to another. Therefore, it is necessary to allocate a subcarrier(s) that is determined to have as good radio quality as possible to each mobile station. Note that the better the radio quality of a subcarrier is, the higher transmission rate the communication can be performed at. Therefore, if each mobile station is allocated with a subcarrier having as good radio quality as possible, the communication can be performed with excellent efficiency as the entire system.
As a method in the related art, a method in which the dispersion value of the transmission rates of subcarriers is calculated for each mobile station and then subcarriers are allocated to a mobile station having the largest dispersion value until the requested transmission rate is satisfied has been proposed (e.g., see Patent document 1).
The subcarrier allocation method disclosed in Patent document 1 is explained hereinafter by using a specific example. In this example, the number of mobile stations is three, and the number of subcarriers is five. Further, in this example, the transmission rate is calculated based on the modulation mode and the encoding rate according to a table shown in FIG. 11.
Firstly, the transmission rates of respective subcarriers and their dispersion value are calculated according to the table shown in FIG. 11 for each mobile station. FIG. 12 is a table showing transmission rates for respective subcarriers, the dispersion value of the transmission rates, and a transmission rate requested from a mobile station for each of three mobile stations.
Firstly, among the three mobile stations, the allocation of a subcarrier(s) is started from the third mobile station having the largest dispassion value. Then, among the subcarriers of the third mobile station, the subcarriers 3 and 4 having the highest transmission rate are preferentially allocated. When the subcarriers 3 and 4 are allocated, the total transmission rate becomes 3+3=6 and the requested transmission rate, which is 6, is thereby satisfied. Therefore, the subcarrier allocation for the third mobile station is finished.
Further, the subcarrier allocation is performed for the first mobile station having the next highest dispersion value after the third mobile station. Then, since the subcarriers 3 and 4, among all the subcarriers of the first mobile station, were already allocated to the third mobile station, the subcarrier allocation is performed from a subcarrier having the highest transmission rate among the remaining subcarriers 1, 2 and 5. In this example, when the subcarriers 1, 2 and 5 are allocated to the first mobile station, the total transmission rate becomes 1+1+1.5=3.5 and thereby satisfying the requested transmission rate of the first mobile station, which is 3. Therefore, the subcarrier allocation for the first mobile station is finished. With this allocation, all the subcarriers 1 to 5 have been allocated, and therefore the allocation is finished. FIG. 13 is a table showing the allocation result.    [Patent Document 1]    Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-102225

Multicarrier communication base station device and subcarrier allocation method


A shooting control method includes displaying, by a terminal, a first screen that is not a video recording viewfinder screen, receiving, by the terminal, a first operation of a user on the first screen, displaying, in response to the first operation, a second screen, starting, in response to the first operation, to record a first video, and buffering, in response to the first operation, the first video, when the terminal detects a second operation, in response to the detected second operation, stopping, by the terminal, a video recording, and displaying, in response to the detected second operation, a third screen prompting the user to determine whether to save the first video, and saving or deleting the first video according to a selection operation of the user on the third screen.

Existing mobile phones generally have a photographing function, and more and more people use a mobile phone to shoot photos and videos to record details of life. For example, a user may tap a "camera" application icon on a home screen of a mobile phone, to indicate the mobile phone to turn on a camera and display a viewfinder screen.
Usually, the mobile phone may display a photographing viewfinder screen in response to a tap operation of the user on the "camera" application icon. When the user wants to record a video by using the mobile phone, the user may trigger the mobile phone to display a video recording viewfinder screen.
For example, FIG. 1(a) shows a photographing viewfinder screen 101 of a mobile phone 100. In response to a tap operation of the user on a "video" option 102 on the viewfinder screen 101, the mobile phone 100 may display a video recording viewfinder screen 103 shown in FIG. 1(b).
Alternatively, the mobile phone may directly display a video recording viewfinder screen in response to a tap operation of the user on the "camera" application icon. For example, in response to the tap operation of the user on the "camera" application icon, the mobile phone may directly display a viewfinder screen 103 shown in FIG. 1(b).
After the mobile phone 100 displays the video recording viewfinder screen 103 shown in FIG. 1(b), the mobile phone 100 can start to record a video only in response to a tap operation of the user on a recording start button 104.
However, after the mobile phone 100 displays the video recording viewfinder screen 103 shown in FIG. 1(b), an image on the video recording viewfinder screen 103 changes with a shooting object. This leads the user to mistakenly consider that the mobile phone 100 has started video recording. In this case, the user usually forgets to tap the recording start button 104. If the mobile phone 100 detects no tap operation of the user on the recording start button 104, the mobile phone 100 cannot record a video, and consequently cannot save a video that the user wants to record, and human-machine interaction performance is relatively poor.


Certain aspects provide systems and methods for performing an operation on a Bε-tree. A method comprises writing a message associated with the operation to a first slot in a first buffer of a first non-leaf node of the Bε-tree in an append-only manner, wherein a first filter associated with the first slot is used for query operations associated with the first slot. The method further comprises determining that the first buffer is full and, upon determining to flush the message to a non-leaf child node, flushing the message in an append-only manner to a second slot in a second buffer of the non-leaf child node, wherein a second filter associated with the second slot is used for query operations associated with the second slot. The method further comprises, upon determining to flush the message to a leaf node, flushing the message to the leaf node in a sorted manner.

B-trees are frequently used in various storage or database systems as a method and structure of storing data. Such storage systems may include one or more physical or virtual devices, including conventional hard disk drives of a computing device, Storage Area Network (SAN) devices or Virtual Storage Area Network (vSAN) devices. B-trees feature a balancing tree structure where inserted data is sorted during insertion. B-trees typically include a set of nodes each containing one or more key-value pairs. A key is an identifier of data, and a value is either the data itself or a pointer to a location (e.g., in memory or on disk) of the data associated with the identifier. Accordingly, a B-tree may be sorted according to the keys of the key-value pairs, and data can be read/written from the tree based on the key associated with the data. Because B-trees contain sorted key-value pairs, a read operation such as a query (e.g., a request for the value associated with a particular key in a data structure) to a B-tree may be completed by traversing the B-tree relatively quickly to find the desired key-value pair based on the key of the query. Thus, B-trees can be used to store data in a way that improves performance relative to other data structures (such as arrays) for certain operations (e.g., a query to an un-sorted array may take longer than a query to a B-tree).
Bε-trees are a modification of B-trees and are similar in many respects to B-trees. Unlike a B-tree, however, each node of a Bε-tree, except the leaf nodes, includes, in addition to key-value pairs, a buffer. The buffers of a Bε-tree may store operations to be performed on the Bε-tree as messages. For example, a message may indicate a key and a write or update operation (e.g., set the value, add, subtract, multiply, delete, change, etc.) to perform on the value associated with the key in a key-value pair. Accordingly, a message may also be considered a type of key-value pair with the value being the operation to perform on a value of another key-value pair with the same key. The buffers may be used to store messages until a size limit is reached, at which point the messages may be flushed to child nodes and applied to key-value pairs in the child nodes (e.g., by performing a merge or compaction), which may include adding new nodes to the Bε-tree or balancing the Bε-tree by transferring nodes from one subtree to another. The buffers of Bε-trees allow write operations to be performed more quickly relative to standard B-trees, as write operations on existing key-value pairs or insertions of new key-value pairs may not traverse the entire Bε-tree to be applied immediately and may instead be placed in a buffer of any node associated with the key of the message, possibly near the root of the Bε-tree.
When a new message is added to a buffer, the existing contents of the buffer are read and then merged with the new message. The resulting content is then sorted and written back to the buffer. As such, although Bε-trees reduce write amplification in comparison to B-trees, the I/O operations associated with re-writing a buffer, when a new message is added to the buffer, introduces some write amplification. To address this problem, in some cases, an append-only method may be applied to Bε-trees, which involves writing data in all the nodes of the Bε-trees in a sequential manner. Bε-trees using the append-only method may be referred to as append-only Bε-trees. For example, as a result of using the append-only method, buffers are no longer re-written when messages are flushed down. Instead, messages are appended to the buffers in fragments or slots. A slot or a fragment refers to a sorted data structure, such as an array or a B-tree, that is created for storing a batch of one or more messages that is flushed down to a buffer at a certain time. In an append-only Bε-tree, the append-only method is also applied when data is written to the leaf-nodes of the Bε-tree.
Although the append-only method reduces write amplification, querying append-only Bε-trees is less efficient and results in more overhead because messages and/or key-value pairs in the nodes are no longer always sorted. In order to enhance the efficiency and reduce the overhead associated with query operations performed on an append-only Bε-tree, one of a number of data structures or filters, such as a bloom filter, may be created, stored in RAM, and used for optimizing query operations associated with each of the slots in nodes of the append-only Bε-tree. In some cases, however, the collective size of all filters associated with an append-only Bε-tree may be so large that the filters may occupy a significant amount of memory space in random access memory (e.g., RAM) or, in some other cases, not even fit in RAM.

Trading off cache space and write amplification for B


An inducer is directed to the induction of in situ regeneration in regenerative medicine. The inducer including an extracellular matrix and/or a bone morphogenetic protein, can induce the regeneration of bone and soft tissues surrounding the bone such as muscle, blood vessel and skin at the residual tissues where trauma occurs. The amount of regenerated tissue is associated with the dose of the implanted inducer.

Some lower organisms such as earthworms and leeches have high regenerative capabilities. Complete regeneration of the fore and hind limbs or tails after amputation takes place in some amphibians such as lizards, salamanders and frogs. Mammalians exhibit weak regenerative capability. For a few of mammalians, appendages such as velvet antler can be completely regenerated. The distal phalanges (Phalange 3, P3) of humans and rodent (for example, mice) are capable of incomplete regeneration; that is, regeneration occurs after the amputation of a distal end of P3 but not after the amputation of a proximal end of P3. Other digits, for example the middle phalanges (Phalange 2, P2) and upper and lower limbs after amputation cannot be regenerated. The present invention induces bone generation of damaged tissues with an extracellular matrix (ECM) and a bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), which shows significant effects.
Currently, researches on the regeneration of the severed digits mostly employ the complete severance of toes of mice as a model, including regeneration of severed toes without soft tissues which are more difficult to regenerate. Soft tissue plays an important role in the repair of bone trauma, and bone tissues without soft tissue coating may become necrotic after the bone trauma is healed. Therefore, during the amputation of limbs or digits, the bone needs to be truncated to a length shorter than the soft tissue, such that the bone can be coated by the soft tissue (Zhiyong Qu, et al., Practical Hand Surgery [M], People's Military Medical Press, 2003; Kevin C Chung, original, Repair and Construction for Hand and Upper Limb [M], People's Military Medical Press, 2013). The replanted severed finger should be embedded in the soft tissue of the body to increase the survival rate within 3 weeks after replantation of the severed finger (Bin Wang et al., Repair of Hand Tissue Defect [M], People's Military Medical Press, 2008).
There are three types of inducers for mouse digit regeneration, living tissues (nail bed or germ), growth factors (BMPs, bFGF) and extracellular matrix (ECM). These inducers function in different ways. The living tissues such as nail bed or germ are directly transplanted to a trauma site; the growth factors such as gelatin or blue gelatinous particles containing BMPs are implanted subcutaneously into the wound; and ECM in the form of liquid ECM is injected near the wound or exposed to the wound with a special device. The living tissues can induce the regeneration of various bone tissues such as ulna, radius, carpus and phalange at the forearm (Mohammad K A, Neufeld D A. Bone growth is induced by nail transplantation in amputated proximal phalanges. [J]. Calcif Tiss Int, 1999, 65: 408-410; Masaki H, Ide H. Regeneration potency of mouse limbs. [J]. Dev. Growth Differ, 2007, 49:89-98). BMPs are also effective in the bone regeneration. For example, BMP7/BMP2 can promote the regeneration of the distal phalange (P3) in the case where a proximal end of P3 is amputated which is not regenerative (Yu L, Han M, Yan M. et al. BMP signaling induces digit regeneration in neonatal mice [J]. Development. 2010, 137, 551-559). BMP2 can be used to extend the length of the middle phalange (P2), but cannot promote joint regeneration in the case where P2 is amputated (Yu L, Han M, Yan M, et al. BMP2 induces segment-specific skeletal regeneration from digit and limb amputations by establishing a new endochondral ossification center [J]. Developmental Biology. 2012, 372:263-273). Gelatin containing BMP7 can be used to induce the formation of heterotopic bone in the case where the bones of neonatal mice are removed and soft tissues such as skin are remained (Ide H. Bone pattern formation in mouse limbs after amputation at the forearm level [J]. Developmental Dynamics. 2012, 241:435-441). ECM shows the weakest bone regeneration effect, but ECM degradation products can promote the migration of various progenitor/stem cells to the wound of mouse digits (Reing J E, Zhang L, Myers Irvin J. et al. Degradation products of extracellular matrix affect cell migration and proliferation [J]. Tissue Eng Part A 2009, 15: 605-614; Agrawal V, Johnson S A, Reing J. Epimorphic regeneration approach to tissue replacement in adult mammals [J]. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 2010, USA 107:3351-3355). Some unknown proteins extracted from ECM can induce the formation of a small amount of callus (Agrawal V, Kelly J, Tottey S. et al. An isolated cryptic peptide influences osteogenesis and bone remodeling in an adult mammalian model of digit amputation [J]. Tissue Eng Part A. 2011 December; 17 (23-24):3033-44). In addition, the liquid ECM combines with electrical stimulation to induce regeneration of mouse digits (Hechavarria D, Dewilde A, Braunhut S. et al. Biodome regenerative sleeve for biochemical and biophysical stimulation of tissue regeneration [J]. Medical Engineering and Physics 2010, 32(9): 1065-1073), and the ECM powder is used for the regeneration of severed fingers in human in combination with adipose tissue; however, there is no description about new bone formation (Sivak W N, Ruane E J, Hausman S J, Rubin J P, Spiess A M. Decellularized Matrix and Supplemental Fat Grafting Leads to Regeneration following Traumatic Fingertip Amputation. Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2016 Oct. 12; 4(10):e1094). There are some reports about the induction of ECM in pig bladder on the regeneration of severed digits, but the occurrence of bone regeneration still remains uncertain. ECM is used as a tissue engineering scaffold material for the repair of various soft tissues, but there is still a lack of strong evidence to demonstrate the role of ECM in bone tissue regeneration. It can be seen from the above that these inducers in the prior art have the following defects: the living tissue reducers have limited sources and immune rejection; BMPs are expensive and can only induce the regeneration of limited bone mass; and the amount of the regenerated tissue induced by ECM extracts is too small.
At present, there is an urgent need to improve the inducer for regeneration, especially bone regeneration.

Inducer for regeneration of bone and soft tissue, and method for making same and uses thereof


An optical communication module includes a plurality of semiconductor lasers that emit optical signals with different wavelengths, a plurality of first mounts each including a first mounting surface on which a corresponding one of the semiconductor lasers is mounted and a first side surface that intersects with the first mounting surface, a second mount including a second mounting surface on which a lens array that collimates an optical signal emitted from a corresponding one of the plurality of semiconductor lasers and a multiplexing optical system that multiplexes the plurality of optical signals that have been collimated by the lens array and a second side surface that intersects with the second mounting surface. Each of the first mounts is fixed to the second mount in a state where a corresponding one of the semiconductor lasers is aligned with the lens array and the first side surface abuts the second side surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical communication modules, and more particularly, relates to an optical communication module used for wavelength division multiplexing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of optical communications, the transmission capacity per optical fiber cable has been increasing, and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) as a communication method which realizes such increased transmission capacity is known. In wavelength division multiplexing, a plurality of optical signals with different wavelengths are simultaneously transmitted using a signal optical fiber.
An optical communication module used for wavelength division multiplexing is an optical transceiver. An optical transceiver used for wavelength division multiplexing includes at least a plurality of light sources that emit light beams (optical signals) with different wavelengths, a lens that condenses and collimates signals emitted from the light sources, and a multiplexing optical system that multiplexes optical signals condensed or collimated by the lens, and semiconductor lasers are used as the light sources in many cases.
In a known optical transceiver, a semiconductor laser serving as a light source, and a light condensing lens and a collimate lens (which will be hereinafter generally referred to as "lenses") are mounted on a common supporting member.
When a semiconductor laser and a lens are mounted on the supporting member, position adjustment of the semiconductor laser and the lens is performed. Specifically, the relative positions of the semiconductor laser and the lens are fine-tuned such that the optical axis of an optical signal emitted from the semiconductor laser and the optical axis of the lens match one another. Conventionally, after the semiconductor laser is mounted on the mounting surface of the supporting member, the above-described alignment operation is performed by moving the lens in two axial directions or three axial directions (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-80900). In the following description, a direction which is parallel to the mounting surface of the supporting member and is orthogonal to the lens optical axis is defined as "the X-axis direction". A direction which is parallel to the mounting surface of the supporting member and is also parallel to the lens optical axis is defined as "the Z-axis direction". Furthermore, a direction which is perpendicular to the mounting surface of the supporting member and is orthogonal to the lens optical axis is defined as "the Y-axis direction".

Optical communication module and method for producing the same


A lottery ticket has printed thereon a matrix of nine rows and nine columns defining eighty one locations some of which are pre-marked with numbers from 1 to 9 and is arranged such that the player can select and enter the numbers in open locations to provide an arrangement of the numbers in which the marked locations and the open locations contain a number selected from the numbers 1 to 9 where all columns and all rows have the nine locations thereof each containing one of the numbers 1 to 9 with each number appearing once only. Prizes are awarded, according to a set of rules relating to the lottery ticket, depending on the appearance of at least one of the numbers in at least one of the locations or depending on the total number of correct rows or columns or other matrix shape of nine locations.

A number of patent applications have been filed and patents granted for instant win lottery tickets which provide play action for the player in order to provide an extended play to increase player involvement and enjoyment.
Sudoku is a known numbers game using a matrix of eighty one locations in a nine by nine grid in which the player has to complete entry into each of the locations of a selected one of the numbers 1 to 9 in such a way that in each of the nine horizontal and vertical rows the numbers 1 to 9 appear only once and that within each of the smaller three by three grids the numbers 1 to 9 are used only one time as well. The matrix is set up initially using a limited set of prescribed numbers in selected ones of the locations to start. In play the player has to determine which number goes in which of the open locations in order to complete the grid.


In order to terminate pacemaker-mediated tachycardia (PMT), a pacemaker (or "Pacer") capable of atrial synchronized ventricular pacing, defines a retrograde sensing window after a ventricular paced event. If a preset number of sequential retrograde sensed events occur within this window in consecutive pacing cycles the post ventricular atrial refractory period (PVARP) is extended for one pacing cycle (EXT PVARP) and the pacer will not attempt to interrupt a PMT for a relatively long preset interval thereafter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to atrial synchronized ventricular pacemakers which can generate ventricular pacing events in response to sensed atrial events. More particularly, the invention relates to a pacer which modifies its operation to terminate pacemaker-mediated tachycardia.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Atrial synchronized ventricular inhibited pacing modes have been widely adopted for pacing therapy. The principal atrial synchronized operating mode is referred to as "DDD". This mode has a sensor augmented variant mode called "DDDR".
A DDD pacemaker includes an atrial sense amplifier to detect atrial depolarizations of the heart. If, after an appropriate delay, the ventricle of the heart fails to beat, the pacemaker supplies a ventricular pacing stimulus to the ventricle through an appropriate lead system. Pacemakers which perform this function have the capability of tracking the patient's natural sinus rhythm and preserving the hemodynamic contribution of the atrial contraction over a wide range of heart rates.
The principal problem associated with atrial tracking pacing modalities is referred to in the industry as "PMT" for Pacemaker-Mediated Tachycardia. In many patients, a ventricular stimulus may result in retrograde conduction from the ventricle to the atrium. If retrograde conduction reaches the atrium while the atrial tissue is refractory, the atrium does not depolarize, and no PMT occurs.
However, if the atrial tissue is not refractory, the retrograde conduction can stimulate a "beat" of the atrial tissue which may be detected by the pacemaker's atrial sense amplifier. Consequently, the pacemaker synchronizes to the retrograde "beat" and paces the ventricle again, after an AV delay interval. In this instance, the atrial sense amplifier is not detecting natural sinus depolarizations of the atria, but rather it is detecting atrial depolarizations caused by retrograde conduction. Consequently, the pacer is no longer following a natural atrial rhythm, but rather the pacing rate is determined by the retrograde conduction time of the patient and the AV delay interval of the pacer. This process results in ventricular pacing at an inappropriate rate which is at or below the upper ventricular rate limit of the pacer, and an inappropriate atrio-ventricular sequence.
A variety of events may initiate PMT, including: the occurrence of premature ventricular contractions (PVC's); pacer Wenkebach prolongation of AV interval; loss of atrial capture; atrial sensing of noise, and long programmed AV intervals.
Many approaches have been adopted to address the PMT problem including the techniques taught by:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,980 to Mann et.al., which teaches a retrograde sense period, invoked by the detection of a premature ventricular contraction (PVC). An atrial event detected in this window results in the generation of an atrial paced event if no intervening atrial or ventricular event is sensed. This patent teaches the suspension of the pacemaker's maximum tracking interval (MTI) after the detection of a PVC. This patent also teaches the shortening of the AV interval in response to the detection of a PVC.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,991 to Boute, teaches a pacemaker which monitors the atrial rate, then examines the stability of the VA conduction time to ascertain whether the pacer is participating in a pacemaker-mediated tachycardia at the ventricular rate limit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,119 to Herpers, discloses a pacemaker which avoids PMT by extending the atrial refractory period upon the detection of a PVC.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,920 to Baker, et al., teaches a pacemaker which avoids PMT by extending the atrial Refractory period upon the occurrence of specific events, such as a PVC, noise reversion, or a programmed mode change.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,556 to Baker, teaches a pacemaker which inhibits a ventricular paced event after a predefined number of successive ventricular paced events have occurred at the ventricular rate limit.

Pacemaker for terminating pacemaker-mediated tachycardia


Methods and systems described herein involve using long cell-free DNA fragments to analyze a biological sample from a pregnant subject. The status of methylated CpG sites and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is often used to analyze DNA fragments of a biological sample. A CpG site and a SNP are typically separated from the nearest CpG site or SNP by hundreds or thousands of base pairs. Finding two or more consecutive CpG sites or SNPs on most cell-free DNA fragments is improbable or impossible. Cell-free DNA fragments longer than 600 bp may include multiple CpG sites and/or SNPs. The presence of multiple CpG sites and/or SNPs on long cell-free DNA fragments may allow for analysis than with short cell-free DNA fragments alone. The long cell-free DNA fragments can be used to identify a tissue of origin and/or to provide information on a fetus in a pregnant female.

The modal size of circulating cell-free DNA in pregnancy has been reported to be at approximately 166 bp (Lo et al. Sci Transl Med. 2010; 2:61ra91). There are very few published data on fragments larger than 600 bp. One example is the work by Amicucci et al who reported the amplification using PCR of an 8 kb fragment from the basic protein Y2 gene (BPY2) from the Y chromosome from maternal plasma (Amicucci et al. Clin Chem 2000; 40: 301-2). It is not known whether such data can be generalized across the genome. Indeed, there are many challenges for using massively parallel short-read sequencing technologies, e.g. using the Illumina platform, to detect such long DNA fragments, e.g. above 600 bp (Lo et al. Sci Transl Med. 2010; 2:61ra91; Fan et al, Clin Chem. 2010; 56:1278-86). These challenges include: (1) the recommended size range for Illumina sequencing platform typically spans 100-300 bp (De Maio et al. Micob Genom. 2019; 5(9)); (2) DNA amplification would be involved in the sequencing library preparation (via PCR) or sequencing cluster generation via bridge amplification on a flow cell. Such an amplification process may favor amplifying the shorter DNA fragments due partly to the fact that the long DNA templates (e.g. >600 bp) would require a relatively long time to complete the synthesis of the daughter strands compared to the short DNA templates (e.g. <200 bp). Therefore, within a fixed timeframe for these PCR processes prior to or during sequencing on the Illumina platform, those long DNA molecules, whose daughter strands failed to be generated completely during a PCR process, would be not available in the downstream analysis; (3) the long DNA molecule would have higher chance to form secondary structures which would hamper amplification; (4) using Illumina sequencing technology, the long DNA molecules would more likely cause clusters containing more than one clonal DNA molecules, compared to short DNA molecules, as the libraries are denatured, diluted and diffused on the two-dimensional surface followed by bridge amplification (Head et al. Biotechniques. 2014; 56:61-4).

Molecular analyses using long cell-free fragments in pregnancy


A memory film layer is formed in a memory opening through an alternating stack of first material layers and second material layers. A sacrificial material layer is deposited on the memory film layer. Horizontal portions of the sacrificial material layer and the memory film layer at the bottom of the memory opening is removed by an anisotropic etch to expose a substrate underlying the memory opening, while vertical portions of the sacrificial material layer protect vertical portions of the memory film layer. After removal of the sacrificial material layer selective to the memory film, a doped semiconductor material layer can be formed directly on the exposed material in the memory opening and on the memory film as a single material layer to form a semiconductor channel of a memory device.

Recently, ultra high density storage devices have been proposed using a three-dimensional (3D) stacked memory structure sometimes referred to as a Bit Cost Scalable (BiCS) architecture. For example, a 3D NAND stacked memory device can be formed from an array of alternating conductive and dielectric layers. A memory opening is formed through the layers to define many memory layers simultaneously. A NAND string is then formed by filling the memory opening with appropriate materials. A straight NAND string extends in one memory opening, while a pipe- or U-shaped NAND string (p-BiCS) includes a pair of vertical columns of memory cells. Control gates of the memory cells may be provided by the conductive layers.
During formation of memory cells for the BiCS architecture, a memory film layer is deposited in each memory opening through an alternating stack of first material layers and second material layers. In order to protect vertical portions of the memory film layer during a subsequent anisotropic etch, a first semiconductor material layer may be conformally deposited on the contiguous memory film layer. The horizontal bottom portion of the memory film layer can be removed from each memory opening by an anisotropic etch to physically expose a first electrode or the substrate underlying the memory opening. A second semiconductor material layer is subsequently deposited directly on the first electrode or the substrate exposed in the memory opening and on the first semiconductor material layer. The first and second semiconductor material layers collectively function as a semiconductor channel of each memory cell in the NAND string.

Single-semiconductor-layer channel in a memory opening for a three-dimensional non-volatile memory device


A drive system for a grounds care device using two identical final drives in combination with two identical power units to provide directional drive to the wheels.. The final drives and power units are assembled to each other differently for use on each side to provide the required relative reverse rotation of each drive wheel while maintaining the same direction of control movement for forward (or reverse) movement of each drive wheel (in regards to machine movement).. Additionally, the drive belt for the cutting unit is routed between the power units (rather than under or over) to allow a lower center of gravity for increased stability.

Modern ground care equipment, whether they be walk behind or riding, typically have some sort of drive system extending from a source of power like a motor to the drivewheels--typically two in number on opposite lateral sides of a frame. The drive systems are functional in that they do transmit the power to the wheels, thus relieving the operator of the significant chore of physically manipulating the device around the lawn or grounds. The types of transmissions which accomplish this are normally single piece units having a single input drive shaft and a specially designed transmission casing interconnected to both axles--thus to provide the entire drive system in a single package. Other devices, typically in the more expensive commercial units, will have separate drive systems for each side of the device with these special drive systems specifically designed for the certain application. This typically necessitates having a system specially designed for the right side of the device being distinct from that specially designed for the left side of the device. Alternately, some sort of complex direction or reversing mechanism has to be incorporated into either or both units or to the drive system which interconnects them both commonly to the engine. These special designs are expensive to design, manufacture, and repair. One reason for this is the effective dual inventory and/or high number of complex parts utilized in such systems.


A plurality of directional control valves (5, 6) respectively disposed between a hydraulic pump (50) and a plurality of actuators (3, 4) each comprises a pump port (9), a pressure chamber (10), a feeder passage (11), actuator ports (12a, 12b), a reservoir port (13), first meter-in variable restrictors (15a, 15b) disposed between the pump port and the pressure chamber, and a pressure compensating valve (16) disposed between the pressure chamber and the feeder passage and having a pair of opposite ends, one of which is subjected to a pressure in the pressure chamber and the other of which is subjected to a maximum load pressure among the plurality of actuators. The hydraulic pump (1) includes a pump flow control device (2) for controlling a delivery rate of the hydraulic pump so that a delivery pressure of the hydraulic pump is held higher by a predetermined value than the maximum pressure obtained, as a load sensing pressure, from load pressures of the plurality of actuators. At least one of the plurality of directional control valves has a bleed passage (21) for communicating between the feeder passage (11) and the reservoir port (13), and second variable restrictors (22a, 22b) disposed in the bleed passage and moved in conjunction with the first meter-in variable restrictors, making it possible to prevent abrupt operation of the actuator adapted for driving an inertial body, and suppress vibration produced in a circuit even when any of the pump delivery rate and the load pressure is fluctuated.

A hydraulic drive system for use in construction machines such as hydraulic excavators comprises a hydraulic pump, a plurality of hydraulic actuators driven by a hydraulic fluid supplied from the hydraulic pump, and a plurality of directional control valves for controlling respective flow rates of the hydraulic fluid supplied from the hydraulic source to a plurality of actuators.
From the standpoint of reducing energy consumption primarily, it is proposed in a hydraulic drive system of that type to employ a load sensing control technique for controlling a delivery pressure of the hydraulic pump dependent on the load pressure. As examples of such a hydraulic drive system, there are known GB 2,195,745A, DE 2,906,670A1, U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,023, etc. To carry out the load sensing control, those examples of the prior art employ a pump flow controller for controlling a delivery rate of the hydraulic pump so that the delivery pressure of the hydraulic pump is held higher by a fixed value than a maximum load pressure among the plurality of actuators. The plurality of directional control valves each comprises a pump port, a pressure chamber capable of communicating with the pump port, a feeder passage capable of communicating with the pressure chamber, an actuator port capable of communicating with the feeder passage, a reservoir port capable of communicating with the actuator port, a first meter-in variable restrictor disposed between the pump port and the pressure chamber, and a pressure compensating valve having a pair of opposite ends, one of which is subjected to a pressure in the pressure chamber and the other of which is subjected to the maximum load pressure among the plurality of actuators. With the pair of opposite ends respectively subjected to the pressure in the pressure chamber and the maximum load pressure, as mentioned above, the pressure compensating valve serves to control the pressure in the pressure chamber dependent on the maximum load pressure for holding the differential pressure across the meter-in variable restrictor at a fixed value, during the combined operation in which plural actuators are driven simultaneously. The differential pressures across the meter-in variable restrictors of all the directional control valves are thereby made equal to one another so that the flow rate of the hydraulic fluid from the hydraulic pump is distributed in accordance with the ratio of opening area between the variable restrictors to perform the desired combined operation.
Of the prior art, the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,023 is arranged such that one of the directional control valves comprises a pressure reducing valve disposed between the pressure compensating valve and the actuator port for reducing the pressure of the hydraulic fluid supplied to the associated actuator, a load line for leading out the load pressure via a fixed restrictor, and a proportional pressure relief valve of which relief setting pressure is regulated by a pilot pressure from a control lever unit to limit the pressure in the load line, the pressure in the load line being led to act on a setting sector of the pressure reducing valve to thereby control an outlet pressure of the pressure reducing valve dependent on the setting pressure of the proportional pressure relief valve.
The above examples of the prior art have, however, the following problems.
In the hydraulic drive systems disclosed in the above-cited GB 2,195,745 and DE 2,906,670A1, when a control lever for the directional control valve is manipulated to operate the associated actuator, the hydraulic fluid is momentarily forced to flow at a flow rate corresponding to the resultant opening of the meter-in variable restrictor of the directional control valve. Accordingly, upon the control lever being quickly manipulated, the actuator is abruptly operated. This raises a problem in the case of driving a member of large inertia such as a swing of a hydraulic excavator, for example. More specifically, while the flow rate is abruptly increased upon the control lever of the directional control valve being quickly manipulated, the swing to be driven by a swing motor has large inertia and, therefore, the pressure in the system reaches the relief pressure set for limiting a maximum value of the circuit pressure. In this event, the prior art can no longer effect the pressure control and an acceleration of the swing as an inertial body is maximized, causing an operator to feel a shock. This also practically holds true in the case of traveling, boom-up and so forth other than the swing.
Further, in the aforementioned hydraulic drive system, when a tilting angle of the hydraulic pump is changed to a small extent, the flow rate of the hydraulic fluid delivered from the hydraulic pump is also changed and so is the sensing pressure, i.e., the maximum load pressure. If the amount of such a change is large, the delivery rate of the hydraulic pump is changed again to a large extent, which may cause oscillation in the circuit as a result of repetitions of the above process.
On the other hand, with the prior art disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,023, the pressure of the hydraulic fluid supplied to the actuator is reduced in response to the pilot pressure at start-up of the swing, thereby preventing the swing motor from being abruptly operated. Also, even when the delivery rate of the hydraulic pump is slightly fluctuated, the load pressure of the swing motor will not fluctuate, because the setting of the proportional pressure relief valve is fixed and so is the setting of the pressure reducing valve as long as the operation amount of the control lever is kept fixed. It is thus possible to suppress change in the load sensing pressure caused by slight fluctuations in the pump delivery rate. However, this prior art has the following problem.
When the swing starts its inertial rotation after start-up thereof, the load pressure of the swing motor is reduced. If the load pressure lowers below the setting pressure of the pressure reducing valve, the latter valve can no longer effect its function. Under that condition, when the delivery rate of the hydraulic pump is slightly fluctuated as mentioned before, the load pressure of the swing motor is changed and so is the load sensing pressure, which may cause oscillation in the circuit, as with the foregoing prior art.
There is generally such a tendency that when the load pressure is changed so as to increase during the operation of an actuator, vibration of the actuator is damped if the flow rate of the hydraulic fluid supplied to the actuator is reduced, continues if it remains the same, and is brought into oscillation if it is increased. With the prior art disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,023, since the proportional relief valve is closed under a condition that the load pressure of the swing motor is reduced below the setting pressure of the pressure reducing valve, no part of the hydraulic fluid passing through the directional control valve is now discharged into a reservoir (tank) via the proportional relief valve. In other words, all of the hydraulic fluid passing through the directional control valve is supplied to the actuator. Further, there is no flow of the hydraulic fluid reaching the load line through the fixed restrictor, the pressure in the load line becomes equal to the load pressure so that the differential pressure across the directional control valve is controlled to be constant as usual through the load sensing control of the hydraulic pump, thus rendering constant the flow rate of the hydraulic fluid passing through the directional control valve. Accordingly, when the load pressure is changed so as to increase during the operation of an actuator as mentioned above, the flow rate of the hydraulic fluid supplied to the actuator remains the same. As a result, load fluctuations will not be damped once occurred, which may impair the working efficiency.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a hydraulic drive system and a directional control valve for use in construction machines, which can realize pressure control while maintaining adequate distribution of flow rates, prevent abrupt operation of an actuator adapted for driving an inertial body, and further suppress vibration produced in a circuit even when any of the pump delivery rate and the load pressure is fluctuated.

Hydraulic drive system and directional control valve

Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Inc.


A pneumatic tire with a double layer innerliner structure bonded to an inner face of the tire carcass for reducing noise generated by air vibrations inside of the tire's air chamber, and a method of making the tire. The double layer structure includes a first innerliner layer of non-foamed rubber adjacent the carcass and a second innerliner layer of foamed porous rubber forming an innermost surface of the tire. The foamed porous rubber is formed by curing a rubber composition having a nitrogen-releasing foaming agent dispersed therein that decomposes at the vulcanization temperature to release nitrogen gas. The second innerliner layer further has an open-celled structure with a plurality of open cavities that are formed by physically altering the innermost surface of the foamed innerliner layer.

Government regulations continue to reduce the allowable noise levels produced from the tires of passenger vehicles. One source of road noise is resonance within the air chamber enclosed by the innermost surface of the tire and the rim. One type of effort to reduce tire noise is damping the sound from the air vibration in the air chamber, which efforts have focused mainly on altering the innerliner that is disposed as the innermost layer of the tire adjacent the tire carcass. Shortcomings in these previous efforts, as well as new stricter regulations regarding noise reduction, have provided a need for further improvements to the innerliner to reduce sound transmission due to vibrations within the air chamber.


Zero point shift based on thermal siphon effect occurring actually when a substrate is processed is detected accurately and corrected suitably. The semiconductor fabrication system comprises a gas supply passage (210) for supplying gas into a heat treatment unit (110), an MFC (240) for comparing an output voltage from a detecting unit for detecting the gas flow rate of the gas supply passage with a set voltage corresponding to a preset flow rate and controlling the gas flow rate of the gas supply passage to the set flow rate, and a control unit (300). The control unit replaces gas in the MFC by gas which is to be used at least for processing a substrate before the substrate is processed, detects the output voltage from the MFC under a state where valves (230, 250) provided in the upstream and the downstream of the MFC are closed and stores the detected output voltage in a storage unit, corrects the set voltage corresponding to the flow rate of gas to be used for processing the substrate based on the output voltage from the MFC stored in the storage unit at the time of processing the substrate, and sets the corrected set voltage in the MFC.

Conventionally, in a semiconductor device manufacturing process (e.g., a film formation process using a film forming gas, an etching process using an etching gas, and the like), a gas or a liquid is supplied to a semiconductor fabrication apparatus. In this case, a flow rate of the gas or liquid is controlled by a flow rate controller such as a mass flow controller (MFC) installed in a supply flow path through which the gas or liquid is supplied.
The MFC is generally configured to split the supply flow path into a lateral flow path and a main flow path running in parallel. The lateral flow path includes an upstream sensor and a downstream sensor which respectively have heat generating resistance wires. When a fluid is flowing, heat is lost at the upstream to be cooled so that the upstream sensor detects a temperature lowered thereat, while heat is gained at the downstream to thereby be heated so that the downstream sensor detects a temperature raised thereat. As a result, a temperature difference is observed between the upstream sensor and the downstream sensor, and the flow rate in the supply flow path can be obtained by measuring the temperature difference. The MFC adjusts the flow rate in the supply flow path to be a set flow rate, by controlling an opening level of a flow rate control valve in response to outputs from the flow rate sensors.
However, while the MFC is being used, an actual flow rate (i.e., a flow rate of a gas which actually passes through the MFC) may be deviated from the set flow rate, due to contamination (caused by corrosion or remaining products) in a pipe around which the flow rate sensors are wound. For example, even when the actual flow rate is zero, a detected voltage value corresponding to the flow rate detected by the flow rate sensor is in many cases not zero, resulting in an error with slight deviation (see, e.g. Patent Document 1). The above-mentioned deviation of zero point (zero point shift) includes a case where the deviation is slowly increased in proportion to a duration of use, and a case where a change rate (slope) of an output voltage with respect to a flow rate varies (span shift). In the present application, this zero point shift will be referred to as "use-based zero point shift (a first zero point shift)".
Further, the deviation of the zero point (zero point shift) may also be caused due to, e.g., a molecular weight or pressure of a gas, depending on an installed orientation of the MFC. Due to requirements for a miniaturization of a semiconductor fabrication apparatus, a configuration of a piping system, an installation space or the like, there are cases where a lateral flow path (a part parallel to the main flow path), around which the flow rate sensors of the MFC are wound to be installed, needs to be installed in a vertical state (vertical orientation).
However, when the MFC is installed in the vertical orientation, even though no fluid flows into the supply flow path, for example, a flow may be developed due to the molecular weight or pressure of a gas caused by the temperature difference between the lateral flow path and the main flow path in the MFC. Accordingly, the deviation of the zero point (zero point shift) may occur. This effect is generally referred to as "thermal siphon effect." (For example, see Patent Document 2.) In the present application, this kind of zero point shift will be referred to as "installation arrangement-based zero point shift (a second zero point shift)", thereby distinguishing it from the use-based zero point shift (the first second zero point shift) that has been described above. When the second zero point shift occurs, the amount of an actually occurring zero point shift is obtained by adding an amount of the first zero point shift to that of the second zero point shift. In this manner, the zero point shift of the mass flow controller (MFC) may include the second zero point shift as well as the first zero point shift.
(Patent Document 1) Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2005-38058
(Patent Document 2) Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. H11-64060

Semiconductor fabrication system, and flow rate correction method and program for semiconductor fabrication system


Described are techniques for providing broker services to consumers and service providers based on telephonic call-back engagements. The techniques include receiving a telephonic-based communication from a consumer to consult with a service provider and determining a suitable service provider to reply to the telephonic-based communication from the consumer. The techniques add an entry corresponding to the consumer to a queue maintained for the suitable service provider, and when the consumer in the queue is at the top of the queue, initiate a call-back to a device used by the consumer.

The present disclosure is directed to connecting consumers with service providers.
Systems have been developed to connect consumers and their providers over the Internet and the World Wide Web. Some systems use e-mail messaging and web-based forms to increase the level of connectivity between a member of a health plan and his assigned health care provider. The consumer sends an e-mail or goes to a website that generates and sends a message (typically an e-mail or an e-mail type message) to a local provider. These types of services have been broadly referred to as "e-visits."
Other health care solutions include technologically advanced telephone communication solutions that use advances in voice communication and data transmission technology to interconnect medical professionals with patients.
For instance, a professional association contracts with providers capable of providing the necessary services to consumers. Consumers call a toll-free number to request a consultation with a provider. The request is processed after the consumer hangs up the telephone and the consumer waits for a return phone call. While this arrangement can have certain advantages of potentially providing lower cost for services such as health consolations to patients, there are drawbacks.
One particular drawback is that patients wait for the return call from the physician. This can be frustrating when an immediate consultation is desired. Moreover, with the callback, the patient may become unavailable when the physician finally calls the patient back. Accordingly, such patients may opt to visit the emergency room a local hospital instead of waiting for the return phone call.


A compression tester adapter includes a plug fitting, a connector fitting and a flexible hose connected to the plug fitting and to the connector fitting to adapt a standard internal combustion engine cylinder compression tester hose assembly to a 16-millimeter threaded spark plug socket in an internal combustion engine cylinder head.

Compression testers are used to measure the compression pressure in an individual cylinder of an internal combustion engine. A typical compression tester consists of a compression pressure gauge with a pressure measurement range of, for example, 0–300 pounds per square inch (psig), and a compression pressure hose assembly that attaches to the compression pressure gauge. Typically, the compression tester hose assembly connects to a spark plug socket in an engine cylinder head. Thus, the spark plug is removed from the cylinder head, and the compression tester hose assembly is threaded into the spark plug hole, or socket, in order to establish fluid communication between the compression pressure gauge and the engine cylinder. The engine is then cranked for several revolutions, typically using the engine starter, in order to measure the maximum compression pressure in the engine cylinder.
The compression pressure is used to test internal combustion engines for proper compression in each cylinder. Improper compression can cause rough idling or running, backfiring and poor fuel economy. Low compression in a cylinder can be an indication of worn or damaged piston rings, valves, head gasket or timing chain. A high compression reading may indicate carbon buildup in the cylinder. If the compression pressure gauge remains at the same value for several strokes and then begins to climb, the cylinder may have a sticking valve.
Standard spark plug sockets typically include 14-millimeter (mm) nominal threads, 18-mm nominal threads, 12-mm nominal threads or 10-mm nominal threads. However, some newer engines utilize other spark plug thread sizes. For example, the Ford Triton™ three-valve V8 engine family utilizes 16-mm nominal threads. In addition, the spark plug sockets on the Ford Triton™ three-valve V8 engines are located in spark plug wells that are relatively deep, and the spark plug sockets include a sealing surface at the inner end of the socket. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus that permits compression testing of an engine with 16-mm nominal threaded spark plug sockets located in relatively deep spark plug wells that have a sealing surface at the inner end of the socket.

Compression tester adapter apparatus and method


Roof channels which extend in the longitudinal direction are constructed in laterally exterior regions on a vehicle roof of passenger cars. Fastening elements for fastening end-side carrier feet of roof racks are provided locally on the roof channels. A simple fastening for roof racks is provided on relatively narrow roof channels which allows high roof loads to be carried. Each roof rack has carrier feet which are constructed in one piece and are connected on the end side with transverse supports. The carrier feet have hollow lower end regions which are placed on projecting receiving regions of receiving adapters premounted on the roof channel and are connected therewith.

This application claims the priority of German patent 197 16 047.6, filed Apr. 17, 1997, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a fastening arrangement for a roof rack on a vehicle.
From German Patent Document DE 31 51 405 C2, a vehicle roof for a passenger car is known which has sunk roof channels extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle in laterally exterior regions, in the region of the roof channels, fastening arrangements being provided for the carrier feet of roof racks. In this arrangement, profiled holding rails are inserted in both roof channels and have a fastening web for a fastening in the roof channel and an upwardly extending web with an edge pointing to the outside for connecting a roof rack.
In this case, a supporting arm of the roof rack rests on the top side of the outwardly pointing edge, whereas a profiled clamping part is braced by means of a tightening screw against the underside of the edge and against the supporting arm. The tensioning screw is protected against theft by means of an additional lockable flap.
In this type of fastening for the roof rack, the roof channel, viewed in the transverse direction of the vehicle, must have a relatively large width in order to be able to introduce the bent clamping part into the roof channel. In addition, these carrier feet are suitable only for the absorption of a relatively low roof load. Each multi-part carrier foot formed by a supporting arm, a clamping part and a lockable exterior flap has a high-expenditure construction.
It is an object of the invention to provide a fastening for roof racks which has a simple construction on a vehicle roof with roof channels having a small width, in which case the roof racks can be mounted fast and easily and can also absorb high roof loads.
This and other objects have been achieved according to the present invention by providing arrangement for fastening a roof rack on a vehicle having longitudinally extending roof channels along laterally exterior sides of a roof, comprising: a receiving adapter to be premounted on the roof channel, said receiving adapter having a projecting receiving region; and a one-piece carrier foot connected to or integral with a transverse support of the roof rack, said one-piece carrier foot having a hollow lower end region to be placed on said projecting receiving region, said one-piece carrier foot being connectable to said receiving adapter.
This and other objects have been achieved according to the present invention by providing a receiving adapter for fastening a roof rack on a vehicle having roof channels extending in a longitudinal direction, said receiving adapter comprising: a supporting base to be aligned approximately parallel to a bottom of the roof channel in a mounted position; a plurality of supporting walls extending generally upward from said supporting base; a roof section extending between upper edges of the supporting walls; and a pair of supporting webs extending generally downward from said supporting base, said supporting webs being aligned in the longitudinal direction in the mounted position and arranged at a distance from one another to define a clearance therebetween.
The principal advantages achieved by the invention are that, as the result of the one-piece construction of the carrier feet and the arrangement of pre-mounted receiving adapters in the region of the roof channels, a simple fastening is achieved for the roof racks by means of which high roof loads can be implemented.
As the result of the interaction of the receiving adapter and the carrier foot which is form-locking in regions, a premounting of the roof rack already takes place when the roof rack is placed. The receiving adapter can be fastened in a simple manner with a single fastening screw on a hexagonal blind rivet nut anchored on the bottom of the roof channel or a suitable base plate (fastening element). The lower hollow end region of the carrier foot completely covers the upper receiving area of the receiving adapter which projects from the roof and the first fastening screw (protection against theft).
The support surfaces, which are arranged on the top side of the receiving adapter and are sloped symmetrically about the center axis, allow the receiving adapter to be used for the forward and for the rearward carrier feet as well as for the left and the right side of each roof rack. The lower edge of the carrier foot extends in a surrounding manner at a narrow distance from the vehicle roof situated underneath. Each carrier foot can be fastened via a second fastening screw accessible from above in a simple manner on the receiving adapter situated underneath.
For protecting the second fastening screw and the receiving element inserted into the groove of the transverse support against theft, a locking cap is used which in sections is pushed into the transverse support, is provided with a lock and covers an upper, laterally exterior supporting section of the carrier foot.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A soundhole accessible musical instrument control platform mounted inside the body of a musical instrument requires no physical alterations to the instrument, allowing the user convenient and ergonomic access to the control platform through the soundhole while using the musical instrument. The control platform includes a circuit platform, mounted inside the instrument with adhesives, separably attached to a mounting bracket. Control detents and markings are easy to feel and to read and thus provide feedback for control position and the relative degree of effect. The controls are surrounded by a cosmetic bezel that hides the actual mounting mechanism and circuitry. Any combination of controls, circuitry, and sensors may be used. Power is either provided onboard or offboard. An output connector may be integrated into the circuit platform or via an endpin jack. Input signal connectors, present on the circuit platform, are configured to accept pickups that are mounted either internally or externally to the body of the musical instrument, or to accept a combination of internal and external pickup mounts.

Musical instruments such as acoustic guitars often require amplification and tone adjusting means when used in a performance setting. Vibrational energy is detected in the guitar by the use of sensors such as pickups or electromechanical transducers, devices which produce a very low power signal. In order to minimize signal loss, such signals are preamplified proximate to the instrument. In conjunction with such preamplification, various controls are typically provided which can affect, for example, the volume and tone of the preamplified signal.
One example of a preamplification and signal modification system is provided by Applicant's commonly owned U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2004/0074380, filed Apr. 22, 2004. This system is preferably disposed in a side surface of an acoustic guitar. This solution may not appeal to all musicians, however, due to the need to remove a portion of the instrument side surface.

Soundhole accessible musical instrument control platform