A headphone system comprising a physiological sensor and a method of fitting a headphone system comprising a physiological sensor to a user is provided. The headphone system comprises a headphone having a speaker, a physiological sensor configured to be positioned for measuring physiological data, and a processor connected to the physiological sensor to receive the measured physiological data and process the measured physiological data to output physiological information and a fitting parameter. An application program is associated with the headphone, and is configured to receive the physiological information and the fitting parameter. The application program may evaluate at least the fitting parameter to indicate to a user whether the headphone is properly positioned, and issue a first notification in dependence on the evaluation of the fitting parameter.

It is known in the art to provide real-time, noninvasive health monitors or sensors in an earpiece. The health monitors may include a plurality of compact sensors integrated within devices small enough to fit into the ear. Physiological data is collected and these data may be transmitted into a processor, where the data is stored and/or processed. It is suggested to provide an ear piece of a set of headphones with sensors, and the headphone or the earpiece may communicate with the processor either using a wired connection or using any known wireless protocol, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or ZigBee.
The processor then processes and organizes the data into charts and display these on e.g. a mobile phone or a computer to convey the information extracted from the measured data to the user.
However, it may be a challenge to obtain reliable data from the sensors.

Fitting system for a headphone with physiological sensor


A method and a device for determining the position of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps: recording sensor data from the ground over which the vehicle travels; extracting ground characteristics of the ground over which the vehicle travels from the recorded sensor data or from occupancy grids which are calculated on the basis of the sensor data; determining the current position of the vehicle on the basis of the extracted ground characteristics using a characteristic map.

Road vehicles are increasingly being equipped with driver assistance systems. A driver assistance system supports the driver by means of various assistance functions during driving of the vehicle. 'Highly automated driving' is the term used to describe an intermediate step between assisted driving, during which the driver is supported by a function of the driver assistance system, and completely autonomous driving, during which the vehicle drives independently without any intervention on the part of the driver. In the case of highly automated driving the vehicle has a system which plans ahead and which can take over driving responsibilities at least in most driving situations. In this case the driver and the system work together, wherein the driver determines the extent to which the system intervenes in the driving behavior.
For highly automated driving it is, in many cases, necessary to determine the position of the vehicle very accurately. Conventional vehicles receive position data via a GPS unit in many cases. In addition, this position data can be processed with the aid of an available mobile phone network. However, this conventional approach only makes it possible to determine the position of a vehicle with an accuracy or resolution of approximately 5 to 50 m. This level of accuracy of the position determination is, however, not sufficient for a highly automated driving function of the vehicle.
The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.

Method and system for determining the position of a vehicle


A distributed transaction ledger (e.g. blockchain) is used to control access through access points in an access control system. During normal operation, access control devices (e.g. system controllers and door controllers) generate and broadcast transaction information to a validation network. The validation network maintains a distributed transaction ledger for the access control system, for example, by validating and distributing the transaction information across the validation network according to predetermined consensus criteria. The devices perform access control functions based on transaction information retrieved from the transaction ledger. Door controllers receive identification information from user devices (e.g. identification badges, mobile computing devices) and send the identification information to the validation network. A predetermined number of responding nodes generate verification information based on authorization information in the transaction ledger. If a predetermined proportion of the responding nodes indicate that the occupant is authorized, access is granted by the door controller.

Access control systems are often installed within premises such as commercial, residential, or governmental buildings. Examples of these buildings include offices, hospitals, warehouses, public infrastructure buildings including subways and bus terminals, multi-unit dwellings, schools or universities, shopping malls, government offices, and casinos.
Access control systems typically include control panels such as system controllers and distributed devices such as door controllers, including door position sensors, access control readers, and actuators like electric door locks, to list a few examples. The access control readers are often installed at access points of the buildings to control access to restricted areas, such as buildings or areas of the buildings. Examples of access points include front and interior doors of a building, elevators, hallways connecting two areas of a building. The access control readers read the information of keycards and/or transmitted from mobile computing devices and then the access control systems determine if the individuals are authorized to access the restricted areas. If the individuals are authorized to enter the restricted areas, then the access control readers allow access to the restricted areas by unlocking locked doors, signaling that doors should be unlocked, and activating elevators. Alarms can be generated upon unauthorized entry.
For example, access control system controllers are used to evaluate information received at access points by the various door controllers and readers to determine whether credentials are authorized to access the associated access point. In one example, a person presents an access control badge to the reader which retrieves the information stored on the card. That information is transmitted to the controller which does a look-up in an access control list. If the information is associated with a person such as an occupant of the building having access privileges for the associated access point, the door strike is sent an unlock signal and the person granted access through the access point.
At the same time, distributed ledgers are decentralized data storage systems in which multiple instances of the same data are stored as local ledger copies on nodes of a peer to peer network. The distributed ledger indicates information through a series of transactions, which are validated by the nodes, for example, by confirming that the transactions are compatible with the transaction history indicated by the local ledger copy. Validated transactions are propagated across the network as new ledger entries, and the local ledger copies are synchronized according to consensus algorithms that determine an authoritative version of the ledger based on consensus criteria, which can include which nodes were first to solve a cryptographic puzzle, a chance selection weighted such that nodes representing entities with more ownership stake in the ledger have a higher chance of selection, voting systems, among other examples. One type of distributed ledger is a blockchain. In a blockchain, the transactions are organized into blocks, which are then validated and propagated across the peer to peer network. Along with the transaction information, each block contains a cryptographic hash of the full contents of the previous block, forming chains of linked blocks that can be traced back to the original block of the blockchain. Blockchains prevent alteration of any of the blocks, as any change to a block would require changes to the cryptographic hashes contained in every subsequent block.

Access control system using blockchain ledger


A muffler includes a pair of internal plates that are formed to define an array of channels and at least one chamber. The internal plates are connected in face-to-face relationship such that the channels define tubes that communicate with the chamber. At least one short section of conventional tube may be disposed between the plates to achieve a selected exhaust gas flow pattern. The connected internal plates is slid longitudinally into a tubular outer shell and end caps are secured to opposed ends to substantially enclose the muffler. The internal plates can be remanufactured prior to insertion into the tubular outer shell, and can be slid into tubular external shells of different lengths for significantly altering the acoustical tuning of the muffler.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to vehicular exhaust mufflers with stamp formed internal components, a tubular outer shell surrounding the stamped internal components and end caps connected to opposed ends of the tubular outer shell.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A typical prior art exhaust muffler is shown in FIG. 1, and is identified generally by the numeral 10. The prior art muffler 10 is a generally elongated structure having opposed inlet and outlet ends 12 and 14. An inlet tube 16 extends from the inlet end 12 to a location inside the prior art muffler 10. The inlet tube 16 is supported by baffles 18 and 20 which are of substantially identical oval or circular configuration. Portions of the inlet tube 16 between the baffles 18 and 20 have perforations 22 to permit a controlled expansion of exhaust gas. A return tube 24 also extends between the baffles 18 and 20 and is provided with perforations 26 to permit an expansion and cross-flow of exhaust gas. An outlet tube 28 is disposed between the inlet tube 16 and the return tube 24. The outlet tube 28 extends through and is supported by the baffles 18 and 20, and continues to the outlet end 14 of the prior art muffler 10. Portions of the outlet tube 28 between the baffles 18 and 20 are provided with perforations 30.
The prior art muffler 10 also has parallel baffles 32 and 34 between the baffle 20 and the outlet end 14 of the prior art muffler 10. Portions of the outlet tube 28 between the baffles 32 and 34 have perforations 36. A short non-perforated tuning tube 38 extends through the baffles 32 and 34.
The tubes 16, 24, 28 and 38 are welded to the respective baffles to define a substantially rigid subassembly that will not generate noise in the presence of vibrations and flowing exhaust gas. The subassembly of the tubes 16, 24, 28 and 38 and the baffles 18, 20, 32 and 34 is slid into a tubular outer shell 40 that has a cross-sectional shape identical to the shape of the baffles. The tubular outer shell 40 is then welded to the baffles 18, 20, 32 and 34. End caps or heads 42 and 44 are secured to the outer shell 40 at the opposed inlet and outlet ends 12 and 14 of the prior art muffler 10.
Exhaust gas enters the inlet tube 16 of the prior art muffler 10 and is permitted to expand through the perforations 22 and into an expansion chamber 46 defined between the baffles 18 and 20. Most of the exhaust gas will continue to flow through the inlet tube 16 and into a first reversing chamber 48 defined between the baffles 20 and 32. This exhaust gas will flow around both sides of the outlet tube 28 and into the return tube 24. Exhaust gas flowing through the return tube 24 may expand into the expansion chamber 46. The exhaust gas will continue to flow through the return tube 24 and into a second reversing chamber 50 defined between the baffle 18 and the end cap or head 42. Exhaust gas will then continue into the outlet tube 28. Some expansion occurs through the perforations 30 in the expansion chamber 46. The exhaust gas will then continue to flow through the outlet tube 28. Expansion through perforations 36 will be permitted into a high frequency tuning chamber 52 defined between the baffles 32 and 34.
A low frequency resonating chamber 54 is defined between the baffle 34 and the end cap 44. Communication with the low frequency resonating chamber 54 is provided by the tuning tube 38.
Prior art mufflers, such as those shown in FIG. 1, generally perform well. In particular, a major portion of the noise associated with the flowing exhaust gas will be attenuated by the expansion and cross flow of exhaust gas in the expansion chamber 46. Additional attenuation will be achieved as the exhaust gas flows around both sides of the outlet tube 28 in the first reversing chamber 48. The combination of perforations 36 and the high frequency tuning chamber 52 achieves an attenuation of high frequency noise that may not adequately be attenuated by the expansion chamber 46. The combination of the low frequency resonating chamber 54 and the tuning tube 38 attenuates low frequency noise that is not adequately attenuated by the expansion chamber 46.
The dimensions and placement of the various components in the prior art muffler 10 are selected in accordance with the acoustical tuning needs of the exhaust system, back pressure requirements and available space on the underside of a vehicle. The acoustical tuning performance of the prior art muffler 10 can be varied substantially by changing the volume of the respective chambers, changing the dimensions of the tubes, and/or increasing the area and/or shape of the perforations in the tubes.
Prior art exhaust mufflers, such as the prior art muffler 10 shown in FIG. 1, are effective in attenuating exhaust gas noise. However, these conventional prior art mufflers require a large number of separate components that must be assembled by manufacturing processees that are not well suited to automation. Hence these labor intensive manufacturing processees tend to be very expensive. Additionally, the prior art muffler 10 necessarily has a large number of abrupt edges and surfaces meeting at right angles. It has been found that such abrupt edges and well defined corners contribute to air turbulence that can increase back pressure and complicate acoustical tuning.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,932 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,659 are assigned to the assignee of the subject invention and relate to replacement mufflers and processees for making replacement mufflers. The mufflers disclosed in these patents have a plurality of separate tubes, transverse baffles and tubular outer shells as in the prior art muffler 10 illustrated in FIG. 1. The dimensions of the replacement muffler only approximate the dimensions of the original equipment muffler being replaced. Differences between dimensions of the replacement muffler and the original equipment muffler are compensated for by differences in the lengths of the inlet and outlet tubes extending from the muffler. Thus, families of replacement mufflers can be provided with identical muffler bodies but with differently dimensioned inlet and outlet tubes to compensate for differences between the dimensions of the original equipment muffler and the replacement muffler. A smaller and simpler inventory of replacement mufflers is provided with this teaching to simplify manufacturing processes and reduce manufacturing costs.
The assignee of the subject invention also has made several improvements in the field of mufflers with stamp formed components. The typical stamp formed muffler includes a pair of internal plates stamped with arrays of channels. The plates are secured in face-to-face relationship such that the channels define tubes to carry flowing exhaust gas between the plates. The typical stamp formed muffler further includes a pair of stamped formed external shells that are effectively sandwiched about the internal plates. An extremely effective and commercially successful muffler of this general type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. RE 33,370 and in reexamined U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,817.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,965 also is owned by the assignee of the subject invention and relates to a method of using combinations of stamping dies and die subsets to make a system of dimensionally similar mufflers. The die subsets can be replaced to change some of the internal components in ways that alter the acoustical performance of certain mufflers in the system. This stamp formed manufacturing process typically is employed for original equipment mufflers where different models of a new car will have slightly different acoustical tuning requirements.
The assignee of the subject invention also has developed certain hybrid mufflers that incorporate conventional tubular components into a stamp formed external shell. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,816 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,791 both show mufflers having stamp formed external shells that define a plurality of chambers. The exhaust pipe and tail pipe of an exhaust system extend well into the chambers defined by the formed external shells, and contribute to a selected flow pattern of exhaust gas through the muffler.
The prior art also includes mufflers with stamped internal components and a conventional wrapped tubular outer shell. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,090 issued to Wolfhugel on Aug. 2, 1983 and shows a muffler with a pair of internal plates that are stamped to define an array of tubes. The plates are supported in spaced relationship to the wrapped outer shell by a plurality of separately formed stamped baffles. The baffles extend outwardly from each plate to engage the tubular outer shell. Certain embodiments of the muffler shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,090 show separate stamp formed chambers disposed within the tubular outer shell and connected to the plates that are formed to define the tubes of the muffler. The mufflers shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,090 can avoid some of the problems associated with abrupt edges and corners within a conventional muffler, such as the conventional prior art muffler shown in FIG. 1 above. However, the complex combinations of plates, baffles and internal chambers required by U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,090 can result in complicated assembly problems and high costs.
The commercial successes achieved by the assignee of the subject invention in the field of stamp formed mufflers has been largely in connection with original equipment exhaust systems. The assignee has noticed muffler installers prefer to use a replacement muffler that substantially resembles the original equipment muffler being replaced. The assignee of the subject invention also has concluded that the production run size of each type of replacement muffler it manufactures invariably is smaller than the production run size of each type of original equipment muffler it manufactures. This occurs because each automobile manufacturer typically will deal with only one or two exhaust equipment suppliers for each line of automobiles being manufactured. Replacement mufflers, however, tend to be made by many more manufacturers. The smaller production runs of each model of replacement muffler make it difficult to amortize the costs of dies, even with the cost saving processees disclosed in the above referenced U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,965.
In view of the above, it is an object of the subject invention to provide replacement mufflers that incorporate many of the performance and manufacturing advantages attributable to stamp formed technology.
It is another object of the subject invention to provide replacement mufflers that more nearly duplicate the size and shape of the original equipment muffler being replaced.
A further object of the subject invention is to provide a system of replacement mufflers with substantially identical tubular outer shells, but structurally and functionally different stamp formed internal components.

Method of manufacturing an exhaust muffler with stamp formed internal components


An assembly having fuel cell plate structure adapted for use in a fuel cell in which gas flow channels are arranged to carry process gas adjacent the active and wet seal areas of the fuel cell, the plate structure having one or more baffles arranged such that when the plate structure is in the fuel cell the baffles of the plate structure cause the process gas flowing adjacent the wet seal areas to be directed away from the wet seal areas and toward the active areas of the cell.

This invention relates to fuel cells and, in particular, to fuel cell plate structure used to establish fuel cell gas flow channels.
A fuel cell is a device which directly converts chemical energy stored in hydrocarbon fuel into electrical energy by means of an electrochemical reaction. Generally, a fuel cell comprises an anode and a cathode separated by an electrolyte, which serves to conduct electrically charged ions. Molten carbonate fuel cells operate by passing a reactant fuel gas through the anode, while oxidizing gas is passed through the cathode.
In order to produce a useful power level, a number of individual fuel cells are stacked in series to form a fuel cell stack. Fuel cells in a molten carbonate fuel cell stack employ plate structure in establishing gas flow channels through the cells. The plate structure typically includes an electrically conductive separator plate, also called a bipolar separator plate, between adjacent cells. Particularly, the bipolar separator plate is used to separate an anode element of a first cell and a cathode element of a second cell, and to provide electrical contact with the current collectors in these cells.
A conventional bipolar separator plate includes a flat, rectangular, gas-impermeable plate member having a cathode surface facing one adjacent cell and an anode surface facing another adjacent cell. The bipolar plate typically also includes two pocket areas on each surface. These pocket areas may be formed by folding two opposite edges of the plate over the cathode surface and by folding the other two edges over the anode surface. An example of plate structure having such bipolar plate arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,372,374, assigned to the same assignee herein.
Anode and cathode current collectors are also part of the plate structure and abut the anode and cathode surfaces, respectively, and extend into the pocket areas of the bipolar separator. An anode and a cathode, in turn, abut the anode and cathode current collectors which along with the bipolar separator define anode and cathode gas flow channels for delivering fuel and oxidant gases to the respective electrodes.
An electrolyte matrix is disposed adjacent to the anode electrode and extends over the outer surfaces of the two pocket areas at the anode surface of the bipolar separator plate, while an electrolyte matrix is also disposed adjacent to the cathode electrode and extends over the outer surfaces of the two other pocket areas at the cathode surface of the separator plate. The plate structure having the bipolar separator plate, current collectors with matrices thus forms one-half of a first fuel cell and one-half of a second cell.
Stacking of these half-cell units results in complete fuel cells arranged in a stack. With such a fuel cell stack, the outer surfaces of the pocket areas of the bipolar separator plates act as rails to form wet seal areas with the electrolyte matrices. The pocket areas also are the inactive areas of the cells. The central areas of the bipolar separator plates formed by the cathode and anode surfaces between the pocket areas, in turn, are the active areas of the cells.
Forming the wet seal areas using the bipolar plate pocket areas is a practical and cost effective way to achieve gas tightness around the peripheral areas of the cells. However, a common problem associated with this arrangement is leaking of the fuel and oxidant gases flowing in the gas flow channels established by the plate structure from the active cell areas into the wet seal areas. Particularly, a portion of the fuel gas and a portion of the oxidant gas typically bypass the active cell areas by flowing into and through the wet seal areas without undergoing the desired electrochemical reaction. Moreover, in internally reforming fuel cells, where additional cooling is provided in the anode active areas through internal fuel reforming, the fuel bypassing the anode active areas is not reformed and therefore less cooling is provided in the cell active areas. As a result, the fuel cells may become overheated, and the efficiency and power output of the fuel cell stack are reduced. Accordingly, a means of inhibiting or retarding gas from flowing into the wet seal areas is needed to improve the fuel cell stack performance and efficiency.
Additionally, the wet seal areas are particularly vulnerable to electrochemical corrosion and oxidation. Therefore, the materials used in the wet seal areas need to be stable under electrochemical corrosion and oxidation conditions.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the above and other drawbacks of conventional fuel cell plate structure by adapting the plate structure to inhibit or retard gas from bypassing the active cell areas.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a fuel cell plate structure further adapted to direct gas from the wet seal areas into the active cell areas.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fuel cell plate structure adapted as above set forth and using material in the wet seal areas which is stable in corrosive and oxidative environments.

Fuel cell plate structure having baffles in wet seal area


The magnitude and polarity of the voltage on the fuser roll surface is controlled by either electronic charge application means or by applying charge control agents to the fuser. For negative toner, the fuser roll voltage must also be negative (and visa versa). This will repel the negative toner at the entrance to the fuser nip, prevent the toner from transferring to the fuser roll at the entrance of the fuser nip and preclude the formation of NVO and consequently prevent MOC.

Fuser rolls used in electrostatic imaging systems generally comprise a cylindrical metal core coated with an elastomer such as Teflon™ (a ™ of DuPont). These fuser rolls are used in an imaging process wherein a photoconductor is selectively charged and optically exposed to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor surface. Toner is deposited onto the image charged photoconductor surface. The toner has a charge; thus, it will adhere to the photoconductor surface in the areas of the electrostatic latent image. The toner in image-wise configuration is then transferred to the paper or other medium. The toned paper is heated by the fuser roll system and the toner is fused to the paper to form a permanent image. The imaged paper is then passed to a document output collection area or tray where the user collects the finished copy.
The fusing components used in electrostatic imaging system generally comprise a toner station, a fuser roll(s), a pressure roll(s), a cleaning web(s) and a paper transport means. It is common that a back-transfer of cleaned toner from a fusers cleaning web to the fuser roll will occur, thereby causing marks—on copy (MOC). This defect is especially common with Teflon based fuser rolls and easily transferred toners. This MOC is a function of prior image history (low area coverages are worse) and a function of fuser roll voltage. This fuser roll contamination of toner or by-products of toner usually takes the form of a film, which eventually builds up and adversely affects the performance and life of the fusing components. Not only can fuser roll toner contamination affect the fusing components but will also affect the quality and clarity of the image on the paper in contact with the fuser roll. Also, in some instances the contamination of the fuser roll is eventually transferred to the cleaning web and lessens the cleaning web's cleaning effectiveness. In addition, all fusers have non-visible offset (NVO) to some level which can be higher for toners which transfer easily. Fuser rolls which have poor conformance may not transfer the NVO back to the paper and this NVO ultimately results in MOC, which is visually objectionable has to be cleaned from the fuser roll (FR). The MOC level is dependent on print history which is most likely due in part to the image wise and non-uniform residual wax left on the fuser roll in high image coverage areas and depletion of wax in low image coverage regions. The presently disclosed system provides an effective means to minimize the NVO by inducing a negative voltage on the fuser roll to repel negative toner, and the opposite polarity for positive toner.

Charge control for fuser roll to prevent print history related marks on copy


Certain aspects of reducing power consumption in communication devices may comprise deasserting a signal indicating that an on-chip UART may be ready to receive data. The deasserted signal may be asserted when the on-chip UART is not ready to receive data. The deasserted signal and asserted signal may be a RTS signal or a CTS signal. The signal may be deasserted when an on-chip processor wakes up from a low power state. The deasserted signal may be asserted when an on-chip processor enters a low power state. The on-chip UART may be adapted to receive and process data from an off-chip processor when the signal is deasserted. The data may be queued externally to the on-chip UART by an off-chip processor when the deasserted signal is asserted. The on-chip UART may be adapted to receive an interrupt signal that causes it to wake up from a low power state.

A universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) controller is a key device or component that is utilized for serial communication. The UART may be adapted to take bytes of data and transmit individual bits in a sequential fashion. At a destination, a second UART may be adapted to re-assemble these individual bits into complete bytes.
Serial transmission may be used for communication between computers, terminals, modems and other non-networked devices. There are two primary forms of serial transmission: synchronous serial transmission and asynchronous serial transmission. Synchronous serial transmission may require that a sender and receiver share a common clock, or that the sender may provide timing in the form of a strobe or other timing signal so that the receiver knows when to read the next bit of data. Synchronous communication is usually more efficient because only data bits are transmitted between a sender and a receiver, but may be more expensive as extra wiring and circuits may be required to share a clock signal between the sender and receiver. A form of synchronous serial transmission is used with printers and fixed disk devices, which allow data to be sent out on one set of wires while a clock or strobe may be sent on a different wire.
Asynchronous serial transmission may allow data to be transmitted without the sender having to send a clock signal to the receiver. The sender and receiver may agree on timing parameters in advance and special bits may be added to each word that is used to synchronize sending and receiving units. When a word of data is sent to a UART for asynchronous serial transmission, a bit, for example, a start bit may be added before each word to be transmitted. The start bit may be used to alert the receiver that a word of data is about to be sent, and to force the clock in the receiver into synchronization with the clock in the transmitter. These two clocks may be accurate enough to prevent a frequency drift during transmission of remaining bits in the word of data. After the start bit is sent out, individual bits of the word of data may be sent with the least significant bit (LSB) being sent first. When an entire word of data has been sent, a parity bit may be added that is generated by a transmitter. The parity bit may be used by the receiver to perform simple error checking. The transmitter at the end of transmission may send at least one stop bit. When the receiver has received all bits in the word of data, it may check for the parity bits and the stop bit. If the stop bit fails to appear, the UART may consider the entire word of data to be garbled and may report a framing error to a host processor when the word of data is read.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system illustrating serial communication utilizing UART auto flow control. Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown digital terminal equipment (DTE) 102, digital communication equipment (DCE) 104, two UART's 106 and 108 and a serial communication interface 110. The digital terminal equipment (DTE) 102 may be, for example, a computer that may be adapted to transmit and receive data. The digital communication equipment (DCE) 104 may be, for example, a modem that may be utilized to provide a modulation/demodulation interface between the digital terminal equipment (DTE) 102 and a transmission circuit. The universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter UART 106 and 108 may be adapted to perform parallel-to-serial conversion of digital data to be transmitted and serial-to-parallel conversion of digital data that has been transmitted. The serial communication interface 110 may comprise a plurality of wires that may be coupled so as to implement serial communication.
In operation, serial communication may comprise transmission of one bit of information at a time. The UART 106 and 108 may be utilized as interface chips to implement serial data transmission across the serial communication interface 110. A full-duplex communication system may allow information to be transferred simultaneously in both directions between the DTE 102 and the DCE 104. A half-duplex communication system may allow information to be transferred in both directions between the DTE 102 and the DCE 104, but in only one direction at a time. A simplex communication system may allow information to be transferred in only one direction.
FIG. 2 is a timing diagram illustrating a frame of data that may be transmitted during serial communication utilizing UART auto flow control. Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a frame of data 200 that comprises one or more idle bits 202, a start bit 204, a 7 bit data frame 206, a parity bit 208 and one or more stop bits 210. The frame of data 200 may be a complete and nondivisible packet of bits and may be a smallest packet of data that may be transmitted. In the RS232 protocol, the idle bit 202 may be true indicating a low voltage level, for example, −12 V, while the start bit 204 may be false indicating a high voltage level, for example, +12 V. The start bit 204 may indicate a start of transmission of data. The parity bit 208 may be utilized to detect errors during transmission of data. To detect even parity, a sum of number of 1's in the frame of data 200 and the parity bit 208 is an even number. Similarly, to detect odd parity, a sum of number of 1's in the frame of data 200 and the parity bit 208 is an odd number. The stop bit 210 may be utilized to signal the end of transmission of data. The RS232 and RS422 protocols may require a frame of data to have a start bit 204, a plurality of data bits 206, a parity bit 208 and one or more stop bits 210.
Most mobile devices such as laptops, PDA's and cell phones, for example are designed to conserve battery life by switching to a sleep mode when the device is not active. In this regard, one or more processors within a particular device may be configured to enter sleep mode, or some power saving mode when the device detects a period of inactivity. For example, the sleep mode automatically turns off a device after it has been unused for a predetermined period of time so as to conserve battery life. When a device is in sleep mode and data is sent to the device, the device takes a while before it wakes up and enters an operational state where it processes the received data. As a result, the device may miss some of the initial characters because of the inherent delay in waking up. Even though some systems may minimize the wakeup time, characters may still be lost.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for reducing power consumption of handsets through UART auto flow control


A laundry treatment apparatus is disclosed, including a cabinet, a tub configured to store water, a drum rotatably disposed inside the tub, a drawer configured to be withdrawable from the cabinet, a housing including a housing body configured to accommodate the drawer and a cover configured to form an upper surface of the housing body, a storage portion including a storage body configured to store liquid detergent and a discharger disposed on the storage body, a supply pump including a connection pipe formed through the housing body, a supply pipe configured to connect the connection pipe and the tub body, and a conveyor portion configured to covey detergent to the supply pipe, a first pump fastener configured to fix an area located above the connection pipe to the cover, and a second pump fastener configured to fix an area located under the connection pipe to the housing body.

A laundry treatment apparatus conceptually includes an apparatus that washes laundry, an apparatus that dries laundry, and an apparatus that washes or dries laundry according to selection of a user. Some related art laundry treatment apparatuses include a cabinet, a tub provided within the cabinet to store water therein, a drum rotatably provided within the tub to store laundry therein, and a detergent storage portion storing detergent therein.
Some detergent storage portions included in the related art laundry treatment apparatuses include a drawer disposed to be withdrawable from the cabinet, a housing disposed inside the cabinet to accommodate the drawer, a storage portion disposed in the drawer to store liquid detergent, a supply pump disposed on the housing and detachably coupled to the storage portion, and a supply pipe guiding detergent discharged from the supply pump to the tub.
The detergent storage portion having the above-described structure has operated such that the supply pump is connected to the storage portion when the drawer is inserted into the housing, and detergent inside the housing is supplied to the tub through the supply pipe when the supply pump operates. In this detergent storage portion, since the supply pump and the storage portion are repeatedly coupled and separated according to the position of the drawer, the location of the supply pump may be changed or the supply pump may be damaged, if the supply pump is firmly fixed to the housing.
On the other hand, the detergent storage portion of the above-described structure fails to sense the amount of liquid detergent stored therein so that a user may not be informed of a replenishment timing of the liquid detergent.


An information communication apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus is provided with a communication unit for communicating with an external apparatus, a first acquiring unit for acquiring signal sent from positioning satelite, a second acquiring unit which uses the communication unit to acquire from the external apparatus signal that is sent from the positioning satelite and received by the external apparatus, a judging unit for judging whether the communication unit is connected to the external apparatus to communicate with said external apparatus, and a controlling unit for controlling the second acquiring unit to perform a process based on the acquired signal, when the judging unit determines that the communication unit is connected to the external apparatus, and for controlling the first acquiring unit perform a process based on the acquired signal, when the judging unit determines that the communication unit is not connected to the external apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information communication apparatus, an information communication system, an information communication method, and a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional technology is known, which uses GPS (Global Positioning System) to measure a location on the earth. For example, an imaging apparatus is provided, which receives signal from GPS satelite and calculates based on the received signal, a location where a picture is taken, and then records image data of the picture together with attribute data representing such location (for instance, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-29852).
However, in general, an acquisition process which is performed upon receipt of signal from GPS satelite consumes much electricity.
Therefore, if an apparatus has a restriction to its power source capacity, an operation to be performed in a process other than the acquisition process will be disturbed because of power shortage. For example, in the case of battery-loaded imaging apparatuses, they will have a limit in the number of shooting pictures.

Information communication apparatus, information communication system, information communication method, and recording medium


A pipeline structure with a lining material wherein a hermetic outer tube is disposed at the inner surface of a pipeline, and an inner lining material is disposed at the inner surface of the outer tube, said inner lining being made of a rigid fiber-reinforced plastic wherein a thermosetting resin is reinforced by a fiber reinforcement material.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a novel structure and method for applying a lining material to reinforce pipelines such as a gas conduit, a city water pipe, a sewage pipe, pipelines for laying telecommunication cables or electric cables, and particularly, pipelines embedded in the ground. More particularly, the present invention relates to a technical means suitable for applying a lining material to a gas conduit or intermediate line with a working pressure of approximately 3 to 10 kg/cm.sup.2.
2. Background Art
A conventional method for applying a lining material to an underground pipeline comprises the steps of depositing a hermetic film on the outer surface of a tubular fiber reinforcement material composed of a tubular woven or unwoven fabric, or a combination of tubular woven and unwoven fabrics superimposed one over the other to provide a lining material, applying a thermosetting resin liquid to the inner surface of the lining material and impregnating the thermosetting resin liquid into the tubular fiber reinforcement material, inserting the lining material into the pipeline while the lining material is being reversed under a fluid pressure, pressing the lining material against the inner surface of the pipeline under the fluid pressure, curing the thermosetting resin liquid so as to adhesively attach the lining material to the inner surface of the pipeline, and causing the thermosetting resin liquid and the tubular fiber reinforcement material to cooperate together to provide a rigid FRP (FIBER-REINFORCED PLASTICS) tube within the pipeline.
This method attempts to reduce the adhesive force between the lining material and the inner surface of the pipeline so as to prevent the lining material from cracking as the pipeline is damaged, or the joints from detaching due to earthquake or the like. This method also utilizes high strength fiber such as a glass fiber or an aromatic polyamide fiber on the circumference of the lining material so as to withstand internal or external pressure and insure a fluid path if the lining material is exposed as a result of damage to the pipeline (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,237).
Such a lining method is effective in the case that the pipeline is composed of cast iron pipes or fume pipes, but is not sufficiently effective particularly when it is applied to a steel pipe such as a gas conduit with an intermediate working pressure of approximately 3 to 10 kg/cm.sup.2 (hereinafter, referred to as an "intermediate pressure A line").
The intermediate pressure A line uses carbon steel pipes which have a high strength and tenacity. These pipes are welded together to form a long pipeline system. Bent pipes are welded to bent portions of the pipeline to provide an integral pipeline system. With such a pipeline system, if the ground is liquified or subjected to contraction due to earthquake, the resulting stress tends to be concentrated on the bent portions.
FIG. 3 shows the manner in which the bent portion of the intermediate pressure A line fractures. FIG. 3(a) shows a bent portion 2 of a pipeline 1. When the ground contracts due to an earthquake or the like, the pipeline 1 is repeatedly extended and contracted in a longitudinal direction. This results in a change in the angle of the bent portion 2. This change causes the bent portion 2 to be significantly deformed in the direction in which it is bent and extended. If the bent angle .alpha. of the bent portion 2 increases, the bent portion 2 is urged into the pipe. If the bent angle a of the bent portion 2 decreases when the bent portion 2 is extended, a portion of the bent portion which has been urged into the pipe is subject to extension. When the bent portion 2 is locally deflected to a substantial extent, a large crack 3 occurs within the bent portion 2 due to fatigue, as shown in FIG. 3(b).
In the case that a lining material 4 is adhered to the inner surface of the pipeline 1, the edge of the crack 3 is bent inwardly to produce sharp burrs 5. These burrs 5 break the lining material 4 as shown in FIG. 3(c). Thus, damage to the pipeline 1 causes corresponding damage to the lining material 4.
A cast iron pipe has a low tenacity. Thus, if a cast iron pipe fractures, burrs 5 are rarely produced. Thus, a fluid path can be maintained since the lining material 4 is free from damage. On the other hand, a steel pipe has a high tenacity. Thus if a shock load is applied to a steel pipe, it will not fracture as opposed to the cast iron pipe. However, a crack 3 is likely to occur when local stress is concentrated on the bent portion 2. The resulting burrs 5 will cause damage to the lining material 4.
An adhesive or a seal is applied to the end of the lining material within the pipeline so as to prevent the entry of a fluid between the lining material and the pipeline. Normally, a metal ring is fit within the end of the lining material. The metal ring is extended to thereby press the end of the lining material against the inner surface of the pipeline (see JP, B, Sho. 60-41276).
With this treatment, however, the pipeline and the lining material is subjected to displacement if significant damage to the pipeline occurs. If the end of the lining material is displaced relative to the pipeline, the seal is damaged. A fluid then enters between the lining material and the pipeline and may flow out of a portion of the pipeline thus damaged.

Pipeline structure with a lining material, an end structure of said pipeline and a method for applying a lining material to a pipeline


A cartridge slot door mechanism is disclosed that covers a cartridge slot arranged at a front panel of a frame. The cartridge slot door mechanism includes an upper door having an upper side supported by the front panel, and a lower door having a lower side supported by the front panel. The upper door and the lower door are configured to open toward the inner side of the frame, and a lower side portion of the upper door and an upper side portion of the lower door are arranged to overlap.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cartridge slot door mechanism of a magnetic recording/playback apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A streamer apparatus corresponding to a type of magnetic recording/playback apparatus that uses a tape cartridge and includes a rotating drum and a tape loading mechanism like the VTR is being commercialized for use as an external storage device of a computer.
The streamer apparatus has a tape cartridge slot arranged at its front panel for enabling insertion of a tape cartridge, and a door is arranged at the tape cartridge slot for preventing dust and other particles from entering through the tape cartridge slot. The door is configured to be pushed toward the inner side of the streamer apparatus by the tape cartridge being inserted.
Although the current streamer apparatus has a relatively large storage capacity of 72 GB at compression mode, for example, there is an ever growing demand for increased storage capacity, and in turn, manufacturers are developing techniques for increasing the storage capacity of the streamer apparatus. One way of increasing the storage capacity involves enabling the use of a new tape cartridge that accommodates a magnetic tape with a greater tape width compared to the tape width of the magnetic tape of the current tape cartridge.
It is noted that since the streamer apparatus is installed in a machine, its dimension in the depth direction is preferably arranged to be relatively short.
The tape cartridge slot door mechanism of a conventional streamer apparatus typically comprises a single door.
Upon adapting the streamer apparatus to enable use of the new tape cartridge, since the height of the new tape cartridge is greater than the height of the current tape cartridge, the dimension of the tape cartridge slot in the height direction has to be increased. That is, the width of the door of the tape cartridge slot has to be increased, and in turn, more space is needed at the inner side of the front panel of the streamer apparatus for enabling the door to adequately open and close. As a result, the dimension of the streamer apparatus in the depth direction has to be increased.
In this respect, a door mechanism has been developed in which the door is divided into an upper door and a lower door that are configured to rotate in opposite directions to be pushed and opened by a tape cartridge inserted through the tape cartridge slot. In this door mechanism, the respective width dimensions of the upper door and the lower door may be reduced compared to that of a single door and the space at the inner side of the front panel for opening and closing the door may be reduced. As a result, the depth dimension of the streamer apparatus may not have to be increased.
However, in the conventional door mechanism including an upper door and a lower door, extending edges of the upper and lower doors are arranged to oppose each other when the door mechanism is closed. In this case, a gap is created between the lower edge of the upper door and the upper edge of the lower door so that the door mechanism may not effectively prevent dust and other particles from entering through the tape cartridge slot.

Cartridge slot door mechanism for covering cartridge slot


The device for separating product parts of a multi-part, flat product includes a receiving unit for receiving the product, a device for separating the product parts and a retaining device for acting on one of the product parts for the purpose of maintaining the separation of the product parts. The receiving unit includes a first friction element and a second friction element, which is movable with respect to the first friction element. The two friction elements are arranged on the receiving unit such that the product can be firmly clamped between the friction elements. The friction elements are designed such that the static friction between the product part and the friction element assigned to this is greater than the static friction between the product parts, so that the product parts can be moved with respect to one another given a relative movement between the two friction elements firmly clamping the product.

The invention lies in the field of conveying and further processing of flat (two-dimensional) products, particularly printed products. The invention relates to a device for separating product parts of a multi-part, flat product, including a receiving unit for receiving a product, and methods for separating the product parts, wherein the receiving unit includes a first and a second friction element which are movable relative to one another, wherein the two friction elements are arranged on the receiving unit in a manner such that the product can be arranged and firmly clamped between the friction elements, and the friction elements are designed in a manner such that the static friction between the product part and the friction element assigned to this is greater than the static friction between the product parts, so that the product parts can be moved with respect to one another given a relative movement between the two friction elements firmly clamping the product.
The invention also relates to a method for separating the product parts of a multi-part, flat product amid the use of the device.
Folded printed products are featured by a fold edge, along which the printed product is folded and which forms a first and a second product part. The free edges of the product parts are arranged opposite to the fold edge.
Folded printed products, in the course of their further processing, as a rule must be opened at least once, in order to insert further printed products, such as newspaper parts, pamphlets, brochures, flyers or goods samples or other further, as a rule, flat supplements, between their product parts.
It is common for the one product part to include a so-called overlap, in order to simplify the opening of folded products or to render it possible at all. The overlap is a surface section on one of the product parts in the region of the free edge lying opposite to the fold edge. The so-called surface section is featured in that this projects beyond the free edge of the other product part. The one product part thus with respect to the other part forms an exposed region.
The overlap can be created for example by way of incorporating a fold which is arranged asymmetrically, i.e., in an out-of-centred manner.
Such an overlap thus permits the gripping or fixing for example of the one product part on the overlap, e.g., by way of a clip. The two product parts then for example can be moved apart in a manner supported by gravity, wherein the other product part must be held. The printed product can be quickly and simply opened in this manner.
At this location, the European patent publication EP 2 297 014 B1 is to be mentioned as representative for a multitude of patent applications which have opening devices operating according to the opening principle defined above, as their subject matter.
The document EP 2 297 014 B1 describes a device for opening and inserting flat objects into a folded printed product. The device includes a circulating system with a plurality of compartments which are movable about a rotation axis along a closed, circular circulating path. The compartments include compartment bases which are delimited in the circulating direction by way of partition walls. The compartments moreover along the periphery include openings for inserting the printed products. The compartments in each case include a clip, by way of which the overlap of a trailing product part is firmly held on the trailing compartment wall.
The compartments are led downwards along an arched path, wherein the compartment openings on the outer periphery are moved downwards. With this procedure, the leading product part on account of gravity pivots downwards onto the oppositely lying, leading compartment wall, whereas the trailing products part is held by the clip limbs on the trailing compartment wall. The printed product opens, and the supplement can be inserted in this manner.
Since, as a rule, an overlap is not desirable with the end product, for example with a newspaper ready for dispatch, this must be eliminated at the end of the processing. This as a rule is effected by way of a cutting procedure. A high quantity of waste in the form of paper strips arises with this processing step.
The creation of an overlap for the simplification of the processing of printed products causes a significant quantity of cut waste which must be disposed of with a corresponding expense. Moreover, suitable assemblies are to be provided, which are capable of separating away the overlap again. Apart from ecological aspects, from an operational economical point of view, it is also the additional consumption of raw material and thus the additional costs which are important, without an additional use resulting therefrom with the end product.
If one could make do without an overlap in the further processing, then this would mean a significant saving of material. The saving of material as a result would lead to a reduction of production costs. Moreover, such a material saving would also contribute to taking care of resources. Moreover, a working step which contains the separating away of the overlap could also be omitted due to making do without the overlap.
Since the overlap as a rule merely serves for opening the printed product, as a result a device which is in the position of opening printed products without an overlap would be quite useful. Thereby however, one should consider the fact that the opening of the printed products is not only a very important, but also a very delicate method step. The opening and the holding-open of the products specifically on the one hand should be effected in a rapid and reliable manner, but on the other hand the product should be treated as gently as possible with this procedure, so that it is not damaged.
Thus the document EP 0 600 216 A1 with FIG. 8 describes a device and a method for opening a two-fold printed product without an overlap. For this, a vacuum is applied onto the outer surface of a first product part by way of a vacuum source. The first product part is held on a gripper tongue due to the produced suction pull, whilst the oppositely lying second product part moves away from the first product part on account of gravity. The installation and the operation of a vacuum device with vacuum conduits to the respective active locations however are extremely cumbersome and prone to disturbance. This is particularly the case with those operational types, with which the product must be opened during the conveying movement.

Device and method for separating product parts of a multi-part product


The techniques described are applied for trapping particles within a partially enclosed region of a reservoir of a printer head using thermal gradients and buoyant flows within the ink contained in the reservoir. One disclosed embodiment includes a reservoir for an ink jet printer that has a plurality of walls and a cavity. The plurality of walls include at least a first wall and a second wall. During operation, the first wall is provided with a temperature differential with respect to the second wall. The cavity is formed by the plurality of walls and operationally retains an ink of the ink jet printer. The cavity has a partially enclosed region that communicates with a remainder of the cavity. The partially enclosed region is adapted to retain particles that have separated from the ink.

Ink jet printers operate by using ink ejectors that eject small droplets of liquid ink onto print media according to a predetermined pattern. In some implementations, the ink is ejected directly on a final print media, such as paper. In some implementations, the ink is ejected on an intermediate print media, e.g. a print drum, and is then transferred from the intermediate print media to the final print media. Some ink jet printers use cartridges of liquid ink to supply the ink jets. The solid ink is melted in a page-width print head, which jets the molten ink in a page-width pattern onto an intermediate drum. The pattern on the intermediate drum is transferred onto paper through a pressure nip.
Ink that flows through the print head may contain debris in the form of particles of various sizes and compositions. This debris may clog an inlet, an outlet, an aperture or other manifolds and channels within the print head. This can result in weak, missing or intermittent jetting that can cause undesirable printing defects. To address this issue, filters have been included in the print head. Though effective at removing debris, the small pore size of these filters requires large pressure drops to force the ink through the filters and ensure the required throughput. For gravity driven loaders, the pressure drop across the filter is fixed by the height of the film wetting the filter. Because the driving force of gravity driven loaders is hydrostatic pressure, throughput of the ink jet printer can be limited due to the pressure drop caused by the filters.

Reservoir having particle trapping features


A lower member of a radiator core support includes a front end module formed so as to protrude forward, so that a protruding portion of the lower member is used as an impact absorbing frame member. A lower end portion of a bumper face may be superimposed fixedly on a lower surface of the protruding portion. A lower impact absorbing portion may be made of foamed resin and may be accommodated in the interior of a lower protruding portion, and this lower impact absorbing portion may be fixedly provided at a front end surface of the protruding portion.

The present invention relates to a vehicle body front structure and more particularly to the structure of a front end module for holding at least a radiator core and a condenser.
As is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open 2001-18838, as a front end module disposed at a front end portion of a vehicle body, a front end module is widely used in general in which headlamp housings are integrally provided on a radiator core support for holding a radiator core and a condenser.
In the front end module of this type, a bumper beam is mounted at a position confronting an upper portion side of a front bumper face, and an impact absorbing member made of foamed resin is disposed between the bumper beam and the bumper face.
Incidentally, in recent years, there have been proposed body structures in which impact is designed to be aggressively absorbed not only at an upper portion of a front bumper but also at a lower portion of the front bumper from a point of view regarding a pedestrian protection. In addition, disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open 2000-6739 is a technology in which a bracket is interposed between a front bumper face and a cross member for fixedly mounting a lower portion of the bumper face to the cross member on the vehicle body. A plurality of mounting wall surfaces is adapted to overlap a front surface of the cross member. Pairs of vertical surfaces are extended forward from both sides of the respective mounting wall surfaces in such a manner as to be substantially normal to a transverse direction of the vehicle are formed integrally with the bracket. Mounting locations to the cross member are provided on the respective mounting surfaces. According to this technology, the respective vertical surfaces function as impact absorbing members from the lower portion of the front bumper face.
However, as has been described above, in order to have a structure in which impact can be absorbed at the lower portion of the front bumper as well, there occurs a need to provide additionally a cross member for holding an impact absorbing member at a position confronting the lower portion of the front bumper face ahead of the front end module. The additional member like this leads to risks that the body structure is made complicated and that the production costs are increased highly.


Disclosed herein are compositions and methods of treating a subject with cancer. The compositions and methods utilize immunoresponsive cells to effect killing of tumor cells.

Cancer has a major impact on society across the globe. In 2016, an estimated 1,685,210 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States alone, and 595,690 people will die from the disease. By 2020, 18.2 million Americans, roughly 1 in 19 people, will be cancer patients or cancer survivors, up from 11.7 million (1 in 26) in 2005, according to the Journal of Oncology Practice (Erikson 2007).
In the light of overwhelming clinical success of cancer immunotherapies, γδ-T cells have come into the spotlight of interest, as tumor infiltrating γδ-T cells are the major predictor of clinical outcome across many cancer types. Several approaches have been tested in preclinical models and a number of clinical trials are currently on going. Despite multiple efforts to bring γδ-T cells into the clinic, their use has been largely ineffective. Therefore, new modalities of harnessing their anti-tumor efficacy are needed.

Human leukocyte antigen restricted gamma delta T cell receptors and methods of use thereof


A method including receiving, from a mobile device, a payment method and a payment amount. The method also can include validating the payment amount. The method further can include generating a gift card for the payment amount. The gift card can include a gift card identifier. The method additionally can include sending the gift card identifier to the mobile device. The method further can include displaying the gift card identifier on the mobile device. Other embodiments are provided.

When paying for merchandise at traditional "brick-and-mortar" retail stores, consumers typically use cash, checks, or payment cards, such as credit cards or debit cards. It can be inconvenient for customers to carry cash, check, and/or payment cards. Moreover, there is a risk of loss or theft when carrying and using such payment instruments, which can result fraudulent transactions and/or financial loss.
Mobile devices, such as smartphones, are now in common use. These devices can be used for a variety of activities, such as conducting phone calls, capturing pictures and video, browsing the Internet, and using mobile applications.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and descriptions and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. The same reference numerals in different figures denote the same elements.
The terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms "include," and "have," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus.
The terms "left," "right," "front," "back," "top," "bottom," "over," "under," and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the apparatus, methods, and/or articles of manufacture described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
The terms "couple," "coupled," "couples," "coupling," and the like should be broadly understood and refer to connecting two or more elements mechanically and/or otherwise. Two or more electrical elements may be electrically coupled together, but not be mechanically or otherwise coupled together. Coupling may be for any length of time, e.g., permanent or semi-permanent or only for an instant. "Electrical coupling" and the like should be broadly understood and include electrical coupling of all types. The absence of the word "removably," "removable," and the like near the word "coupled," and the like does not mean that the coupling, etc. in question is or is not removable.
As defined herein, two or more elements are "integral" if they are comprised of the same piece of material. As defined herein, two or more elements are "non-integral" if each is comprised of a different piece of material.
As defined herein, "approximately" can, in some embodiments, mean within plus or minus ten percent of the stated value. In other embodiments, "approximately" can mean within plus or minus five percent of the stated value. In further embodiments, "approximately" can mean within plus or minus three percent of the stated value. In yet other embodiments, "approximately" can mean within plus or minus one percent of the stated value.


A magnetic lock device easily can be fastened to a fastening member on an object or article such as the flap of a handbag, thereby saving labor costs incurred in fastening the device to the object. Also, any thickened portion that may occur on a fastening member when the device is fastened to the object can be minimized. The magnetic lock device includes a first element incorporating a permanent magnet that acts as a magnetically attracting part and a second element that acts as a magnetically attracted part. The second element includes an attachment having pointed lugs shaped like saw teeth. A receiver having a curled edge formed as an arc in cross section inside and around a peripheral margin of a fastening side receives the pointed lugs extending through the fastening member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic lock device that comprises a first element incorporating therein a permanent magnet for providing a magnetic attraction and a second element adapted to be attracted magnetically toward the first element and thereby detachably attached thereto.
2. Prior Art
A conventional magnetic lock device of similar type as disclosed herein is known, and is typically used on articles such as handbags wherein the first element, or the magnetically attracting part, may be mounted to the body of the handbag and the second element, or the magnetically attracted part, may be mounted to the flap of the handbag. More specifically, the first element is located on the outer side of the handbag body, and the second element is located on the inner side of the flap in a position facing the location of the first element. In order to permit the first and second elements to be mounted to the body and flap of the handbag, respectively, each of the elements includes an attachment that is designed to be fastened to a fastening member that is provided on each of the body and flap of the handbag.
Typical examples of such attachment are illustrated in FIGS. 10a, 10b and 10c. As shown, the attachment 3 includes a base plate 1 and a pair of legs 2 extending from the base plate 1. In the conventional magnetic lock device as described above, the first and second elements may be attached to the two parts of an article, such as the body and flap of the handbag, by fastening the respective attachments 3 to corresponding fastening members. Each fastening member has a pair of through holes for receiving the respective legs 2. In this case, the pair of holes must previously be provided on each fastening member, and the attachments 3 must then be fastened to the fastening members by inserting the legs 2 into the holes. This process requires extra fastening steps, making it difficult to reduce labor costs. In addition, the fastening steps are accomplished by inserting the legs 2 of the attachment into the holes in the fastening member, and bending the legs over the fastening member. Thus, an overlap is formed by the bent legs and fastening member. This overlap thickens the fastening member, and damages the aesthetic appearance of the product.
Referring to FIGS. 10b and 10c, the prior art fastening construction of the second element A, which is the magnetically attracted part which is provided on the flap of the handbag, includes a fastening member B including a front side portion 4 (made of leather) and a rear side portion 5 (also made of leather). The legs 2 of the attachment 3 are inserted through the through holes previously provided in the rear side portion 5, and are further inserted through holes 8 previously provided in a backing washer 7 mounted on the inner side of the rear side portion 5. The portions of the legs 2 that extend from the backing washer 7 are bent, and overlap 9 is formed. This overlap 9 is covered by the front side portion 4. Thus, the front side portion 4 includes a thickened portion formed by the overlap 9. Usually, a hammer or the like is used to strike the thickened portion so that it can be made as thin as possible. Striking the thickened portion would deform the portion of a plate 10 or cylindrical rod 11 on the second element A that is to be contacted and magnetically attracted by first element C. If deformed, the magnetic attraction performance of the first element C would undesirably be degraded. The thickened portion that is formed on the second element A usually appears on the front side of the flap of the handbag. Thus, a solution to this problem is desired.
A similar problem occurs for the first element C. Thus, a hammer or the like us used to strike the thickened portion and may damage the permanent magnet incorporated in the first element C.


Water-saving and automatic detergent supplier for toilet bowl, including: a detergent receptacle disposed in a water tank of the toilet bowl, the detergent receptacle being a container having an upper opening for containing a detergent; a quantitative reservoir connected with a bottom of the detergent receptacle and immersed in the water contained in the water tank, a top end of the quantitative reservoir being formed with a detergent inlet, while a bottom end of the quantitative reservoir being formed with a detergent outlet; and a buoyant piston structure connected at the detergent inlet and detergent outlet. The buoyant piston structure is subject to water buoyancy, whereby depending on the existence of water in the water tank or vacancy of the water tank, the buoyant piston structure is operable to release the detergent from the quantitative reservoir into the water tank.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a water-saving and automatic detergent supplier for toilet bowl. The automatic detergent supplier is disposed in a water tank of the toilet bowl to save water for flushing the toilet bowl and automatically quantitatively supply detergent for cleaning the toilet bowl. The automatic detergent supplier can be used without contaminating the water tank.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various kinds of toilet detergent liquids or detergent tablets are commercially available. Such toilet detergent is placed in the water tank of the toilet bowl. Each time the toilet bowl is flushed, the detergent is automatically entrained by the water to clean the toilet bowl. However, after the detergent is exhausted, it is necessary for a user to add new detergent into the water tank. Such procedure is quite troublesome.
Moreover, the detergent tablet is a solid body which is gradually resolved in the water to form the detergent solution. However, the detergent tablet is resolved at slow rate so that in the case that the toilet bowl is too closely used, the cleaning effect will be poor. Furthermore, in the beginning of use of the detergent tablet, the density of the detergent solution will be thicker. However, the density of the detergent solution will become thinner and thinner with the increment of using times. Therefore, it is impossible to supply fixed density of detergent for the toilet bowl. In addition, after the detergent tablet is fully resolved, the remainder thereof will stick on the bottom of the water tank and can be hardly cleared up.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a water-saving and automatic detergent supplier for toilet bowl, which is disposed in a water tank of the toilet bowl to save water for flushing the toilet bowl. Each time flushing the toilet bowl, the detergent supplier is able to automatically quantitatively supply the detergent to the toilet bowl for cleaning the same.
According to the above object, the water-saving and automatic detergent supplier for toilet bowl of the present invention includes: a detergent receptacle disposed in a water tank of the toilet bowl, the detergent receptacle being a container having an upper opening; a quantitative reservoir connected with a bottom of the detergent receptacle, a top end of the quantitative reservoir being formed with a detergent inlet, while a bottom end of the quantitative reservoir being formed with a detergent outlet; and a buoyant piston structure connected at the detergent inlet and detergent outlet. The buoyant piston structure is subject to water buoyancy, whereby depending on the existence of water in the water tank or vacancy of the water tank, the buoyant piston -structure is operable to release the detergent from the quantitative reservoir into the water tank.
The water-saving and automatic detergent supplier further includes a fixing structure connected with the detergent receptacle for fixing the same in a certain position in the water tank. The fixing structure includes at least one fixing rod connected with the top end of the detergent receptacle. A hook member is disposed at each end of the fixing rod for hooking a peripheral wall defining an upper opening of the water tank. An upper cover board of the water tank serves to press the hook members.
In the water-saving and automatic detergent supplier, the buoyant piston structure includes an upper piston, a lower piston and a buoyant body. The upper piston is disposed on upper side of the detergent inlet of the quantitative reservoir, while the lower piston is disposed on lower side of the detergent outlet of the quantitative reservoir. The upper and lower pistons are both drivingly connected with the buoyant body. In a full level state of the water tank, due to water buoyancy, the buoyant body makes the lower piston block the detergent outlet, while opening the upper piston to unblock the detergent inlet. Under such circumstance, the detergent is filled up into the quantitative reservoir. On the other hand, in a vacant state of the water tank, the buoyant body is free from any water buoyancy so that the lower piston is opened to unblock the detergent outlet, while the upper piston is closed to block the detergent inlet. At this time, the detergent in the quantitative reservoir is released therefrom into the water tank.
Alternatively, in the water-saving and automatic detergent supplier, the buoyant piston structure includes an upper piston, a lower piston and a buoyant body. The upper piston is disposed on lower side of the detergent inlet of the quantitative reservoir, while the lower piston is disposed on upper side of the detergent outlet of the quantitative reservoir. The upper and lower pistons are both drivingly connected with the buoyant body. In a vacant state of the water tank, the buoyant body is free from any water buoyancy so that the upper piston is opened to unblock the detergent inlet, while the lower piston is closed to block the detergent outlet. At this time, the detergent is filled up into the quantitative reservoir. On the other hand, in a full level state of the water tank, due to water buoyancy, the buoyant body makes the upper piston block the detergent inlet, while opening the lower piston to unblock the detergent outlet. At this time, the detergent in the quantitative reservoir is released therefrom into the water tank.
The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:


This invention discloses a practical method for landslide detection in large space, which comprises the following steps: image synthesis, ice and snow detection, removal of non-potential landslide area, detection of potential landslide area, feature calculation, landslide detection model construction and precision validation; this invention avoids radiometric correction and outlier by detecting landslide from synthetic image. That guarantees practical applicability of the proposal. Firstly, detecting potential landslides can avoid the imbalanced sample distribution issue between background objects and landslides when training the landslide detection model. The landslide is further detected by building a random forest model based on the spectral features and textural features of potential landslide pixels in different neighboring time domains. It fully considers the changes of objects in different time domains, and lays a foundation for efficient landslide extraction. This model is relatively reliable and practical for automatically detecting landslide from large-scale images.

At present, the methods of remote sensing landslide detection are different according to different data types. The landslide detection methods based on optical image synthesize spectral, textural, shape and morphological features, and are generally grouped to two categories: (1) Pixel based detection; (2) Object oriented detection. Pixel based detection takes each pixel as the object of interest, calculates statistics on the spectral and textural features of each pixel in the image, and detects landslide by setting threshold. However, this method only takes into account the features of a single pixel, and lacks the spatial characteristics of the object that the pixel belongs to. Therefore, the characteristics of pixels among an object lack necessary correlation. Object oriented detection takes an object as the calculation target. It combines the adjacent pixels with similar features by region growth rules and detects landslide based on the spectral and textural features of each generated object. Such detection method heavily relies on the segmentation of each object obtained after region growing. Once the generated object regions contain many background object pixels, or miss many target object pixels, the subsequent detection precision will be directly affected.
Both methods mentioned above involve threshold setting. At present, three strategies have been developed to set threshold: in the first strategy, the threshold is set manually, which is time-consuming and labor-consuming, and the rules constructed are often not robust. Therefore, it is difficult to detect multiple landslide events from a large-scale remote sensing image. The second strategy learns threshold automatically by machine learning model, built from multi-dimensional features for each training sample, including spectral, textural and geometric features. The machine learning model can simulate the threshold by learning the manually designed features to detect landslides. However, most machine learning algorithms have a requirement of balanced sample distribution, that the sample size of different types of ground objects should be equivalent. However, due to the disaster attribute of landslides, the number of landslide samples is much smaller than that of background objects, especially in a large space. Therefore, landslide detection from remote sensed images is mostly based on a small number (from a few events to dozens of events) of small-scale landslides, and the spectral or textural differences between landslides and background objects are obvious in the image. The third strategy, deep learning, has been widely used in object detection, recognition, segmentation and other tasks in computer vision field. It can learn local and global features automatically and directly from training samples, without feature engineering. However, method based on deep learning needs a large number of training samples, and the parameter tuning process of the model is complicated, thus making it difficult to apply in practical applications. Therefore, this invention proposes a practical method for landslide detection in large space to solve the problems in the prior art.

Practical method for landslide detection in large space

AEROSPACE INFORMATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


A conveyor belt (1) for persons includes several sections (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) with a first section (2) and a second section (3) forming an acceleration portion (7), in which the persons to be transported are accelerated from a low initial speed, which is unproblematic for stepping onto the conveyor belt (1) for persons, to a constant transport speed of a main portion (8) formed by a third section (4). Connected downstream of the main section (8) is a retardation portion (9), which is formed by means of a fourth section (5) and a fifth section (6) and in which the persons to be transported are retarded from the transport speed to a low final speed, which is unproblematic for departure from the conveyor belt (1) for persons. Arranged at each section transition is a respective transition device (10) having a roller (20, 20.11, 36, 37) by means of which the persons are guided free of risk from one section to the other.

The present invention relates generally to moving walkways and, in particular, to a conveyor belt for persons, comprising at least two sections and a transition device which is arranged between the sections and which enables the transport of persons and objects from one section to the other section.
A conveyor belt for persons with acceleration portions and retardation portions, which portions make it possible for persons to overcome the transition state from a speed of zero to a nominal transport speed of the conveyor belt for persons and conversely, is shown in the German published patent document DE 28 27 249. Shaped parts form continuous transport surfaces between the portions, in that solid zones and hollow zones of the shaped parts engage in grooves or in ribs of the conveyor belts of the portions.
The shaped part necessary for bridging over two adjacent portions is of such a size that small shoe sizes, for example children's shoes or pointed heels of ladies' shoes, find room on the shaped part. Because the movement of the person to be transported is thereby disturbed at the shaped part, a substantial risk of accident exists.


Vulcanizing device with radially mobile segments comprising:                a bottom plate supporting a bottom shell for molding a tire sidewall,        an axially mobile top plate supporting a top shell for molding a tire sidewall,        an axially mobile closure ring comprising an inclined interior face,        a plurality of circumferentially arranged adjacent segments of which the interior radial faces comprise linings for molding the tread of the tire and of which the inclined exterior radial faces are able to collaborate with:        first means of coupling with the closure ring which are produced in such a way that the axial movements of the closure ring involve a radial movement of the segments, and        second means of coupling the segments to the top plate which are able to connect the segments to the top plate and to allow their radial movement,the said second means of coupling being adjustable on the circumference of the top plate.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a tire vulcanizing device, more specifically of the type in which the part intended to form the tread of the tire is divided into several segments that can be moved radially in relation to the axis of the mold. In this type of vulcanizing device, the space for molding the exterior surface of the tire is defined by two shells, each one molding one sidewall, and by a ring of segments which mold the tread, these components together forming a curing mold.
2. Description of Related Art
Vulcanizing devices vulcanize the tire by applying pressure and heat energy to a green form of tire. Vulcanizing devices of the segmented type are made as several components which are assembled and driven with suitable dynamics in relation to the curing press.
The methods used for radially closing the segments onto the green form of the tire often involve closing the segments by sliding along the internal surface of a conical closure ring. Of the vulcanizing devices that employ such a conical closure ring those comprising molds referred to as container molds, in which the bottom shell is fixed and the molding cavity is closed by first of all bringing the top shell that molds the sidewall into contact with the green tire, this movement being initiated by the top plate of the container, then bringing the segments into contact with the green tire, are preferred for reasons of ease of access to the molding space when loading and unloading the tire. At the time of opening the mold, the segments accompany the top shell as the latter is lifted.
A container-type curing mold of this kind is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,677. The mold comprises two lateral shells used for molding a sidewall of the tire and a peripheral ring comprising elements for molding the tread, this ring being divided into several segments having lateral faces perpendicular to the axis of the mold and radial transverse faces. The mold is closed by bringing the lateral shells axially closer together and then by moving the segments radially towards the axis of the mold. The radial movement of the segments is performed by a conical closure ring set in motion by the top plate of the press. The closure ring on its radially internal face comprises several T-shaped components, each being made to slide in a channel having an inclined guide surface of corresponding shape made on the radially external surface of a mold segment. Pivoting coupling elements connect the mobile plate that supports the top shell to the segments allowing these to move axially with the plate and to slide radially in radial slots of the plate.
Another example of a segmented vulcanizing device operating on the same principle as that of the previous document is described in document EP-0 170 109, the conical closure plate comprising, on its radially internal surface, guide grooves in which correspondingly shaped coupling pieces borne by the segments of the mold slide. Prismatic coupling elements connect the top faces of the segments to the mobile plate allowing the segments to move axially with the plate and to slide radially in correspondingly shaped prismatic guides belonging to the plate.
The major disadvantage with these vulcanizing devices is that the segments actuating assembly is dedicated to a specific mold, the parts of the device being machined to suit a fixed number of segments each having a predetermined angle and an amplitude of edge cutout which is dictated by the pattern and the circumference of the tire that is to be vulcanized. More particularly, the closure rings of the prior art are equipped with slide ways fixed to the radially internal wall of the ring to collaborate with a given number of mold segments and a pre-established angular positioning thereof. What is more, the mobile upper plate is machined to form the guide parts for returning the segments, these parts being dictated by the number and position of the mold segments. Thus, the closure ring and top plate of the prior art are permanently set up and suited to just one vulcanizing mold. This makes manufacture of the ring and of the plate of the vulcanizing device expensive while at the same time restricting their use to a restricted number of tire types.
Also known is document WO 2010/019134 in the name of the applicant company which proposes a vulcanizing device comprising elements for the attachment of the several adjacent half-segments, the attachment elements being produced in such a way as to be fitted to the periphery of each closure half-ring. However, this solution is specific to a vulcanizing device the closing and opening system of which involves the use of thrusting springs that push each half-segment. That document cannot provide a solution for optimizing the structure of molds of the container type in which each segment needs to be connected to the mobile plate and guided in its radial movement with respect thereto and at the same time able to collaborate with a closure ring.

Vulcanizing device with radially mobile segments for a tire

COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN


A sheet processing apparatus is featured in that a waiting tray comprises an extensible tray set to enable projection of a transported sheet in a distal end direction and retraction into a distal end direction, wherein, in the case where a size of a sheet transported to the waiting tray exceeds a size set on the waiting tray, an extensible tray drive roller is driven to project the extensible tray in a transport proximal end direction of the sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus (finisher) for bundling sheets sent from an image forming apparatus, thereby carrying out, for example, staple processing and a waiting tray for use in the post-process apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A post-process apparatus comprises: a processing tray for bundling sheets sent from an image forming apparatus, thereby carrying out, for example, staple processing, and ejecting the processed bundles of sheets; and a storage tray for holding the ejected bundles of sheets. A staple processing speed of the post-process apparatus is slow as compared with an image processing speed of the image forming apparatus. Thus, if a sheet is directly sent to the processing tray, a sheet to be staple processed next is transported while a preceding sheet is staple processed. In order to prevent this problem, conventionally, a buffer mechanism for adjusting a carrying-in timing of a sheet at a front stage of the processing tray is proposed.
Japanese Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 2583594 discloses a mechanism for retaining sheets is provided at a transport passage for sending sheets sent from an image forming apparatus to a processing tray. However, in this case, there is a need for increasing the transport passage in length, and, as a result, the post-process apparatus is likely to be large in size.
Japanese Patent document 2: Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-72321 discloses a mechanism that an extension tray is retractably provided on a sheet alignment tray of a staple unit; and, when a recorded sheet is ejected from an image forming apparatus, the extension tray is fed out from the sheet alignment tray, and the ejected sheets are stacked on these trays. However, the patent document 2 discloses a technique relating to the sheet alignment tray of the staple unit which is technically different from that of the present invention relating to a waiting tray. Therefore, advantageous effect of the present invention cannot be attained.

Sheet post-process apparatus and waiting tray