A seed tank arrangement is provided with improved access to seed tanks of an agricultural planter and the contents thereof, while simplifying the manufacturing of such tanks. The seed tank has a fill opening formed in the upper surface of the tank for loading and accessing seeds in the interior of the tank. Features of the tank are mirror images about a diagonal plane of the tank, which enables the same tank to be used for both the left and right sides of the planter. This is achieved by rotating the left tank 90 degrees with respect to the right tank. The design provides improved access to the interior of the tanks for filling and servicing the seed.

The present invention relates generally to agricultural implements, and more particularly to a planter or similar implement designed to be towed behind a work vehicle, and that is equipped with seed tanks to assist with seed distribution.
A wide range of agricultural implements are known and are presently in use, particularly designed for towing behind a work vehicle, such as a tractor. In one family of such implements, including tillers, planters, and so forth, a wide swath of ground can be tilled, planted, or otherwise worked in each pass of the implement in a tilled or untilled field. Planters, for example, often include frames supported by series of wheels and a tool bar extending transversely with respect to a line of movement of the implement across the field. Attached to the tool bar are a series of row units for dispensing seeds in parallel rows either in tilled or untilled soil. A pair of seed tanks are typically supported on the implement support structure, such as just forward of or over the tool bar. Large amounts of seed may be poured into these tanks and, as the implement is advanced across the field, seeds are transferred from the tanks by a distribution system connected to the row units.
Difficulties may arise in servicing such implements owing to the need to access the upper portions of the equipment, such as seed tanks in planters. The seed tanks may, for example, have fill openings or lids that can be removed to pour the desired seeds into the tanks prior to deploying the implement in a field. Such seeds may be inserted automatically, semi-automatically or manually into the tanks. Both before and after hauling the implement to and from the field, and while the implement is in a field, operator access to the seed tanks may be needed, such as for filling, inspection, removal of debris, and so forth. In traditional planter designs, however, the fill openings may be placed toward the center of the seed tanks, making access to the fill opening difficult, especially in the case of larger tanks. While this, in certain situations, may not pose particular problems, it renders many operations difficult, such as loading heavy sacks of seed into the tanks or removing debris from the tanks.
Difficulties may also occur in manufacturing seed tanks that have accessible fill openings. Tank designs may require separate manufacturing processes and parts for each left and right tank due to the need for off center tank fill openings. This requirement results in additional manufacturing costs as well as inconvenience for service or replacement.
There is a need, therefore, for improved arrangements in towed implements that permit operators to more easily access seed tanks in planters. There is a particular need for arrangements that permit an operator access to fill openings of the seed tanks for tasks such as filling and inspection. There is also a particular need for improved access seed tanks which have a low manufacturing cost.


An oxygen monitoring system measures the oxygen concentration in a patient's blood for use as a physiological control parameter in rate responsive pacing. The oxygen monitoring system includes an oxygen monitoring circuit embedded in a cardiac stimulation lead and monitors the blood oxygen in a patient's venous system that passes through and into the lead. The oxygen monitoring circuit includes a working electrode, a counter electrode, a reference electrode and an IC chip electrically interconnected between the electrodes and programmed to carry out an oxygen concentration measuring process. Oxygen surrounding the electrodes causes current to flow between the electrodes and the IC chip varies the value of current generated by a current source coupled between the working electrode and counter electrode in a manner to maintain the voltage between the working electrode and reference electrode at a preselected value. The variation of the current source value is a direct measure of the blood oxygen concentration. The oxygen monitoring circuit may comprise an IC chip mounted on one side of a substrate and on the reverse side of which are mounted the electrodes or an IC chip(s) upon which the electrodes are directly mounted. Furthermore, the IC chip, with appropriate insulation may be used in place of the substrate. At least two insulated IC chips may be used, for example in a back to back arrangement, for increased overall sensitivity or redundancy.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a system and lead for monitoring blood oxygen concentration in a patient's venous system.
2. Background
Blood oxygen concentration is a direct indicator of the physiological status and need of a patient. Other indicators include various cardiac timing signals, blood temperature, respiratory rate and blood pressure measured within the chambers of the heart, blood oxygen saturation, as well as physical rate and acceleration. Physiologically responsive pacemakers and cardioverter/defibrillators, both referred to as cardiac stimulation devices, utilize one or more of such indicators as a control parameter(s) to vary cardiac rate in the process of optimizing a patient's cardiac performance to achieve the correct metabolic rate for providing a high level of patient well being. As is recognized in the art, cardiac stimulation devices provide patients having a chronically malfunctioning heart, with selective cardiac therapy in the form typically, of cardiac stimulation pulses in order to maintain proper metabolic rate. Unlike a healthy heart, a malfunctioning heart normally does not adequately respond to physical activity, exercise, stress or emotion, posture changes and sleep conditions. Normal cardiac reaction to physiological need manifests in adjustment of cardiac stroke volume and heart rate with the natural adjustment of such parameters being responsive to immediate need.
To remedy the deficiencies of a malfunctioning heart, cardiac stimulation devices have been widely used to control heart rate and thus metabolic rate. Early devices were not rate responsive and provided a pacing regimen that stimulated the heart at a constant rate under all conditions. The drawback of such devices was that under many conditions they did not provide the proper metabolic rate for patient need. For example, under sleep conditions where the required heart rate is low due to minimal physiological need, the device would pace the heart at too high a rate than required. On the other hand, a constant pacing rate did not adequately respond to a patient's metabolic need under high exercise and stress conditions.
Upon the introduction of rate responsive stimulation devices, a more rapid response to satisfying a patient's physiological need was made available. The intent of such devices was to adjust the patient's cardiac rate on a continual basis for a wide variety of exercise and stress conditions encountered by a patient. A very straightforward technique for controlling cardiac pacing in rate adaptive dual chamber devices is by the use of atrial tracking pacing, especially when the patient has partial or complete AV block. This technique however lacks effectiveness when the patient suffers from atrial fibrillation or sinus bradycardia.
To address this situation, other techniques utilizing the aforementioned indicators of physiological need have been proposed. For example, the use of venous blood temperature has been described by Cook et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,092. The shortcomings of this device are, lack of rapid response, coarseness of measurement and susceptibility to non-physiological influences such as the ingestion of cold liquids and fever. A second approach is the use of blood pressure at different locations in the heart. One such device utilizing the blood pressure in the atrium, was described by Cohen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,358,690. However, patients with sinus bradycardia and atrial fibrillation are not amenable to this approach. Other devices utilizing blood pressure have been described by Koning et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,456 and by Scroeppel in U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,017. These devices however, fall short if the patient suffers from sinus bradycardia or atrial fibrillation. Activity sensing, rate responsive devices as described for example by Anderson et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,378 and by Thornander et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,555 provide fast response times and good reliability but often are affected by non activity events. For example, if the patient is riding in a vehicle over a bumpy road, the resulting body movement will be erroneously interpreted as physical activity inducing unnecessary pacing rate increases.
Still, another class of devices utilizes blood chemistry as physiologic indicators. The use of blood oxygen saturation has been described by Wirtzfeld et al. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,202,339 and 4,399,820; by Bornzin in U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,807; by Cohen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,469; by Thompson in U.S. Pat. No., 5,342,406; by Thacker in U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,987; and by Mortazavi in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,040,538 and 5,411,532. The devices taught by Mortazavi include a light-emitting diode (LED) positioned within a chamber of the heart and arranged such that light emitted from the LED is directed at the blood which then reflects the light to an adjacent light detecting sensor in the form of a phototransistor. Upon delivery of a sensing pulse, the LED commences to emit light and the reflected light is produced in an intensity proportional to the oxygen concentration. Circuitry associated with the phototransistor integrates the voltage proportional to the light's intensity and when the integrated voltage reaches a "prescribed value", current is then shunted away from the LED and the integration process is terminated. The time interval from delivery of the sensing pulse to reaching the "prescribed value" is a measure of the degree of oxygen saturation in the blood. The blood cells change from a blue to a red hue when the myoglobin in the blood cells is saturated with oxygen. This sensing method does not indicate accurately the percentage of oxygen in the blood below the saturation point of the myoglobin. The oxygen sensor circuit includes a diode in series circuit arrangement with a stimulation lead conductor. Pacing pulses are generated having a first polarity, while oxygen sensing pulses are generated having a second polarity opposite to that of the first polarity. Accordingly, this type of arrangement requires a polarity distinction between pacing and sensing pulses. Furthermore, the placement of the sensor is taught to be in the atrium and there is a potential that oxygen monitoring may be compromised if the sensor is located immediately adjacent to or in contact with the atrium wall because there may be an insufficient amount of blood in the area surrounding the sensor to obtain a reliable measure of oxygen concentration.

Blood oxygen monitoring system and a lead therefor

Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Scientific Research


A fuel cell stack constituted by fastening a laminated cell, is disclosed. The electrode of the cell has a catalyst electrode layer and a porous gas diffusion layer and supporting a polymer electrolyte membrane (1) from both sides. A separator (3) of the cell has a gas passage (6, 7) which supplies fuel gas or oxidizer gas to the gas diffusion layer. The gas diffusion layer (2b) is constituted such that when a load is applied and removed in the lamination direction of the cell, an amount of change in a thickness of the gas diffusion layer in a non-loaded state before and after the load is applied falls to or below a predetermined value. The gas diffusion layer (2b) is manufactured by repeating a cycle of applying and removing a load on the gas diffusion layer in the lamination direction of the cell before laminating the cell. The cycle is repeated until an amount of change in a thickness of the gas diffusion layer in a non-loaded state before and after the load is applied falls to or below a predetermined value. The gas diffusion layer (2b) is prevented from swelling into the gas passage.

A fuel cell converts chemical energy contained in fuel directly into electric energy by causing a fuel gas such as hydrogen and an oxidizer gas such as air to react electrochemically. One type of fuel cell is a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC), which uses a polymer electrolyte as an electrolyte.
The electrochemical reaction which takes place in the fuel electrode and oxidizer electrode is as follows.Fuel electrode: 2H2→4H++4e−  (1)Oxidizer electrode: 4H++4e−+O2→2H2O  (2)
In order to produce a favorable reaction in both the fuel electrode and oxidizer electrode, reaction gas (fuel gas and oxidizer gas) must be supplied evenly to a reaction surface (i.e. the surface of the electrolyte membrane. To supply reaction gas to the reaction surface evenly, ease of gas flow in a gas passage formed in the cell and ease of gas diffusion inside a gas diffusion layer must be ensured.
The gas diffusion layer is disposed in contact with a separator, in which a passage allowing gas flow is formed. More specifically, the gas diffusion layer contacts a rib defining the passage in the separator. A fuel cell stack is typically fastened together in the lamination direction by bolts or bands, and hence the gas diffusion layer receives a load (or pressure) from the rib of the separator. The region of the gas diffusion layer which contacts the rib and is subjected to a load from the rib is known as a compressed region (or rib-contacting part). A non-compressed region (or gas diffusion portion) of the gas diffusion layer which faces the passage in the separator does not receive the stack-fastening load (i.e. pressure from the rib) that is received by the compressed region. Hence the non-compressed region which faces the passage swells toward the passage side. As a result, the cross-sectional area of the passage decreases, inhibiting the gas flow through the passage, and swelling of the gas diffusion layer toward the gas passage must therefore be suppressed.
Furthermore, to ensure that the reaction within the reaction surface is even, a sufficient gas diffusivity is required not only in the non-compressed region, but also in the compressed region. The gas diffusivity differs within the gas diffusion layer according to the state of compression. Since the state of compression differs between the non-compressed region and compressed region, a difference arises in the gas diffusivity of the two regions. It is therefore desirable that the gas diffusivity be as uniform as possible in the non-compressed region and the compressed region.
Tokkai 2002-343379, published by the Japan Patent Office in 2002, discloses a technique of regulating the gas diffusivity within the gas diffusion layer. By pressing the gas diffusion layer in the direction of thickness during manufacture, the gas diffusivity within the gas diffusion layer is regulated to a design value.

Fuel cell stack and manufacturing method thereof


A power control section, which turns a video/audio recording apparatus ON or OFF, outputs power control information. A video recording control section, which starts or stops video recording, outputs video recording control information. A signal input section allows moving picture data to be input. Based on the power control information and the video recording control information, an attribute designation section generates attribute information, which is supplied to a recording section. The attribute information contains a program number used for the classification of moving picture files. Any number of moving picture files which may be recorded after the power is turned ON and before the power is turned OFF are assigned with the same program number. The recording section records on a recording medium the attribute information as well as moving picture files representing the moving picture data which has been input via the signal input section. Thus, a file-by-file recording of moving picture data on a recording medium can be achieved in a manner which facilitates the subsequent finding of a desired file.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for video/audio recording, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for video/audio recording where input data containing at least one of video data and audio data is recorded on a recording medium in a file-by-file manner.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, magnetic tape has often been used as a recording medium for recording moving pictures. Magnetic tape media are inexpensive, making it possible to store a large amount of information at a relatively low cost. However, before a user can reproduce moving picture data which is recorded on a magnetic tape medium, it is often necessary to locate the beginning of the desired moving picture data by either rewinding or fast-forwarding the tape, which can be cumbersome and time-consuming.
Accordingly, in recent years, disk media have begun to replace magnetic tape media as alternative recording media for recording moving pictures. Typical examples of such disk media are: DVDs, hard disks, MDs (mini discs), etc., on which digitized moving picture data is recorded. Such a recording medium includes a file system to enable moving picture data to be recorded in a file-by-file manner. In general, one "shot" (which corresponds to the duration from the beginning of video recording until the end of the video recording) is recorded in the form of one moving picture file.
Thus, the use of a disk medium as a recording medium allows a user to reproduce desired moving picture data by simply selecting a moving picture file. As a result, the time and trouble for locating any desired moving picture data are effectively eliminated.
However, when moving picture data is recorded on a disk medium in a file-by-file manner as described above, a large number of moving picture files may be created on the disk medium as a result of repetitious recording of moving picture data. Since such moving picture files are recorded on the medium in an unorganized manner (i.e., without being classified), it may be difficult to later find a desired moving picture file from among the many moving picture files which are recorded on the recording medium.

Apparatus and method for video/audio recording

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A mobile telephone switching network 3, a server 5, and a terminal equipment 7 are connected to a network 4. A portable telephone set 2 manufactured by a manufacturer 1 is connected to the mobile telephone switching network 3. Not only a service application fabricated by an application maker 6 but also a key application determining a key layout based on API published by the manufacturer 1 are uploaded to the server 5. The service and the key applications are downloaded to the portable telephone set 2 in response to a requirement from the portable telephone set 2. In the portable telephone set 2, the service application is analyzed by using the key application downloaded as mentioned above. The key layout is then determined by analyzing the service application. The key layout is displayed on the liquid crystal display of the portable telephone set 2.

The present invention relates to a mobile telephone set and a mobile telephone system, in particular to a mobile telephone set capable of altering key layout on the mobile telephone set, responsive to application program downloaded to the mobile telephone set, and a mobile telephone system including such a mobile telephone set.
Such a mobile telephone set includes a portable telephone set, a PHS (Personal Handy phone System) telephone set, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) terminal equipment having radio telephony function, and an automobile telephone set, and the like. Among these mobile telephone sets, particularly, the portable telephone set and the PHS telephone set have been rapidly progressed on the ground that portability of the portable and the PHS telephone sets have been improved by being made more compact and more light, that the portable and the PHS telephone sets have been rendered to have a multi-function, that the charge for a telephone call by the portable and the PHS telephone sets have been reduced, and the like. As an example of PHS having such a multi-function, unexamined Japanese patent publication Hei 10-271562, namely, No. 271562/1998 discloses a constitution that a game software can be downloaded from data base station to the PHS.
In an operating portion of the portable telephone set or the PHS telephone set, numeral buttons (keys), symbols, and function buttons (keys) are located together in a front surface of the body portion thereof. However, it is difficult to obtain a space for increasing numbers of the buttons (or keys), because of necessity for maintaining that the portable and the PHS telephone sets are made more compact and more light. Under the circumstances, requirement for the multi-function is tried to be achieved by assigning a plurality of functions to a single key. On the other hand, keys are located mainly in order to achieve dial function as a telephone set. As a result, the numerals keys 0 to 9 are located similarly to a conventional telephone set. The other buttons (keys) are variously located, dependent on design policy per each manufacture.
However, in a conventional mobile telephone set, a layout of the buttons are determined, when the conventional mobile telephone set is designed by the manufacture. In addition, the buttons themselves are merely located on the conventional mobile telephone set as parts of the conventional mobile telephone set. It is therefore impossible to alter the layout of the buttons after the conventional mobile telephone set has been manufactured. As a result, according to an application program, such as i-mode, and the like, it is caused to occur that a user of the conventional mobile telephone set cannot push the buttons easily. Thus, operability by the user is deteriorated. Further, it becomes difficult for the manufacture to develop such an application program.
On the other hand, in spite of such physical buttons, a mobile telephone set having an operating portion consisting mainly of a liquid crystal display and touch sensors combined therewith has come to be in sale recently. In this mobile telephone set, it is possible to change correspondence between each touch sensor and each function by altering a mode of the mobile telephone set with respect to functions developed by the manufacture themselves. However, the button layout thereof cannot be altered in response to each application program provided by an application program maker through a network, after a user has obtained the mobile telephone set.

Mobile telephone set capable of altering key layout thereof and mobile telephone system including the same


Multiple applications are displayed. A request to change a display of a first application is received. A determination is made regarding how displays for one or more other applications should change in response to changing the display of the first application in order to avoid conflict with the display of the first application. The display of the first application is changed. The one or more displays for the one or more other applications are automatically changed in response to changing the display of the first application in order to avoid conflict with the display of the first application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to technology for displaying multiple applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
As computers become more powerful and software becomes more sophisticated, users of computers are increasingly taking advantage of a computer's ability to run multiple applications at the same time. For example, a user may open multiple windows on a desktop, with each window running one or more applications. Alternatively, one window may be opened on a desktop, with the one window running a first application. Multiple other applications can then be run within the first application. One such example of the latter is if a user runs a web browser and multiple applications are run from within the web browser.
One problem with running multiple windowed applications on a computer is that the display area where the multiple applications are displayed can be come too crowded. For example, if there are multiple wind applications open, one or more applications may obscure other applications. When a user attempts to access an application, the user may need to first find the display for that application, change its size, manually change the size of other applications or move the other applications. It is often difficult to view multiple applications at the same time.
Thus, there is a need to better manage the user interface for multiple applications sharing a display area.

User interface for displaying multiple applications


Media item recommendations, such as music track recommendations, may be made using one or more models generated using data collected from a plurality of media stream sources, such as, for example, Internet radio stations. In an initial, bootstrapping phase, data about media items and media stream playlists of media stream sources may be used to generate a model, which comprises latent factor vectors, or learned profiles, of media items, e.g., tracks, artists, etc. Such a bootstrapping phase may be performed without user data, such as user playlists and/or user feedback, to generate a model that may be used to make media item recommendations. As user data becomes available, e.g., as users of a recommendation service provide user data, the user data may be used to supplement and/or update the model and/or to create user profiles.

The convergence of the media industry with the Internet and the appearance of mobile devices with rich media playing capabilities have created a variety of new services. In particular, nowadays users can consume, buy, share, and review media items in many new exciting ways. Yet, the variety and volume of media items is overwhelming. As a result, users may find it difficult to navigate through the vast variety of new media items and get what they like. To overcome this explosive content volume, helping users find items they like, many new recommendation services have emerged in recent years.

Media recommendation using internet media stream modeling


The invention provides a cutting fence with handle formed for attachment to a first cut rafter, or other custom shaped board, for building construction or the like. The cutting fence has a fence plate extending downwardly from a first end of a handle and a foot extending downwardly from a second end of the handle. A lip is provided on the fence plate to be coplanar with a horizontal portion of the foot. Holes are formed through the fence plate and the foot to mount the cutting fence to a cut rafter for use as a pattern to mark and cut additional boards to be substantially identical to the first cut rafter.

In the process of constructing a building, certain lumber pieces are used in full or partial lengths with minimal cutting. Examples are floor joists and wall studs that are frequently used in the length as purchased, e.g. 93 inches for studs or 12 feet for joists. In some cases, such as in positions below or above a window opening, the studs are cut in length to fit the space as required. Other pieces of lumber, such as roof rafters and stair stringers, require angle cutting and/or notching. In order for the roof or stairs to be properly aligned, the first rafter is carefully measured and cut. The first rafter is checked to determine if the angle is proper and the roof will fit as designed, then the first rafter is copied to produce multiple additional rafters that are as close as possible to an exact match.
A process has been known to utilize the first cut rafter as a pattern by attaching one or more fence blocks to a long edge of the first cut rafter by nails or screws. The cut rafter is placed on an uncut rafter board with the fence block or blocks in firm contact with a long edge of the uncut rafter board. With the first cut rafter and the uncut rafter board held together, the cut pattern is either cut directly or scribed on the uncut board, enabling the board to be substantially identical to the first cut rafter. Additional uncut rafter boards are handled and cut in the same manner. This process may be applied to other building construction components requiring intricate cutting, e.g. stair stringers.
The currently used method has drawbacks, including difficulty in maintaining alignment accuracy between the first cut rafter and successive rafter boards and difficulty in lifting and handling the first cut rafter. The invention disclosed below provides a unique device for overcoming the present drawbacks with a reliable and safe cutting fence with handle.


A rotational angle detecting sensor has a cylindrical housing including an end wall at a first end thereof. A covering member covers the second open end of the housing. A rotary shaft extends through the end wall of the housing and includes a large-diameter portion having a shoulder surface and rotatably received in the housing. A rotational angle detector is disposed between the inner surface of the covering member and the end surface of the large-diameter portion of the rotary shaft. An actuate groove is formed in the inner surface of the end wall of the housing concentrically with the rotary shaft. A stopper pin is attached to the shoulder surface of the large-diameter portion of the rotary shaft so as to be movable in the groove. The stopper pin abuts against the circumferential ends of the groove, thereby limiting the rotational range of the stopper pin.

The present invention relates to a rotational angle detecting sensor incorporated in construction machines or industrial machines, especially to a sensor to which high loads are applied.
Such rotational angle detecting sensors include ones of which the rotary shaft has one end thereof received in a housing and rotatably supported so that the rotary shaft can rotate with high accuracy (for example, see Japanese utility model publication 2604100).
FIGS. 2A and 2B show such a rotational angle detecting sensor. The rotational angle detecting sensor has a cylindrical housing 51 having an open end and an end wall 51a closing the other end thereof. The sensor further includes a rotary shaft 52 extending through the end wall 51a and having a large-diameter portion 52a at one end thereof. The large-diameter portion is received in the housing 51 and rotatably supported by two ball bearings 53 preloaded in a stationary position. The housing has its open end covered by a covering member 54. A rotational angle detector 55 is disposed between the inner surface of the covering member 54 and the end surface of the large-diameter portion 52a. The rotational angle detector 55 includes a ring-shaped detecting substrate 56 fitted around a circular protrusion 54a formed centrally on the inner surface of the covering member 54, a disc-shaped substrate 57 screwed to the end surface of the large-diameter portion 52a, and a known rotational angle detecting mechanism disposed between the opposed surfaces of the substrates 56 and 57.
As shown in FIG. 2B, an arcuate groove 54b is formed in the circular protrusion 54a of the covering member 54 concentrically with the rotary shaft 52. A stopper pin 58 extends through the substrate 57 and is received in the groove 54b so as to be movable in the groove 54b. The stopper pin 58 is adapted to abut against the ends of the groove 54b, thereby limiting the rotational range of the rotary shaft 52.
Another conventional means for limiting the rotational range of the rotary shaft 52 includes a semicircular protrusion 54c formed on the inner surface of the covering member 54 so that the stopper pin 58 is movable in the space defined between the protrusion 54c and the inner surface of the ring-shaped substrate 56. The movement of the stopper pin 58 is limited by the flat wall of the protrusion 54c.
In these arrangements, if a large force is applied to the stopper pin with the movement of the pin restricted by the protrusion, the pin may be broken into pieces under stress greater than the strength of the pin. The pieces may damage the rotational angle detector. This increases the cost for replacement of the detector.
One way to prevent this problem would be to reduce the distance between the fixed position of the stopper pin and the position where the stopper pin contacts the protrusion, thereby reducing the stress applied to the stopper pin. However, because the stopper pin extends through the detecting substrate and is fixed to the large-diameter portion of the rotary shaft substrate in order to reduce rattling of the substrate, which is screwed to the large-diameter portion of the rotary shaft, its length has to be greater than the thickness of the substrate. Thus, the stress applied to the pin can be reduced only to a certain extent, so that it is impossible to reliably prevent breakage of the stopper pin and thus damage to the rotational angle detector.
If in the arrangement of FIG. 3, it is desired to increase the rotational range of the rotary shaft to more than 180 degrees, the protrusion has to be formed into a fan shape. This makes it difficult to fit the detecting substrate on the protrusion with high positional accuracy, which in turn makes it difficult to detect the rotational angle with high accuracy.
An object of the present invention is to provide a rotational angle detecting sensor of which the rotational detecting angle detector is less likely to be damaged.


The present invention provides a fluid control system and associated methods. The fluid control system includes a source of a pressurized fluid and a first spool valve having at least two positions, wherein the first spool valve is connected in fluid communication with the source of the pressurized fluid. The fluid control system further includes a second spool valve having at least two positions, wherein the second spool valve is connected in fluid communication with the first spool valve and the source of the pressurized fluid. When the first spool valve is in a first position and the second spool valve is in a second position, a first portion of the pressurized fluid is directed from the source of the pressurized fluid to the second spool valve via the first spool valve.

The present invention relates to pumps and control systems therefore. More particularly, the present invention relates to a double-acting, duplex pump having a power side controlled by two, two position spool valves.
Pumps are used in a wide variety of industries to deliver fluids. For instance, the delivery of fluids at high pressure may be accomplished with an intensifier pump. Intensifier pumps are commonly used in a variety of industries where the delivery of fluids at a high pressure is desired. For example, intensifier pumps may be used in conjunction with subterranean operations to deliver cement slurries, stimulation fluids, drilling fluids, or other fluids at the desired pressure. Also, in offshore operations, an intensifier pump may be used to remove the hydrostatic head from seawater that is applied to the downhole fluids. In these instances, the intensifier pump may be located subsurface.
Generally, intensifier pumps are reciprocating, fluid-driven apparatuses that comprise one or more large pistons connected to one or more small pistons. Intensifiers are powered by a hydraulic fluid, such as water. In a common intensifier pump, a double-acting, low-pressure, power chamber contains a central piston slidably disposed therein having a high-pressure piston extending from each face. The high pressure pistons extend oppositely from the central piston out of the power chamber into a high-pressure, pumping cylinder. In operation, hydraulic fluid is directed into the low-pressure, power chamber in such a manner to cause the central piston to reciprocate back and forth. The central piston, in turn, drives the high-pressure pistons, which alternately pump an intensified fluid at high pressures to a desired location. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, intensification of the fluid occurs, because the area of the central piston is larger than the area of the high-pressure pistons.
When the central piston reaches one end of its stroke, there may be a short delay in the flow of high-pressure fluid. This delay is due to a necessary precompression of the fluid in the high-pressure, pumping cylinder to the operating pressure. Due to this short delay, there may be a pressure dip in the output from the high-pressure, pumping cylinder. This pressure dip is undesirable, inter alia, because it may damage the power system, the pump, the fluid flow lines, and/or the well. To counteract these pressure dips, a double-acting, duplex intensifier pump may be used, wherein two central pistons may be operated in parallel so that one central piston is on its power stroke while the other central piston is changing direction and/or is in a precompression stroke. The operation of the double-acting, duplex intensifier pump must be controlled with precision because the pressure dip may be severe if both central pistons reach the end of their power strokes simultaneously. Therefore, the timing of the power stroke and precompression stroke of the two central pistons should be controlled to provide a substantially constant discharge pressure from the high-pressure, pumping cylinders. One or more control valves may be provided to control the supply of hydraulic fluid to and venting of hydraulic fluid from the low-pressure, power chambers that contain the two central pistons. Conventional control systems may be hydraulically activated. However, timing issues may occur with the hydraulically activated system, thereby disrupting the compression and precompression cycles of the pump. Problems also may be encountered with control systems for pumps other than intensifier pumps.

Double-acting, duplex pump controlled by two, two position spool valves


Methods and systems related to intelligent interruption handling by digital assistants are disclosed. In some embodiments, a first information provision process is initiated in response to a first speech input. The first information provision process comprises preparing a first response and a second response to the first speech input. After or concurrent with the provision of the first response to the user, but before provision of the second response to the user, an event operable to initiate a second information provision process is detected. The second information provision process is initiated in response to detecting the event. The second information provision process comprises preparing a third response to the event. A relative urgency between the second response and the third response is determined. One of the second response and the third response is provided to the user in an order based on the determined relative urgency.

Just like human personal assistants, digital assistants or virtual assistants can perform requested tasks and provide requested advice, information, or services. An assistant's ability to fulfill a user's request is dependent on the assistant's correct comprehension of the request or instructions. Recent advances in natural language processing have enabled users to interact with digital assistants using natural language, in spoken or textual forms, rather than employing a conventional user interface (e.g., menus or programmed commands). Such digital assistants can interpret the user's input to deduce the user's intent; translate the deduced intent into actionable tasks and parameters; execute operations or deploy services to perform the tasks; and produce outputs that are intelligible to the user. Ideally, the outputs produced by a digital assistant should fulfill the user's intent expressed during the natural language interaction between the user and the digital assistant.
The ability of a digital assistant system to produce satisfactory responses to user requests depends on the natural language processing, knowledge base, and artificial intelligence implemented by the system. A well-designed response procedure can improve a user's experience in interacting with the system and promote the user's confidence in the system's services and capabilities.

Context-sensitive handling of interruptions by intelligent digital assistant


An edge-wrapped panel and methods for edge-wrapping a panel. The panel comprises a substrate layer, a laminate layer, and at least one retainer. The laminate wraps around the substrate first edge and around the retainer first edge and sandwiches the substrate and the retainer between a first portion of the laminate and a second portion of the laminate. A method for edge-wrapping the panel includes the steps of securing the retainer to the laminate and then snap-wrapping the laminate flap around the edge of the panel. A stiffness and curvature in the retainer facilitates the swift snap-wrap movement.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an edge-wrapped panel, such as an aircraft interior panel, and to methods for edge-wrapping a panel with a laminate.
2. Description of Related Art
Many aircraft interior panels are constructed of rigid or semi-rigid substrate that is covered on at least one side with a laminate. The laminate is typically decorative, and provides the panel with a pleasing outward appearance. The substrate may comprise a multilayer composite. For example, one type of substrate includes first and second outer layers of a fibrous material such as fiberglass or carbon. The outer layers may sandwich an inner layer of honeycomb core. The laminate is applied over one of the outer layers so that the panel provides a pleasing outward appearance when it is installed inside an aircraft.
One type of laminate that is commonly used today is TEDLAR®, a film or sheet made from polymers of vinyl fluoride. The laminate is molded and bonded to the substrate using a vacuum forming process. During vacuum forming, excess laminate is left around the edges of the panel. The excess is wrapped around the substrate and bonded to the back surface thereof to provide clean edges.
Edge-wrapping is commonly performed by hand using heat guns and chemicals. Workers apply glue to the back surface of the substrate, then stretch and pull the laminate around the substrate edges and secure it to the back surface. The laminate material is flexible. Therefore, the worker must pull the excess around its respective edge in stages, pulling only as much as he or she can with two hands. He or she may start at the center of one edge and work toward the ends, or start at a first end of that edge and work toward the opposite end of that edge. When the worker has pulled all portions of the excess laminate around the edge and secured it to the back surface of the substrate, he or she secures a retainer, which is typically a plastic strip, over the laminate on the panel back surface. The retainers may include features that facilitate attachment of the panel within the aircraft interior.
The hand edge-wrapping process is difficult to master, takes a long time to complete, and presents serious ergonomic issues. The stretching and pulling of the laminate, and the pressing of the laminate against the substrate back surface can cause repetitive stress injuries to hands, wrists and arms. Workers also must wear heavy gloves to insulate themselves from the heat guns and the hot laminate. Some workers also wear respirators to protect from solvent fumes.


A process is disclosed for selectively removing isobutene and butadiene from a stream, the process comprising contacting the stream with a hydrogenation catalyst to hydrogenate butadiene and an oligomerization catalyst to oligomerize isobutene.

Linear butenes (1−C4=and/or 2−C4=) are important feedstocks in a number of commercial processes. However, such feedstocks are often also required to contain low levels of both butadiene and isobutylene (iC4=) impurities. For example, 1-butene (1−C4=) can be used in the production of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), but the feedstock must contain less than 50 ppm of butadiene and less than 0.3˜1.0 wt % isobutylene. Similarly, linear butenes can be oligomerized to produce near linear alpha olefins (NLAOs) useful in the production of surfactants, but again there are severe restraints on the levels of butadiene and isobutylene in the feedstock.
A variety of processes are available for producing C4 olefinic streams including, for example, steam cracking, fluid catalytic cracking, catalytic naphtha cracking and the conversion of methanol to olefins (MTO). However, in addition to linear butenes, the C4 olefinic streams resulting from these processes typically contain significant quantities of butadiene isobutylene and saturated C4 hydrocarbons (n-butane and iso-butane). Accordingly, before they can be used in processes such as the production of LLDPE, these olefinic streams must be treated to reduce the butadiene and isobutylene impurities to acceptable levels.
Separation of butadiene or isobutylene from 1-butene by fractionation is difficult due to the close boiling points of the two impurities to 1-butene. Such fractionation processes therefore require large distillation towers and can be prohibitively expensive. A practiced option is extractive distillation with a selective solvent. However, although butadiene can be effectively removed from C4 olefins by this technique, similar technology is unavailable for removal of isobutylene. Moreover, butadiene extractive distillation requires additional equipment for solvent separation and recovery.
Selective hydrogenation processes are capable of removing butadiene from C4 olefinic streams by conversion of the butadiene to butenes, butane, or dimerized (C8) or trimerized (C12) products. Thus, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,553 discloses a process for the selective hydrogenation of butadiene to butenes in the liquid phase or trickle phase in contact with a fixed-bed of supported noble metal catalyst, wherein a C4 stream having a butadiene content of from 20 to 80% by weight is hydrogenated in a cascade of two reaction zones such that the hydrogenation product from the first reaction zone has a butadiene content of from 0.1 to 20% by weight and the hydrogenation product from the second reaction zone has a butadiene content of from 0.005 to 1% by weight.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,169,218 discloses a process for the removal of diolefins and acetylenic compounds in an olefin rich aliphatic hydrocarbon stream by selective hydrogenation at a temperature 40 to 300° F. and low hydrogen partial pressure in the range of about 0.1 psia to less than 70 psia in a distillation column reactor.
However, although selective hydrogenation processes are effective in removing butadiene without significant loss of linear butenes in the feed, they cannot remove isobutylene in a similar manner. Thus the order of hydrogenation activity of the olefinic C4 species is as follows: butadiene >1−C4=>iC4=. Thus, isobutylene cannot be hydrogenated without first hydrogenating the desired 1-butene.
One known process for separating isobutylene from linear butenes is via the production of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE). In this process, methanol is reacted selectively with isobutylene in a C4 olefinic stream using an acidic catalyst to produce MTBE with little loss of linear butene product. Although effective, this method of separation has some disadvantages. Thus, butadiene cannot be removed under the same conditions and the formation of MTBE is not 100% selective so that additional oxygenates are also produced. Moreover, extensive recovery equipment is needed to remove the oxygenates and recover any unreacted methanol from the product stream. In addition, there is the potential for future restrictions on the use of MTBE, which could make the production of MTBE unattractive.
There is therefore a need for a process which is effective to selectively remove both isobutylene and butadiene from C4 olefinic streams without the need for extensive recovery equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,367 discloses a process for removing isobutene in 1-butene without loss of the 1-butene by selectively oligomerizing the isobutene over a high silica mordenite catalyst.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,640 discloses an integrated process for the production of butene-1 from a C4 hydrocarbon stream in which the hydrocarbon stream is initially fed to a selective hydrogenation section to remove butadiene and acetylenic compounds. The hydrogenated stream is then fed to a distillation section to separate a butene-1 product fraction and then to a molecular sieve separation section to remove butenes. The remaining hydrocarbon stream (composed of butene-1 and butenes-2) is then fed to a double bond isomerization section to convert the cis and trans butenes-2 to butene-1, whereafter the isomerization effluent is mixed with fresh feed and recycled back to the selective hydrogenation section.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,036 discloses a process for producing isobutene from a C4 olefinic hydrocarbon cut containing isobutene as well as but-1-ene and but-2-enes. The process comprises passing the hydrocarbon cut into a distillation zone associated with a hydroisomerization reaction zone, wherein the hydroisomerization zone is at least partly external to the distillation zone. The hydroisomerization zone selectively converts the but-1-ene into but-2-enes, which can be separated from the isobutene in the distillation zone.
International Patent Publication Number 01/46095 discloses a process for producing trimethylpentenes by selectively dimerizing isobutene in a C4 olefinic feedstock containing isobutene and n-butenes over a zeolite beta catalyst.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0002316 discloses a process for the production of high octane number hydrocarbons by the selective dimerization of isobutene in a hydrocarbon cut having a linear olefin/isobutene ratio >3 over an acid catalyst, such as phosphoric acid, cationic exchange acid resins, liquid acids such as H2SO4, sulfonic acid derivatives, silica-aluminas, mixed oxides, zeolites, and fluorinated and chlorinated aluminas.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0128528 discloses a process for selectively removing acetylene compounds from the effluent of a steam cracker comprising passing the effluent into a distillation zone associated with a hydrogenation reaction zone external to the distillation zone. The acetylene compounds are converted to olefins and oligomers in the hydrogenation reaction zone and the oligomers are withdrawn as heavies from the distillation zone.

Butadiene and isobutylene removal from olefinic streams


An apparatus is provided for fault protection. The apparatus may include one or more electronic components configured to receive a single phase-to-ground fault signal and a double phase-to-ground fault signal subsequent to receiving the single phase-to-ground fault signal. The one or more of electronic components may be further configured to provide for a delay while the single phase-to-ground fault signal indicates that a single phase-to-ground fault is present on the ungrounded power system and the double phase-to-ground fault signal indicates that the double phase-to-ground fault is present on the ungrounded power system. The delay may allow for an opportunity to isolate a phase-to-ground fault on a first phase from a phase-to-ground fault on a second phase. Associated methods and computer program products are also provided.

For many commercial, industrial, and even residential environments, power system reliability is of utmost importance. In some manufacturing or textile environments, a power outage can result in the loss of substantial quantities of product that were in the production process when the outage occurred. Further, power outages can result in down time for a facility, not only during the outage, but also due to production restarting procedures that must be undertaken subsequent to an outage. Losses of product and down time can also lead to substantial monetary losses for a facility as a result of the power outage. As such, facilities often take measures to improve or maximize power system reliability to avoid such losses.
One manner of improving power system reliability is to utilize an ungrounded power system. An advantage of an ungrounded power system is its ability to "ride-through" single phase-to-ground faults. In this regard, ungrounded systems have no intentional ground connections. As a result, when a single phase-to-ground fault occurs on an ungrounded power system, the voltage phasor triangle between the phases remains intact. Therefore, loads can remain in service while the system is experiencing the fault. FIG. 1 depicts the shift in the neutral point of an ungrounded power system experiencing a single phase-to-ground fault. In FIG. 1, the system is experiencing a phase-to-ground fault on A phase.
While ungrounded systems enjoy the benefit of riding-through single phase-to-ground faults, ungrounded systems also have drawbacks. For instance, the single phase-to-ground fault ride-through capability also places voltage stresses on the ungrounded system. Additionally, since fault currents on ungrounded systems can often have magnitudes similar to that of load current, locating a fault can also be problematic.
System protective devices, such as protective relays, may monitor system voltages and if voltage stresses are detected, the protective devices may determine that a fault is present on the system. Further, conventional solutions for locating a single phase-to-ground fault on an ungrounded system may include isolating individual bus-tie feeders and monitoring the phase voltages during the isolations. A variation of the phase voltages, such as the zero-sequence voltage, such that the voltages return to pre-fault levels may indicate the location of the fault. In radial systems, such an isolation procedure can be performed quickly, such that equipment may not be effected by the brief outage. Also, since fault current may flow in many directions relative to various sources on the system, many protective devices include a directional element for assisting in determining the location of the fault. Further, other solutions for determining the location of a phase-to-ground fault include monitoring the zero-sequence currents.
As described above, an ungrounded power system can remain operational while experiencing a single phase-to-ground fault. However, there are circumstances where conventional protective relays de-energize a large portion of a distribution system when a second, single phase-to-ground fault occurs on another phase. The existence of such a condition on the power system is a phase-to-phase-to-ground fault or a double phase-to-ground fault. Ungrounded systems may not operate properly when a double phase-to-ground fault is present on the system because two phases are electrically connected, collapsing the voltage phasor triangle. Therefore, no ride-through capability is available for double phase-to-ground faults. In these situations, differential current protection devices send trip signals to breakers across the affected zones of the power system de-energizing these zones as a means of protecting the system.
For example, consider the radial multi-source system of FIG. 2a and the ring bus configuration of FIG. 2b. Generator 1 provides a first source and generator 2 provides a second source to the power systems of FIGS. 2a and 2b. At the occurrence of a first phase-to-ground fault on A phase between buses 1 and 2, continued power service is provided due to the systems being ungrounded power systems with a single phase-to-ground fault. The A phase-to-ground fault alone on the feeder between bus 1 and bus 2 will not result in the tripping (i.e., opening) of circuit breakers on the ungrounded power systems. The same would be true if a single B phase-to-ground fault occurred between buses 3 and 4, in the absence of the depicted A phase-to-ground fault.
However, if the B phase-to-ground occurs before the A phase-to-ground fault is cleared, (i.e., isolated or repaired) a double phase-to-ground fault is detected on the system. Protective devices immediately react to isolate the faulted zones from the system. For the dual-source configuration shown in FIG. 2a, the relays associated with the feeders between bus 1 and bus 2, bus 2 and bus 3, and bus 3 and bus 4 will send trip signals to their respective breakers resulting in a differential element trip for a phase-to-phase fault or a double phase-to-ground fault. As a result, power transformers associated with bus 2 and bus 3 will have no power source.
A similar result occurs for the ring bus system of FIG. 2b, however, a protective device "racing" condition may occur due to the ring bus configuration where many protective devices may attempt to react. In the ring bus configuration case, it is possible that more of the system may be shutdown, i.e., it is possible that, in addition to the protective devices associated with the feeders between buses 1 to 2, 2 to 3, and 3 to 4 sending a trip signal to their associated breakers, the protective devices associated with the feeder between buses 4 and G2 may also send a trip signal to their respective breakers. As a result, the power transformers associated with bus 2 and bus 3 will have no power source. Additionally, in some instances, bus 4 may not have a power source and bus G2 may be taken offline.
Under conventional relaying schemes, both configurations are left with substantial portions of the systems with no power source. Accordingly, it would be desirable to develop and implement apparatuses and/or relaying schemes that provide system protection in these and other situations in a manner that maintains service to the entire system or maximizes service to the equipment on the system. In particular, it would be desirable to develop and implement apparatuses and/or relaying schemes that would provide service to the all the power transformers when two, single phase-to-ground faults occur simultaneously at different locations on a system.

Method, apparatus and computer program product for fault protection


Multiple instructions, specifying equivalent operations but designating different execution units, are stored beforehand on an instruction exchange table. First, a primary compiler compiles a source program into a set of machine-readable instructions. From the set of instructions, an instruction parallelizer generates a set of long instruction words. Specifically, an instruction identifier identifies one of the instructions in the set with one of the instructions stored on the instruction exchange table. Then, an instruction replacer replaces the instruction in question with another one of the instructions that is also stored on the instruction exchange table, specifies an equivalent operation but designates a different execution unit as a target. In this manner, the number of parallelly executable instructions can be increased, while the number of no-operation instructions can be reduced, thus generating a parallelized instruction set at a higher level of parallelism.

The present invention generally relates to a microprocessor with very long instruction word (VLIW), superscalar or out-of-order completion architecture. More particularly, the present invention relates to program translator and processor realizing parallel processing down to the level of individual instructions by making efficient use of execution units.
In recent years, various microprocessors, such as VLIW, superscalar and out-of-order completion types, have been developed one after another to execute multiple instructions at a time more rapidly.
Some of compilers, which designate a VLIW microprocessor as a target, define an instruction set and then parallelize the instructions included in the set in such a manner as to satisfy various constraints concerning the availability of execution units of the microprocessor or instruction slots of a long instruction word.
A program translator of this type is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 5-265769.
If a source program shown at the top of FIG. 6 is compiled using a prior art program translator, an instruction set shown in the middle of FIG. 6 is generated from the source program. Next, the instructions included in this instruction set are parallelized to generate a set of long instruction words with a step number of 2 as shown at the bottom of FIG. 6. In the second instruction slot of each long instruction word, a no-operation instruction (NOP) is inserted.
Also, if a program shown in FIG. 25 is executed using a conventional superscalar processor, then the processor executes the instructions in 5 cycles by pipelining shown in FIG. 34.
Furthermore, if a program shown in FIG. 31 is executed using another conventional processor including a multiplier that can perform multiplication in 3 cycles, then the processor executes the instructions in 7 cycles by pipelining shown in FIG. 35.
The prior art program translators, however, have various shortcomings. For example, an instruction set generated from source program is not always executable at a high parallelism level because some constraints are often imposed by a processor with limited execution units as targets. Accordingly, many NOP's should be inserted to parallelize the instructions, thus constituting a serious obstacle to performance enhancement.
Also, in the prior art superscalar processor, even if multiple instructions are decoded at a time, just part of these instructions are executable because available execution units are limited. Thus, the resultant performance is not fully satisfactory, either.
Furthermore, in still another prior art processor, if an execution unit should perform a sequence of operations each taking several clock cycles to execute, then succeeding operations cannot be started until these operations are completed. As a result, the performance of such a process is not so good.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An aircraft windshield wiper system includes a wiper arm, a wiper blade coupled to a first end of the wiper arm, and an output shaft coupled to a second end of the wiper arm. The wiper blade includes a fluid dispensing system including nozzles, a fluid control unit, fluid lines, fluid source, and a user interface. The wiper blade with the fluid dispensing system is configured to dispense a variety of fluids directly from the wiper blade onto the windshield of an aircraft.

The present disclosure relates to windshield wiper systems, and in particular to a windshield wiper system used on an aircraft.
Aircraft windshield wiper systems are used to wipe and clean water or other debris from an aircraft windshield, allowing better visibility out the windshield for both the pilot and co-pilot. Windshield wiper systems include a wiper arm and a wiper blade that sweep back and forth across a windshield, cleaning the windshield for the pilot and co-pilot. Traditionally, windshield wiper systems include fluid nozzles extending through the body of the aircraft and positioned adjacent an edge of the windshield on the aircraft. The fluid nozzles spray a cleaning fluid from the edge of the windshield, reaching only a limited portion of the windshield. As such, current windshield wiper systems including traditional fluid nozzles are limited in their ability to clean water or other debris from the aircraft windshield.

Windshield wiper fluid dispensing system


A solid carbon has CNTs dispersed therein and is formed about three-dimensionally ordered spherical voids arranged in an opal-like lattice.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to porous carbon. More specifically, the invention is a porous carbon having three-dimensionally ordered porosity and carbon nanotube reinforcement, as well as a method of fabricating same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Porous carbon is being considered for use in a variety of applications to include electrochemical energy storage devices, thermal dispersion devices, and electric charge dispersion devices. For example, in terms of electrochemical energy storage devices, porous carbon may provide the requisite storage capacity for hydrogen when hydrogen is to be used as an energy carrier in high-energy density rechargeable batteries or hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells. In particular, micro-porous carbon foams are promising candidates for the hydrogen storage objective since porous carbon foam presents a large surface area for hydrogen absorption. However, porous carbon foams are mechanically weak. Further, the non-uniform nature of the porosity of these carbon foams is a drawback for applications requiring precise porosity control.
The non-uniform porosity problem is addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,261,469 where glassy porous carbon structures are constructed by providing an opal-like lattice structure of silicon dioxide spheres, infiltrating a carbon precursor into the lattice structure, carbonizing the carbon precursor, and then dissolving the silicon dioxide spheres. However, the resulting porous structure is mechanically weak.

Carbon nanotube reinforced porous carbon having three-dimensionally ordered porosity and method of fabricating same

United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


A method and device for securing a removable Attached Computer Module (“ACM”) 10. ACM 10 inserts into a Computer Module Bay (“CMB”) 40 within a peripheral console to form a functional computer such as a desktop computer or portable computer. The present ACM 10 includes a locking system, which includes hardware and software 600, 700, to prevent accidental removal or theft of the ACM from the peripheral console. While ACM is in transit, further security is necessary against illegal or unauthorized use. If ACM contains confidential data, a high security method is needed to safeguard against theft.

The present invention relates to computing devices. More particularly, the present invention provides a method and device for securing a personal computer or set-top box using password protection techniques. Merely by way of example, the present invention is applied to a modular computing environment for desk top computers, but it will be recognized that the invention has a much wider range of applicability. It can be applied to a server as well as other portable or modular computing applications.
Many desktop or personal computers, which are commonly termed PCs, have been around and used for over ten years. The PCs often come with state-of-art microprocessors such as the Intel Pentium™ microprocessor chips. They also include a hard or fixed disk drive such as memory in the giga-bit range. Additionally, the PCs often include a random access memory integrated circuit device such as a dynamic random access memory device, which is commonly termed DRAM. The DRAM devices now provide up to millions of memory cells (i.e., mega-bit) on a single slice of silicon. PCs also include a high resolution display such as cathode ray tubes or CRTs. In most cases, the CRTs are at least 15 inches or 17 inches or 20 inches in diameter. High resolution flat panel displays are also used with PCs.
Many external or peripheral devices can be used with the PCs. Among others, these peripherals devices include mass storage devices such as a Zip™ Drive product sold by Iomega Corporation of Utah. Other storage devices include external hard drives, tape drives, and other. Additional devices include communication devices such as a modem, which can be used to link the PC to a wide area network of computers such as the Internet. Furthermore, the PC can include output devices such as a printer and other output means. Moreover, the PC can include special audio output devices such as speakers the like.
PCs also have easy to use keyboards, mouse input devices, and the like. The keyboard is generally configured similar to a typewriter format. The keyboard also has the length and width for easily inputting information by way of keys to the computer. The mouse also has a sufficient size and shape to easily move a curser on the display from one location to another location.
Other types of computing devices include portable computing devices such as "laptop" computers and the like. Although somewhat successful, laptop computers have many limitations. These computing devices have poor display technology. In fact, these devices often have a smaller flat panel display that has poor viewing characteristics. Additionally, these devices also have poor input devices such as smaller keyboards and the like. Furthermore, these devices have limited common platforms to transfer information to and from these devices and other devices such as PCs.
Up to now, there has been little common ground between these platforms including the PCs and laptops in terms of upgrading, ease-of-use, cost, performance, and the like. Many differences between these platforms, probably somewhat intentional, has benefited computer manufacturers at the cost of consumers. A drawback to having two separate computers is that the user must often purchase both the desktop and laptop to have "total" computing power, where the desktop serves as a "regular" computer and the laptop serves as a "portable" computer. Purchasing both computers is often costly and runs "thousands" of dollars. The user also wastes a significant amount of time transferring software and data between the two types of computers. For example, the user must often couple the portable computer to a local area network (i.e., LAN), to a serial port with a modem and then manually transfer over files and data between the desktop and the portable computer. Alternatively, the user often must use floppy disks to "zip" up files and programs that exceed the storage capacity of conventional floppy disks, and transfer the floppy disk data manually.
Another drawback with the current model of separate portable and desktop computer is that the user has to spend money to buy components and peripherals the are duplicated in at least one of these computers. For example, both the desktop and portable computers typically include hard disk drives, floppy drives, CD-ROMs, computer memory, host processors, graphics, accelerators, and the like. Because program software and supporting programs generally must be installed upon both hard drives in order for the user to operate programs on the road and in the office, hard disk space is often wasted.
One approach to reduce some of these drawbacks has been the use of a docking station with a portable computer. Here, the user has the portable computer for "on the road" use and a docking station that houses the portable computer for office use. The docking station typically includes a separate monitor, keyboard, mouse, and the like and is generally incompatible with other desktop PCs. The docking station is also generally not compatible with portable computers of other vendors. Another drawback to this approach is that the portable computer typically has lower performance and functionality than a conventional desktop PC. For example, the processor of the portable is typically much slower than processors in dedicated desktop computers, because of power consumption and heat dissipation concerns. As an example, it is noted that at the time of drafting of the present application, some top-of-the-line desktops include 400 MHz processors, whereas top-of-the-line notebook computers include 266 MHz processors.
Another drawback to the docking station approach is that the typical cost of portable computers with docking stations can approach the cost of having a separate portable computer and a separate desktop computer. Further, as noted above, because different vendors of portable computers have proprietary docking stations, computer users are held captive by their investments and must rely upon the particular computer vendor for future upgrades, support, and the like.
Thus what is needed are computer systems that provide reduced user investment in redundant computer components and provide a variable level of performance based upon computer configuration.

Password protected modular computer method and device


In driving a movable body in a target direction, a force in another direction, which may act on the movable body, is reduced. A system includes a current amplifier, which drives X1 and X2 electromagnets (a first actuator) for aligning the movable body in the X direction, a system including a current amplifier, which drives Y1 and Y2 electromagnets (a second actuator) for aligning the movable body in the Y direction, a subordinate direction component correction unit, which reduces a force in the Y direction acting on the movable body when driving the movable body in the X direction by the first actuator, and a subordinate direction component correction unit, which reduces a force in the X direction acting on the movable body when driving the movable body in the Y direction by the second actuator.

There is known an alignment apparatus for aligning an object, such as a substrate, in various apparatuses, such as an exposure apparatus, and the like. Examples of an alignment apparatus include one having a fine adjustment stage, which moves at a high precision on an X-Y stage, which moves with a long stroke (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 2000-106344). The fine adjustment stage can employ, e.g., an electromagnetic actuator in which electromagnets and magnetic bodies are so arranged as to face each other and generate an attraction force between them as an actuator for finely moving a wafer top plate (stage).
FIGS. 13A to 13D are schematic views showing the arrangement of an electromagnetic actuator. FIGS. 13A and 13B are top views; and FIGS. 13C and 13D, side views. An electromagnetic actuator shown in FIGS. 13A to 13D is made up of an electromagnet 508 formed by winding a coil 586 around the central tooth of an E magnetic body 585, and a magnetic body 507 arranged to face the attraction surface of the electromagnet 508.
If a current is supplied to the coil 586 of the electromagnet 508, a magnetic field is generated. The magnetic force of the magnetic field attracts the magnetic body 507 toward the electromagnet 508. At this time, the magnetic body 507 receives an attraction force mainly in a direction A, which reduces an interval between the magnetic body 507 and the electromagnet 508, as shown in FIG. 13A. If the central axis of the electromagnet 508 and that of the magnetic body 507 have a relative positional shift in the lateral direction, as shown in FIG. 13B, intervals between the magnetic body 507 and the left and right sides of the E magnetic body 585 are non-uniform. The left side, which has a smaller interval to the magnetic body 507, generates a larger attraction force. This generates a force in a lateral direction B so as to further reduce the interval on the left side. At the same time, a small rotational force is generated.
Also, if the central axis of the electromagnet 508 and that of the magnetic body 507 are not parallel to each other, a rotational force acts in a rotational direction C, which reduces an interval to the electromagnet 508. At the same time, a small translational force is generated in the central axial direction.
This non-uniformity in interval between the electromagnet 508 and the magnetic body 507, which may generate an attraction force in an undesirable direction, can be caused by a mechanical factor such as an assembly error. The non-uniformity can also be caused by driving a wafer top plate (stage) to a target position. Such a force may cause a disturbance in an alignment apparatus, and thus may degrade the performance, i.e., decrease the alignment precision and lengthen the settling time.


Symbolic execution identifies possible execution paths of a computer program or method, each having certain constraints over the input values. The symbolic execution also records updates of memory locations, e.g. updates of the fields of symbolic objects in the heap of an object oriented program, involving a description of the previous heap, the updated symbolic object, a field identification, and a newly assigned symbolic value. The symbolic execution can also record calls to summarized methods, involving a description of previous calls, an identification of the summarized methods, and its symbolic arguments. The behavior of summarized methods can be expressed by axioms. Axioms describe the relationship between summarized methods under certain conditions. Axioms can be generated from parameterized unit tests. A parameterized unit test is a method with parameters which executes a sequence of calls to methods of an implementation under test; it asserts constraints over the inputs and outputs of the calls. A software testing program receives a parameterized unit test of an implementation under test, and symbolically executes the parameterized unit test. It can re-use axioms generated from other parameterized unit tests, and use them to emulate summarized methods.

Automated software testing or verification is becoming more and more important as software systems continue to grow in size and complexity. The term automated software verification refers to machine-assisted techniques that compare the actual behavior of a software component with its predicted behavior. Verification can occur offline at compile time or it can involve running the program under test. Whether static or dynamic, automated verification always operates with respect to a notion of expected system behavior. Automated software testing allows a test program to check for properties that are specific to the system or implementation under test (IUT).
One such example of a specification as input is known as a unit test. Consider the following code,
[TestMethod]void TestAdd ( ){ArrayList a = new ArrayList(0);object o = new object( );a.Add(o);Assert.IsTrue(a[0] == o);}
TestAdd is a unit test that adds an element to an array instance. The test first creates a new array list, where the parameter to the constructor is the initial capacity, then adds a new object to the array list, and finally checks that the addition was correctly performed by verifying that a subsequent index lookup operation returns the new object.
The unit test above includes a test statement (i.e., Assert.IsTrue(a[0]==o) that compares the observed behavior with the expected result. The test is a unit test, because when it is compiled and run, it tests only the behavior of a single unit of the implementation under test.

Symbolic execution of object oriented programs with axiomatic summaries


Methods are provided for producing protein products in host cells and for selecting transformed cells comprising the step of transforming the host cell with a DNA molecule comprising a gene which complements a deficiency in the host cell. The host cell is s strain having a deficiency in a function necessary for normal cell growth. The gene in the DNA molecule, such as a plasmid, which complements the deficiency serves as a selection marker whereby the growth conditions for selection may comprise a conventional complex medium.

The use of microorganisms for the production of useful polypeptide products through recombinant DNA technology is becoming established as an industry. Foreign genetic material may be introduced into a culture of microorganisms, and, given the proper intracellular and extracellular conditions, the desired protein product(s) may be synthesized from the foreign gene(s). Such genetic material is commonly introduced into microorganisms in the form of plasmids, which are autonomously replicating extrachromosomal elements. In order to ensure the maintenance of plasmids within a culture of transformed cells, it has been necessary to grow those cells under special conditions. In the absence of such conditions, the plasmids, which may be inherently unstable, will not be maintained, and the cell population will revert to the untransformed state.
Increased plasmid stability and copy number are important to the biotechnology industry as a means of maintaining the production of plasmid-encoded proteins at a consistently high level. Previously reported attempts to increase plasmid stability do not appear to be optimal for commercial application. The introduction of yeast centromeres into ARS-bearing plasmids, while enhancing stability, has been shown to markedly decrease plasmid copy number (Clarke and Carbon, Nature 287:504-509, 1980 and Stinchcomb, et al., J. Molec. Biol. 158:157-179, 1982). Linear centromeric yeast plasmids similarly show an inverse relationship between stability and copy number (Murray and Szostak, Nature 305:189-193, 1983).
Plasmids typically contain gene sequences, known as selectable markers, which encode antibiotic resistance or complement nutritional requirements of the host cell. To select for the presence of such plasmids, transformed cells must thus be grown in special media which contain a selective drug or which are depleted for specific nutrients. These media requirements may be both expensive and prohibitive of optimal cell growth rates during the large-scale fermentation process. Many of such plasmids have been reported in the literature. Those comprising antibiotic drug resistance genes include pBR322 (Bolivar, et al., Gene 2:95-113, 1977) and its derivatives, such as the pUC vectors (Vieira and Messing, Gene 19:259-268, 1982) which carry a gene for ampicillin resistance; and pBR325 (Prentki, et al., Gene 14:289, 1981) which carries resistance genes for ampicillin, tetracycline, and chloramphenicol. Plasmids which complement host nutrient requirements include the yeast vectors YEp13 (Broach, et al., Gene 8:121-133, 1979), which carries the LEU2 gene; and YRp7' (Stinchcomb, et al., Nature 282:39, 1979), which carries the TRP1 gene. Mammalian cell selection systems include the use of the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene which confers resistance to methotrexate (reviewed by Schimke, Cell 37:705-713, 1984) and antibiotic resistance, such as resistance to G418 (Southern and Berg, J. Mol. Appl. Genet. 1:327-341, 1982).
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide DNA constructs containing, as selectable markers, gene sequences whose products are essential for the viability or normal growth of the host cell on complex media.
It is another object of the present invention to provide recombinant host cells containing DNA constructs which are selectable by growth on complex media.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide cells deficient in essential functions which may act as hosts for DNA constructs carrying gene sequences which complement these defective essential functions.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide methods for producing foreign proteins in recombinant host cells, wherein the proteins are the products of genes carried on DNA constructs which contain, as selectable markers, gene sequences which complement a deficiency in an essential gene in the host cells.
Other objects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art.


The present disclosure provides channel sensing in an efficient manner in a cognitive radio MAC protocol and improves channel utilization. Proposed is an Adaptive Channel Sensing (ACS) for variably sensing a channel in accordance with a Fixed Channel Sensing (FCS) and a channel state so as to perform the channel sensing in an efficient manner while reducing the power consumption of a terminal. Further proposed is a self-scheduling mechanism which enables multiple terminals to simultaneously transceive data by means of a slot-based contention on the basis of the results of the FCS and ACS, which are proposed by the present disclosure.

For co-existence between systems along with the rapid development of wireless communication technology, each wireless communication system should secure and maintain its own frequency band. However, as almost of all substantially available frequency bands have been allocated, the lack of frequency resources for a new wireless communication system has become a challenging issue. Accordingly, frequency bands ranging from a few Hz to hundreds of GHz are all occupied and thus little frequency remains for additional use.
To solve the lack of radio frequency resources, one technique under recent consideration is CR. It is difficult to allocate a new frequency to a new communication service under the current fixed frequency allocation policy due to limited spectrum resources. However, it has been revealed that the use rates of the current allocated frequencies are very low. In this context, dynamic and opportunistic spectrum access techniques have been studied.
FIG. 1 illustrates a CR communication system according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, when a licensed Primary User (PU) does not use a channel, an unlicensed Secondary User (SU) may use the channel in the CR communication system. CR is based on Software Defined Radio (SDR). SDR enables a transceiver to tune to an intended spectrum band by changing a software parameter without any hardware modification. In an initial stage, a centralized CR system such as one conforming to Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.22 was designed by SDR in a cellular network. A new CR system has also been developed for an ad-hoc network. A pair of terminals can transmit and receive data during one frame interval by a MAC protocol in a conventional CR system designed for an ad-hoc network.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

Apparatus and method for self-scheduling in a wireless communication system

RESEARCH & BUSINESS FOUNDATION SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIVERSITY


An exercise device. A body, display, plurality of treads and risers, transmission device, elevating device, handrail, controller, panel, and display provide operation wherein the treads and risers pivot on the transmission device. In a stairclimber orientation, the risers bracket the treads on the transmission device, moving by means thereof. In a treadmill configuration, the treads and the risers rotate to lie on the transmission device, forming a consecutive surface thereon.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exercise device, and in particular to a compound exercise device provided with treadmill and climbing actions to provide a wide variety of interactive exercise options.
2. Description of the Related Art
Exercise devices of various types are well known and popular. However, exercise is often repetitive and boring, especially when performed indoors. One widely used exercise device is a treadmill, comprising a belt 13 driven by roller shafts 15a and 15b, as shown in FIG. 1. Settings such as speed are input from a panel 100 and a handrail 11 is held while running on the belt 13. Front and back roller shafts 15a, 15b either actively drive the belt 13 as the user 10 runs or walks thereon, or, in passive mode, freely rotate, driven by user tread activity producing friction on belt 13.
In FIG. 2, a conventional stair climbing exerciser has a plurality of treads 20, a panel 22 and a body 24. The treads 20 move circularly within the body 24 and electrically connect to the panel 24, such that the speed of the treads 20 can be adjusted by the user through the panel 22.
Even so, these devices provide only a very limited range of exercise experience, and thus, little motivation or interest to the user.


An exterior member-equipped sealing structure includes: a vertical seal extending downward from a portion above a door opening toward a front of a vehicle body; a front corner pane located forward of the door opening in the vehicle body; and a decorative member for sealing a gap between a lower end of the front corner pane and a front side door. The decorative member includes: a decorative portion for sealing a gap between the lower end of the front corner pane and the front side door; and a receiver extending from the decorative portion to a space under the lower end of the vertical seal.

In a known type of exterior member-equipped sealing structure, a quarter window is provided in a front pillar and a front fender, and a side door is provided at the rear of the quarter window in a vehicle body such that the side door can be freely opened or closed, a door sash of the side door extends along the rear side of the quarter window, and the front end of the side door extends from the door sash along the bottom of the quarter window (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 4788996). In such an exterior member-equipped sealing structure, a sealing member extending along the vehicle body is formed along the door sash and the rear side of the quarter window.
In the side door, the front end extends from the door sash along the bottom of the quarter window. Thus, the shape of the side door relatively markedly changes near the bottom of the quarter window (near the base of the door sash). This marked change of the side door makes it difficult to extend the sealing member continuously downward via a portion near the base of the door sash. Thus, the sealing member needs to be discontinuous near the base of the door sash. In this structure, when the side door slightly opens, for example, water guided by the sealing member drops onto the side door from the lower end of the sealing member, and it would be possible that the dropped water splashes onto the side door and spatters into (enters) the cabin.
To prevent this spattering, it may be conceivable to dispose a receiver below the lower end of the sealing member such that the receiver receives water dropped from the lower end of the sealing member and guides the dropped water to prevent the water from falling onto the side door. By preventing water from dropping onto the side door, splashing of dropped water on the side door can be prevented, and thus, spattering (entering) of water into the cabin can also be prevented. This technique, however, requires an additional receiver, which increases the number of components.
The present application describes an exterior member-equipped sealing structure that can prevent water that has dropped from a lower end of a sealing member from entering a cabin without an increase in the number of components.


A method is provided for monitoring interconnect resistance within a semiconductor chip assembly, A semiconductor chip assembly can include a semiconductor chip having contacts exposed at a surface of the semiconductor chip and a substrate having exposed terminals in conductive communication with the contacts. A plurality of monitored elements of the semiconductor chip can include conductive interconnects, each interconnecting a respective pair of nodes of the semiconductor chip through wiring within the semiconductor chip. In an example of such method, a voltage drop across each monitored element is compared with a reference voltage drop across a respective reference element on the semiconductor chip at a plurality of different times during a lifetime of the semiconductor chip assembly. In that way, it can be detected when a resistance of such monitored element is over threshold. Based on a result of such comparison, a decision can be made whether to indicate an action condition.

The present invention relates to microelectronic structures and methods of making them and more particularly to a system provided on a chip for monitoring an increase in a resistance of a conductive interconnect of a chip due to electromigration.
Electromigration has long been identified as a major failure mechanism of metal interconnects of semiconductor chips. Electromigration is indeed one of the worst reliability concerns affecting integrated circuits throughout the last 50 years. Electromigration tends to produce voids within metal conductors) due to movement of metal ions in directions parallel to high density current flow within the chip. Failure due to electromigration is caused by a positive divergence of the ionic flux leading to an accumulation of vacancies and forming a void in the metal. To the casual observer, it appears that ions are moved "downstream" by the force of "electron wind".
For the reasons stated above, electromigration (hereinafter, "EM") and failures that it engenders can be categorized as a wear-out mechanism. In general, the failure rate of a conductive interconnect is proportional to current density and the average temperature of the local region of the chip surrounding the conductive interconnect. EM becomes worse as the width and/or thickness of metal wiring on the chip are scaled. Current density within some conductive interconnects having small cross-sectional area can exceed 105 A/cm2.
Methods are known by which high current and/or high voltage and temperature stress are used to provide accelerated testing to screen out unreliable (defective) chips in relatively short periods of time. Several methods are described in prior art references as described herein. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,147,361 to Lin et al. ("the '361 patent") describes an EM sensor which includes a polysilicon body which is conductively connected to a monitored metal piece 400 and two electrodes 14b. In use, a linear metal "dummy" feature overlying a top surface of the EM sensor is stressed by a high voltage. When EM occurs within the dummy feature, local joule heating therein causes carrier mobility within the EM sensor to increase drastically. The test methodology in the '361 patent is similar to that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,377 to Chesire et al. in monitoring using a dummy metal feature under accelerated stress conditions. The approaches described therein poorly reflect the actual EM failure mechanism because neither the dummy feature nor the methodology used to test for electromigration are representative of actual conditions which lead to EM failures of conductive interconnects on the chip. The dummy feature fails to adequately represent real-life conductive interconnects which have topology including corners and via contact regions. Accelerated test methodology, while predictive of future failures which might occur during later use of the chip, fails to detect failures at time points during the actual useful lifetime of the chip.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,974 to Bouldin describes a somewhat different approach in which a dummy metal feature is also subjected to accelerated lifetime testing at wafer-level test time to determine whether a resistance of the dummy feature increases to a level which exceeds a threshold. Here, the dummy feature includes a series of metal segments which are connected together using a series of vias. When a difference between the resistance of the dummy feature and a control structure exceeds the threshold, the chip is determined to fail and is rejected during the wafer-level test.
All of the above-described approaches test for EM failure at wafer-level test time and during a specific test mode. Moreover, the dummy features tested in accordance with such approaches are bulky and are usually provided within a kerf area adjacent to a chip, or inside a specially designed test chip of the wafer. Moreover, purposes of these EM tests are usually directed to the qualification of processes and/or the screening out of unreliable (defective) chips during burn-in tests. The above-described prior art approaches do not provide for monitoring the effects of EM throughout the useful lifetime of the chip. After the chips have been diced from the wafer and packaged, the EM monitoring can no longer be performed within the chip. However, it is abundantly evident that EM degradation does not stop after the chip is installed in a system and shipped to customers.

International Business Machines Corporation