A distributor device for use in aluminium casting includes a rigid, substantially bowl-shaped receptacle (2) of a refractory material having a base member (4) and a peripheral wall (6) that extends upwards from the base. The receptacle has an inlet opening (8) towards the upper end thereof and a pair of outlet openings (14) towards the base thereof. The device is constructed and arranged such that, in use, molten aluminium poured into the distributor device through the inlet opening (8) is redirected by the distributor device and flows outwards into the mould through the outlet openings (14).

In the process for manufacturing aluminium, after completion of the refining process, the molten aluminium is cast into ingots or billets that are subsequently used in processes for manufacturing aluminium products, for example aluminium foil.
During the casting operation, the molten aluminium is transferred from a holding furnace into a water-cooled mould above a casting pit, where it solidifies to form an aluminium ingot.
It is important that the flow of aluminium into the mould is smooth and non-turbulent, so that the solidification and temperature profile of the metal can be carefully controlled. If the flow is turbulent, impurities can be introduced into the aluminium, which can cause serious problems during subsequent manufacturing processes.
To avoid turbulence and to optimise distribution, the molten aluminium is usually poured into the mould through a distributor device. Conventionally, this consists of a flexible bag of coated woven glass fibres, known as a "combo bag", having an outer shell of solid woven fabric with normally two large openings through which the molten aluminium flows, and an inner liner of open-weave fabric. In use, the molten aluminium flows through the small pores of the open-weave liner, then through the openings in the outer shell, which helps to prevent turbulence in the flow of aluminium.
Conventional distributor devices can be used only once and are then discarded. However, because these devices are constructed largely by hand, they are relatively expensive and their use therefore adds significantly to the cost of the manufacturing process.
Conventional distributor devices are normally quite flexible, or at best semi-rigid. This means that the positioning and shape of the device can be inconsistent, and the dimensional accuracy of the device is difficult to measure and control within normal engineering tolerances. Furthermore, the coatings on the woven glass fibre weaken at metal casting temperatures, leading to reduced rigidity of the distributor. These factors combine to limit the reliability of metal distribution, and this leads to inconsistencies in the casting operation.
Further, fibres can occasionally come loose from the fabric of the distributor and become entrained in the molten aluminium, thereby introducing impurities into the aluminium ingot and potentially causing considerable difficulties in subsequent manufacturing processes.
Further, conventional distributors do not drain well after use and are sometimes provided with additional drain apertures in the bottom wall of the outer shell to ensure complete drainage. However, aluminium can also flow through these apertures during casting, thereby disturbing the desired liquid metal flow pattern.
Another distributor device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,974 has a "bag-in-bag" design, comprising an inner bag of impermeable fabric and an outer bag having outlet openings. The device is suspended above the mould and liquid metal is poured into the inner bag. When the metal reached the top of the inner bag, it overflows into the outer bag, then flows through the openings into the mould. The bag is flexible and is susceptible to the disadvantages mentioned above.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,660 describes two different distributor devices. One of these is a flexible bag type, which is susceptible to the disadvantages mentioned above. The other device comprises a rigid nozzle having four outlet openings that are angled to direct the molten metal towards the sides of the mould. The nozzle is geometrically complex and is difficult and expensive to produce.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Distributor device for use in metal casting


A surveying instrument comprises a distance measuring unit configured to measure a distance to an object to be measured, an optical axis deflector configured to deflect a distance measuring light, a measuring direction image pickup module configured to acquires an observation image and an arithmetic control module, wherein the arithmetic control module is configured to continuously cut out sighting images around a tracking point set in the observation image, to set a first cutout sighting image as a reference sighting image, to calculate a movement amount of the sighting image with respect to the reference sighting image by an image matching of the reference sighting image and the sighting image and to control the optical axis deflector based on a calculation result in such a manner that the tracking point is positioned at a center of the sighting image.

The present invention relates to a surveying instrument which enables to easily measure a target position.
Conventionally, in case of measuring an object to be measured by using a surveying instrument, the surveying instrument is installed on a tripod, and the object to be measured is measured by a non-prism distance measurement. However, the conventional surveying instrument need to be leveled at the time of an installation, and the surveying instrument need to be installed on a reference point. Therefore, it takes time and requires the skills for an installation work of the surveying instrument.
Further, as a surveying instrument recently proposed by the applicant, there is a surveying instrument disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2017-90244, for instance. The surveying instrument builds in a gimbal and can perform a two-dimensional scan. At the time of installing the surveying instrument, mounting the surveying instrument on a monopod and matching a lower end of the monopod to a reference point can suffice, and hence the surveying instrument can be easily installed.
However, since the above-described surveying instrument is supported by the monopod, the attitude is unstable, and it is difficult to keep irradiating a distance measuring light to a desired measuring position.


A battery includes a current breaking mechanism 20 provided in a battery and configured such that an external terminal 21 connecting a terminal rivet 31 connected to a power generating element 16 to an electrode terminal is provided with thick portions 48 and 49 and a breakable portion 45 so that the thick portions 48 and 49 are continuous through the breakable portion 45 only. The battery further includes: the terminal rivet 31 placed passing through a closing plate 12 forming a part of a battery case 11, a part of the terminal rivet 31 located outside the battery case 11 being placed on the thick portion 48 of the external terminal 21 in close contact relation, the terminal rivet 31 having a through hole 32; and a sealing cap 25 covering an exit of the through hole 32 on the outside of the battery case 11 and being joined to the external terminal 21 over the entire circumference of the through hole 32 or joined to both the external terminal 21 and the terminal rivet 31 across them. When the internal pressure of the battery case 11 rises, at least part of the sealing cap 25 is moved away from the battery case 11, deforming a part of the external terminal 21, thereby breaking the breakable portion 45.

In a sealed battery such as a lithium ion secondary battery to be mounted in a vehicle and other devices, gas may be stored due to overcharging, excessive rise in temperature, breakage by external forces, and others. Furthermore, the gas may cause a rise in internal pressure of the battery. A battery case of the sealed battery is therefore usually formed with a breakable portion for safety. For instance, some batteries include a battery case partially formed with a member deformable by battery internal pressure so that the member is deformed to break a breakable portion. In those batteries, the breakage of the breakable portion cuts off a current path or provides a gas outlet between the inside and the outside of a secondary battery, and so on.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a secondary battery provided with a diaphragm attached to an electrode terminal on the inner side of the battery. In this device of the Literature, a part of a breakable portion is fixed to the diaphragm. Accordingly, when the diaphragm is deformed by a rise in internal pressure, the breakable portion is broken or cleaved. A current path at that place in the battery is thus cut off.

Battery, vehicle mounting the battery, and device mounting the battery


The invention provides a continuous process for manufacturing a phosphorus/potassium fertilizer from basic chemical commodities. The fertilizer is a free-flowing solid, stable on storage, consisting mainly of a phosphate of formula KH5(P04)2.

Global population growth necessitates ever-growing agricultural production and keeps the demand for fertilizers high. Two main nutrients, phosphorus and potassium (P/K), can advantageously be provided as potassium phosphates. Numerous agricultural applications require acidic fertilizers, which yield concentrated aqueous solutions without forming precipitates in stock solutions, and which do not leave harmful or useless deposits in the soil, while enhancing the absorption of the nutrients in plants. WO 2007/102159 provides a potassium phosphate-based particulate composition which easily dissolves in water to yield clear acidic solution, the composition being manufactured from phosphoric acid and monopotassium phosphate. Ideally, fertilizers should be available from cost-effective processes, and should have suitable consistency for easy handling. The art still does not provide enough fertilizers with the required characteristics, suitable for all situations, and a need is felt for new large-scale processes for making such fertilizers. It is an object of the present invention to provide a continuous process for manufacturing an easy-to-handle granular acidic P/K fertilizer.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a continuous process for manufacturing an acidic P/K solid fertilizer from commodity chemicals.
It is another object of the invention to provide a solid fertilizer supplying phosphorus and potassium essentially in equiatomic amounts.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a solid fertilizer supplying phosphorus and potassium, the fertilizer being free-flowing and with a low tendency to cake.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a continuous method for manufacturing a solid, easy-to-handle P/K acidic fertilizer from phosphoric acid and potassium hydroxide.
Other objects and advantages of present invention will appear as description proceeds.

Continuous process for manufacturing freely flowing solid acidic P/K fertilizer


An assembly and method for pouring liquid from a container for ensuring that upon emptying the contents nothing will be left in the container. The assembly and method for pouring liquid from a container includes a pourer adapter including a tube portion having an open top, a bottom and a bore disposed therein through the open top and the bottom, and also configured to fasten to a container to facilitate emptying of liquid from the container; and a pourer member removably engaged to the pourer adapter for pouring the liquid from the container.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to liquid pourers and more particularly pertains to a new assembly and method for pouring liquid from a container for ensuring that upon emptying the contents nothing will be left in the container.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of liquid pourers is known in the prior art. More specifically, liquid pourers heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
The prior art includes a pour spout having a lid of a wide-mouthed container adapted to provide a channel through the lid to pour a liquid from the inside of the container to the outside. A pour spout made from a lid of a wide-mouthed container affixed to a spout from a narrow-necked bottle. Another prior art includes a pouring spout for fruit or containers and includes a threaded cap and a spout connected to the cap and extending outwardly from the cap. While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new assembly and method for pouring liquid from a container.

Assembly and method for pouring liquid from a container


Compounded polymeric compositions containing processed paint sludge putty as a replacement for polymeric components are provided. The paint sludge comprises from about 5 to 90% by weight of the total compounded polymeric composition and may be decatalyzed so that it contains uncured polymer for use in a variety of compositions including pressure sensitive sealants, caulking sealants, automotive sealants, polyvinyl chloride plastics, rubbers and asphalt cement coatings.

This invention relates to compounded polymeric compositions, and more particularly, it relates to the use of processed paint sludge as a polymeric component in various compounded polymeric compositions such as sealants, adhesives, plastics, rubbers and coatings.
The paint and coatings industry is a major source of chemical wastes. Paint sludges are produced in the automotive industry, appliance industry, metal fabricating industry and during the painting of wood products, outdoor structures such as bridges and lamp posts, and all types of industrial equipment. For example, it is estimated that nearly 40% of the 6 gallons of paint used to produce the exterior finish on an automobile ends up as waste.
Paint sludge typically contains uncured polymer resins, pigments, curing agents, surfactants, and other minor formulation ingredients. In addition, paint sludge contains water and a variety of organic solvents. The cost and the environmental impact of disposing of paint sludge has been a source of concern in the industry. However, in recent years, several processes have been developed for converting paint sludge into useful products, thereby reducing a major source of chemical waste.
One such process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,030, which includes removing a portion of the water and liquid hydrocarbons from the sludge. The high solids sludge is then heated to remove the remaining water and hydrocarbons. The heating step is also designed to cure the uncured polymeric paint resins. The process is advantageous because it reduces the volume of waste produced, and produces a powder which is somewhat easier to handle than the wet sludge.
A similar process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,375, which discloses a method of heating and calcining paint sludge to form a product which may be used as a filler for sealants.
However, both U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,030 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,375, completely cure any uncured polymers in the paint sludge during their heating and/or calcining steps. Accordingly, the resulting product is an inert, inorganic, brittle, abrasive particulate material.
An improved process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,160,628, and 5,254,263, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, which disclose a product formed from paint sludge which may be used as a filler in sealant compositions, and which contains uncured polymer. By keeping the polymer uncured, the resulting product is soft and easily dispersible. However, this process requires that the heating temperature must not exceed 100.degree. F. so that the polymer remains uncured.
Further, fillers are only one of several components of sealants and other related compositions, which are generally comprised of other components such as polymers and plasticizers. Such components typically comprise up to 75% or more of the total sealant composition, and polymers in particular usually account for a significant portion of the cost of sealant formulation. It would be desirable to be able use paint sludge as a replacement for one of the polymeric components in the sealants and other related compositions to reduce production costs. Accordingly, the need remains for sealant compositions and related products which utilize paint sludge as a polymeric component thereof, which are cost effective to produce, and which do not require complex processing steps.

Compounded polymeric compositions utilizing processed paint sludge as a replacement for polymeric components


A bipolar junction transistor structure and method of forming the bipolar junction transistor structure comprising an intrinsic base surrounded by a base link and an extrinsic base surrounding the base link. An emitter is formed above the base. The extrinsic base, base link, and intrinsic base are formed using ion implantation. A single layer of doped polysilicon is used to provide the doping source for the emitter and a collector contact. Silicide contacts to the emitter, collector, or base are not required or used.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention deals with a structure and method of forming the structure of a bipolar junction transistor having an extrinsic base, a base link, and an intrinsic base all formed by ion implantation and an emitter and a collector contact formed by diffusion of impurities from a single layer of doped polysilicon.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,017 to Johnson describes a bipolar junction transistor structure and a method of forming the structure. A doped conductive spacer is formed adjacent to the base electrode and provides a doping source for forming a base link. An intrinsic base region, emitter region, and emitter electrode are then formed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,905 to Johnson et al. describes a bipolar junction transistor structure and a method of forming the structure. A base link is diffused from a base link diffusion source layer. An extrinsic base region is diffused from a doped polysilicon base electrode.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,774 to Pfiester describes a method of forming a self aligned bipolar transistor using sidewall spacers on an opening in a patterned masking layer. The extrinsic and intrinsic base regions are formed by doping. Metal silicide contacts are formed to the extrinsic base and emitter electrode.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,454 to Neudeck et al. describes a method of forming a bipolar transistor which self aligns the base to the collector and the emitter to the base.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,631,495 to Dunn et al. describes high-performance bipolar transistors with improved wiring options. The transistor includes a base contact structure that has multiple contact pads, which permits multiple device layouts.

Method for forming a bipolar junction transistor

Industrial Technology Research Institute


The present invention is directed to a pneumatic tire 1, comprising at least one pair of parallel annular beads 3; at least one carcass ply wrapped 5 around said beads 3; a tread 7; and first and second sidewalls 9 disposed between said tread 7 and one of said at least one pair of beads 3. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the tread comprises tread blocks 11 and/or tread ribs 12, wherein the tread blocks 11 and/or tread ribs 12 comprise sipes 13 extending essentially in an axial direction A of the tire 1, the sipes 13 consisting of an upper portion 15 essentially aligned with the radial direction R of the tire and a lower portion 17 inclined in the direction of rotation D of the tire 1.

Multiple types of tires comprise treads having narrow grooves in their tread blocks or tread ribs. In particular, in modern long haul drive tires such narrow grooves or sipes are part of the tread design. In general, such sipes may increase mileage and fuel economy so that they have often been applied in the past.
However, it has been observed that under heavy duty or extensive use such sipes may provoke fatigue cracks starting to propagate at the bottom of the sipes.
To overcome this problem, typical solutions of the prior art utilize an increased groove bottom radius of the sipes, e.g. by using ball-bottom blades in the mold. However, this is only a partial solution which leads to losses of design parameters and may result in drawbacks in relation to driving mileage and fuel economy. Moreover, the production of respective blades can be difficult and expensive.
European patent application EP 1 167 084 A2 discloses a tire comprising a tread portion having a plurality of tread blocks each provided with at least one sub-groove having a special shape to improve wear resistance. In one embodiment of this tire, the bottom of the sub-grooves is inclined from the outer surface of the block toward a direction of the braking force as a main stress applied from the road surface to the respective tread block and along a forward rotating direction of the tire.
This tire may constitute an improvement with respect to earlier tread designs including sipes having essentially a perpendicular orientation with respect to the surface of the tread blocks. Nevertheless, tire performance may be reduced by the mentioned design. In particular, a considerable overhang of the tread block portions divided by the sipes exists, leading to drawbacks in performance and durability of the tire.


An electrical connector for electrically connecting an electronic component with a printed circuit board (PCB) includes a socket having a plurality of lower contacts received therein, a cover assembled on the socket having a number upper contacts connecting with the lower contacts and a lever between the socket and the cover, the electronic component is soldered on the cover and connecting the upper contacts, and wherein the lever includes an operation portion, a pushing point and a fulcrum portion therebetween, when force is applied upon the operation portion, the pushing point moves around the fulcrum portion and towards the direction opposite to the force so as to remove the cover and the electronic component.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an low insertion force (LIF) connector with removal mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
A low insertion force (LIF) connector typically comprises a socket and a cover. The socket is soldered on a printed circuit board (PCB) while the cover is soldered with an electronic component, such as a flexible flat cable (FFC) or a flexible printed circuit (FPC). The cover together with the electronic component is assembled in the socket so as to establish an electrical connection between the PCB and the electronic component. When removal, the user has to move the cover and the electronic component manually by catching the cover and the electronic component with fingers and then pull them out. However, with the miniaturized tendency of the electrical connector, the LIF connector has a higher number of contacts and a smaller size of socket, so it is very difficult to pull the cover and the electronic component out manually. More serious, the electronic component and the cover or the contacts may be destroyed.
In view of the above, an improved electrical connector is desired to overcome the problems mentioned above.

Electrical connector with removal mechanism


A communication and control apparatus includes a control unit having a surface accessible to a person on a bed, the control unit being coupled to a portion of the bed, and a plurality of icons located on the surface of the control unit. Each icon represents a separate one of the plurality of controlled functions. The apparatus also includes an indicator associated with each icon, a single select switch located on the surface of the control unit, and at least one adjustment switch located on the control unit to control the function selected using the select switch. The select switch is actuatable to scroll sequentially through the plurality of different functions. The control unit is configured to actuate the indicator corresponding to a function selected as the select switch is actuated to scroll through the plurality of different controlled functions.

The present invention relates to a communication and bed function control apparatus for a hospital bed. More particularly, the present invention relates to a controller mounted to an arm assembly which is coupled to a hospital bed frame or to a siderail on the bed to improve access to controls by a person located on the bed.
Several types of controllers are known in the healthcare industry which permit a person located on a hospital bed to activate a number of communication and control functions, such as adjusting the bed, adjusting the mattress, calling the nurse, adjusting the room light or reading light, controlling the T.V. or audio functions, or controlling the telephone. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,592,153; 5,239,300; 5,542,138; and 4,680,790. These controllers typically include one or more push-button or pressure sensitive switches, or voice activated controls, to activate various communication and control functions.
According to one illustrated embodiment of the present invention, a communication and control apparatus is provided for use by person located on a bed to control a plurality of different functions. The apparatus includes a control unit having a surface accessible to the person on the bed. The control unit is coupled to a portion of the bed. The apparatus also includes a plurality of icons located on the surface of the control unit, an indicator associated with each icon, a single select switch located on the surface of the control unit, the select switch being actuatable to scroll sequentially through the plurality of different functions, and at least one adjustment switch located on the control unit to control the function selected using the select switch. Each icon represents a separate one of the plurality of controlled functions. The control unit being configured to actuate the indicator corresponding to a function selected as the select switch is actuated to scroll through the plurality of different controlled functions. The illustrated indicators corresponding to each icon are lights which are illuminated by the control unit when the function associated with the icon is selected using the select switch.
Illustratively, the plurality of functions include at least one of calling a nurse, turning on a light in a room, turning on a reading light, controlling a TV, controlling a radio, placing and receiving telephone calls, controlling drapes, controlling doors, adjusting a height of the bed, adjusting a configuration of an articulating deck on the bed, adjusting a mattress located on the bed, connecting to the Internet, controlling a video game, controlling a clock, and controlling a electronic notebook. The illustrated control unit also includes at least one of a nurse call switch, a speaker, a reading light, a handle coupled to the control unit to permit the person to move the control unit relative to the bed, a telephone, a card reader, a headphone, and touch screen control panel.
According to another illustrated embodiment of the present invention, a communication and control apparatus is provided for use by a person located on a bed to control at least one function. The bed includes a siderail, and the apparatus includes a control unit configured to control the at least one function, and a linkage including an arm having a first end and a second end, a first coupler configured to the first end of the arm to the siderail about two pivot axes, and a second coupler configured to couple the second end of the arm to the control unit about two pivot axes. The control unit is movable from a storage position adjacent to sidewall to a use position spaced apart from the sidewall by the linkage.
Additional features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of illustrated embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.

Communication and bed function control apparatus


Implementations set forth herein allow a user to access a first application in a foreground of a graphical interface, and simultaneously employ an automated assistant to respond to notifications arising from a second application. The user can provide an input, such as a spoken utterance, while viewing the first application in the foreground in order to respond to notifications from the second application without performing certain intervening steps that can arise under certain circumstances. Such intervening steps can include providing a user confirmation, which can be bypassed, and/or time-limited according to a timer, which can be displayed in response to the user providing a responsive input directed at the notification. A period for the timer can be set according to one or more characteristics that are associated with the notification, the user, and/or any other information that can be associated with the user receiving the notification.

Humans may engage in human-to-computer dialogs with interactive software applications referred to herein as "automated assistants" (also referred to as "digital agents," "chatbots," "interactive personal assistants," "intelligent personal assistants," "assistant applications," "conversational agents," etc.). For example, humans (which when they interact with automated assistants may be referred to as "users") may provide commands and/or requests to an automated assistant using spoken natural language input (i.e., spoken utterances), which may in some cases be converted into text and then processed, and/or by providing textual (e.g., typed) natural language input. An automated assistant may respond to a request by providing responsive user interface output, which can include audible and/or visual user interface output.
Automated assistants can have limited availability when a user is operating other applications. As a result, a user may attempt to invoke an automated assistant to perform certain functions that the user associates with other applications, but ultimately terminate a dialog session with the automated assistant when the automated assistant cannot continue. For example, the limited availability or limited functionality of automated assistants may mean that users are unable to control other applications via voice commands processed via the automated assistant. This can waste computational resources, such as network and processing bandwidth, because any processing of spoken utterances during the dialog session would not have resulted in performance of any action(s). Furthermore, because of this deficiency, as a user interacts with their respective automated assistant, the user may avoid operating other applications that may otherwise provide efficiency for various tasks performed by the user. An example of such a task is the control of a separate hardware system, such as a heating system, air-conditioning system or other climate control system, via an application installed on the user's computing device. Such avoidance can lead to inefficiencies for any devices that might otherwise be assisted by such applications, such as smart thermostats and other application-controlled devices within the hardware system, as well as for any persons that might benefit from such applications or their control of associated devices.
Moreover, the invoking of an automated assistant while accessing an application can be assumed by many systems to be an indication that the user is no longer interested in further interactions with the application, and cause the application to pause certain operations or close. This can waste computational resources when the user is actually intending to cause the automated assistant to perform an action related to the application and/or another application. In such instances, any data previously generated during interaction with the application can be lost, thereby forcing the user to re-initialize the application and/or repeat any previous operations with the application.

Dynamically delaying execution of automated assistant actions and/or background application requests


The subject matter described herein includes systems, methods, and computer readable media for adjusting a quota consumption rate. An exemplary method occurs at a first policy node. The method includes detecting a trigger for adjusting a quota consumption rate associated with a subscriber. The method further includes in response to detecting the trigger, adjusting the quota consumption rate associated with the subscriber.

Presently, communication network service providers offer a variety of different network services to mobile device subscribers. Subscription plans offered by service providers are typically characterized by a combination of different performance categories and various quota amounts. For example, a subscriber pays a monthly fee for a subscription plan with a given bandwidth speed, a given amount of download size quota, and/or a specific quality of service (QoS) level. Similarly, another subscriber may subscribe to a subscription plan with a lower bandwidth speed, less quota allocation, and/or a lower QoS level. Regardless of the quota amount associated with a subscription plan, a service provider typically suspends the subscriber's service if the subscriber consumes the allotted quota. Alternatively, the network service provider can apply additional fees to the subscriber's subscription plan to continue providing service in excess of the subscription plan quota. To increase profits and/or improve user experience, service providers and/or subscribers may benefit from additional charging behaviors.
Accordingly, there exists a need for methods, systems, and computer readable media for adjusting a quota consumption rate.

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for adjusting a quota consumption rate


In one embodiment, a medical data processing apparatus includes processing circuitry. The processing circuitry obtains medical data relating to a subject, and outputs medical diagnostic image data obtained by performing predetermined processing on the medical data, along with standardized medical image data based on the medical data, the standardized medical image data being standardized for machine learning without performing part or all of the predetermined processing.

Machine learning using medical data such as medical images has been performed. When machine learning is performed based on medical data acquired by a single medical image diagnostic apparatus, a dedicated protocol for unifying conditions on the medical data used in machine learning is used. On the other hand, machine learning performed based on medical data acquired by various medical image diagnostic apparatuses has fluctuations in medical data due to differences in installation facilities, apparatus versions, etc. For example, within the same facility, various conditions for acquiring medical data are not completely random but many of them share the same setting. Thus, statistical bias is prone to occur. This fluctuation in medical data undesirably decreases the accuracy of machine learning.

Medical data processing apparatus and medical data processing method


A directly coupled-inertia activated mechanism that may be incorporated into a door handle assembly and counteracts inadvertent door opening during a side crash. An inertia lever with certain inertia moment in relation ship to that of the handle is coupled to the handle, such that it rotates in the opposite direction of that of the handle when the handle is being pulled. The inertia lever is capable of canceling totally the inertia force causing the handle to move inadvertently to unlatched position during side impact crash, and stops the handle's unlatching move.

Automotive vehicles can be involved in crash accident. In particular side crash can cause the handle to move inadvertently to unlatched position. Doors are unlatched and swung open, thus occupants are exposed to greater risk of being expelled from the vehicles. Many mandatory side crash tests are set up for vehicles. One requirement of these tests is that the vehicle doors remain closed during and after side crash test, in which the vehicle is hit from side. To measure side crash severity, acceleration in terms of G, (1 G=9.8 m/sec^2) is used. Very often, side crash is very severe that acceleration can be as high as 200 G in a very short of time interval. In side crash test, the acceleration is a spatial vector with lateral component parallel to the side impact, and vertical component perpendicular to the side impact. It is also a random time sequence, varies with the time.
Typically, a safety device against inadvertent move of the handle uses a counterweight mounted in the exterior handle assembly to reduce or to stop the handle move during side crash, because the counterweight's move under the inertia force makes the handle to move against the inertia force on the handle. One of the widely used design is to integrate counter weight into bell crank lever with a certain offset to the lever's pivot, such that the inertia force on the counter weight make the bell crank lever move against the handle's move under the inertia force. The bell crank lever transfers the handle's move and unlatches the latch. Or the counter weight can be a separate component, as described in the U.S. Pat. No. 7,070,216 B2. However, when the acceleration of the side crash is very high, e.g. 200 G, counterweight of suitable size fit into current automotive doors can not stop the handle from inadvertent move. Further when counterweight, which is integrated into the bell crank lever, is made large and heavy as required, it can easily overcome the spring bias and rotate to unlatch the latch under the vertical component of the inertia force, even that the exterior handle is not activated by the lateral component of the inertia force.
Additional components can be added to the door handle assembly as safety device, in which a component blocks the unlatching movement between the handle and the latch due to the inertia force, like the one mentioned in the U.S. Pat. No. 7,201,405 B2. However, it is highly possible and often the case that the handle already moves out passing a threshold and cause the latch to unlatch the door before this particular component begin to move as to block the handle's inadvertent movement. This is because that blocking component(s) and the handle have different dynamic behavior due to the acceleration nature of the side crash. Side crash has inertia force of spatial vector in orientation and random time sequence in magnitude. It is quite common that by the time a blocking component come into the engagement to block the unlatching movement, the component to be blocked/stopped has already gained some speed. The sudden block/stop induces very high stress on the blocking component and the one to be blocked, such that fatigue develops over the time. Eventually one or both of the components break.

Automotive door handle assembly with directly coupled-inertia activated mechanism


The ionizer of the present invention comprises a chamber which has an ionization part that ionizes a portion of an ion carrier gas that is supplied to the interior of this chamber, and a blowing part which feeds the ion carrier gas toward a charged body. The ionization part is constructed from an ionization source which is contained in the chamber, and a control device which is connected with this ionization source via a high-voltage cable. Either the generating part of a soft X-ray generating device, the generating part of a low-energy electron beam generating device or the generating part of an ultraviolet radiation generating device is used as the ionization source. The control device, the connecting part between the control device and the high-voltage cable and the connecting part between the ionization source and the high-voltage cable are formed with an explosion-proof structure.

In recent years, in explosion-proof facilities such as facilities where hazardous substances are handled or the like, clogging during the air feeding of combustible powders and clogging of sieves, as well as static charge build-up and discharge in the interiors of agitating tanks for organic solvents or the like whose inside surfaces are coated with Teflon, have become problems. Conventionally, in the case of static charge build-up and discharge inside such agitating tanks, the ignition of the organic solvents has been prevented by purging the air from the tanks with N2 gas, so that oxygen that might lead to ignition is eliminated. In the case of such de-charging methods, however, the initial costs and running costs of auxiliary facilities such as gas supply and exhaust facilities or the like are high, so that such methods are not desirable.
Meanwhile, air ionizing devices which neutralize electrical charges in charged bodies by means of ions have conventionally been used as devices for eliminating static electricity in production environments such as clean rooms or the like in which semiconductors, liquid crystal displays (hereafter referred to as "LCDs") or the like are manufactured. Corona discharge type ionizers are commonly used as such air ionizing devices. In the case of such corona discharge type ionizers, a high positive or negative voltage is respectively applied to a positive or negative electrode, so that a corona discharge is generated, and the air surrounding the tip end of the abovementioned electrode is positively and negatively ionized; then, these ions are conveyed by air currents so that the charges on charged bodies are neutralized by ions of the opposite polarity.
However, semiconductor and liquid crystal manufacturing devices have become progressively smaller over the years, and in the case of conventional ionizers, it has become difficult to ensure an optimal installation space. Furthermore, the demand for static electricity countermeasures in narrow spaces such as the gaps between glass substrates inside cassettes and the like has also increased.

Ionized gas current emission type dust-free ionizer


A device is described in which a visual image can be enhanced to better recognize different objects that appear in a picture. Means are provided for an operator to manipulate a visual image by adjusting darkness levels within each primary color to embellish the recognition of distinct objects which may appear in the visual rendering. The device may be implemented as a ground-based system where the operator can adjust the algorithm to manipulate the darkness levels of a certain number, N, of pixels. A second implementation can be achieved in a helmet mounted display or glasses donned by an operator.

Often in real war-time scenarios, an operator of an air or ground based vehicle uses imaging equipment in order to assess threat and make strategic decisions. A significant problem in this field is often the quality of such visual images and more specifically the problem of helping to distinguish objects that may appear in a visual image when the vehicle operator has to make a decision about the content of the picture in a short amount of time.
The present invention solves the problem of distinguishing objects that may appear in a visual image of poor quality and where an operator has to make a decision about the content of such image in a short amount of time. To better understand the decision-making process of interest, a simple military example will be first discussed. In the military application, the effects of being too aggressive or too conservative in decision-making have both costs and risks. For an example of a military application related to this scenario, assume a decision maker approaches a tree in a foreign country with a person hiding in the tree. The person in the tree may be either friendly or hostile. An immediate action of the decision-maker is required. If the decision-making process is too aggressive, the soldier on the ground will shoot at the object in the tree. If the soldier in the tree is friendly (not hostile), this "friendly fire" incident has a great penalty to the decision-maker. On the other hand, if the object in the tree is a hostile (enemy) soldier, the conservative decision to not fire at the object may result in the enemy soldier attacking the decision-maker. Thus the error in ignoring the information is even more costly to the person making the action who is required to elicit a binary choice response.
FIGS. 4a and 4b describe, in a statistical manner, the two types of errors that could occur for our military example of the identification of the man-in-the-tree just presented. In FIGS. 4a and 4b the x-axis at 401 represents decision making and the y-axis at 400 represents the probability of the intention of the man in the tree. In FIGS. 4a and 4b, the hypothesis H0 is the true situation that the man in the tree is friendly, illustrated at 402 and 404. H1 is the true situation that the man in the tree is hostile. Let us define type 1 error (friendly fire) as the event of shooting the object in the tree when it is really friendly. In FIG. 4a, this corresponds to the area A1 at 407. In FIG. 4a, we define the type 2 error (mistake of not firing at the tree) as the situation that the man in the tree is hostile but since we do not fire, the hostile agent attacks us and this is represented as area A2 at 406. The ideal situation in decision making is to minimize both the type 1 and type 2 errors at the same time.
FIG. 4a shows the types of error that exist for a binary decision-making process. Usually the decision maker operates on some measurement on the x-axis. This may be translated into the terms "don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes". In other words, some measurement is made on the x-axis of a variable in the environment and then an action has to be decided as belonging to the class H0 or H1 based on the measurement. The decision maker may be more or less aggressive depending on the measurement on the x-axis before selecting either H0 or H1. Thus there is a trade off between the type 1 and type 2 error thus described. The total error does not actually decrease, it just trades off (e.g. if you want less type 1 error, we absorb more type 2 error and conversely). A significant aspect of the present invention is introducing a different means to this basic problem of decision making.
It has been documented in prior works that for certain images, by adding small amounts of noise, it is possible to enhance the recognition of specific objects in the picture. What is significant is how the noise is added. FIG. 7 shows a drawing illustrating how stochastic noise can enhance a visual image. In FIG. 7, this classic example simply adds white Gaussian noise in going from left 700 to 701 and right 702. There appears to be an optimum amount of noise 701 that enables better object identification. Too little 700 or too much 702 noise is counter productive in the identification of the object in the picture. This leads into a significant novel aspect of the present invention and solves the problem in the prior art. In the prior art, random errors are added to a visual image in a manner that object identification is improved. The present invention discloses a systematic means to add randomness except to increase the noise intensity.

Computationally enhanced image recognition device

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


New techniques for safeguarding valuables in a recreational, public setting are provided. In some aspects of the invention, a specialized portable safe is configured for insertion and securing into sand or other loose ground particles, with at least one removal-resisting edge or anchor. The edge or anchor may be shaped to facilitate insertion into the ground, but resists removal until switched for release by an authorized user. In further aspects, the invention comprises a tamper-detecting alarm. In other aspects, a compartment access door permits the placement and removal of valuables from a compartment of the safe, even when the safe is installed in the ground. In still other aspects of the invention, new wireless locking, unlocking and alerting techniques are provided. In some embodiments, computer hardware and tracking tags and beacons are provided, and trigger locking, unlocking and location alerts to aid a user in locating the safe.

Beach recreation has been a popular activity for centuries in many warm regions of the world, such as Southern California, Southern Europe, Australia, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands. At the beach, vacationers engage in a wide variety of athletic and leisure activities, such as sunbathing, volleyball, running, swimming and surfing.
Losing one's keys or other valuables at the beach can pose a difficult problem, because beaches are typically covered in sand or other loose particles that can envelope and hide small objects. Beach grounds can be homogenous and expansive, making the later location of unattended objects difficult. Unattended objects may also pose a risk of being stolen, especially at busier beaches, and when at least one person in a party does not keep watch in an area near the objects. The risk of monetary loss from theft generally increases A) inversely with the size of the object, and B) directly with the value of the object; and factors A and B themselves generally correlate inversely with one another, though not always, in a beach recreation context.
It should be understood that the disclosures in this application related to the background of the invention in, but not limited to, this section titled "Background," are to aid readers in comprehending the invention, and do not set forth prior art or other publicly known aspects affecting the application; instead, the disclosures in this application related to the background of the invention comprise details of the inventor's own discoveries, observations, and other work and work results, including aspects of the present invention. Nothing in the disclosures related to the background of the invention is or should be construed as an admission related to prior art or the work of others prior to the conception or reduction to practice of the present invention.


A separating ring having a body being a resilient bent open ring and having two bent side bars having distal ends and wedge legs formed respectively on the distal ends, the wedge legs being spearheaded and fit easily between adjacent teeth to allow dental operations to be carried out easily and without the need for wedges.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated separating ring for separating adjacent teeth.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, a conventional separating ring (91) is a resilient open ring used to separate adjacent teeth and comprises two ends having two perpendicular extending legs (911) formed parallelly with each other. The separating ring (91) is implemented with a matrix (92) and a wedge (93). The wedge (93) is carefully selected to ensure a correct size.
In dental surgery such as a dental restoration, a decayed tooth (81) having a hole (811) to be clinically treated and an outer surface having at least one adjacent surface is isolated from at least one adjacent tooth (82). A conventional method for separating the adjacent tooth (82) from the decayed tooth (81) comprises inserting the matrix (92) between the adjacent surface of the decayed tooth (81), mounting the legs (911) of the separating ring (91) to hold the matrix (92) in position and inserting the wedge (93) between the decayed tooth (81) and the adjacent tooth (82). To insert, the separating ring (91) is forced open with a pair of forceps then mounted between the adjacent tooth (82) and the matrix (92). Because the ring (91) is resilient, the ring forces the legs (911) together. The legs (911) being forced together firmly press the matrix (92) to the decayed tooth (81), thereby making tight contact of the matrix (92) with the decay tooth (81) possible.
A restorative material such as a dental composite is then used to fill the hole (811) of the decayed tooth (81) and solidifies in the hole (811) within the matrix (92). After removing the ring (91) and furnishing the outer surface of the decayed tooth (81) with dental composite, the decayed tooth (81) is restored.
However, keeping the ring (91) open requires a considerable force and inserting the legs (911) between the adjacent tooth (82) and the matrix (92) requires great skill and is complicated by keeping the ring open (91), which may lead to placement errors and increase time of the dental surgery, especially important when the dental surgery must be completed within a limited time.
The dental surgery may also be complicated by wedge (93) choosing, since a correct width of wedge must be judged, if the wedge (93) is too small, the wedge (93) will not hold the matrix (92) tightly against the decayed tooth (81) during the filling procedure. If the wedge (93) is too big, the wedge (93) will deform the shape of the filled decayed tooth (81) and may cause food traps.
Furthermore, according to disciplinary requirements in dentistry, a neat, clean and well-organized work area is indispensable for a dentist. However, storing and managing numerous wedges (93) of various sizes becomes a burden in maintaining a correct work area.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a separating ring and a method for dental restoration to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems, especially problems regarding the need for using wedges.


A magnetic field sensor and a method include a modulator coupled in a feedback arrangement and operable to modulate a calibration feedback signal with a modulator clock signal having a selected frequency and a selected relative phase operable to remove a gain error in the magnetic field sensor and in the method.

As is known, there are a variety of types of magnetic field sensing elements, including, but not limited to, Hall effect elements, magnetoresistance elements, and magnetotransistors. As is also known, there are different types of Hall effect elements, for example, planar Hall elements, vertical Hall elements, and circular Hall elements. As is also known, there are different types of magnetoresistance elements, for example, anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) elements, giant magnetoresistance (GMR) elements, tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) elements, Indium antimonide (InSb) elements, and magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) elements.
Hall effect elements generate an output voltage proportional to a magnetic field. In contrast, magnetoresistance elements change resistance in proportion to a magnetic field. In a circuit, an electrical current can be directed through the magnetoresistance element, thereby generating a voltage output signal proportional to the magnetic field.
Magnetic field sensors, which use magnetic field sensing elements, are used in a variety of applications, including, but not limited to, a current sensor that senses a magnetic field generated by a current carried by a current-carrying conductor, a magnetic switch (also referred to herein as a proximity detector) that senses the proximity of a ferromagnetic or magnetic object, a rotation detector that senses passing ferromagnetic articles, for example, gear teeth, and a magnetic field sensor that senses a magnetic field density of a magnetic field. Magnetic switches are used as examples herein. However, the circuits and techniques described herein apply also to any magnetic field sensor.
As is known, some integrated circuits have internal built-in self-test (BIST) capabilities. A built-in self-test is a function that can verify all or a portion of the internal functionality of an integrated circuit. Some types of integrated circuits have built-in self-test circuits built directly onto the integrated circuit die. Typically, the built-in self-test is activated by external means, for example, a signal communicated from outside the integrated circuit to dedicated pins or ports on the integrated circuit. For example, an integrated circuit that has a memory portion can include a built-in self-test circuit, which can be activated by a self-test signal communicated from outside the integrated circuit. The built-in self-test circuit can test the memory portion of the integrated circuit in response to the self-test signal.
Conventional built-in self-test circuits used in magnetic field sensors tend not to test the magnetic field sensing element used in the magnetic field sensor. Conventional built-in self-test circuits also tend not to test all of the circuits with a magnetic field sensor.
Some magnetic field sensors employ self-calibration techniques, for example, by locally generating a calibration magnetic field with a coil or the like, measuring a signal resulting from the calibration magnetic field, and feeding back a signal related to the resulting signal to control a gain of the magnetic field sensor. Self-calibration arrangements are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,923,996, issued April 122, 2011, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Also U.S. Pat. No. 8,542,010, issued Sep. 24, 2013, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, teaches various arrangements of coils and conductors disposed proximate to magnetic field sensing elements and used to generate a self-test magnetic field. The above patent also teaches various multiplexing arrangements. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 8,680,846, issued Mar. 25, 2014, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, teaches a magnetic field sensor with a feedback calibration arrangement. These patents, and all other patents and patent applications mentioned herein, are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Typically, calibration of the magnetic field sensor must be performed when the magnetic field sensor is not sensing a sensed magnetic field, i.e., when the magnetic field sensor is not operating in its regular sensing mode.
Some calibration circuits have a feedback arrangement with a gain error.
It would be desirable to provide built in self-test circuits and techniques in a magnetic field sensor that allow the self-test function to test a magnetic field sensing element used within the magnetic field sensor. It would also be desirable to provide built in self-test circuits and techniques in a magnetic field sensor that allow the self-test all of the circuits within the magnetic field sensor.
In addition to the self-test function, it would be desirable to provide a gain adjustment (calibration) of the magnetic field sensor that can occur as the magnetic field sensor operates in normal operation. It would also be desirable to be able to perform the self-test and the calibration regardless of a magnitude of an external magnetic field.
It would also be desirable to eliminate the effect of a feedback gain error in the calibration of the magnetic field sensor.

Circuits and methods for removing a gain offset in a magnetic field sensor


A urine analyzer includes a controller configured to perform, when a qualitative measurement result of a sample is obtained and a sediment measurement result of the sample has been stored in a storage section, a cross-check of the obtained qualitative measurement result and the stored sediment measurement result, and to perform, when a sediment measurement result of a sample is obtained and a qualitative measurement result of the sample has been stored in the storage section, a cross-check of the obtained sediment measurement result and the stored qualitative measurement result.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a urine analyzer which performs urine qualitative measurement and urinary sediment measurement, and a urine sample information processing method.
2. Disclosure of Related Art
Urine analyzers which perform urine qualitative measurement and urinary sediment measurement are known. With respect to such a urine analyzer, there has been proposed a measurement result checking apparatus which performs a cross-check of, among results of urine qualitative measurements and results of urinary sediment measurements, those having a high correlation with each other, and evaluates reliability of the measurement results.
In the above urine analyzer, urine qualitative measurement is performed first, and then urinary sediment measurement is performed. Thus, after a urinary sediment measurement result is obtained, a cross-check is automatically performed. However, in actual test operations, there are cases where urine qualitative measurement is performed after urinary sediment measurement is performed. In this case, a conventional urine analyzer does not automatically perform a cross-check, thus imposing burden on a user.
Further, in urinalysis, there are cases where retesting of urine qualitative measurement or urinary sediment measurement is performed based on a measurement result. When retesting of urine qualitative measurement or urinary sediment measurement is performed, the urine qualitative or urinary sediment measurement result is evaluated singly, and furthermore, it is effective that such a result is evaluated in combination with a measurement result of the other type that was obtained in the past. Further, for evaluation of a current measurement result, it may be effective to compare the current measurement result with a urine qualitative result and a urinary sediment measurement result that were combined together in the past. However, at the time when the current measurement result has been obtained, if a measurement result of the other type to be combined with the current measurement result had become old and deterioration of the sample had advanced, even if the current measurement result is combined with this past measurement result, an appropriate comparison cannot be expected. Furthermore, such a comparison may only result in hindrance of the evaluation.

Urine analyzer and urine sample information processing method


The present invention concerns a monitoring camera for picking up the image of an environment inside or outside a building. A ceiling part (13) is provided in one end side in the longitudinal direction of a rectangular main body part (11). On the other end side, a bottom surface part (14) is provided. Since an image pickup part (12) is provided in the front part of the main body part (11) held between the ceiling part (13) and the bottom surface part (14), the monitoring camera can be disposed along an outer wall (2). The monitoring camera (10) has a power supply part (37) contained in the ceiling part (13) and a control circuit part (29) contained in the main body part (11) provided in the lower part of the power supply part (37). Thus, the control circuit part (29) can be protected from the heat generation of the power supply part (37).

A monitoring camera conventionally disposed and used inside or outside a building has been proposed. The monitoring camera of this kind has been installed indoors or outdoors for a long period. Especially when the monitoring camera is installed outdoors, the monitoring camera may be possibly exposed to the environment of extremely high temperature and high humidity or extremely low temperature and low humidity for a long period. In the monitoring camera that may be installed in such a severe environment, internally accommodated parts in which electric circuits are incorporated or an image pickup device need to be protected from the severe environment. Thus, a water-proof monitoring camera is proposed.
Specifically, as the monitoring camera, there is a monitoring camera having a dome shaped casing and an image pickup device incorporated in the dome shaped casing and disposed on a ceiling part or the like. The monitoring camera of this type is disposed on the ceiling part or the like to pickup the image of a lower part from the ceiling. Further, as the monitoring camera, there is a monitoring camera of a type that has an image pickup device incorporated in a substantially rectangular casing to pickup the image of a slanting lower part from an upper part. All of these monitoring cameras need to pickup the image of wide range of environment. Thus, the monitoring camera for picking up the image of the lower part from the ceiling is provided with a panning and/or tilting mechanism of the image pickup device in the casing. Further, the monitoring camera adapted to pickup the image of the slanting lower part from the upper part is provided with a panning and/or tilting mechanism outside the casing in which the image pickup device is accommodated. Further, any of the monitoring cameras includes a power supply part in which electric power is supplied to the casing from outside through a power supply cable and a control circuit part of the image pickup device.
The monitoring cameras have not been conventionally installed along a substantially vertical wall, for instance, along the wall of a building.
Further, since any of the monitoring cameras includes the panning and/or tilting mechanism of the image pickup device, consumed electric power is undesirably increased and heat generation energy from the power supply part in the casing is undesirably increased. Accordingly, the control circuit part and the image pickup device may be possibly failed due to the heat generation from the power supply part.
Still further, any of the monitoring cameras has the power supply cable. The power supply cable needs to be electrically connected to a plug socket in the vicinity of a position where the monitoring camera is installed. Various distances are provided between the position where the monitoring camera is installed and the plug socket. When the distance from the position where the monitoring camera is installed to the plug socket is long and the length of the existing power supply cable is insufficient, the existing power supply cable needs to be replaced by a long power supply cable. Further, since the casing of the water-proof monitoring camera is sealed to prevent the entry of water content to an inner part, it has been an extremely troublesome work to detach a part of the casing and change the power supply cable to a new power supply cable. Further, when the monitoring camera is made compact, the casing is also made compact. Thus, a part of the casing interferes with the work so that the changing work of the power supply cable is difficult.

Image pick-up device with changeable power supply cable


Systems, methods and program codes are provided wherein an analyzer analyzes input from a terminal device; ascertains human-like behavior; and terminates an active session, generates a time-out warning, manipulates an idle session timer or presents a challenge in response to a humanness likelihood determination or to a challenge result. In one aspect a keystroke analyzer and a command sequence analyzer determine whether the terminal device input is likely from a human user or from an automaton. In another aspect a Completely Automated Public Turing Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart challenge is presented. Timing characteristics include maximum generation rate, burstiness, and keystroke sequence delays, and command characteristics include a no-action-required characteristic and a query characteristic. A command sequence analyzer may have an affinity for a command line interface. Weighting algorithms or artificial intelligence routines may be applied to humanness likelihood outputs.

Terminal devices such as remote computers, PDAs and cellular telephones are increasingly used to communicate with secure networks and secure network services through the Internet, WAN (wide area network), LAN (local area network) and other communication mediums. Although network and internet protocols (IP) generally provide reliable and scalable communications over real-world networks, such communications are inherently insecure. Thus secured networks accessed thereby are vulnerable to compromise by unauthorized third parties, for example by transmission eavesdropping, communication hijacking, IP spoofing and other techniques.
In order to maintain network security it is necessary to provide for secure terminal communications with terminal devices. For example, terminal devices may be required to utilize Secure Shell (SSH) network standards and protocols to establish a secure channel with the secure network resource. SSH generally uses public-key cryptography and message authentication codes to authenticate a remote terminal device and/or the user thereof and provide confidentiality and integrity of data exchanged between the two. In some configurations a user must supply a user identification and password to log on or otherwise initiate a SSH terminal session, thereby ensuring that the terminal session has been opened by an authorized user and that secure data and resources may be made available only to the extent authorized by the specific user identification and password provided. When the user is finished with the session and logs off or otherwise terminates the session, further access to the secure resources is denied absent another login of user ID and password.
However, once an SSH session is open security is maintained only if access to the session is limited to the authorized user(s). One problem arises when an authorized user fails to maintain full and active control of an open session to preclude unauthorized party access. For example, a logged-on and properly authorized user may abandon a terminal session without logging off to temporarily direct his attention or his actual physical presence away from an authorized terminal device, usually with the intention of quickly returning and resuming the session. In general the threat of unauthorized party access to secure network resources during an active and abandoned terminal session proportionately increases with the increases in the elapsed time of abandonment.
One simple, common and effective technique for minimizing secure network exposure to unauthorized parties through an unattended authorized secure terminal session is to "time out" the session after a predetermined period of idleness or inactivity. Thus where no user activity is evidenced by keystrokes or other inputs over an elapsed time out period the session manager may terminate the session, optionally by first prompting the user for an input proving his presence and active attention at the terminal device and then terminating the session if the prompt generates no meaningful reply. And in general, the shorter the time out period the lower the secure data exposure, and thus the higher the secure attribute of the secure session.
However, in real world applications providing for shorter time out periods may actually decrease network security. Users consider reinitiating terminated sessions inconvenient, time consuming and even emotionally aggravating, and thus are known to take steps to actively defeat time out mechanisms and keep idle sessions open well beyond defined idle periods. Accordingly it is known for authorized users to actively circumvent a time out period by running an automaton or other self-operating computer program on the authorized terminal device, thus imitating an active user by transmitting characters or commands on a regular basis and thereby spoofing the secure network into thinking a human user is actively working at the computer. For example an automaton may occasionally transmit a single "return," which is accepted by most terminal session SSH shells as a null operation, spoofing a network into perceiving that a user is still working during an idle session though no meaningful data operations are being performed. And although improved security techniques may require non-null characters to be transmitted within an idle time period, this may be easily circumvented by a program that transmits one or more harmless trivial commands, such as commands to display the time or date.
Although an authorized user may have no malicious intent in defeating idle time monitoring routines, system security is nonetheless breached significantly, particularly if a terminal device is left physically unattended during such an improperly extended time-out period.

Validating active computer terminal sessions

International Business Machines Corporation


A foot controlled effects knob controls a variable electronic component. A receptacle couples with a spindle of the variable electronic component. One or more wings extend from the receptacle to facilitate control of the spindle, and thus the variable electronic component, by a user's foot.

Guitar players use effector pedals, also known as effects pedals, to produce sound effects such as delay, chorus, reverb and the like. The guitar connects to the effects pedal and then to an audio amplifier. The effects pedal has one or more control knobs disposed thereon for controlling and adjusting parameters of the sound effects. These control knobs are typically fitted to a spindle of a potentiometer during manufacture of the effects pedal and are finger (i.e., hand) operated. Thus, in order to control the sound effects of the effects pedal, guitar players must reach down (since the effects pedal is situated on the floor) and use their fingers to turn the control knobs, thereby releasing their fingers from the guitar.
A guitar player may adjust parameters of the sound effects at an interval during a live performance. However, the inability to adjust sound effect parameters during performance limits the usefulness of the effects pedal.
Some manufacturers have converted the effects pedal into an effects unit that is disposed inside the guitar. For example, in the 1970's, Saint Louis Music Company manufactured an electric guitar, called the Electra, including in-guitar effectors. The Electra included knobs and switches mounting on top of the guitar body to control the effects unit. Though the inclusion of an in-guitar effects unit improved the player's ability to make adjustments to the sound effects during a performance, the control knobs and switches on the front of the guitar body cluttered its appearance. To use the in-guitar effects unit, the player must still use their fingers to manipulate the knobs on the guitar, thereby releasing control of their instrument.

Foot controlled effects knob and related methods


This invention relates, inter alia, to compositions of low serum or serum free media and methods for the expansion of T cell populations and methods for using such populations of cells. In some aspects, the invention relates to compositions and methods for the selective expansion of T cell subpopulations.

The ability of T cells to recognize the universe of antigens associated with, for example, various cancers or infectious organisms is conferred by T cell antigen receptor (TCR), which is made of both an a (alpha) chain and a β (beta) chain or a γ (gamma) and a δ (delta) chain. T cells and various subsets have broad ranging therapeutic implications in the treatment of cancers, autoimmune disorders, inflammatory diseases, allergic diseases, and infectious diseases. Therefore, there is a long felt need for reliable, efficient and rapid way to expand specific immune subpopulations.
Throughout this specification, various patents, patent applications and other types of publications (e.g., journal articles, electronic database entries, etc.) are referenced. The disclosure of all patents, patent applications, and other publications cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

Expansion of populations of T cells by the use of modified serum free media

The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania


A level shifting circuit has a pair of assist circuits. The level shifting circuit includes an input point, an output point, a pair of cross-coupled PMOS transistors coupled to the output point, and a pair of NMOS transistors coupled between the input and output points. Each assist circuit includes a pair of PMOS transistors, one responsive to an input applied to the input point, the other responsive to the drain voltage of one of the NMOS transistors. The assist circuits temporarily weaken the cross-coupled PMOS transistors when an input changes from low to high, or from high to low. The assist circuits also transiently boost the output.

1. Field of Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to level shifting circuits, and in particular to level shifting circuits with increased voltage ranges and reduced insertion delays.
2. Background
In various electronic devices, integrated circuits operating at low supply voltages are interfaced with electronic circuits operating at higher supply voltages. For example, a chip set operating at a first core voltage level (VddL), for example at 0.7 V, can interface with a memory device operating at a higher voltage level (VddH), for example at 1.4 V. In such cases, a level shifting circuit ("level shifter") can be employed to maintain communication between circuits of different supply voltage levels.
Conventional level shifting circuits operate satisfactorily at low voltage ranges, but can fail at low VddL values and wider voltage ranges. In addition, the insertion delay of a level shifting circuit may become unacceptably large. Thus, the development of level shifters operating over relatively wider voltage ranges with reduced insertion delays is desirable.


A floor treating machine has a frame and a housing connected rotatably to the frame according to a main rotation axis. At least three heads are suspended rotatably with respect to the housing according to respective rotating axes, which are generally parallel to the main rotation axis, as well as a number of drive motors which is at least equal to the number of heads. Each head is connected to its own respective drive motor.

1) Field of the Invention
The invention is related to a floor treating machine comprising a frame, a housing connected rotatably to the frame according to a main rotation axis, at least three heads which are suspended rotatably with respect to the housing according to respective auxiliary rotating axes which are generally parallel to the main rotation axis, as well as a number of drive motors which is at least equal to the number of heads, wherein each head is connected to the shaft of its own respective drive motor.
The floor treating machine in question can be used for several purposes, such as for the grinding of floors consisting of natural stone, such as marble. However, the floor treating machine in question can also be used for grinding concrete surfaces. Furthermore, applications in the field of cleaning are possible, and further applications are related to the field of polishing. Dependent on the type of use, the heads are provided with suitable discs for e.g. grinding purposes, cleaning purposes, polishing purposes etc.
2) Description of the Related Art
A floor treating machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,659, and comprises a frame or main supporting member with a central hub portion from which three interconnected supporting arms extend radially outwardly. In turn, the three supporting arms are provided with terminal hub portions at their free ends, onto which terminal hub portions C-shaped frames are connected. The heads are connected to the lower end of said C-shaped frames. Furthermore, each C-shaped frame carries an electric drive motor connected to a respective head.
By means of an intricate system of rods and sliding members, a self-travelling function of the floor treating machine is obtained once the heads are brought into rotation by their respective drive motors. In this connection, the three interconnected supporting arms are rotated dependent on the rotation of the heads.
The disadvantage of this prior art floor treating machine is related to its complicated structure, including sliding members and the rods which are prone to damage and soiling which could lead to malfunctions.
The object of the invention is to provide a floor treating machine of the type described before which is of a more simple layout and which nevertheless is able to provide good results concerning manoeuvrability. Furthermore, the floor treating machine should be able to provide a high quality finishing operation.


Recording an unstructured event in context can include detecting a first occurrence indicative of a start to the unstructured event utilizing a sensing feature of a client device. Upon detection of the first occurrence, device activity data associated with the client device is tracked. A second occurrence indicative an end to the unstructured event is detected utilizing the sensing feature. Following detection of the second occurrence, an event object for the unstructured event spanning between the first and second events is presented. The event object includes or is otherwise associated with the device activity data tracked during the timespan.

Calendar applications allow users to schedule events with selected attendees. Each event is digitally represented by an event object that identifies a predetermined time period and selected attendees. An event object can also include additional details such as a slideshow presentation, links for accessing selected information, and any other items an event organizer might include or otherwise attach. The event object appears in each attendee's calendar and spans the predetermined time period. After the event, a given attended can refer back to that event object as needed to review the context of the event.

Recording unstructured events in context

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


The instant invention includes a pair of strap devices which are utilized in combination to enable a person (especially the elderly and/or physically challenged) to open jars or similar containers with ease and simplicity. One of the strap devices is employed as a jar or container holder. The other device is used as a strap-type wrench. The holder is designed to be permanently mounted on a vertical surface. The wrench device can be utilized to remove vacuumed sealed, screw-on, crimped or pull-tab lids with relative ease.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to kitchen utensils. More specifically, the present invention is drawn to a system for disengaging lids from containers, which lids may be vacuumed sealed and/or frictionally attached to the container via screw threads or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
To avoid contamination and prevent tampering, most food, beverage, and medicine containers available in the marketplace are equipped with positively engaged lids (vacuumed sealed, screw or crimped). The lids are usually covered with a removable paper or plastic seal. Once the paper/plastic seal is removed, the lid still must be disengaged from the container. In this era of mass production, mechanized means are usually employed to engage the lids to the containers. The forces utilized to effect this engagement are often relatively large and require a disengagement force that is difficult to generate by normal human hand and wrist action. Even a hardy person must sometimes resort to extraordinary effort to remove a screwed-on-too-tight lid from a jar of juice. The difficulty is exacerbated for the elderly and/or physically challenged. An efficient, easy-to-use, inexpensive system to alleviate this situation would surely be a welcome addition to the art.
There are a number of devices for assisting a user to remove lids from containers. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 268,164 (Sanberg) and Des. Pat. No. 358,745 (Collier et al.) Show designs for devices utilized to open jar lids. The Collier et al device incorporates a corkscrew. Neither patent incorporates a seal breaker, crimped cap remover or container holding device.
U.S. Pat. No. 152,940 (Bean), U.S. Pat. No. 409,148 (Haller), U.S. Pat. No. 664,352 (Gibbs) and U.S. Pat. No. 723,980 (Bogart) disclose apparatus for holding fruit jars to be filled. The holding apparatus is relatively complex and the patentees make no provision for removing the lid from the containers.
U.S. Pat. No. 671,283 (Gower) discloses a system for holding a container while affixing a lid thereto. The system of the instant patent is relatively complex and inefficient.
U.S. Pat. No. 681,283 (Waynick), U.S. Pat. No. 733,298 (Stull), U.S. Pat. No. 2,132,207 (Donovan) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,284 (Sade) show tools for removing or attaching screw type lids to fruit jars. The patentees make no provision for removing vacuum sealed and crimped lids, nor do they contemplate a device for holding the fruit jar.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,938 (Laird, Jr.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,494 (Aamodt) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,570 (Reisner) disclose strap-type wrenches for removing fuel and/or oil filters.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to disclose a jar opening and holding system as will be subsequently described and claimed in the instant invention.
The instant invention includes a pair of strap devices which are utilized in combination to enable a person (especially the elderly and/or physically challenged) to open jars or similar containers with ease and simplicity. One of the strap devices is employed as a jar or container holder. The other device is used as a strap-type wrench. The holder is designed to be permanently mounted on a vertical surface. The inside wall of a drawer or a splash board wall are ideally suited for mounting the holder. The strap-type wrench device may be conveniently stored with other small utensils or hung from a wall.
The holder device comprises a mounting bracket, a rubber strap, and a stabilizer bar. One end of the rubber strap is securely attached to the mounting bracket. The other end of the strap is a free end.
The strap-type wrench device comprises a hollow handle member and a rubber strap. One end of the rubber strap is secured to the hollow handle member. The other end is a free end. The wrench device has additional structure that can be utilized to remove vacuumed sealed, crimped or pull tab lids with relative ease.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a system for facilitating the removal of lids from containers.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system which is adapted to specifically remove vacuumed sealed, screw-on, crimped and pull tab lids form containers.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system for removing lids from containers, which system may be readily employed by the elderly and/or physically challenged.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a system for the removal of lids from containers, which system is efficient and easy to use.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof for the purposes described which are inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing their intended purposes.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.


A process for producing building materials, such as asphalt, cement, concrete, mortar, or plaster board from liquid paint sludge containing water and paint solids produced from overspray in commercial paint booth operations. The preferred embodiment comprises adding the liquid paint sludge as the hydrating agent directly to the building material mix.

This invention relates generally to a process for producing building materials from paint sludge and in particular to a process for using raw paint sludge from paint booth operations in the manufacture of building materials such as asphalt, cement, concrete, mortar, and plaster.
Paint sludge poses a serious and expensive disposal problem for painting operations in manufacturing plants. When an object such as an automobile is painted in a booth, the excess paint is collected in a water curtain or in a water stream underneath floor grates beneath the paint booth. This material is known as paint sludge. Disposal of paint sludge is a problem of considerable complexity that faces paint booth operators. Currently available disposal technology is based upon the principles of incineration, chemical and physical treatment, and solidification. The resulting end product of such technology is typically used as landfill. However, the use of paint sludge for landfill has its limitations because of concerns for potential environmental hazards and the cost of special precautions needed to handle such waste materials.
There have been many attempts to use paint sludge for creating various useful byproducts rather than to dispose of it, in order to gain some value thus lowering the cost. All of these efforts involved processing, in most cases to dry powder, which resulted in cost penalties that severely limited commercial interest. For example, Soroushian et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,333 issued Feb. 6, 1996 suggests the use of dried paint sludge powder as a filler admixed in Portland Cement. St. Louis U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,587 issued Nov. 12, 1996 teaches mixing raw paint sludge with quicklime (CaO) to chemically dry the sludge, creating a powder of paint solids and slaked lime suitable as a component for use in mortar, cement, concrete and asphalt.
Processing of paint sludge is time consuming and costly. Accordingly, there is need for a simple process that effectively uses all of the paint sludge solids generated by a paint booth facility.
None of the forgoing references suggest using liquid paint sludge directly as a component in concrete and cement type building materials.

Process for producing building materials from raw paint sludge


An active device for damping vibration comprises an actuator comprising a magnetically permeable armature and a coil associated with a magnetically permeable yoke sliding along a displacement axis under the effect of a magnetic field generated by a current conveyed by the coil. Displacement of the coil relative to the armature is generated by forces corresponding to magnetic field lines generated by the coil, concentrated in the armature and the yoke, and directed essentially through an airgap situated between the armature and the yoke.

An active device of that type is described in document EP 0 574 574 B1, for example.
Known devices of that type generally make use of a permanent magnet. Permanent magnets are fragile and sensitive to temperature. Their action is thus affected by variations in temperature, which variations are frequent in the vicinity of a motor vehicle engine. Furthermore, the cost of such magnets is high because of the rare materials that are used and because of the method used for making such magnets.

Active device for damping the vibrations of a vibrating element


An optical element device includes an opto-electric hybrid board sequentially including an optical waveguide having a mirror, and an electric circuit board having a terminal in a thickness direction, and an optical element optically connected to the mirror and electrically connected to the terminal. The opto-electric hybrid board includes a mounting region including the mirror and the terminal when projected in the thickness direction and mounted with the optical element. Furthermore, the opto-electric hybrid board includes an alignment mark for aligning the optical element with respect to the mirror. The alignment mark is made of a material for forming the optical waveguide, and disposed at both outer sides of the mounting region in a width direction.

Conventionally, an optical waveguide device which includes a long opto-electric hybrid board including an optical waveguide having an optical path conversion mirror and a wiring board disposed thereon, and a light receiving element mounted on the opto-electric hybrid board has been known.
For example, an optical waveguide device including an alignment groove disposed at one side in a width direction of the light receiving element has been proposed (ref: for example, Patent Document 1).
In Patent Document 1, the alignment groove has the same shape as the optical path conversion mirror, and the alignment groove is used for positioning of a photomask when another core layer is fabricated b photolithography.

Optical element device and producing method thereof


A transmitting apparatus is disclosed. The transmitting apparatus includes a preamble symbol inserter configured to insert to a frame a preamble symbol including a signaling information, a guard interval inserter configured to insert guard intervals to both ends of the preamble symbol, and a transmitter configured to transmit a frame including the preamble symbol and the guard intervals, wherein one of the guard intervals which are inserted to both ends of the preamble symbol comprises a pseudo random noise (PN) sequence and another guard interval includes one between the PN sequence and a part of the signaling information. Accordingly, no separate algorithm to estimate size of FFT of the preamble symbol and the guard interval is necessary, robust signal detection and synchronization is enabled by the PN sequence inserted to the guard interval, and compensation of interference which is generated under multipath channel environment deems to be easier.

1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a transmitting apparatus, a receiving apparatus, and control methods thereof, and more particularly, to a transmitting apparatus and a receiving apparatus which use an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) scheme, and control methods thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, broadcasting communication service has been characterized by a multifunction, wideband, and high quality. In particular, with development of electronic technology, a high-end broadcasting receiving apparatus such as a high-definition digital television (HDTV) and mobile or portable devices such as a smartphone have been increasingly spread, and thus demands on various broadcasting signal receiving methods or supports for various broadcasting services have also been growing.
As one example to meet such demands, broadcasting communication standards such as the Digital Video Broadcasting the Second Generation European Terrestrial (DVB-T2) have been developed. The DVB-T2 is currently employed in 35 countries or more in the whole world including Europe. The DVB-T2 realizes increase in transmission capacity and high bandwidth efficiency by applying the latest technology such as a low density parity check (LDPC) coding method, a 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) method, or the like, and thus the DVB-T2 may provide various services of high quality in a limited band such as an HDTV.
The T2 frame which is used for the DVB-T2 overcomes a problem that a large amount of signaling information is redundantly inserted to all the symbols by using one P1 symbol and a plurality of P2 symbols which include signaling information.
However, even though signal detection is successful by the P1 symbol, a size of a guard interval which is information required to decode the P2 symbols is still unknown, and thus, a separate algorithm to estimate the size of the guard interval is required.
Thus, there is a need of for a structure of a preamble symbol which includes a large amount of signaling information and enables a robust synchronization operation and channel estimation.

Transmitting apparatus, receiving apparatus and control methods thereof


The present invention addresses the problem of providing a cloth that is excellent in terms of not only flame retardancy but also stretchability, and also a textile product using the cloth. As a means for resolution, a composite yarn is obtained using a spun yarn that contains a flame-retardant fiber having a limiting oxygen index of 25 or more as measured in accordance with JIS K7201 and a conjugate fiber that is made of two components put together in a side-by-side manner or an eccentric sheath-core manner, and then a cloth is obtained using the composite yarn, in which the weight proportion of the flame-retardant fiber is 75 wt % or more based on the weight of the cloth, and the weight proportion of the conjugate fiber is within a range of 5 to 15 wt % based on the weight of the cloth.

As work clothes worn by people engaged in activities where they may be exposed to flames, such as firefighting and activities in electric power or chemical companies, clothes using a flame-retardant cloth have been used in the past. Such flame-retardant cloths use flame-retardant fibers such as meta-aramid fibers and para-aramid fibers. Further, it is said that such flame-retardant fibers generally have poor stretchability.
As methods for imparting stretchability to a cloth using a flame-retardant fiber, a method in which a cloth is formed using an elastic yarn together with a flame-retardant fiber (see, e.g., Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, and Patent Document 3), a method in which a flame-retardant fiber is twisted, heat-set, and untwisted, and then a cloth is formed using the flame-retardant fiber (see, e.g., Patent Document 4, Patent Document 5, and Patent Document 6), etc., have been proposed.
However, with respect to a cloth using an elastic yarn, there have been problems with heat resistance, flame retardancy, chemical resistance, and the like. Meanwhile, with respect to a cloth using a flame-retardant fiber that has been twisted, heat-set, and untwisted, there have been problems in that its stretchability decreases during weaving, post processing, and wearing, and also the problem of increased cost.