An opportunity server searches for potential vehicle repair transaction providers by receiving a signal from a mobile system indicating a need for a transaction with a business entity responsive to an on-board diagnostic detection of a real-time fault condition resulting in recording of a Diagnostic Trouble Code; automatically issuing requests for bids for the transaction to provider parties located in a first potential geographic point for repair service indicating estimated times of arrival at each geographic point; receiving offers from the provider parties; automatically coalescing the offers by screening to meet user preferences, and modifying and organizing into a format for uniform presentation to a user; presenting the coalesced offers to an operator of the mobile system; and automatically performing enterprise resource planning for a user-selected business transaction.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the technologies of automated and preemptive service determination, brokering and scheduling for moving systems such as automobiles, trains, trucks, ships, and aircraft.
2. Background of the Invention
Vehicles are traditionally designed and built with a finite set of gauges or indicator warning lights which are intended to convey vital operational status to the operator of the vehicle. For example, many automobiles are equipped with a temperature gauge or warning light, and an oil pressure gauge or warning light, on the dashboard. If a temperature gauge enters a range indicating higher than normal operating coolant temperature, the driver may choose to continue driving until a service station is reached. For indicator lights, often referred to as "dummy lights", the light may be illuminated when the temperature has reached a critical point, leaving the driver with even fewer options (e.g. less time to find a service station). Most automobiles, however, are equipped many sensors in the engine, electrical, electronic, and drive train subsystems, which provide more information regarding the status of the engine. This detailed information, however, is not usually presented to the driver, but is maintained in memory by an on-board computer for later analysis by an automotive technician and/or diagnostic computer. During the operation of the vehicle, the on-board computer may simply determine if a sensor indicates a potential problem and decide to illuminate a warning light.
Most modern vehicles, including ships, aircraft, trains, trucks and cars, follow this convention of collecting a large amount of sensor and indicator data from the vehicle's subsystems, storing these data items in memory, and presenting simple, "high level" indicators to the vehicle operator (e.g. pilot, captain, etc.).
So, for example, when a driver sees an over-temperature indicator light or notices a temperature gauge in the "hot" range, he must make a fairly uninformed decision as to how to proceed. If he is driving on a highway, he must decide to "chance it" and continue driving until the next town or service center is reached in the hopes that an appropriately-equipped and staffed repair shop will be found. By doing so, he risks causing expensive damage to the vehicle's engine. If he chooses to take such a risk and upon arrival at the next town finds that no appropriately equipped or staffed shop is available, he may have to pay for a tow anyway, thereby finding that he incurred the risk of engine damage unnecessarily (e.g. he could have stopped on the roadside and called for a tow).
This particular problem has become even more pronounced as the automobile industry has diversified in recent years. Many consumers are purchasing vehicles which are made by manufacturers who have small portions of market share in the country where they reside, and thus there are fewer repair centers which are equipped with the diagnostic equipment for his or her particular make-and-model of vehicle and who have appropriately trained staff for the needed repair. In one example, a driver may have a car which cannot be serviced by any shop in the next town because it is manufactured by a company which does not have a dealer in town. In another example situation, a dealer for the driver's car may be in town, but the malfunction may be in a subsystem for which the dealer does not have a trained technician currently on staff or on call (e.g. a problem within the transmission but the dealer has no transmission technicians on staff). A third aspect of whether or not service can be obtained as needed is whether or not a service center has ready access to spare parts and replacement components, as may be required.
All travel is time dependent (e.g. there is an itinerary to be kept), whether it is a road trip in a car by a private consumer, a transoceanic shipment by ship or a scheduled airline flight, and as such, all of these factors must be met in a timely fashion to minimize the economic, social, and financial impact of a vehicle repair:                (a) availability of an appropriate business entity to provide the service (e.g. car repair shop, aircraft maintenance depot, etc.);        (b) availability of appropriately skilled service personnel;        (c) availability necessary facilities, tools and systems (e.g. diagnostic systems, repair tools, etc.); and        (d) availability of components and repair parts.
In most cases, another factor of obtaining service is whether or not the price or cost of the service is acceptable to the operator of the vehicle. In some cases, such as having a car indicator illuminate while on a cross-country trip or visiting a city away from home, the driver may anticipate being charged an exorbitant amount for a routine repair, and as such, may decide not to seek service until returning to his or her home town, further increasing his or her risk for greater vehicle damage and possibly causing safety problems.
As a result, while ample diagnostic information to determine a needed service and replacement component is often collected by vehicle on-board computers and sensors, and while some operational time before arriving at a point of possible service is often available (e.g. driving time to next town, flight time to land at next airport, travel time to next train depot, etc.), this time is not wisely used to search for appropriate service providers and to negotiate for acceptable service cost. Normally, the operator of the vehicle will begin these processes after arriving at the next point of service, which may incur additional costs (e.g. overnight shipping of parts, hotel stays, rental vehicles, etc.) and may cause undesirable delays to the itinerary.
Many vehicle operators and vehicles are equipped with communications systems (e.g. radio, wireless telephones, etc.) which allow them to communicate to some degree their problem while in transit, and to attempt to set arrangements for service at the next point of service. However, this can be ineffective as it can be very difficult, for example, for a car driver to obtain quotes for parts and service while driving on a highway, especially because he or she is not privy to the detailed error codes stored in the on-board computer's memory thereby making an accurate diagnosis difficult.
Still other systems, such as General Motor's On Star™ system, provides for triggering of communications such as a cell telephone to call to an operator when certain conditions are detected, such as deployment of an airbag. Generally, this only helps the driver get in contact with possible assistance, but does not relieve the driver of the mental distraction trying to describe a problem and to negotiate for a service action. Another potentially useful service are cellular-based concierge services, which allows a driver to call a single point of contact to initiate assistance such as scheduling a car maintenance appointment. These services, however, are more general purpose in nature (e.g. making hotel reservations, obtaining show tickets, etc.), and are of limited assistance with handling detailed vehicle trouble and maintenance discussions. In either of these cases, the on-board diagnostic information is neither available to the driver, the assisting telephone operator or concierge for accurate and precise planning of a maintenance service.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system and method which utilizes the time available between the first time of detection of a potential problem on a mobile system or vehicle in transit and the time to arrival at a point of service to determine potential providers, obtain quotes from the service providers, select a provider and schedule the service action such that itinerary impact is minimized, safety and convenience to the vehicle operator is maximized, and exorbitant unexpected expenses are eliminated.

Anticipatory mobile system service brokering and resource planning from multiple providers


A storage apparatus includes a memory device and a processor. The memory device stores therein first management information regarding a first backup for each generation. The first backup is backup of a file stored in a storage device. The first management information includes first identification information indicating presence or absence of update of the file in association with metadata corresponding to the file. The processor is configured to receive a first request to perform first update of updating the file. The processor is configured to store, upon receiving the first request, a first copy of the file before the first update in a predetermined first area. The processor is configured to perform the first update upon storing the first copy. The processor is configured to register, as the first identification information, update information indicating presence of update of the file in the first management information in association with the metadata.

A storage apparatus is used for data preservation. The storage apparatus is equipped with a plurality of storage devices such as hard disk drives (HDDs) or solid state drives (SSDs) and makes it possible to use a storage area of a large capacity.
There is a technique that acquires a backup of data preserved in a storage apparatus. For example, a snapshot is a method for acquiring a backup. In the snapshot, when update of data is intended after a backup is acquired at a certain time point, data before the update with respect to the updated data is saved to be kept in the storage device. For example, there is a suggestion to use a differential bitmap having bits associated with blocks within a logical unit in order to manage, in units of blocks, whether or not data is saved and recorded (i.e., updated).
Also, there is a suggested technique that manages a snapshot image for each generation by preserving a snapshot image reflecting up to N generations and history information including updated data of N+1th generation, N+2th generation . . . as updated data with respect to the image.
There is also a suggested technique that builds a single file system in a consolidated storage area obtained by consolidating a first storing area and a second storing area. In the suggested technique, metadata (e.g., inode) related to a file are stored only in the first storing area when storing the file, and thus, the metadata is not newly prepared but just changed when the file is moved.
Related techniques are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-301499, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-278819, and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-079774.


A method of block vector (BV) prediction for an IntraBC mode (Intra-block copy mode) coded block in a video coding system according to the present invention is disclosed. Multiple BV candidate lists are derived from neighboring blocks of the current block. A BV candidate list is selected as a BV predictor for the BV of the current block. The current block is coded based on an Intra reference block located according to the BV of the current block. In one embodiment, a left-bottom (LB) block of the current block is used to derive the first BV candidate list and an above-right (AR) block of the current block is used to derive the second BV candidate list. A 1-bit index code is signaled to select a BV predictor between the first BV candidate list and the second BV candidate list.

In the current development of range extension (RExt) or screen content coding for High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard, some tools have been adopted due to their improvements in coding efficiency for screen contents. For Intra blocks, Intra prediction according to the conventional approach is performed using prediction based on reconstructed pixels from neighboring blocks. Intra prediction may select an Intra Mode from a set of Intra Modes, which include a vertical mode, horizontal mode and various angular prediction modes. For HEVC Range Extension and screen content coding, a new Intra coding mode, named Intra-block copy (IntraBC) has been used. The IntraBC technique that was originally proposed by Budagavi in AHG8: Video coding using Infra motion compensation, Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) of ITU-T SG 16 WP 3 and ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11, 13th Meeting: Incheon, KR, 18-26 Apr. 2013, Document: JCTVC-M0350 (hereinafter JCTVC-M0350). An example according to JCTVC-M0350 is shown in FIG. 1, where a current coding unit (CU, 110) is coded using Intra MC (motion compensation). The prediction block (120) is located from the current CU and a displacement vector (112). In this example, the search area is limited to the current CTU (coding tree unit), the left CTU and the left-left CTU. The prediction block is obtained from the already reconstructed region. Then, the displacement vector, also named motion vector (MV), and residual for the current CU are coded. It is well known that the HEVC adopts CTU and CU block structure as basic units for coding video data. Each picture is divided into CTUs and each CTU is reclusively divided into CUs. During prediction phase, each CU may be divided into multiple blocks, named prediction units (PUs) for performing prediction process. After prediction residue is formed for each CU, the residue associated with each CU is divided into multiple blocks, named transform units (TUs) to apply transform (such as discrete cosine transform (DCT)).
In JCTVC-M0350, the Intra MC is different from the motion compensation used for Inter prediction in at least the following areas:                MVs are restricted to be 1-D for Intra MC (i.e., either horizontal or vertical) while Inter prediction uses 2-D motion estimation.        Binarization is fixed length for Intra MC while Inter prediction uses exponential-Golomb.        Intra MC introduces a new syntax element to signal whether the MV is horizontal or vertical.
Based on JCTVC-M0350, some modifications are disclosed by Pang, et al. in Non-RCE3: Infra Motion Compensation with 2-D MVs, Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) of ITU-T SG 16 WP 3 and ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11, 14th Meeting: Vienna, AT, 25 Jul.-2 Aug. 2013, Document: JCTVC-N0256 (hereinafter JCTVC-N0256). Firstly, the Intra MC is extended to support 2-D MVs, so that both MV components can be non-zero at the same time. This provides more flexibility to Intra MC than the original approach, where the MV is restricted to be strictly horizontal or vertical.
In JCTVC-N0256, two MV coding methods were disclosed:                Method 1-Motion vector prediction. The left or above MV is selected as the MV predictor and the resulting motion vector difference (MVD) is coded. A flag is used to indicate whether the MVD is zero. When MVD is not zero, exponential-Golomb codes of the 3rd order are used to code the remaining absolute level of the MVD. Another flag is used to code the sign.        Method 2: No Motion vector prediction. The MV is coded using the exponential-Golomb codes that are used for MVD in HEVC.
Another difference disclosed in JCTVC-N0256 is that the 2-D Intra MC is further combined with the pipeline friendly approach:
1. No interpolation filters are used,
2. MV search area is restricted. Two cases are disclosed:                a. Search area is the current CTU and the left CTU or        b. Search area is the current CTU and the rightmost 4 column samples of the left CTU.
Among the proposed methods in JCTVC-N0256, the 2-D Intra MC, the removal of interpolation filters, and the search area constraint to the current CTU and the left CTU have been adopted in a new version draft standard.
In the IntraBC mode coding, for each IntraBC mode coded block, a block vector (BV) has to be signaled and the amount of data associated with BV signaling may be substantial. It is desirable to develop efficient coding method for the BVs.

Method of block vector prediction for intra block copy mode coding


The present disclosure relates to a pre-5th-Generation (5G) or 5G communication system to be provided for supporting higher data rates Beyond 4th-Generation (4G) communication system such as Long Term Evolution (LTE). The purpose of the present disclosure is to discover a small cell in a wireless communication system. An operation of a terminal in the wireless communication system includes receiving a first signal for informing of existence of a small cell according to a first measurement period and attempting to detect the first signal and a second signal for informing of a service coverage of the small cell according to a second measurement period after detecting the first signal. In addition, the present disclosure also includes embodiments other than the embodiment described above.

To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of 4th generation (4G) communication systems, efforts have been made to develop an improved 5th generation (5G) or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is also called a 'Beyond 4G Network' or a 'Post LTE System'.
The 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands, so as to accomplish higher data rates. To decrease propagation loss of the radio waves and increase the transmission distance, the beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, an analog beam forming, large scale antenna techniques are discussed in 5G communication systems.
In addition, in 5G communication systems, development for system network improvement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud Radio Access Networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, Coordinated Multi-Points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation and the like.
In the 5G system, Hybrid FSK and QAM Modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as an advanced access technology have been developed.
That is, a wireless communication system is developing rapidly and, particularly, is recently developing in a form capable of supporting a high-speed large capacity data service in order to satisfy user's various desires. As one way for the high-speed large capacity data service, installing a small cell as well as an existing macro cell is being taken into consideration.
Generally, the small cell has a narrow coverage and therefore, can support a data rate higher than a data rate that the macro cell services by a closer distance with a terminal. Accordingly, in case where it is difficult to communicate with the existing macro cell, effective network management is possible using the small cell supporting the high data rate. That is, the small cell is used in a shadow area of the macro cell or an area of a great traffic demand, thereby being capable of making contribution to the effective network management.
To connect to the small cell, a terminal first has to discover the small cell. That is, because the small cell has a narrower coverage than the macro cell, there is a high possibility in which the terminal first connects to the macro cell. Accordingly, the terminal that is connecting to the macro cell can do handover to the small cell after discovering the small cell. Accordingly, a procedure and technique for more efficiently discovering the small cell is demanded.

Device and method for discovering small cell in wireless communication system


The invention provides a container for holding dry products. The container is a container portion mounted to a base. The container portion has sloping sides with a slope greater than the angle of repose of the dry product. The container and base form a box shape that allows maximum packing and stacking of containers. The invention minimizes hazardous waste and dust produced by conventional paper sacks used for storing pesticides.

In the prior art, dry products such as granular pesticides were stored and delivered in paper packages. These paper packages were cut open to allow the transfer of the dry product into other containers such as backpacks for dispensing the dry product. Transferring dry product from a package to a smaller backpack, created dust from the dry product. The paper packages were then disposed of with some of the dry product residue remaining in the paper packages. For packages containing granular pesticides, the dust created from filling the backpacks provides a hazard, and the disposal of paper packages with pesticide residue also provides a hazard.


An electrically conductive terminal generally extends along a first direction and includes a straight middle portion, a resiliently compressible mating portion extending from a first end of the middle portion for making contact with a conductive pad, and a terminating portion extending from a second end of the middle portion for making contact to a plurality of wires. The terminating portion includes a plurality of electrically connected segments separated by one or more walls and is configured to receive conductive ends of the plurality of wires in a one-to-one correspondence relationship. The terminating portion electrically connects the received wires.

Ground wires of a singular, non-contact type generally terminate in terminals that are identical to the terminals that terminate signal-pair wires. The ground wires of a singular non-contact type are not in physical contact with the insulator of the adjacent signal-pair wire. However, cable assembles including cables with interstitial wires have electrical advantages over singular, non-contact type such as reduction of crosstalk, more balanced cable configuration for near-errorless signal transmission, improved return loss etc. "Interstitial", in this context, refers to the position of the ground wire placed within a cable between or adjacent to, and in physical contact with the insulator of at least one of the signal-pair wires. Cables, for instance twin axial flat ribbon cables, with interstitial ground wires are preferable for direct to-board cable assemblies. In using interstitial wires in cable assemblies the number of wire termination regions at the contact portions of the terminals increases thus increasing the density of terminals.


A TAPI service provider may request configuration information from hardware such as a PBX. Configuration information received from the hardware is stored in a list and compared to the existing configuration list. Two new lists are then generated: an added list and a deleted list. All devices in the deleted list are deleted from the internal database and deleted messages are sent to the TAPI service provider. All new devices are temporarily added to the internal database and addition messages are sent to the TAPI service provider. The new device configuration list is then saved, and the added devices are marked as permanent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications systems and, in particular, to a communication system employing a private branch exchange (PBX) and a TAPI interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) is a high level programming interface for Windows™ which supports many types of telephony applications associated with conventional analog public telephone lines, PBX phone lines, ISDN phone lines, and the like. Thus, TAPI allows a communication application to support numerous telephony operations through a variety of mediums by making a function call to TAPI which will drive the hardware (fax/modem card, DSP card, network switch, and the like) coupled thereto.
The TAPI architecture 100 is illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown, the TAPI architecture 100 includes a TAPI implementation 104 interfaced to telephony application programs 102. TAPI 104 provides a connection to a TAPI service provider, such as a TAPI server 106, which then interfaces to hardware such as voices cards 108a, H.323 interfaces 108b, or PBX's 108c.
The TAPI specification requires that device configuration information be available at the startup of the TAPI service provider. If unsolicited addition and deletion events from a telephony device hardware, such as a PBX, are not supported (i.e., the hardware does not automatically inform the TAPI service provider of updates), the TAPI service provider can only do configuration change updates at start up. The TAPI service provider does so by requesting the static device configuration from the PBX, building the initial internal database and reporting all the devices to the TAPI. If changes are made on the PBX, the telephony server system administrator would be required to shut down the TAPI service provider and restart it again. This has the disadvantage of disrupting service to all users of the TAPI service provider. Moreover, in such a system, there is no way to shut down a TAPI service provider if it is in use. It will be shut down only if every TAPI application using it shuts down. Since several thousand clients can be supported, this can provide severe disadvantages in administration.

System and method for reporting the addition and deletion of TAPI line and phone devices in absence of such notifiction from a PBX


The present invention provides for nutrient extraction and recovery devices that use the Donnan Membrane Principle (DMP) to cause spontaneous separation of dissolved ions along electrochemical potential gradients, wherein anions and cations such as H2PO4−, HPO42−, PO43−, Mg2+, Ca2+, NH4+, and K+ are moved from manure containing waste streams through cation and anion exchange membranes into a recovery stream thereby precipitating target compounds including but not limited to struvite, potassium struvite and hydroxyapatite.

Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the problems associated with waste in animal confinements, and more specifically, to separation methods and systems for converting high concentrations of animal wastes into nutrients and other useful products.
Related Art in Technical Field
The cleanup and handling of cattle, swine and poultry manure has become a critical issue in the management and disposal of animal waste. Animals have been raised for centuries for food and previously such animals grazed in fields or pens. Current methods of raising livestock include housing in high concentration within a confined space. Numerous drawbacks of such confinement include high concentrations of waste that must be removed from the confined space.
The manure produced must be removed regularly to ensure adequate sanitation and to prevent disease. One manure removal method is to flood the housing area with water in order to wash away the manure. The resulting effluent, that being a liquid/solid manure slurry, is typically directed through pipes or channels to a manmade slurry pond or lagoon, where the solids and particulates settle to the bottom and the animal waste decomposes. After some decomposing, the waste can be applied as a fertilizer. Additionally the liquid/solid manure can be directed to a biodigester to capture some of the gaseous components of the manure and use the gases for energy, thereby reducing air quality issues of manure accumulation and storage. However, the remaining liquids and solid from biodigestor processing must still be addressed to minimize loss of nutrient or contamination of lagoons, fields, drinking water, wells, or fresh water streams or lakes.
Notably, prolonged mixing of solid and liquid wastes in a waste manure lagoon can result in the transfer of a significant amount of nutrients from the solid material to the surrounding liquid, so that the solids become depleted of nutrients that may be desirable in a manure fertilizer. However, the liquids become loaded with nitrogen, phosphorus and salts to such an extent that they must be either limited in their irrigation use, or mixed with fresh water to lower the proportion of these substances. In other words, the useful qualities of both the solid and liquid portions of the slurry mixture are degraded over time in a slurry pond or lagoon.
Further, the environmental impact can be substantial when applying the waste to fields. Such environmental issues may include groundwater leaching from the lagoon causing contamination of groundwater and/or streams and sand soil contamination. Additionally, the high volume of solid waste manure, coupled with its use as fertilizer in local fields, results in increased levels of phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium in the soils. This may allow such chemicals to also leach into drainage waters and run-off streams. The high volume of liquid waste manure, coupled with its use as fertilizer in local fields, results in increased levels of nitrogen rich ammonium and ammonia in the soils. This may allow such chemicals to also leach into drainage waters and run-off streams.
There has been increasing publicity and stricter environment requirements and enforcement because of the continuing concern over maintaining water quality in watershed areas due to the release of manure as normal operational discharges from dairy cattle, beef cattle, swine, poultry and other concentrated animal feeding operations. Current technologies for separating solids and nutrient components of such animal waste have limitations, are costly to operate, and result in the use of large quantities of fuel and labor in order to provide solid and water-based effluents that can either be recycled or are environmentally acceptable to spread on farmlands.
Thus, what is needed is an improved process and separation system for treating animal waste that is low in capital equipment cost, low in waste transportation cost, prevents pollution of water resources, simple to operate, and that provides solid and liquid effluents containing beneficial and useful products to generate a sustainable supply of nutrients critical for food production.

Nutrient extraction and recovery device for isolation and separation of target products from animal produced waste streams

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE COUNTY


Disclosed are a semiconductor light emitting device comprising a single crystalline buffer layer and a manufacturing method thereof. The semiconductor light emitting device comprises a single crystalline buffer layer, and a compound semiconductor structure comprising III and V group elements on the single crystalline buffer layer.

The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor light emitting device and a manufacturing method thereof.
Groups III-V nitride semiconductors have been variously applied to an optical device such as blue and green light emitting diodes (LEDs), a high speed switching device, such as a metal semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) and a hetero junction field effect transistor (HFET), and a light source of a lighting device or a display device.
The nitride semiconductor is mainly used for an LED or a laser diode (LD), and studies have been continuously conducted to improve the manufacturing process or light efficiency of the nitride semiconductor.

Semiconductor light emitting device having multiple single crystalline buffer layers


A method of correcting an article of mail and the article is disclosed. The article of mail has opposing sides and an edge and identifying indicia positioned on at least one of the sides adjacent an edge. A dual neutralizing mask is applied onto at least a substantial portion of the edge and overlaps the opposing sides in an area adjacent the edge to neutralize by covering at least a major portion of the identifying indicia. The indicia has neutralized and cannot be used in subsequent mail processing.

This invention relates to the field of mail processing, and more particularly, this invention relates to the field of correcting articles of mail during mail processing.
The routing and delivering of articles of mail, whether performed by the United States Post Office, United Parcel Service or other private mail and/or parcel delivery company, is increasingly becoming more efficient and streamlined. Often, mail handling is automated through complicated and efficient mail sorting and handling equipment. To expedite the processing, handling and delivery of mail, it has become more common to position identifying indicia on the front and/or rear side of a mail piece or package to expedite processing. Examples of these indicia are the various ID tags that are sprayed by ink jetting onto the rear side of mail pieces, such as envelopes or other bundled packages that are held together by tabs. Other identifying indicia, such as a bar code, are also printed, such as by ink jetting, onto the front side of the mail pieces or packages to assist in mail routing. An ID code, bar code and/or any other identifying indicia, whether placed on the front or rear sides of packages or mail pieces, are used for internal routing within the post office and mail delivery at the route level. These identifying indicia help identify the mail to the sender or delivery agent, help route the mail, and help in tracking the mail, whether the mail is a bulk item or individual mail piece.
However, as is common today, thousands of mail pieces are either not delivered because the mail pieces are misrouted, or the mail pieces arrive late because of poor misrouting. Some mail pieces have to be returned to the sender. As of now, the United States Post Office, or other similar mail delivery services, must cover any identifying indicia, such as a bar code or ID tag, with a label, which could subsequently be sprayed with a new bar code. If both sides of a mail piece must be covered, then two processing steps are required to affix a label to either side of the mail piece. For example, if an article of mail, such as an envelope, has a bar code on the front side, and an ID code on the rear side, the mail service will cover the incorrect bar code with a label, and then pass the article of mail under a printhead that is electronically controlled by a computer and database to print the proper information, such as a new identifying indicia or a new bar code. Then, the article of mail will be processed twice in two steps by flipping the mail piece over and applying another label on the rear side to cover the incorrect ID code or other identifying indicia so that any subsequent mail processing of the ID code, bar code, or other identifying matter, will be neutralized and not used in subsequent mail processing. Also, the labels will cover any noise, which hinders optical character recognition. This type of double pass/double label application is inefficient, and adds much time and expense to mail processing.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a one-step process that corrects an article of mail and neutralizes indicia that are positioned on the article of mail.
It is yet another object of the present invention to neutralize noise, bar codes, and identifying indicia on an article of mail with minimum processing.
In accordance with the present invention, a method of correcting an article of mail comprises the step of feeding an article of mail into a mail correcting station. The article of mail comprises a mail piece having opposing sides and an edge and identifying indicia positioned on at least one of the sides adjacent an edge. A dual neutralizing mask is applied onto at least a substantial portion of the edge and overlaps the opposing sides in an area adjacent the edge to cover at least a major portion of the identifying indicia to correct the article of mail, such that the indicia is neutralized and cannot be used in subsequent mail processing.
In one aspect of the present invention, return-to-sender information is printed on the dual neutralizing mask on at least one overlapping side of the mask. The method can also comprise the step of printing informational indicia on the dual neutralizing mask on at least one overlapping side of the mask. This indicia could be bar codes, printed dots, or any other identifying indicia that could be suggested or known by those skilled in the art. This identifying indicia can be printed by ink jetting the informational indicia on the at least one overlapping portion of the mask.
In still another aspect of the present invention, the mail is oriented about a predetermined angle of orientation prior to the step of applying the dual neutralizing mask on the mail piece. This dual neutralizing mask can be provided as a flexible, self-adhesive member that is adhesively attached to the opposing sides of the mail piece along the edge. It can be supplied from a supply roll where the flexible, self-adhesive member is positioned on a carrier web and peeled therefrom during processing.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, the method of correcting articles comprises the step of feeding a plurality of articles of mail successively into a mail correcting station. Each of the articles of mail comprise a mail piece having opposing sides and an edge and an identifying indicia positioned on at least one of the sides adjacent the edge. The dual neutralizing mask is applied onto each of the mail pieces by applying the dual neutralizing mask onto at least a substantial portion of the edge to overlap opposing sides in an area adjacent the edge, while covering at least a major portion of the identifying indicia to correct the mail piece such that the identifying indicia is neutralized and cannot be used in subsequent mail processing. The mail pieces can comprise intermixed pieces of mail having a plurality of different widths, lengths, and thicknesses, and a commonly oriented side on which the dual neutralizing mask is applied. The articles of mail can be fed from a mail bin where the articles of mail are stacked.
In still another aspect of the present invention, an article of mail includes a mail piece having opposing sides and an edge. Indicia corresponding to a post office code is positioned on at least one of the sides adjacent an edge. A dual neutralizing mask overlaps at least a substantial portion of the edge and covers the opposing sides in an area adjacent the edge and covers at least a major portion of the indicia for correcting the article of mail such that the indicia is neutralized and cannot be used in subsequent mail processing. This dual neutralizing mask can comprise an elongate and flexible, self-adhesive member that is adhesively attached to the opposing sides adjacent and along the edge. The edge of the mail pieces defines a longitudinal edge and the dual neutralizing mask extends a distance greater than half the length of the mail piece along the edge. The mail piece can comprise an envelope and the indicia can comprise printed indicia, such as a bar code. Return-to-sender information is printed on the dual neutralizing mask on at least one side that overlaps the mask.
In another aspect of the present invention, the mail piece defines front and rear sides with a bar code printed on the front side adjacent the edge and an ID code printed on the rear side adjacent the edge. Both the bar code and ID code are substantially neutralized by the dual neutralizing mask of the present invention.
In still another aspect of the present invention, the article of mail can comprise a mail package having opposing sides and an edge. Indicia corresponding to a post office code is positioned on at least one of the sides adjacent an edge. A dual neutralizing mask overlaps at least a substantial portion of the edge and covers the opposing sides in an area adjacent the edge and covers at least a major portion of the indicia for correcting the article of mail such that the indicia is neutralized and cannot be used in subsequent mail processing.

Method for correcting articles of mail and article of mail produced thereby


A cycle saddle for a female, comprising a saddle body that defines a support surface on which a female can be supported, the support surface being profiled to conform anatomically to the shape of a female's buttock and genital regions. The saddle body comprises a cushion section that is adhesively bonded to a rigid moulded plastics base section, with the cushion section having a posterior region that defines a raised laterally flared cantle, and an intermediate region and an anterior region transitioning from the posterior region to form a horn section. The anterior region is raised thereby forming together with the posterior and intermediate regions, a continuous longitudinally concave profile for snugly supporting the buttock, perineal and pubic regions of a female.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cycle saddle for a female.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cycle saddles and in particular, bicycle saddles, are well known. It is known that female cyclists in particular, experience discomfort and pain in the genital area when seated on cycle saddles not designed specifically for the female anatomy. In 1897, Mary F Henderson disclosed in her U.S. patent application Ser. No. 576,310 a bicycle saddle having two soft cushion lobes with a depression disposed between them. The Henderson saddle is substantially flat and thus does not provide adequate posterior support for the buttock muscles of cyclists who wish to assume an aero-dynamically efficient position with the upper body tilted over forwards. Although the idea of a hollowed out intermediate region is evident in Henderson's saddle to relieve pressure in the genital region of a person seated thereon, it fails to provide adequate anterior support for a female cyclist's pubic region.
Beylet et al disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,642 dated 1991, a high performance bicycle saddle providing support for the buttock muscles of a cyclist seated thereon in a "hunched over" cycling position. This saddle is, however, not anatomically contoured to conform to the genital region of a female cyclist. In particular, it does not provide adequate anterior support for supporting the pubic region of a female cyclist. As a result of the lack of anterior support, forward sliding of a cyclist along the saddle will not be prevented. Forward sliding with this saddle design will occur particularly during slight alterations of seating position to alleviate discomfort. Furthermore, this bicycle saddle does not conform to the shape of the whole of a female cyclist's genital region, pressure points are created causing pain and discomfort.
PCT Patents WO 91/01244 and WO 92/11175 in the names of Yates et al, both disclose anatomically conforming cycle saddles having elongated horn sections transitioning rearwardly into laterally flared raised cantles, the horn sections having a gentle cavity disposed along upper surfaces thereof. Similarly, as for U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,642, these patents do not provide adequate anterior support for supporting the pubic region of a female cyclist seated on the saddles. Thus forward sliding can take place along the saddles causing pain and discomfort. Furthermore, as the Yates et al bicycle saddles do not conform to the shape of the whole of a female cyclist's genital region, pressure points are created causing pain and discomfort. As such, the Yates et al saddles force the body of a female cyclist seated thereon to mould to the contours of the seat and thereby effectively oppose the body contours resulting in the saddle being deficient in distributing the body weight over a wide surface area, thus causing pressure and pain in the genital region.


The liquid dispensing stand comprises a supporting seat member having a central opening, a pair of legs having their upper portions secured to the supporting seat member and a base member to which the lower ends of the legs are secured so as to support the supporting seat member in position through the legs. The supporting seat member is adapted to support thereon a liquid containing vessel in upside-down position so that a liquid dispensing member attached to the mouth piece of the vessel projects downwardly through the central opening of said supporting seat member with an appropriate vertical distance held between the liquid dispensing member of the vessel and the base member thereby permitting the liquid in the vessel to be dispensed. Cooling medium may be located between the supporting seat member and the vessel held thereon in upside-down position and/or on the upper surface of the vessel held in upside-down position on the supporting seat member, and a thermally insulating case in the form of an inverted cup shape may be located on the supporting seat member around the vessel so that the liquid in the vessel can be dispensed therefrom at all times in the cooled state. In storing the stand, the thermally insulating case may be housed in the space between the supporting seat member and the base member so that the space for storing the stand can be made to the minimum.

The present invention relates to a liquid dispensing stand, and, more particularly, to a liquid dispensing stand which is adapted to support a vessel containing therein liquid such as beer and refreshing beverages and to easily dispense any desired quantity of the liquid such as beer and refreshing beverages in cooled state from the vessel in any desired time.
Various liquid dispensing stands of the type as described above has been proposed heretofore.
In such liquid dispensing stands, it has been common to utilize a cool keeping case in order to permit beverages to be dispensed from the vessel at an appropriate low temperature.
The prior art liquid dispensing stand is, however, not satisfactory in performance and manipulation thereof and suffers from low efficiency in the cooling effect to the liquid containing vessel.
The present invention aims at avoiding the disadvantages of the prior art liquid dispensing stand.

Liquid dispensing stand with cooling support


A ceramic filter arranged in a flow passage through which a molten metal is poured from a gate into a cavity of a casting mold. The ceramic filter has a ceramic main body of a three-dimensional reticulated skeleton structure having interconnected pores. The main body is formed into a cylindrical shape having an inner hollow portion. A method of making the ceramic main body is disclosed by applying a ceramic slurry on a reticulated synthetic resin foam having no cell membranes. The foam is sintered and applied with the ceramic slurry until the foam is removed by carbonization.

The present invention relates to a ceramic filter suitable for filtration of a molten metal, particularly, a molten ferrous metal, and to a method of filtering a molten metal using the ceramic filter.
A three-dimensional reticulated skeleton structure having interconnected pores, typically a ceramic foam produced from a synthetic resin foam has been known to be useful for filtration of a molten non-ferrous metal such as molten magnesium, aluminum or copper, or a molten ferrous metal such as molten ductile cast iron, gray cast iron or cast stainless steel. Such a filter has been generally formed into a rectangular or circular plate.
In the filtration of a molten metal, there is a difference between a molten ferrous metal and a molten non-ferrous metal in terms of the amount of the molten metal having passed through the filter for each filtration. To be more specific, the filtrated amount of a molten non-ferrous metal has been in a range from several ten tons to several hundreds tons; while the filtrated amount of a molten ferrous metal has been in a range from several ten kg to several tons. With respect to the usage of the filter, in general, the filter has been pre-heated for a molten non-ferrous metal; while it has not been pre-heated for a molten ferrous metal. Accordingly, as the filter used for a molten ferrous metal, a filter made from a ceramic material which is excellent in thermal shock resistance and has a structure in which the molten ferrous metal is smoothly passed therethrough is required. More specifically, there has been generally used a filter made from silicon carbide and having a structure being relatively small in the number of pores (i.e., relatively large in the size of pores) for reducing the resistance upon passing through the pores. Such a filter, however, has a problem in terms of strength if it is intended to make the thickness of the filter thinner for further reducing the resistance when the molten metal passed therethrough: and also has a problem in terms of corrosion resistance because the filtration of a molten ferrous metal in an amount of several tons takes a time of one minute or more. This corrosion occurs due to the reaction of silicon carbide with iron, and more specifically, pouring the molten metal for one minute or more may corrode the skeleton of the ceramic foam filter, thus the function of the filter is obstructed. In order to solve such an inconvenience, there is disclosed a technique to coat the surface of a skeleton of the ceramic foam filter with alumina being less reactive with iron, in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 5-51278; however, the coating of the skeleton with alumina is not yet sufficient to prevent corrosion of the skeleton.
With respect to the above filter for a molten ferrous metal, it has been proposed a method of increasing the total surface area of the filter for shortening the pouring time; however, such a method has a problem that since the filter is not pre-heated, the use of the filter having the increased surface area tends to reduce the temperature of the molten metal, leading to a failure in flow of the molten metal and also to breakage of the filter due to thermal shock. The problem has been solved by reducing the size of the filter and providing several gates to disperse thermal shock applied to each filter. This method, however, has presented another problem making difficult the design of a cavity of a casting mold, and in prolonging the filtrating time and making the corrosion resistance poor because of the presence of a plurality of the gates.
As described above, in filtration of a molten ferrous metal, particularly, a molten cast iron, since the molten metal must be poured in a casting mold for a short period of time, the related art filter having a rectangular or circular shape is poor in resistance against thermal shock and corrosion, particularly, when the molten metal in an amount of several tons or more is poured, resulting in the increased percent defective.

Ceramic filter and method of filtrating molten metal using the same


A liquid jetting apparatus includes: a cavity unit having a plurality of nozzles and pressure chambers; and an actuator unit applying jetting pressures to the pressure chambers. The actuator unit has a plurality of stacked ceramics layers, individual electrodes corresponding to the pressure chambers, a common electrode common to all the pressure chambers, and a barrier layer preventing the liquid from being penetrated therethrough. The barrier layer is stacked on a position which is between a contact surface, of the actuator unit, making contact with the cavity unit and the individual electrodes closest to the contact surface, except a position on the contact surface. It is possible to prevent the individual electrodes and the common electrode from being electrically short-circuited due to the liquid even when the ceramics layer in contact with the cavity unit has a crack.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid jetting apparatus including a cavity unit having a plurality of nozzles through each of which a liquid is jetted and pressure chambers communicating with the nozzles respectively, and an actuator unit applying jetting pressures to the pressure chambers.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional liquid jetting apparatus, there is, for example, an ink-jet head which includes: a plate-shaped cavity unit having one surface in which a plurality of nozzles for jetting minute ink droplets are formed and other surface on which a plurality of pressure chambers communicating with the nozzles respectively are opened; and a plate-shaped actuator unit which is stacked on the cavity unit to apply jetting pressures to the pressure chambers of the cavity unit.
The actuator unit has a plurality of stacked ceramics layers, and individual electrodes which are individually disposed so as to correspond to the pressure chambers of the cavity unit respectively and a common electrode common to all the pressure chambers (ground electrode) are disposed between the ceramics layers. A predetermined number of sets of the individual electrodes and the common electrode are arranged alternately. In each of the ceramics layers, portions sandwiched by the individual electrodes and the common electrode are active portions. The actuator unit is joined to the aforesaid other surface of the cavity unit so that the active portions face the pressure chambers respectively. When voltage is applied between the individual electrode and the common electrode of the actuator unit to drive the active portion, the actuator unit deforms to change the volume of the pressure chamber of the cavity unit. Consequently, a jetting pressure is applied to the liquid (ink) in the pressure chamber, so that the ink is jetted from the nozzle corresponding to this pressure chamber.
Since the actuator unit has a ceramics sintered compact, the actuator unit easily suffers a minute crack due to the deformation when fired or driven. When such a defect exists, there is a risk of the ink in the pressure chambers entering a crack at a place where the ceramics layer of the actuator unit is in direct contact with a cavity plate. In such a case, the ink entering the crack penetrates into the ceramics layer, which in turn is likely to cause electric short-circuit between the individual electrodes and the common electrode.
To avoid this problem, in an ink-jet head described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-341509 (pages 5 to 7, FIG. 3), a conductive protection film is formed on a joint surface, of an actuator unit, joined to a cavity unit, thereby preventing a ceramics layer from coming into direct contact with ink in pressure chambers. This protection film is made of conductive paste which is fired after applied on the actuator unit. The protection film further prevents the ink in the pressure chambers from being charged.


The disclosure relates to a motor vehicle having at least one flap, which can be moved between an open and a closed position, an encodable locking device for locking the flap, an unlocking device for unlocking the encodable locking device, and at least one further access opening which is adapted to the size of a specific postal article and can be closed by at least one additional flap. The access opening can be locked by an encodable locking device and can be unlocked by an unlocking device.

Such motor vehicles are known from the general state of the art. For example, the flap may be a motor vehicle's trunk lid.
Recently, there has been a tendency to have parcels delivered to motor vehicles in order to open up further possibilities for the delivery of parcels. This is particularly useful if the recipient is not at home during the day and has no facilities in his house or apartment where a parcel courier can deliver a parcel. In this case, for example, the courier can take the parcel to the vehicle parked on a parking lot in front of an office building.
The problem with these proposals is that the parcel courier is always given access to the entire vehicle via the trunk lid. This is not only problematic with regard to theft, but also reduces the chance of this method being accepted by parcel service providers, since the parcel couriers could be wrongly accused of the possible loss of objects.
DE 10 2014 226 069 A1 describes a method for transferring recently acquired purchase goods, for which certain persons are given access to a motor vehicle to allow them to deposit goods previously purchased in a store in the motor vehicle. However, the method described therein cannot contribute to the above problem of free access for the courier to the trunk or other parts of the motor vehicle.


A device for batch injection stripping voltammetric analysis of metal traces, of very high sensitivity. This sensitivity extends down to about 0.03 to 0.3 ppb for certain metals. The microanalysis can be carried out at a high rate and in addition to the high sensitivity is characterized by accuracy and high reproducibility. One of the main features is a novel microcell with a rotating working electrode of the mercury coated graphite type.

Batch injection stripping voltammetry of trace metals has been used before for the analysis of trace metals in the ppb range. Amongst others there has been described a non-flow approach for anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) of small discrete samples, using a batch injection operation. There has also been described anodic stripping coulometry at a thin-film mercury electrode where the charge contained in the stripping signal is used as indicator of traces of metals.
A variety of microcells has been described for voltammetry and for coulometric measurements.
The main requirements for a microcell for such analysis are, amongst others:
a. Provision for a microvolume sample; PA1 b. Rotating electrode to decrease the detection limit; Batch injection of samples without interruption of the cathodic polarization of the working electrode, preventing mercury film oxidation on such electrode.
Microcells described in literature have certain drawbacks and are not entirely satisfactory.
The microcell-precursor (R. Eggli, Anal. Chim. Acta, 91 (1977) 129) consists of a microcompartment (100-600 mL)with a rotating working electrode, but this design does not allow the batch injection of samples. The use of such a microcell makes the analysis more complicated and time-consuming, and requires interruption of the working electrode cathodic polarization during replacement of a sample, which can cause oxidation of the mercury film on the working electrode. Using coulometric detection for anodic stripping voltammetry, the author has obtained a comparatively high detection limit. For lead it is 24-25 ppb at a deposition time equal to 12 min.
According to J. Wang et. al., Anal. Chim. Acta, 259 (1992) 123, a sample drop (100 mL) was put directly on a working electrode surface, which sample drop was surrounded by large volume of supporting electrolyte. The detection limit for anodic square-wave stripping voltammetry in this case was not too low due to the use of a static working electrode. For example, for lead the detection limit was equal to 1.2 ppb at a deposition time 0.5 min. At the same time batch injection of samples was used and the cathodic polarization of the working electrode was not interrupted. The sample throughput was 48 samples per hour. In spite of all precautions taken by the authors, the problem remained of how to avoid completely the mixing of a sample drop with the supporting electrolyte during the time when the drop was put into the cell and the deposition time.

Device comprising microcell for batch injection stripping voltammetric analysis of metal traces


A clamping coat hanger has a main clamping member with an upper and a lower end, wherein the upper end has a hook for suspending the coat hanger and the lower end has first clamping ribs. A first clamping member has an upper and a lower end wherein the lower end has second clamping ribs and the upper end has a first pressure application location. The main clamping member and the first clamping member are pivotably connected to one another in the area between the upper and the lower ends thereof. The main clamping member and the first clamping member have cooperating pivot members. The cooperating pivot members are pivotable about a pivot axis parallel to a longitudinal extension of the clamping ribs. The pivot members engage behind one another by transversely intersecting the pivot axis. A first elastic element is connected to the clamping members above the pivot axis for forcing the main clamping member and the first clamping member apart and simultaneously forcing the pivot members into engagement such that the clamping ribs clamp a garment therebetween.

The present invention relates to a clamping coat hanger for garments comprised of at least two clamping elements that under the force of a spring are pivotable relative to one another about a pivot point at approximately a central height of the two members. In the area of their lower edges they have clamping zones for clamping the garments and for this purpose are provided with a clamping rip. One clamping member at the upper end is provided with a hook for suspending the coat hanger and the other clamping member at its upper end is provided with a pressure application location.
Clamping coat hangers based on this principle have been known for a long time. The counter pressure of the clamping members according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,704, European Patent Application 0 113 604, German Offenlegungsschrift 2 333 691, German Offenlegungsschrift 1 161 243, German Offenlegungsschrift 2 147 304, German Gebrauchsmuster 7 717 705, German Gebrauchsmuster 8 805 559, German Gebrauchsmuster 8 912 654, German Gebrauchsmuster 8 121 429 is, in general, achieved with a clamping lock which, upon continuous use loses its clamping force due to over extension.
According to German Offenlegungsschrift 2 419 427 a clamping coat hanger is known which is comprised of two pivotably connected halves which are pressure-loaded by a U-shaped leaf spring positioned between the two halves. The ends of the leaf spring are held in position by snap hooks. Between the leaf spring guide tabs are provided which receive a pivot pin in order to stabilize the position of the leaf spring. This design has the disadvantage that, despite the stabilizing elements, the pivot point is not sufficiently stabilized and that the leaf spring therefore cannot optimally provide the required clamping action and that furthermore the clamping forces do not act across the entire width of the halves. A corresponding coat hanger is also known from British Patent Application 615 388 whereby individual clamping stays are distributed over the width of the coat hanger. The pivot axis is formed by axle pins and clamping forces cannot act over the entire width of the clamping halves. In the coat hanger design according to German Gebrauchsmuster 92 03 736 individual bracket-type clamping stays are arranged at both ends of the coat hanger. The two halves of the coat hanger are provided with hinge parts.
A further coat hanger of the aforementioned kind is known from German Gebrauchsmuster 69 37 151 in which below the pivot axis a tension spring is provided between the two clamping members.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a clamping coat hanger of the aforementioned kind with which a permanent fast and reliable clamping of garments is ensured and with which a great clamping force can be achieved while providing for a simple assembly and reduced actuation force.


A composition and method of inhibiting corrosion in boiler-steam condensate systems comprising adding to the system N,N-dihydrocarbylhydroxylamine and N-hydrocarbylhydroxylamine in amounts effective to inhibit corrosion.

In steam generating systems, boiler water systems, steam lines, steam condensate lines, and the like, hereinafter referred to as boiler-steam condensate systems, one objective of a water treatment program is the removal of dissolved oxygen from the feedwater. The removal may be partially accomplished by using either Vacuum or thermal deaeration techniques or both. However, since complete oxygen removal cannot be effected by these techniques, further removal through the use of chemical oxygen scavenging agents has been a customary practice.
Sodium sulfite and hydrazine have commonly been used for scavenging oxygen in boilers, hot water plants, etc. However, the use of sodium sulfite introduces solids into the boiler water and hydrazine is a suspect carcinogen. In addition, these chemicals are not volatile and therefore are not effective in scavenging oxygen in steam and steam condensate lines.
Hydroxylamines and certain derivatives thereof are not only effective oxygen scavengers, but are also volatile, and have been used to control corrosion of iron and steel surfaces in boiler apparatus caused by dissolved oxygen. However, in boiler-steam condensate systems, there exist not only high temperature areas such as the boiler proper and steam lines but also low temperature areas such as boiler feedwater lines. The use of hydroxylamines has not been entirely effective for treating all areas of boiler-steam condensate systems.

Composition and method for scavenging oxygen


Fat substitutes are prepared without a molecular distillation step by enzymatically or chemically interesterifying a fully hydrogenated vegetable oil rich in stearic acid (FHLCT) with a medium chain fatty acid triglyceride rich in caproic, caprylic and capric fatty acids (MCT) under conditions such that the amount of tristearin in the interesterified mixture is lower than 5% by weight. The interesterified mixture is bleached and deodorized, and may be used as a substitute for butterfat or vegetable butter, e.g., cocoa butter.

The present invention concerns a process for the preparation of a butterfat or vegetable butter replacer.
There is a general interest to create fats with a nutritional claim of low in cholesterol and reduced calories which can replace butterfat in some applications, particularly in ice cream or cream and cheese sauces, yogurt, cookie mixes and shortenings. One problem with known fats of vegetable origin which could replace butterfat is their high content in unsaturated fatty acids which may be detrimental to flavour due to oxidative breakdown leading to degradation products. Partially hydrogenated vegetable fats are no valuable alternative since they contain high amounts of nutritionally objectionable trans-fatty acids.
There is also a general interest the create fats of vegetable origin with a nutritional claim of reduced calories that are able to replace cocoa butter and confectionery fats such as cocoa butter equivalents based on tropical fats, i.e., palm oil fractions, or partially hydrogenated vegetable fats. Tropical fats contain high amounts of lauric or myristic acid which are perceived as health risk-linked., whereas partially hydrogenated vegetable fats contain high amounts of objectionable trans-fatty acids as previously stated.
European Patent Application Publication No. 322,027 is concerned with low calorie fats which are poor in unsaturated fatty acids and contain predominantly triglycerides with one long chain saturated and two medium chain fatty acids. One starting material for their production is fully hydrogenated high erucic acid rapeseed oil, and they thus contain fatty acids having C20 and higher carbons, predominantly behenic acid. They have reduced calorie density, acceptable organoleptic properties and a characteristic crystallization behaviour. They are prepared by random rearrangement of triglycerides with three long chain saturated fatty acids, containing behenic acid, with medium chain triglycerides and subsequent molecular distillation.

Preparation of butterfat and vegetable butter substitutes


Techniques to generate partial display updates in a buffered window system in which arbitrary visual effects are permitted to any one or more windows (e.g., application-specific window buffers) are described. Once a display output region is identified for updating, the buffered window system is interrogated to determine which regions within each window, if any, may effect the identified output region. Such determination considers the consequences any filters associated with a window impose on the region needed to make the output update.

The invention relates generally to computer display technology and, more particularly, to the application of visual effects using a programmable graphics processing unit. The subject matter of the invention is generally related to the following jointly owned and co-pending patent applications: "System for Reducing the Number of Programs Necessary to Render an Image," by John Harper, Ser. No. 10/826,773; "System for Optimizing Graphics Operations" by John Harper, Ralph Brunner, Peter Graffagnino, and Mark Zimmer, Ser. No. 10/825,694; "System for Emulating Graphics Operations," by John Harper, Ser. No. 10/826,744; and "High-Level Program Interface for Graphics Operations," by John Harper, Ralph Brunner, Peter Graffagnino, and Mark Zimmer, Ser. No. 10/826,762, each incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Referring to FIG. 1, in prior art buffered window computer system 100, each application (e.g., applications 105 and 110) has associated with it one or more window buffers or backing stores (e.g., buffers 115 and 120—only one for each application is shown for convenience). Backing store's represent each application's visual display. Applications produce a visual effect (e.g., blurring or distortion) through manipulation of their associated backing store. At the operating system ("OS") level, compositor 125 combines each application's backing store (in a manner that maintains their visual order) into a single "image" stored in assembly buffer 130. Data stored in assembly buffer 130 is transferred to frame buffer 135 which is then used to drive display unit 140. As indicated in FIG. 1, compositor 125 (an OS-level application) is implemented via instructions executed by computer system central processing unit ("CPU") 145.
Because of the limited power of CPU 145, it has not been possible to provide more than rudimentary visual effects (e.g., translucency) at the system or display level. That is, while each application may effect substantially any desired visual effect or filter to their individual window buffer or backing store, it has not been possible to provide OS designers the ability to generate arbitrary visual effects at the screen or display level (e.g., by manipulation of assembly buffer 130 and/or frame buffer 135) without consuming virtually all of the system CPU's capability—which can lead to other problems such as poor user response and the like.
Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a mechanism by which a user (typically an OS-level programmer or designer) can systematically introduce arbitrary visual effects to windows as they are composited or to the final composited image prior to its display.

Partial display updates in a windowing system using a programmable graphics processing unit


A latching mechanism for receiving a boat bow U-bolt includes a frame member with a receiving channel for receipt of the U-bolt. A pair of spring-biased latching members are attached to the frame member and arranged in a normally-closed condition and therein narrow the width of the receiving channel at an entrance location. The latching members are pivotally moveable to an open condition by the action of the U-bolt pushing against the latching members until the U-bolt enters the receiving channel. A release slide is included as part of the latching mechanism to allow the U-bolt to be released. The release slide is spring biased for movement from a load-launch orientation to a stowed orientation. The latching mechanism is designed to attach to a winch stand and includes two separate mounting connections for this purpose.

The present invention relates in general to latching mechanisms which are designed to securely connect or attach one object to another object, such as a boat to a boat trailer. More specifically the present invention relates to an automatic latching mechanism which is attached to a boat trailer and which receives and securely holds the U-bolt which is fixed to the bow of a boat.
Boat trailers for transporting, launching, and retrieving fishing boats and pleasure boats are widely used by the boating public. While a variety of different winch and tow rope arrangements have been and may be employed, one commonly used element of such arrangements is a U-bolt or eyelet of some configuration which is fixed to the bow of the boat, typically on the centerline of the boat. Since the bow U-bolt is typically located in a similar position, independent of the particular boat style, it provides one aspect of some consistency between varying designs, styles, sizes, and makes of boats.
A review of earlier patents indicates that one disadvantage, as viewed by other designers, with a winch and tow rope arrangement is that at least two people are required to effectively retrieve and load the boat onto the trailer. One person is normally needed to connect the tow line to the boat and operate the winch. The other person is required to navigate and maintain the boat in alignment with the boat trailer. Since there are situations where two people are not always available to load a boat onto a boat trailer, it has been suggested that it would be an improvement to existing trailer designs with a winch and tow rope arrangement if an automatic latching mechanism could be provided which securely attaches to the U-bolt of the boat bow. While an automatic latching mechanism on the boat trailer would conceivably only require one individual to load the boat onto the boat trailer, as a practical matter you would prefer to have one individual handling the boat and a second individual handling the boat trailer and the vehicle towing the boat trailer. This is the most efficient approach. However, even with two individuals and even if a winch and tow rope arrangement is available, there is still a certain awkwardness to the currently practiced method. While one individual stays with the trailer and tow vehicle, the individual directing the boat onto the trailer may be required to lean forward over the bow and hook the winch rope into the U-bolt. It would thus be an improvement to this procedure if an automatic latching mechanism could be provided.
Over the years certain designers have tried to provide improvements to the winch and tow rope arrangements, even suggesting elimination of those arrangements. One such earlier design effort involves the use of a latching mechanism with a locking pin. This type of design is represented by U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,267 which issued Nov. 2, 1976 to Robinson. In order to perform its intended function, the pin 27 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,267 must be initially pulled out, set in a cocked position, and biased by spring 33 against the edge of trigger plate 30. The associated spring compression and preload is a disadvantage in that this arrangement results in greater wear and a greater risk that the cocked arrangement will be jarred loose and released prior to connecting to the U-bolt. If the cocked arrangement is jarred loose and released, it would not be properly conditioned to receive and thereafter securely hold the U-bolt. Another concern with this design is the constant load on pin 27 when it is inserted through the U-bolt due to the weight of the boat.
While the ""267 patent represents one trailer latch mechanism which does not involve a winch and tow rope arrangement, other similar design arrangements are represented by the following patents:
In evaluating the efficiency, reliability, cost and suitability of these other designs, it is important to keep in mind that reliability is of primary importance. The preferred latching mechanism is one which is normally unloaded and not in a highly spring-biased condition, one which operates in an automatic manner and is virtually fool-proof, one which is suitable for a wide range of boat shapes and sizes, and one which will securely anchor the boat to the trailer regardless of external conditions such as the angle of the trailer, size and weight of the boat, and the speed at which the boat ramps up onto the boat trailer. It is also preferred that the latching mechanism be designed such that it is extremely strong and any wear loading is minimal. Many of these desirable design features were incorporated into the earlier invention of Hyslop, now disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,166 which issued Mar. 2, 1999. This earlier patent is expressly incorporated by reference herein for its entire disclosure.
Since the completion of the invention of the 5,876,166 patent and after working with the commercial embodiment of the claimed invention of the ""166 patent, various improvements were conceived of by the sole inventor. These various improvements are described, illustrated and claimed herein. Included is an improved design in the bolt mounting arrangement, using separate bolts in lieu of one through-bolt. Significant changes have also been made in the shape of the jaws and the shape of the (release) slide member. One very important change was to the direction the jaws rotate when releasing the captured U-bolt. The jaws now rotate away from the U-bolt. The jaws rotated toward the captured U-bolt in the prior invention. The jaws could not be opened if the boat moved back on the trailer and the U-bolt applied pressure against the jaws. Some of the finer points of the mechanism operation have been improved for a more reliable device and one with added safety features. These improvements provide design versatility and contribute to the simplicity of use of the overall design. As such, these improvements are considered to be novel and unobvious.
A latching mechanism constructed and arranged to be attached to a boat trailer and to securely receive a boat bow connection member so as to facilitate keeping the boat on the boat trailer according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises a frame member defining a receiving channel for receipt of the connection member, the receiving channel including an entrance, a pair of spring-biased latching members which are pivotally attached to the frame member, the spring-biased latching members being constructed and arranged to be normally oriented in a closed condition wherein the spring-biased latching members cooperate to narrow the width of the receiving channel at a location adjacent the entrance, a release slide attached to the frame member and being moveable from a first position wherein the latching mechanism is in a load-launch orientation to a second position wherein the latching mechanism is in a stowed orientation, wherein in the load-launch orientation the spring-biased latching members are pivotally moveable to an open condition by the action of pushing the connection member into abutment against the spring-biased latching members until the connection members enters (or leaves) the receiving channel.
One object of the present invention is to provide an improved latching mechanism for securing a boat bow to a boat trailer.
Related objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.

Trailer-mounted latching mechanism for a boat


The present invention provides an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material having light interference in which a latent image is formed when irradiated with light and the latent image is rendered visible when heated, which includes a latent image forming light source for irradiating the recording material with incoherent light to form a latent image. The image forming apparatus gives no interference band.

An image forming apparatus for recording medical image such as digital radiography system, CT and MR using a regenerative fluorescent sheet employs a wet process which comprises taking a picture or recording an image on a silver salt system photographic material which is then wet-processed to obtain a reproduced image thereon.
In recent years, on the other hand, a dry system recording apparatus requiring no wet processing has been noted. Such a recording apparatus employs a photosensitive and/or heat-sensitive recording material (light- and heat-sensitive recording material) or a heat-developable photosensitive material film (hereinafter referred to as "recording material"). In this dry system recording apparatus, the recording material is irradiated with laser beam (scanning) at an imagewise exposure zone to form a latent image therein. Thereafter, the recording material is allowed to come in contact with a heating means such as heating drum at a heat development zone to undergo heat development. Thereafter, the recording material on which an image has been formed is discharged from the apparatus.
The foregoing dry system can not only provide image formation in a short period of time as compared with the wet system but also can eliminate the necessity for disposal of waste liquid as in the wet system. It can be well expected that there will be growing demand for this dry system.
In the foregoing dry system, particularly for medical use, a multiple gradation image having a high quality is required. Therefore, even a density variation due to a slight variation of exposure on the recording material can be easily recognized as an uneven image.
On the other hand, the imagewise exposure zone employs laser beam as an exposure light source. The laser beam is a coherent light. Therefore, when the laser beam hits the recording material, it is repeatedly reflected by various layers constituting the recording material to cause the generation of interference band in the image thus formed. As an approach for inhibiting the generation of interference band there has been practiced a method which comprises inhibiting interference by destroying the phase of light reflected in the recording material, e.g., by providing a light-scattering layer under the lowermost image-forming layer of the recording material or roughening the surface of the support supporting the image-forming layer. However, such an approach is disadvantageous in that even the light scattered by the light-scattering layer or roughened surface can form a latent image that causes image quality drop.


A driver circuit for a composite power amplifier configured to operate in at least one Chireix-mode a first and a second sub-amplifier for amplification of an input signal into an output signal is disclosed. An input network of the driver circuit comprises a means configured to provide a first signal which is linearly derivable from the input signal, and a second signal which is non-linearly derivable from the input signal. The input network combines the first signal, at zero degrees phase shift, and the second signal, at 90 degrees phase shift, to obtain a first feeding signal for the first sub-amplifier. Furthermore, the input network combines the first signal, at 180 degrees phase shift, and the second signal, at 90 degrees phase shift, to obtain a second feeding signal for the second sub-amplifier.

Power amplifiers are widely used in communication systems, for example in radio base stations and cellular phones of a cellular radio network. In such cellular radio network, power amplifiers typically amplify signals of high frequencies for providing a radio transmission signal. A consideration in the design of power amplifiers is the efficiency thereof. High efficiency is generally desirable so as to reduce the amount of power that is dissipated as heat. Moreover, in many applications, such as in a satellite or a cellular phone, the amount of power that is available may be limited due to powering by a battery, included in e.g. the satellite. An increase in efficiency of the power amplifier would allow an increase of operational time between charging of the battery.
Outphasing type of power amplifier consists of two conventional amplifiers interacting with each other in order to keep Radio Frequency (RF) voltage as close maximum as possible and RF currents as low as possible. In more detail, it is the RF voltage and current at intrinsic transistor that is kept at maximum and minimum, respectively, in average over a signal amplitude distribution. In this manner, an efficiency of the power amplifier is as high as possible. The maximum voltage at the intrinsic transistor is obtained by taking the voltage over load as vector sum of the voltages of the constituent amplifiers. The load voltage is adjusted by adjusting the relative phase of the signals from two amplifiers.
In a traditional outphasing power amplifier, RF voltages are kept at maximum all the time, e.g. over time varying envelope of amplified signal.
In a Chireix type of power amplifier, compensation reactance is introduced to reduce the reactive parts of the currents, i.e. in average over signal amplitude distribution.
Even more efficient solution for outphasing is a power amplifier disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,269,518A. This power amplifier was developed by Chireix and Fagot in the 1940s. With the power amplifier thus disclosed two amplifiers are driven in a linear fashion, with constant phases, for low amplitudes below a breakpoint. Outphasing occurs for amplitudes higher than the breakpoint. Accordingly, the breakpoint is set where the outphasing begins. The breakpoint may be set during design of the power amplifier.
WO2004/057755 discloses a combination of a peak amplifier of a Doherty amplifier and a pair of amplifiers forming a Chireix pair. This type of power amplifier has three optima in efficiency curve, and thus much higher average efficiency. Sometimes this kind of amplifier is referred to as a Chireix-Doherty power amplifier.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,279,971B2 combination of multiple Chireix pairs is used. In order to reach the maximum efficiency up to four RF drive signals need to be used, e.g. two drive signals for each Chireix pair. Amplitude and phase as a function of output power are controlled.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,825,719B1, generation of the 2 out-phasing drive signals, and the drive signals power control, e.g. for low power levels, is achieved with external control and phase shifters. The generation of the signals is complex and expensive due to required hardware and power consumption.
A problem with the above mentioned power amplifiers and drives therefor may be that they suffer from high complexity and cost. Moreover, another problem may be that the power amplifiers need external control and/or feedback.

Driver circuit for composite power amplifier


A trailer for a vehicle with a high voltage traction-battery. The trailer may be a self-propelled trailer to substantially match vehicle dynamics and minimize impact on the vehicle. Alternatively, the trailer may push the vehicle to simulate hill descent, or drag on the vehicle to simulate hill ascent. The trailer may provide power for the vehicle. The trailer may provide current to a vehicle electric machine. The trailer may also provide current to recharge a vehicle traction-battery. The trailer may also recharge its own traction-battery.

Vehicular manufacturers often test vehicles to ensure that the vehicle's pass a certain level of durability and quality over the designed life of the vehicle. Since the designed life of modern vehicles may exceed decades of time and high mileages, the testing is often accelerated and compressed to provide useful results in a shorter period of time. These tests may vary in elapsed time, distance traveled, and may be run on unique surfaces or at special venues. One way to test high mileage durability is to continuously drive a vehicle on a large oval at a proving grounds facility.
For testing timelines to remain on track, it is also important that the vehicle be in test-ready condition as much as possible. Previous vehicles that ran only on fuel could simply "gas and go" during the testing to remain on the track. Vehicles that have a motor require that a traction-battery be recharged before returning to the track. Recharging of a traction-battery may require a specified voltage and rate of recharge, and during this time the vehicle may not be in test-ready condition.


A dispenser for cup-shaped articles includes a housing defining a storage portion adapted to receive an associated stack of nested cup-shaped articles. The housing includes an open end that communicates with the storage portion. A cup retainer mounting base is located adjacent the open end of the housing. The mounting base defines an opening that communicates with the open end of the housing. The mounting base also defines a first plurality of mounting openings and a second plurality of mounting openings. A cup retainer is connected to the mounting base and restricts the opening of said mounting base. The cup retainer is movable between at least first and second operative positions wherein the cup retainer restricts the opening of the mounting base more in the first operative position as compared to the second operative position. The cup retainer is defined as separate stud members each including a resilient finger or as an annular band including a plurality of resilient fingers.

Cup dispensers are well known and come in a wide variety of configurations. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,201,869 and 5,199,601 disclose cup dispensers that have enjoyed widespread commercial success, and both of these patents are hereby expressly incorporated by reference into this document.
Prior cup dispensers comprise an elongated hollow housing that holds a stack of nested cups. The cups are fed by gravity or are spring-biased toward an open end of the housing. A cup retainer such as a resilient diaphragm member spans the open end of the housing, and the closed end of the outermost cup (or other cup-shaped article such as an ice-cream cone, french fry container, etc.) projects outwardly through a central aperture defined in the diaphragm.
When a user desires to dispense a single cup, he or she pulls the closed end of the outermost cup so that the diaphragm distends and otherwise deforms to allow passage of the cup through the central aperture. The portion of the diaphragm that defines the periphery of the central aperture engages a rim at the open end of the next cup to be dispensed and prevents same from passing through the aperture.
To provide a cup dispenser that can accommodate and dispense more than a limited range of cup sizes/shapes, it has heretofore been necessary to install different diaphragms that have differently sized central apertures. This is somewhat inconvenient and increases expense in that multiple diaphragms must be manufactured and supplied. Furthermore, for optimal performance, the diaphragms are preferably manufactured from high-quality material that is relatively expensive. Thus, the diaphragm, itself, is a significant contributor to the final cost of the cup dispenser. Also, these prior diaphragms have been fixedly secured to the open end of the housing by means of a clamp ring that engages the periphery of the diaphragm and the open end of the housing with a friction fit. This clamp ring also adds to the expense of the cup dispenser and increases manufacturing complexity.
In light of the foregoing, it has been deemed desirable to develop and provide a new and improved dispenser for cup-shaped articles and an adjustable retainer for same.

Dispenser for cup-shaped articles and adjustable retainer for same


An optical sensor assembly includes a light source, a surface plasmon-sensitive structure for reflecting light, a light detector, and a signal indicator. The light detector receives light that is reflected from the surface plasmon-sensitive structure at an angle which is sensitive to surface plasmon absorption.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical sensing and, more particularly, to an optical sensor which utilises the phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance.
2. Discussion of the Background
Surface plasmons are the quanta of a surface electromagnetic wave propagating along the interface between a conducting material such as a metal and a dielectric. They represent the coupling of a longitudinal oscillation of the surface charge density with its associated electromagnetic fields. Surface plasmons can be excited by an electric field of light if the component of the wave vector of the light wave along the surface equals that of the same frequency surface wave. The effect is then called surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and may be seen as an absorption of the light. Kretschmann and Raether (Z. Naturforsch., (1968) 23a, 2135) have produced a comprehensive description of the phenomenon. The effect is strongly dependent on the dielectric properties at the metal surface and can therefore be used to sense materials at or deposited on the metal surface or to sense changes brought about in a previously existing overlayer by exposure to some other substance.
Some known forms of optical sensors utilise this phenomenon by scanning the angle of incidence or by using the so called convergent beam method. In the latter approach polarised monochromatic or narrow band light is first expanded and then focused on to a metal film coated onto the back surface of a glass prism or the front surface of a diffraction grating. The position of resonance is detected by using a linear diode array and the source of radiation or light is usually a light emitting diode which requires polarisation filters for use as an SPR source or a polarised gas laser such as a helium-neon laser.


In the matrix magnetic head of the invention, the ferrite pads (4 to 8) of the magnetic circuits of the micro-heads are arranged quincunxially, and each pad is joined to the four neighboring pads by poles (9 to 12). There are therefore twice as many micro-heads as there are magnetic pads.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multiple-track recording magnetic head with a compact matrix structure.
2. Discussion of the Background
There is a recording magnetic head, known for example from the French patent application No. 88 05592, with a matrix structure, designed for multiple-track magnetic recording. A set such as this is formed by a dense network of magnetic micro-heads. This network has a set of substantially square-sectioned magnetic pads protruding outwards in a Cartesian matrix on a supporting substrate. The pads are generally formed by the grooving of a ferrite block. Conductors arranged in lines and columns are positioned in the grooves and are covered, or are buried in glass, and magnetic poles made of Sendust or a similar material are formed on the polished face of the grooves that are thus filled. These poles are all substantially parallel to one of the diagonals of the pads and, at each time, they join the facing corners of two pads, a narrow gap being made in the middle of these poles.
This head works suitably but, since it is necessary to form as many pads as there are micro-heads, the surface area occupied by the head is not used to the utmost efficiency.
The object of the present invention is a multiple-track magnetic head with compact matrix structure that makes it possible, for one and the same surface area of head, to have the greatest possible number of micro-heads, this result being achieved without any reduction in the efficiency of these micro-heads.
The multiple-track recording magnetic head with a compact matrix structure of magnetic heads, includes a matrix of pads made of a magnetic material protruding out of a supporting substrate made of magnetic material, and electrical conductors arranged in matrix form in the inter-pad spaces and covered with non-magnetic material. Each micro-head has a magnetic circuit formed by two neighboring pads. Part of the substrate joining the pads has poles made of material with high magnetic permeability formed on at least a part of the surface of each of these two pads which meet each other on non-magnetic material, substantially midway between the two pads, at a gap. Each magnetic pad is part of the magnetic circuit of four neighboring micro-heads, thus making it possible to have twice as many micro-heads as in known heads, for a total surface area of equal value.

Multiple-track recording magnetic head with compact matrix structure