The invention relates to a method for machining the interior of a brake caliper (1) of a disc brake, on which are formed: —a first saddle portion to the one side of the brake disc of the disc brake, —a second saddle portion to the other side of the brake disc, and —a bridge section connecting the saddle portions and providing a free space for at least a part of the brake disc. At least one of the saddle portions is provided with a hollow space (7) for receiving a brake application device, wherein said hollow space comprises a mounting opening (4) towards the free space and extends in the opposite direction until a saddle rear wall (18). At least one support surface for the forces acting during the brake application is formed on the inner side of the saddle rear wall. The machining of the support surface (20) is carried out from the direction of the free space and, for this purpose, a tool (55) is brought from outside of the brake caliper (1) into the hollow space. In order to provide a method for machining the interior of a brake caliper of a disc brake, which allows a high-precision machining of the support surfaces inside the brake caliper even in the case of the narrow space conditions which are typical for the machining of a single-piece brake caliper, the tool (55) is guided into the cavity through another opening (25) than the mounting opening (4).

The invention concerns a method for machining the interior of a brake caliper of a disc brake on which are formed: a first caliper portion on the one side of the brake disc of the disc brake; a second caliper portion on the other side of the brake disc; and a bridge portion connecting the caliper portions and providing a free space for at least a part of the brake disc. At least one of the caliper portions is provided with a cavity for receiving a brake application device, which cavity comprises a mounting opening towards the free space and extends in the opposite direction as far as a caliper rear wall, on the inner side of which at least one support surface is formed for the forces acting during the brake application, wherein the machining of the support surface is carried out from the free space, and for this purpose, a tool is brought into the cavity from outside the brake caliper. Such a brake caliper is composed of a caliper portion on one side of the brake disc of the disc brake, a caliper portion on the other side of the brake disc, and a bridge portion which connects the two caliper portions and, when the disc brake is mounted ready for use, bridges the disc brake on the outside and provides a free space into which the brake disc of the disc brake at least partially protrudes. At least one of the two caliper portions has a cavity with an opening pointing towards the free space, wherein a brake application device is located in the cavity.
Such brake calipers are known in the prior art both as a one-piece or integral design, and also as a multipiece design. In principle, the multipiece design has the advantage of offering easier access to individual brake caliper regions for machining, e.g. by means of boring or milling tools. Above all, with the multipiece design, cavities in the brake caliper can be reached relatively easily during production, as can the connecting surfaces at which the individual caliper parts are then joined together, e.g. by corresponding bolt joints. This connection is however also disadvantageous since the caliper parts must be connected together with a precise fit in a separate assembly process.
The problems of assembly and fit do not arise with a one-piece brake caliper. However, the one-piece design restricts the possibilities of accessing certain locations, above all in the cavities of the brake caliper housing, by means of boring or milling tools. The surfaces in the interior of the brake caliper which must always be machined include support surfaces which receive the forces acting on application of the brakes. Thus, for example, brake calipers for disc brakes are known in which, to increase the force, a lever is arranged in the cavity of the brake caliper and bears pivotably against the caliper rear wall of the brake caliper which is formed correspondingly stable. Machining by material removal is usually essential at this bearing site.
For machining such support surfaces, DE 195 15 063 C2 discloses introducing the machining tool into the interior of the caliper through a specifically provided working opening on the side of the caliper. The disadvantage with this working opening is that it serves solely to guide the machining tool through, while in operation of the disc brake the opening has no purpose.
In the brake caliper described in DE 10 2007 001 960 A1, again a tool for machining the portion faces is introduced into the interior of the brake caliper through openings present on the side of the brake caliper housing, in order to machine the support surfaces situated therein. These openings however have an additional function. They are not merely working or mounting openings, but also serve as support bearings for a bolt which is part of the brake application device.
According to EP 1 881 472 A1, a further one-piece brake caliper is provided with a machining opening which is aligned to a hydraulic actuating cylinder for machining of the actuating cylinder. This opening is configured as a type of recess and is situated in the opposite caliper portion of the brake caliper arranged on the other side of the brake disc.
The generic EP 2 304 261 B1 discloses a method for producing an integral brake caliper, in which the brake caliper without an additional working opening is produced. The only opening is the mounting opening of the brake caliper which is open towards the brake disc and through which the application device can be mounted. A tool holder with tool arranged thereon can be moved through this opening into the cavity of the brake caliper. For this movement, since the tool holder is L-shaped and the bridge portion is relatively short in the caliper longitudinal direction, a superposed movement sequence is required, wherein the tool holder either initially performs a rotation about a virtual axis lying in the brake caliper plane and then performs a straight movement, or the tool holder first performs an obliquely angled and then a straight movement. Superposed movement sequences require corresponding movement options. Each movement option is however associated with a further bearing play, which may adversely affect the precise machining of the support surfaces.
The invention is therefore based on the object of creating a method for machining the interior of a brake caliper of a disc brake which allows high-precision machining of the support surfaces in the interior of the brake caliper even under the constricted spatial conditions typical for machining of a one-piece brake caliper.

Method for machining the interior of a brake caliper of a disc brake


A query is made at a computing device for generating a result-set. The result-set may comprise data selected from a database in response to the query. One or more cursors is associated with the result-set received in response to the query. The result-set is retrieved based on the one or more cursors. In one embodiment, the result-set may be retrieved in a columnar fashion.

1. Technical Field
Present invention embodiments relate to data processing and, more particularly, to using cursors to retrieve and display data from columnar databases.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, a database is a structured collection of data and metadata that is stored on one or more storage devices. The data within the database may be logically organized according to a variety of data models, depending on the implementation. In one such example, a relational database, data is generally organized as a set of tables, wherein each table may comprise of a set of rows and columns. Each row represents a distinct object and each column represents a distinct attribute.
A Database Management System (DBMS) is a software system that controls access to the data in the database. The DBMS is configured to receive and process a variety of database commands, referred to as queries. One example of a query language for managing data in the relational database is Structured Query Language (SQL). Data is generally transmitted over a network in a row format. Even in a columnar database, column data is transformed into a row format for transmission over the network.
When a request for data to be inserted into a columnar database is made, data is arranged into rows for transmission over the network to a server. At the server, the data received as rows is again transformed into columns before being stored. Similarly, when a query is for selecting data from a database, selected result-set data is transmitted as rows for display at a client. At the client, the received result-set is parsed and unstitched to fetch values corresponding to each row for display in the column format.
Thus, data processing in a column format requires not only, conversion and creation of an additional copy in a row format, but also requires mapping or re-configuration of data records of column format into row format and vice-versa. However, columnar storage is still preferred over row databases, as this allows for selective columns of tables to be processed.
Moreover, when data is retrieved on a client in a sequence, data is retrieved at a location that a cursor points to. For example, a cursor may point to each row of data being fetched and continue pointing to the given row until data corresponding to one or more columns is retrieved for that row. Since data corresponding to each of the columns is stored as a separate page, the same cursor would move to a number of different pages for a given row. After moving through all of the pages of a given row, the cursor moves to a second row. Consequently, additional processing at both server and client locations is required to support data retrieval, limiting the use of many applications. Additional processing is particularly limiting in situations where a large amount of data is required to be retrieved (or transferred) from the server, given limited network bandwidth and limited client cache.

Retrieving and displaying data from a columnar database

International Business Machines Corporation


A substrate on which a plurality of thin films having a plurality of cross-sections corresponding to the cross-section of a micro-structure are formed is placed on a substrate holder. The substrate holder is elevated to bond a thin film formed on the substrate to the surface of a stage, and by lowering the substrate holder, the thin film is separated from the substrate and transferred to the stage side. The transfer process is repeated to laminate a plurality of thin films on the stage and to form the micro-structure. Accordingly, there are provided a micro-structure having high dimensional precision, especially high resolution in the lamination direction, which can be manufactured from a metal or an insulator such as ceramics and can be manufactured in the combined form of structural elements together, and a manufacturing method and an apparatus thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to micro-structures such as micro-gears, micro-optical parts, or molds for molding these micro-products manufactured by rapid prototyping, and a manufacturing method and an apparatus thereof, and more particularly relates to micro-structures obtained by laminating thin films consisting of a metal or an insulator which are patterned into sectional forms, and a manufacturing method and an apparatus thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Rapid prototyping has been rapidly popularized recently as a method for molding three dimensional complex form products designed with the aid of a computer within a short time. Three dimensional products manufactured by rapid prototyping are used as parts models (prototype) of various apparatus to predict the suitability of operation or form of parts. This method has been mainly applied to relatively large parts having a size of several cm or larger, however, recently it has been desired to apply this method to manufacture micro-parts formed by precise working such as micro-gears and micro-optical parts. Conventional methods for manufacturing such micro-parts described hereinafter have been known.
(1) Stereolithography (referred to as xe2x80x9cconventional example 1xe2x80x9d hereinafter)
(2) Selective laser sintering (referred to as xe2x80x9cconventional example 2xe2x80x9d hereinafter)
(3) Sheet lamination (referred to as xe2x80x9cconventional example 3xe2x80x9d hereinafter)
(4) Method using thin films as starting material (referred to as xe2x80x9cconventional example 4xe2x80x9d hereinafter)
(Convention example 1)
FIG. 26 shows the conventional example 1 namely the stereolithography. In the xe2x80x9cstereolithographyxe2x80x9d, photo-curable resin 100, which is hardened by irradiation of light such as ultraviolet rays, is filled in a tank 101, a laser beam 102 scans on the surface of the tank 101 two-dimensionally to draw a form corresponding to the cross-sectional data of a three-dimensional product to harden the resin layer 100a, then a stage 103 is lowered by one layer, and this process is repeated layer by layer to form the three dimensional product comprising a plurality of resin layers 100a. Stereolithography is presented by Ikuta, Nagoya University, in a literature xe2x80x9cOPTRONICS, 1996, No. 4, p 103xe2x80x9d. According to the special stereolithography, planar form precision of 5 xcexcm and resolution in the lamination direction of 3 xcexcm can be attained by optimization of exposure conditions and optimization of resin characteristics. Stereolithography is also presented by Kawata, Osaka University, in a literature xe2x80x9cProceedings of MEMS 97, p 169xe2x80x9d. According to this stereolithography, planar form precision of 0.62 xcexcm and resolution in the lamination direction of 2.2 xcexcm can be attained by utilizing a principle of two-photon absorption phenomenon.
(Conventional example 2)
FIG. 27 shows the conventional example namely selective laser sintering. In the xe2x80x9cselective laser sinteringxe2x80x9d, powder 104 is laid to form a thin layer (powder layer) 104a a laser beam 102 is applied to the powder layer 104a to form a thin layer of a desired form, and by repeating this process a three dimensional sintered product composed of a plurality of powder layers 104a is formed. According to the selective laser sintering, a three dimensional product not only of resin but also of ceramics and metals can be formed.
(Conventional example 3)
FIG. 28 shows a manufacturing apparatus used in the conventional example 3, namely the sheet lamination disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 6-190929. In this manufacturing apparatus, when a plastic film 111 is supplied from a film feeding device 110, an adhesive coating device 120 coats photo-curable adhesive 121 evenly on the underside of the plastic film 111 to form an adhesive layer, a negative pattern exposure device 130 exposes an area of the adhesive layer excepting the area corresponding to the cross sectional form of a micro-structure to form the hardened portion and the uncured portion, this is pressed down by a press roller 141 of a photo-curing laminating device 140, the uncured portion is hardened by the light from a light source 142 and bonded to the lower plastic film 111. The rear end of the plastic film 111 is cut by a laser beam from a CO2 laser source 151, and the border of the unnecessary area of the uppermost plastic film 111 is removed by the laser. This process is repeated layer by layer to form a micro-structure. In FIG. 28, 160 represents a work device for controlling this apparatus. According to the sheet lamination, a micro-structure comprising plastic sheets is obtained.
(Conventional example 4)
FIG. 29 shows the conventional example 4, namely a manufacturing method using thin films as starting material disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 8-127073. In this manufacturing method, as shown in the drawing (a), a photosensitive resin film 171 is formed on a substrate 170, and two processes, namely a process for forming an exposed portion 171a by exposing on an area of a desired pattern as shown in the drawing (b) and a process for forming an intermediate film 172 which prevents the resin film 171 from being mixed and prevents exposure of the lower layer, are repeated to form a multi-layer structure composed of the resin film 171 and intermediate film 172 as shown in the drawing (c), and then the exposed portion 171a shown in the drawings (b) and (c) is selectively removed by dipping it in a resin developing solution and thus a three dimensional micro-structure as shown in drawing (d) is obtained. According to this manufacturing method, the resolution in the lamination direction of xcexcm order can be attained because spin coating is applied to the resin film 171 and intermediate film 172.
However, according to the conventional example 1, namely stereolithography, this method is disadvantageous in that the resolution in the lamination direction of 1 xcexcm or smaller and the film thickness precision of 0.1 xcexcm or smaller, which is required to manufacture micro-gears and micro-optical parts, cannot be attained. In detail, because an incident light applied perpendicularly onto the layer for hardening the starting material (photosensitive resin) is used, the incident light penetrates perpendicularly from the surface through the layer with decreasing intensity due to absorption, and the intensity decreases to the level of the threshold value required for curing. The layer thickness corresponding to the threshold value is the thickness of one layer, but because of dispersion of the incident light intensity, variation of the incident light intensity with time, and dispersion of the absorption coefficient of the starting material, it is difficult to obtain high resolution.
In addition, full cure process is applied to harden completely after forming because photosensitive resin is used, in the full cure process the product shrinks 1% through several %, the shrinkage is disadvantageous and causes significant deterioration of the precision.
Furthermore, this method can be applied to only micro-structures made of relatively soft photosensitive resin, therefore, if a micro-structure is required to be made of a hard material such as a metal, the only way to manufacture the product is the molding by electroforming or injection molding using a mold of this resin. The requirement of such process is disadvantageous.
According to the conventional example 2, namely the selective laser sintering, the resolution in the lamination direction is poor because an incident light applied perpendicularly onto the layer is used as in the conventional example 1, and the shrinkage in full cure process causes deterioration of precision, and furthermore the method is disadvantageous in that a transfer process is required to manufacture micro-structures made of a hard material such as metal.
According to the conventional example 3, namely the sheet lamination, the sheet thickness is the determinant factor of the resolution in the lamination direction, the lower limit is about several tens xcexcm in view of usable sheet thickness, and it is difficult to realize the resolution in the lamination direction of 1 xcexcm.
According to the conventional example 4, namely the manufacturing method using thin films as starting material, the intermediate film (for example A1) is required in order to prevent exposure of the lower layer because an incident light applied approximately perpendicularly is used in the exposure process, this method is disadvantageous in the resolution per one layer. Though a method in which two types of photosensitive resins of different sensitive wavelengths and different solubility in solvents are laminated alternately, the respective photosensitive resins are exposed, and finally developed to form a three dimensional product in order to omit the use of the intermediate film, is disclosed in the patent, because this method is still disadvantageous in that the adhesion between resins of different solubility in solvents is poor, the strength of a completed product is low, and the dimensional precision is poor due to swelling of the photosensitive resin in the final development process. Furthermore, it is impossible to apply this method directly to hard material such as metals and insulators as in the above-mentioned stereolithography because photosensitive resin is used, and the only way is a method in which a product is used as a mold.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide micro-structures of high dimensional precision and, particularly, high resolution in the lamination direction and a manufacturing method and an apparatus thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide micro-structures which are formed directly of metals or insulators such as ceramics and a manufacturing method thereof and an apparatus therefor.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide micro-structures which can be formed together from a plurality of combined structural elements and a manufacturing method and an apparatus thereof.
To achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a micro-structure comprising a plurality of laminated thin films having prescribed two-dimensionally patterned forms.
To achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a manufacturing method of micro-structures composed of a first step for forming a plurality of thin films having prescribed two-dimensionally patterned forms on a substrate, and a second step for forming the micro-structure by separating the plurality of thin films from the substrate and subsequently by laminating and bonding the plurality of thin films on a stage.
To achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a manufacturing method of micro-structures including;
a first step for forming a plurality of first thin films having a prescribed two-dimensional pattern on a substrate, and forming a plurality of second thin films composed of different material from that of the first thin films and having the same film thickness as the first thin film to form a plurality of composite thin films comprising the first thin films and the second thin films,
a second step for forming a laminate including a micro-structure by laminating and bonding the plurality of composite thin films on a stage, and
a third step for removing the first thin films or the second thin films out of the substrate to obtain the micro-structure.
To achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a manufacturing method of micro-structures including;
a first step for forming a thin film respectively on a plurality of substrates and forming a plurality of latent images having a prescribed two-dimensional pattern on each thin film formed on the plurality of substrates,
a second step for bonding the thin films each other on which the latent images are formed,
a third step for removing one substrate out of a pair of substrates having the thin films bonded each other,
a fourth step for laminating a plurality of thin films by repeating the second step and the third step, and
a fifth step for developing the latent images out of the plurality of laminated thin films.
To achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a manufacturing apparatus of micro-structures provided with;
a substrate holder having a substrate on which a plurality of thin films are formed thereon having a prescribed two-dimensional pattern provided in a vacuum chamber,
a stage disposed facing the substrate holder in the vacuum chamber for supporting a three-dimensional structure formed by laminating the plurality of thin films,
a moving means for transferring at least either of the substrate holder and the stage to position the stage successively on the plurality of thin films, and
a control means for controlling the moving means to separate the plurality of thin films from the substrate, to laminate and bond the plurality of thin films on the stage so as to form a micro-structure.

Apparatus for manufacturing micro-structure


Floating point hardware register set is not given to any user level thread unless it is required to perform floating point operations. Thus, for any non-floating thread, its context does not include the floating point hardware state. This effectively reduces the amount of information to be handled when threads are swapped in the processor. During the course of a thread's execution, at the first instance of an attempt by the thread to execute a floating point instruction, the "float-unavailable" exception occurs. This, in turn, invokes the microkernel's floating point exception handler. The function of this exception handler is to make floating point available to the thread that requires it. The exception handler dynamically allocates space for saving the thread's floating point registers, initializes the registers, and turns on the "float-available" bit in its machine state register. Once a thread obtains floating point context, it continues to have it for the remainder of its life.

The operating system is the most important software running on a computer. Every general purpose computer must have an operating system to run other programs. Operating systems typically perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and directories on the disc, and controlling peripheral devices such as disc drives and printers. For more complex systems, the operating system has even greater responsibilities and powers. It makes sure that different programs and users running at the same time do not interfere with each other. The operating system is also typically responsible for security, ensuring that unauthorized users do not access the system.
Operating systems can be classified as multi-user operating systems, multi-processor operating systems, multi-tasking operating systems, and real-time operating systems. A multi-user operating system allows two or more users to run programs at the same time. Some operating systems permit hundreds or even thousands of concurrent users. A multi-processing program allows a single user to run two or more programs at the same time. Each program being executed is called a process. Most multi-processing systems support more than one user. A multi-tasking system allows a single process to run more than one task. In common terminology, the terms multi-tasking and multi-processing are often used interchangeably even though they have slightly different meanings. Multi-tasking is the ability to execute more than one task at the same time, a task being a program. In multi-tasking, only one central processing unit is involved, but it switches from one program to another so quickly that it gives the appearance of executing all of the programs at the same time. There are two basic types of multi-tasking, preemptive and cooperative. In preemptive multi-tasking, the operating system parcels out CPU time slices to each program. In cooperative multi-tasking, each program can control the CPU for as long as it needs it. If a program is not using the CPU however, it can allow another program to use it temporarily. For example, the OS/2 (TM) and UNIX (TM) operating systems use preemptive multi-tasking, whereas the Multi-Finder (TM) operating system for Macintosh (TM) computers uses cooperative multi-tasking. Multi-processing refers to a computer system's ability to support more than one process or program at the same time. Multi-processing operating systems enable several programs to run concurrently. Multi-processing systems are much more complicated than single-process systems because the operating system must allocate resources to competing processes in a reasonable manner. A real-time operating system responds to input instantaneously. General purpose operating systems such as DOS and UNIX are not real-time.
Operating systems provide a software platform on top of which application programs can run. The application programs must be specifically written to run on top of a particular operating system. The choice of the operating system therefore determines to a great extent the applications which can be run. For IBM compatible personal computers, example operating systems are DOS, OS/2 (TM), AIX (TM), and XENIX (TM).
A user normally interacts with the operating system through a set of commands. For example, the DOS operating system contains commands such as COPY and RENAME for copying files and changing the names of files, respectively. The commands are accepted and executed by a part of the operating system called the command processor or command line interpreter.
There are many different operating systems for personal computers such as CP/M (TM), DOS, OS/2 (TM), UNIX (TM), XENIX (TM), and AIX (TM). CP/M was one of the first operating systems for small computers. CP/M was initially used on a wide variety of personal computers, but it was eventually overshadowed by DOS. DOS runs on all IBM compatible personal computers and is a single user, single tasking operating system. OS/2, a successor to DOS, is a relatively powerful operating system that runs on IBM compatible personal computers that use the Intel 80286 or later microprocessor. OS/2 is generally compatible with DOS but contains many additional features, for example it is multi-tasking and supports virtual memory. UNIX and UNIX-based AIX run on a wide variety of personal computers and work stations. UNIX and AIX have become standard operating systems for work stations and are powerful multi-user, multi-processing operating systems.
In 1981 when the IBM personal computer was introduced in the United States, the DOS operating system occupied approximately 10 kilobytes of storage. Since that time, personal computers have become much more complex and require much larger operating systems. Today, for example, the OS/2 operating system for the IBM personal computers can occupy as much as 22 megabytes of storage. Personal computers become ever more complex and powerful as time goes by and it is apparent that the operating systems cannot continually increase in size and complexity without imposing a significant storage penalty on the storage devices associated with those systems.
It was because of this untenable growth rate in operating system size, that the MACH project was conducted at the Carnegie Mellon University in the 1980's. The goal of that research was to develop a new operating system that would allow computer programmers to exploit modern hardware architectures emerging and yet reduce the size and the number of features in the kernel operating system. The kernel is the part of an operating system that performs basic functions such as. allocating hardware resources. In the case of the MACH kernel, five programming abstractions were established as the basic building blocks for the system. They were chosen as the minimum necessary to produce a useful system on top of which the typical complex operations could be built externally to the kernel. The Carnegie Mellon MACH kernel was reduced in size in its release 3.0, and is a fully functional operating system called the MACH microkernel. The MACH microkernel has the following primitives: the task, the thread, the port, the message, and the memory object.
The traditional UNIX process is divided into two separate components in the MACH microkernel. The first component is the task, which contains all of the resources for a group of cooperating entities. Examples of resources in a task are virtual memory and communications ports. A task is a passive collection of resources; it does not run on a processor.
The thread is the second component of the UNIX process, and is the active execution environment. Each task may support one or more concurrently executing computations called threads. For example, a multi-threaded program may use one thread to compute scientific calculations while another thread monitors the user interface. A MACH task may have many threads of execution, all running simultaneously. Much of the power of the MACH programming model comes from the fact that all threads in a task share the task's resources. For instance, they all have the same virtual memory (VM) address space. However, each thread in a task has its own private execution state. This state consists of a set of registers, such as general purpose registers, a stack pointer, a program counter, and a frame pointer.
A port is the communications channel through which threads communicate with each other. A port is a resource and is owned by a task. A thread gains access to a port by virtue of belonging to a task. Cooperating programs may allow threads from one task to gain access to ports in another task. An important feature is that they are location transparent. This capability facilitates the distribution of services over a network without program modification.
The message is used to enable threads in different tasks to communicate with each other. A message contains collections of data which are given classes or types. This data can range from program specific data such as numbers or strings to MACH related data such as transferring capabilities of a port from one task to another.
A memory object is an abstraction which supports the capability to perform traditional operating system functions in user level programs, a key feature of the MACH microkernel. For example, the MACH microkernel supports virtual memory paging policy in a user level program. Memory objects are an abstraction to support this capability.
All of these concepts are fundamental to the MACH microkernel programming model and are used in the kernel itself. These concepts and other features of the Carnegie Mellon University MACH microkernel are described in the book by Joseph Boykin, et al, "Programming Under MACH", Addison Wessely Publishing Company, Incorporated, 1993.
Additional discussions of the use of a microkernel to support a UNIX personality can be found in the article by Mike Accetta, et al, "MACH: A New Kernel Foundation for UNIX Development", Proceedings of the Summer 1986 USENIX Conference, Atlanta, Ga. Another technical article on the topic is by David Golub, et al, "UNIX as an Application Program", Proceedings of the Summer 1990 USENIX Conference, Anaheim, Calif.
The above cited, copending patent application by Guy G. Sotomayor, Jr., James M. Magee, and Freeman L. Rawson, III, describes the microkernel system 115 shown in FIG. 1, which is a new foundation for operating systems. The microkernel system 115 provides a concise set of kernel services implemented as a pure kernel and an extensive set of services for building operating system personalities implemented as a set of user-level servers. The microkernel system 115 is made up of many server components that provide the various traditional operating system functions and that are manifested as operating system personalities. The microkernel system 115 uses a client/server system structure in which tasks (clients) access services by making requests of other tasks (servers) through messages sent over a communication channel. Since the microkernel 120 provides very few services of its own (for example, it provides no file service), a microkernel 120 task must communicate with many other tasks that provide the required services.
The microkernel system 115 has, as its primary responsibility, the provision of points of control that execute instructions within a framework. In the microkernel 120, points of control are the threads, that execute in a virtual environment. The virtual environment provided by the microkernel 120 consists of a virtual processor that executes all of the user space accessible hardware instructions, augmented by emulated instructions (system traps) provided by the kernel; the virtual processor accesses a set of virtualized registers and some virtual memory that otherwise responds as does the machine's physical memory. All other hardware resources are accessible only through special combinations of memory accesses and emulated instructions. Of course, it is a physical processor that actually executes the instructions represented by the threads.
Each physical processor that is capable of .executing threads is named by a processor control port. Although significant in that they perform the real work, processors are not very significant in the microkernel, other than as members of a processor set. It is a processor set that forms the basis for the pool of processors used to schedule a set of threads, and that has scheduling attributes associated with it. The operations supported for processors include assignment to a processor set and machine control, such as start and stop.
One advanced technology processor that can take full advantage of the capabilities of the Microkernel System 115 is the PowerPC (TM). The PowerPC is an advanced RISC: (reduced instruction set computer) architecture, described in the book: IBM Corporation, "The PowerPC Architecture", Morgan-Kaufmann, San Francisco, 1994. Another description of the PowerPC is provided in the article: Keith Diefendorff, Rich Oehler, and Ron Hochsprung, "Evolution of the PowerPC Architecture", IEEE Micro, April 1994, pp. 34-49. The PowerPC was designed with its architecture divided into three parts or "books." Book 1 deals with those features that will not change over time, such as the user instruction set architecture, instruction definitions, opcode assignments, register definitions, etc. Book 2 deals with those features important to the operation of the processor in a multiprocessing environment, such as the memory model, consistency, atomicity and aliasing. Book 3 deals with the operating environment architecture. These are features that are not directly visible to the user, but instead are the exclusive domain of the operating system. Within this part of the architecture is the definition of the virtual-to-physical address translation and the method of exception handling. Because Book 3 features are supervisor privileged, it is possible to design a PowerPC processor according to an entirely different set of Book 3 features, and yet maintain user application compatibility.
However, there are several problems in adapting the microkernel 120 to the PowerPC processor. The microkernel 120, while scheduling threads of tasks running on the system, has to save the context of the currently running thread on the processor and restore the context of the thread that needs to start its execution. The context of a program is the environment (e.g., privilege and relocation) in which the program executes. That context is controlled by the content of certain system registers and the address translation tables. Since the floating point hardware in PowerPC processors includes 32 floating point registers 64 bits long, and a 32 bit floating point status and control register, it is very inefficient to have the threads assume the entire hardware for their context when they are created. Such an approach leads to an expensive context switch even when the threads do not need floating point capability.

Exception handling method and apparatus for a microkernel data processing system

International Business Machines Corporation


A robotic welding system and method includes multiple welding cells equidistantly spaced in a circular arrangement, multiple perimeter light curtains to provide safety protection around the welding cells, a turntable centrally located in the circular arrangement, and multiple welding robots attached to the turntable. The welding system and method further includes a first welding process and a second welding process whereby both the first welding process and the second welding process each include a primary welding operation and a secondary welding operation whereby the turntable rotates between the welding cells to perform the primary and secondary welding operations.

The present disclosure relates to a welding machine and more specifically, to a multi-cell robotic welding system and method wherein at least one welding robot is rotated, via a turntable, to each cell to perform a welding operation.
In a conventional robotic welding system typically a fixture containing components to be welded into a welded assembly are transported to a welding area so a welding robot or robots can perform a welding process. The welded assembly must be removed from the welding area so a subsequent fixture with components for a subsequent welded assembly can undergo the welding process. A disadvantage of this process is that the welding robot(s) is idle during the removal of the first fixture from the welding area and the placement of the subsequent fixture into the welding area. This in turn increases production time and costs.
Further, conventional robotic welding systems take up substantial floor space due to the arrangement of the welding robot with respect to the welding cells or stations. This leads to increased manufacturing costs due the substantial floor space required by the system.

Turntable welding method with light curtain protection


A fluidized bed reactor comprising a housing, and a nozzle grate disposed in the lower portion of the housing and serving to introduce a fluidizing fluid into the reactor. The nozzle grate consists of a plurality of approximately horizontally extending tubes and nozzles provided on such tubes. The tubes are detachably connected to the housing of the reactor and the housing of the reactor has at least one support for each tube, which support supports the tube as it is rotated about its longitudinal axis.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fluidized bed reactor comprising a nozzle grate, which is disposed in the lower portion of the housing of the reactor and serves to introduce a fluidizing fluid into the reactor. It comprises a plurality of approximately horizontally extending tubes, and nozzles provided on the tubes.
2. Related Art
Fluidized bed reactors of such kind are known and have been described in German Patent 28 05 244 and the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,359.

Fluidized bed reactor comprising a nozzle grate


An electronic identification device includes a header piece with stored memory and terminals for interfacing with an electronic port of a reader device, with encoded data programmed into the memory. An identification card, identifying the holder, is attached to the electronic header piece and bears printed information relating to and identifying the intended holder.

This invention relates to an A which is used for adding electronic memory and intelligence to ordinary identification (ID) cards.
ID cards are widely known and used today. They come in several different standard sizes. Some are made of paper and some are made of plastic material or a combination of plastic and paper. Some cards come in several layers where there is a space to insert a picture, ready to be laminated. These cards are often attached to clothing for display.
Using ID cards as an apparatus for access control is also in use today. These cards contain some means of coding that is recognizable by the access rendering device, such as bar coding, magnetic stripe, placement of metal wafers (Wiegend U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,774,180 and 3,820,090), or proximity technology. A common feature of these cards is that the coding is attached or embedded into the card and cannot be altered unless the coding is removed and replaced and, since most of these cards are sealed, they cannot be reused. One shortcoming of these cards is that the coded information is limited to an ID number or similar coding of identification and they typically cannot handle extensive amounts of data, such as digitized fingerprint, retina scan, memorized PIN number, other authentication data, or some combination of said data. Therefore, usage of greater data capacity would be desirable in these systems.
There are other cards in use today which are identified as "smart cards". They carry read and write non-volatile memory where they can interact with the system in which they are being used. This may be an access control system, such as one taught by Haag et al., 3615207 Federal Republic of Germany, or a credit/debit system card. With this technology, the data capacity is increased tremendously and the cards are reusable by different personnel as the data they carry (including user-specific authentication) can be changed or rewritten. These smart cards usually come in a card shade and are a bit thicker than the ordinary credit card. They have terminal connections for reading and writing data. The placement of the terminals is usually brand-specific and they can be used in a variety of systems that incorporate this brand of cards. Therefore, the same card can fit into an access system as well as hospital patient records/medical history system or debit/credit system.
Combining the ID card containing employee/holder picture with the smart card would be very desirable in access control systems. Limiting the acceptance of the cards to the system of their intended usage would also be desirable. The current invention addresses these issues by a smart card conversion apparatus, that is, by combining an access control, memory-containing device with a conventional ID card, to produce a convenient, wearable credential with multiple functions.
Currently, in many applications, picture ID cards and smart cards are carried separately by a holder, such as an employee. This is because combining them has never suggested itself due to problems of their physical characteristics. The first problem is the size of the ID card versus the size of the smart card: unless they are exactly the same size, this attachment would be very difficult. There are about eight different standard sizes for ID cards, such as IBM type, credit card size, driver's license size, government size, etc. Another problem would be that, upon attachment, the ID card could block the terminals of the smart card. In addition, if they were attached, the ID card would increase the thickness of the smart card and would not fit into the receiving device, unless the receiving device were altered for acceptance of the thicker material. Another problem would arise from insertion of the ID card along with the smart card into an acceptance receptacle or reading device, which would wear out the plastic coating of the ID card and require frequent replacement. Another problem is that, due to the heat sensitivity of the smart card, the two cards cannot be laminated, and, if they were laminated, it would defeat the purpose of reusability of the smart card portion of the combination. And finally, with standardization, no limitation could be applied to the acceptance of the card by other systems. Any card having the same shape and/or terminal connection points can be inserted for use, whether intended or not, which could reduce security.

Identification card and access control device


Various implementations include computer-implemented methods and related systems for controlling the phantom center image of an audio output in an automobile. In one implementation, a method includes: receiving at least one user interface command to modify a phantom center image of audio output from the audio system in the automobile, wherein the phantom center image of the audio output includes a designated position of sound produced by a set of speakers in the audio system other than physical locations of the set of speakers in the audio system; and adjusting a perceived location of the phantom center image of the audio output from the audio system based upon the at least one user interface command to modify the phantom center image of the audio output.

In some automobile audio systems, processing is applied to the audio signals provided to each speaker based on the electrical and acoustic response of the total system, that is, the responses of the speakers themselves and the response of the vehicle cabin to the sounds produced by the speakers. Such a system is highly individualized to a particular automobile model and trim level, taking into account the location of each speaker and the absorptive and reflective properties of the seats, glass, and other components of the car, among other things. Such a system is generally designed as part of the product development process of the vehicle and corresponding equalization and other audio system parameters are loaded into the audio system at the time of manufacture or assembly.
Conventional automobile audio systems, with stereo speakers in front of and behind the front seat passengers, include controls generally called fade and balance. The same stereo signal is sent to both front and rear sets of speakers, and the fade control controls the relative signal level of front and rear signals, while the balance control controls the relative signal level of left and right signals. While fade and balance control permit users to modify some aspects of the automobile audio output, conventional automobile audio systems do not allow users to make additional modifications to the audio output, such as center image placement, stereo image width and/or presentation of uncorrelated content. These limited controls can hinder the user experience.


A display expansion type mobile terminal with a sliding motion, which is disclosed includes: a flexible display device; a fixed end frame to which the first front end is fixed; a via member provided independently of the fixed end frame; an extension frame which extends from the fixed end frame to a position adjacent to the via member in the predetermined display size adjustment direction A; a movable member which is spaced apart from the via member by an interval corresponding to a length of the extension frame; and a connection member.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Currently, mobile terminals such as electronic books, notebook computers, mobile communication terminals are being developed and used as various application devices.
Among them, typically, the mobile communication terminal performs many functions such as a photograph or moving picture shooting, music or video file playback, DMB reception, wireless Internet in addition to a call function which is an original function, but there is a problem in that the display is relatively narrow.
Accordingly, a display expansion type mobile terminal is required, which is easy to carry and has excellent mobility and provides a wider display.
In response to the requirement, a mobile terminal provided with a flexible display device having a flexible property on a screen display unit has been developed.
Various methods have also been attempted in a technology construction for realizing a large screen in a miniaturized state where the mobile terminal is easy to carry.
However, due to a technical limitation of the flexible display device and a limitation of a method for realizing the large screen, the structure is complicated and various restrictions are imposed.
Therefore, a display expansion type mobile terminal is required, which is excellent in portability and mobility, realizes the large screen if necessary, and is simple in construction and saves manufacturing cost.
In this regard, U.S. Pat. No. 8,290,549, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0792920, U.S. Pat. No. 8,493,726, and Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2013-0062210 may be taken as examples.

Display expansion type mobile terminal with sliding motion


Mechanisms are provided for implementing a recipe modification system. The recipe modification system receives a request to modify an existing recipe from a requestor. The request identifies the existing recipe and an ingredient to be added to the existing recipe. The recipe modification system identifies a cluster of recipe elements associated with the ingredient to be added to the existing recipe and selects a representative member recipe element of the cluster. The recipe modification system modifies the existing recipe based on the selected representative member recipe element and generates a natural language text for the modified recipe based on the existing recipe and the selected representative member recipe element. The recipe modification system outputs the natural language text for the modified recipe to the requestor.

The present application relates generally to an improved data processing apparatus and method and more specifically to mechanisms for modifying existing recipes to incorporate additional ingredients or replace existing ingredients.
Various computer based systems exist for assisting people with the organization of their cooking recipes for quick retrieval and use. These computing systems are essentially database systems that store data and retrieve the data in response to user requests.
Recently, International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation of Armonk, N.Y., has released an intelligent cooking recipe application referred to as IBM Chef Watson™. IBM Chef Watson™ searches for patterns in existing recipes and combines them with an extensive database of scientific (e.g., molecular underpinnings of flavor compounds) and cooking related information (e.g., what ingredients go into different dishes) with regard to food pairings to generate ideas for unexpected combinations of ingredients. In processing the database, IBM Chef Watson™ learns how specific cuisines favor certain ingredients and what ingredients traditionally go together, such as tomatoes and basil. The application allows a user to identify ingredients that the user wishes to include in the recipe, ingredients that the user wishes to exclude, as well as specify the meal time (breakfast, lunch, dinner), course (appetizer, main, dessert), and the like.
The IBM Chef Watson™ has inspired the creation of a IBM Chef Watson™ food truck, a cookbook entitled Cognitive Cooking with Chef Watson, Sourcebooks, Apr. 14, 2015, and various recipes including a barbecue sauce referred to as Bengali Butternut BBQ Sauce.

Modifying existing recipes to incorporate additional or replace existing ingredients


Various embodiments relate to a device including a digital component configured to output a plurality of parallel bits based on an input wherein the digital component is capable of occupying a metastable state between a time the input is changed and a time the output plurality of parallel bits changes based on the changed input, wherein the digital component outputs metastable bits while occupying the metastable state; and a synchronous sampling circuit configured to sample bits from the digital component in synchronization with a received clock signal pulse, wherein when the clock signal pulse occurs while the digital component occupies a metastable state, the synchronous sampling circuit samples metastable bits, and wherein the input into the digital component changes in a manner that is asynchronous with respect to the clock signal pulse. In various embodiments, the digital component is a substitution box (S-box).

Secure implementations of cryptographic protocols sometimes rely on the use of true random numbers: numbers which are generated in a non-deterministic way and are, therefore, unpredictable. As a result, many integrated circuits (ICs) include a true random number generator (TRNG) to provide a source of these numbers. Care must be taken, however, to obscure the TRNG because, otherwise, an implementation may lend itself to active probing attacks.

Digital true random number generator based on S-boxes


The viscous and elastic components of a viscoelastic melt, for example a polymer melt, are examined to provide information useful in quality control in the process for the manufacture of the material. Measurement of the entrance pressure drop exhibited by the viscoelastic fluid when forced through a narrow die is shown to be an effective means of preparing polymers of differentiated property characteristics despite otherwise being similar in terms of commonly measured properties of molecular weight and melt index.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to manufacturing processes, their control, and to measuring devices for use in the control of manufacture. More especially, it relates to monitoring polymerization processes, and to a control device embodying a rheometer or rheometers and the use of the device in controlling polymerization to obtain a polymer with desired properties.
2. Background Art
Although the invention will be described in detail with special reference to the manufacture of a synthetic polymer, it has utility in any application in which the rheological properties of a material in viscoelastic fluid form, for example in a melt, are related to the suitability of the material for a particular end use.
If a polymer, for example polyethylene, is to be suitable for certain applications, for example packaging film, it must satisfy certain requirements in processing and in final product quality. Film, for example, should be glossy and optically clear, i.e., free from haze, so that the contents of a package may be inspected and the package presents an attractive appearance to the customer. In addition to achieving these properties, it is also important to improve manufacturing rates without adversely affecting the quality of the product. Polymer melt properties may limit the rate of manufacture of commercially desirable products. The melt characteristics of the polymer affect the maximum production rates consistent with good quality product in, for example, melt-blowing film and extrusion coating processes.
It is known that the molecular weight distribution (MWD) and the degree of long chain branching (LCB) of a polyethylene are properties that affect the properties of the film made from such materials, and that there is a correlation between melt rheology and these properties--see Shida, et al., Polymer Engineering and Science, 17, 769, 1977. If clear film is desired, LCB is avoided, and/or MWD kept narrow, so far as possible. Conversely, when a high melt strength is required, as in extrusion coating, or the manufacture of thick or wide film, LCB and a wider MWD are desirable. In practice, polymer manufacturers have, however, employed melt index measurements or resorted to evaluating the optical properties of polymers such as polyethylene by blowing a film from a sample of the resin and measuring the haze.
The latter procedure has many disadvantages. Apart from its being an indirect measurement, with haze also possibly resulting from incorrect processing technique, as well as from the inherent properties of the polymer, measurement by film blowing and product inspection inevitably introduces a considerable time lag between the manufacture of polymer and its testing. The latter disadvantage also applies to melt index testing. Accordingly, considerable substandard quantities of polymer may have been produced, resulting in waste, before this fact is appreciated.
Patent literature contains certain disclosures of means for examining fluid material elasticity by use of pressure measurements conducted in narrow die systems. U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,602 addresses a continuous flow rheometer utilizing a slit or capillary tube for the measurement of pressure changes in a fluid with respect to viscosity and elasticity. The method taught utilizes pressure measurements within the capillary or slit for extrapolation of an exit pressure from which is calculated "first normal stress difference" which is said to be a measure of elasticity. U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,132 addresses rheometer design and a method of determining extensional viscosity and elasticity of molten polymer or other fluid by use of a combination of converging flow and diverging flow pressure measurements through capillary or slit dies having a particular configuration. The method is taught for use in design of machinery for the performance of polymer melt flow processing operations. Both designs presented contain complex configurations and require close attention to operational details thus permitting uncertainty of result and an unacceptable degree of reliability for use in manufacturing processes.
There accordingly remains a need for a more reliable and rapid method of measuring the rheological properties of a material to yield desired information about its structure.
There also remains a need for a simpler and more cost-effective method of obtaining information about a material's structure and integrating this information into the manufacturing process.

Manufacturing process control and product characterization


A vehicle lower section structure including: rockers; a floor tunnel; and a floor cross member that extends along the vehicle width direction and couples the rocker and the floor tunnel together, that includes an upper wall, a front wall extending downward from a front end portion of the upper wall, and a rear wall extending downward from a rear end portion of the upper wall that together with the floor panel configure a closed cross-section, wherein of the front wall and the rear wall, a first cutout portion is formed in a lower edge of an end portion at the rocker side of the wall further from a center pillar, and a second cutout portion that is smaller than the first cutout portion is formed in a lower edge of an end portion at the rocker side of the wall closer to the center pillar.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to a vehicle lower section structure.
Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2010-228482 describes a configuration in which a floor cross member with a hat shaped cross-section that, together with a floor panel, configures a closed cross-section, is disposed as a structure in which the floor cross member couples a rocker and a floor tunnel together. A lower edge portion of an end portion at the rocker (side sill) side of the floor cross member is configured with a notched shape, and a gap is provided between the lower edge portion and the floor panel.
In a collision mode in which a vehicle with a high vehicle height, such as a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), collides from the side, collision load is mainly input through a center pillar. However, the technology described in JP-A No. 2010-228482 does not take this point into consideration. There is therefore room for improvement from the viewpoint of controlling deformation of the floor cross member according to respective collision modes of side collisions.


A cylindrical direct drive AC induction electric motor and an adapter plate comprises an electric power conversion design for liquid fueled vehicles. For front-wheel drive vehicles, an adapter plate replaces the spindle, the motor is bolted to the adapter plate and the vehicle wheel is bolted directly to the lug studs. For rear-wheel drive vehicles, each end of the rear axle is cut off. Using the adapter plate, the motor directly attaches to the end of the “pipe.” Also, a single-piece, trailer type axle could completely replace the axle. For independent rear suspension, the adapter plate bolts in place of the wheel bearing assembly and the wheel is attached to the motor. In all of these cases, the original internal combustion engine, transmission, and all other drive components, along with the exhaust system and fuel tank, are removed to make room for batteries and components of the electric drive system.

The invention relates generally to vehicle power train systems and in particular to an electric power conversion design for liquid fueled vehicles. The OPEC oil embargo of 1973, as well as several subsequent events, advised Americans that for the future, our ability to rely on petroleum-based fuels is questionable. At that time, gasoline was under 35 cents per gallon. Since then, we have seen the price rise, and currently the price of gasoline is over three dollars per gallon in most cities. Not just scarcity, but the cost of these fuels is driving consumers to seek alternate energy sources for their transportation needs. Electric power from solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal sources, as well as more conventional fossil fuel sources, provides reliable and economical energy to keep America moving. Manufacturers would like to find an economical and effective way to convert the production of new vehicles that have proven to be popular among purchasers to the use of electric power. An electric power conversion design for liquid fueled vehicles, which may be effected as a modification of an existing vehicle without making major design changes to the vehicle's overall design, would resolve this problem.

Electric power conversion design for liquid fueled vehicles


An opening thermal printer device comprising a stationary frame having a print head provided with a line of heater points and a moving frame that carries a backing roller for paper strip via the ends of an axle, and that moves relative to the stationary frame between a first relative position in which the roller has one of its generator lines in contact with the line of heater points of the head, and a second relative position in which the roller and the head are spaced apart from each other. The print head is fixed to the stationary frame and the device includes a holding mechanism for pressing the roller against the line of heater points when the frames are in the first relative position, the mechanism comprising respective hooks for receiving each of the ends of the axle of the roller, the hooks being slidably mounted on the stationary frame to move in a direction perpendicular to the line of heater points and being subject to the action of respective resilient return members directed towards the print head.

In the field of printing labels or receipts, it is common practice to use thermal printer devices that print on paper strip having a face that is heat-sensitive.
Each label or receipt forming a printed piece of paper is taken from a roll of blank paper which is generally housed in a compartment of the equipment. Access to the compartment for changing the roll takes place via an opening that is closed by a moving wall which carries a portion of the printer, generally the backing (and drive) roller that engages the paper beneath the print head, thereby making it easier to load the roll in the printer and more particularly to put its leader into position.
Various devices exist that implement a printer which opens. Some of them have a print head (in the form of a ceramic plate with a line of heater points) pivotally mounted on a stationary frame and associated with a spring tending to apply return torque to the plate about its pivot axis, urging it towards the backing roller (sometimes referred to as the xe2x80x9ccapstanxe2x80x9d). This return torque makes it possible firstly for the head to retract while the cover carrying it moves in an opening or a closing direction, and secondly for the cover to be locked in the closed state, with the plate bearing against the capstan, holding onto the capstan resiliently and thus holding shut the cover to which the capstan is attached.
The main drawback of such devices lies in the pivot axis of the head and that of the capstan not being exactly parallel because of manufacturing tolerances, wear, etc., which factors cannot be overcome at reasonable cost. When they are not parallel, this leads to pressure on the print head (line of points) against the paper being non-uniform, which in turns leads to print quality varying across the width of the strip of heat-sensitive paper.
The present invention provides a remedy to that drawback by ensuring better positioning between the capstan and the print head at the time of printing, and doing so in a manner that is simple and of low cost, thereby improving the quality of the printing along an entire line of heater points.
The invention thus provides a thermal printer device comprising a stationary frame having a print head provided with a line of heater points and a moving frame that carries a backing roller the paper strip via the ends of an axle and that moves relative to the stationary frame between a first relative position in which the roller has one of its generator lines in contact with the line of heater points of the print head, and a second relative position in which the roller and the print head are spaced apart from each other. In characteristic manner, the print head is fixed to the stationary frame and the device includes a holding mechanism for pressing the roller against the line of heater points when the frames are in the first relative position, the mechanism comprising respective hooks for receiving each of the ends of the axle of the roller, the hooks being slidably mounted on the stationary frame to move in a direction perpendicular to the line of heater points and being subject to the action of respective resilient return members directed towards the print head.
In the invention, by providing a print head that is absolutely stationary in the stationary frame, all uncertainty as to the position of the head relative to that frame is eliminated, where such uncertainty exists by construction in the pivoting heads of the prior art because of manufacturing tolerances for the hinge (frames are generally made of plastics material) and because of play that vary with equipment wear. Then, by providing for the roller (capstan) to be pressed against the line of points by mutually independent hooks at each end of the axle of the roller, the roller is pressed properly and in balanced manner against the line of heater points, unlike previously known devices in which the pressure exerted by the head on the roller forces the roller into support bearings which define the orientation of the roller independently of the orientation of the head.
To enable the hooks to take charge of the roller in this way without stress, and assuming that the moving frame is in the form of a cover hinged to the stationary frame about an axis parallel to the line of heater points, the hinge between the cover and the stationary frame is made to include sufficient play to allow the hooks to compensate for lack of parallelism between the line of points and the hinge of the cover.
In preferred manner, and so as to ensure that the roller has maximum freedom of positioning relative to the moving frame that carries it, each end of the axle of the roller is carried by the moving frame in a slot that is substantially parallel to the sliding direction of the hook when the moving frame is in the above-mentioned first relative position.
In an advantageous embodiment of the device of the invention in which the print head comprises a ceramic plate associated with a metal radiator, the stationary frame is formed by the radiator placed as a spacer between two angle supports each having a sliding guide for a respective one of the hooks extending substantially perpendicularly to the radiator.
This simple structure makes it possible with a minimum number of identical parts to cover an entire range of printer devices that differ only in the width of the strip of paper that is to be printed.

Openable and lockable thermal printer device


The present invention provides a simple, durable, light weight and washable bag with a weighted bottom and an elastic opening. The bag of the present invention is designed to hold gear, clothing, groceries, trash or other articles, especially under windy circumstances, and ideally suited for use in boats or other vehicles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bags and to methods of making and using bags. In another aspect, the present invention relates to weighted bags and to methods of making and using such bags. In even another aspect, the present invention relates to weighted mesh bags for use under windy conditions and to methods of making and using such mesh bags.
2. Description of the Related Art
The containment of trash and other articles is an important part of controlling pollution and protecting the environment. Preventing trash, gear, clothing, groceries and other items from being lost or scattered, is especially difficult under windy conditions as would be encountered generally, or especially as in a moving vehicle such as a car, truck or boat.
There have been several attempts in the prior art to provide for articles for containing trash and gear.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,010,785 to Patik discloses a generally rectangular bag constructed of mesh material to receive and contain personal clothing for washing. The bag of the '785 patent includes front and rear mesh panels of generally rectangular configuration with corresponding longitudinal edges of the panels secured together and one pair of corresponding end edges of the panels secured together. The other end edge of one of the panels includes an end extension flap which is folded back over the corresponding end marginal edge of the other panel and the opposite side edges of the flap are sewn to the corresponding longitudinal end edges of the bag. In addition, the opposite end portions of the end marginal edges of the panels at the flap end of the bag and the corresponding overlying portions of the flap are secured together by sewing, thereby leaving only central portions of the end edges of the panels closed by the flap open for insertion of personal clothing into the bag beneath the flap and withdrawal of washed clothing from the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,833 to Cook discloses a bag structure having a semirigid drawstring closure which passes through a hollow handle. The semirigid drawstring holds the mouth of the bag open so that articles can be easily deposited. A shoulder strap is attached to the handle. The shoulder strap and handle are provided for carrying as well as suspending the bag. A flexible tubular material partially inverted creates the double wall of the bag and a fold at the bag mouth. The fold contains the drawstring and the handle, and an additional seam is not required to encase the drawstring. The flexible tubular material is preferably a mesh. Mesh provides a strong bottom seam which is preferably created by lacing a cord through the mesh openings in the four layers of material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,199 to Clement discloses an equipment bag having a first closable opening and having a strap presenting handles for carrying. The outer bag of the '199 invention has an open top and a fastener means extending thereabout. An inner mesh sack is releasably securable within the outer bag. The inner mesh sack includes a top panel having a second closable opening and a plurality of side panels and a bottom panel. The plurality of side panels and bottom panels are made of mesh material. The top panel has a complementary fastener extending thereabout for joining with the fastener for closing the open top when the inner mesh sack is within the outer bag. Equipment is storable within the inner mesh sack and the inner mesh sack is removable from the outer bag for facilitating air to pass therethrough.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,846 to Fuller discloses a carrier for a scuba tank having a nipple end and a bottom end and being of a specific size includes a porous bag open at one and sized to be snugly fitted ono the scuba tank from over the bottom end of the scuba tank. A closure for the open end of the bag permits selective opining and closing of the open end, and a strap has a first portion sewn to the bag and encircling relation to at least a portion of the bag and handle portion. The fabric bag can be snugly fitted onto the scuba tank from over the bottom end of the scuba tankg, the open end of the bag can be closed by the closure and the combined scuba tank and bage may be conveniently carred using the strap handle portion as a handle, with the first portion of the strap providing support for the tank. The carrier of the '846 patent has a woven nylon bottom to provide abrasion resistance and an upper portion as mesh fabric allowing for carrier to remain on the tank during a dive.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,455 to Garcia discloses an accessory bag of generally rectangular configuration ans having flexible front and back members. The back member is formed of a generally imperforate flexible material with the front member having a like configuration ans form of an open mesh flexible material with as substantial portion of the periphery thereof secured together. A zipper or the like is attached to the balance of the periphery. The upper and lower edges of opposites sides of the mesh surface are provided with mating fasteners such as Velcro strips or snaps at positions suitable for enabling coupling of the fasteners to one another with the bag folded with the back member exposed. The mesh material has the openings thereof sufficiently large for enabling insertion of a finger therethrough, whereby the bag may be utilized for small articles such as small clothing items, hair pieces, scarves or the like, which may be viewed through and extracted through the openings of the mesh material by use of a finger without opening the bag. The articles may be partially removed for display as desired. For purpose of hanging the bag, one edge is provided with a pivotably or retractable hook or hanger member, while the opposite edge is provided with a strap or handle to permit carrying the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,660 to Steward discloses an article carrying bag including a first bag having a top defining a first bag opening, a closed bottom, and a central body portion extending between the top and bottom, a second bag having a top defining a second bag opening, a bottom and a central body portion extending between the top and bottom, and a joinder line connecting the top of the first bag adjacent the bottom of the second bag such that the bags are capable of being configured in plural configurations including one in which the first bag extends away from the second bag and both openings face the same direction for defining a singular enclosure for receiving and holding articles, and another configuration in which the first bag may be stuffed into the second bag so the bag openings face opposite directions for defining separate enclosures for receiving and holding articles. Each separate enclosure prevents its respective held articles from commingling with articles in the other enclosure. A closure member is preferably connected adjacent each bag top for enabling one or both of the bangs to be closed. Preferably, the closure member includes an elongate strap and a collar which is connected adjacent at least one o fthe bag tops for receiving a portion of the strap which permits the bag top to be gathered therealong for closing. In the preferred embodiment, two collars are provided, the first bag is waterproof or water resistant, and the second bag is mesh.
Despite the advances of the prior art there is still a need for a article container or bag that does not suffer from the deficiencies of the prior art, and for methods of making and using such bags.
There is another need in the art for a rugged, durable and easy to manufacture bag capable of securely holding articles or trash under windy conditions, and for methods of making and using such containers.
These and other needs in the art will be come apparent to one of skill in the art upon review of this specification, its claims and drawings.


The present invention provides an accurate machine monitoring technique based on vibration analysis. An AR parametric model is generated to characterize a normal machine condition. Subsequently, data is collected from a machine during operation. This data is fit to the AR parametric model, and an Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) statistic is derived therefrom. The EWMA statistic is able to identify whether the machine is in a normal state ("in control") or in an abnormal state ("out of control"). Additionally, an EWMA control chart is generated that distinguishes between normal and abnormal conditions, and between different abnormal conditions. As a result, once the EWMA statistic is generated, it is compared to the EWMA chart for determination of the specific fault that is ailing the machine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of machine fault diagnostics and, more particularly, to a system and method of determining if a machine is operating in a normal state or an abnormal state.
2. Related Art
Over the past few decades industry has taken a variety of steps to improve productivity and quality. However, little attention has been given to the area of maintenance. Maintenance in a broad definition is concerned with controlling the condition of equipment. Although maintenance exists in virtually every manufacturing company, it is often considered to be a support function of a manufacturing process. Only in recent years has maintenance been recognized as an integral part of the manufacturing process, able to increase productivity and quality.
With the increased use of robots, automation, and more sophisticated machines in manufacturing processes, it might be more appropriate to say that productivity and quality depend on machines rather than the person who operates the machine. Robots, for example, have replaced human operators in tasks, such as assembly, loading and unloading, spot welding, and inspection. Keeping this sophisticated equipment in a satisfactory condition increases both the amount and complexity of maintenance. Hence, more repair time and more highly trained, high-priced maintenance technicians and engineers are needed. This, of course, translates to higher maintenance costs.
When the degree of automation increases, maintenance cost also increases. In many companies, maintenance costs represent one of the larger parts of total operating costs--often more than direct labor cost. Therefore, a maintenance strategy that effectively reduces maintenance cost is important for a modern industry to remain competitive.
The three most common maintenance strategies are breakdown or corrective maintenance (i.e., fix the machine when it fails), preventive or time-based maintenance (i.e., maintain machine based on scheduled time), and predictive or condition-based maintenance (i.e., maintain machine before it fails).
For many years, most manufacturing companies used either breakdown or preventive maintenance. In such a case, the machinery is either allowed to breakdown or routine maintenance is performed to reduce the risk of machine failures. Breakdown maintenance is suitable only when a machine is not important, and is inexpensive to replace. If the cost of lost production, potential secondary damage to machinery, and potential safety risks are high, then this strategy is unacceptable. An apparent improvement to this strategy is to use preventive maintenance.
Although preventive maintenance can reduce the occurrence of machine breakdown, it also has some problems. First, the period between overhauls is very difficult to determine because machines and their components do not fail at regular intervals. Second, precious production time is lost because it is prudent to examine as many components as possible during the overhaul period. Third, parts in reasonable condition are often replaced.
Therefore, the best strategy appears to be to adopt a predictive maintenance strategy which predicts the condition, performance, and reliability of machinery, so that maintenance can be planned in advance. Recently, due to the increasing requirement of product quality and manufacturing automation, more and more manufacturing companies have adopted predictive maintenance as part of their maintenance program. They are doing so in order to increase reliability, productivity, and availability while minimizing costs of maintenance and overall plant operation.
The goal of predictive maintenance is the elimination of machinery breakdowns by applying technologies to measure the condition of machines, identify any present or impending problems, and predict when corrective action should be performed. There are several benefits derived from predictive maintenance [see Pardue, E., et al., "Elements of Reliability-Based Machinery Maintenance," Sound and Vibration, May 1992, pp. 14-20].
First, the condition of machines under a predictive program is known, permitting repairs to be planned and carried out without interrupting production. Thus, maintenance work activities are more efficiently planned from the standpoint of workers, parts, and tools.
Second, product quality is improved. Product quality is often adversely affected by mechanically degraded equipment. Since quality is often measured as a final process step, large amounts of unacceptable quality product may be manufactured before the problem is detected. Predictive technologies can measure the mechanical condition of machinery so that corrections can be made before quality is compromised.
Third, safety is enhanced by eliminating unnecessary preventive maintenance work and eliminating extensive maintenance work resulting from catastrophic failure. Since maintenance activities are anticipated, planned, and carried out in a non-emergency environment, exposure to hazardous conditions is reduced.
Fourth, energy savings can be substantial. Since the elimination of high-energy vibration sources such as misalignment and imbalance can reduce machine power consumption by 10 to 15 percent, predictive maintenance provides several potential areas for energy savings.
Vibration data is the most widely used method for monitoring the condition of a machine due to its sensitivity and ability to provide early prediction of developing defects (see Serridge, M., "Ten Crucial Concepts Behind Trustworthy Fault Detection in machine Condition Monitoring," Proceedings of the 1st International Machinery Monitoring and Diagnostics Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, 19891, pp. 722-723). Although other process parameters (oil analysis, temperature, pressure, etc.) can be useful in giving early warning of machine breakdowns, they do not give as wide a range of fault types as vibration.
The suitability of vibration based analysis methods for machine health monitoring has been well documented. Vibration is known to provide the best and most comprehensive measure of machine condition compared with other measurement methods (See Angels, M., "Choosing Accelerometers for Machinery Health Monitoring," Sound and Vibration, December 1990, pp. 20-24). Vibration analysis allows the characterization of most of the dynamic solicitations in rotating machines, in particular those generated by abnormal running order. Furthermore, this method of analysis is easy to implement and efficient since machines remain running during the collection of vibration signals.
Vibration is directly correlated to machine longevity in two ways:
(1) A low vibration level when new a machine is new generally indicates that the machine Will last a long time (i.e., at or above its expected life). PA1 (2) The vibration level increases when a machine is heading for a breakdown.
Using vibration data to improve maintenance operations is obtained by eliminating the purchase of unnecessary parts, doubling the life of the machinery, and decreasing energy consumption as a result of reducing the amount of noise and vibration generated.
Initiating a predictive maintenance program has a significant indirect benefit, in addition to those already mentioned. If critical machine components are monitored and replaced immediately when an abnormality occurs, the life of machine tools should increase due to the minimization of stress under high machine vibrations.
The health of bearings are crucial to the operation of machine tools and therefore, most vibration analysis programs have been initiated to monitor hearings. Ninety percent of bearing failures can be predicted months ahead, which provides more than adequate incentive for adopting monitoring and fault detection techniques for bearings.
The primary causes of bearing failures are: contamination, including moisture, overstress, lack of lubrication, and defects created after manufacturing. Bearings typically achieve only about 10 percent of their rated life. Tests of bearing life under laboratory conditions yield lives of 100 to 1000 years. Therefore, having the capability to determine the root cause of bearing failure is vital in preventing a recurrence of the problem and extending the life of the bearing.
Over the last two decades, most of the machine monitoring and diagnostic systems have been performed off-line using signal processing techniques. The success of these systems is not due to any one signal processing technique, but to the large amount of redundancy associated with multiple signal processing.
However, those signal processing techniques are very complicated to use; in addition, they must be performed by a highly trained and experienced human analyzer in order to make an accurate diagnosis. Accurate fault diagnostics is essential, especially in reducing product cycle time. As a result of correct and rapid fault diagnostics, equipment maintainability and availability can be improved significantly, thereby reducing the product cycle time.
Thus, what is needed is an effective machine monitoring technique for early detection of failure in critical machine components in order to prevent shutdowns and maintain production goals with high quality parts.

Machine performance monitoring and fault classification using an exponentially weighted moving average scheme


A device for driving a tool with a reciprocating motion utilizing a rotary electric or pneumatic hand drill as a power source. The device includes a main shaft adapted to be held in a three-jaw chuck of a hand drill and having a concentric sleeve-like rear eccentric attached thereto. The shaft is arranged to rotate in a bearing in a handle frame. A forward sleeve-like eccentric is disposed on the forward end of the main shaft and adapted to slide forward and backward on the main shaft, and on a guide rod parallel to the main shaft, having a compression spring and attached to the handle frame. The front end of the forward eccentric is internally threaded to accept a tool-holding chuck. In operation, the main shaft is attached to a power hand drill which rotates the shaft. The rear eccentric rotates against the forward eccentric causing it to reciprocate and drive a tool held in a front chuck.

The invention relates to a reciprocator for use with a power hand drill and in particular a reciprocator for driving tools requiring a reciprocating motion which utilizes any motorized hand drill as a power source.
Many tools are in common use which require a reciprocating motion such as files, chisels, star drills, and hack saws. While special electrical or pneumatic drivers are avialable for driving such tools, a need exists for a low cost tool reciprocator which may be driven by widely available small electric hand drills or by pneumatic rotary drills. Such a unit is a particular value to the homeowner or occasional user for whom the investment in a special driving tool is not warranted. A low cost, easy to use, reciprocating tool driver is therefore needed which can fit the chuck of a small hand drill and that can supply a controllable and adjustable reciprocating motion to a tool.


A storage and retrieval machine comprising a generally horizontal rail including a rail member, a base, a linear slide supporting the base for movement along the rail member, a generally vertical mast supported by the base, a carriage supported for generally vertical movement along the mast, and an extendable and retractable shuttle mechanism supported by the carriage.

Automatic storage and retrieval systems are used in warehouses or other facilities in which objects are to be temporarily stored. A known storage and retrieval system includes a storage rack defining storage compartments or locations, and a storage and retrieval machine (SRM) operable to deposit objects in designated storage locations on the storage rack and to retrieve those objects when desired. The storage and retrieval machine includes a base that is supported on wheels for rolling movement along a track, and an onboard motor drivingly connected to at least one of the wheels to move the storage and retrieval machine along the track. The base supports a vertically extending mast on which a carriage is supported for vertical movement. The carriage is typically supported for movement along the mast by wheels or rollers. The carriage supports an extractor or shuttle mechanism that is horizontally extendable beneath an object so that the object can be lifted from or lowered onto the storage rack.


The present disclosure provides a high-throughput fluorescence polarization microorganism screening assay for a metabolite produced by a microorganism. The metabolite is detected using competition with a fluorescent reporter for a receptor that binds both the metabolite and the reporter. The present disclosure further provides materials used in such an assay, a kit for such an assay, an isolated microorganism identified using such an assay, and culture conditions identified using such an assay.

High-throughput screening has been used to successfully detect single protein changes or other simple changes in microorganisms. Microorganisms that produce a particular metabolite or are high-producers of a particular metabolite, such as metabolically engineered microorganisms, tend to exhibit combinatorial optimization involving multi-gene pathways and interacting cellular networks, which simultaneously perturb multiple cellular pathways to achieve an increase in a metabolite. Screening for metabolites resulting in such complex changes is not compatible with existing high-throughput screening technologies. Instead, microorganisms producing a particular metabolite tend to be screened using expensive, slow, or limited-target methods, such as small molecule metabolite detection via gas/liquid chromatography, fluorescence-activated cell sorting, or even growth selection on agar plates. Other screening methods have relied on complex binding and signal-transduction functions, which have not proven readily adaptable to a variety of targets and contexts.
As a result, the number of microorganisms available to produce useful metabolites is limited. Yet, such organisms may be identified from samples and metabolically engineered microorganisms may be produced quite readily using any of numerous different technologies that are able to produce large strain libraries, often each including more than 106 different strains. If these various microorganisms could be screened in a high-throughput assay for a given metabolite, high-producing strains as well as high-producing culture conditions could be rapidly identified, the costs of such products could be lowered and availability increased. Furthermore, new metabolites with desirable functions may be identified.

High-throughput fluorescence polarization microorganism screening assay

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