An improved method and device for reducing the base drag of bluff bodies, including large boxy highway vehicles such as semi-trailer trucks, which uses low drag vortex generators in combination with either a trailing panel or shortened boattail plates, to provide greater base drag reduction than other previously known methods. The preferred embodiment reduces the required length of boattail plates by over half, making it compatible with current U.S. regulations for trailer underride bars, and providing easier access for rear cargo doors. The device is easily installed as an add-on device on both new and existing truck bodies. In an alternate configuration, the shape of one or more sets of shortened boattail plates can be built into the rear body shape of vehicles, to maximize the interior volume for a given total vehicle length.

The highway transportation system in North America is almost totally dependent on fossil fuels, and the quantities consumed are staggering. Long haul semi-trailer trucks alone consume about 16 billion gallons of Diesel fuel per year. In addition to the direct economic costs, the indirect costs include air and water pollution, and depletion of energy resources.
For highway vehicles cruising at typical highway speeds on level roads, aerodynamic drag accounts for the largest engine load, and typically consumes a little over twice the power consumed by rolling resistance. Any significant reduction in aerodynamic drag translates directly into reduced fuel consumption, with the percentage fuel savings typically falling in the vicinity of two thirds of the total aerodynamic drag reduction.
The need for and benefits of reducing the aerodynamic drag of highway vehicles are so obvious, so compelling, and so widely recognized, that this goal often assumes the status of a hidden assumption. It therefore logically follows that all methods, or likely combinations of methods, known to those skilled in the art of aerodynamics of highway vehicles, should already be well researched and the results well documented.
Because large trucks continue to be designed and built with maximum cargo capacity and ease of loading as their primary goals, it is important for any new aerodynamic devices to be designed and built as add-on devices which are easily installed on both new and existing truck bodies, as currently manufactured.

Aerodynamic combination for improved base drag reduction


A farm vehicle tire (1) having a tread (2), which has a toroidal base surface (3), and a number of lugs (5), each extending radially outwards from the base surface (3) and having a front wall (6) and a rear wall (7) with respect to a given rolling direction (8); the leading edge (11), with respect to the rolling direction (8), of the section of each lug (5) along any plane (12) perpendicular to an axis (4) of rotation of the tire is in the form of an involute curve outward of the base surface (3).

A farm vehicle tyre has a tread having a toroidal base surface extending about a central axis of rotation; and a number of lugs extend radially upwards from the base surface, and each have a front wall and a rear wall with respect to a given rolling direction.
Normally, the leading and trailing edges of the section of each lug with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation are linear and converge outwards, so that each lug has a trapezoidal section with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation.
To improve traction of a farm vehicle tyre on muddy terrain, Patent Application JP-7032820-A proposes a farm vehicle tyre in which the leading edge of the section of each lug in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation is a cycloid.
To improve traction of a farm vehicle tyre on muddy terrain, Patent Application EP-0903249-A1 proposes a farm vehicle tyre in which the leading edge of the section of each lug in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation comprises a curved bottom portion and a straight top portion.

Agricultural tire with tread having lugs


A carrying case is described which has upstanding hollow walls comprising outer and inner walls interconnected by laterally spaced ribs. Portions of the inner wall are cut away to form openings which expose the interior of the hollow walls to facilitate their cleaning.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to carrying cases and, more particularly, to molded plastic carrying cases for holding an array of upstanding containers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Widespread use has recently been made of beverage container or bottle carrying cases molded of high impact plastic. Cases of this type are superior to the older style wooden cases in that they are generally lighter in weight, more easily manufactured, more easily cleaned and not prone to the deterioration or wear and tear usually suffered by wooden cases.
Plastic cases have been constructed with hollow, apertured walls consisting of spaced outer and inner walls interconnected by means of webs or ribs. A wall of this type is much more rigid than a single thickness of the same quantity of material and provides an added measure of shock resistance. However, the interiors of these hollow walls have been quite difficult to clean. This problem has been a particular annoyance in the bottled beverage industry, where cleanliness of all portions of such a case is very important for sanitary reasons.
Several prior art solutions to this problem have been proposed. These include wall constructions having open tops and bottoms and drainage holes in the webs or ribs for the passage of washing fluid. However, these proposals have not been entirely satisfactory in facilitating reliable and efficient washing of hollow wall interiors.


A locomotive warning system includes an acoustical warning subsystem configured to emit variably directed sound. A controller subsystem is responsive to an initiation command and is configured to trigger the acoustical warning subsystem to begin a sounding sequence when the initiation command is received at a first directivity angle and to continue the sound blast sequence at increasing directivity angles for a pre-establish time and/or distance traveled.

Due to vehicle/train and person/train collisions, by federal law and or regulation, all trains must sound their horns at a track/road intersection: two long blasts, one short blast, and then another long blast. The total blast sequence is 15-25 seconds in duration depending on the speed of the train.
When some people hear that whistle blowin', they hang their head and cry. Due to the annoyance train horn sounding causes people in homes, businesses, and abutting properties or in close proximity to the track/road intersection, federal regulations also prescribe that the sounding sequence must start no sooner than one-quarter mile from the intersection and cease when the lead locomotive passes through the intersection.
Still, given that the regulations still mandate an amplitude of 96-110 A-weighted decibels (dBA) 100 feet forward of locomotive, the currently omni-directional train horn sounding sequence still causes annoyance to people in homes, business, and abutting properties or in close proximity to train/road intersections. See generally U.S. published application No. 2007/0102591 incorporated herein by this reference.
The '591 patent application proposes a narrow beam acoustic emitter located at train/road crossings, oriented parallel to the road, and triggered at a time based on the speed of the train and the time it will reach a predetermined point.


A spacecraft includes a first deployable module and a second deployable module and is reconfigurable from a launch configuration to an on-orbit configuration. In the launch configuration, the first deployable module is adjacent to the second deployable module. The first deployable module includes a first solar array, the first solar array being rotatable, in the on-orbit configuration, about a first axis of rotation, and the second deployable module includes a second solar array, the second solar array being rotatable, in the on-orbit configuration, about a second axis of rotation, the second axis of rotation being separated by a substantial distance from the second axis of rotation.

The assignee of the present invention designs and manufactures spacecraft for communications and broadcast services. Market demands for such spacecraft have imposed increasingly stringent requirements on spacecraft payload capacity. To meet these demands, higher power spacecraft with multiple antenna apertures and increased radiating surface area for heat dissipation are desirable.
Launch vehicle compatibility is a second requirement faced by a spacecraft designer. The increased performance requirements are only advantageously met if compatibility with conventional, commercially available launch vehicles is maintained. Accordingly, a spacecraft, as configured for launch, is desirably made compatible with the mass and fairing envelope constraints of such launch vehicles as, for example, Ariane, Atlas, Proton, Falcon and Sea Launch.
Thus, there is a need for a high capacity spacecraft that is compatible with launch vehicle constraints.


A liner emptying device and a liner filling device as well as methods using them for contamination-free filling and emptying of a liner. This contamination-free filling and emptying prevents any danger to the health of the people working with the packaged substances. Both the liner emptying device and the liner filling device are connected to the liner via a fastening device and the residual films sealing off the device can be removed via an access port, whereby the liner can be filled or emptied without contaminating the surroundings.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a liner emptying device and a liner filling device, a method for contamination-free emptying of a liner using the liner emptying device and a method for contamination-free filling of liners using the liner filling device.
2. Description of Related Art
In many branches of industry, e.g., the pharmaceutical or chemical industry, raw materials are used for further processing which, in case of direct contact, would present a considerable danger to health for the people working with these substances. In addition, the raw materials which are usually present in powder or granular form, can contaminate the environment to a high degree. For these reasons, the powder or granular raw materials are surrounded by so-called liners in their transport containers, which can be container or drums. A liner is an inner bag or separate jacket provided in the container for the product to be transported. A liner can also be a film hose which is fastened to the container to be emptied, which has any shape. Both the production method and the re-processing are mostly carried out in a closed system whereby contamination of the environment and health hazards for the workers are avoided. Problematical points are the interfaces for filling the containers containing the liners at the supplier and emptying the containers having the liners for introduction into the further treatment process at the client.

Liner connecting device and liner filling device


Embodiments of the present invention relate to an a method, apparatus and computer program product for controlling the operation of a drive unit comprising a plurality of switching modules arranged to receive a DC electricity supply and generate an AC electricity supply for driving a load from the received DC electricity supply, the AC electricity supply being generated by the switching of the plurality of switching modules between a conducting state and a non-conducting state. The method comprises receiving one or more characteristics associated with each of the switching modules, comparing, for each switching module of the plurality of switching modules, a characteristic of the switching module with an equivalent characteristic associated with one or more other switching modules of the plurality of switching modules, and controlling a time period during which one or more of the plurality of switching modules are in the conducting state in accordance with a result of the comparison.

Electric motors are commonly used in various high power applications such as driving pumps, crane hoists and elevators. Such electric motors are driven by drive units, which change an input supply to a voltage and frequency required for driving the operation of the motor. Such drive units either have an AC or DC input for driving an AC motor. For DC-AC drive units the drive units have an inverter which converts the DC voltage to an AC voltage and frequency. For AC-AC drive units the drive units have a rectifier that converts the AC input voltage to a DC voltage, the DC voltage is then converted to an AC voltage using an inverter.
In both DC-AC drive units and AC-AC drive units the inverter can be controlled to vary the voltage and frequency characteristics of the output electricity supply used to drive the motor. It is common for each inverter to include a number of switch components, such as insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), for switching the DC voltage in such a way that produces an AC voltage for driving the motor.
In order to achieve high output powers for driving high power motors it is common to utilise multiple stacks connected in parallel. That is the drive unit may comprise multiple sets of parallel inverters each having a number of IGBTs. Such an arrangement is provided to accurately match the motor power requirements while reducing the power ratings of components within the drive unit.
In order to increase the life of individual inverters, there is a common desire to balance the current flow across each IGBT in a similar position in the topology between the individual stacks. It is common for current balancing methods to provide a correction every pulse width modulation (PWM) switching period. These methods typically act on each PWM switching period in turn and have no memory of any prior control action. These methods are commonly known as "per switching period" methods. Such methods can provide current balance at higher current flows but do not generally perform well at low current as the system gains and control action limits employed have to be low due to stability issues. These issues stem from the frequency at which the currents must be measured and hence are susceptible to noise and measurement errors.
One outcome of these "per switching period" methods is a large imbalance during periods of low current demand which results in one of the stacks supplying most of the power while the other stack(s) supply very little. In consequence, there is a difference in temperature and stress between the individual stacks. This often leads to premature faults in the hottest stack when the current demand increases, even though the majority of individual stacks are still below the fault, or trip, temperature.
Even when the current delivered to the output by each IGBT is well-balanced some IGBTs can degrade faster than others within the same drive unit due to differing thermal conditions, due to, for example, different cooling provisions. Even if all of the individual stacks are installed in the same cubical there may exist different temperatures, or hot spots, within the cubical. As such, even when the output currents are balanced there may still be differences between the stress imposed on other components within, or external to, the stacks, such as the inductive chokes.
Consequently, simply balancing the current flow through each IGBT is not necessarily a complete solution to increasing the life span and reliability of motor drive units.


A compression apparatus for compressing a digital image is disclosed and includes a decomposer, a transform encoder unit and a merge plane compressor. The digital image is converted by the compression apparatus into a set of tiles suitable for transform encoding. Each tile from the set is then compressed by converting the tile into a xe2x80x9cmerge plane data stringxe2x80x9d and an associated xe2x80x9ctransform encoded data stringxe2x80x9d. The merge plane data string describes only the spatial locations of the background pixels in the tile. The transform encoded data describes the tile in the frequency domain but without the spatial frequencies associated with the background pixels. One important use of the present invention is to compress digital images prior to transmitting the digital image to a printer for printing.

This application includes subject matter related to co-pending application entitled: xe2x80x9cSystem For Compression Of Digital Images Comprising Low Detail Areasxe2x80x9d, having U.S. Pat. No. 6,130,630, and the co-pending patent application entitled: xe2x80x9cApparatus And Method For Compressing Huffman Encoded Dataxe2x80x9d, having U.S. Ser. No. 09/179,925, each of which are incorporated by reference herein, assigned to the same assignee as this application, and filed on even date herewith.
This invention relates to the compression of digital images, and more particularly to the compression of a digital image comprising a background.
A digital image is typically displayed or printed in the form of a rectangular array of xe2x80x9cpicture elementsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cprint elementsxe2x80x9d. For purposes of this application, both xe2x80x9cpicture elementsxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cprint elementsxe2x80x9d are referred to herein as xe2x80x9cpixelsxe2x80x9d. Digital images are typically represented in a computer by one or more arrays of binary numbers. For example, a monochrome digital image can be represented in a computer by a single array of binary numbers. Each binary number in the array defines a gray-level value for an associated pixel. The position of the binary number in the array describes the spatial location of the pixel.
A color digital image can be represented in a computer by three arrays of binary numbers. Each array (alternatively referred to herein as an xe2x80x9cimage planexe2x80x9d) representing an axis of a suitable color coordinate system in accordance with the well known trichromatic theory. The color of a pixel in the digital image is defined by an associated binary number (defining one of three color components from the color coordinate system) from each array. It is noted that there are many color coordinate systems that can be used to represent the color of a pixel. These color coordinate systems include a xe2x80x9cRed-Green-Bluexe2x80x9d (RGB) coordinate system and a cyan-magenta-yellow (CMY) coordinate system. The former is commonly used in monitor display applications, the latter is commonly used in printing applications. For purposes of this application, each binary number representing a pixel is referred to herein as a xe2x80x9cpixel componentxe2x80x9d or alternatively as a xe2x80x9cpixel component valuexe2x80x9d. In addition, the phrase xe2x80x9cpixel valuexe2x80x9d refers to the value of the number or numbers defining the pixel. It is noted that a pixel value can be defined with reference to the color of the pixel. Thus, a pixel can be said to have a value corresponding to the color or gray-scale level of white. This indicates that the binary number or numbers associated with the pixel has a total value that define the pixel as white.
The amount of data used to represent a digital image can be extremely large. Consider, for example, a color digital image consisting of 1024xc3x971024 pixels. If the pixels are represented in the computer by three image planes of 8-bit numbers, the digital image would occupy over 1 megabyte of storage space.
The large amount of data required to represent a digital image in a computer can result in significant costs that are associated both with increased storage capacity requirements, and the computing resources and time required to transmit the data to another computing device. In order to reduce these costs, digital image compression techniques have been and are continuing to be developed.
Digital image compression techniques can generally be divided into two classes: lossless and lossy. In lossless compression, the digital image reconstructed after compression is identical, pixel by pixel, to the original image. A common lossless compression technique is the well known Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) compression scheme. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,587. That Patent is incorporated herein by reference. Another lossless compression technique is described by the xe2x80x9cJoint Bi-level Image Experts Group Compression standardxe2x80x9d (JBIG).
In lossy compression, the reconstructed digital image may be somewhat degraded with respect to the original digital image in order to attain higher compression ratios than those of lossless procedures. One popular lossy compression scheme is referred to as xe2x80x9ctransform codingxe2x80x9d. See Baxes, G. A., Digital image Processing, Principles and Applications, pp 198-211, ISBN 0-471-00949-0 (1994). Those pages are incorporated herein by reference.
In general, transform encoding is accomplished by decomposing each image plane of a digital image into a set of two-dimensional blocks of pixel component values that define a sub-array of pixels. These blocks are typically small, such as 4xc3x974 or 8xc3x978 blocks of component values. Each block is then transformed into the frequency domain by use of a frequency transform. This reduces the block into a series of basis functions. It is noted that typically the first basis function is a constant scalar value. This is sometimes referred to as the xe2x80x9cDCxe2x80x9d component or alternatively as the xe2x80x9cDC coefficientxe2x80x9d for the transform. While in the frequency domain, the amount of data required to represent the block can be reduced by quantization. This is often accomplished by using criteria based on the visibility of each basis functions. After quantization, the amount of data representing the block can be even further reduced by using an entropy encoding (e.g., Huffman coding) technique.
A number of transform coding schemes have been developed. One widely used transform coding scheme has been standardized by the published and generally available works of the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG). See generally, Pennebaker, W. B., and Mitchell, J. L., JPEG: Still Image Compression Standard, ISBN 0-442-01272-1 (1993). The JPEG compression standard in lossy mode makes use of the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). Like many transform coding schemes, the JPEG compression scheme is adjustable. That is to say that the number of frequency components discarded during quantization can be varied to produce variable compression ratios. Unfortunately, however, as the level of quantization increases to achieve higher compression ratios, image quality can be degraded significantly.
As just discussed, digital image compression techniques can be used to reduce the amount of data required to represent a digital image in a computer. These techniques can reduce the computing costs associated with storing and transmitting digital images. There are, however, significant costs that can be incurred in using these compression techniques. For example, there can be substantial system overhead and time required to perform the compression and decompression operations. In addition, there is a trade off between the use of lossy compression techniques and lossless compression techniques. In general, lossy compression can be used to achieve high compression ratios. Image quality, however, can be significantly degraded. Lossless compression, on the other hand, does not degrade image quality but usually results in relatively low compression ratios.
An apparatus for compressing a digital image comprising pixels having a first value and comprising a means for decomposing said digital image into a set of tiles; and a means for compressing each tile from said set of tiles, wherein said compressing means responsive to a binary tile from said set of tiles, said binary tile comprising pixels having a background value and pixels having one other value, to generate a first and an associated second set of data, said first set of data comprising spatial location information for substantially all pixels in said binary tile having said background value and said second set of data comprising data representative of a compressed second tile, each pixel in said second tile having said one other value.

Image compression of background and text tiles

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


This invention relates to duplex and to half duplex transmission schemes and more particularly to the application of such schemes in TDMA and other multiple access environments. In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of multiplexing signals transmitted by a number of terminals onto a communications link; the link having a capacity less than the total capacity of the terminals; the method including the step of varying the rate of encoding of said signals transmitted by said terminals whereby the bandwidth o the transmitted signals corresponds to the portions allocated to the terminals. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for the communication of signals in real time over a channel; said system adapted to vary the bandwidth of at least one signal such that the number of signals multiplexed onto said channel can be dynamically varied.

Duplex and Half Duplex transmission schemes are used in a variety of voice and data services. Duplex voice schemes are generally perceived by subscribers as providing better service quality than half duplex, whereas half duplex voice schemes provide a more efficient use of system resources than duplex schemes.
FIG. 1 is a diagram representative of typical voice traffic operating over a half duplex channel. In such a scheme the listening party is prevented from transmitting a voice signal until the talking party has ceased transmitting.
FIG. 2 is a diagram representative of typical voice traffic on a duplex channel. The parties to the call have intermittent periods where both parties are talking. These periods may be considered as contention periods. Typically the parties to the call resolve these contention periods between themselves so that a mutually understandable conversation results. It is unusual for both parties to talk at the same time for an extended period.
Duplex transmission schemes have the advantage over half duplex schemes of improved call quality for subscribers. However they have the disadvantage of inefficient use of system resources, as typically one channel will be idle at any one point during a conversation.
One example of a duplex channel is a time division duplex (TDD) arrangement where both parties have alternating access to the channel. Typically, the channel may have a capacity of 72 Kbits.sup.-1, in an ISDN system. Each party is typically sampled at 32 Kbits.sup.-1 for 2 ms periods. These sampled signals are transmitted along the channel at the higher data rate of 72 Kbits.sup.-1 using 1 ms packets of data.
However with typical voice traffic, approximately half of the time slots on the TDD channel will be idle.
WO 95/04412 to Motorola provides a method and apparatus for multiplexing fixed length message data and variably coded speech. A variable rate vocoder receives and codes the speech of an unknown amount at one of full and less than full rates to produce the coded data. U.S. Pat. No. 5,124,701 to France Telecom provides a quantisation device with a variable digital coding rate.


A method for imaging objects in turbid media. According to one embodiment of the invention, the method comprises the steps of (a) illuminating the object through the turbid medium with a pulse of light, the light emergent from the turbid medium consisting of a ballistic component, a snake-like component and a diffusive component, the diffusive component including Fermat photons and non-Fermat photons; (b) gating the light emergent from the turbid medium to preferentially select Fermat photons; and (c) forming an image of the object using the gated light. Preferably, a spatial gate is used to preferentially select Fermat photons from the emergent light. This may be done by orienting the source of the illuminating light and a light detector to lie along a most favorable path travelled predominately by Fermat photons. A time gate, such as a streak camera or the like, may be used in addition to the spatial gate to more carefully select Fermat photons from the emergent light. The above-described method may also be used to produce a tomography map of a turbid medium for use in detecting an object located within the turbid medium. This may be done, for example, by providing two or more pairs of light sources and light detectors which are arranged to provide intersecting most favorable paths. The present invention is also directed to systems constructed in accordance with the foregoing methods.

The present invention relates generally to the imaging of objects in turbid media and more particularly to a novel technique for imaging objects in turbid media.
As can readily be appreciated, there are many situations in which the detection of an object present in a turbid, i.e., highly scattering, medium is highly desirable. For instance, the detection of a tumor embedded within a tissue is one such example. Although X-ray techniques do provide some measure of success in detecting objects in turbid media, they are not well-suited for detecting very small objects, e.g., tumors less than 1 mm in size, or for detecting objects in thick media. In addition. X-ray radiation can present safety hazards to a person exposed thereto.
An alternative technique used to detect objects in turbid media is transillumination. In transillumination, visible light is incident on one side of a medium and the light emergent from the opposite side of the medium is used to form an image. Objects embedded in the medium typically absorb the incident light and appear in the image as shadows. Unfortunately, the usefulness of transillumination as a detection technique is severely limited in those instances in which the medium is thick or the object is very small. This is because light scattering within the medium contributes to noise and reduces the intensity of the unscattered light used to form the image shadow.
To improve the detectability of small objects located in a turbid medium using transillumination, many investigators have attempted to selectively use only certain components of the transilluminating light signal. This may be done by exploiting the properties of photon migration through a scattering medium. Photons migrating through a turbid medium have traditionally been categorized into three major signal components: (1) the ballistic (coherent) photons which arrive first by traveling over the shortest, most direct path; (2) the snake (quasi-coherent) photons which arrive within the first .delta.t after the ballistic photons and which deviate, only to a very slight extent, off a straight-line propagation path; and (3) the diffusive (incoherent) photons which experience comparatively more scattering than do ballistic and snake photons and, therefore, deviate more considerably from the straight-line propagation path followed by ballistic and snake photons.
Because it has been believed that ballistic and snake photons contain the least distorted image information and that diffusive photons lose most of the image information, efforts to make transillumination work most effectively with turbid media have focused on techniques which permit the selective detection of ballistic and snake photons while rejecting diffusive photons. This process of selection and rejection have been implemented in various time-gating, space-gating and time/space-gating techniques. Patents, patent applications and publications which disclose certain of these techniques include U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,463, inventors Yoo et al., which issued Aug. 18, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,372, inventors Alfano et al., which issued Aug. 25, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,912, inventors Ho et al., which issued Jul. 13, 1993; U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,368, inventors Alfano et al., filed Jul. 23, 1992; Alfano et al., "Photons for prompt tumor detection," Physics World, pp. 37-40 (January 1992); Wang et al., "Ballistic 2-D Imaging Through Scattering Walls Using an Ultrafast Optical Kerr Gate," Science, Vol. 253, pp. 769-771 (Aug. 16, 1991); Wang et al., "Kerr-Fourier imaging of hidden objects in thick turbid media," Optics Letters. Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 241-243 (Feb. 1, 1993); Yoo et al., "Time-resolved coherent and incoherent components of forward light scattering in random media," Optics Letter, Vol. 15, No. 6, pp. 320-322 (Mar. 15, 1990); Chen et al., "Two-dimensional imaging through diffusing media using 150-fs gated electronic holography techniques," Optics Letters, Vol. 16, No. 7, pp. 487-489 (Apr. 1, 1991); Duncan et al., "Time-gated imaging through scattering media using stimulated Raman amplification." Optics Letters, Vol. 16, No. 23, pp. 1868-1870 (Dec. 1, 1991), all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Of the above-listed art, Wang et al., "Kerr-Fourier imaging of hidden objects in thick turbid media." Optics Letters, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 241-243 (Feb. 1, 1993) is illustrative. In this article, there is disclosed a time/space-gating system for use in imaging opaque test bars hidden inside a 5.5 cm-thick 2.5% Intralipid solution. The disclosed system includes three main parts: a laser source, an optical Kerr gate and a detector. The laser source is a picosecond mode-locked laser system, which emits a 1054 nm, 8 ps laser pulse train as the illumination source. The second harmonic of the pulse train, which is generated by transmission through a potassium dihydrate phosphate (KDP) crystal, is used as the gating source. The illumination source is sent through a variable time-delay and is then used to transilluminate, from one side, the turbid medium containing the opaque object. The signal from the turbid medium located at the front focal plane of a lens is collected and transformed to a Kerr cell located at its back focal plane (i.e., the Fourier-transform spectral plane of a 4F system). That portion of the Kerr cell located at the focal point of the 4F system is gated at the appropriate time using the gating source so that only the ballistic and snake components are permitted to pass therethrough. The spatial-filtered and temporal-segmented signal is then imaged by a second lens onto a CCD camera.
Although techniques of the type described above, which selectively use ballistic and snake photons to image objects in turbid media, have enjoyed a modicum of success, such techniques have been limited by the fact that detected light signals derived from ballistic and snake photons are typically rather weak, due to the proportionately small number of transilluminated ballistic and snake photons. This problem is further exacerbated in those instances in which the turbid medium is thick and the likelihood of substantial scattering increases.
An experimental imaging scheme using diffusive light requires a theoretical algorithm to restore the internal properties of an object from the array of measured experimental data. The necessity for using mathematical methods is evoked by the fact that measured quantities are merely integral characteristics of the object properties and that the diffusive photons have lost their potential for shadowgram since they travel over the medium in random ways. The diffusive photons wander over the medium in a tortuous manner. These photons sample various parts of the medium, some never entering the defect.
Over the years, there have been several efforts to use diffusive light to image inside and map the internal structure of an object. These efforts depend on how one inverts the experimental scattering data obtained around the object to give information on the various points in the medium using some inverse algorithm and reconstruction approach. The equation used mainly depends on the diffusion equation, higher approximation or just the probability of the random walk given by the Monte Carlo method. Since the photons wander about, this problem is ill posed. There are many attempts at solving the problem and the path undergone. There are a number of models based on the diffusion approximation (e.g., M. Patterson et al., SPIE, 1767, 372 (1992); J. Schotland et al., App. Opt., 32, 448 (1993)). Though the latter uses the concept of photon paths, it remains completely in frames of standard diffusion approximation. The algorithms based upon the diffusion approximation would not lead to a resolution that is better than 5-10 mm. These techniques use absorption changes in tissue to determine the inverse from the transmission data inverse algorithm. The diffusion approximation is not valid at a distance smaller than 7 l.sub.tr where l.sub.tr is 1 to 2 mm giving 7 to 14 mm resolution. In addition, these approaches need referenced medium to compare with to determine the differences. Furthermore, the absorption in tissue in the near IR is low, absorption length l.sub.a .gtoreq.50 mm which means that mm detects will not be simply seen or detected. The absorption length l.sub.a =size of entire object. Detects will not be observed using absoption changes. J. Singer and F. Grunbaum et al., Science, 248, 990 (1990); Grunbaum, SPIE, 203, 1887 (1993) proposed an approach based on simulating photon migration as a random walk on a two (three) dimensional grid of pixels (voxels). Each pixel (voxel) k is characterized by a set of parameters {w}.sub.k describing its absorption and scattering efficiency. The probability P.sub.ij for a photon launched at a pixel i on the boundary of a medium to be detected at the pixel j can be calculated. Considering P.sub.ij as experimental data the set {w}.sub.k can be restored. So far only the two-dimensional case has been numerically realized with photons allowed to wander in four or eight directions in an isotropic manner.
A linear perturbation approach was used by R. Barbour et al., SPIE, 192, 1437 (1991), OSA Proceeding on Advances in Optical Imaging and Photon Migration, V21, 211 (1994), in order to overcome intractable difficulties in solving the inverse problem. They assume that the absorption properties of a medium with unknown defects (X.sub.i) are very close to that of a reference medium (X.sub.i.sup.r), X.sub.i.sup.r being the absorption efficiency of the volume element i. This method depends on prior knowledge of absorption properties of the reference media and linear response function (matrix W) connecting changes in absorption properties object .DELTA.X caused by multiple defects with changes in the array of measured signals .DELTA.I around the object: .DELTA.I=W.DELTA.X. Given W and .DELTA.I from the measurement, .DELTA.X can be evaluated. Then X can be found. The matrix W was precalculated using the Monte Carlo approach in simulating photon migration in the reference medium. These calculations should be done for each particular shape of an object and a source-detector arrangement. So far, the simplest rectangular shape of a medium was considered and a reference turbid medium was assumed to be uniform.
Several standard numerical algorithms to minimize quadratic functionals including Tikhonov regularization approach to stabilized minimization procedure were used to find approximate solution of the linear problem W.DELTA.X=.DELTA.I. However, when the reference medium is very different from the test medium, the linear approximation is inaccurate which is the case in most real medical applications, say, breast and brain imaging.
There are too many shortcomings of the above methods, besides the mentioned ones: 1) they are ignoring a specific feature of biological tissues that scattered light is highly forward directed, 2) detectors are assumed to collect together photons arriving in different directions. This means that detection technique and the respective algorithms introduce additional ill-posedness to the imaging problem.
There is a need for a reconstruction method from scattered temporal data about the object which does not depend on the absorption or reference medium to compare with, which does not strictly depend on the diffusive equation, and which exploits more real physical features of the object.

Method and system for imaging objects in turbid media using diffusive fermat photons

Research Foundation of City College of New York


This method for producing a compound uses a continuous tank reactor which is provided with two or more reaction tanks for producing the compound and with a reaction liquid feeding pipe that feeds a reaction liquid from an upstream reaction tank to a downstream reaction tank, said method being characterized in that the Reynold's number of the reaction liquid that flows in the reaction liquid feeding pipe is configured to be 1800-22000. Furthermore, this compound production system is used in said method for producing a compound, and is formed by housing at least one of the reaction tanks in a portable container.

A method for producing a target compound using a biocatalyst has advantages that reaction conditions are mild, a purity level of a reaction product is high with fewer byproducts, and a production process can be simplified. Therefore, such a method is used for producing various compounds. For example, in production of an amide compound such as acrylamide, since a nitrile hydratase, which is an enzyme for converting a nitrile compound such as acrylonitrile into an amide compound, is found, production of an amide compound using the enzyme has been widely conducted.
Further, in recent years, production of acrylamide by continuous reaction using a nitrile hydratase has been conducted. As an example of methods for producing acrylamide by continuous reaction, there is mentioned a method for producing acrylamide described in Patent Publication 1 which is intended to achieve low costs, energy saving, and low environmental loads. In Patent Publication 1, it is described that, in production of acrylamide by continuous reaction using a nitrile hydratase, enzyme reaction is performed under the conditions of a predetermined stirring power and a predetermined Froude number.

Method for producing compound and compound production system used in production method

Mitsubishi Chemical Engineering Corporation


A display apparatus includes a first pad electrically connected to the drive circuit, a voltage supply line having one end electrically connected to the first pad, a common wire electrically connected to the voltage supply line and the second electrode, a transistor formed between the voltage supply line and the common wire, and a branch wire being a part of the voltage supply line, extending from a branch section, and electrically connected to the first pad. Then, the branch section is located closer to a center of the insulating substrate than the first pad in a plan view.

In recent years, a touch detection apparatus, so-called a touch panel, capable of detecting proximity or contact of an object has drawn attention. The touch panel is used for a display apparatus with a touch detection function mounted on or integrated with a display apparatus such as a liquid crystal display apparatus. In the display apparatus with a touch detection function, various button images and the like are displayed on the display apparatus, and thus, information can be input through the touch panel serving as an alternative to normal mechanical buttons. Since such a display apparatus with a touch detection function including such a touch panel does not require an input device such as a keyboard, a mouse, or a keypad, such display apparatuses tend to be broadly used not only for computers but also for personal digital assistants such as a mobile phone.
There are several types of touch detection apparatuses such as optical, resistive, and capacitive touch detection apparatuses. Among them, since a capacitive touch detection apparatus has a relatively simple structure and achieves low power consumption, the capacitive touch detection apparatus is used for a personal digital assistant or the like. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2015-75605 discloses a display apparatus with a touch detection function including a capacitive touch panel.


Systems and methods for aspect-based sentiment analysis using machine learning methods. An example method comprises: receiving, by a computer system, a custom dictionary comprising a list of lexemes referencing at least one of: a target entity or an aspect associated with the target entity; performing, using the custom dictionary, a syntactico-semantic analysis of at least part of a natural language text to produce a plurality of syntactico-semantic structures representing the part of the natural language text; evaluating, using one or more text characteristics produced by the syntactico-semantic analysis, a classifier function to determine polarities associated with one or more aspect terms; and generating a report comprising the aspect terms and polarities of aspects referenced by the aspect terms.

Sentiment analysis is one of the important operations in automated processing of natural language texts and has a wide range of real world applications. Aspect-based sentiment analysis (ABSA) may be employed to automatically identify, in a natural language text, the aspects of given target entities and the sentiment expressed towards each aspect.

Aspect-based sentiment analysis and report generation using machine learning methods


A lean burn internal combustion engine has a basic fuel injection amount calculated and multiplied by a lean correction factor, the resulting amount controls the air fuel ratio of the engine. The lean correction multiplied by factor is calculated from a first map based on intake pressure and engine speed. However, when the degree of opening of the throttle valve is larger than a predetermined value, a second correction map based on the degree of opening of the throttle valve and engine speed is used to obtain the lean correction factor. When the second correction map is employed, an ignition timing map based on the degree of opening of the throttle valve and engine speed is used to obtain an ignition timing; instead of the usual ignition timing, based on intake pressure and engine speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lean burn internal combustion engine, and in particular, relates to a control of an air-fuel ratio and ignition timing in the lean burn internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known prior art lean burn combustion engine has an operating area, such as a low load condition, wherein a lean combustible mixture is introduced into the engine to increase the fuel consumption efficiency. In this lean burn engine, a basic fuel injection amount, which is an amount of fuel needed for providing a theoretical air-fuel ratio at a combination of an engine speed and engine load parameter such as intake pressure, is first calculated, and then, to obtain the lean air-fuel mixture, a lean correction factor having a value smaller than 1.0 is multiplied by the basic fuel injection amount. A lean correction factor map is provided, which is constructed by values of a lean correction factor with respect to combinations of an engine speed and an intake pressure. When the engine goes from the lean area to a power area, due to a depression of the acceleration pedal, a fuel enrichment correction is carried out to obtain a desired engine torque.
The prior art lean combustion engine suffers from a drawback in that a shock is generated when the engine leaves the lean zone and enters the power mode. In the lean zone, the lean air-fuel mixture is obtained by multiplying the lean correction factor having a value smaller than 1.0 by the basic fuel injection amount corresponding to the theoretical air-fuel ratio. The lean correction factor is calculated from the intake pressure and engine speed by using a map interpolation technique. The value of the intake pressure is initially increased in accordance with the increase in the degree of the depression of the accelerator pedal, to obtain a desired increase in the engine torque. Once the degree of the opening of the throttle valve reaches a predetermined value, however, the value of the intake pressure remains substantially unchanged, and therefore, a desired increase in torque cannot be obtained. When the accelerator pedal is further depressed, the engine enters the power area, from the low torque state, where a fuel enrichment correction is carried out to abruptly increase the engine torque, which causes a shock to be generated.
To overcome this drawback, a system has been proposed wherein a second lean correction factor map is provided, and a lean correction factor is calculated from a combination of the value of a degree of opening of the throttle valve and the engine speed. See U.S. Pat. application No. 528,565, filed on May 24, 1990. At the degree of opening of the throttle valve where the intake pressure remains unchanged, this second map for the lean correction factor based on the throttle opening is used, and as a result, the engine torque can be increased even if the intake pressure remains unchanged, and therefore, an occurrence of torque shock is prevented when the engine enters the power zone.
Nevertheless, the provision of the second lean correction factor suffers from a drawback in that the ignition timing is far from an optimum ignition timing if the ignition timing is calculated by the ignition timing map based on the intake pressure. When the throttle opening map is used for calculating the lean correction factor, the air-fuel ratio can be varied as the degree of the opening of the throttle valve is increased, even if the intake pressure remains unchanged, but the calculation of the ignition timing based on the intake pressure causes the ignition timing to remain substantially unchanged. As is well known, the change in the air-fuel ratio by the employment of the throttle opening map for calculating the lean correction factor causes the desired ignition timing to be changed, but the employment of the intake pressure map for calculating the ignition timing leaves it unchanged. As a result, the prior art provision of a second lean correction factor map based on the degree of throttle opening suffers from a drawback in that a desired ignition timing cannot be obtained.


A display system combines a graphic plane and a video overlay plane using color keys in the graphics plane. By time-averaging patterns of color keys in successive frames of the graphics plane, individual pixels of the graphics plane can be made to appear partially transparent. Using this technique, regions in the graphics plane (e.g., a menu) can be partially transparent with respect to the video overlay, and aliasing can be reduced by making selected pixels in the graphics plane partially transparent.

This invention relates generally to digital graphics, and in particular to blending of graphics with a video overlay to achieve effects such as partial transparency and/or anti-aliasing.
The combination of graphics and video overlays is used in a wide variety of display systems. For example, while a television system receives and displays a broadcast program, the television system may also display graphics such as channel information and other menus or controls on the screen. The television system generates these graphics and then combines them with the broadcast program for display at the same time. Computing devices, such as computer systems and mobile phones, may also combine graphics and video overlays. For example, a computing device may display a streaming video on the device's display while also drawing graphics on the screen over the video, such as a cursor or menu.
One technique for combining graphics and video in a display system is called color keying (or chroma keying). In this technique, a particular color is defined as a color key. For each pixel in each frame, the display system will draw pixel from the graphics plane unless the color value of that pixel matches the color key, in which event the display system draws the corresponding pixel from the video overlay instead. Color keying is thus used to control which plane is visible, the graphics or the video overlay, on a per-pixel basis for each frame. In essence, the color key represents a fully transparent pixel in the graphics plane that allows the corresponding pixel in the video overlay plane to be seen.
In some applications, it is desirable to blend the graphics and video overlays so that the pixels drawn are a blend of the colors from each plane, rather than just being one or the other. Such an effect may be desirable, for example, to provide a partially transparent graphic (such as a menu) or to reduce aliasing of diagonal or round graphics against the video overlay. But traditional uses of color keys do not enable partially transparency of the graphics, since with color keying either the pixel from the graphics plane or the pixel from the video overlay plane is drawn. This binary nature of the pixels prevents partial transparency, and it may cause diagonal or round graphics to look jagged due to aliasing.
One technique for achieving partial transparency is known as alpha blending. In this technique, the pixel drawn on the display is a weighted average of the corresponding pixels from graphics and video overlays. For example, the following equation may be used to compute each channel of the pixel color, where the ratio α controls the blending between the graphics and video layers: final_pixel=graphics_pixel (1−α)+video_pixel (α). This computation is performed for each pixel of each rendered frame. Although alpha blending enables a high level of blending control, this technique is computationally expensive and not always possible.
What are needed are techniques that enable transparency and/or reduce aliasing in a display system for graphics and video overlay using color keys.

Video blending using time-averaged color keys


An SAS two-cycle engine has a cylinder block that has a bore with at least one scavenging port and at least one fresh air port therein. The bore extends to a crankcase. A piston of the engine is located within the bore and separates a combustion chamber of the bore from the crank area and is movable between a first position, in closest proximity to the crank area, and a second position. The air port and the piston are configured such that air may flow from the air port into the combustion chamber of the cylinder when the piston is at the first position. In one example, the scavenging port and the air port have edges that are selectively revealed upon movement of the piston. The air port includes an upper edge, which may be contoured such that only a portion of the upper edge is exposed when the piston is at the first position.

A stratified air scavenged (SAS) two-cycle engine produces fewer emissions than a comparable displacement non-SAS two-cycle engine. As such, a SAS two-cycle engine can be very beneficial.
In general, a two-cycle engine directs a fuel mixture from a crank area of the engine to a cylinder block combustion chamber via at least one scavenging channel. The piston itself is used to control the flow of the fuel mixture via cyclic blocking/revealing of at least one scavenging port in a cylinder wall. However, the provision of the fuel mixture occurs as combustion gases are being ported from the engine. Within the SAS configuration, fresh air is utilized in order to minimize or prevent non-combusted fuel mixture from being outwardly ported from the engine along with the combustion gases. The piston itself is again used to control flow of the fresh air via cyclic blocking/revealing of at least one air port in the cylinder wall.
Typically, the cylinder block of an SAS engine tends to be long due to the space required for the air port(s) and associated fresh air passageway(s). In one example, the additional length is 8 mm, however, different additional length amounts are contemplated.

Stratified air scavenged two-cycle engine with air flow


Disclosed is a fine pattern forming method which is capable of forming a high positive-to-negative reversal pattern high in dry-etch resistance, at high density, by irradiating an entire surface of a resist with ion shower at low doses before or after electron beam or focus ion beam exposure, and then developing it.

This invention relates to a fine pattern forming method using electron beam or focus ion beam lithography, and more particularly to a fine pattern forming method which is capable of enhancing dry-etch resistance of a resist by ion shower irradiation.
The fine pattern forming process is divided into lithography step and etching step. In order to enhance the dry-etch resistance of the resist pattern formed in the lithography step, it was attempted to improve the resistance of the resist material itself to dry etching by introducing phenyl radicals having a high dry-etch resistance in the resist component or using silicone resin. The dry-etch resistance was also increased by ion implantation after pattern forming.
On the other hand, in the lithography step, in order to form an image reversal pattern, baking or ammonia treatment is carried out, for example, as the treatment after exposure. By such image reversal process, a fine resist pattern will be obtained.
Thus, hitherto, various considerations were given to enhance the dry-etch resistance of the resist itself, but in order to form a fine pattern by raising the resolution, it is necessary to reduce the film thickness of resist. When etching the substance by using such fine pattern as the mask, since the resist itself is etched, it is difficult to transfer the pattern in the etching step when the film thickness is smaller. When attempting to enhance the dry-etch resistance by implanting ions into the resist pattern, ions are also implanted into the semiconductor substrate, and ion irradiation defects may occur.
Besides, in the conventional image reversal process, it can be applied only in a specific resist, and the dry-etch resistance was poor.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A circuit controls the low frequency load currents drawn by components of telecommunications systems. The circuit includes a power converter, a first sense circuit, a second sense circuit, a comparator, and a power converter control circuit. The power converter control circuit controls the power converter's duty cycle in accordance with the input signal compared to a reference. In this manner, the low frequency load currents may be easily and economically controlled.

The present invention relations to a circuit for controlling low frequency noise currents drawn from DC power sources by loads requiring substantial AC energy at low frequencies.
In telecommunication systems, fans are generally used to reduce equipment's temperature rise. The fan's speed is controlled by a motor, which is usually controlled by a voltage applied across its terminal. A motor speed controller is used to control the motor speed and maintain a desired voltage level. The motor speed controller is often required because the telecommunication system's battery voltage often varies over a wide range. For example, the voltage range of a 48V system can vary from 36V to 75V, with a transient up to 100V. Thus, the motor speed controller provides a constant voltage to the motor terminals to maintain the constant motor speed when the battery voltage changes over a wide range.
It is well known that a direct current (DC) motor will draw a current that has a significant low frequency alternating current (AC) component. For example, referring to FIG. 1, a waveform is resulting from a DC motor with 24V/1.5 A (36 W) output is illustrated. With 24V DC voltage applied to the motor, the DC value of the motor current is about 1.5 A. However, the AC component is 2.5 A peak to peak. The frequency of the AC current is about 275 Hz. Additionally, there are significant harmonic components in the waveform.
The motor speed controller is a DC to DC switching power supply with an inherently fast response for maintaining the output voltage at a constant level. The low frequency AC component of the motor current is reflected in the input of the motor speed controller. Therefore, the input current of the motor speed controller has a similar shape, which includes a significant low frequency AC component.
Existing telecommunication equipment standards require that the input current of the motor controller must meet both wide band and voice band noise limits, which are much lower than the AC current, described above. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the noise of the AC current is approximately 43 dbrnc and the standard requires that the noise should be less than 9 dbrnc. For a 3 db noise margin, a 37 dbrnc (43−9+3) attenuation of the AC current is required.
Referring to FIG. 2, a standard method for attenuating the AC current is illustrated. An inductor-capacitor (LC) low frequency filter is added between the telecommunications equipment power source and the motor speed controller. A current Imotor between the motor speed controller and the fan comprises a large low frequency AC current component. There is also a significant amount of low frequency AC current in an input current IQ of the motor speed controller. The value of capacitor C1 and inductor L1 is very large, thus the impedance of capacitor C1, XC1, is very small and the impedance of L1, XL1, is very large. Therefore, a low frequency AC current Iac flows through the capacitor C1 and a DC current Idc flows through the inductor L1. As a result, the input battery current, Ibat is DC.
However, since the frequency of the AC current is very low, approximately 275 Hz in the above example, the values of L1 and C1 should be very large. In the above example, in order to meet the requirements set by the standard, the values for L1 and C1 are selected as C1=2200 uF and L1=1000 uH. The size of such an inductor is fairly large, increasing its cost and space requirement. Furthermore, although the normal operating voltage for the system is 48V, the voltage rating for the capacitor C1 should be higher than 48V because the input voltage may range between 36V and 75V or even wider. Such a capacitor further adds to the cost and space requirement for the system.
Referring to FIG. 3, an alternate solution to the problem is illustrated. In this solution, an active filter is placed between the telecommunications equipment power source and the motor speed controller. An active filter controller controls the voltage across MOSFET Q in such a way that the terminal characteristics of the MOSFET, that is the voltage across drain to source and the current through the drain to source, behaves like a large inductor.
However, the problem with the active filter is a large power loss in the MOSFET Q. The voltage across the MOSFET Q (VDS) should be higher than the worst case ripple voltage across capacitor C1 in order for the active filter to operate properly. The worst case ripple voltage happens at minimum input voltage when the input current is at maximum value. Another limitation is the gain of the MOSFET Q is very small when it operates at low drain to source voltage region. In a practical situation, the voltage across MOSFET Q should be larger than 1V, and is typically between 2–3 V. This causes significant power loss in the MOSFET Q.
Further, it should be noted that in other applications, it is required to attenuate low frequency noise generated by electronic loads other than a motor of a fan. Such loads present the same difficulties as that described for fan.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at least some of the above mentioned disadvantages.

Apparatus and method of controlling low frequency load currents drawn from a DC source in a telecommunications system


A radar encoder comprising a delta modulation circuit which receives analog adar video data from a radar and then converts the data to digitized NRZL video data. The radar encoder also has an encoder circuit which receives the digitized NRZL video data as well as a trigger pulse signal and analog synchro signals from the radar. The synchro signals are provided to a Synchro-to-Digital Converter which converts the synchro signals to sixteen digital synchro data bits which are then latched into the converter. The synchro data bits are next parallel transferred to a pair of shift registers and then clocked in a serial format to a multiplexer. The multiplexer also receives the digitized NRZL video data supplied to the encoder circuit. A state machine, in response to the trigger pulse signal, generates control signals to latch the synchro data bits into the converter and then effect the parallel transfer of the synchro data bits from the converter to the shift registers. The state machine also supplies control signals to the multiplexer allowing the multiplexer to first pass therethrough sixteen logic ones, followed by four logic zeros and four logic ones forming a frame sync. The multiplexer will next pass the sixteen synchro data bits therethrough followed by eight logic zeros. After the first forty eight bits of digitized data passes through the multiplexer in a serial format, the state machine provides a control signal which allows the digitized NRZL video data to pass through the multiplexer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to radar systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to an encoder circuit which receives radar video data and encodes the radar video data to provide Non-Return-To-Zero-Level (NRZL) Data which is then supplied to an encryption unit for encryption by the encryption unit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The military often locates a ground based radar at a site which is remote from the receiving station where the data from the radar is processed and then observed on radar video display screen. The distance between the ground based radar and the receiving station may be several miles which often requires that the radar data be transmitted over public lands via, for example, fiber optic cables. Since data from the ground based radar generally includes classified information there is a need to protect the data during the transmission thereof over the fiber optic cables linking the ground based radar to the receiving station. This requires that the radar data, which is generally in an analog format, be digitized for compatibility with digital formatted encryption units, such as the KG194 encryption unit, currently being utilized by the United States Armed Forces.
The encrypted data is next transmitted via the fiber optic cable to the receiving station where it is un-encrypted by a second encryption unit and then provided in a digital format for processing and then display on a radar video display screen. The digitized radar data is then converted to an analog format which is compatible with the radar video display screen.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide to digitize analog radio video data into an NRZL data format which is compatible with an encryption unit.
It is another object of the present invention to generate a frame synch signal in response to a radar trigger pulse received from a radar.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a serial data stream which includes a frame sync signal, synchro data and digitized radar video data.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment in conjunction with all of the figures of the drawings.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A thread gripper for a textile thread having a fork-like gripping member with two rigid horns 3, 7, of which the one horn 7 forms a rigid part of the thread gripper. A cushion 5 of soft resilient material is inserted in a recess 4 in the other horn 3. This cushion 5 presses a tongue 6, in order to grip the thread 11. The thread 11 is released by pressure on the nose 9 carried on top of the tongue.

The invention relates to a thread gripper for textile threads with flexible pressing of a movable part against a rigid part to hold the thread.
As a rule, such grippers consist of two parts, generally of metal, which press resiliently against one another and which hold the textile thread situated in between as a result of the frictional force produced by the pressure. The pressure is produced as a result of the fact that at least the one part is either a lamination produced from spring steel which is gripped (rivetted, screwed, pushed into a guide gap or the like) in a carrier with initial stress at one of its ends or is a rigid lever which is articulated pivotally on a carrier and is subject to the action of a spring (generally a spiral spring), in which case the counter part may likewise be constructed in the form of a resilient member.
This kind of thread gripper is comparatively expensive to produce. In addition, the thread grippers with the laminations constructed in the form of spiral springs are liable to break. Excited by vibrations of the loom or of the weft needle when used as a yarn holder, the laminations of the thread grippers often tend towards vibrations, as a result of which the holding force of the thread intermittently approaches zero.
A further disadvantage consists in that the contact faces cannot adapt to differences in thickness in the textiel thread, as a result of which this can be exposed to locally severe pressing.
Furthermore, the known thread grippers are relatively heavy, particularly those with the lever as a movable part, so that when they are used in the weft needle, for example, disadvantages result for this (greater inertia, high pressure on the warp threads of the lower shed or on guide elements of the weft needle).


In a transdermal cell, a matter volume-adjustment male device includes the lower opening end of the through-space structure having inner wall female threads mateable with first male threads of a screwable matter volume-adjustment male member alternately adjustable upwardly and downwardly between opposite upper and lower female threads-termination points. The screwable matter volume-adjustment member has opposite first upper and lower male threads-termination points, and the inner wall female threads are further concurrently mateable with a bottom closure member having second male threads having opposite second upper and lower male threads-termination points. There is a first annular sealing ring sealably mounted in an annular groove around the screwable volume-adjustment male member between the first upper and lower threads-termination points positioned between the inner wall female threads and the first male threads, and there being a second annular sealing ring sealably mounted the second male threads at a location below the second upper termination point.

Rigid and inflexible and strongly enforced government standards exist in the control of the pharmaceutical and/or health industry in the testing equipment and accuracy and consistency thereof and reliability thereof, (1) for permeability of transdermal membrane(s) of unknown permeability to one or more liquid(s) of known permeability capability(ies) and/or (2) for the permeability of one or more liquid(s) of unknown permeability capability(ies), to a transdermal membrane of known permeability capability(ies), and/or (3) for the testing of a non-liquid matter of known absorption rate to either a transdermal membrane of unknown permeability with a liquid of known permeability, or for the testing of a non-liquid matter of unknown absorption rate to a transdermal membrane of known permeability using a liquid of known permeability. Factors that are critical to the obtaining of consistent test results typically include the exact volume of liquid in the testing vessel surrounding the transdermal cell, its volume being always a "constant", i.e. the volume of liquid being the same from one test to the next, as a known unchanging constant. Another such factor that can alter the repeatability of test results, is the presence of different pressure of a solute and/or non-liquid matter within a constant-volume reservoir, from one test to another, arising from use of different quantities of the non-liquid matter in different otherwise repetitive tests; such non-constant condition results and arises from availability of different amounts of the same or different non-liquid matter to be tested in otherwise repetitive tests when consecutive identical tests use the same or identical transdermal membranes. The same problem results if the volume of the reservoir for holding the non-liquid matter, varies from one test to another for otherwise identical quantities (volumes) of the non-liquid matter(s) being tested and/or retested for verification. Accordingly, great care heretofore has been essential to assure consistent and reliable repetitive results in testing the same non-liquid matter, or in tests using different non-liquid matter for comparative purposes. Unfortunately, such government requirements are difficult to meet repeatedly with the required degree of accuracy. As set-forth in the following objects, the present invention is directed principally to overcoming such typical prior difficulties in achieving consistent and repeatable results for liquid(s) and/or transdermal membrane(s) and/or non-liquid matter(s) - as the case may be, being tested.

Transdermal cell test matter volume-adjustment device


Abrasive articles comprising a plurality of abrasive grits and a cured ceramer. The cured ceramer is formed from a liquid dispersion comprising a dispersing liquid and non-aggregated colloidal metal oxide particles dispersed in the dispersing liquid, wherein the dispersing liquid comprises a free-radically polymerizable composition.

Abrasive articles typically comprise a plurality of abrasive particles and a binder. There are a number of different types of abrasive articles on the market. These include: (1) coated abrasive articles, in which the binder bonds the abrasive particles to a backing material (e.g., "sandpaper"); (2) lapping coated abrasive articles, in which the abrasive particles are dispersed in a binder to form an abrasive composite, which is then bonded to a backing to form an abrasive article; (3) bonded abrasive articles, in which the binder bonds the particles together to form a shaped mass, e.g., a grinding wheel; and (4) nonwoven abrasive articles, in which the binder bonds the abrasive particles into a nonwoven fibrous substrate. In all of these abrasive articles, there is an abrasive surface which contacts a workpiece to be abraded.
The binder in the abrasive article is typically formed by curing a liquid binder precursor. The liquid binder precursor includes a resin or an adhesive. During the manufacture of the abrasive article, the liquid binder precursor is exposed to an energy source, which ultimately results in the polymerization or crosslinking of the resin or polymer to form the solid binder. The energy source can provide thermal energy, or radiation energy, e.g., electron beam, ultraviolet light, or visible light.
In general, as the hardness of the abrasive particles and/or the binder increases, there is a corresponding increase in the cut rate, i.e. the rate at which the abrasive article is able to remove material from a workpiece. However, as the cut rate is increased by increasing the hardness of the abrasive particles and/or the binder, the quality of surface finish imparted by the abrasive article to the workpiece may be adversely affected. If the surface finish obtained is undesirably coarse, the hardness of the abrasive particles and/or of the binder may have to be reduced, thereby decreasing the advantageous cut rate.

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


A dispenser for rolled materials, including a first base, a second base rotatably engaged with the first base, the second base including a disc including a top surface having one or more ribs arranged thereon, and a vertical member connected to the top surface, a first post connected to the first base, and a second post connected to the first base, the second post including a flapper operatively arranged to engage the one or more ribs.

A number of household paper, plastic, and foil goods are commonly supplied as continuous sheets on a roll or tube. Some examples of these goods are paper towels, toilet paper, plastic wrap, wax paper, aluminum foil, wrapping paper, and garbage bags. Often, the sheets are perforated at regular intervals to allow an individual to select a desired quantity of material and easily separate it from the roll. Dispensing of these materials is made even easier by a variety of dispensing devices that are used to mount the roll or tube on a dowel or rod to allow the sheets to easily be unraveled from the roll. However, one drawback of known dispensers is that because the roll of product is allowed to rotate freely, the force required to separate individual sheets from the roll frequently results in excess material being unraveled from the roll.
Thus, there is a long felt need for a dispenser for rolled paper, plastic, foil, or other products that restricts rotation of the roll to eliminate excess material being unraveled therefrom.


Apparatus, methods and media for correcting a defective check processing datum. The apparatus may include, and the methods and media may involve, a receiver that is configured to receive from memory a first transaction record. The transaction record may include Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) line data. The MICR line data may be electronically read from a check. The transaction record may include non-MICR data. The non-MICR data may be electronically read from the check. The apparatus may include, and the methods and media may involve, a processor that is configured to identify a defective datum among the MICR line data. The processor may identify a portion of the non-MICR data that corresponds to the defective datum. The processor may store in memory a second transaction record. The second transaction record may include corrected data that includes an element that is derived from the identified portion of the non-MICR data.

Processing of a check issued by a financial institution may involve reading Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (hereinafter, "MICR") line data that may be printed in a MICR line on a face of the check.
MICR line data may include information relevant to the processing of the check and/or of a scanned image of the check. MICR line data may include a routing transit number (hereinafter, in the alternative, "RTN"). The RTN may include a Federal Reserve routing number and an American Bankers Association (hereinafter, "ABA") identifier of the financial institution. The MICR line data may also include an identifying number of an account against which the check may be drafted, an amount of currency for which the check may be written, and an identifying item number of the check itself.
MICR line data may be read by an electronic device. The electronic reading device may be sensitive to magnetic properties of magnetic ink used to print MICR line data on the face of the check.
An electronic device may be used to produce an optically scanned image of the MICR line. The electronic device may be used to produce the scanned image of the check. The scanned image of the MICR line may be part of the scanned image of the check.
Processing of the check may be hindered by defective MICR line data on the check, in the reading of the MICR line data and/or in the scanned image of the MICR line. A defect may originate as a missing element of the MICR line data, e.g., from a tear, fold or crease in the material, generally paper, of the check. The defect may originate as a low quality element of the MICR line data, e.g., improper, stained, smudged and/or covered printing. The defect may originate as an improper reading of the check or the MICR line data, e.g., via a glitch in an electronic reading/scanning device and/or in a check transport device that may deliver the check to the electronic reading/scanning device. The defect may originate from any other source of processing-hindering defect in the MICR line on the check and/or in the MICR line data. The defect may render the check an "exception" to normal check processing: the check may be subject to "exception and defect" processing.
Exception and defect processing may include processing a check featuring a defect. Exception and defect processing may include processing a check featuring a defect in the MICR line on the check and/or in the MICR line data. Exception and defect processing may include correction of defective MICR line data. Correction of defective MICR line data may be required for return of the check to normal check processing. However, correction of defective MICR line data typically involves human intervention.
Correction of defective MICR line data by human intervention may involve human assessment of the MICR line on the check and/or in the scanned image. Correction of defective MICR line data by human intervention may involve human replacement of the defective MICR line data. Human intervention may be slow and inefficient.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide apparatus, methods and media for correction of defective MICR line data without recourse to human assessment or human replacement of the MICR line data.


A light source includes a high pressure discharge lamp and incandescent filaments which provide illumination during the warm-up and hot restart periods associated with the discharge lamp. A current regulator, which provides dc power to the discharge lamp, draws sufficient current through one filament to energize the filament only during discharge lamp warm-up. A second filament provides illumination during the period after the occurrence of a momentary power failure or power transient which is required by the discharge lamp to cool down to its maximum starting temperature. A bimetal switch permits current flow through the second filament when the discharge lamp is above the maximum starting temperature. An electronic switch permits current flow through the second filament when a current sensing resistor senses a lack of current through the discharge lamp.

This invention relates to instant-on light sources and, more particularly, to light sources wherein a discharge lamp is combined with incandescent filaments and a solid state ballast to provide instant-on lighting.
High pressure metal vapor discharge lamps provide significantly higher efficiencies than incandescent lamps and are widely used for general lighting purposes. Such lamps can be operated from standard 60 Hz ac power but require ballast circuits for power factor correction and voltage step-up to develop the requisite high starting potential. Typical ballast circuits include a capacitor and an inductor and are large and heavy. In addition, conventional ballast circuits provide poor power regulation for line-voltage variations, are expensive, cause flicker at 60 Hz, and often introduce an audible humming noise into the environment.
An inherent disadvantage of metal vapor discharge lamps is the warm-up period of several minutes during which only a low level of illumination is available. The warm-up period or cold-start delay is due to the necessity for the metallic fill material to be vaporized and the lamp envelope to be warmed up before full light output is attained. Furthermore, when power to the lamp is momentarily interrupted, the discharge is extinguished and cannot be re-initiated until the lamp cools off and the pressure in the lamp is reduced. After the discharge is re-ignited, the warm-up period described above must be repeated before the lamp again reaches full light output. The hot restart delay is thus longer than the cold-start delay. The delays involved in starting and restarting metal vapor lamps are unacceptable in some applications, for example, in household lighting.
It is known to use standby incandescent filaments to provide illumination during the cold-start delay and hot restart delay period associated with metal vapor discharge lamps. Various arrangements have been shown in the prior art for operating an incandescent filament during cold start and hot restart periods of a discharge lamp operating at 60 Hz in conjunction with a conventional inductive ballast.
Metal vapor arc lamps have been operated at frequencies well above 60 Hz. A metal vapor arc lamp operated at 20 to 50 KHz is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,445 issued Apr. 24, 1979 to Davenport et al. A comparator circuit senses when the arc lamp voltage is outside a predetermined range and turns on a standby incandescent filament when the arc lamp voltage is outside that predetermined range. While the disclosed light source provides instant light output, it disadvantageously utilizes relatively heavy and expensive inductive components and it generates radio frequency interference (RFI), especially during lamp start-up, thereby potentially causing electromagnetic interference with other electronic equipment.
Metal vapor discharge lamps can be operated directly from dc power sources. Solid state dc lamp ballasts utilizing switching regulators are described by P. Schiff in "Solid-State Ballasting of Mercury-Arc Lamps" RCA Application Note AN-3616, November 1973. A solid state dc lamp ballast, commercially available from Quietlite International Ltd. under Model No. QL-75-4, utilizes a series regulator. The discharge lamp draws current from the series regulator during warm-up through a series resistor which is electronically bypassed after the discharge lamp reaches operating temperature. The problem of cold-start delay and hot restart delay remains when the discharge lamp is operated by dc power.
Solid state dc ballasts provide power regulation and eliminate heavy magnetic components, 60 Hz flicker, electromagnetic interference, and audible humming. Furthermore, the metal vapor discharge lamp is relatively efficient. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a solid state dc ballasted light source which has light output during the cold-start and hot restart periods of the discharge lamp. Such a light source is a suitable replacement for the incandescent lamp.


A tape running direction indicator is provided with a sensor for producing a sense pulse corresponding to the rotation of a take-up reel, a ring counter clocked by the sense pulse, and a display unit which receives output pulses of the ring counter and includes decimal points arranged side by side for indication of the tape running direction. The output pulses of the ring counter are shifted corresponding to the direction of the tape running. A glint of each decimal point is successively shifted in the direction of the tape running while flashing.

The invention relates to a tape running direction indicator by using a character display unit for displaying the running amount of a tape used in a tape recorder.
Generally, in a cassette type tape recorder, a cassette half is fully housed in the tape recorder. For this, it is very difficult to catch the running direction of the tape being used, when the tape recorder used is provided with no tape running direction indicator.
For the indicator for tape running direction, there has been proposed an indicator in which the head of a tape take-up axis is marked or another indicator which is mechanically operable interlocking with the tape take-up axis.
In recent years, because of a remarkable improvement of digital electronic devices, we can easily and cheaply procure digital electronic parts such as digital display devices and counter ICs. This enables the digital display devices to be applied to counters to indicate the tape running amount of the tape recorder or indicators for indicating a voltage level of a battery. However, there has been no electronic display device capable of displaying both the tape running amount and the tape running direction by a single device.


A lighting system includes various LED boards. The LED boards are connected to a power source via an LED driver that regulates power from the power source to the LED boards. The LED driver includes a positive output and a negative output. The positive output of the LED driver is connected to a positive connection point of a first LED board and the negative output of the LED driver is connected to a negative connection point of a last LED board to distribute power or current approximately evenly across the LED boards. Distributing power or current approximately evenly across the LED boards or balancing current through the LED boards can cause the brightness or intensity of various LEDs in the lighting system to be approximately the same.

Some lighting systems that include multiple light-emitting diode ("LED") boards use a single LED driver to power the multiple LED boards. The lighting systems can include one or more LEDs on each LED board. Various components of the lighting system (e.g., the individual LEDs, conductive traces on the LED boards, wires connecting the various LED boards, etc.) can each have an impedance. Differences or variations in the impedances of the components of the lighting system may negatively affect the system. For example, the differences in the impedances may cause variations in the current passing through the lighting system, which can result in variations in the brightness levels of LEDs in the system.
Some lighting systems may use a splitter that is connected to the LED driver to split power output from the LED driver among the various LED boards. Such lighting systems may require a number of connectors, wires, and other components to connect the LED driver to the individual LED boards, which may increase the cost or complexity of the system.
Existing lighting systems have limitations as they do not mitigate or obviate the effects of variations in the impedances of components of the lighting system or they involve using additional components to split power output from the LED driver, which can increase the cost and complexity of manufacturing the lighting system. For example, existing lighting systems may include a single LED driver connected to an LED board of the lighting system and the LED board is then connected to another LED board. In these systems, variations in the impedances of wires, connectors, or conductive traces in the system for the different LED boards can cause each LED board to produce a different intensity or brightness due to differences in current. As another example, existing lighting systems may include a single LED driver connected to each LED board in the system via a splitter. Such systems can involve using additional connectors to connect the LED driver to each LED board, which can increase the complexity and cost of manufacturing the system.

Systems and methods for balancing current among light-emitting diode boards


A field emission cathode having a parallel array of individual electrically conductive rods of metal silicide or germanide in a silicon-based or germanium-based single crystal matrix. Each rod has an emission end exposed at one major surface of the cathode and an ohmic contact end exposed at an opposite major surface. In a preferred cathode, the matrix and rod materials are the constituents of a eutectic composition. The cathode is fabricated by a process involving producing a composite boule from a eutectic composition of a silicon-based or germanium-based material and a metal. The composite cathode body is cut from the boule so that the rods are generally normal to the major surfaces. Etching may be used to expose a uniform length of the rods at the emitting surface.

This invention relates to field emission cathodes, and in particular to large-area field emission cathodes of semiconductor-metal eutectic composite materials.
High current density electron sources are required for a variety of laser and microwave tube applications. Development of the x-ray laser, in particular, requires high current density sources. At the present time this requirement is met by using thermionic cathodes, because of the high current densities possible with these devices. Unfortunately, thermionic cathodes are wasteful of power and cannot be turned on and off rapidly.
Field emission cathodes do not suffer from these drawbacks. Thus these "cold" cathodes would be attractive as possible alternatives to thermionic cathodes if reliable field emission cathode devices capable of yielding high current densities and high gross currents could be developed. However, prior to the present invention the necessary high current densities, gross currents, and long lifetimes have not been achieved in field emission cathodes.
Hopes for attaining field emission sources with currents and current densities equivalent to those of typical thermionic emitters have depended thus far on the development of multipin cathodes to yield high gross emission currents at low macroscopic fields. Spindt et al. (J. Appl. Phys., 47, December 1976, p. 5248-63) have used lithographic techniques to prepare an array of thin film molybdenum cones on a silicon wafer in a low voltage emitter configuration. The largest arrays were 5000 pins at packing densities of 6.times.10.sup.5 pins/cm.sup.2. When operated in ultra-high voltage (UHV) conditions this multipin cathode achieved current densities of 8 A/cm.sup.2 and maximum gross output current of 5 mA in direct current (dc) operation. However, the inability of Spindt et al. to prepare larger arrays and the thermal and mechanical instability of these structures prevents this approach from competing with thermionic emitters.
As an alternative to lithographic techniques, other researchers have used the rod-type structure formed upon solidification of a two-phase system that forms a eutectic in which the volume fraction of a conducting phase is much smaller than the volume fraction of the other phase. Eutectic cold cathodes of tungsten pins or rods in a matrix of uranium oxide have been the subject of the most extensive research. (See, for example, W. L. Ohlinger, Ph.D. Thesis, August 1977, Georgia Inst. of Technology.) Using a design in which the cathode and anode are separated by a vacuum gap, this eutectic cold cathode tested in UHV yielded current densities of up to 20 A/cm.sup.2 under dc conditions using small-area arrays with a density of 10.sup.7 rods/cm.sup.2. With larger cathode arrays, current densities of 1.2 A/cm.sup.2 and gross output currents of 20 mA were obtained.
Thus, although both approaches developed cold cathodes that yielded attractive current densities, neither approach was able to develop the large gross currents necessary to compete with thermionic emitters. The low gross currents are due in part to inability to fabricate large area arrays. Spindt et al. were unable to produce Mo cone arrays with more than 5000 pins, while Ohlinger was plagued by the difficulties of growing the desired large boules of W/UO.sub.2 composite. In addition to the difficulty presented by the high eutectic temperature of W/UO.sub.2, the thermal expansion coefficient mismatches and inherent brittleness of the materials resulted in extensive internal cracking in the fabricated cathode devices.
For field emission cathode devices to become practical alternatives to thermionic cathodes, they must combine stability of device structure, high current density, and high gross current output. The present invention addresses this need.

Semiconductor metal composite field emission cathodes


A medium processing device may include a head which reads or writes data to a recording medium; and a flexible cable which is connected with the head. The flexible cable may be formed in a multilayer structure including a data signal layer formed with a data signal pattern and disconnection detecting signal layers which cover a front face and a rear face of the data signal layer and are formed with a disconnection detecting signal pattern. The flexible cable may also include a terminal connecting part formed with a through hole into which a signal terminal of the head is inserted and a terminal covering part folded to cover the terminal connecting part and fixed to the terminal connecting part.

Conventionally, a card reader structured to read magnetic data recorded on a card has been widely utilized. In this type of a card reader, for example, magnetic data recorded on a card are read by a magnetic head disposed in a card passage along which the card is passed. Further, conventionally, in an industry where a card reader is utilized, a so-called skimming, that is, an illegal act that a criminal attaches a signal line to the magnetic head or the like and magnetic information recorded on the card is illegally acquired, is becoming a serious problem.
In order to prevent this problem, conventionally, a magnetic head and a flexible cable which are capable of preventing the skimming has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Literature 1). In the Patent Literature 1, a signal terminal of a magnetic head and a flexible cable are connected with each other in the inside of a head case of the magnetic head and resin is filled in the inside of the head case so as to cover the connected portion of the signal terminal with the flexible cable. Further, in the Patent Literature 1, both of an upper face and a lower face of the signal wiring line layer in which a conducting wire through which a data signal is transmitted from the magnetic head is formed are covered by a protective layer in the flexible cable which is connected with the signal terminal. The protective layer is formed with a disconnection detection wiring line having a disconnection detection function and a short circuit detection wiring line.
Therefore, when the technique described in Patent Literature 1 is used, attachment of a skimming signal line to the signal terminal of the magnetic head and to a conducting wire of the flexible cable is prevented and, as a result, the skimming is prevented.

Medium processing device and flexible cable