Steam or high-temperature gas containing steam flows through a gas-flow drying pipe. Tobacco is fed from a feed port into the high-temperature gas flowing through the gas-flow drying pipe, and heated and expanded while it flows together with the gas. Steam or water is injected into the high-temperature gas flow from injection nozzles at the positions downstream from the feed port to change the gas temperature. Thereby, the heat quantity given to the tobacco from the high-temperature gas is controlled to prevent the tobacco quality from degrading.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for expanding tobacco made by shredding tobacco leaves with an expanding agent such as carbon dioxide, and heating, expanding, and drying the tobacco impregnated with the expanding agent.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for preventing the aroma of tobacco and the smoking taste from deteriorating in the following processes. The tobacco impregnated with the expanding agent is continuously fed into the flow of high-temperature gas containing stream, dispersed in the gas-flow, flown together with the gas, and heated while the tobacco flows together with the gas, and the expanding agent impregnated in the tobacco expands to expand the texture of the tobacco and the tobacco is dried while heated. Steam or water is externally injected to a channel where the gas and tobacco flow and the gas temperature is controlled to expand and dry the tobacco.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, tobacco is expanded to moderate the smoking taste and decrease the cost by decreasing the amount of tobacco used.
The material is expanded by impregnating the tobacco texture with an expanding agent such as freon or carbon dioxide before heating the tobacco to quickly expand the expanding agent impregnated in the tobacco and the tobacco texture.
Recently, however, carbon dioxide is used for the expanding agent in order to avoid affecting the environment. When the expanding agent uses carbon dioxide, it easily goes out of the tobacco. Therefore, it is necessary to quickly heat the tobacco impregnated with carbon dioxide and quickly swell the impregnated carbon dioxide and the tobacco texture.
To heat the tobacco impregnated with the expanding agent, a method is conventionally used to dry tobacco by applying hot air to it while it is carried by a net conveyor. Another method is also conventionally used at times for drying tobacco by applying hot air and infrared rays to it while it is carried by a net conveyor.
For the above methods, however, it is difficult to quickly heat tobacco and, in addition, the impregnated carbon dioxide is almost lost before the tobacco material is expanded because of a low heating speed when the expanding agent uses carbon dioxide.
There is still another tobacco drying method for feeding tobacco into the flow of high-temperature gas. For this method, the tobacco fed into the high-temperature gas is dispersed and flows together with the gas. Therefore, it is possible to quickly heat the tobacco with the high-temperature gas. The high-temperature gas uses, for example, a gas made by mixing air with 50 to 95 volume percent of superheated water vapor. Because the mixture gas consisting of air and superheated water vapor has a large specific heat, the tobacco fed into the gas-flow can more quickly be heated.
Therefore, when the expanding agent uses carbon dioxide, the method of feeding tobacco into the above high-temperature gas-flow is suitable for heating the tobacco impregnated with carbon dioxide.
For the method of feeding tobacco into the high-temperature gas-flow, however, there is the disadvantage that the tobacco fed into the high-temperature gas-flow is burnt and the aroma of the tobacco and the smoking taste are degraded because a large heat quantity is given to the tobacco from the high-temperature gas though the tobacco can quickly be heated.
When the expanding agent uses, for example, carbon dioxide, it is necessary to feed the tobacco into the gas-flow containing more than 50 volume percent of water vapor and having the temperature of 200.degree. to 350.degree. C. in order to adequately swell the tobacco impregnated with carbon dioxide. However, the texture of tobacco leaves is burnt when the temperature of tobacco exceeds 140.degree. C., and the aroma and the smoking taste are degraded when the temperature of it exceeds 180.degree. C. because the sugar contained in the tobacco leaves decomposes.
Therefore, when the agent uses carbon dioxide and the tobacco impregnated with the carbon dioxide is fed into high-temperature gas-flow to expand and dry tobacco, it is necessary to quickly contact the tobacco with the high-temperature gas so that the tobacco is adequately expanded and to prevent the aroma and the smoking taste from degrading. However, it is difficult to control contacting of the tobacco fed into the high-temperature gas-flow with the high-temperature gas and heating of the tobacco so that it meets the above conditions. To control heating of the tobacco fed into the high-temperature gas-flow, various methods and systems have been developed so far.
For example, the official gazette of Japanese Patent Laid-open No. S59-6875 discloses a method and system for feeding tobacco into high-temperature steam flow and installing a tangential separator at the down-stream side of the tobacco feed port. In this case, the tobacco fed from the feed port contacts high-temperature gas and flows together with the high-temperature gas, and it is separated from the high-temperature gas by the tangential separator. Therefore, it is possible to securely control the contacting time between the tobacco and the high-temperature gas and the heating state of the tobacco by controlling the distance between the tobacco feed port and the tangential separator and the gas-flow rate. The official gazette also discloses a method for feeding tobacco into the tangential separator to contact the tobacco with high-temperature gas only for a very short time before it is immediately separated from the gas.
The official gazette of Japanese Patent Publication No. S57-25194 discloses a technique for feeding tobacco into a pipe where high-temperature gas-flows and controlling the contacting time between the tobacco and the high-temperature gas at the range of 0.2 to 2.0 sec.
The technique for controlling the contacting time between tobacco and high-temperature gas is disclosed in these official gazettes. However, to adequately expand the tobacco and prevent the quality from degrading, reciprocal conditions must be met. Therefore, no adequate effect can be obtained only by controlling the contacting time between the tobacco and high-temperature gas as disclosed in these official gazettes.
How the aroma of the greatly-heated tobacco and its smoking taste are degraded is complex and delicate. For example, the tobacco fed into the superheated water vapor flow of 300.degree. C. maintains the practically-satisfactory quality when the contacting time between the tobacco and high-temperature water vapor is 1.5 sec. However, it does not maintain the practically-satisfactory quality for the contacting time of 1.6 sec. These characteristics are confirmed through the test executed by installing a separator at the down-stream side of a pipe where high-temperature gas-flows and changing side position where the tobacco is fed into the pipe and the time until the tobacco is separated from the high-temperature gas-flow after it is fed into the gas-flow.
Moreover, the expanded tobacco containing much water would shrink after it expands. Therefore, to prevent the expanded tobacco from shrinking, it is also clarified that the expanded tobacco should be brought under almost absolute dry condition with the water content of 2 to 3 weight percent.
In short, when the expanded agent uses carbon dioxide, it is necessary to feed the tobacco impregnated with carbon dioxide into high-temperature gas-flow and quickly heat it. In this case, however, it is necessary to control the contacting state between the tobacco and the gas, adequately expand the tobacco, and prevent its quality from degrading.


An impeller is directly driven by an output shaft of a core engine. The airflow produced by the impeller rotates an air turbine and a fan disposed integrally with the air turbine. The impeller and the air turbine form a fluid coupling which serves also as a speed reducing mechanism. The rotational speed of the fan can be reduced to be lower than that of the output shaft while retaining efficiency of the core engine. The outer diameter of the fan can be increased, raising a bypass ratio.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to turbofan engines commonly used in aircraft travelling at subsonic speeds, and more particularly to a mechanism for reducing fan rotational speed.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Turbofan engines have been widely used for aircraft travelling at subsonic speeds. In turbofan engines, propulsive force is gained by an exhaust stream, i.e. a jet, of a core engine in the form of a gas turbine engine and a fan driven by shaft power of the core engine.
In such a turbofan engine, the specific fuel consumption can be reduced by increasing the bypass ratio, that is, the ratio of the flow rate of the air directed downstream by the fan but bypassing the core engine to be discharged to the flow rate of air taken into the core engine. That is, higher efficiency can be obtained by increasing the propulsive force by the fan relative to the propulsive force by the jet.
A greater bypass ratio can be obtained by increasing the outer diameter of a fan. However, as the outer diameter of the fan increases, the peripheral speed of the fan increases and shock waves are produced when the speed approaches that of sound. This results in a lowering of the propeller efficiency of the fan, which in turn leads to a decline in overall efficiency. Therefore, rotational speed of the fan must be decreased in order to increase the bypass ratio. If the rotational speed of the fan is simply lowered, the rotational speed of the turbine in the core engine which directly drives the fan is also lowered, resulting in a decrease in turbine efficiency. Consequently, thermal efficiency of the core engine is also declined, thereby decreasing the overall efficiency.
A technique has been proposed to use a gear mechanism to reduce the rotational speed of the rotation shaft of the core engine and rotate the fan at a reduced speed. This technique makes it possible to obtain appropriate rotational speeds of both fan and turbine. For aircraft application, such speed reducing mechanism is required to be extremely lightweight and highly reliable.
Material for the gear mechanism is relatively heavy because of durability requirements. If its weight is reduced, rigidity of the gear mechanism will be diminished, giving rise to great deflection of components. Such deflection makes it extremely difficult to accurately obtain the engaging positions of the gear teeth, and therefore it is almost impossible to accurately know the dynamic stress at the components of the gear mechanism. Thus, the gear mechanisms currently available do not simultaneously meet requirements for reduction in weight and for high reliability.
Further, the fan and the turbine of the core engine produce thrust in the opposite directions. Therefore, if a gear mechanism as described above is provided between the fan and the turbine, these thrusts are not cancelled and a thrust bearing with great capacity is necessary, which further increases the total weight. If such a gear mechanism is not provided, the turbine and the fan are provided on a common shaft, substantially canceling the thrust powers, and only a small thrust bearing is required.
From the reasons above, application of the above gear mechanism to aircraft is limited to small engines; its application to large-scale engines has yet to be practically implemented. In addition, no appropriate speed reducing mechanisms other than such a gear mechanism have either been implemented or proposed.

Turbofan engine including fans with reduced speed


A triglyceride or a triglyceride/hydrocarbon combination can be heated to produce thermally treated feeds. The thermally treated feeds can then be contacted with a hydrotreating catalyst in a reaction zone.

There is a national interest in the discovery of alternative sources of fuels and chemicals, other than from petroleum resources. As the public discussion concerning the availability of petroleum resources and the need for alternative sources continues, government mandates will require transportation fuels to include, at least in part, hydrocarbons derived from sources besides petroleum. As such, there is a need to develop alternative sources for hydrocarbons useful for producing fuels and chemicals.
One possible alternative source of hydrocarbons for producing fuels and chemicals is the natural carbon found in plants and animals, such as for example, oils and fats. These so-called "natural" carbon resources (or renewable hydrocarbons) are widely available, and remain a target alternative source for the production of hydrocarbons. For example, it is known that oils and fats, such as those contained in vegetable oil, can be processed and used as fuel. "Bio Diesel" is one such product and may be produced by subjecting a base vegetable oil to a transesterification process using methanol in order to convert the base oil to desired methyl esters. After processing, the products produced have very similar combustion properties as compared to petroleum-derived hydrocarbons. However, the use of Bio-Diesel as an alternative fuel has not yet been proven to be cost effective. In addition, Bio-Diesel often exhibits "gelling" thus making it unable to flow, which limits its use in pure form in cold climates.
Unmodified vegetable oils and fats have also been used as additives in diesel fuel to improve the qualities of the diesel fuel, such as for example, the lubricity. However, problems such as injector coking and the degradation of combustion chamber conditions have been associated with these unmodified additives. Since cetane (C16H34), heptadecane (C17H36) and octadecane (C18H38) by definition have very good ignition properties (expressed as cetane rating), it is often desired to add paraffinic hydrocarbons in the C16-C18 range, provided that other properties of the additive (such as for example, viscosity, pour point, cloud point, etc., are congruent with those of the diesel fuel). Processes for converting vegetable oil into hydrocarbons have been achieved, such as, for example, contacting a diesel/vegetable oil mixture with a hydrotreating catalyst. However, oftentimes, vegetable oils can contain significant amounts of metal and phosphorus compounds. These metal and phosphorus deposits can cause catalyst deactivation and plugging of the reactor catalyst bed. As such, development of a new and simple process for removing metal and phosphorus compounds from vegetable oils would be a significant contribution to the art.


A method for emendation of attention trajectory in video content analysis is disclosed. The method includes steps of extracting attention area for each frame in a video sequence, each attention area of a frame selectively being a reference for the other frames, projecting the attention area of the reference to a current frame, and determining an enhanced attention area of the current frame by collecting and merging all the projected attention areas together with the original attention area of the current frame to emend the attention trajectory of the video sequence so as to make the attention trajectory smooth. Advantageously, short-life attention or noise is omitted, and the attention area is also enriched, therefore, the smooth of the attention trajectory improves subjective viewing experience of human being.

In the technology field of video content analysis, visual attention is the ability to rapidly detect the interesting parts of a given scene. In a typical spatiotemporal visual attention computing model, low level spatial/temporal features are extracted and a master "saliency map" which helps identifying visual attention is generated by feeding all feature maps in a purely bottom-up manner. Identifying visual attention for each of the image sequence, the attention trajectory is then indicated. However, several inherent disadvantages arise in the conventional attention computing scheme: 1) since there are varies of features competed in saliency map, a slight change of any of these features may lead to result differ, which means that so calculated attention trajectory is unstable and blinking time by time; 2) the attention may be fully or partially omitted because of shelter, position of critical saliency degree, or attention boundary etc. in a specific time slot; 3) it may produce noise or very short-life attention, when adopting in attention-based video compression/streaming or other applications, such an un-smooth attention will lead to subjective quality degradation.
As shown in FIG. 1 which indicates the general architecture of Itti's Attention Model. In the Itti's attention model, which is presented by L. Itti, C. Koch and E. Niebur, in "A Model of Saliency-Based Visual Attention for Rapid Scene Analysis", IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol. 20, No. 11, November 1998, visual input is first decomposed into a set of topographic feature maps. Different spatial locations then compete for saliency within each map, such that only locations which locally stand out from their surround can persist. All feature maps feed, in a purely bottom-up manner, into a master "saliency map", which topographically codes for local conspicuity over the entire visual scene.
As an extension of Itti's attention model, Y. F. Ma etc. take temporal features into account, published by Y. F. Ma, L. Lu, H. J. Zhang and M. J. Li, in "A User Attention Model for Video Summarization", ACM Multimedia '02, pp. 533-542, December 2002. In this model, the motion field between the current and the next frame is extracted and a set of motion features, such as motion intensity, spatial coherence and temporal coherence are extracted.
The attention model created by the above scheme is sensitive to feature changes, which lead to un-smooth attention trajectory across time as follows:
(1) Successive images in image sequence are very similar and viewers will not tend to change their visual focus during a time slot, unfortunately, the slight changes between these successive images will make the calculated attention great differ;
(2) When an attention object becomes non-attention or sheltered by a non-attention object for a short period, viewers will not change their visual focus because of their memory knowledge, again, attention models fail to indicate this; and
(3) Attention models always generate short-life attention or noise, which in fact will not be able to attract viewer's attention.
In attention-based video applications like ROI (Region of Interest)-based video coding, such un-smoothness will lead to subjective visual quality degradation. In ROI-based video coding, more resource are allocated to the more attractive ROI and thus a more clear ROI while related blurred non-ROI. With an un-smooth ROI trajectory, viewer focused in ROI will notice the changing quality (become clear or blurred from time to time) which lead to an unhappy experience.
Therefore it is desirable to develop an improved method of emendation for attention trajectory to reduce the influence of these disadvantages and make the generated attention smooth.

Method of emendation for attention trajectory in video content analysis


A non-bunching sweater wrap for wearing by a person over the person""s outer cloths that drapes over the upper back and shoulders around the neck of the person to simulate a sweater. The sweater wrap includes a generally rectangular body having a lower edge, a pair of side edges, and an upper portion. A pair of elongate parallel arms extend upwardly from the upper portion, the arms having straight outer edges which are parallel and inner edges which include respective outwardly upwardly curved portions to closely fit around the person""s neck positioned adjacent the body of the sweater wrap. The body of he sweater wrap may be secured in position over the person""s outer cloths by tying the arms into a knot at the person""s upper chest without resulting in an inward bunching of the upper portion of the body and the arms behind and beside the person""s neck.

1. Field
The present invention relates to clothing and more specifically to sweaters and shawls which are worn over other clothing.
2. State of the Art
Peoples"" tastes in clothing and clothing styles are an elusive target which clothing designers, clothing retailers, and other such people have attempted to predict and oftentimes try to set. While some styles are set each year by the big name clothing designers, other styles simply emerge due to peoples"" habits. One such style which arose due to people""s habits is the wearing of a sweater tied around a person""s shoulders or waist when too hot to be worn. The sweater may be untied and worn in case the weather becomes colder such as by becoming cloudy or raining, since the outer clothing worn lacks sufficient insulation for such colder weather. The sweater may be draped over the person""s shoulders and the arms of the sweater tied in front of the person""s upper chest, or draped behind the person""s buttocks and the arms of the sweater tied in front of the person""s waist. This keeps the sweater handy for use should the weather turn colder, but does not require carrying of the sweater in the hands or around the arms of the person. The sweater worn draped over the shoulders or wrapped around the waist has become fashionable, particularly with women, who wear the sweaters for the stylish look and not because a sweater might be needed.
While many people like the stylish look created by wearing the sweater tied about them, they are not pleased by the bulkiness of the sweater. When draped over the shoulders, considerable bunching occurs at the juncture of the arms and the body of the sweater. This is because the arms extend laterally and downwardly of the body, but when worn draped over the shoulders, the arms must be rotated about one-hundred-thirty-five degrees from their normal position to wrapped about the person""s neck. Bunching or cupping occurs at a bottom portion of the body where respective front and rear portions of the body are juxtaposed.
Various garments have been designed which look like a sweater when worn tied about the person, but which are actually not real sweaters that can be worn as such which attempt to eliminate bunching problems. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,562 issued to Martin is disclosed a shawl type garment which is designed to simulate a sweater. The garment includes a main body panel and a pair of arms which extend laterally at a right angle from an upper portion of the main body panel. The garment is of a woven or knitted fabric that is either single or double layered. The garment is cut to minimize cupping at the bottom edge and can include trim buttons and button holes to simulate a cardigan sweater. While this garment may be an improvement over tying a real sweater by minimizing cupping at the bottom edge when tied around the person, there is still the problem of bunching at the juncture of the arms and the main body panel. That is, since the arms extend at a right angle laterally of the main body panel, there is considerable bunching at the juncture of the arms and the main body panel when the garment is worn draped over the shoulders. That is because the arms must be rotated ninety degrees from their lateral position to wrapped about the person""s neck and be tied.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,586,077 issued to Evans is disclosed a garment which is a combined muffler and scarf. The garment consists of a rectangular back section and two elongate rectangular muffler portions which are integrally formed with the back section or permanently attached thereto. The muffler portions extend in a spaced parallel relationship from an upper portion of the back section. A button or other fastening device is provided in the center of a lower edge of the back section. One muffler portion is provided with three loops at a distal end from the back section and the other muffler portion is provided with a loop and two buttons also at a distal end from the back section. When worn, the back section extends from the wearer""s shoulders down to the small of the back and the two muffler portions pass over the shoulders and are crossed over the chest and extend along the lower edge of the back section. The muffler ends are connected together using the buttons which fasten in the respective loops and the loops fasten over the button of the back section to attach the ends of the muffler portions to the back section to prevent the ends of the muffler from riding up when worn. The garment is not designed to look like a sweater, and does not look like a sweater. The muffler portions of the garment do not tie in front of the person wearing the garment, but rather requires fastening devices to secure the ends of the muffler portions behind the person.
There is a need for a garment which simulates a sweater when worn draped over the person""s shoulders and tied in front, but which does not bunch at the juncture of the arms and the body when worn as such.
The present invention is a non-bunching sweater wrap for wearing by a person over the person""s outer cloths that drapes over the upper back and shoulders around the neck of the person to simulate a sweater. The sweater wrap includes a generally rectangular body having a lower edge, a pair of side edges, and an upper portion. A pair of elongate arms extend upwardly from the upper portion, each arm having an outer edge and an inner edge. The body may be secured in position over the person""s outer cloths by tying the arms into a knot at the upper chest of the person without resulting in an inward bunching of the upper portion of the body and the arms behind and beside the person""s neck. The arms are preferably parallel with the respective inner edges including respective outwardly upwardly curved portions adjacent the body, and the outer edges substantially straight and parallel.


A photovoltaic cell used in a direct energy conversion generator for converting heat to electricity includes a reflective layer disposed within the cell between the active layers of the cell and the cell substrate. The reflective layer reflects photons of low energy back to a photon producing emitter for reabsorption by the emitter, or reflects photons with energy greater than the cell bandgap back to the cell active layers for conversion into electricity. The reflective layer can comprise a reflective metal such as gold while the substrate can comprise heavily doped silicon or a metal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of energy conversion, viz., heat to electricity, and, more particularly, to thermophotovoltaic CTPV) energy conversion wherein a heat source radiatively heats a solid-state semiconductor energy conversion device or devices (e.g., photovoltaic cells) which convert the resultant photons into electricity.
2. The Prior Art
Thermophotovoltaic energy conversion of heat to electric power is used as an alternative to classical Rankine steam cycles employed for this general purpose. Thermophotovoltaic systems provide for the conversion of heat into thermal radiation and thereafter into electricity by means of the action of photovoltaic semiconductors.
A high temperature heat source, such as provided by burning of combustion gases or any high temperature fluid, heats an emitter surface which radiatively emits infrared (IR) photons with a spectrum characteristic of the temperature of the heat source. The photons are focused onto a thermophotovoltaic cell which absorbs the photons primarily through electron/hole (e.sup.- h.sup.+) creation. The IR photons must be of an energy greater than the difference between the conduction and valence bands of the lattice--referred to as the "band gap"--in order to create an (e.sup.- h.sup.+ pair). Otherwise, the photon will be parasitically absorbed, producing heat without electrical power. The mobile charge carriers (e.sup.- h.sup.+) drift until they come in contact with the photovoltaic interface (p-n junction field), at which point carriers are accelerated thereby developing a potential difference across the cell which can be used to power an electrical load.
Control of the IR spectrum is required to obtain efficient operation of a thermophotovoltaic system, i.e., the spectrum must be matched to the cell bandgap. Photons with energy below the bandgap energy must be recycled back to the heat source for efficient operation, or never emitted from the heat source. Photons with energies much higher than the bandgap will still produce power, but only the bandgap energy value is recoverable out of the incident energy of the photon, and the remainder is wasted as heat. While high energy photons contribute to the total output power, they decrease the relative efficiency somewhat, and are therefore either suppressed or included depending on the specific application. An ideal system, in terms of spectral matching to the cell bandgap, uses laser-powered photovoltaic energy conversion wherein the incident photon energy is set exactly equal to the cell bandgap. Such systems are being developed and tested for space applications; however, the inefficiency of creating the laser beam (.ltoreq.10%) outweighs the high efficiency with which the cell can convert the spectrally matched incident beam (.about.60%), rendering these systems unattractive compared to more conventional systems of energy conversion. Still, the importance of matching the spectrum to the cell bandgap is clear.
Thermophotovoltaic power systems have classically suffered from the parasitic losses associated with photons of energy less than the target thermophotovoltaic cell bandgap (hereafter referred to as "low energy photons") being radiated off the hot "emitter" surface and absorbed in the cells, producing waste heat equal to their energy. Typically, 60-80% of the energy radiated by the emitter surface is low energy photons, depending on the choice of bandgap. These photons must be efficiently recycled back to the emitter, and therefore not wasted, in order to achieve acceptable system efficiencies. Classically, spectrally selective filters have began used to reflect these photons at the cell surface back to the emitter. However, fundamental limitations in the reflective bandwidth of such filters result in significant parasitic absorption efficiency losses, since large fractions of the spectrum have energies less than the bandgap. The emitter can also be modified to suppress its emission of such low energy photons. However, as the emissivity of the emitter in the low energy photon region decreases, its reflectivity increases in a complementary fashion. Therefore, even if the filter reflects a low energy photon back to the emitter, the photon may be reflected back off the emitter toward the filter, again and again. With each pass, there is a chance the photon will be parasitically absorbed in either the cell or the structurals. Hence, the benefits of modifying the emitter emissivity to preferentially suppress low energy photon emissions are almost completely nullified. This could change if extremely low emitter emissivities for low energy photons are achieved, but this is currently beyond the state-of-the-art.
A key issue with thermophotovoltaic energy conversion using low bandgaps is the minimization of "dark current." Dark current is the electrical current flow in a thermophotovoltaic (or solar) cell that opposes the useful photon-generated electrical current. The photon-generated current must be increased significantly above the dark current in order to produce useful power in the cell. This can be accomplished by maximizing the incident source photon flux, or minimizing the dark current. The incident photon flux is exponentially proportional to the heat source temperature, which affords the system designer a method of overcoming high dark currents. Lower bandgap cells have inherently higher dark currents, necessitating higher incident photon fluxes to achieve comparable efficiencies. However, dark currents can be reduced by various means. These means include, for example, front surface passivation to lower surface velocities, using high purity precursors, using heterostructures, and mirrored photon recycling to mitigate radiative recombination. In the latter, radiative recombination is a loss mechanism where photo-excited charge carriers degenerate with the release of a photon (typically equal to the bandgap energy) prior to being collected at the p-n junction. This dark current contributor can be quantified by time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL). Mechanisms by which radiative recombination photons are recycled (reabsorbed in the cell) will show increased charge carrier lifetimes relative to methods that are ineffective at photon recycling.
A further important area for consideration is cell costs. The costs associated with the manufacture of thermophotovoltaic (or solar) cells typically are broken down into three major categories: wafer cost; cell growth costs; and processing and array costs. Regarding the former, the cell must be grown on a structure of sufficient strength to allow handling for cell growth and post-growth processing (discussed below). The wafers are typically made of very high purity crystalline compounds with crystal lattice parameters (characteristic unit crystal dimensions) acceptable to the active cell layers to be grown on the wafer. Wafers typically make up between 30-50% of the total cell cost, mainly due to the fabrication and processing tolerances. With respect to cell growth cost, the cells are typically grown on the wafers using some form of chemical vapor deposition. (Atmospheric Pressure Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (APMOVPE) and Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) are common methods. ) The cell layers typically have +/-10 nanometer tolerances in thickness, and similarly demanding uniformity, purity and doping tolerances. This step typically accounts for 30-50% of the total cell costs. Development costs are significant for new material systems.
Regarding processing and array costs, once a photovoltaic wafer is grown, electrical contacts must be added (commonly using photolithography), the wafers must be cut into individual cells, and the cells mounted and wired into arrays. This step typically accounts for up to 30% of the cell costs.
Thermophotovoltaic spectral control costs (e.g., filtration, emissivity modification, and the like) can also make up a significant fraction of the total cell costs, especially for thermophotovoltaic systems, wherein spectral control accounts for upwards of a 200-300% relative efficiency difference, and, therefore, warrants state-of-the-art spectral control techniques. However, in a production mode, spectral control costs will not be expected to exceed 30% of cell costs.
The application of thermophotovoltaic direct energy conversion has received relatively little attention for a number of reasons. First, there are limited applications due to high costs, viz., cell, spectral control, structural, and optics costs. Second, there has been lack of viable low bandgap thermophotovoltaic cell materials, at least up until recently. Third, there are problems with energy losses, primarily associated with the absorption of low energy photons that do not produce electricity (poor spectral control). In particular, typical thermophotovoltaic system operating temperatures (<1500.degree. C.) require a low bandgap thermophotovoltaic cell (at or below 0.6 eV) to match the relatively cool emitter spectrum, and thereby achieve both high efficiency conversion (>25%) and high surface power density (>1 amp/cm.sup.2 out of cell). To date, no low bandgap photovoltaic power cells have been produced for these temperature ranges, although several have been made that are close (e.g., Germanium 0.67 eV, National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) InGaAs 0.75 eV, and Boeing Corporation GaSb 0.7 eV).

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy


A transfer material detecting device contains a transfer material carrier that detachably carries a transfer material to transport the transfer material to a transfer region where a toner image of an image carrier is transferred to the transfer material; and transfer material sensors that are disposed in a moving path of the transfer material carrier and detect the existence of the transfer material carried by the transfer material carrier. The device contains at least two transfer material sensors arranged in a moving direction of the transfer material carrier at intervals that are shorter than the minimum size of the transfer material to be detected; and a device for outputting a transfer material detection signal when at least two of the transfer material sensors simultaneously detect the existence of the transfer material.

The invention relates to a transfer material detecting device which is useful in an image forming apparatus having a transfer material carrier, such as a color copier, or a color printer, and more particularly to a transfer material detecting device which detects a state where a transfer material stuck as a result of a jam remains held by a transfer material carrier. Such a transfer material detecting device is necessary for preventing a transfer material from being newly transported under a state where a previous transfer material remains carried by a transfer material carrier.
As a transfer drum of this kind, conventionally, the following technique is known.
(J01) Technique shown in FIGS. 14 and 15: PA0 Technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. SHO. 58-11965:
Referring to FIG. 15, a cylindrical photosensitive portion 02 is disposed at the center of the axial direction of a photosensitive drum 01. A photosensitive drum gear 03 is disposed at one end (the left end in FIG. 15) in the axial direction.
A toner image formed in the cylindrical photosensitive portion 02 of the photosensitive drum 01 is transferred to a transfer material carried by a transfer drum 06.
The transfer drum 06 shown in FIGS. 14 and 15 comprises a front drum 07 made of aluminum, a rear drum 08, and a drum tie plate 09 which connects the drums 07 and 08 with each other. Cylindrical members 011 and 012 for supporting a bearing are fixed to the center portions of the drums 07 and 08, respectively. The cylindrical members 011 and 012 are supported by a shaft member 013 via bearings (not shown). The shaft member 013 elongates outward from the drums 07 and 08 (see FIG. 14) so as to be supported by a frame (not shown) of an image recording apparatus.
A transfer film 014 (see FIG. 15) is stretched between the drums 07 and 08 so as to form a cylindrical shape. A transfer material (not shown) such as a recording sheet can be sucked to the cylindrical transfer film 014 by static electricity.
Referring to FIGS. 14 and 15, a ring-like driven gear (transfer drum gear) 016 is attached to the left end of the front drum 07 of the transfer drum 06. The transfer drum gear 016 engages with the photosensitive drum gear 03 of the photosensitive drum 01. A ring-like rubber belt 017 is disposed in the right side of the transfer drum gear 016. As shown in FIG. 15, the rubber belt 017 makes contact with the cylindrical face of the photosensitive drum 01 so that the distance (distance DDS, see FIG. 15) between the surface of the photosensitive portion 02 and that of the transfer film 014 is held at a predetermined value.
The rear drum 08 is not provided with a transfer drum gear. A rubber belt 018 (see FIG. 14) similar to the ring-like rubber belt 017 is disposed on the rear drum 08.
In the thus configured transfer drum, when a new image forming operation is started without removing a transfer material which is stuck on the transfer material carrier in a jam, a next transfer material is transported to the transfer material carrier on which the previous transfer material remains, thereby again causing a jam.
Therefore, the image forming operation must be started after ascertaining that no transfer material is held on the transfer material carrier.
As a technique for detecting that a transfer material exists at a predetermined position, conventionally, the following technique is known.
The publication describes a method in which existence of a transfer material on a transfer material carrier is detected by using a transfer material sensor of the reflected light detection type disposed in a moving path of a transfer material carrier. Generally, a transfer material is higher in optical reflectivity than the transfer material carrier. Therefore, a transfer material can be detected by the sensor of the reflected light detection type.
However, the transfer material is not disposed in the whole of the periphery of the transfer material carrier. Therefore, in the case where only one transfer material sensor is disposed in the periphery of the transfer material carrier, even when a transfer material is held on the transfer material carrier, the occasion when the transfer material does not exist at the position opposing the transfer material sensor sometimes arises.
On this occasion, even when the material is held on the transfer material carrier, the transfer material sensor cannot detect the transfer material. Therefore, in the case where only one transfer material sensor is used, the transfer material carrier must be rotated in order to surely ascertain whether a transfer material is held on the transfer material carrier or not.
When a transfer material is to be detected while rotating the transfer material carrier, there is a problem as discussed below. In a configuration wherein, as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, the transfer film (transfer material carrier) 014 is supported in a cylindrical shape by the pair of drums 07 and 08 and the drum tie plate 09, the amount of light reflected from the drum tie plate 09 is not obviously distinct from that of light reflected from the transfer material, and hence the detection signal from the transfer material sensor is unstable.
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the output signal of the transfer material sensor. In FIG. 16, the area defined by a indicates a detection signal for light reflected from the drum tie plate, and the succeeding area defined by b is a transfer material detection signal. FIG. 16 shows the signals obtained in the case where the transfer material exists. If there is no transfer material, the signal in the area b of FIG. 16 has a low level.
As seen from FIG. 16, in the region of the drum tie plate 09 (see FIG. 14), it is difficult to judge whether a transfer material exists or not.
In other words, the afore-mentioned method has the problems as discussed below.
In an image forming apparatus wherein a transfer material holding member which is hardly distinguished from a transfer material moves along the same path as the transfer material, it is impossible to surely detect existence of the transfer material.
In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, it is an object of the invention to detect the existence of a transfer material on a transfer material carrier rapidly and surely.
Next, the invention which has been accomplished in order to meet the afore-mentioned and other objects will be described. In order to facilitate the understanding of the relationships between the components of the invention and those of embodiments described later, the components of the invention are accompanied by parenthesized reference numerals of the corresponding elements of the embodiments. The reason why the invention will be described in correspondence with the reference numerals of the embodiments described later is to facilitate the understanding of the invention, and it is not intended to restrict the scope of the invention to the embodiments.


A method for use in a multimedia conferencing arrangement to control multiple concurrent calls where each call comprises one or more channels. A first call among a first set of user stations and a second call among a second set of user stations are merged into a single call comprising a plurality of channels among at least three user stations from the first and second sets. The plurality of channels of the single, merged call corresponds to a combination of channels of the first and second calls and may include a signalling channel, a voice channel, and one data channel for each data channel of the first and second calls. The method is also applicable to calls including image or video channels.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,231, issued to W. F. Leung et al. on Feb. 27, 1990, discloses a multimedia communication system using a single packet switching network for the various media based on what is referred to as a multimedia virtual circuit. A virtual circuit is a packet-switched communication path between two endpoints. A network call setup procedure establishes a virtual circuit and an associated virtual circuit identifier based on a destination address. To route successive packets, the network needs only the virtual circuit identifier. In a multimedia virtual circuit, a virtual circuit is divided into multiple virtual channels at the workstations. Each channel represents a different information medium and has a separate channel identifier; the composite multimedia virtual circuit represents the resulting multimedia call. As the various multimedia call sources generate traffic, the workstation multiplexes the packetized traffic onto a single network virtual circuit. The destination workstation demultiplexes this traffic back into multiple channels, which it routes to a telephone, speaker, file, or other destination. This process preserves the temporal ordering of the information streams so that in a voice and video call, for example, the voice corresponds to the mouth movement in the video picture. The multimedia virtual circuit also provides a simple way to let a multimedia call destinatio associate the multiple media. A single incoming call notification arrives from the network to announce a call. The workstations then exchange signaling information over a virtual channel of the multimedia virtual circuit to set up all the necessary channels and to route them to the appropriate devices.
The Rapport multimedia conferencing system, disclosed in the S. R. Ahuja et al. article, "The Rapport Multimedia Conferencing System," Proceedings of Conference on Office Information Systems, March 1988, supports interactive, real-time distributed conferences among two or more people. Executing on personal workstations interconnected by separate data and voice networks, the Rapport system provides basic mechanisms to create, manage, and terminate conferences. The system provides an environment in which many types of meetings can take place, including telephone conversations, discussion among colleagues, and lectures. Existing workstation programs can be used during a conference to produce and edit data and displays for the conferees. Rapport is designed to help people emulate face-to-face conferences as closely as possible with their workstations. However, the reliance on separate networks for the different media (data and voice) substantially complicates the control of conference calls. Although concurrent participation in many conferences is possible, a user is only able to communicate on one call at a time. A Rapport system user may participate in many conferences concurrently by switching among contexts at the click of a mouse button. This is equivalent to being able to walk in and out of several meeting rooms (and one's office) instantly. It is anticipated that this capability will encourage users to keep many conferences active for long periods of time in much the same fashion as the use of screen windows allows one to keep many programs and files active with the present data networks. One such long-lived conference might be an intercom connection between a manager and a secretary. Others might be among the collaborators in a design project or the authors of a paper. It is anticipated that once the capability for multiple concurrent calls is provided, it will be useful to merge and split such calls. For example, the manager may ask the secretary to join a design project conference from time to time to assist the project team. The effective control of a plurality of multimedia calls poses a technical problem, particularly in the Rapport system arrangement comprising several separate networks, but also for the system of the above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,231 employing a single network for all media.

Multiple call control method in a multimedia conferencing system


A digital audio signal distortion detecting device is provided for estimating the distortion based on the linearity error of an analog/digital converter at the time of analog/digital conversion from a digital audio signal converted from analog to digital by the analog/digital conversion having linearity error. This device includes storage means (2) for storing the digital audio signal, occurrence frequency detecting means (3) for fetching a plurality of samples from the digital audio signal stored in the storage means (2) and counting the occurrence frequency of the samples for every code expressing the quantization level of the samples, normalizing means (4) for extracting distortion characteristics accompanying the linearity error of an A/D converter (11) from the occurrence frequency for every code detected by the occurrence frequency detecting means (3) as a normalized occurrence frequency, and error bit detecting means (5) for detecting an error bit on the basis of the code corresponding to the characteristics of the normalized occurrence frequency.

The present invention relates to a distortion detecting device, a distortion correcting device, and a distortion correcting method for detecting the generated distortion accompanying the linearity error (conversion error) of an analog/digital converter when an analog audio signal is converted to a digital audio signal through analog-digital conversion by the analog/digital converter.
Heretofore, analog/digital converters (A/D converters) contained linearity error in accordance with the A/D conversion precision. When the A/D converter converts an analog signal to a digital signal, distortion is generated accompanying the linearity error (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cconversion errorxe2x80x9d) of the A/D converter in the converted digital audio signal. In this case, when performing A/D conversion with the A/D converter, it is possible to reduce to a certain degree the distortion based on the conversion error at the time of A/D conversion by adjusting the internal resistance of the A/D converter or adjusting the bit weighting with an external circuit.
However, a great number of music software titles, which were digitally recorded in the past using A/D conversion (digital audio signals recorded in the past), were converted from analog to digital by A/D converters having poor conversion precision at a low number of bits (such as 13 bits or 14 bits). Consequently, the A/D converters themselves contained conversion errors even if adjusted (and contained considerable distortion based on the conversion error compared to modern (such as 16-bit) A/D converters) and the distortion accompanying the conversion error due to poor conversion precision becomes one cause of degraded quality of the recorded music signal. Therefore, it is presently preferable to obtain digital audio signals having reduced distortion based on the conversion error of the A/D converters that were used in the past at the time of the recording.
In this case, it is possible to measure the characteristics of the A/D converters that were used in the past at the time of the recording and to correct the A/D conversion error based on these characteristics. However, since the characteristics of A/D converters deteriorate with time, the characteristics at the time of A/D conversion, namely, the conversion error, cannot be detected accurately from the A/D converters that were used at the time of the A/D conversion. Furthermore, 13-bit or 14-bit A/D converters that were used at the time of recording generally do not presently exist. In this case, the characteristics of the A/D converters cannot be detected from the A/D converters. It is thus difficult to accurately detect the A/D conversion error of the digital audio signals regardless of whether or not the 13-bit or 14-bit A/D converters that were used in the past at the time of the recording are currently available, and resulted in a problem where the A/D conversion error could not be reduced.
It was also difficult to estimate (detect) the conversion error at the time of A/D conversion from the digital audio signal that was recorded with distortion based on the conversion error (pre-recorded music signal). A known measurement device using a sine wave histogram method estimates (detects) the conversion error of the A/D conversion from the digital audio signal. After a distortion-free sine wave is fed to an A/D converter to be measured, a histogram is obtained and the measurement device uses the histogram to measure the conversion error that is to be measured. However, if the signal source, such as a digital audio signal, is not a sine wave, the conversion error could not be estimated (detected).
In this manner, it was difficult hitherto to estimate (detect) the conversion error at the time A/D conversion from the digital audio signal (music signal), which was already recorded using A/D conversion, and therefore, a digital audio signal with reduced distortion based on the conversion error at the time of A/D conversion could not be obtained.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a distortion detecting device, a distortion correcting device, and a distortion correcting method for making it possible to correct the digital audio signal so as to reduce the distortion included in the digital audio signal by estimating (detecting) the distortion based on the linearity error of the A/D converter at the time of A/D conversion from the digital audio signal (pre-recorded music signal) that was converted from analog to digital by the A/D converter having linearity error.
The distortion detecting device for digital audio signal relating to the present invention comprises storage means for storing a digital audio signal, occurrence frequency detecting means for extracting a plurality of samples from the digital audio signal stored in the storage means and counting the occurrence frequency of the sample for every code expressing a quantization level of the sample, normalizing means for extracting a distortion characteristic accompanying the linearity error of an analog/digital converter as a normalized occurrence frequency from the occurrence frequency for every code detected by the occurrence frequency detecting means, and error bit detecting means for detecting an error bit from a difference between codes of the normalized occurrence frequency extracted by the normalizing means.
According to the present invention, even though the analog/digital converter that generated the digital audio signal including conversion error does not exist, the distortion based on the linearity error of the analog/digital converter can be detected on the basis of the generated digital audio signal.
The distortion correcting device for digital audio signal relating to the present invention comprises conversion error detecting means for detecting the error bit influenced by the linearity error of the analog/digital converter from the occurrence frequency for every code of the digital audio signal converted to code by the analog/digital converter, and conversion error correcting means for correcting the error bit of the digital audio signal based on a detection result from the conversion error detecting means.
According to the present invention, the bit at which the distortion accompanying the linearity error of the analog/digital converter is generated is detected, and based on this detection result, the bit concerning the distortion is corrected so that the distortion of the digital audio signal generated including conversion error can be reduced.
In the distortion correcting device for digital audio signal relating to the present invention, the conversion error detecting means comprise the storage means for storing the digital audio signal, the occurrence frequency detecting means for extracting a plurality of samples from the digital audio signal stored in the storage means and counting the occurrence frequency of the sample for every code expressing a quantization level of the sample, the normalizing means for extracting the distortion characteristic accompanying the linearity error of the analog/digital converter as normalized occurrence frequency from the occurrence frequency for every code detected by the occurrence frequency detecting means, and the error bit detecting means for detecting the error bit based on the code corresponding to a feature of the normalized occurrence frequency.
According to the present invention, the normalization of the occurrence frequency causes the feature dependent on the digital audio signal for which samples were collected to be removed and the conversion characteristic of the analog/digital converter at the time of generating the digital audio signal to be extracted. Thus, the distortion correcting device according to the present invention can correct an arbitrary digital audio signal generated with the same conversion characteristic as the analog/digital converter.
In the distortion correcting device for digital audio signal relating to the present invention, the occurrence frequency detecting means comprise a histogram memory using as an address the code according to the quantization level, read data in the histogram memory at the address corresponding to the code of the sample read from the storage means and add 1, write added data to the histogram memory, and create a histogram expressing the occurrence frequency for every code.
In the distortion correcting device for digital audio signal relating to the present invention, the normalizing means obtain an average occurrence frequency, which averages the occurrence frequency for every block formed from a plurality of codes respectively corresponding to a plurality of adjacent quantization levels, divide the occurrence frequency corresponding to every code by the average occurrence frequency of the block including the concerned codes, and set a value of the division result as the normalized occurrence frequency.
In the distortion correcting device for digital audio signal relating to the present invention, the error bit detecting means obtain an interval of the quantization level according to a varying pattern of the normalized occurrence frequency appearing in correspondence to the quantization level series, and detect the error bit according to the concerned interval.
In the distortion correcting device for digital audio signal relating to the present invention, the conversion error correcting means estimate the correct code on the basis of the error bit detected by the conversion error detecting means, and replace the code of the digital audio signal that was input with an estimate of the correct code.
In the distortion correcting device for digital audio signal relating to the present invention, the estimation of the correct code in the conversion error correcting means is performed by setting to X the average of the normalized occurrence frequency corresponding to every code having the error bit, obtaining a first difference D1, when the same value of the digital audio signal continues in a plurality of Kt samples from time K1 to Kt, between the first sample value of the same value in succession and the value of the preceding sample, obtaining a second difference D2 between the last sample value of the same value in succession and the value of the succeeding sample, and adding 1 to values from Kt/X to Kt of the plurality of samples when the first difference D1 and second difference D2 are positive values or adding 1 to values from K1 to Kt(1-1/X) of the plurality of samples when the first difference D1 and second difference D2 are negative values.
The distortion correcting device for digital audio signal relating to the present invention comprise the storage means for storing the digital audio signal converted to code by the analog/digital converter, the occurrence frequency detecting means for extracting a plurality of samples from the digital audio signal stored in the storage means and counting the occurrence frequency of the samples for every code expressing the quantization level of the samples to obtain a level distribution, the normalizing means for generating, by applying a low-pass filtering process on the original level distribution detected by the occurrence frequency detecting means, an ideal level distribution approximating an ideal case where the analog/digital converter has no error, dividing the original level distribution by the ideal level distribution, and setting the divided result thereof as a normalized level distribution, the conversion table calculating means for calculating a conversion table for all of the quantization levels of the digital audio signal based on the normalized level distribution, and the data substituting means for substituting the quantization level of the digital audio signal with the level data according to the conversion table for output.
According to the present invention, the conversion error of the analog/digital converter is estimated from the level distribution of the digital audio signal recorded using the analog/digital converter that is used, the conversion table for all of the quantization levels of the digital audio signal; and is calculated based on the estimated conversion error, the conversion process is performed on the digital audio signal using the table, and the distortion generated due to the conversion error of the analog/digital converter is corrected so that the unevenness in the occurrence frequency is corrected at or below the threshold and the A/D conversion error can be substantially reduced.
The distortion correcting method for digital audio signal relating to the present invention corrects the distortion generated due to the conversion error of the analog/digital converter by estimating the conversion error of the analog digital converter that is used, from the level distribution of the digital audio signal recorded using the analog/digital converter, calculating the conversion table for all of the quantization levels of the digital audio signal based on the estimated conversion error, and performing a conversion process using the conversion table on the digital audio signal.
In the distortion correcting method for digital audio signal relating to the present invention, the conversion table is created by collecting a predetermined number of samples from the digital audio signal recorded using the analog/digital converter to obtain the level distribution of the concerned samples, applying the low-pass filtering process on the level distribution to generate an ideal level distribution approximating an ideal case where the analog/digital converter has no error, dividing the level distribution, before the low-pass filtering process was applied, by the ideal level distribution, to set the divided result thereof as a normalized level distribution, carrying out accumulation based on the normalized level distribution to calculate a conversion table for all of said quantization levels of die digital audio signal, and substituting the quantization level of the digital audio signal with level data according to the conversion table for output.
According to the above-mentioned present invention, the error of the analog/digital converter can be detected from the recorded digital audio signal even though the characteristic of the analog/digital converter used in the generation of the digital audio signal is unknown or the analog/digital converter itself is unavailable, and furthermore, the distortion of the digital audio signal can be corrected on the basis of the error of detected analog/digital converter and the distortion of the digital audio signal can be reduced to improve the audio quality.
On the other hand, in another distortion correcting method for the digital audio signal relating to the present invention, a linear count-up signal is input to the analog/digital converter, the conversion error of the analog/digital converter is calculated by comparing the input signal of the analog/digital converter with the output signal thereof, and on the basis of the above calculated conversion error, the distortion based on the conversion error included in an arbitrary output signal from the analog/digital converter is corrected according to the conversion error calculated in the above-mentioned manner.
According to the present invention, if the A/D converter used when recording the music source presently exists without changes in its conversion characteristics, a music signal currently recorded in 16 bits, for example, can be converted in the future into a music signal having 24 bits or more.

Distortion detecting device, distortion correcting device, and distortion correcting method for digital audio signal


A ceramic electronic component includes a ceramic body and an outer electrode. The outer electrode is disposed on the ceramic body. The outer electrode includes a first conductive layer and a second conductive layer. The first conductive layer includes a resin, a first metal component, and a second metal component having a higher melting point than the first metal component. The second conductive layer is disposed on the first conductive layer. The second conductive layer is includes a plating film. An alloy particle containing the first metal component and the second metal component protrudes to the second conductive layer side from a surface of the first conductive layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ceramic electronic component and a method for producing the ceramic electronic component.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, ceramic electronic components such as monolithic ceramic capacitors have been used in harsher environments than compared with before.
Ceramic electronic components used for mobile devices such as cellular phones and portable music players are required to withstand drop impacts. Specifically, even if electronic components undergo drop impacts, it is necessary that they will not easily become detached from mount boards and that cracks will not easily form in electronic components.
Electronic components used for in-vehicle equipment such as ECUs are required to withstand the shock of a thermal cycle. Specifically, even if mount boards undergo deflection stress caused when the mount boards are subjected to thermal expansion and contraction due to a thermal cycle, it is necessary that cracks will not easily form in ceramic electronic components and solder for mounting.
To satisfy such requirements, it has been proposed that an outer electrode containing a resin be formed using a thermosetting conductive paste instead of a conventional firing conductive paste. For example, WO2004/053901 discloses a ceramic electronic component including an outer electrode having a first conductive layer and a second conductive layer. The first conductive layer is formed using a thermosetting conductive paste containing conductive particles with a high melting point, a metal powder with a melting point of 300° C. or lower, and a resin with a melting point of 300° C. or lower. The second conductive layer is formed on the first conductive layer and is composed of a plating film.
In the ceramic electronic component disclosed in WO2004/053901, there is a problem in that the adhesion between the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer is low, and thus the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer are easily detached from each other.

Method of manufacturing ceramic electronic component including heating an electrode layer to form a conductive layer including an alloy particle


A crib having a headboard, a foot board, and opposite side gates surrounding a horizontal mattress support platform adjustably attached to the headboard and foot board and being selectively positionable at various levels. One of the side gates is removable to facilitate placement of the child crib alongside a parents' bed such that the mattresses on the bed and the crib are disposed in adjacent, co-planar relation. An apron attached to the mattress support platform is extendable for insertion in sandwiched relation between the mattress and a mattress support of the parents' bed, effectively interconnecting the crib and bed while preventing objects such as baby bottles from falling therebetween. A wheel assembly and brake structure associated therewith may be added so that movement of the crib may be selectively accomplished while inadvertent movement or travel of the crib is prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a child crib specifically structured to accommodate the various stages of child growth and development from infant through the toddler ages.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a child matures from the infant stage through the toddler stage, the specific needs of the child and level of attentive care demanded of the parents slowly diminishes. At the earliest stages, from birth to six months of age, an infant requires the highest degree of care. For this reason, it is advisable that the infant sleep in the same room with the parents to immediately alert the parents of the need for feeding, changing of diapers, or comforting the infant. Many parents prefer to keep their child as close and as accessible to them as possible so that they can attend to their baby without having to get out of bed and walk across the room. On the other hand, it is not advisable to place an infant in bed with adults due to the fear of a parent rolling over in their sleeping and accidentally injuring the baby. Further, typical beds are not ordinarily equipped with appropriate gates or railings to prevent an infant from rolling out of bed, which in many instances, would result in injury. Additionally, the transition from the parents' bed to the child's own bed can be highly stressful to the child who has developed a sense of security from sleeping in the parents' bed. In fact, even the transition from a crib to a child bed can be somewhat difficult for a child. This is due to the fact that the child becomes accustomed to a particular sleeping place during the early infant years and slowly begins to identify that familiar sleeping place as a type of safe haven. Therefore, it would be most beneficial to keep the infant in a crib having the proper protective railings, if the crib were capable of being held in place alongside the parents' bed, were capable of eliminating the physical barriers between the parent and the child, were capable of eliminating height differences between crib-mattress and parents' bed and were capable of converting later to a conventional crib and later still to a conventional youth bed.
There are numerous types of cribs known in the art, most of which are particularly designed to prevent a child from falling out of bed. Some cribs are convertible into a youth-type bed by providing for the removal of the side gates when the child reaches the toddler stage. Other cribs include side gates that can be raised and lowered, allowing access to the mattress to facilitate removal of the infant from the crib or to replace the sheets on the mattress. Still, other cribs have been designed as a part of a two-bed unit, wherein the particular crib fits in combination with a matching adult size bed of the same manufacturer.

Transition crib for infants and toddlers


A delivery adapter which may be used as an interface between a syringe and a catheter hub is described.

A delivery adapter may be used as an interface between a syringe and a catheter hub. The syringe may contain a liquid material, in particular a high viscosity liquid material such as liquid embolic. Liquid embolic can be thought of as biocompatible glue which can be used to fill various vascular malformations such as aneurysm, arteriovenous malformation, fistula, or other malformations. Liquid embolic can also be used for various occlusive purposes such as vessel shutdown, fallopian tube occlusion, or occlusion of the peripheral vasculature. The delivery adapter helps to minimize or even eliminate altogether the dilution of the viscous liquid material in the catheter used to deliver said viscous liquid material to a treatment site within the vasculature.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A tubular synthetic-resin body usable as a roadway marker comprises spaced upper and lower tubular parts interconnected by thin webs formed integrally with the upper and lower parts. A middle part of contrasting color lies between these upper and lower parts and has grooves receiving the connecting webs. Such a roadway marker is made by fitting the middle part over a core of a mold, and then injecting synthetic-resin material into the mold around this sleeve so as to form the upper and lower parts and the web.

A hollow synthetic-resin body usable as a road marker is known which has upper and lower parts separated by an intermediate part of contrasting color. Such a device is most easily made merely by painting a contrasting-color strip around the intermediate portion of an integral one-piece post. Such an arrangement has the considerable disadvantage that the painted stripe can fade or wear off, leaving a monotone post that is completely unsatisfactory as a lane marker or the like.
Another system uses three separate synthetic-resin parts that are fitted together. Such an arrangement maintains its contrasting colors well as the central part can be made of a differently tinted resin, but in time such arrangements frequently loosen and come apart. Such devices are particularly unsuitable as roadway markers where they are occasionally subject to considerable external forces that easily knock apart and destroy the three-part assemblies.

Synthetic-resin road marker and method of molding same


An inverter arrangement for converting DC to AC having a first inverter with an input for receiving DC and an output for providing a first inverter output, a second inverter having an input for receiving DC and an output for providing a second inverter output, an AC output circuit having a first input for receiving the first inverter output, a second input for receiving the second inverter output, and an AC output for providing AC based upon the first inverter output and the second inverter output, and a controller for controlling the first inverter to minimize DC content in a first inverter output, and for controlling the second inverter output based upon DC content between the first inverter output and the second inverter output to minimize DC content in the second inverter output.

The present invention relates to an inverter arrangement for supplying an AC output from DC input, and more particularly, to an arrangement including both a first inverter and a second inverter for supplying an AC output with minimal DC content.
Power inverters have long been used to convert DC power into AC power for energizing one or more AC loads. Typically, such inverters include switches such as transistors which are controlled in pulse width modulation (PWM) operating mode to produce a PWM waveform comprising a series of pulses and notches. The waveform is converted into a sinusoidal output waveform by a filter which is coupled to the inverter output. Such an inverter may be used as part of a variable speed constant frequency (VSCF) power generating system in which a generator is driven by a variable-speed prime mover to produce variable frequency AC power which is rectified, filtered, and applied to the inverter as DC power over a DC link.
Ideally, the inverter controller should operate the inverter switches to minimize DC content in the inverter output. U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,120 discloses a system for controlling an inverter in such a way that DC content in its output is minimized.
The system in that patent uses a single inverter stage for inverting DC input into AC output. A single stage inverter requires the inverter switches to be able to manage large amounts of power. If a second inverter is added to a first inverter and is also controlled in such a way as to minimize harmonic content in its output, the inverter switches of the second inverter can share power with the inverter switches of the first inverter thus reducing the amount of power that any one switch must control which in turn can lead to a lowering of the power rating of the inverter switches. Furthermore, it is possible to control the second inverter so that additional harmonics are eliminated which results in less filtering resulting in turn in less filter weight. Under certain conditions, the savings in filter weight exceeds the weight added by the second inverter such that the overall weight of the system is reduced. Weight reduction is important when inverter systems are used in certain applications such as on aircraft.


A syringe comprising an outer tube for housing a needle/needle gasket assembly, an inner tube closed at one end by a gasket which cooperated with the needle gasket assembly for advancing and projecting the needle out of the outer tube and retracting the needle into the outer assembly when finished, and wherein the inner tube can function as a container for transporting any fluid drawn into the inner tube. The syringe can also be adapted for multiple extractions of fluid using an evacuation collection tube.

The need to prevent re-use of syringes is widely recognized in the medical field since unnecessary exposure to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and hepatitis continues to be a problem. In addition, industrial workers who use syringes filled with dangerous fluids in their work are susceptible to be stuck with an exposed needle. The most common procedure done in hospitals or medical offices is to give an injection and withdraw blood or other body fluids from a patient. Syringes are generally used for this purpose. One of the drawbacks of the current procedure is that after use the needle has to be recapped. The majority of reported cases of occupational exposure to contamination or hazardous fluids is due to needle sticks. Therefore, needle sticks are a cause of transmission of diseases to medical and industrial workers. Needle sticks occur not only on failure to recap needles but also during the process of recapping needles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,311 discloses an insert for supporting a double ended needle during a blood collection procedure which is translatable mounted within a cylinder for retracting the anterior needle into the cylinder on completion of the procedure to prevent needle stick while the posterior needle remains continually shielded against needle stick by the insert. An anterior lock position stabilizes the double ended needle during the blood collection procedure and a posterior lock position retains both ends of the needle shielded. A ramp may be associated with the posterior lock position to prevent further translation of the insert and reuse of the holder. For a reusable holder embodiment, the used double ended needle is retracted, safely enclosed and locked inside the cylinder. The anterior end of the cylinder is adapted for receiving the open end of a conventional needle shield to permit gripping of the needle supporting hub and disengagement of the needle from the insert without exposure to needle stick. A replacement needle may then be mounted in the insert and the holder reused.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,702 discloses a shield for a syringe mounted hypodermic needle which utilizes a translucent sheath. The sheath extends over the barrel to one position adjacent the barrel flange and to another position or beyond the needle point. The sheath may be distinctly stopped at these positions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,405 discloses a single use tamper resistant syringe having a locking member which prevents retraction of the plunger after the latter has been fully depressed and discharging the contents of the syringe. The proximal end of the plunger is provided with an abutment and the inside of the barrel is provided with dogs which are biased inwardly. When the plunger is depressed and the abutment slides by the dogs, the latter extend into the barrel to block retraction of the plunger. Tampering of the locking arrangement prior to use of the syringe is prevented by providing a detachable piston cap at the distal end of the plunger so that when the plunger is removed prior to use the cap is dislodged by said dogs and remains within the barrel of the syringe thereby rendering inoperative the syringe.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,225 discloses a blood collection and/or injection device includes a double-ended medical needle including a cannula having opposite pointed ends, a hub fitted over the cannula, a rubber sheath optionally fitted over an end portion of the cannula, a cylindrical holder having an opening defined in one end thereof, the end portion of the cannula which is optionally covered with the rubber sheath being adapted to be inserted into the opening with the hub held in the opening by the cylindrical holder, and an evacuated blood collection tube or syringe adapted to be inserted into the cylindrical holder through an opening defined in the opposite end of the cylindrical holder and pierced by the end portion of the cannula. The hub has spreading teeth, and the cylindrical holder includes a holder casing having chuck teeth spreadable radially outwardly by the spreading teeth of the hub. The cylindrical holder also includes a ring having recesses for receiving the spreading teeth, and a cap engaging portion is provided on the ring for receiving a cap thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,118 discloses an automatic needle-retracting syringe in which the needle automatically retracts into the barrel of the syringe without the user doing anything. This typically occurs automatically after a predetermined time lapsed from dispensing a liquid injectant from the syringe. Even if the used syringe is simply thrown onto the ground, the needle will automatically be retracted into the barrel after the period of time, such as 30 to 60 seconds, after the injection.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,899 discloses a syringe which comprises a shaft having appendix to which a plunger slidable within the syringe cylinder is sealingly connected. At that end at which the hypodermic needle is mounted the cylinder comprises a hole into which a hollow element having a shaped element integral therewith and projecting into the cylinder is inserted and locked. This shaped element becomes securely coupled to a portion shaped complementary to it provided at the adjacent free end of the plunger carried by the shaft to prevent the re-use of the syringe after the shaft has been lowered to firmly engage the shaped portion with the shaped element projecting from the cylinder since withdrawal of the shaft would cause disengagement of the plunger from the shaped appendix of the shaft.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a syringe with a retractable needle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a syringe with a single use application.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a retractable needle syringe that contains a self contained specimen container.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a tamper proof retractable needle syringe.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a safe holder for any vacuum tube sampling system for multiple extraction of specimen.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a single syringe design which can be used as an injector, extractor and for multiple evacuation.
Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description in which the preferred embodiments have been set forth in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


An automobile radio telephone apparatus capable of detecting a drop of power source voltage to prevent a telephone channel from being occupied wastefully and to thereby enhance efficient use of channels with regard to the operation of an automobile radio telephone system. When the power source voltage is lower than a predetermined voltage, the apparatus informs the user of such an occurrence. On the lapse of a predetermined period of time and if a conversation is under way, the apparatus warns the user that it will execute a forcible conversation ending procedure and then executes it.

The present invention relates to an automobile radio telephone apparatus capable of detecting a drop of power source voltage thereof and, more particularly, to an automobile radio telephone apparatus of the type informing, when a power source voltage thereof is lower than a predetermined voltage, the user of the apparatus of such a voltage drop and, on the lapse of a predetermined period of time and if a conversation is under way, warns the user that it will execute a forcible conversation ending procedure and then executes it This type of apparatus is successful in preventing a telephone channel from being occupied wastefully over a substantial period of time and thereby enhancing efficient use of channels available with the entire automobile radio telephone system.
An automobile radio telephone apparatus belongs to a family of mobile radio communication apparatuses extensively used today. It has been customary to construct an automobile radio communication apparatus such that when the output voltage of a battery drops below a predetermined voltage, an alarm tone is produced through a handset and/or an alarm is indicated on a display to alert the user to such an occurrence. This type of conventional apparatus allows the user to continuously hold a conversation despite the alarm tone or the alarm display, until the user ends it intentionally. Then, the battery voltage will in due course become lower than the operable voltage of the apparatus, causing the apparatus to be reset. When the apparatus is reset, it stops transmission and thereby ends the conversation halfway. However, a base station to which the apparatus is connected holds the channel several more seconds and then releases it, since the apparatus does not send an end-of-communication signal thereto. For such several seconds, therefore, the apparatus occupies the channel simply wastefully and thereby prevents channels of the entire automobile telephone system from being used efficiently.

Radio telephone apparatus capable of detecting a drop of power source voltage


The present invention is directed to tracking and managing failure-susceptible operations in a computer system. In a preferred embodiment, the performance of failure-susceptible operations is monitored, such that, when execution of the operating system is interrupted then restarted, it can be determined which failure-susceptible operation was in progress at the point at which execution of the operating system was interrupted. In one embodiment, this monitoring is performed using a stack data structure. When a failure-susceptible operation is invoked, an entry is pushed on the stack identifying the invoked failure-susceptible operation. On the other hand, when a failure-susceptible operation is completed, the entry identifying the completed failure-susceptible operation is popped off the stack. The failure-susceptible operation that was in progress at the point at which execution was last interrupted is then determined to be the failure-susceptible operation identified by the top entry on the stack when execution resumes. In a further preferred embodiment, subsequent attempted invocation of the operation determined to be in progress when execution was interrupted is inhibited.

The term "booting" refers to a process of loading and executing programs, principally those making up an operating system, in order to prepare a computer system for use by a user. The booting process is said to be made up of a number of operations. As computers become more powerful and capacious and as operating systems continue to evolve, the number of operations invoked during the booting process increases. Additional operations whose invocation succeeds typically add useful functionality to the operating system by, for example, automatically identifying, configuring, and initializing hardware devices installed in the computer system. On the other hand, a significant number of these operations are susceptible to failure when invoked on computer systems having particular hardware or software configurations. When these operations fail during the booting process, they often prevent the booting process from completing, thus making the computer system unusable by the user.
Conventionally, when one of these operations fails during the booting process, a knowledgeable user may be able to diagnose and resolve the problem by identifying, via trial and error, the operation that is failing, then manually modifying the sequence of operations invoked during the booting process to exclude the identified operation. Where the user is capable of diagnosing and resolving the problem alone, the process is arduous and time-consuming. On the other hand, when the user is incapable of diagnosing and resolving the problem alone, the computer system generally remains unusable until the user can obtain assistance.
Accordingly, an automated system for identifying operations that fail during the booting process and reversibly preventing their invocation during future iterations of the booting process would have significant utility.

Tracking and managing failure-susceptible operations in a computer system


A radiopharmaceutical pig device that includes two pig sections and two complementary engaging elements that engage each other. One of the two complementary engaging elements in integral with one of the two pig sections. By holding the other of the two complementary engaging elements stationary while the two complementary engaging elements are engaged, the other section of the pig may be removed from the pig without having to grasp the sidewall of the one of the two pig sections. This other of the complementary engaging elements may be part of a pig retainer brace, a shipping container, and L-Block shield or a counter top.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiopharmaceutical pig that permits a technician to remove a radiopharmaceutical dose from the pig after removing one section of the pig from the other by rotating the one section relative to the other while not manually grasping the other section.
2. Incorporation by Reference
The disclosure of application Ser. No. 09/878,502, "Radiopharmaceutical Pig and Transportation Apparatus," filed Jun. 11, 2001, is incorporated herein by reference.
3. Discussion of the Related Art
Devices for transporting radiopharmaceutical doses are known. One such device is presently manufactured by Biodex Medical Systems, Inc. This device includes a lead radiopharmaceutical pig, a second lead shielding enclosure, and a polyethylene shipping container. A syringe containing a radiopharmaceutical substance is placed inside the pig. The pig is then placed in the lead enclosure that is within the shipping container. This arrangement satisfies federal requirements concerning maximum radioactivity level detectable at the outside of a container used to transport a radiopharmaceutical dose.
To gain access to the radiopharmaceutical dose, the pig must be removed from the second level shielding enclosure and then opened. Since the pig is formed of two sections that open by turning one with respect to the other, one is grasped and held stationary while the other is turned. Due to the weight of the pig, the section to be held stationary is placed on a surface and its side wall is grasped and held stationary during rotation of the other section. Since the lead shielding of the pig is thinner along its side wall close to where the two sections join than at its ends, a technician grasping the side wall may be exposed to radiation in excess of federal standards while opening the pig, unless the technician takes additional precautions to protect his/her hand from radiation exposure.
To further minimize exposure to radioactivity, it is desirable to remove the top of the pig and gain access to the syringe without grasping the pig in a manner that requires removal of the radiation lead shield. This is because grasping the pig with the hand increases hand exposure to radiation. Where the radiopharmaceutical in question is one used for Position Emission Tomography ("PET"), such as F18-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose, the high initial dose required to be shipped in order to have a physiologically effective dose for treatment (480 mCi shipped to have a dose of 15 mCi available for administration to a patient ten hours later), increases the need to limit hand exposure to radiation.
Even in the case in which the entire pig is to be removed from the shipping container and placed behind radiation shielding on a counter top or other "hot" surface, the radiopharmaceutical-containing syringe will be accessed outside of the shipping container and radiation lead shielding. In this circumstance, it is similarly desirable to remove the top section of the pig and gain access to the syringe without grasping the sidewall of the pig at a location that was underneath where the radiation lead shielding was in the shipping container before removal of the pig, so as to minimize hand exposure to radiation.
Accordingly, there is a need for a radiopharmaceutical pig that permits the top section of the pig to be removed and the radiopharmaceutical dose contained therein to be accessed without having to grasp the sidewall of the bottom section of the pig, that is, that portion of the sidewall that is surrounded by the radiation lead shielding while in the shipping container.

Radiopharmaceutical pig of two sections that enables one section to turn relative to the other section without the need to manually grasp the other section


A connecting piece (1) between a carburetor (4) and an inlet channel (3) is disposed in an internal combustion engine (2) of a portable handheld motor-driven work apparatus such as a motor-driven chain saw, cutoff machine, et cetera. The connecting piece (1) serves to compensate for relative position changes between the engine (2) and the carburetor (4). The connecting piece (1) is made of elastic material and has an expansion fold (5) which functions to compensate for length changes. The length of the connecting piece can be changed from a pressed length (a) to an expanded length (b). The expansion fold (5) partitions the connecting piece (1) into a carburetor-end section (6) and into an engine-end section (7). The carburetor-end section (6) includes a circularly-shaped flow cross section and the engine-end section (7) includes a circularly-shaped flow cross section at the side facing toward the expansion fold (5) and has a flow cross section which departs from the circular shape at the end facing toward the engine. The connecting piece (1) includes on the inner side grooves (24) which run in the longitudinal direction.

In the operation of internal combustion engines, the air/fuel mixture flows through the connecting piece from the carburetor to the combustion chamber. A portion of the fuel, especially long-chain hydrocarbons, deposits on the inner wall of the connecting piece and forms a fuel film. An enrichment of the mixture can occur when pivoting the apparatus especially in idle because of fuel which is entrained from the connecting piece. A sudden mixture enrichment can lead to disturbances in the smooth running of the engine up to stalling thereof. This is especially the case for engines having low power-weight ratio.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,225 discloses a connecting piece between carburetor and combustion chamber which is made of elastic material and has expansion folds. Knurling is provided in one region of the connecting piece to avoid that fuel deposits on the inner wall of the connecting piece. The knurling is intended to prevent the formation of an uninterrupted fuel film.
It has been shown that the fuel, which deposits in the connecting piece, forms droplets especially in the region of the smooth wall and these droplets only flow to the engine when they have reached a certain size. The internal combustion engine suddenly receives too much fuel because of the droplet formation.